The next morning, when Wu Chuan went to Qiyue Peak to fetch Kong Hou to the Treasure Hall, he discovered that Kong Hou had specially groomed and dressed herself up. Not only had she changed into a beautiful dress and skirt, but her hair was also styled into a Flying Immortal Bun. Master Uncle Wang Tong and two direct disciple martial brothers from Qiyue Peak were also present.

After exchanging greetings with each other, Wu Chuan looked at the new embroidered shoes on Kong Hou’s feet: “Junior Martial Sister, this is…”

“Senior Martial Brother said that many of the magical artifacts in the Treasure Hall have spirits. Since they have spirits, that means they have consciousness, and having consciousness means they have aesthetic judgment. If I dress up beautifully, perhaps the magical artifacts will appreciate me more.” Kong Hou felt that this way of thinking still had some merit. What if she entered the Treasure Hall and no magical artifacts were suitable for her? How embarrassing that would be.

Hearing this, Wu Chuan cast his gaze toward Master Uncle Wang Tong and the three disciples. How exactly had these three people been teaching Junior Martial Sister all this time?

Wang Tong was thick-skinned and simply pretended not to see Wu Chuan’s gaze: “My good disciple, don’t worry. You will definitely be able to select a suitable life-bound magical artifact.”

“Master Uncle, I’ll take Junior Martial Sister there now.” Wu Chuan decided to choose silence. He couldn’t afford to provoke Master Uncle Wang Tong. The last person who provoked Master Uncle Wang Tong was Master Uncle Qingyuan, who to this day was still frequently made to jump in anger by Master Uncle Wang Tong.

“Go ahead.” Wang Tong placed his hands behind his back. “Cheng Yi, Tan Feng, you two accompany Kong Hou as well.”

“Yes, Master.”

Kong Hou glanced at her two senior martial brothers and felt that she seemed to have become less nervous.

For the Yunhua Sect, the Treasure Hall was one of their important buildings. Three elders of the sect resided nearby, and if any evildoers broke into the grand formation outside the Treasure Hall, they would certainly alarm the three elders.

When a Foundation Establishment disciple entered the hall to select a life-bound magical artifact, the three elders would also all appear. This was also Kong Hou’s first time seeing all three elders together.

The elder who hadn’t appeared these past few years was a female cultivator at the Divine Transformation Stage. Although her hair was already silvery white, her countenance showed no signs of aging. Her gorgeous appearance made Kong Hou unable to help but look a few more times.

“Greetings to Elder Guyu, Elder Shujiu, Elder Qiushuang.” Wu Chuan bowed to the three elders. “This junior brings Junior Martial Sister Kong Hou, direct disciple of Qiyue Peak, to seek a magical treasure.”

“There’s no need for excessive courtesy.” Elder Guyu glanced at Kong Hou who was following behind Wu Chuan, nodded, and said to Kong Hou, “Entering the Treasure Hall, it is both you choosing the magical treasure and the magical treasure choosing you. All things emphasize fate and cannot be forced.”

“Inside are tens of thousands of magical treasures with varying grades. But regardless of the grade, once selected, there can be no regrets. From then on, it becomes your other half, your most loyal companion. If you reject your own magical treasure, it is equivalent to rejecting your own Dao.” Qiushuang took over from Guyu’s words and continued, “Remember, only mutual compatibility is best.”

“This junior will remember. Thank you, Elders, for the reminder.” Kong Hou respectfully bowed to the elders.

“Good that you remember.” With a wave of Qiushuang’s sleeve, the Treasure Hall’s great doors immediately opened, revealing pitch darkness beyond. Elder Qiushuang smiled at Kong Hou. “Go in. Don’t be afraid.”

“Thank you, Elder.”

Kong Hou looked back at her three senior martial brothers, then slowly walked into the great doors of the Treasure Hall. Stepping over the high threshold, when she looked back, she could no longer see the great doors. But she soon had no time to spare for other concerns, because there were too many magical artifacts here, with strange and varied styles that dazzled her eyes.

Above her head, magical artifacts flashing with various lights flew back and forth. On the treasure racks sat hairpins, vases, writing brushes, fans, and other objects. These items all emitted glowing radiance, thereby proving their identity as magical artifacts.

