“Nalan Yunyan! You’re insane! How dare you trespass into the Sect Master’s Cave Residence!”
Outside the Sunset Star Sea.
The starlight was dim and the sunset glow had faded, no longer possessing its usual quiet and dreamlike scenery. Instead, the area was a mess of destruction.
More than ten sect elders had the blonde girl firmly surrounded.
They were furious, but due to her status, they did not dare to actually step forward.
“Whether I am insane or not has nothing to do with you. I only want to see Qian Yu now,” Nalan Yunyan sneered. Even facing a heavy encirclement, she did not show the slightest hint of fear.
The Flowing Cloud Bracelet she had given Qian Yu in the past did more than just provide communication and protection; it also allowed her to confirm the other person’s life or death.
But just this morning—only the second day after Qian Yu had been taken away by Cloud-Weave Star Venerable—the girl’s life signs had dropped to a negligible level.
Thinking back to the strange smile the woman had shown yesterday, how could Nalan Yunyan not suspect that the “kind and venerable” Sect Master was plotting something?
Thus, whether it was out of the responsibility of being the “big sister,” the guilt of failing to protect Xiao Ya in the past, or the ripples in her heart after being confessed to and comforted by Qian Yu—or perhaps just because of the girl’s talent—she had come.
After realizing that Cloud-Weave Star Venerable would not see her at all, she had simply detonated a Protective Scroll capable of unleashing a strike at the Venerable Realm to force the woman out.
It was impulsive, but it didn’t matter.
Her family would back her up.
If the family were unwilling to do so, she would detonate every life-saving scroll on her person to escape and use her own talent to back herself up.
In any case, she would not suffer an injustice.
And the people by her side would not suffer one either.
Otherwise, why would she bother cultivating?
Why would she insist on being the leader?
Looking at the blonde girl who now held another Protective Scroll in her hand, the elders of the Luoxia Immortal Sect looked at each other, their headaches intensifying.
Clearly, she was the one causing trouble, yet under her arrogant attitude, they were the ones who felt guilty.
“Well, Yunyan… the Sect Master went to the Heaven Beyond Heaven yesterday with several Demon Race Venerables for a Dao Discussion. We can’t find her either,” Elder Ling, who had always been known as the sect’s mediator, finally stepped forward to persuade Nalan Yunyan.
She truly could not understand what danger Qian Yu could possibly be in within the Sect Master’s Cave Residence.
Putting aside the fact that the girl possessed a Sacred Body rarely seen in 10,000 years, just the fact that she was the martial niece of Cloud-Weave Star Venerable left no room for danger.
Could the Sect Master really act against the only disciple of her deceased junior sister?
“Then get out of my way and let me see Qian Yu. As long as she is fine, this young lady will turn around and leave!” Nalan Yunyan remained stubborn.
She stood with her hands behind her back above the star sea, facing the growing crowd of the Luoxia Immortal Sect alone.
Her long golden hair fluttered in the wind, and golden thunder flickered around her.
No matter how many people stood against her, she would always be the one looking down from above.
“You can’t just blow up the sect over such a small matter…”
Elder Ling continued to plead.
Her words reflected the thoughts of everyone present.
Qian Yu had been a genius for too short a time.
Even though most people knew she had a Sacred Body, their mental habit was still stuck on her being a useless nobody.
They felt Nalan Yunyan was making a mountain out of a molehill.
“As long as it concerns this young lady, there is no such thing as a small matter.”
As the aura belonging to Qian Yu coming from the Flowing Cloud Bracelet grew weaker, Nalan Yunyan’s tone turned even colder.
“I will give you 3 breaths to move. Otherwise, do not blame me for being disrespectful to my elders.”
“I’m sorry, Yunyan. Before the Sect Master left, she said that Lady Qian Yu needs to cultivate in peace during this period. No one is allowed to enter and disturb her.”
Looking at the scroll in the blonde girl’s hand, which was filled with a destructive aura, Elder Ling’s eyelids twitched.
After hesitating for a moment, she still chose to block the way.
‘Nalan Yunyan was too impulsive. If she hadn’t made such a big scene and brought the matter into the open, these elders might have turned a blind eye,’ the black-haired girl named Gu Qinghan thought from a distance.
As she watched everything unfolding, her previous suspicion regarding the relationship between the two girls grew stronger.
“Oh? Qinghan, you aren’t a blockhead at a time like this?”
Beside her, the illusory figure of Yingning spoke with surprise.
Although she had only been rescued recently, she already had a deep understanding of her disciple’s “wooden” brain in certain aspects.
She hadn’t expected the girl to realize that the conflict between the Nalan Family and the Luoxia Immortal Sect was too deep.
Once things were brought into the light, those elders would stop Nalan Yunyan at all costs, if only for the sake of the sect’s authority and face.
“I wasn’t a blockhead to begin with…”
“I suppose.”
Yingning noncommittally stretched her back and continued, “Although, sometimes, being impulsive when one should be calm is a kind of stupidity. And being calm when one should be impulsive is also a kind of stupidity — When that Qian Yu comes out and sees this scene, your good friend might belong to someone else.”
