Chapter 205: This Must Be My Disciple

The silver moon hangs in the empty sky.

Xie Jinhuan's form, wrapped by a clear breeze, traversed a thousand layers of mountains and fields; Meiqiu flew alongside him. Surrounding them were black mountain ranges and a lone moon, while ahead stood a snow-haired beauty with an ethereal fairy aura. The scene could be called carefree and joyful.

If this white-haired Fairy Nangong Xianzi could just act a bit more normally, that would be even better...

"Wow! This tree has grown so big!"

True Person Qixia, with a red umbrella hanging from her waist, rode the wind. Whether influenced by the three demonic paths of 'Unbridled Desire, Heart-Devouring, and Demon Transformation' or simply being a lively and cute little fairy, she drifted wildly over the mountains and fields, looking not at a large stone but at an old pine tree, and enthusiastically told him anecdotes:

"When this Daoist was fourteen, I was ordered to patrol these mountains. I went alone to gather medicinal herbs, but encountered a wild boar. At that time, my uncles and elders were not nearby, and I only had a magic sword in hand. It took a great deal of effort to cut the meat properly, but it smelled very fragrant when roasted..."

"Gugu?"

Meiqiu was stunned into silence.

Xie Jinhuan, on the other hand, listened with a racing heart and trembling soul. After all, this white-haired Fairy Nangong Xianzi was probably fine, but she possessed a wicked nature of 'destroying whoever she catches.' He truly feared this young lady might lose control and, with a single finger, blast him into nothingness.

Although the white-haired Daoist nun was plump and round, her tea-green Daoist robe was extremely appropriate, and the sash and skirt hem outlined a very tense curve. Her head full of snow-white hair added a unique fairy aura.

But Xie Jinhuan's heart was now truly as still as water. He wanted to call the ghost wife for help, but the ghost only said:

"When a sister speaks to someone, she must first 'induce hallucinations.' Her cultivation is too high; she is currently suppressing her mind to prevent influence from demonic nature. The sister cannot make her hallucinate and see me. You just coax her well and keep her from going mad. Once she remembers me and voluntarily lowers her guard, I will persuade her to return."

Xie Jinhuan knew the principle behind the ghost's appearance, so he could only comfort her:

"Senior's form is unstable; perhaps we should go quickly and return quickly?"

"No problem; this Daoist has her own measure."

True Person Qixia surveyed Mount Zihui, where she had lived for many years, and thought to ask:

"Nowadays, how many Super-Rank exist on Mount Zihui? Who is the Sect Master? Have they reached the Hehe Realm?"

The Daoist Seven Realms are, respectively—Qi Control, Divine Radiance, Spiritual Silence, Heavenly Mechanism, Hehe, Hunyuan, and Immortal Tribulation.

Hehe is the Daoist Fifth Realm. According to Xie Jinhuan's estimation, Lu Wu Zhen should possess this realm, as for Fairy Nangong...

"Hmm... The current Sect Master of Mount Zihui is Senior's senior disciple, Nangong Ye. As the eldest senior brother, he accepted disciples on behalf of his master. He is currently the strongest Rank 1 in Great Qian, upright and incorruptible, with an extraordinary character, and enjoys extremely high reputation in the Jianghu..."

"Strongest... Rank 1?!"

The white-haired Daoist nun slowed her form and came to his side. Her oval face carried a look of confusion, as if saying, 'How new is that!'

"In this current world, has it fallen so low that a Rank 1 can become the Sect Master of Mount Zihui? Then what do Super-Rank become?"

The ancestral court of the Danding Sect is the Taiyin Palace. Later, it branched into Mount Zihui and the Xuanhu Observatory. Every generation of Zhang Sect leaders came from these three families; the Sect Master must be Super-Rank. Due to the immense pressure of the Wu Sect chaos, resources were smashed without counting the cost, even continuously producing two officially titled 'True Persons': Ziyang and Qixia.

And a Rank 1 Sect Master, not to mention during the Wu Sect chaos, even now, would be the Jianghu status of Bao Xiaolin. To be the Sect Master of Mount Zihui is indeed somewhat bizarre.

Seeing this, Xie Jinhuan explained: "Sect Master Nangong's cultivation is low because she is young and it is a time of peace, with few opportunities. But in terms of reputation, almost no one inside or outside the pass does not know her."

True Person Qixia did not believe the reputation of a Rank 1 Daoist could be so great that everyone inside and outside the pass knew her. She pondered slightly:

"Is her appearance very outstanding?"

Xie Jinhuan felt that a disciple becoming famous for beauty sounded a bit... something, but he could not go against his conscience and call her ugly. He thought and replied:

"Sect Master Nangong is a righteous hero; her character is impeccable. But idle people in the Jianghu like to call her 'The First Beauty of the Daoist Sect'."

