In a noisy crowd, there’s always that one person who makes everyone else appear dim and colorless, with only her as the sole light.

Jing Yuan, who kept away from women and had never even been moved by a woman before, felt the flame in his heart beginning to flicker.

However, in the very next moment, he saw this vividly smiling young lady tug at another man’s sleeve. Although the action was light and the sleeve she tugged was quickly released, the small flame that had just sparked in his heart had already been extinguished by half.

Then he saw that man lift his head, their gazes meeting. There was no emotion in his eyes—icy cold and frighteningly deep. This gaze made the flame in his heart completely extinguish, and he couldn’t help but shiver.

That look… was too terrifying, like unmelted ice that could at any moment transform into a cold blade and pierce through someone’s chest.

“Not looking anymore?” Ling Yue had noticed his gaze long ago. Seeing him frightened by the man’s stare, she said with a half-smile, “I hope in the future there won’t be rumors spreading that you fought with another man over jealousy and couldn’t even beat him.”

“Senior Sister…” Jing Yuan’s face flushed slightly. “Give me some face. There are people coming and going here—it would be bad if someone overheard.”

“You know it’s bad with people coming and going, yet you stared at that young lady with such wide eyes—that has face?” Ling Yue’s expression darkened. “If you know to want face, you should know to do respectable things.”

Jing Yuan’s face reddened as he cupped his fists toward Ling Yue. “Senior Sister, I know I was wrong.”

“Senior Sister, those people over there seem to be from Qingfeng Sect?” The young junior sister quietly reminded her. “Look at the swords in their hands.”

In the crowd, several men and women held precious swords. The swords were studded with various gorgeous gemstones that were particularly glaring in the sunlight, declaring their presence from afar.

“It really is them…” Ling Yue’s tone was very complex. In Ling Yue’s view, Qingfeng Sect didn’t count as orthodox sword cultivators. On this matter, Liuguang Sect’s perspective was very similar to Jiufeng Sect’s.

These several Qingfeng Sect disciples were currently crowding in front of a gemstone shop, picking through various elaborate gemstones. Ling Yue highly doubted—after buying so many gemstones, would there still be any space left on their swords to inlay them?

Seeing their high spirits, Ling Yue didn’t go disturb them. Facing Kong Hou who was walking toward them, she smiled. “Miss, we meet again.” She didn’t smile often, and when she did, it was somewhat stiff. This appearance easily led people to misunderstand that she was looking down on them.

Kong Hou tilted her head and said with a smile, “Greetings, Xianzi.”

“Is Miss also going to Yunhua Sect?” Seeing the smile on Kong Hou’s face, Ling Yue breathed a slight sigh of relief. For some reason, whenever she exchanged greetings with other female cultivators, they always seemed unhappy. Before leaving, her master had told her that you don’t strike someone who’s smiling at you. It seemed her master was right—when she smiled at this young lady, the young lady’s attitude became much warmer.

“Yes.” Kong Hou nodded. “Would Xianzi like to travel with us?”

“No,” Ling Yue shook her head. “We still have some matters to attend to. Miss, please go ahead. We’ll come shortly after.”

“Since that’s the case, we’ll take our leave first. When we reach Yunhua Mountain, we’ll talk more.” Kong Hou gave Ling Yue a smile, then curtsied to her three junior brothers and sisters. “Farewell.”

“Farewell.” The other three disciples hastily returned the courtesy.

After Kong Hou had walked far away, Jing Yuan murmured, “Such a wonderful woman, how could she have fallen for someone so…”

The white-robed man walking alongside that xianzi turned his head back, looking at him expressionlessly. Jing Yuan immediately changed his words. “Fallen for such an outstanding man—truly a match made in heaven.”

He turned to look at his senior sister, who was actually gazing at that young lady with a gentle expression. His heart immediately grew vigilant. This one certainly looked good—pale and soft, with a sweet smile, but… that was a woman!

“Senior Sister,” he stammered, “that young lady already has someone…”

“Good that you know this.” Ling Yue was somewhat gratified. Although this young junior brother was rather foolish, at least he hadn’t reached the point of being beyond redemption.

