“Even if there is, what are the odds they’d run into one and offend them?”
“And even if they did, so what? They’re disciples of Fuyu Peak. In the whole Ziyang Sect, who would dare provoke Fuyu Peak?”
The more the disciples talked, the bolder they became. By the end, they were actually barking orders at Nangong Yu.
“Let us go, now!”
They clearly did not believe Nangong Yu would dare kill them here.
“You did something wrong, yet you still act so self-righteous!” Nangong Yu snapped, pointing at them. “You’ve disgraced the Ziyang Sect!”
True Person Qinghong flicked his sleeve, and the frost coating the men gradually melted away.
Though they could move again, the cold had gotten deep into their bones. Their faces were pale and bluish, and they shivered as they said, “Give... give us our things back!”
“What things?” Nangong Yu swept up their belongings and tucked them into her storage pouch. “Oh, these storage pouches and storage rings? Why leave them lying on the table? Hurry up and put them away.”
The men stared at her in disbelief. “You!”
“Get lost!” Nangong Yu suddenly widened her eyes. “Take your things and get out!”
“You disgraceful lot!”
“You have barely any cultivation to speak of, yet you put on such airs. You’ve humiliated the Ziyang Sect!”
The men were furious from being scolded, but they could not beat her. They could only retrieve their storage pouches and rings and slink away in shame. When they realized the containers were completely empty—not a single spirit stone left inside—their hearts bled.
“Just you wait!” one of them threatened.
Nangong Yu shot them a glance. “What? It was only a joke. Can’t you take one?”
Their faces flushed and darkened by turns. They glared viciously at her before leaving together.
True Person Qinghong was somewhat worried, though only a little.
The Fuyu Peak Master was not someone to be trifled with—but that did not mean he was untouchable.
The young martial uncle had done nothing wrong. She had been in the right from beginning to end, so there was no need to simply swallow the matter for the sake of peace.
“Have you heard?”
“An immortal sword has appeared in Luoxia City!”
“A blinding white beam shot into the heavens. It nearly split half of Luoxia City apart.”
After the minor disturbance passed, the cultivators in the teahouse began discussing the news.
“An immortal sword?” The moment Nangong Yu heard those sensitive words, her attention was immediately caught.
She even carried over a plate of spirit fruit and sat down with them of her own accord. “What happened in Luoxia City?”
One of them glanced at her. Seeing that she was only a Qi Refinement cultivator, but wore the robes of a Ziyang Sect disciple, he answered politely, “I don’t know whether you’ve heard about the massacre of the Lin family in Luoxia City.”
“I’ve heard a little.” Nangong Yu nodded eagerly. “Wasn’t that a few months ago? Has there been some new development?”
The Lin family had been razed to the ground overnight. She had been there for the first half of it; during the latter half, Yun Sheng had cast her into a beautiful dream, and she had been out cold.
“Yes.” The cultivator nodded and began to explain. “It seems someone found the Head of the Lin Family, but it was one of his enemies. They split him in two with a single strike...”
The person who had cleaved the Head of the Lin Family apart was carrying a spirit sword that shone with light.
As everyone knew, only immortal artifacts glittered like that. Therefore, the sword in that person’s hand had to be an immortal sword!
The Head of the Lin Family, who had been split apart, had even had his bones torn out and scattered all over the ground.
Even the flesh and blood had been minced to pulp, drawing a flock of birds that picked the remains clean.
Yet such a gruesome tragedy stirred no discussion among the cultivators. Everyone was talking about one thing instead:
“How could there be an immortal sword?”
“Where did it come from?”
“Has some secret realm appeared recently?”
Just as no one knew where the Head of the Lin Family had obtained the treasure that allowed him to send Miss Lin Qi to the Wuwang Sect, the immortal sword that had suddenly appeared in Luoxia City was equally mysterious in origin.
“What sort of person could have encountered such a stroke of fortune?”
