Shui reached into his clothes, took out Dull Harmony and handed it to Emily. It looked like an ordinary walking stick, though a well-made one, but none of them thought that he was just joking with them. Alicia was especially sure of this. Like the rest of them, she couldn't sense anything special about the stick, or to be more specific, she couldn't sense anything at all. With her intuition and soul strength, even if it was a normal walking stick she would be able to tell what type of wood was used to make it, however, that was not the case with the one in Emily's hand.
While Alicia, Adrian and Emily were still staring at it, Shui said, "Its name is Dull Harmony and it's a sword, draw it."
This line shocked the three of them as even with their spiritual senses they only saw a walking stick, but when Emily looked carefully she could find the point where the hilt met the sheath. She carefully pulled on the hilt and released the hidden blade. It wasn't shiny and reflective, nor did it drag in the surrounding nature energy, but the moment her eyes spotted the white cracks on the surface of the dark blade, her mind was dragged inside it.
She was suddenly pulled into a dream-like space where the sky and ground seemed to be one, and her vision was filled with various colours combining and separate. She had no idea what she was happening at first, but she then realised that this was the innate insight that came with a tesora-rank artifact. A special-rank artifact only needed to support its wielder one way or another, but higher rank artifacts had more purposes to suit the cultivation of the user. A suitable spirit-rank artifact could boost the power of its wielder's cultivation method and arts of a specified elemental attribute and a tesora-rank artifact would come with a vault containing insights related to the creation of the artifact. For example, a fire-attribute tesora-rank artifact made with various parts from fire-attribute evolved beasts would contain insights into fire laws and techniques based off of the evolved beasts used.
Emily couldn't tell what attribute this artifact possessed when she first looked at it, but now she felt the veil of mystery being lifted before her eyes. As she watched the myriad of colours around her, Emily began to tap into-
"Junior sister!"
Emily found herself shaken by her senior brother who faced her with a distressed expression. As she blinked rapidly and looked around, Adrian realized that her mind was back, and so he glared at Shui who returned a faint smile.
"You, what did you-"
Adrian was right about to condemn Shui, but he brushed him off and focused on Emily, "So, how do you like it?"
Adrian gritted his teeth, but he also wanted to verify her reaction, as did Alicia who didn't hide the curiosity from showing on her face.
Everyone else only saw her look at the blade and then fall into a trance, but Shui knew what she saw. While he hadn't seen it himself, he knew that the artifact possessed innate insights. He actually desired to experience it himself, but the insights were only enough for one person so all of the tesora-rank artifacts he had no longer contained it. Still, he was planning on making another artifact and reading the innate insights from that one to see if he could benefit somehow.
Anyways, both Shui and Emily knew what she just experienced and how special it was. Emily, now certain that she was back to reality, looked at the blade once more, and touched its surface with her thumb. Although it looked like it should have a rough texture, the blade was as smooth as ice. She still couldn't sense anything special about it, but now she was sure that it had functions that she couldn't imagine.
She gulped as she thought about how much she could benefit both in her array techniques and cultivation if she absorbed those insights. However, she bit her lip, sheathed the sword and pushed it towards Shui.
"I'm sorry, I can't accept this gift."
It was no surprise to Shui since he expected her to act like this, but he couldn't help sighing on the inside.
"Why?" Shui asked without taking back the artifact.
"It's too precious. Far more so than my title and ability as a tier 3 array master."
When they heard her put her title and skills below this artifact, Alicia and Adrian had different thoughts. To Alicia, it wouldn't be impossible to find an artifact worth more than a tier 3 array master, so she grew more interested in the artifact. If Emily firmly declined it, then she wouldn't mind spending several thousands of high quality spirit gems to buy it from Shui, but she doubted that he would give up so easily.
Adrian, on the other hand, knew how much pride Emily had in herself, so he couldn't believe that she would rate the artifact above her abilities and assumed that she was exaggerating... despite the fact that that was even more unlikely.
When Shui heard Emily's answer, he was glad that it was just as he predicted, but also disappointed.
'I know it's suspicious but can't you just take it? I know I don't act picky when I'm rescuing the items of my enemies from their corpses.'
Nevertheless, his mental preparations had been made.
"You underestimate yourself. Even this artifact can't compare to your potential," Shui replied.
"Maybe not, but I already owe you for saving us, I can't take on another debt dependent on my 'potential'."
It was a solid point, which made it even harder to keep pushing, not that he would stop.
"Fine, let's change perspective then. In return for me saving you, I want your help in the future when your potential becomes skill. But you seem to be targeted by some dangerous people, and I can't always be there to protect you, so I'm lending you this artifact to protect yourself."
"You're lending it me?" Emily asked with suspicion.
If it wasn't a tesora-rank artifact then it didn't sound so odd, but both of them knew that once she absorbed the artifact's innate insights there would be no getting it back, so she would have to return it in a less valuable state. Shui wasn't planning on taking it back in the first place so he didn't see a problem with it, but Emily was different. Although his reasoning was beginning to wear her will down, she was still reluctant to take on such a huge debt, so he had to push her again.
"That's right, if that makes you feel better. It's something I picked up so you don't have to worry about its value too much."
Emily couldn't sense any dishonesty from his carefree smile, but she was still missing a motive strong enough to make her accept this charity. She tightened her grip on the sword and looked him straight in the face. As she seemed to be making her resolve, Adrian wondered if he should really make her accept this gift from Shui, but without knowing what was special about the artifact he couldn't persuade her even if he wanted to.
With her decision made, Emily said, "Tell me something. Why do you want to help me so much? Everything else could have been explained by you being whimsical, but not this."
Shui wasn't surprised by this question, but he showed a wry smile. It would be much easier for him if he could tell the truth, but she probably wouldn't believe him.
"Well, let's just say I also once considered Nikolai as my master."
"What does that-?!"
Both Adrian and Emily were shaken by his answer, but Shui put a finger over his mouth when Emily tried to ask about it. The name faintly rang a bell in Alicia's mind, but not enough to put her on the same page as them.
Emily stared at Shui in surprise, while Adrian was wary. If he was truly one of Nikolai's former disciples, then it wouldn't be odd that he wanted to help Emily, especially if he knew what happened to him. Emily accepted this answer quickly along with Dull Harmony, while Adrian's gaze was sharp, but Shui didn't care about what Adrian thought as long as Emily could accept what he said.