After enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery of Among the Colorful Clouds, Ji Hongye and Liu Mingyan arrived at the foot of the mountain, preparing to bid farewell to everyone.
Liu Mingyan looked disheveled and covered in dust.
It seemed she hadn’t fared well in the “friendly sparring” earlier.
Just looking at these demonesses of Among the Colorful Clouds made her heart tremble.
Chi Ming was fine; she had fought Liu Mingyan head-on in a hearty, satisfying match.
Huang Doudou, however, was a headache.
The little girl was so agile that Liu Mingyan’s sword constantly missed.
When a Move finally managed to hit Doudou, Liu Mingyan would hear a strange, blissful sound from the girl, which left her utterly shocked.
But it was Blue Ling’er and Su Cheng who truly terrified Liu Mingyan.
One didn’t know how to hold back, and the other used ruthless, underhanded tactics.
Liu Mingyan had barely held her ground, at one point fearing they had already dug a grave and were just waiting to throw her in.
“Master, why aren’t we leaving yet?”
Liu Mingyan asked Ji Hongye with a trembling voice.
Where was the confident girl who had stood before the Mountain-Protecting Array of Among the Colorful Clouds?
She had clearly been beaten into submission.
“Sister Yu said she prepared a surprise for me. Let’s wait a bit longer,”
the white-haired girl holding the Silk Parasol said calmly.
Beneath the shade of the parasol, an expression of anticipation that she couldn’t quite hide flickered across her face.
“Master, both First Senior Brother and Second Senior Sister have prepared gifts for you before, but you never cared. Why are you so invested in her?”
Liu Mingyan asked, confused.
“I can usually guess what gifts you all will prepare. After a while, they stop being surprises. But she is different; she rarely prepares surprises for me.”
Ji Hongye replied, “The people of this world think the Lord of the Sword Pavilion is an old dinosaur, but that isn’t the case. I’m simply not good at dealing with new things. If it’s something Sister Yu prepared, it should be something I can easily accept.”
As she spoke, the smile on Ji Hongye’s face deepened.
“However, I really am curious. What kind of surprise has she prepared?”
Liu Mingyan rarely saw her master show such an expression.
She wanted to say something else, but she ultimately kept her mouth shut.
‘Forget it, as long as Master is happy.’
A moment later, Yu Yi and Yun Qianxue walked down from the mountain.
Yun Qianxue was carrying a large box, its contents unknown.
“Sister Yu, this is…”
Ji Hongye looked at the box and asked curiously.
“I just took Qianxue to Ling’an City,” Yu Yi replied.
“We picked out some new clothes from the Tailor Shop there.”
“You… you went to Ling’an City? When?”
Liu Mingyan was startled, but she began to cough and quickly shut her mouth.
This time, she wasn’t afraid of Ji Hongye calling her rude.
She simply realized that with the Demoness’s god-like methods, it wasn’t strange at all for her to visit Ling’an City and return without anyone noticing.
But… she sent clothes?
“My master doesn’t have much interest in fashion, Senior Yu. Perhaps…”
Liu Mingyan wasn’t trying to be picky about Yu Yi’s gift; it was just that Ji Hongye truly had no interest in such things, and the thought alone was usually enough.
However, before Liu Mingyan could finish her sentence, she saw Yun Qianxue set the box down and slowly open it.
Inside was a set of cute dresses made of high-quality fabric and exquisite craftsmanship, perfectly suited for a child.
Liu Mingyan’s eyes went wide.
“How… how could you give my master this kind of clothing? Isn’t this just mocking her for her body becoming smaller?!”
Liu Mingyan cried out emotionally.
“Wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth before you say that. Looking at you, you’re probably looking forward to seeing the Sword Emperor in this little dress, aren’t you?”
Su Cheng sneered, ruthlessly exposing her.
“I… I am not!”
Liu Mingyan denied it immediately while wiping her mouth.
Ji Hongye didn’t react at first, falling into deep thought instead.
‘Sister Yu rarely prepares surprises for anyone. Since she gave me this gift, she must have her own reasons. Is she trying to tell me that even if my body has become small, I shouldn’t be bound by the chains of the past? That I should learn to let nature take its course, accept my current self, and keep moving forward?’
Ji Hongye gave a bitter smile and thought silently, ‘I originally thought I was ready to show myself in this form, but it seems I wasn’t. Sister Yu sees more clearly than I do. Perhaps only by wearing clothes that fit this body can I truly accept my current self.’
Once Ji Hongye understood, she looked at Yu Yi and said, “Then, I shall accept it.”
Yu Yi was a bit surprised.
She had thought Ji Hongye was too rigid to accept it easily.
There was no deep, special reason why she had given the dress to Ji Hongye.
Yu Yi simply felt that it was a bit jarring to see a little girl dressed like an old-fashioned elder.
After Liu Mingyan stepped forward to take the box, Ji Hongye said to her, “Mingyan, I’ll have to trouble you to take this back to the Palace.”
“Does Master plan to change after we return?”
“It would be inappropriate to meet the third disciple of Among the Colorful Clouds dressed like this,” Ji Hongye said, shaking her head.
Next, she would be traveling to Qiongzhou with Yu Yi to find Ye Qingluan.
Liu Mingyan let her imagination run wild for a moment.
A cute little girl entrusting the Everlasting Tribulation Sword and a heavy mission to Ye Qingluan… what would that look like?
Ye Qingluan would probably think some brat was pretending to be the Sword Emperor and playing a joke on her.
As the Fengshen Litter appeared and descended, Yu Yi and Ji Hongye stepped onto it and departed with the wind.
Liu Mingyan was about to leave while holding the box when a series of devil-like whispers drifted from behind her.
“Lady Liu, do you need us to give you a ride?”
“No… no thank you!”
Liu Mingyan bolted, vanishing from the spot in the blink of an eye.
***
Qiongzhou, Fengjiu County.
Although Fengjiu County wasn’t a large city, it was nestled among mountains and dense forests with a beautiful environment.
Every year, cultivators would enter the mountains to go into secluded mediation.
For the local commoners, seeing visiting cultivators enter the city was a common occurrence.
Recently, however, things had been getting strange.
The number of cultivators entering the city was increasing, and they all arrived in groups.
The old man selling melons at the city gates had counted clearly — in just a few short days, nearly four or five groups of cultivators had entered the city!
The County Magistrate of Fengjiu County also found it strange.
He wondered if Fengjiu County had finally made a name for itself, attracting more and more practitioners.
If that was the case, wouldn’t his promotion and fortune be coming soon?
The County Magistrate was lost in his pleasant daydreams, but the reality was quite different.
In a small nest wrapped in green leaves atop a large tree in the mountain forest, Ye Qingluan slowly opened her eyes.
The leaves covering her chest trembled slightly, as if they were relaying information to her.
‘They’re like lingering ghosts…’
Her lazy tone carried a hint of killing intent.