“I… even if I had dissatisfaction in my heart, I wouldn’t bring it up to your face, right? I at least have that much discernment.”
Yun Fei rubbed her nose, not expecting Huali to have done such thorough homework on her.
“Is that truly so? Forget it, I won’t pursue it. Since you are my disciple from now on, the trust that should be given must be given.”
“Trust? Hah… Master, you know my identity, right? Even so, you are willing to give me trust?”
Hearing the word “trust” from the mouth of a Profound Realm inhabitant made Yun Fei feel suddenly and utterly absurd.
A person of Huali’s level in the Profound Realm must have experienced the Great War between the Profound and Demon Realms.
Trust?
How could that be possible!
It was likely just a figure of speech.
“I have investigated you, including your actions within the Profound Realm. In my view, although you act arrogantly, you have never done anything truly heinous here. Through the paper records, I could sense the innate ferocity in the subordinates who followed you, but in you, I found none.”
Upon hearing this, Yun Fei frowned.
“Such a detailed investigation… but, no ferocity? Are you joking? Are those bothersome people I killed just decorations?”
Huali smiled, placing her hands behind her back as she stood atop the mountain peak.
“On that point, I beg to differ. In today’s world, who doesn’t have a few lives on their hands? Even the Saintess is no exception. Therefore, a few lives cannot define you as having ferocity. Similarly, the same applies to the Saintess.”
“Sigh… forget it, Master. I don’t want to argue with you anymore. Whether you trust me or not, I don’t crave your trust.”
Yun Fei shook her head, cutting the topic short.
“Just tell me what needs to be done next. If there’s nothing, I’ll head back first.”
Truth be told, based on the current situation, Yun Fei’s first impression of Huali was not great.
Setting aside the grand theories she preached, the mere fact that she had investigated Yun Fei so thoroughly made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
Who wouldn’t feel uneasy about being stripped bare from start to finish?
“…”
“Apologies, I was blunt. I was only worried that because of our identities, there might be a rift between us. I thought to explain it away, but it seems I’ve only made things worse…”
Yun Fei paused her descent down the mountain and turned back to look at Huali once more.
“Actually, if you hadn’t told me all this, I wouldn’t have thought much of it. Speaking it out like that only makes me suspect you have some other motive.”
A bitter smile flashed across Huali’s face.
“Fine, let us end this topic here. I will take you to the alchemy room first. Your Senior Sister’s batch of pills should be nearing completion. I’ll take you to meet her so you can become acquainted.”
“…Fine.”
Yun Fei nodded and followed Huali’s lead.
“Master.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Why did you take me as your disciple? Is it because of the Heavenly Flame, or because of the prophecy?”
Yun Fei stared at Huali’s back, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Inwardly, she had her guesses. Her Heavenly Flame alone wouldn’t be enough for Huali to break protocol and take her as a disciple.
There was a high probability it was due to the prophecy.
What exactly did this Master of hers know?
“…It’s likely a bit of both. Your father calculated the prophecy, but my strength was insufficient to glimpse its full picture… or rather, no one besides your parents has ever seen the prophecy in its entirety.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father glimpsed the prophecy during a border war against the Void and calculated it on the spot. Only your parents saw the specific content. But subsequently, the Heavenly Dao, which had been missing for years, appeared and encrypted the prophecy. After that, the rest of us could only see fragments.”
“People went to ask your parents, but they remained tight-lipped. It seems… there are certain restrictions from the Heavenly Dao.”
“Hah… after all that talk, what does this have to do with you taking me as a disciple?”
Although it was Yun Fei’s first time hearing about this, Huali clearly hadn’t touched upon what she most wanted to know.
“Ah… sorry. My social circle consists of only a few people; I have a bit of a habit of rambling.”
“…”
“The reason for taking you as a disciple… in the prophetic images I can see… I saw a scene related to you, or rather, your future self. In that image, there were things that concerned me deeply. It… might involve my own origin. Apologies, this might make me seem selfish, but I truly do wish to teach you. Your Heavenly Flame is very different from your mother’s.”
“Alright, we have arrived.”
Huali stopped in front of a courtyard, and Yun Fei stopped beside her.
Before long, the courtyard gate opened, and a woman in light blue clothing stepped out.
“Master? Is this… my little Junior Sister?”
“Yes, Huaili. Her name is Yun Fei; she is your Junior Sister. Get along well with each other. Someone has come to find me; I shall take my leave first.”
“Yes! Master! Junior Sister, come inside quickly! The wind is strong out here.”
With that, Huaili pulled Yun Fei inside with a tug.
“Phew… Master is gone. So? The old lady talks quite a bit; she didn’t cause you too much trouble, did she?”