“…”
Gu Qinghan remained silent.
‘Friends don’t have to be each other’s one and only, right?’
She felt that even if Qian Yu was moved by Nalan Yunyan and became her friend, it wouldn’t bother her.
Besides, she wasn’t that close with Qian Yu anyway.
They were just ordinary friends who had shared one meal and one Dao Discussion.
Even if she really became friends with someone else, so what?
She would only feel a bit uncomfortable because the girl had become friends with her enemy.
It would certainly not reach the point of regret.
‘Yes, that’s how it is.’
Just as Gu Qinghan was nodding to herself, the scene above the Sunset Star Sea changed again.
As rays of magnificent auspicious light descended, the Sect Master of the Luoxia Immortal Sect, Cloud-Weave Star Venerable, finally received the transmission from the elders and returned to the sect.
She first looked at the ruined star sea, then at Nalan Yunyan, who was suppressing the elders of an entire sect on her own.
A trace of killing intent flashed imperceptibly across her beautiful, motherly face.
“What are you all doing? Don’t you know Yunyan’s personality?”
However, after taking a soft breath, Cloud-Weave Star Venerable did not look at the instigator, Nalan Yunyan.
Instead, she reprimanded the elders who were loyal to the sect.
“She is indeed a bit impulsive, but everything she does has its own reasoning. If she wants to do something, you should just patiently cooperate. Why make things reach this point?”
“But this is against the sect rules!”
“Geniuses should be treated in a way that befits a genius.”
The elders, led by Elder Ling, stopped speaking.
They all lowered their heads, feeling aggrieved to the extreme.
Nothing they had done was for personal gain; they were all acting according to the rules.
Being suppressed by a junior like Nalan Yunyan was already unpleasant, yet the Sect Master had returned only to speak up for the girl.
Just because she was a genius? Who exactly did the Luoxia Immortal Sect belong to? The Master of the Nalan Family hadn’t even shown up yet!
Observing the flickering expressions of the elders, a hint of mockery flashed in the eyes of Cloud-Weave Star Venerable.
Sometimes, indulgence and overpraising were far sharper than reprimands and punishments. By indulging Nalan Yunyan today, she appeared to be losing face, but in reality, she was showing weakness to the enemy while igniting the sect’s resentment toward the Nalan Family.
She only had to wait until tomorrow when Nalan Yunyan lost to the Demon Race in the competition.
This resentment would instantly become a backlash of public opinion, aiding the purge she was about to begin.
Furthermore, she would always be standing on the side of righteousness and the masses, so the Righteous Alliance would have no grounds to criticize her.
Cloud-Weave Star Venerable had been wondering how to guide Nalan Yunyan to do something even more damaging to her reputation after losing the match.
She hadn’t expected the girl to deliver the knife herself today.
It made the Sect Master feel almost embarrassed.
It was truly hard to find a pawn so foolish that she would help count the money after being sold.
And indeed…
Upon hearing Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s words, Nalan Yunyan’s cold expression immediately softened.
She wasn’t an idiot, but she did care about her reputation.
The woman had even scolded the elders, saying that geniuses should be treated differently.
What else was there to say?
‘This is clearly an observant elder. I don’t understand why Qian Yu or even Tang Qiurou hinted that I shouldn’t trust her.’
“Yunyan, I can understand your concern for Little Yu, but the danger you mentioned cannot possibly exist. What you felt might be because she has entered a special state of Epiphany.”
“In that case, if you or I were to enter, we would be disturbing her.”
“If you still suspect that I have ill intentions toward her, then let us wait outside together under the witness of the elders. How about it?”
Some special types of Epiphany truly caused one to enter a state of suspended animation with extremely low life signs.
What Cloud-Weave Star Venerable said was not without logic.
However, the elders—and even the Supreme Elders in the Venerable Realm watching from the clouds—did not think so.
‘Just because of a single suspicion, you expect a Sect Master to personally wait outside the door with you? You certainly have a lot of nerve, Nalan Yunyan.’
‘You’re already like this before your wings are fully grown. What will happen when you reach the Venerable Realm? Will our entire Luoxia Immortal Sect have to become your dogs?’
‘Furthermore, there are guests from the Demon Race here.
If they find out our entire sect, even the Sect Master, has to bow to you, will they look for the Luoxia Immortal Sect or just your Nalan Family when it comes to cooperation and the distribution of interests in the future?’
This move by Cloud-Weave Star Venerable was both poisonous and ruthless.
If it were just a matter of losing face like in the past, everyone could endure it.
But now, during the Human-Yao Alliance, any loss of face would affect the actual distribution of interests.
In that case, the entire Nalan Family would truly become a public enemy.
However, Nalan Yunyan was oblivious to all of this.
She only felt that the woman’s words were quite reasonable.
If the Star Venerable waited outside with her, Qian Yu’s safety would be guaranteed.
She had finally succeeded in protecting her subordinate.