What surprised Kong Hou the most was that on the ground there were even magical artifacts like bricks and wooden sticks. Their appearance was so ordinary that they looked like they had been randomly picked up from some mountain ravine. With this kind of magical artifact, when going out to fight, one would probably be too embarrassed to take it out, right? No wonder Elder Qiushuang had specifically said not to reject one’s own magical treasure.

When she saw what looked like a chamber pot magical treasure piled in a corner, she couldn’t help but rub her forehead. It seemed that the first step to becoming a remarkable cultivator was to be mentally prepared to accept strange and bizarre magical artifacts.

A beautiful white jade flute slowly flew past Kong Hou’s eyes. Kong Hou touched it, but the feeling in her heart told her this was not something that belonged to her, even though it was very beautiful.

From the outside, the Treasure Hall was just a building, but after entering, she discovered it was an independent space that could allow those standing inside to shut out all external noise.

Kong Hou sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes. She heard many sounds—swords making humming noises, gourds being turned over and making sounds, and the faint musical tones of zithers and flutes.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard a pure and gentle sound, like rippling water waves, like drifting snowflakes, like a clear spring gurgling past. She had heard this sound before; it was all too familiar. Thinking of various past events, her emotions became somewhat complicated. She opened her eyes and looked at the phoenix-headed instrument floating before her, reaching out to gently stroke the strings upon it.

Phoenix-Head Kong Hou.

Around Kong Hou’s body circled a golden phoenix. The phoenix emitted multicolored radiance, and its pair of eyes seemed alive, looking straight into Kong Hou’s heart. When her hand touched the phoenix head, this magical treasure instantly became only half an arm’s length of a woman, lying quietly and peacefully in Kong Hou’s hand.

“I was named after the Phoenix-Head Kong Hou. I never expected that in the end, the magical treasure I would obtain would still be a Phoenix-Head Kong Hou.” Kong Hou brushed past the phoenix pattern carvings on the artifact’s body, thinking of how her Imperial Father had been obsessed with musical instruments and pleasure, not caring about Mother Empress, not caring about her, and not caring about the realm, and suddenly laughed aloud.

“The Kong Hou and I truly have fate.” Kong Hou rose from the ground, gripping the Phoenix-Head Kong Hou tightly. She heard the strings emit a pleasant sound, as if very happy that she could take it away.

Kong Hou casually plucked the strings once, only to discover that the strings released a powerful air current. The surrounding magical artifacts all dodged one after another, seemingly worried that the air current released by the phoenix head would hurt them.

“My name is Kong Hou, and you are also Kong Hou. How will we distinguish between us in the future?” Kong Hou placed her hand on the strings, making them stop vibrating. “From now on, I’ll call you Phoenix Head.” Having said this, without waiting for the Phoenix-Head Kong Hou’s reaction, she patted her waist. “It’s decided then.”

“Senior Martial Brother, why hasn’t Junior Martial Sister come out yet?” Tan Feng stared at the Treasure Hall’s great doors, feeling somewhat anxious in his heart. They had been waiting for a whole day and night already. How was there still no movement? When he had gone in to select a magical treasure back then, he hadn’t even used up one shichen.

Wu Chuan and Cheng Yi both practiced the Sword Dao. Their life-bound swords were forged by their own hands, so they had never gone to the Treasure Hall to select life-bound magical artifacts. Hearing Tan Feng’s muttering, the two couldn’t help but feel somewhat worried as well. It was just that their personalities were more composed than Tan Feng’s, so they didn’t show it.

“She’s coming out.”

“Junior Martial Sister?!” Tan Feng walked forward a few steps. Seeing what looked like a phoenix, like a vertical harp in Kong Hou’s hands, his feet paused: “A zither?”

“No, that’s a Kong Hou.”

Tan Feng turned to look at Wu Chuan. The head disciple senior martial brother must have gone silly. Of course he knew that was Junior Martial Sister Kong Hou.

“I’m talking about the magical artifact in Junior Martial Sister’s hands.” Wu Chuan said with a straight face. “Phoenix-Head Kong Hou.”

In the cultivation world, all magical artifacts related to dragons and phoenixes that had developed spiritual awareness carried several points of mysterious coloring.

People who possessed this kind of life-bound magical artifact were like being touched by miraculous fortune—either possessing a brilliant life or experiencing hardships and suffering countless tribulations.

Author has something to say: Kong Hou: Don’t compete with me for the name!

Good night~