Chapter 153: Young Palace Master Returns

"Interesting, to be able to shatter Dongfang Wuji and over a dozen peerless experts' confrontation with a single sword—what kind of strength would that require?" The Palace Master had never praised anyone before; Chen Yi He was her unexpected surprise over the years.

"I have seen him." Ruan Shu said to the Palace Master.

"You have seen him?"

Ruan Shu hesitated, then glanced at the Palace Master's expression before answering, "He came to our Five Absolutes Palace together with Qiu Yichen."

"He came with Qiu Yichen? To the Five Absolutes Palace?" The Palace Master faintly found it amusing, "Was it for the Contention for Hegemony Assembly and the Heroes' Assembly, these two grand gatherings?"

"Probably."

"Then why didn't he come after all?" the Palace Master asked again.

"I heard it was to rescue a girl named Dongfang Xing, then he turned his horse toward Dong Hai. I suppose that's exactly what happened, leading to the later events." Ruan Shu speculated.

"Heh... that is quite interesting. What purpose could Qiu Yichen have in bringing Chen Yi He to the Five Absolutes Palace?" The Palace Master, always arrogant, had never been unable to see through anything or accomplish anything, but this time she was at a loss.

She was troubled by the predicament of two young people.

"No matter his purpose, once he comes, it means death." The Palace Master said coldly. The Five Absolutes Palace is a holy ground; outsiders who enter without permission are walking a dead-end path.

"Right, what about that Qiu Yichen? How will you handle him?" Ruan Shu asked feigning indifference, fearing that even the slightest extra emotion on her part would be caught by the Palace Master.

But the Palace Master is the Palace Master; the child she raised herself from infancy—what thoughts could escape her discernment? "Ask what should be asked, don't ask what shouldn't be."

"Yes... yes..." Ruan Shu immediately panicked and hurriedly agreed.

"Go to the gate to meet the Young Palace Master; with this sky, she should be returning soon." The Palace Master walked to the wooden door, which swung open on its own, and gazing at the moonlight streaming in from outside, she said.

"All right." Ruan Shu found the steps and hurriedly retreated outside the palace.

"Qiu Yichen... Chen Yi He..." watching Ruan Shu's figure gradually fade into the darkness, the Palace Master murmured to herself.

"Giddyup... whoa..." As the Palace Master had expected, the Young Palace Master returned.

The Young Palace Master's actions are always flawless; every time is the same, and this time is no exception.

Far off, under the moonlight, that scarlet rose grew ever more vivid, gradually resembling a ball of fire in the darkness, burning brighter and fiercer, setting the entire plain ablaze.

"My little sister has returned." Seeing the Young Palace Master draw nearer, Ruan Shu said with a smile. Though they are not the Young Palace Master's biological sisters, they are even closer than true sisters. Having grown up together and received equal affection, their bond needs no further explanation.

Although they are denizens of the martial world, being women, they can share their innermost thoughts only with those closest to them.

The Young Palace Master and Ruan Shu are exactly those closest people. The Young Palace Master regards Ruan Shu as a true elder sister, and Ruan Shu regards the Young Palace Master as a true younger sister.

In private, they address each other as sisters.

"Sister, you've waited long." The Young Palace Master's horse was then brought over by her attendants.

"You always act ahead of time; this time you're punctual—did you meet your match?" Ruan Shu asked the Young Palace Master with a smile.

"Heh... yes." The Young Palace Master replied with a troubled expression. All along the way she had been pondering her relationship with the Sword Master, and her mother's relationship with the Sword Master, but no matter how she thought, she could not figure it out.

Ruan Shu led the Young Palace Master straight back to the Five Absolutes Palace, and at the moment the palace gates closed, their shadows were covered.

"Where is my mother?" the Young Palace Master asked.

"She's probably resting." Ruan Shu replied, then added, "She's been worried about the matter of Qiu Yichen and Chen Yi He."

"Chen Yi He? Qiu Yichen?" the Young Palace Master stopped in her tracks; her question echoed in the long, dark corridor, and the echo was filled with incredibility.

The three characters "Chen Yi He" took the Young Palace Master a long time to recall; although they had been apart for less than a year, she was almost forgetting this person. She often felt that she might be overwhelmed by a pile of trivial matters, causing her memory to deteriorate to such an extent.

But the three characters "Qiu Yichen" the Young Palace Master could not possibly recall, for it was the first time it had entered her awareness.

"Chen Yi He... Qiu Yichen..." the Young Palace Master murmured, then asked Ruan Shu, "What is Mother worried about?"

The Palace Master rarely worries; in the Young Palace Master's nearly twenty years of memory, she knows nothing could ever stump her mother.

"I don't know either."

"Sister, has Mother gone to sleep?" the Young Palace Master wanted to see the Palace Master, unsure whether she intended to report her battle results to the Palace Master or to ask about those two individuals.

"She should already be resting; if you wish to see her, you'd better wait until tomorrow." Ruan Shu's heart was even more tumultuous than the Young Palace Master's, not knowing why she kept thinking of Qiu Yichen, "Right, did you bring back the Absolute Kill Order?"

Probably because she knows the Palace Master's consistent way of doing things.

Once thrown into the Five Absolutes Palace's great prison, there is hardly any difference from death.

"I've brought it back; tonight, sleep with me, sister—I have much I want to tell you." the Young Palace Master said to Ruan Shu.

"All right." Ruan Shu agreed.

In the deep of night, the Five Absolutes Palace was utterly silent.

A dark silhouette appeared in the corridor, gradually drifting toward the depths without making a sound, like a solitary ghost wandering in darkness.

The Palace Master's cultivation is unfathomable; no one can grasp her figure.

As she passed outside the Young Palace Master's room, she heard the faint whispering from within.

"The one I fought with in daylight was the Sword Master..."

"Sword Master!? Is that the owner of the Sword-Leaning Tower?" Ruan Shu's tone burst with uncontainable excitement.

"Mm."

"The Sword Master's cultivation—you now are no match for him!"

"Mm."

"Did the Palace Master send you? She couldn't possibly be sending you to your death, could she?"

"I'm not sure either; she seems to have decided the Sword Master won't kill me and is letting me strike back. Or perhaps she simply doesn't want me to live."

Upon hearing such words, even someone like the Palace Master couldn't help trembling; her cultivation is so high that the two inside would never notice.

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

"I feel for the first time that I have killed the wrong person." the Young Palace Master said lightly.

The Palace Master heard the latter part, her heart sank as if a stone had sunk into the sea, and then she departed, walking toward the depths of the Five Absolutes Palace.

Meanwhile, the sisterly heart-to-heart between the Young Palace Master and Ruan Shu continued.

"The Sword Master yields to me at every turn, and at the final moment he even willingly dies at my hands." the Young Palace Master said through gritted teeth.