The Qingfeng Sect disciples who had finished selecting gemstones turned and saw the four from Jiufeng Sect in the crowd. They gripped their gorgeous swords tightly and walked toward Ling Yue and the others. The leader, Ye Fei, said, “Greetings, fellow daoists.”

“Greetings.” Ling Yue curved her lips. “Are you all also here to congratulate Daoist Cheng Yi?”

“Precisely.” Ye Fei pursed her lips and forced out a smile with difficulty.

Although they were both sword cultivators, their understanding of the sword dao was different, so they didn’t have much to talk about. After exchanging pleasantries, everyone very tacitly proposed to take their leave to avoid being surrounded by awkward emotions.

“Senior Sister, was that Jiufeng Sect female cultivator mocking us?” Feng Qi recalled that person’s ambiguous smile and felt somewhat uncomfortable. Even if they were a second or third-ranked great sect, there was no need to look down on people like that, right?

Zhenren Huan Zong was a direct disciple of the first sect, yet he wasn’t so arrogant.

“Do you know who she is?” Ye Fei’s mood had already improved. Although the other party’s fake smile of mockery just now had made her somewhat stifled, people with ability had the capital to be proud.

“Who?” Feng Qi asked.

“She’s Xianzi Ling Yue, who’s almost as renowned as Zhenren Zhong Xi—Jiufeng Sect’s future sect master.” Ye Fei said, “There are plenty of sword cultivators in the entire cultivation world who can’t stand us. You need to get used to it.”

These sword cultivators who couldn’t bear to decorate their life-bound swords actually had the nerve to look down on them for decorating their life-bound swords. They truly had no sense of reason at all.

On the other side, Ling Yue was also very confused. She had clearly smiled—why had it become ineffective again?

Yunhua Mountain was wreathed in clouds and mist year-round with abundant spiritual energy, which was why the entire mountain was named Yunhua. When Yunhua Mountain was first established, it was an obscure small sect. But because Yong City was once considered a place of depravity by cultivators, cultivators didn’t really come to this place—including evil cultivators who loved causing trouble.

This continued for several hundred years until evil cultivators launched a massive attack on righteous cultivators. Yunhua Sect suddenly stood up, and only then did the entire cultivation world realize that such a formidable sect had emerged from Yong City.

As Yunhua Sect helped others more and more times, their position among the ten great sects was established. Although… the cultivation world had been peaceful for several hundred years and Yunhua Sect disciples acted lazily, no one dared shake their position.

The excited mood of returning home gradually calmed down after reaching the foot of Yunhua Mountain. Birds sang in the secluded mountain, and the entire great mountain was surrounded by complex formations.

Lin Hu praised, “What a fine place.”

Backed by spiritual veins with living water flowing around—an image of endless vitality. Were Yunhua Sect’s ancestors feng shui masters?

“Kong Hou, the scenery here is excellent. Shall we… walk up slowly?” Huan Zong suddenly said. “Would that be all right?”

“Ah?” Kong Hou was stunned, then nodded. “Sure.”

Hearing this, Lin Hu turned to look at Huan Zong, his expression carrying some understanding.

What was the point? Since ancient times, who hasn’t died? A sincere heart illuminating the gutter. It was inevitable—struggling was useless.

Everyone up and down Yunhua Sect had been very happy recently, including new disciples who had entered less than a year ago. Although they had only seen Senior Brother Cheng Yi a few times, the fact that the meal hall’s food had been getting better and better these past few days was enough to make them deeply grateful to Senior Brother Cheng Yi.

Just as the new disciples were pondering what to eat for lunch, a disciple on mountain guard duty came running over. “Something major has happened! Someone at the foot of the mountain saw that Senior Sister Kong Hou has lured a sword cultivator from Liuguang Sect here!”

Author’s Note: Kong Hou: Lured? The weather’s turned cold—expel all these newcomers from the sect.

A bit short, everyone please forgive me QAQ. After the meeting is over and I return, I’ll resume normal updates.