When she stepped onto the field, the childishness on Emily Thompson's face vanished completely. She gripped her longsword with one hand, took a deep breath, her small chest rising slightly, and an awe-inspiring aura naturally emerged.

At this moment, she was no longer just a fourteen-year-old girl, but a swordswoman.

With a sword in hand, she could sweep across the world.

Although this swordswoman was still far too young, her cultivation was extremely shallow—merely at the peak of Body Tempering, just entering the Wind-Rising stage, the very bottom of the cultivation world, not even truly considered to have stepped into it.

The world's cultivation is divided into nine ranks.

Wind-Rising and Cloud-Surging, Cloud-Turning and Rain-Making, Mountain-Moving and Sea-Shaking, Earth-Splitting and Heaven-Collapsing, all the way to the final stage of Perfect Void-Breaking—nine realms, each building upon the last, each eliminating the unworthy, forming a pyramid-like structure for the cultivation world.

Of course, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The young swordswoman knew her place well, set her stance, calmed her mind, and after a moment, her right hand flourished—the courtyard blossomed with sword light, fine as silk yet densely woven like a net, swift as the chasing wind.

Chasing Wind Sword.

The signature sword technique of the outer disciples of The Thompson Family in Wind City. When mastered, the sword moves like the wind, impossible to defend against. Emily Thompson had received this sword manual half a year ago and had practiced it diligently day and night. By now, she had reached the seventh level of the Gale Realm. With a draw of her sword, the first three strikes were as swift as a gale, the sword light like lightning. She was only one step away from the Great Gale Realm.

But this one step had held her back for two whole months. From Gale to Great Gale, the sword technique no longer needed to be faster, but stronger. Otherwise, if the sword's momentum was only as gentle as a breeze, how could it kill or defeat an enemy? The key to the Chasing Wind Sword becoming The Thompson Family's signature technique was the combination of speed and power. To reach the Great Gale Realm, the swordswoman had to focus on strength, striving to split gold and crack stone with a single strike. As a girl, Emily Thompson was petite and delicate—agile enough, but lacking in steadiness. Thus, the Great Gale Realm was quite difficult for her. Fortunately, she was perceptive, and in recent days had finally made some breakthroughs. Her sword moves grew denser, the sword wind sharper, and her strength increasingly formidable.

But now she faced a not-so-small problem: her practice longswords had all been used up.

When practicing the Chasing Wind Sword, she had to cut through a hundred wooden stakes every day. The stakes themselves were never in short supply—thanks to Grandpa Tree, there were always more. But after cutting so many, even the best steel longsword would become dulled or even break. No matter how carefully she used them, a fine steel longsword would last no more than three days. In over three months of practicing the Chasing Wind Sword, Emily Thompson had already ruined more than twenty swords, exhausting all her pocket money.

It wasn't until yesterday that Emily Thompson, after careful calculation, realized that instead of changing swords every three days, it would be better to scrimp and save, and spend a bit more on a high-quality practice sword. She didn't need it to be especially sharp or magical—just tough and durable. Such swords were not uncommon among white-grade weapons and weren't too expensive. So she searched through her belongings, sold some childhood toys, and scraped together nine taels of silver to bring home this white-grade ancient sword.

Now, she only hoped this longsword would be worth the price. She didn't need it to cut through iron like mud—just to be sturdy and durable enough to help her master the Chasing Wind Sword.

However, after only a short practice, Emily Thompson felt her arm grow sore and weak. At first, this old heavy sword had felt light and agile, but the more she used it, the more sluggish and heavy it became, as if some invisible force was dragging at her arm. At this rate, she couldn't even maintain a continuous sword flow, let alone chase the wind with her sword. By the end of a full set of thirty-six Chasing Wind Sword moves, Emily Thompson could barely hold onto her sword. Stunned, her fingers went numb, and she actually flung the sword out of her hand, sending it clattering across the stone floor.

"……"

Emily Thompson hung her head, large drops of sweat falling from her hair, her black locks covering her blushing face. Although this old courtyard was remote and no one usually came by, and no one had seen what just happened, it was still unbearably embarrassing!

To practice swordsmanship until the sword flew out of her hand—this was probably a scandal unheard of in the hundred-year history of the The Thompson Family in Qingyun City.

After a while, Emily Thompson looked up, her gaze landing on the big tree by the courtyard wall. It felt as if the ancient guardian tree her mother had left behind was watching her kindly, and her face flushed even redder.

"No, Grandpa Tree, you saw it wrong. That wasn't losing my grip—I was just... just practicing the Flying Sword from Beyond. See, after the thirty-six Chasing Wind Sword moves, suddenly letting the sword fly out—no enemy would expect that..."

The more she spoke, the more embarrassed Emily Thompson became, almost to the point of exploding...

But thinking back on how awkward her sword practice had been, something just didn't add up. How could a white-grade heavy sword weighing just over six jin be so difficult? With her childhood Body Tempering achievements, she could swing a pair of sixty-jin stone locks without exhaustion, let alone lose her grip. There had to be something wrong with the sword!

Emily Thompson suddenly remembered the vendor saying, "You dare use a divine weapon worth fifty taels? Aren't you afraid it might be cursed?"

Although this white-grade longsword wasn't a divine weapon, could it also be cursed...

At this thought, Emily Thompson felt a chill run down her spine, and even the gentle May sunlight seemed a bit cold. Instinctively, the little girl wanted to run back inside and fetch the talisman her mother had left to ward off evil spirits.