“This was the signature sword of Guru Ice-Soul, years ago,” Holy Daughter Manyflowers continued. “He forged it from Perennial frigidjade, and imbued it with the quintessence of an ice soul to give it a spirit of its own. It was tempered for an entire sixty-year-cycle in flame lightning, and when its full power is unleashed, it can freeze everything for hundreds of kilometers, and can even divert rivers. This is not the kind of thing that can be easily subjugated. How did you get it? And how did you get it to submit? Even a Legendary would have a hard time with it. And a Nonary Lifeseizer would definitely fail.”

“This sword and I are kindred spirits of a sort,” Yang Qi replied. “I encountered it by chance out in the East Sea. There was an old man out there named, what was it? Oh right. Patriarch Frost-Drake. He was fighting to pull the sword up from a spring on an island of peach blossoms. The two of them were seriously hurt in the struggle, and I swooped in at the end to take the sword.” Yang Qi told his tale very smoothly, leaving no holes whatsoever in his story.

“Oh? Patriarch Frost-Drake?” Holy Daughter Manyflowers nodded. “I've heard of him. He reached Nonary...