“His cultivation wasn’t even that high—how did he come by such an opportunity?!”
“Damn it! Why didn’t such an immortal chance fall into our hands?”
He had needed to use an immortal sword merely to kill a Golden Core cultivator. Clearly, his cultivation was not much higher than that of the Head of the Lin Family.
And yet someone like that possessed an immortal sword...
The cultivators in the teahouse grew restless as they talked.
If someone else could obtain an immortal sword, why couldn’t they?
As the discussion heated up, several cultivators rose, paid for their tea, and flew off.
Nangong Yu listened for a while. Once she had finished the spirit fruit on her plate, she carried the empty plate back to her seat.
“Martial niece, was there really an immortal sword?” she asked True Person Qinghong curiously.
True Person Qinghong frowned lightly. “Not necessarily.”
She instructed Nangong Yu, “Little Martial Aunt, people’s hearts are difficult to fathom. Much of the information others spread is merely meant to lure people together; there is usually some plot behind it. When you travel outside in the future, you must be careful not to fall for it.”
Nangong Yu nodded obediently. “I understand.”
She understood. The immortal sword was fake.
Then if she used an immortal sword to cut people down in the future, that would be fake too, right?
“Little Martial Aunt, we should return now,” True Person Qinghong said, rising to her feet.
The immortal sword might be fake, but traces of a mirage bird had previously appeared in Luoxia City. A mirage bird could draw people into dreams, and it manifested as white light.
Could that mirage bird still be in Luoxia City? If so, they needed to report it to the sect.
Nangong Yu was listening to the cultivators nearby and did not even turn her head. “No.”
Someone nearby was saying, “The Immortal-Slaying Sect is becoming more and more brazen.”
“There are dozens more cultivators whose Golden Cores have been dug out.”
“We have no safety at all when traveling outside.”
“Bah, even without the Immortal-Slaying Sect, we independent cultivators have never had much protection while traveling.”
“Exactly. We aren’t like those disciples of great clans and sects, with protective treasures bestowed by their masters.”
“Why doesn’t the Ziyang Sect do something?”
“I heard the elders of the Ziyang Sect are already investigating.”
“How long has it been? What have they found? All we hear is that one fellow cultivator after another goes missing. When they reappear, they’re in tatters, crazed out of their minds, and before long, they die.”
The voices were so clear that True Person Qinghong became absorbed in listening, and did not urge Nangong Yu again.
Her expression gradually darkened.
Before returning to the sect, she had been tracking a group of cultists—the so-called Immortal-Slaying Sect, notorious for digging out cultivators’ Golden Cores. True Person Qinghong was unwilling even to call them by their sect’s name.
They were exceptionally cunning and had many tricks at their disposal. She had pursued them for months, only to come up empty-handed several times. Just as she was about to continue the hunt, Chen Zhi sent her a voice transmission saying that something had happened within the sect: Xu Wanzhong and Elder Xuanqing had gotten into a fight.
The conflict between the two peaks was a serious matter, so True Person Qinghong had returned.
“The Ziyang Sect will pursue this matter to the end.” The woman’s voice was gentle yet resolute as it rang through the teahouse.
Everyone turned to look. For a moment, they were stunned, and the discussions fell abruptly silent.
Only after True Person Qinghong rose, walked to the door, and was about to leave did someone say, “We naturally place our trust in the Ziyang Sect.”
“We hope the Ziyang Sect will safeguard the peace of Taihua Prefecture.”
They were merely polite formalities, of course. True Person Qinghong would not take them seriously. But with rogue cultivators still causing trouble throughout Taihua Prefecture, the Ziyang Sect had to make its position clear.
Nangong Yu followed behind her as they left the teahouse.
On the way back to the sect, True Person Qinghong remained silent. She was unlike her usual warm and talkative self on the way there.
Nangong Yu obediently followed along, careful not to annoy her boss-like grand-niece.