Seeing that Huali was out of sight, Huaili turned to close the gate and looked at Yun Fei with concern.
Entering the courtyard, Yun Fei felt her body relax considerably.
Being with Huali always felt like an invisible weight was pressing down on her shoulders.
“Trouble… Although out of politeness I’d like to say no, unfortunately… it was a big bother. I even thought for a while that she was plotting something against me.”
“I see… but don’t worry. Master is actually a very good person. If she said something wrong, please don’t take it to heart!”
“Back to the point—I am quite curious about you! You are the first case since the school’s founding to be an exception and become a disciple right upon enrollment! You must have something special about you, right? If you don’t mind, could you let me see!”
Yun Fei was somewhat taken aback.
When she first saw this Senior Sister, she thought she would be the quiet, refined type.
As it turned out, was this her true nature?
She talked quite a bit too… hehehe…
Surely it wasn’t because of Master?
She found it hard to imagine herself becoming a chatterbox in the future.
“Uh… something special? In terms of alchemy… my specialty would be the Heavenly Flame? Or perhaps… being a Rank 4 Alchemist?”
“Heavenly Flame? And a Rank 4 Alchemist? Heavens! At your age, I was only a Rank 2 Alchemist, and that’s despite coming from an alchemy clan…”
A flash of amazement crossed Huaili’s face.
She then pulled Yun Fei to sit at a stone table and poured her a cup of tea.
“Alright, enough small talk. You have your privacy. Sit here for a bit; Master will return later to arrange your teaching tasks. Once that’s done, the teaching schedule starts tomorrow. If you have any questions, you can ask me now~ By the way, if you have any alchemy questions, you can come to me. I am a Rank 7 Alchemist now; teaching a Rank 4 is no problem at all~”
“Rank 7 Alchemist?” Yun Fei’s eyes widened. In her Demon Hall, the resident Grand Alchemist was only at the Rank 8 level, yet this Senior Sister was already at Rank 7!
Sure enough, the Profound Realm’s achievements in alchemy were much deeper than those of the Demon Realm.
Perhaps she could learn something different here?
With this thought, Yun Fei began to look forward to the future.
“By the way, Senior Sister Huaili, on the way here, I heard Master mention her origin. Can you tell me what that’s about?”
“Eh? She actually told you about that? It seems Master truly favors you~ I only learned a little bit about it later, and it’s likely incomplete. After all, even Master herself isn’t clear about her own origin.”
“From what I know now, Master was a child of the war era. Like most children back then, she was an orphan with no parents and no relatives to lean on. But unlike others, she had a specific trait that made her the most disliked even among orphans.”
“A special trait? Specifically?”
“Actually, I only found out by chance when I caught Master in that state. It’s a pair of pointed ears! The kind you can tell at a glance aren’t human! I was terrified when I saw them, but Master calmed me down and told me some of her past experiences, which set my mind at ease.”
“Back then, there was no interference from the Void; the Profound and Demon Realms were fighting quite happily. At the time, Master was once suspected of being a Demon. But when the people brought her to the local enforcement department, those who had encountered Demons denied her identity as a Demon immediately.”
“After all, most people back then were displaced and lacked formal education; they subconsciously believed Demons were non-human monsters. But Demons are actually the same as us; biologically, we are all human, it’s just that they cultivate Demon Qi instead of Spiritual Qi.”
“Later, Master went through some hardships and came across the inheritance of an ancient alchemist. Through the knowledge left by that ancient alchemist, she refined a pill that can hide those pointed ears.”
Hearing Huaili’s account, Yun Fei outwardly pretended to be an attentive listener, but her heart was in a state of upheaval!
What did she just hear?
Pointed ears!
She wasn’t unfamiliar with that concept now, as there was still a pointed-eared being hiding inside her own body!
An Elf…
But weren’t Elves supposed to be in that missing Light Realm?
What was the situation with Master?
Yun Fei fell into deep thought.
She began to recall parts of the dusty history the Magic Mirror had told her.
According to the Magic Mirror, in the beginning, the Light Realm, the Profound and Demon Realms, and even the Mortal Realm were interconnected.
It was indeed possible that a portion of the Light Realm’s creatures did not leave when the Light Realm separated.
But that didn’t explain why, in tens of thousands of years of history, there were absolutely no recorded sightings of Elves in the two realms.
Though she couldn’t understand the reason behind it, Yun Fei now knew Huali’s identity: she was an Elf.
If she wanted to delve deeper, Yun Fei lowered her gaze; she would likely have to ask the person who had crawled into her body.
Even if she claimed she didn’t remember much, she surely remembered something.