Begin phase one

"I'll take this technique please."

"Are you sure? As I've said, nobody has ever been able to train in this technique successfully. While it is a great source of profound knowledge of the sword, nobody truly views it as a technique." Elder Belle said with a skeptical look on her face. 

"I'm sure." Kieran spoke. He wasn't entirely confident in being able to train in the technique, but with his Divine rank cultivation technique being based upon Yin and Yang, he felt that some of the knowledge he had gained would be directly beneficial for the sword technique. 

"Very well. If you change your mind later or wish to seek guidance then let me know and we can swap it out."

Kieran smiled and nodded politely before leaving with Elder Belle on his heels. 

Just as Kieran was trying to say his goodbyes and leave, Elder Belle suddenly spoke up.

"Uhm, before you go, would you like...personal lessons? I can teach you what I know about the technique you chose." Elder Belle suddenly blurted with red cheeks. 

Kieran knew what she was asking of him and he pondered briefly before slightly nodding in agreeance and pretending to be oblivious about her true intentions and followed Elder Belle into her office. Elder Belle peeked her head out, looking around and making sure nobody saw her before she ducked her head back in and locked the door with a small formation.

Looking at Kieran, she suddenly blushed and walked next to him.

"W-well, when one wields a sword, the first thing they should attempt to do is understand the sword. It's...important because...when you know your weapon...you know...what was I saying? I forgot..." She said. 

Kieran rolled his eyes as he knew he wouldn't truly get anything important out of a teaching session while her head was in the clouds. Hoping to speed things along, Kieran unwrapped his face covering and showed off his face to bully Belle. 

After he did so, he suddenly looked up slightly and breathed out with a light breath and closed eyes, striking as handsome and natural of a pose as he possibly could, pretending he was simply relieved to pull his face covering off.

And it seemed to have the desired effect.

"I...well...I mean....I was saying that....uhm..."

Seeing he had succeeded in bullying he decided to stop playing and skip a few steps, walking up to Belle and kissing her on the lips suddenly. 

Belle didn't even hesitate and began kissing back with such vigor and excitement, Kieran with his shallow cultivation base nearly died on the spot before he adjusted and began to advance things along.

As the day grew darker and the silver moon began to shine upon the Divine Sword Sect, one could swear they heard intense shouting coming from the library. But that was a story for another time.

...

...

...

Elsewhere, a tall woman with short shoulder-length black hair, lightly sunken cheeks and red eyes was standing before a clear ball of glass. 

One would likely describe the woman as handsome rather than beautiful as her features were vaguely reminiscent of a man. She had no outstanding body features, sporting only an average bust and waist, though, while that was the case one could say with certainty that her features weren't enough to completely diminish her beauty. 

Looking up from the glowing glass ball, she suddenly spoke to some unseen individual.

"Are the preparations ready?" She asked in a cold voice.

"Yes, Master. The only thing we require is your go ahead." A soft voice floated from nowhere.

"Good. After we begin, there will be nobody who can stand to oppose us. Not the Empire, not the sects, not even those ancient and terrifying clans with their hidden backgrounds. Speaking of, I'm very keen to see what the Darkmoon clan has up their sleeves with this. Oh well, it won't matter anyway. They're just small fries in the grand scheme of things. After all, we're going to take everything hahahaha!" With a manic and crazy look in her eyes, the woman suddenly cut her laughter mid giggle and looked to the glass ball and regained her composure. 

"Begin phase one. I want them worn down and tired so that we can have an easier time when things start to get hot." She said to the empty air.

Receiving no reply, she simply stared into the glass ball, and for the first time, she saw a menacing pair of cat-like fiery gold eyes staring back at her, making her smile a true smile for the first time in centuries.