“All right.” After returning to the sect, True Person Qinghong left Nangong Yu at the Disciples’ Peak. “Go to class.”
??
Nangong Yu stared at the repaired main hall and side hall on Disciples’ Peak, feeling as though she had been struck by lightning. Stars danced before her eyes.
“Go on.” True Person Qinghong said gently, “I’ll come pick you up after class.”
???
Wait, was this to keep her from skipping class?
In a daze, Nangong Yu headed toward the side hall, only to hear a voice behind her say, “Go to the main hall. You’re a Class A disciple now.”
So her consent was completely unnecessary, huh? Didn’t she have any say in something like changing classes?
Nangong Yu wanted to argue, but she also knew True Person Qinghong could not make that decision. Her NPC master—the one she had neither bowed to Heaven and Earth with, sworn beneath the sun and moon with, nor even shared a thatched hut with—had to approve it.
“You’re here?” Elder Baihe was teaching *The History of Canglan* when he saw her enter. He gave a slight nod. “Take a seat.”
More than forty disciples were seated in the main hall. During this time, several people had been promoted from Class B.
They sat neatly in rows on their meditation cushions, and the one empty spot was especially conspicuous.
Nangong Yu walked over to it and sat down. A jade slip—the textbook for *The History of Canglan*—flew over to her.
She pressed the jade slip to her forehead, and a gentle stream of spiritual energy flowed into her.
“In the beginning, there were no humans. This world was home to demons and fiends…”
A million years ago, the realm was inhabited by the demon clans, led by great beasts such as dragons, phoenixes, tigers, and elephants, as well as the devil clans, ruled by the Demon Sovereign and his demon generals.
No one knew what year it was when a fragment of a small world drifted into the Canglan Realm. The humans living on that fragment arrived in Canglan, and humanity first appeared in this world.
The spiritual energy of this realm was abundant, and humans cultivated rapidly. Before long, they became the third most powerful race, standing on equal footing with the demon and devil clans.
Then, one hundred thousand years ago, humans and demons joined forces to seal away the devil clan.
The demon clan was gravely weakened, and both dragons and phoenixes withdrew from the world. After a period of recovery and growth, humanity prospered.
Beyond that, there were also the histories of the rise and fall of the major sects.
There were too many sages to cover in detail, so they were only briefly mentioned. For more information, one could borrow *Biographies of the Sages* from the Scripture Repository.
There was not much to teach in this class. The disciples only needed to read the jade slip themselves. Those capable of becoming cultivators and making it into Class A were hardly lacking in such basic reading comprehension.
“Hey.” Before long, a voice sounded beside Nangong Yu’s ear, and she felt someone nudge the meditation cushion beneath her with a foot.
She removed the jade slip from her forehead and opened her eyes. At some point, Elder Baihe had already left.
Quite a few disciples were seated in the main hall, but strangely enough, there was no one around her, leaving an empty circle of space.
Nangong Yu did not take it to heart. Looking at the boy’s immature face—he was only eight or nine—she asked, “What is it?”
Seeing that she was awake, Mo Jiuyou lifted his chin. “I’m at the seventh level of Qi Refining.”
The child wore a proud expression, the corners of his lips curling up. “And you’re only at the sixth level—still in the middle stage of Qi Refining!”
What had he said before?
It would not be long before he surpassed her!
Sure enough, every stubborn rock that appeared before him would become a whetstone to sharpen his blade.
“Congratulations.” Nangong Yu took out a bottle of Spirit-Replenishing Pills and tossed it to him as a gift.
This was practically the most basic congratulatory gift in the cultivation world—nothing could have been more modest—but Mo Jiuyou did not get upset. He gave her a bottle of Recovery Pills in return. “Congratulations to you too.”
“I’ve reached late-stage Qi Refining as well.” At that moment, Xiao Junlin walked over and gave her a slight nod.
Nangong Yu likewise took out a bottle of Spirit-Replenishing Pills. “Congratulations.”
