The Gujian Sect was far from the Yunxiao Sect. Their group set out early in the morning and only arrived at the Yunxiao Sect at dusk.
On the spirit boat, Su Zhuyi had intended to greet the other senior and junior disciples—after all, she was skilled at utilizing all kinds of connections. However, with Qinghe by her side, even though they were all from the same sect, no one dared approach within three feet of Qinghe.
Qinghe was completely two-faced. At Luoxue Peak, dressed in white robes, he still appeared sunny and handsome, but once he came out, his entire person seemed rather gloomy, lacking the vigor of youth. Sitting there like a piece of rotten wood, he looked lifeless and deathly still. However, now that he had become one with the Longquan Sword, the fact that he no longer carried much murderous aura was already extremely rare.
When they were approaching the Yunxiao Sect, Su Zhuyi saw the Wangtian Tree from afar.
She had lived on that tree for six hundred years and was extremely familiar with the Wangtian Tree. Seeing it now, she stood up and walked to the edge of the spirit boat’s rail, supporting herself on the rail as she looked up. Her eyes sparkled slightly. Her eyelashes were long and curved, like two small fans. The golden fragments of dusk scattered on her long lashes, as if tiny stars and dots of flowers were embroidered on the small fans. When the fans swayed, they seemed to shake out golden powder.
Against the gentle evening glow, in everyone’s eyes, the little junior sister from Luoxue Peak who was afraid of death was so beautiful that people became dazed, so beautiful that they couldn’t look away, as if they had been cursed with a soul-stealing spell. For a moment, they all stared blankly, forgetting the words they had been speaking.
Such a beauty—who would be willing to let her die? It seemed that being afraid of death wasn’t such a shameful thing after all.
At this moment, someone finally mustered the courage to step forward and stammered, “Little junior sister, are you looking at the Wangtian Tree?” The little junior sister was close to Qinghe, and even approaching made him feel trembling with fear, as if the weather near Qinghe’s side had become cooler, and the spirit boat’s deck had even formed ice. However, the beauty before him was so captivating that despite his nervousness, he had to steel himself and muster the courage to say a few words—otherwise, he would be unable to sleep tonight.
Su Zhuyi turned her head and saw a somewhat familiar face, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
“I am Gu Feiyue from Cang Peak. Little junior sister has cultivated arduously for ten years without descending the mountain, so you probably haven’t heard of my name.”
So it was Gu Feiyue. In this lifetime, she had met him earlier. The current Gu Feiyue was extremely young, and his features were much more immature. Su Zhuyi herself hadn’t taken these men to heart, so when she first saw him, she only felt his face was familiar, but didn’t know who he was. But once he mentioned his name, she remembered.
Su Zhuyi smiled slightly, “So it’s Senior Brother Gu. I’ve long admired your reputation.” She turned back to look at the Wangtian Tree. “Is that tree called the Wangtian Tree? At a glance, you can’t even see its top.”
Even using divine consciousness to look, one couldn’t see the top of the Wangtian Tree.
“Yes, I heard that the Wangtian Tree can reach directly to the immortal realm and is the foundation of the Yunxiao Sect,” Gu Feiyue said.
Su Zhuyi giggled twice, “Then those living on the Wangtian Tree would be immortals, wouldn’t they?” Her voice was sweet and delicate, yet not the kind of affected tenderness. It was like honey had been added—soft and sweet, making people’s hearts feel sweet too. It was sweet but not cloying, and just hearing that voice made people comfortable.
“No one can live on the Yunxiao Sect’s Wangtian Tree—that’s a forbidden area of the Yunxiao Sect. Just like our Luoxue Peak, ordinary disciples cannot enter Luoxue Peak,” Gu Feiyue said. “Junior sister, being accepted as a disciple by Senior Luo is truly great fortune. In the future, you will surely achieve great mastery in the sword dao.”
After chatting with Gu Feiyue for a while and successfully making him develop a great fondness for her, Su Zhuyi saw that the spirit boat had arrived and obediently returned to Qinghe’s side, disembarking with him. However, before leaving, she didn’t forget to turn back with a smile, meeting Gu Feiyue’s gaze perfectly, then shyly and timidly looked away.
