Chapter 125 Celaine’s POV
I was just a normal girl growing up and my parents were just ordinary cultivators. They worked hard to bring home food for me and give me a wonderful childhood. Everything was great for a while, but they discovered my talent with a saber.
I've always been drawn to the saber like it was my lifelong partner. Whenever I see one, I can barely resist the urge to walk over and pick it up. It just feels natural for me to hold a saber in my hands. My parents were terrified when they saw me always trying to reach out for one or whenever they caught me holding one. I'd even make stick sabers to carry around and swing around. My parents also noticed my strange affinity for the weapon and weren't sure what to do.
But one day, an elderly gentleman came to my house to take a look at my saber skills. This man gave off the feeling of an incredibly sharp saber and always had one at his sides. My eyes would sparkle every time I saw this man. He introduced himself as my grandfather and told me that he'd take me in to train me in the way of the saber.
I then followed my grandfather to some remote place near the mountains to practice. He didn't care about the cultivation world and he said that the only reason he cultivates is to stay alive longer to practice with the Saber. Truly a man dedicated to his craft.
I stayed with him for many years. I would occasionally see my parents, maybe once a month or once every few months. My Grandfather didn't teach me anything other than how to use a saber. We'd spar most days, while other days he'd make me do basic training so I can become a cultivator. My skills with the saber improved rapidly when I was staying with him, but once I reached the Qi Condensation Stage he was nearing the end of his life. He said that there wasn't anything left for him to teach her as her skills with the saber were truly amazing. A one in a million talent. He just wanted to live out the rest of his days peacefully, but his dying wish was for me to learn more about the world and to improve my saber skills.
I went back to living with my parents after my Grandfather died and asked them what I should do. I wanted to fulfill my Grandfather's dying wish as he's the one that helped me onto this path. They recommended that I join a Sect. After some thinking, I decided to try and join the Battle Maiden Sect. I've never spoken to boys before other than my father and grandfather. In fact, I've never spoken to really anyone other than my parents and Grandfather. I've always just been more fascinated with sabers than other people.
When the Entrance Exam came for the Battle Maiden Sect, I was excited and scared. There were so many people and almost all of them were stronger than me. I decided that I'd just try to keep to myself as much as possible.
After passing the Strength Test and the Test of Will, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Although I was far from the strongest, at least I wasn't the weakest. But the pain from the Test of Will almost made me give up. I'd say I was lucky for being able to pass that test as I've never experienced pain like that before.
The next test was the Group Hunt. I didn't expect there to be a test where I'm forced to team up with others. Not to mention I've never even killed a beast! I've only sparred with my Grandfather! I've also never talked to other people before! How will I be of any help?!
I didn't know what to do and I didn't know anybody, so I was the only one left out! I was forced to join this one group with a super outgoing and cheerful person, a quiet person, a battle maniac, and someone who made my spine crawl just by looking at her. The aura this person radiated was on another level compared to the other people in the group. Whenever she looked at me, it was like she was determining how difficult it would be to kill me; I was very uneasy. I learned everyone's names and found out this person's name was Mira. I just hope this person doesn't bother me too much. I want nothing to do with her.
Turns out my wish didn't come true since everyone voted her as the leader and the first thing she decided to do is test everyone. I happened to be first and she made me go and kill a beast. I've never used my saber to kill anything before so I panicked! I couldn't hit the beast and end up almost dying because I didn't want to kill it. But this was only the beginning. Mira was not happy with me and threatened to kill me unless I killed the beast. I felt like she might actually kill me if I didn't listen to her. Mira's cold and apathetic eyes terrified me and I instinctively killed the beast so I could live. But this wasn't the end of it. No, she dragged me around and made me kill any beast we came across for the next 24 hours! I just want this to end!
But after 24 hours, things only got worse for me as Mira decided to use me as bait so they can fight a Rank 4 beast. I started having second thoughts about joining the Battle Maiden Sect as there is no way Mira wouldn't be able to join.