“Congratulations to you as well.” Xiao Junlin accepted it with perfect courtesy and returned a bottle of Clarity Pills.
As expected, Zhao Ziyun came over too. She deliberately waited until Mo Jiuyou and Xiao Junlin had finished speaking before strolling over with her hands behind her back and her chin held high.
“I’m at the ninth level of Qi Refining. I’ll be able to establish my foundation soon.”
As soon as she spoke, the Class A disciples gazed at her in admiration.
This was a true genius!
Among them, the faster ones had already sensed spiritual energy, while the slower ones had only just detected it and had yet to complete even a single circulation cycle.
Yet she was already about to establish her foundation! What an enormous gap.
“Congratulations.” Nangong Yu was thoughtful for a moment, then habitually took out a bottle of Spirit-Replenishing Pills and offered it as a gift.
Zhao Ziyun had little interest in accepting it, but she reluctantly reached out and took the bottle, returning a bottle of Body-Tempering Pills instead. “My master gave these to me. I don’t need them anymore.”
She made it sound casual, but she was really showing off how highly her master regarded her—and the fact that she had already successfully tempered her body.
“Didn’t your master give you anything nice?” Though she was not short on such things, Zhao Ziyun still could not help asking. After all, Body-Tempering Pills were worth far more than Spirit-Replenishing Pills.
Nangong Yu looked a little embarrassed. “I didn’t know what people usually gave. What if I gave something too valuable, and you couldn’t afford to return the favor? That would hurt the harmony between fellow disciples.”
Master’s precious darling, Mo Jiuyou: “...”
Prince-born Xiao Junlin: “...”
Aristocratic young lady Zhao Ziyun: “...”
Amid the silence, another voice sounded.
“Nangong Yu, congratulations.”
Zhou Wan walked over and handed her a bottle of Fasting Pills. “I heard you haven’t achieved fasting yet. These are for you.”
Fasting Pills.
They were even cheaper than Spirit-Replenishing Pills.
Faced with an NPC even poorer than herself, Nangong Yu fell silent for once. After a long moment, she took out a jade pendant from the mortal world.
“Your aptitude is as flawless as this beautiful jade.”
Zhou Wan fell silent as well. After a pause, she smiled. “Thank you.”
She accepted the pendant and turned it over in her fingers, clearly pleased with it. “It’s very beautiful. I like it very much.”
What was a mortal jade pendant worth, anyway?
Not to mention the Purple Sun Sect’s countless peaks—go dig anywhere you like. The place is full of flawless, translucent jade nourished by spiritual energy.
Mo Jiuyou could no longer stand it. “Are you really that poor?”
Nangong Yu shot him a glance. “Go ahead and laugh at me. When you’re poor someday, I’ll laugh myself to death.”
“...”
Pointing at her, Mo Jiuyou said irritably, “How are you even more childish than I am?”
He was nine years old—was she nine too?
Nangong Yu pursed her lips, then suddenly put on a tearful expression. “What do you know? I offended Floating Jade Peak. Trouble’s about to find me. I need to save my spirit stones—what if I get expelled from the sect one day...?”
That immediately caught everyone’s interest.
“How did you offend Floating Jade Peak?”
“What did you do this time?”
Nangong Yu snapped, “What do you mean, ‘this time’?”
The Class A disciples secretly curled their lips.
What had she done? Did she really not know?
Last time, Senior Brother Wang had challenged her to a match. But what happened in the end? Elder Fuyun was arrested, the disciples’ peak was destroyed, and their own losses had been the least of it.
Who knew what sort of conflict she had stirred up with Floating Jade Peak this time...
The Class A disciples, who had deliberately kept their distance, all pricked up their ears.
“So what exactly did you do?” Mo Jiuyou was consumed by curiosity and pressed her further. “Did a disciple from Floating Jade Peak offend you or something?”
