"X-Xiao Yang? Are you okay?" Tian Yanyu asked him when she noticed that he had tears in the corner of his eyes.
However, almost as though he couldn't hear her, Yuan remained silent as he stared at the graveyard.
Perhaps he'd recognized these swords. Even though he himself might not remember them, his soul remembers the time they had spent together.
In his daze, Yuan started to approach the Sword Graveyard, and it even looked like he wanted to reach for one of the swords there.
When Tian Suyin saw this, she immediately sprang into action and grabbed him by the collar before yanking him back.
"Whoa?!"
This snapped Yuan out of his daze.
"Are you crazy?!" Tian Suyin shouted at him afterward.
"You cannot touch these swords! Anyone that does so will face severe punishment!"
"Eh? Really?" Yuan expressed genuine surprise, as he didn't know about this.
"Many people have tried to take a sword from this place, but all of them have perished after being punished. Even Immortals have died in this place, so no matter how talented you are, even you won't survive." Tian Suyin explained.
And she continued, "The only thing we are allowed to do here is study these swords and hopefully learn something from it."
"Is that so… Sorry, and thank you for waking me up. I don't know what just happened to me." Yuan said.
"Are you okay?" Tian Yanyu asked him again.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Yuan asked with a puzzled face, still unaware that he had been crying just now.
Tian Yanyu pointed at his eyes and said in a low voice, "You're crying…"
"What?"
Yuan quickly wiped his eyes, and sure enough, it was wet.
"Why did I…?" He muttered in a dazed voice.
Jin Xi silently stared at Yuan with narrowed eyes, seeming in deep thoughts.
"Pft. That idiot really tried to take a sword from this place…"
"Why did she have to stop him? It would've been a spectacular sight to see him get punished."
Yuan suddenly heard voices that he was unfamiliar with, and they were laughing at him.
He looked around, and it was at this moment that he realized they were not alone.
There were over a hundred other people there at glance, which surprised him.
"I thought not many people dare to venture into the inner areas?" He asked Tian Suyin.
"Since this is just the border and the least dangerous area, many people risk their lives to come here, especially since the techniques they can learn in this place are at least Divine-rank."
"Is that so…"
Yuan didn't mind the mockery and acted as though they weren't even there.
"Anyways, now that we have arrived, I am going to study the swords. Yanyu, since this is a rare occasion, you should also try to learn something. We might not get another chance to come back here, after all." Tian Suyin said to her daughter.
"Okay." She nodded before turning to look at Yuan.
"What are you going to do?"
"Since I am here, I might as well look around, too." He said.
"Alright."
"Oh, how long do we plan on staying here?" Yuan suddenly asked.
"Since you wasted a month of our time, it's only fair if we stay here for a month. However, I guess two weeks will do." Tian Suyin said, as she didn't want to take away too much of Yuan's time, despite her words.
"I understand. Then we will leave in two weeks."
With that settled, Tian Suyin and Tian Yanyu immediately began wandering the Sword Graveyard. Like tombs in a graveyard, each sword had enough space between each other to allow people to surround it, so nobody there had to worry about fighting for spots.
With that being said, some swords are especially popular and do become overcrowded at times.
"Oh, lucky me! There's a spot left for the Silvermoon Soulblade!" Tian Suyin was filled with joy when she noticed an empty spot at one of the most popular swords in the Sword Graveyard.
The Silvermoon Soulblade is a Mythic-grade sword— a treasure that normally wouldn't exist in the Third Heaven except for the Nameless Emperor's Tomb, so its popularity was only natural.
There were a total of 3 Mystic-grade swords in the Sword Graveyard, and they are usually packed to the brim with people, hence Tian Suyin's excitement.
Meanwhile, Tian Yanyu settled with a random Ancient-grade sword that caught her eyes the moment she looked at it, almost as though she had a connection with it.
"Radiant Scarlet Blade…" Tian Yanyu read the engraving on the sword's crimson blade.
As for Yuan, he merely stood at the entrance of the Sword Graveyard. There were so many swords that he didn't know where to start.
Eventually, he picked a random sword and sat before it.
"You guys can look around if you want." Yuan said to Xiao Hua and the others.
"I don't use the sword, so I am fine staying here." Lan Yingying said.
"Me too." Feng Yuxiang said.
"Xiao Hua will stay with you." Xiao Hua said.
Yuan didn't say anything else and returned to focusing on the sword before him.
'Let's see what kind of technique you'll teach me.' Yuan smiled inwardly.
He started by using Divine Gaze on the sword, but nothing special happened, so he just started studying it normally.
He would eventually enter a trance when images began appearing inside his mind. However, these images would not just teach him sword techniques.
In addition to sword techniques, they were memories— his memories with this particular sword. The moment of their meeting; their journeys together; all of the enemies they have slain together. These memories lasted all the way till the end of their journey.
Yuan was surprised at first, but he quickly calmed down and started to absorb these memories like a dry sponge with water. Since he'd grown accustomed to being fed memories, he found the process to be quite pleasing, as it was like watching a movie of himself.