We successfully killed the beast and returned successfully. I then completed all of the tests after that and successfully entered the Battle Maiden Sect! But this was only the beginning of my Hell! During the tournament, Mira was always watching me and I felt immense pressure from her. I didn't know what she wanted, but she must've seen how talented I was with a saber and decided to see how I do. Honestly, disappointing her made me more terrified than disappointing my parents or Grandfather. She gave off the feeling that if she wasn't satisfied then she'd put me through something worse than hell. So I tried to do my best and won every round by a landslide. Mira would always nod after every battle and I'd finally be able to calm down. But one battle, Mira wasn't paying that much attention. I thought that she already knew that I'd win so she wasn't interested in another stomp. I let my guard down and didn't expect the opponent to be so strong! This is all Mira's fault!
It was a hard battle, but I eventually won mainly due to luck. I glanced towards Mira and could feel how upset she was under her mask. Like she wanted to come up on stage right now and thrash me for being so incompetent. I could only put my head down in shame and walk away.
I eventually lost in the Group Finals against Nisha as she was just too strong and her fighting style was too weird. I wasn't upset as I never expected to make it so far, in fact, I was quite happy. Mira didn't seem to be upset with that loss either which is good. I then got ready to watch Mira's fight. I knew she was strong, but I couldn't tell exactly how strong. Only after her fight with Audra did I realize how terrifyingly skilled Mira is at fighting. It's like she's a battle-hardened veteran! No mercy! It was too brutal that I couldn't even watch! Yup! I never want to get involved with her!
The tournament ended and I actually became a Core Disciple! My parents were incredibly proud of me and I was quite happy with the results as well. Until I learned that Mira would be teaching all of us Unarmed Combat! Nooo!
I got whipped a lot in class as Mira seemed to have extremely high standards for me. Not only that but the usually cheerful looked at me with eyes full of hate! Like I just stole her husband or something! Why me?! It must be Mira's doing! Dammit MIRA!
Graduation day eventually came for the Unarmed Combat class and in order to pass, I had to kill a bandit using moves that we learned in the class. This was much more terrifying than killing a beast! I also have to use my own hands to do it! WHY?! But looking into Mira's eyes, I knew that I'd have to do it. Or else she'd just make me kill more and more. I didn't even have the choice to say no!
After crying my heart out for a while, I learned that Mira will also be hosting a sparring class with some of the talented disciples. I hoped that this wouldn't involve me, but it seems God is against me! I was then forced to take part in these sparring sessions and after sparring with Mira one time, I knew that I never wanted to do it again! Every time she swung her scythe, it was meant to kill! We are on the same team! Why are you trying to kill me?! Even Grandfather wasn't this tough!!
One day, Mira came up to me with a deal. She said that she can take me to a place that'll let me get exponentially stronger as well as hone my skills. I was interested, but she said she wouldn't do it for free. She said she wanted me to follow her for 20 years after leaving the Sect! 20 years?! Are you kidding me?! I don't want to be with you for 20 years! She said that she would force out my saber potential so she can improve her scythe skills. I understand her thought process, but why me?! No! I have to say no!
DAMMIT! I agreed! I just didn't have the guts to say no to Mira. Okay, whatever! This isn't the worst thing. My saber skills have rapidly improved after sparring with Mira, so I don't think I'm losing much on this deal. It's just that… It's Mira.
After a few days, she brought me to these amazing underground ruins, but everything was perfectly intact. The only thing it was missing was signs of life. Honestly, it was a little creepy. Mira told me a bit about the trial here and told me to not hesitate and to kill everything. I don't know what that means, but I have a bad feeling about this trial.
After the Caretaker told me a bit more about the trial, he took me into the trial and started it. The first stage was only a labyrinth. Though this labyrinth was incredibly annoying! Bricks, bricks, and more bricks! They all look the same! It would take me forever just to solve the puzzle to leave the room.
After passing that annoying stage, I made it to Stage 2 which I guess was the beginning of the elemental stages.
It plopped me into this fiery hell world full of fire beasts. They immediately charged at me when I entered the stage. I was forced to kill them to survive, but it felt different than before. Instead of blood coming out, they just disappeared into energy and dove straight into me! This fire energy then started tempering my body! AHHH! It hurts so much!! Now I understand why Mira gave me that advice! She wants me to get the most out of every stage by killing everything! Dammit, Mira!! Fuck you!!