True Person Qixia's motto is 'I want to be a Fairy,' and her Dao-heart is as iron and consistent throughout. Discovering that her disciple, whom she had never met, with meager cultivation, was actually famous throughout the world for her beauty, she felt a genuine curiosity in her heart:

"Is she on Mount Zihui?"

"Sect Master Nangong seemed to have returned some time ago; currently, it is unclear..."

Seeing this, True Person Qixia said no more, raised her hand, and cast the Ten-Thousand-Mile Divine Travel Spell.

Whoosh~

Before Xie Jinhuan could finish speaking, he found the mountains and rivers below shifting and the remaining clouds in the sky flying backward. In the blink of an eye, they arrived above Mount Zihui.

The buildings on the mountain were scattered like stars, and there were also some structures on the surrounding peaks. Viewed from the sky, it looked like a Bagua diagram.

"Gugu?!"

Meiqiu saw this fairy art and her big eyes widened.

Xie Jinhuan had intended to praise it twice, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw an old hundred-year-old osmanthus tree beside the cliff of the main peak.

Under the old osmanthus tree was a chess table. Two women stood facing the wind beneath the tree, their demeanor and figures floating like immortals. Although their faces were not seen, their plump and graceful waist and hip curves still revealed their identities—Bing Tuozi and Senior Sister Hua...

True Person Qixia looked toward her small courtyard, saw this pair of beauties who could topple cities, and her eyes lit up:

"These two are this Daoist's disciples, right? The one with the butterfly hairpin should be the Sect Master. Look at this body full of supreme Yang Qi, and this demeanor, this facial structure; she is carved from the very same mold as me! The one observing on the side, Seeing Bing Tuozi, I guess is the Discipline Hall Senior Uncle. She looks very fierce..."

"Uh..."

Xie Jinhuan was full of confusion. Just as he wanted to speak, he found the white-haired fairy had already rushed down...

—

Mount Zihui stretches over seven hundred li. The sect headquarters located on the main peak is actually quite far from the Demon Tomb.

Although there was considerable commotion deep within the mountains, the red umbrella concealed the heavenly secrets, so the outside world did not notice anything abnormal, and everything inside the mountain gate remained normal.

Beside the cliff in the back mountain, the hundred-year-old osmanthus tree swayed gently in the autumn wind.

Nangong Ye, wearing a black skirt and holding her sword, stood beside the chess platform gazing at the endless mountain ranges, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

Bu Yuehua, wearing a water-blue long skirt, stood at her side with a long sword on her back. A green gauze covered her face, revealing only a pair of peach-blossom eyes. Her jet-black long hair was coiled up and tied behind her head with a purple-blue butterfly hairpin. She looked quite like a righteous fairy and asked in confusion:

"Did Xie Jinhuan run into the mountains?"

"I'm not sure. Are you sure he came?"

"He should have come..."

In the evening, Bu Yuehua ran to the tower ship to find Xie Jinhuan, intending to discuss the tournament match for tomorrow. Instead, she saw Xie Jinhuan running alone upstream along the Huai River.

Acting out of curiosity, she followed behind. Because the river surface was too vast and easy to be discovered, she stayed seven or eight li away, judging the direction through Meiqiu in the sky.

Unexpectedly, this young man went out for an evening stroll and strolled a hundred li, never stopping. He cleared the path when meeting mountains and crossed rivers when meeting water, almost rushing in a straight line, the direction pointing directly to Mount Zihui north of Danzhou!

Seeing Xie Jinhuan risk his life to run toward Mount Zihui, Bu Yuehua naturally realized something major had happened. She had experienced a war of attrition during the day, exhausting her Qi Sea completely. Later, watching the match outside, she had not sat in meditation to fully replenish her Qi. If she ran there, she might be unable to deal with strong enemies, so she quickly turned back and brought Nangong Ye from the landing place of Mount Zihui.

Hearing the news, Nangong Ye thought the sect was short-handed and had been slaughtered by the demonic Daoists. Terrified, she grabbed the demoness and flew back at full speed.

But upon returning to the main peak at this moment, they found the mountain gate entirely normal, with no anomalies whatsoever, and the Dan Yang City beyond the mountains was also peaceful.

Could that rascal have run into the mountains...

What was he in such a frantic rush to do?

Nangong Xianzi, full of doubts, was just about to enter the deep mountains with the demoness to search, when suddenly a sound came from behind:

Creak~

The sound of the door being blown open by the wind.

Both sensed something was wrong and turned almost simultaneously, looking towards the main hall a few zhang away.

