Tianquan Peak, cliffside.
Nan Xi walked alone along the steep cliff face. Before him lay a narrow path only one-person wide.
To make matters worse, it was currently snowing.
With the slightest mistake, he would plummet into the 10,000-foot abyss and be shattered into pieces.
7 minutes ago, the interviewer had stopped with Nan Xi halfway up Tianquan Peak and pointed toward the clouds.
— With my rank, I can only escort Fellow Daoist Nan Xi this far. If you continue up this path, you will be able to see the Supreme Elder. —
After saying that, he gave Nan Xi a complicated look, then turned and left with a sigh.
‘No, what did that sigh mean? Come back and explain it to me.’
Unfortunately, Nan Xi couldn’t stop the interviewer. He could only turn back and set foot on this cliffside path that even a ghost would dread.
Nan Xi’s pace wasn’t fast.
Step by step, he made his way toward the summit at a steady pace.
However, his heart was actually full of trepidation.
This wasn’t because the mountain path was treacherous, but because of the person he was about to face.
[Tianhe Sect · Supreme Elder]
According to the Wuxing Sect’s intelligence, they knew pitifully little about the Supreme Elder of the Tianhe Sect.
They didn’t know his cultivation level or what immortal arts he practiced.
Some Wuxing Sect elders had even questioned if such a person actually existed.
One thing, however, was beyond doubt.
Within the Tianhe Sect, the Supreme Elder was a far more dangerous figure than the current Sect Leader.
If he had to face him directly…
At this thought, Nan Xi subconsciously tightened his grip on the Brocade Pouches hidden in his sleeve.
At this point, he could only improvise and hope that these few pouches his master gave him would prove useful at the critical moment.
Mist began to rise, adding a touch of hazy beauty to Tianquan Peak.
Surrounded by mountains, the wind and snow drifted down from the nine heavens.
For a moment, it seemed as if heaven and earth were a single color.
But the more beautiful a place was, the more hidden dangers it contained.
As he drew closer to the summit, the wind and snow grew even more piercing.
It swept toward Nan Xi like sharp blades, forcing him to raise a hand in front of himself and activate a technique to barely break through the blizzard.
Even so, his footsteps gradually slowed.
With every step forward, Nan Xi could feel the spiritual energy within his body plummeting.
This Supreme Elder was certainly giving him a cold shoulder right from the start.
It seemed he would have to use a little trickery of his own.
Nan Xi’s eyes sharpened. At the base of his right finger, a Pure Black Ring quietly emerged.
Then, he took a forceful step forward…
Whoosh —
The surrounding pressure suddenly vanished.
Nan Xi stumbled, taking several steps forward in rapid succession, and the technique he had been about to unleash came to nothing.
‘What’s going on?’
He raised his head and looked back. A wall of clouds stood tall behind him, completely blocking his vision—he had just walked out from there.
Right across that line, all the wind and snow had vanished without a trace.
All that remained was a gentle breeze brushing against his face and slightly swaying white grass.
And…
“You’ve arrived.”
A cold voice suddenly drifted over. The tone was melodic, yet carried a hint of laziness.
Startled, Nan Xi instinctively turned to look.
He saw a tree, a pavilion, and a person… more accurately, a girl.
A blue girl.
This wasn’t Nan Xi talking nonsense. It was just that at first glance, the deepest impression this girl left was the color blue.
She wore a simple, lake-blue dress, and her silky, water-blue hair was draped casually behind her back.
Her watery eyes looked as though she had just woken up, still shimmering with a few teardrops.
Combined with her soft and delicate features, everything appeared incredibly harmonious.
At that moment, the girl was leaning against the stone table in the center of the pavilion.
It wasn’t hard to guess that she had been napping on the table just moments ago.
Perhaps she had been waiting too long, for as Nan Xi stood there dazed, the girl raised her hand and let out a soft yawn, looking as though she might fall asleep again.
For a moment, Nan Xi thought she looked like a cat.
But Nan Xi was no ordinary person. No matter how approachable the other party seemed, someone who could appear at the summit of Tianquan Peak—the eye of the storm—was by no means ordinary.
After a moment of hesitation, Nan Xi took half a step forward and bowed with his hands clasped:
“May I ask if you are the Supreme Elder of the Tianhe Sect?”
“I am.” The girl nodded, her slender fingertips casually propping up her cheek. “You may call me Lady Tiansi.”
‘Lady Tiansi?’
