“It’s so hot, what did you give me to drink…”
At the Wind-Snow Peak, Qian Yu felt an unbearable heat surging through her body.
“Tea,” Gu Qinghan said. She paused for a moment and then thoughtfully added, “Hot tea.”
As a Regressor with twice the life experience of an ordinary person, she naturally possessed high emotional intelligence.
She understood the truth that when borrowing someone from another person, one must offer benefits in return.
This cup of tea was the very thing she had previously promised Nalan Yunyan—an ancient divine object for enlightenment brought back from prehistoric ruins, the Yimu Mingxin Tea.
It was one of the few things in the entire Luoxia Immortal Sect that the Nalan Family could not easily obtain.
Its quality was as high as the Semi-Venerable level.
Even for a Venerable, it provided benefits, not to mention that it originated from ancient times and was extinct in the modern era.
Previously, it was because Gu Qinghan promised to give Qian Yu a cup and swore she would only ask a few questions that Nalan Yunyan agreed to let the girl go.
In fact, if it weren’t for Qian Yu’s previous words of comfort touching Nalan Yunyan’s heart, she wouldn’t have agreed even with Gu Qinghan’s promise of the enlightenment tea.
How could Nalan Yunyan’s little lackey be allowed to talk to others?
She wouldn’t use Gu Qinghan’s things, and as her subordinate, Qian Yu had no right to be sent out to collude with the enemy for her own personal gain.
Gu Qinghan was unaware of these internal complications.
She only felt that the conversation she just had with Qian Yu had been deeply beneficial—so it was the expression.
Her smile wasn’t natural enough, which was why Nalan Yunyan got angry.
In that case, she really needed to refine her external expressions, but how should she observe them?
Gu Qinghan didn’t know what kind of smile was naturally beautiful.
However, when she tried to recall a beautiful smile in her mind, the first image that appeared was this Half-Yao laughing foolishly at her—Heh-heh-heh, e-heh-heh-heh, jie-jie.
“…”
No, she couldn’t smile that stupidly.
Gu Qinghan quickly cleared the image from her mind.
Seeing that Qian Yu on the other side had finally stopped burning and had fallen into a state of sudden enlightenment, she contacted Nalan Yunyan using the communication talismans shared between True Disciples:
“My business is finished. Take your person back. Today should be the day she enters the isolation chamber before the examination.”
“Fine. I’ll send someone,” Nalan Yunyan’s brief reply came from the other side.
“But how do you know so much about Qian Yu’s situation?”
“I just asked.”
“Then what else did you talk about with her?”
Since she largely trusted Gu Qinghan’s character, Nalan Yunyan wasn’t worried about Qian Yu’s safety.
However, from her position as the boss, she was still somewhat concerned about whether her little lackey was colluding with her arch-rival.
Dong… Dong…
Before Nalan Yunyan could receive an answer, a series of solemn and grand bell chimes suddenly echoed throughout the Sect.
That was the Sunset Bell used to welcome guests.
The bell rang five times, meaning there was at least a Venerable Realm expert among the visitors.
It seemed the group from the Demon Race had arrived.
Cutting off the communication, Nalan Yunyan clenched her fists.
Her mood for small talk was instantly replaced by battle intent.
A Demon Holy Body. She truly wanted to meet it.
Only this time, it wasn’t to prove that she was stronger than Gu Qinghan.
It was to prove that every strike of her sword, every move, and every form was the best among all peers of the same rank throughout history.
Qian Yu was right.
Her previous goal of anchoring herself solely to Gu Qinghan had been too narrow.
As the distant sound of the bell spread completely, the identity tokens of all Luoxia Immortal Sect disciples received the same message—aside from a few disciples who failed last year’s Year-end Examination and were confined to special “dark rooms,” everyone else was to gather at the main hall.
***
Glazed ridges arch, trailing starlight,
Ten thousand acres of sunset clouds serve as earthly makeup.
Jade pillars with coiled dragons peer at immortal seats,
Upturned eaves of flying corners catch the setting sun.
At this moment, at the highest point of the Luoxia Immortal Sect within the main hall, immortal clouds hung in the air, and red mists lingered like music.
Streaks of long rainbows pierced through the sky as one Daoist robe after another arrived on flying swords.
With the atmosphere of ten thousand immortals paying homage, the place truly lived up to its name as one of the Seven Sacred Lands of the Righteous Path.
As the highest-specification hall in the Sect, its main gates had rarely been opened since its construction.
Today, not only were the main gates wide open, but the presence of those arriving inside further broadened the horizons of the attending disciples.
“Is that… Elder Xue? She’s still alive?!”
“Not just Elder Xue, Elder Ye isn’t dead either!”
“Yeah, not dead. He’s looking over here.”
Exclamations broke out from the crowd from time to time, all because the hall was filled with senior figures of the Luoxia Immortal Sect who were rumored to have already passed away.
These were senior predecessors who had long ago stopped concerning themselves with worldly affairs, focusing solely on breaking through to the Venerable Realm.
Usually, they wouldn’t even appear for major events like the appointment of a new Sect Master, yet today, every single one of them had emerged from seclusion!
What was even more important was that these senior figures, whose cultivation had reached the Semi-Venerable level, couldn’t even stand at the center of this hall.
They could only stand at the bottom of the hall, just like the disciples.