But they saw the door wide open, lights lit inside the room, the glow illuminating the scroll hanging in the central hall.

On the scroll was a woman radiating spiritual energy, wearing a tea-green Daoist robe, a magical sword on her back, and an umbrella hanging at her waist; her lively eyes looked like living creatures, gazing at the endless mountains outside the door.

And below the scroll, at this moment, a woman radiating spiritual energy had mysteriously appeared, wearing a tea-green Daoist robe, carrying the Zheng Lun Sword on her back, a red umbrella hanging at her waist, her lively eyes gazing outside the door...

Exactly the same!

?!

Bu Yuehua's eyes widened a bit; she thought she had fallen under an illusion spell and cautiously looked left and right.

Nangong Xianzi also suspected someone was secretly causing trouble, but this looked exactly like the Ancestor manifesting; since she had never experienced such a thing from childhood to adulthood, she stood frozen in place, not knowing how to react.

Although True Person Qixia was the true ancestor, the Wu Sect's rise through violent seizure was too fast, and she subsequently fell into long slumber in the Demon-Suppressing Coffin; one blink of an eye and she was back to just now. The actual time she had spent walking the world was not even more than the two beauties outside the door, so she was actually a bit unaccustomed to the role of an elder.

But even if one hasn't eaten pork, one has at least seen a pig run...

True Person Qixia imagined how True Person Ziyang must have looked when seeing her back then; with her left hand behind her back and her right hand forward, she looked at Bu Yuehua, and amidst her immortal wind and Daoist bone, a touch of an elder's kindness emerged:

"So you are Nangong Xianzi? Truly, the waves behind push the waves ahead, and new people in the world chase out the old. This Daoist originally thought that after a hundred years, no one would be able to shoulder the heavy burden of the Danding Sect, but seeing you today, my heart is finally at ease..."

???

Bu Yuehua straightened up a bit, thinking that if she were to shoulder the heavy burden of the Danding Sect, what would the Gu Du Pai do... Nangong Xianzi, who had been at Mount Zihui every year, used to burn incense and wipe the tables for her master daily; discovering that this person had mistaken the demoness for her, her eyes naturally darkened, and she spoke coldly:

"What kind of demon is pretending to be a god here?!"

"Holy crap?! No, no..."

The words had barely fallen when a sharp explosion sounded from the sky above!

Nangong Xianzi's momentum towards the heavens was instantly shattered; frightened, she shrank her neck a bit and looked up at the sky.

Bu Yuehua raised her eyes at the same time.

But they saw a young master in white robes floating high in the sky, flailing his arms and legs trying to dive down but unable to descend, while Meiqiu was still helping by grabbing his robe and pulling him down...

"Gurgle gurgle..."

An eerie silence fell by the cliff...

Rustle rustle rustle...

The autumn wind swept over the century-old osmanthus tree, and amidst the osmanthus fragrance came the light sound of branches and leaves drifting.

True Person Qixia maintained the dignified demeanor of an immortal elder, but after being cursed right at the start, her expression stiffened slightly.

However, considering it was her own disciple, she didn't get angry; the Elder of the Discipline Hall, after all, how could she manage the entire sect without a fiery temper...

The Sect Master is steady; look at this Nangong Xianzi's air of an immortal, untroubled by praise or blame and elegant and skilled; the more she looked, the more pleasing she became...

Bu Yuehua wasn't actually untroubled by praise or blame; she simply didn't understand what was going on at all.

Nangong Xianzi was the same; originally wanting to scold the evil spirit, she saw the yellow-haired one right there, feared her identity would be exposed, and immediately shut her mouth, only looking upwards.

Xie Jinhuan, fearing that Seeing Bing Tuozi had a bad temper and might blow up this crazy madam, could only remind them from afar:

"This is True Person Qixia; do not offend. Senior, they are not your disciples; they are my friends, people from the Qingming Sword Manor..."

"..."

Nangong Xianzi trembled all over and looked at the white-haired Daoist nun again, almost kneeling on the spot.

But if she knelt now, wouldn't everything be exposed...

Bu Yuehua still found it hard to believe that the Great Qian Daoist Sect's ancestor, whose name had thundered in her ears since childhood, was standing right there alive and well; however, comparing her to the scroll, she should be real, so she quickly clasped her hands and bowed:

"Junior pays respects to True Person."

True Person Qixia discovered that these two beauties, born with seductive bones and standing alone in the world, were not her disciples after all, and couldn't help but feel greatly disappointed; she turned her head to look at her courtyard:

"Why are you two young ladies standing here in the middle of the night?"

Xie Jinhuan was also somewhat suspicious:

"Yes, why are you here?"