Nan Xi silently repeated the name to himself. It was a term that hadn’t appeared in the Wuxing Sect’s intelligence.
Could it be that “Tiansi” was a specific title for the Tianhe Sect’s Supreme Elder?
Regardless, he had to deal with her questions first.
Nan Xi steadied his heart and bowed to the girl again.
“I see. This junior greets Lady Tiansi.”
“Sit.” The Tiansi of the Tianhe Sect waved her hand, gesturing toward Nan Xi.
As Nan Xi approached the pavilion, he noticed scrolls of paper laid out before Lady Tiansi.
They were filled with dense records—the very resume he had submitted to the Tianhe Sect.
It seemed that his information had already been synchronized and handed to this Supreme Elder without his knowledge.
And then… there seemed to be no “and then” for the time being.
Nan Xi sat before Lady Tiansi for nearly 10 minutes. She didn’t seem to have any intention of asking questions, merely flipping through his personal information in silence.
Those watery, lazy eyes swept over page after page.
As her fingertips turned the scrolls, the collar of her dress—already drooping from her nap—slid further to the side, revealing her fair and lustrous shoulder.
In this kind of weather, she didn’t even seem to feel the cold.
For a moment, Nan Xi felt like he was accompanying a cat while it read a novel.
He couldn’t just let this continue.
“Ahem, Lady Tiansi, the interviewer said you wished to see me. Is there a problem?”
Nan Xi decided to break the silence.
But Lady Tiansi didn’t seem to plan on responding directly. Her cherry-pink lips simply parted as she slowly began to read from the scroll.
“Nan Xi, male, 25 years old, from Hongze Prefecture in Mulan Prefecture. Studied immortal arts under his father since childhood…”
“Traveled for many years after graduating from the village school…”
“Once personally killed a demon beast of the Golden Core Stage…”
Everything was exactly the same as what the interviewer had read before.
These were details Nan Xi had long since memorized; no matter how she questioned him, there would be no discrepancies.
Snap —
When Lady Tiansi finally reached the last line, her finger flicked, closing the scroll. Her watery eyes rose again, meeting Nan Xi’s gaze.
But her narration didn’t stop.
Her cherry-pink lips parted slightly as she looked into Nan Xi’s eyes, speaking one word at a time:
“However, before entering Daye Village School… no, since you began your cultivation, you had already joined the Wuxing Sect as a disciple under their Great Elder, Master Gui Xianren. Furthermore, after graduating from Daye Village School, you returned to the Wuxing Sect to act as a Sect Leader Candidate.”
！！！！！？？？？？
No!
This is impossible!?
Nan Xi’s mind raced frantically. His years of cultivation desperately helped him steady his mind, but the sudden information struck his brain like a violent tide.
‘How did she find out?’
Was the Tianhe Sect’s intelligence network actually this powerful?
‘No, there’s still a chance. If the Tianhe Sect had already discovered my identity, I would have been captured by that interviewer at the foot of the mountain. There would be no need to let me contact their Supreme Elder.’
‘Was it this Lady Tiansi?’
“I…” Nan Xi spoke slowly. Though his consciousness tried its best to remain calm, the sudden tensing of his muscles caused a hint of hoarseness in his voice.
“Why, exactly, did you come to the Tianhe Sect?”
Lady Tiansi spoke softly. Her voice was still melodic and lazy, but to Nan Xi’s ears, it no longer sounded the same.
‘No, I have to act.’
He couldn’t use a sword. Although the ring was still on his right hand and he could summon his blade in an instant, it wouldn’t work.
He couldn’t use techniques either. The storm here was too violent; the moment his spiritual energy leaked out, he would likely be crushed on the spot.
The only way left…
Nan Xi’s hand quickly slid into his sleeve, where three Brocade Pouches were hidden. These were the trump cards gifted to him by his master, Master Gui Xianren. Now was undoubtedly the best time to use one.
His fingertips nimbly untied a pouch. The interior was inscribed with a special spatial technique; though it looked small on the outside, it was large enough to hold all sorts of magical treasures.
Found it!
Nan Xi’s fingertips instantly touched the treasure his master had given him, and then…
…
Ding-ling —
It was the dull sound of leather hitting the ground, followed immediately by a crisp, pleasant ringing.
But clearly, Nan Xi’s sanity had vanished along with it.
He remained frozen in the motion of opening the pouch. Inside the pouch, a small slip of paper drifted out silently, falling toward the ground in the gentle breeze.
Written thoughtfully upon it were four large characters:
Hypnosis Collar