Thousand Split Sword Sect

After spending another hour waiting for the Amber Beast to fully devour the two corpses, Minos finally headed back towards Venix.

The corpses were the biggest weakness of Venix's plan, and as long as they existed, a fatal loophole could be exploited, but now that they were gone, there were no more worries.

At this point, Minos and Venix truly became Merth and Ikki, the originals having completely vanished from the face of this planet.

After arriving back, Minos noticed Venix was still busy absorbing Ikki's memories, so he decided to take this chance to train.

Setting up his stance, he began going through the Twelve Beast Movement Tome. After a full hour of training, Minos decided to stop.

It wasn't because he was exhausted, but rather because of his poor talent. Based on what he'd felt, if he wanted to break through to the Eighth Life Lock, it would probably take a couple hundred years with training alone.

As frustrating as this was, Minos didn't feel too bad about it. He'd already realized his poor talent a long time ago, and at the very least, he had his intelligence to make up for it.

By now, he had already mastered the Twelve Beast Movement Tome, so any more training at this point would be meaningless.

Pulling his sword back out, Minos decided to make use of this time to further refine his sword skills.

…

After a full half day passed, Venix finally woke up from his stupor. His eyes were a little blurry at first, but quickly focused as he came back to grips with reality.

"How do you feel?" Minos asked, as he resheathed his sword and walked over.

"Weird, feels like I've lived two lives instead of just one." Venix said, as he stood up from the ground.

"You'll get used to the sensation. Here, wear this." Minos said, as he tossed over Ikki's robe that he had cleaned off.

"Thanks." Venix said, wearing the robe.

"You good to go?" Minos asked, as he put on Merth's robe.

"I'm fine, just give me a second to get used to this feeling." Venix said.

After giving Venix another hour, the two were finally ready to leave. Making their way back to their horses, they hoped on, heading towards the Thousand Split Sword Sect.

"Think you can properly play Ikki's character?" Minos asked, as the two rode out of Amber Wood Forest.

"Should be fine. Based on the guy's memories, he's usually pretty quiet, so I shouldn't have many problems, how about you?" Venix answered.

"Lucky for you, Merth is definitely much more of a character. He's the loud and obnoxious type." Minos responded, causing Venix to laugh.

"You poor guy, though it'll be hilarious to watch you act like that." Venix said.

"Just don't laugh too hard, it would be awkward if we ended up getting exposed because of that." Minos responded.

"Don't worry, I'll control myself." Venix said with another laugh.

"How about this, let's start playing the roles now, just so we get used to it." Venix suggested.

"Good idea."

Like that, the two spent the rest of the ride getting used to their roles. For Venix it wasn't much of a challenge, but Minos was struggling at first.

Fortunately he was a fast learner, and after getting slightly used to the role, he became much more natural, much to Venix's amusement. Under this role-playing, they quickly arrived at the grand entrance of the Thousand Split Sword Sect.

…

While Minos was well traveled, most of the places he went were underdeveloped, so the grand gate of the Thousand Split Sword Sect was definitely the most majestic human construct he'd seen so far.

"Pretty amazing, huh? As much as I hate this place, I've got to acknowledge whoever built this." Venix said, as he looked up at the gate.

The gate was at least fifty meters high, and about 30 meters across, big enough to fit a dozen carriages side by side.

At the top stood sentries, bows in hand as they peered over the land, keeping an eye out for any danger.

Despite the size of the gate, it still looked cramped, carriages heading in and out constantly, making the place feel more like a city than a sect.

"Follow my lead, time to start acting." Minos said, controlling his horse to run past all the people waiting, ignoring them.

Most people were naturally not happy seeing this, some wanting to reach out and shout, but the moment they saw their robes, they quickly shut their mouths.

After making their way past the crowd, they finally arrived at the front of the line. A few guards stood by the entrance, checking credentials before letting the people inside.

The moment they saw Minos and Venix however, they ignored the people they were helping, quickly running up to the two of them.

"Ahh, welcome back sword sons. No need to show your badges, you can just go in." The man said with a wide smile, trying his best not to anger the two.

"Good." Minos said with a laugh, making his way into the sect, Venix right behind him.

As the two entered, they couldn't help but look around with appreciation. The biggest city Minos had ever gone to was Underwood City, but this place was even bigger.

The Thousand Split Sword Sect was quite unique among sects. Most sects were reclusive, trying to stay away from the mortal world.

Whereas the Thousand Split Sword Sect didn't seem to care about this, and even most of the inhabitants of the city were mortals.

Of course this place was only considered the outer ring, hence the amount of mortals. The middle-ring was exclusively for cultivators and weaker disciples, and the inner ring was only for core disciples and elders of the Thousand Split Sword Sect.

Minos and Venix only spent a moment in the outer and middle rings before making their ways to the core of the city.

This place was much more heavily guarded than the entrance, and even Minos and Venix were forced to show their badges, despite their power within the sect.

Finally, after the guard confirmed their identity, they entered the core of the sect. This place was completely secured with walls, which made it impossible to see what it looked like from the outside.

But once you entered, you'd realize this area was much more clean and tidy than the rest of the city, having handy-man disciples cleaning the streets constantly to keep them unblemished.

Trees dotted the streets, and all the houses were massive, further giving off the feeling of an elite living space.

It was clear that in the Thousand Split Sword Sect's opinion, only people who lived here were considered the real core of the sect.

Using their memories, the two headed towards their 'homes,' which were fortunately located right next to each other.

Handing the horses off to some handy-men disciples to take care of, Minos entered his new home, Venix following him.

"Ahh Master Merth, welcome home. You must be exhausted from your journey, would you like to eat?" A maid said as she ran over after hearing the door open.

"Just prepare some tea and biscuits for us." Minos said, as he waved away the maid.

"Of course Master!" The maid said, quickly getting to work.

"Hey, I could get used to this kind of treatment!" Venix said, as he plopped down on the couch, taking this chance to finally get some rest.

"Don't get too comfortable, don't forget our real purpose." Minos said, taking a seat beside Venix.

"How could I? They'll get what they deserve." Venix said, his eyes becoming stern.

"Here you go. Would you like a massage while you eat, Master?" The maid asked, as she placed the tray down on the table.

"No need." Minos said.

"Hey, hey, wait, I could actually use one." Venix said, calling the maid back.

The maid didn't respond to Venix right away however, instead waiting for Minos's que. After letting out a sigh, he could only nod towards the maid, letting her give Venix a massage.

After finishing their meal, and the maid finally leaving, Minos couldn't help but look at Venix with disdain.

"Don't look at me like that, this is interest for all the suffering they've caused me!" Venix said with indignation.

"Sure, whatever you say. Anyways, now that we're in, what's the plan?" Minos asked.

"Well there's still a year to go until the competition, so until then, just do whatever you want." Venix said, cleaning his teeth with a toothpick.

"How strong is the First Son of the Sword?" Minos suddenly asked.

"Should be at the Ninth Life Lock." Venix answered.

"Then tell me, isn't it suspicious that Ikki, someone at the Seventh Life Lock, would somehow beat that person after only a years time?" Minos said.

"Don't worry, Ikki will have amazing luck this year and stumble upon this." Venix said, as he pulled something from his spatial ring.