Even though Su Zhuyi’s heart was thinking of Qin Jianglan, she didn’t mind other men developing feelings for her. Who knows—perhaps someday she could use them? Moreover, this was the man who had been infatuated with her in her previous life, and his qualifications weren’t bad either.
When she turned away, the smile in Su Zhuyi’s eyes completely disappeared. Beside her, Qinghe glanced at her and continued walking forward expressionlessly.
The Yunxiao Sect, being such a great sect with deep foundations, naturally cultivated excellent disciples. The disciple who received them was courteous, leading them to the guest rooms that had already been arranged. The guest rooms were situated against mountains and beside water, extremely elegant, with very rich spiritual energy.
Su Zhuyi couldn’t sit still. While Elder Liu Rumei from Gujian Sect’s Fuliu Peak was conversing with the Yunxiao Sect cultivators, she paced around outside the rooms. After they finished talking, Su Zhuyi walked directly over. At this moment, she transformed, becoming an arrogant and willful young girl. Raising her chin, she asked the person, “I heard your Yunxiao Sect produced a sword cultivator of amazing talent who claims to surpass my Senior Brother Qinghe. I want to see for myself just how capable he is, daring to claim equal fame with my senior brother.”
Liu Rumei glared at her and scolded in a low voice, “Su Zhuyi, step back! What kind of behavior is this?”
She snorted defiantly, grabbed her sword, and charged forward, asking as she ran, “Where is Qin Jianglan? I want to see just how powerful his sword is!” On the way, she encountered another Yunxiao Sect disciple and angrily went up to block his path. “Hey, go tell Qin Jianglan that I, Su Zhuyi, want to meet him in advance and compete with him.”
Her skin was snow-white, her cheeks rosy red, and her hair bun had become somewhat disheveled, with a strand of beautiful hair hanging down against her cheek. The wind blew it to her lips. The girl’s petulance, combined with that moving face, became full of aggressive charm, suppressing the anger of the man she had blocked. He stared with wide eyes, and when he came to his senses, he somewhat embarrassedly turned his head away, repeatedly saying, “This fellow Daoist wants to find Junior Brother Qin. I’ll go help you ask.”
Su Zhuyi had a reason for approaching this person. The Yunxiao Sect disciples wore similar sect robes, but the jade pendants at their waists were different, and the green hues of the Wangtian Tree embroidered on their lapels also varied. Only through careful observation could these differences be detected. The person before her had a jade pendant with a crane pattern—he should be from the Songhe Valley lineage of the Yunxiao Sect. The Wangtian Tree’s color was deep green, indicating he was a direct disciple of Elder Crane from Songhe Valley. Then he and Qin Jianglan should have the same master, so naturally he could speak with Qin Jianglan and call him out.
While Su Zhuyi was doing these things, Qinghe’s gaze behind her was sharp as a blade, but she paid no attention, feeling no pressure whatsoever. Even Liu Rumei felt somewhat chilly under Qinghe’s invisible pressure and looked at Su Zhuyi with hesitation. But Su Zhuyi acted as if nothing was wrong. She knew Qinghe was watching her, wanting her to mind her words and behavior and not disgrace their master’s reputation. She deliberately didn’t care—she could handle it!
Before long, the Yunxiao Sect disciple she had called upon brought over a seventeen or eighteen-year-old young sword cultivator.
The moment she saw that azure robe from afar, Su Zhuyi’s mind exploded with a thunderous roar. She touched her toes lightly, and in several leaps, her body flew toward him like a swallow. Qin Jianglan, who had been cold and expressionless, suddenly raised his head and saw that tender, spring-willow-like pale green color rushing toward him. In the instant it approached him, the willow branch transformed into a sharp sword with killing intent fully revealed.
His expression changed slightly. Instinctively sensing the opponent’s killing intent, his flying sword had already left its sheath. The few powerful individuals nearby who sensed the killing intent on her also had dramatic changes in expression, while those with weaker abilities were completely confused. The senior brother beside them, who had dragged Qin Jianglan over, was still smiling cheerfully at Su Zhuyi, completely unaware of her killing intent. “I brought the person for you…”
Su Zhuyi shed all her murderous aura at the last moment, controlling the killing intent in her heart. Her brows furrowed as she asked, “You’re called Qin Jianglan?”
“I am Qin Chuan, styled Jianglan.”