Nangong Yu was an honest person. Without embellishing anything, she recounted what had happened in Cloud-Drooping City.
“I went to Cloud-Drooping City to catch up with a friend. On my way back, I passed a teahouse and went in to sit for a while...”
She had arrived first, but the other party tried to take her seat, so she gave them a small lesson.
“That’s it?” Mo Jiuyou frowned, finding the story utterly unremarkable. “What’s the big deal?”
Beside him, Zhao Ziyun and Xiao Junlin wore equally unconcerned expressions.
“You’re being far too cautious,” Zhao Ziyun even said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger with an indifferent look on her face.
They were all prodigies.
Prodigies had their own pride. If someone tried to walk all over them, how could they possibly endure it?
Had today’s matter happened to them instead, they would not have been any gentler than Nangong Yu.
Even the Class A disciples eavesdropping from a distance wore much the same expressions—if someone bullied them to their faces, only fools would swallow it quietly. It was not as though they had no masters to back them up.
“Why are you so scared?” Mo Jiuyou could not understand. “You look like such a coward!”
That teary, sniveling expression was especially unpleasant to look at.
How could his whetstone be such a pathetic nobody?
The words “pathetic nobody” had barely crossed his mind before he abruptly froze. Since when had she been a pathetic nobody?
It had not been long since the last people who had been rude to her met their fate.
Mo Jiuyou’s gaze swept across the surroundings. The disciples’ peak had been rebuilt, all because of her—and Elder Fuyun had been the one to pay the spirit stones for it.
“With Elder Luo protecting you, what are you afraid of?” Mo Jiuyou said with a curl of his lip.
Outside the disciples’ peak, she had her master and senior brothers.
Within the disciples’ peak, she had Luo Qingyuan, who openly favored her.
“Although Elder Luo isn’t here today. Class B has no lessons,” he quickly added, gloating.
Zhao Ziyun had already left. The moment she heard Nangong Yu say it had merely been a dispute over a seat, she lost interest and walked away.
Xiao Junlin had to be polite. He nodded. “Excuse me.” Then he turned and left.
Only Mo Jiuyou stayed behind. He was young, and no one wanted to play with him, so he hesitated to leave.
The moment he did, a strange current of air swept over the back of his neck, carrying an indescribable pressure that raised goosebumps all over him.
He jerked his head up and looked outside.
“Where is Nangong Yu?”
A voice, booming like a great bell, rang through the hall and made everyone’s heart tremble.
The Class A disciples exchanged glances. One by one, they rose from their cushions and edged toward the hall entrance.
Shen Fuyu waited a long while, but no one came out.
He sent a wisp of divine sense into the hall. There were clearly plenty of people inside.
“Where is Nangong Yu?!”
The voice rang out again, this time with even more pressure. The Class A disciples felt their blood and energy surge, leaving them dizzy and disoriented.
Some clung to the doorframe. Some collapsed to the floor. Others sat cross-legged with their eyes closed, regulating their breathing.
Not one of them went outside.
As if!
Who would dare betray Nangong Yu?!
Offending an elder was one thing; at worst, the elder might not bother with them. But offend Nangong Yu, and who knew what would happen!
Outside the hall, Shen Fuyu waited a while longer. Still, no one came out, and he couldn’t help wondering why.
He slowly descended to the ground and walked into the hall.
The instant they saw him, the Class A disciples immediately moved aside.
Shen Fuyu didn’t so much as glance at them. His gaze landed squarely on Nangong Yu.
A young woman. Sixteen years old. Mid-Qi Refining.
“You’re Nangong Yu?” he asked in a low voice.
Nangong Yu glanced at him without answering. First, she took out her disciple token and sent messages to Elder Ling Heng and True Person Qinghong:
“Someone’s hitting me.”
Only then did she stand up. “And you are?”
Shen Fuyu had seen what she did. Hearing her say, “Someone’s hitting me,” made the corner of his mouth twitch.
