Zanxing stared at the person in front of her.

The Taiyan Sect had seven master uncles – this she knew. But in the original story, there didn’t seem to be such a character. With a name and face like this, if she had seen them before, she couldn’t possibly have no impression.

Seeing her just staring at Gu Baiying in a daze, Zi Luo quietly tugged at Zanxing’s clothes again and whispered: “Junior Sister.”

Zanxing came back to her senses.

“Yang Zanxing, Hua Yue.” Xuan Lingzi put on a stern face as he looked at the two of them: “Who allowed you to fight here?”

Hua Yue said innocently: “Master Uncle, I wasn’t the one picking a fight. I had just gotten up when I saw Junior Sister Yang charging at me aggressively to fight for her life. All the fellow disciples can testify for me.”

The other disciples nodded in agreement: “That’s right, I swear, Yang Zanxing did strike first.”

“Senior Brother Hua Yue didn’t do anything wrong.”

Xuan Lingzi turned to Yang Zanxing: “Yang Zanxing, why did you attack a fellow senior brother?”

Zanxing glanced at Hua Yue: “Yesterday, I entered the mountain with fellow disciples. While I was searching for Night Vine branches, Hua Yue ambushed me, intending to harm me. Is this what fellow disciples’ friendship means?”

“Impossible.” It was Xuan Lingzi who said this. He continued: “To prevent any harm between fellow disciples, before entering the mountain, I cast a Heart-Link Curse on each of you. If anyone attacks a fellow disciple, the Heart-Link Curse will activate, and a mark will appear on that person’s forehead. Hua Yue’s forehead is completely clean with no marks.”

“That’s right,” Hua Yue said righteously: “Junior Sister Yang, don’t make false accusations due to personal grudges.”

Zanxing frowned, then quickly understood. Hua Yue indeed hadn’t attacked her directly, because not one strike from his sword had landed on her body. He had merely forced her into grabbing the Night Vine branch, which then broke. In a certain sense, Hua Yue wasn’t the main culprit.

However, seeing the smugness in his eyes, Zanxing felt frustrated. Hua Yue must have known about the Heart-Link Curse’s existence from the start and deliberately exploited this loophole.

Was this also a test from the original story?

“Sixth Master Uncle,” Zi Luo smiled, “Junior Sister Zanxing might be a bit confused after spending a night in the mountains. Look, her clothes are dirty too. Whatever the matter is, let’s wait until Junior Sister Zanxing has changed clothes and rested before discussing it.”

Only then did Xuan Lingzi notice Zanxing’s rather personally-styled torn gauze robe, and his old face couldn’t help but redden. He waved his hand: “Go quickly. After you’ve washed and tidied up, come find me in the hall.”

Zi Luo hurriedly pulled Zanxing away.

After they left, the disciples outside the wooden building also dispersed, and Hua Yue returned to his room. Xuan Lingzi walked toward the hall together with Gu Baiying.

“Junior Brother, I’m sorry,” Xuan Lingzi said embarrassedly: “You had to see such a joke right after returning. These rascals are young and hot-blooded, fighting and killing at the slightest disagreement. I don’t know who they take after.”

“Well, it’s not after you,” Gu Baiying smiled carelessly. “However, that guy just now couldn’t even see through illusions. The inner sect disciples recruited this time don’t seem to have much talent.”

“You can’t say that. Didn’t Yang Zanxing just return from Gufeng Mountain?” Xuan Lingzi said, then shook his head with a sigh: “To spend a night on Gufeng Mountain and come out safe and sound – this is the first time since the Taiyan Sect was established. Just for this point alone, she’s not ordinary.”

Gu Baiying continued walking up the stone steps, saying dismissively, “Maybe she encountered some fortunate opportunity in the mountains and luckily preserved her life. A single coincidence doesn’t count as anything special.”

He walked a few steps, and noticing no movement behind him, looked back to see Xuan Lingzi had stopped, standing behind him, apparently thinking about something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Junior Brother,” Xuan Lingzi raised his head, his expression somewhat hesitant. After a while, he stammered: “There’s something I haven’t had time to tell you yet.”

Gu Baiying raised an eyebrow: “What is it?”

“Why do I say Yang Zanxing is special? It’s because earlier in the Martial Arts Hall… she found the ‘Qing E Nian Hua Gun.'”

The youth’s expression suddenly froze: “What did you say?”

“Your mother… the technique manual that Qinghua Xianzi wrote was found by Yang Zanxing,” Xuan Lingzi said.

…

In the small wooden building, Zanxing sat completely submerged in a wooden tub, enjoying a comfortable hot bath.

Zi Luo brought in clean gauze robes while saying to her, “Later, I’ll have someone send over some spiritual herbs. You spent a night in the mountains, and your vital energy appears damaged. You need to recuperate well these next few days.”

“Thank you, Senior Sister.” Zanxing leaned against the edge of the wooden tub. The Xiaoyuan Pearl seemed to be nurturing its energy after last night and no longer showed any movement. Zanxing also decided to rest and recuperate for a few days first. However, although she had fallen into the black swamp, her body showed no wounds from miasma invasion. Aside from being a bit tired, she had no discomfort at all – truly a blessing in disguise.

It’s just that this incident had completely made her enemies with Hua Yue. Now that Hua Yue was certain she was hiding treasures, with one plan failed, he would surely make a comeback. Thinking of this, Zanxing couldn’t help but sigh.

Zi Luo thought Zanxing was worried about being unable to explain things to Xuan Lingzi, so she comforted her: “Junior Sister, don’t worry. Sixth Master Uncle is usually very reasonable. When you go find him later, just make yourself sound more pitiful, and Sixth Master Uncle won’t hold it against you. Fighting with fellow disciples will at most get you punished with cleaning the outer courtyard.”

Zanxing was startled, then remembered another matter and asked: “Senior Sister, that Seventh Master Uncle who appeared today – is his youth-preserving technique very good? He looks about our age. Why doesn’t Grand Master Uncle learn from him?”

Upon hearing this, Zi Luo burst into laughter: “What youth-preserving technique? Seventh Master Uncle is naturally young – he’s not even twenty yet.”

“Nineteen?” Zanxing was puzzled: “Then how did he become a master uncle at such a young age?”

Xuan Lingzi looked to be over fifty, old enough to be Gu Baiying’s father, yet they were senior and junior brothers. Although this was a cultivation novel where logic wasn’t necessary, this setting seemed too casual.

“Seventh Master Uncle may be young, but his cultivation is high. Moreover, his mother is Qinghua Xianzi, who was the Sect Master’s junior sister. By seniority, he’s naturally of the same generation as the master uncles.”

Zanxing’s heart stirred: “Qinghua Xianzi?”

She did have an impression of this name. If the founding Sect Master Yushan Shengren was the only cultivator on the Duzhou continent to successfully ascend, thereby becoming the Taiyan Sect’s living advertisement, then Yushan Shengren’s disciple, Qinghua Xianzi, was the Taiyan Sect’s enduring evergreen spokesperson over all these years.

In the original story, although Qinghua Xianzi was only mentioned in passing, those few strokes still outlined the image of a goddess with superior cultivation, cold temperament, and absolute beauty.

However, it only described the goddess – it never mentioned that the goddess had a son!

Zi Luo glanced at Zanxing and smoothed out the last wrinkle on the gauze robe: “The ‘Qing E Nian Hua Gun’ manual you found in the Martial Arts Hall was written by Seventh Master Uncle’s mother, Qinghua Xianzi.”