On that occasion days earlier, Nineshores had accepted the other betrothal gifts, but had not taken the jade slip that allowed the user to take any treasure from the immortal palace. He had given that to Xu Qing. All in all, he was giving away his daughter’s hand in marriage, and given his personality, was not the type of person to covet the belongings of a family friend.[1]0

That jade slip was now a trump card for Xu Qing to play in a key moment. Originally... Xu Qing had been ambivalent about the use of the jade slip.0

And when he picked the sword furnace as the location to fight Sir Star Ring, he didn’t do it with the intention of forcing the two swords to be bonded to him. His original goal had been to ensure that the clash between order and chaos would put pressure on to the two swords in the furnace, and thus give Hordeslayer and Rampart no choice about what to do. They would be forced to take advantage of the moment to complete the swords ahead of schedule. They would be in a very passive position.0

If Sir Star Ring won, then their future success would all be contingent on his approval. After all, suppression itself was an act of maintaining order. If the young lord won... then all he would have to do was order them to be bonded to him. That also gave Hordeslayer and Rampart a spectacular motivating force.0

In the...0