Who had even laid a hand on her?
How devious. She was clearly no pushover!
“You’re the one bullying the disciples of my Fuyu Peak?” he asked in a low voice.
Nangong Yu shook her head without a second thought. “No. I don’t know what you’re talking about. When did that happen?”
At her denial, Shen Fuyu sneered, his eyes full of disgust. “Still trying to talk your way out of it!”
He raised a hand and grabbed. The girl was immediately pulled toward him, completely beyond her control.
“Hand over what you stole, and apologize to the disciples of my Fuyu Peak. Otherwise—”
A crushing spiritual pressure descended, forcing the girl down until she could barely lift her head.
Shen Fuyu was a Nascent Soul cultivator.
He was one major realm below the head of the Discipline Hall, and at the same level as Xu Wanzhong, the head’s third disciple.
That was why he had come straight to the disciples’ peak. He couldn’t afford to run into Ling Heng or Xu Wanzhong; he had to settle this while they were away.
What he hadn’t expected was that Nangong Yu, despite being only at the Qi Refining stage, had no fear of elders.
【What are you looking at? Never seen someone scavenging?】: While wearing this title, anyone who looks at you has a chance of getting a stye.
(Note: If the target has no eyes, a random organ will be chosen instead.)
“Argh—!”
A sudden, searing pain tore through Shen Fuyu’s eyes. Caught completely off guard, he cried out.
Distracted for a moment, the oppressive force pinning Nangong Yu down vanished. She immediately bolted for the exit.
“Help! Murder!”
“The Fuyu Peak Master is killing someone!”
“The Ziyang Sect has no place for geniuses!”
“The Fuyu Peak Master is slaughtering a sect genius!”
“Help—someone from Central Continent, help me—I want to go to Central Continent—”
How boring.
The Sect Master NPC had repeatedly said he admired her, but apparently it was all just talk. If he had simply announced it to the entire sect, who would have dared lay a hand on her?
She would take the time to squeeze some benefits out of Elder Fuyun, then head off to test the waters in Central Continent.
That last line had been nothing more than a whim, casually shouted on impulse. But, by sheer coincidence, there really was a cultivator from Central Continent within the sect.
Daoist Lord Zhoushan of the Lingxiao Sect was currently visiting the Ziyang Sect.
“Hm?” The young Daoist Lord’s expression shifted slightly. His figure vanished from the main peak’s great hall, only to appear in the sky above the disciples’ peak the next instant.
Yet his cultivation was far too high—he was a Nascent Soul Daoist Lord—so no one noticed his arrival.
Only the Sect Master, who had been speaking with him, was startled when he suddenly disappeared and hurriedly chased after him.
Both were Nascent Soul cultivators. The Sect Master spotted Daoist Lord Zhoushan at once and came to stand beside him.
“Senior Brother, what brings you here?”
Daoist Lord Zhoushan was looking down below. “I heard someone calling for a cultivator from Central Continent. I was curious.”
Who? Who had called for a Central Continent cultivator? And why?
The Sect Master was utterly baffled. But the moment he saw Nangong Yu in the clearing below, his brow twitched violently.
At once, he recalled the scene during the disciples’ trial, when Nangong Yu had spoken without restraint.
“Heh heh, Senior Brother, you must have misheard.” The Sect Master denied it decisively.
Daoist Lord Zhoushan did not argue. With a casual sweep of spiritual power, the earlier cry echoed once again in the Sect Master’s ears:
“Help—someone from Central Continent, help me—I want to go to Central Continent—”
“...”
The Sect Master’s brow twitched even harder. He wished he could conjure a spiritual-energy cage and lock that little disciple inside.
When it came to someone suspected of being the Purple Star, he could not afford to be careless.
The thought of Nangong Yu being snatched away by Central Continent—joining someone else’s sect and spending every day coaxing their cultivators into breakthroughs—was enough to give him a heart demon!