The true protagonists were at the high seats above, shrouded in auspicious light that made them impossible to see clearly, yet still commanded reverence from the bottom of everyone’s hearts—the Venerables.
Just what had happened to make so many great figures emerge from seclusion at once?
Unlike those ordinary disciples who were filled with doubt and wild speculation, Nalan Yunyan had long known the purpose of the Sect gathering them here.
She stared intently at the indistinct auspicious light at the high seats, her golden pupils showing not a hint of fear.
“Sooner or later, I will take that place.”
As a fellow top-tier True Disciple, Gu Qinghan’s position was right next to Nalan Yunyan.
Her gaze was also fixed on the Venerables above, and a rare flicker of emotion crossed her eyes.
Her Divine Sense, which was close to the Venerable level, allowed her to see a pair of Fox ears up there.
That was a pure-blood Fox Tribe Venerable.
If she remembered correctly, among the existing Fox Tribe, there were only a few bloodlines that could reach the Venerable Realm, one of which was the descendants of the Ancient Heavenly Fox.
She wondered if she could trace the source of the bloodline within Qian Yu through them?
While Gu Qinghan was indifferently and quietly comparing the similarity between the Fox Tribe Venerable and Qian Yu’s fox ears, a slight commotion broke out from the area where the Inner Disciples were stationed.
They had also spotted a pair of fox ears.
“Look over there. That Half-Yao, doesn’t she look a bit like that Qian Yu from the outer gates?”
“She does look a bit similar.”
“But her fur looks so pink. Is she a newly arrived Half-Yao?”
“I don’t know why the Sect is recruiting so many Half-Yaos. They take up resources and their bloodline makes people uncomfortable.”
“Am I the only one who thinks she looks very soft and pettable?”
“Just because she’s pettable doesn’t mean…”
The discussion among the disciples grew increasingly heated until a crisp, pleasant voice suddenly interrupted: “Sorry to interrupt.”
“We are the Demon Race, pure-blooded members of the Demon Race. Please do not compare us to those mongrels with mottled bloodlines.”
The fox demon, who had just been standing on the other side of the hall hundreds of meters away, suddenly appeared before them as if out of thin air.
How did she appear?!
The several Inner Disciples who were just sneering at the Demon Race bloodline were instantly startled. After seeing the girl’s face clearly, their faces suddenly flushed red, and they nodded stammeringly:
“So-sorry… we didn’t know.”
“Enough, Young Lady. The Young Lord instructed us not to lower ourselves to the level of the barbaric Human Race. They always have many self-righteous stereotypes.”
The one speaking was a maid standing silently beside the fox demon.
The condescending tone immediately angered several disciples, but after sensing the aura coming from the speaker, they swallowed their words.
A mere maid beside this fox demon possessed an aura no weaker than their own Shizun!
“Mhm.”
Nodding to the maid beside her, the fox demon girl turned back to the stunned disciples and said:
“Therefore, the Demon Race and Half-Yaos are two completely different races. We all hate being seen as Half-Yaos, so please do not mix us up in the future.”
“Otherwise, the consequences might not be as pleasant as me speaking nicely with you.”
The disciples nodded repeatedly.
Only then did they realize that although the girl before them—whom they had mistaken for a Half-Yao—had the same ears and tail as Qian Yu, she appeared so beautiful and elegant.
Every movement she made exuded an indescribable nobility.
Even long after she had walked away, the group had not regained their senses.
“So that’s the Demon Race? So beautiful, not at all like the bloodthirsty and cruel descriptions Shizun gave…”
“Of course. Every demon who can take human form before reaching the Venerable Realm has noble ancestors who were above the Venerable rank. Both their status and talent are different from that Qian Yu in our Sect.”
“Those with pure blood are Demons; those with mottled blood are Half-Yaos. Remember that, and don’t get them mixed up again.”
***
“A bunch of brainless, lowly monkeys.”
Returning to her clan’s group, the fox girl’s angelic and polite smile instantly turned cold.
Because she feared disrupting this exchange with the Human Race, it wasn’t convenient for her to strike people in public.
However, since they had offended her, this matter would definitely not be settled so easily.
“Ajiu, go back and tell my Sister that during the sparring later, I want to cripple a few people.”
In the territory of the Human Race, specifically naming disciples to be crippled—the fox girl felt nothing wrong with saying such words.
This was because the Demon Race was a race that valued bloodline above all else, and the sister she served carried the most noble bloodline in the entire Demon Realm.
Even if she crippled a few disciples of the Luoxia Immortal Sect, so what?
Would the Human Race even dare to start a war with them?
After all, her Sister was the descendant of one of the Nine Great Demon Kings under the command of the divine auspicious beast of the Demon Race—the Ancient Heavenly Fox…
“But, is there actually a Half-Yao with Fox Tribe blood in this Sect? I wonder if she’s also participating in the examination.”
After giving her orders, the fox girl narrowed her eyes, a playful smile appearing on her lips.
Just as she had said before, all demons hated being treated like Half-Yaos.
In the Demon Realm, where bloodline determined almost everything, such a being was the lowest of the low.
Not to mention she also carried the blood of half a monkey.
She truly wanted to see what kind of envious look that mottled Half-Yao would have when she saw a noble, pure-blooded Fox Tribe member like herself.
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