Chapter 13

She only wanted one small chance.

She had tried too many places, and all she got in return was mockery, disgust, and even beatings and humiliation.

She had never given up.

"Little beggar, I'm talking to you, didn't you hear?"

"Are you looking to die?"

"What are you all doing?" Jiang Nan walked over.

"Senior Brother." Several outer sect disciples saw Jiang Nan and quickly bowed in salute.

The disciples guarding the mountain gate were also outer sect disciples; if they didn't improve, they would be kicked down the mountain in a few years.

Their status was far from that of inner sect disciples.

Under normal circumstances, no one dared to force their way into the mountain gate of a regional hegemon's grotto-heaven, so the few outer sect disciples guarding the gate were enough.

If someone was truly confident enough to force their way through the formation, the inner sect disciples watching wouldn't be able to handle it either.

"Little girl, come with me," Jiang Nan said.

The few people didn't dare to stop him anymore.

They recognized Jiang Nan; he used to be an outer sect disciple like them, but Jiang Nan was in the spiritual medicine garden.

Now that he was an inner sect disciple, he could bring one servant.

"Pfft, what's so great about him? He just got lucky and entered the inner sect," a mountain gate disciple snorted after the two walked away.

"Keep your voice down. An inner sect disciple's status is far different from ours; even if he killed us, we'd have died in vain," someone said, filled with envy.

They also longed to be like Jiang Nan and enter the inner sect.

But in fact, those who didn't enter the inner sect within a year or two usually had no chance.

They had all entered during their youth, and now they were all adults; the chances were slim.

Jiang Nan was the same; they didn't know how he got lucky enough to enter, and they were all very envious.

"Little girl, you are..." Jiang Nan looked at this girl.

Was this the Empress as a child?

Many places were very similar, but there were also some places that weren't.

Or perhaps there was very little information about the Empress's growth period, and some things weren't known.

"Do you have a name?"

The girl's large eyes were like black gemstones, just looking at Jiang Nan.

As if she wanted to see if this person was good or bad, or something else.

But this was also a chance, the only chance, although she had been deceived countless times by similar people before, it was still a chance.

She didn't want to let it go.

"You don't?" Jiang Nan smiled.

"Don't be afraid, I don't have any malicious intent."

"Little Little Nannan?" Jiang Nan said suddenly while walking, looking into the girl's eyes.

What made him feel strange was that the girl didn't have any reaction at all.

Was it not her? Or had her state of mind already been tempered to be so firm that she wasn't affected by external things?

Jiang Nan felt it was truly the latter.

What had she experienced?

"It seems I can't call you Little Little Nannan anymore." The girl had already grown up a lot.

She was just very thin, appearing a bit small.

Her back was also exceptionally thin.

In fact, she was already quite tall.

If it was the Empress, had she not started cultivating yet at this time?

No wonder she was called the most talented woman in history.

Among all the Great Emperors and Supremes throughout history, she was the only one to achieve it with a mortal body.

Peerless grace, peerless beauty.

Jiang Nan looked at the girl, and the girl was also looking at him, guarding against him; she had never hidden it.

She had no strength, and some of her thoughts couldn't be hidden, so she simply didn't hide them.

Seeing Jiang Nan looking at her body, the girl's expression changed slightly for the first time, and she frowned slightly.

As if to say, he wouldn't be a weird uncle, would he?

"What uncle? I'm at most a brother," Jiang Nan blinked.

Cold light shone in the girl's eyes; she actually erupted with killing intent.

She only had one brother; no one else was worthy.

She had once been a kind little girl, willing to politely address and treat everyone.

Over these years of wandering the Jianghu, her heart had long since gone cold countless times.

"Understood." Jiang Nan nodded; nine times out of ten, she really was the Empress as a child.

The person she cared about most was her brother.

Not to become an immortal, but just to wait for your return in the red dust.

She lived life after life against the heavens.

It was all for the happiest time in her childhood, in the small mountain village, when she and her brother depended on each other.

She hoped it could be recreated.

It was just the simplest expectation.

During his spare time these days, Jiang Nan had also read some basic information about the sect.

Nanling, a remote corner, seemed to indeed be in some direction suspected to be the Empress's birthplace.

Of course, it was only suspected; it was too long ago, and he didn't remember much, so he couldn't determine anything.

"You're indeed not Little Little Nannan now; you've grown up a lot. How about Big Little Nannan?"

"Cough, is it not funny?"

"Little girl, I'm a good person... oh, why does that sound a bit sleazy?" Jiang Nan said.

"It's just that there are other beautiful things in this world; not everyone is a bad person."

"It's okay if you don't talk. If you want to cultivate, I'll just bring you into the sect," Jiang Nan said.

The girl's eyes had a slight fluctuation once again.

This talkative guy, she was a bit guarded, a bit curious.

"You haven't eaten for days, right? Let me take you to eat first, change into clean clothes..." Jiang Nan said, looking ahead.

"Eh?" An old woman walked past in front, looking at the girl.

"So it's this girl; she really persisted for seven days and seven nights?"

"Heh, not bad."

"I had decided before that if you persisted, I would bring you into the sect. I didn't expect you to have already entered."

"It can be considered fate," the old woman said.

"Elder Ying," Jiang Nan said.

"Hmm," the old woman nodded, looking at the girl, "Little girl, regardless of your aptitude, I admire your will."

"You're not very old, but you're very tenacious."

"Are you interested in cultivating with me?" the old woman said.

The girl looked at Jiang Nan, as if wanting to see what he meant.

Jiang Nan didn't know either; he had been an outer sect servant disciple before, and his memories hadn't awakened.

He had only just entered a few days ago and didn't know many people.

He had seen this Elder Ying once, when he went to the spiritual medicine garden to get medicine while he was in the outer sect, and he had seen her from afar.

He didn't really know the specifics.

He only knew she was quite low-key and mysterious, and she hadn't taken in any disciples on her entire mountain.

Why did she take a fancy to the girl?