Seeing that Nangong Xianzi wasn't speaking, Bu Yuehua replied:

"Just now at Sanjiangkou, I intended to discuss the tournament matter with Xie Jinhuan, but found he had gone upstream. I thought he was going to slay demons and eliminate evil, so I came with... her to take a look..."

Nangong Xianzi was already dazed; with her master right in front of her and Xie Jinhuan above, not recognizing her would be betraying her teacher and destroying her ancestors, while recognizing her would be corrupting ethics; either way, she was doomed!

That dead kid, why did he appear together with her master, who had been in seclusion for years with no news...

What to do, what to do...

True Person Qixia wasn't stupid; seeing the look of fear and helplessness on the Bingshan Heroine, she knew something was wrong; after a moment's consideration, she raised her hand and lightly hooked it:

Whoosh—

Xie Jinhuan, who was watching, instantly vanished from above, leaving only a rapidly receding:

"Gurgle~~~~"

Nangong Xianzi, seeing Xie Jinhuan leave, dared not delay even a fraction; she quickly knelt on the ground, clasped her hands, and bowed:

"Disc... Disciple Nangong Xianzi, pays respects to Master."

True Person Qixia felt this disciple seemed to have major problems; she walked forward slowly to help her up, intending to ask.

But unexpectedly discovered that this disciple was a head taller than her, with fair skin, beautiful face, large breasts, and round hips, yet also possessed the otherworldly air of an Bingshan; she was simply the image of the Nangong Xianzi she had imagined...

So this is how the master is, so is the disciple…

Qixia True Person was quite satisfied with her disciple's bearing and looks, but felt a bit puzzled:

"You didn't tell Xie Jinhuan your identity?"

Nangong Ye grew very nervous: "Mm… yes, I secretly protected his Dao for him. I was afraid that, with something to rely on, he'd let down his guard, so…"

"Protected his Dao?"

Qixia True Person looked her up and down, utterly bewildered:

"You're a Rank 1 Daoist, protecting the Dao of a Rank 1 martial artist?"

Bu Yuehua couldn't hold it together hearing this, but to prevent Nangong Ye from calling her master to deal with her, she chimed in gently at this moment:

"If not for Sister Nangong protecting his Dao these past days, Xie Jinhuan wouldn't have been able to step into Rank 1 so quickly. I was watching over him alongside her."

Nangong Ye was boxed in on both sides, and at this point could only be grateful to the enchantress:

"That's right, this boy still needs time to grow. Telling him my identity now isn't appropriate. What I did just now was somewhat disrespectful to Master…"

Qixia True Person turned to look at Bu Yuehua:

"And who is this Miss?"

Bu Yuehua bowed with a curtsy: "This junior is Bu Yuehua, Master of Waning Moon Villa. I'm Sister Nangong's sworn sister; in the past, when she traveled the Southern Frontier, she always stayed at my place…"

?

Nangong Ye really wanted to chase this enchantress away for randomly claiming ties, but the enchantress had told Xie Jinhuan her identity, so if she made a scene on the spot she'd blow up. For this reason, she forced herself to nod.

Waning Moon Villa rose to prominence when the Wu Sect was exiled to the Southern Frontier, and it's been less than a hundred years till now. Qixia True Person had never even heard of it, and was truly a bit lost about the current situation. Asking this and that would damage Nangong Xianzi's image, so after a little deliberation, she felt she should first go check the sect's history!

Right, she could also discuss it with Sister Apiao…

Thinking of this, Qixia True Person said with a smile:

"Wait here a moment. This Daoist has just returned from this trip and won't be staying long—I need to go take care of something first, and I'll be back shortly."

Swoosh—

As the words fell, her figure flashed and vanished without a trace.

Nangong Ye was startled by Bai Mao's little master's cultivation, and once she was sure the person had left, she wanted to look for Xie Jinhuan again.

But the Old Ancestor had told her to wait—how would she dare run about? She could only wait in the courtyard.

Bu Yuehua wasn't sure whether this Danding Sect Old Ancestor was nearby either, so she didn't dare ask questions at the moment. She simply folded her hands at her waist and carefully searched…

Meanwhile, amid Chongshanjunling.

Xie Jinhuan, with Meiqiu on his shoulder, looked around at the desolate Chongshanjunling, his eyes full of bewilderment:

"Where the hell did she drop me off?"

"Gu Ji!"

Meiqiu was also a bit puzzled. She spread her wings, took flight, soared high to scout, and then flew toward Mount Zihui.

Xie Jinhuan, afraid that this Bai Mao Nangong Xianzi would go berserk, saw her flying that way and galloped after her, calling out along the way:

"Ghost bride? Hey?"

There was no response from the surroundings.

?

Xie Jinhuan froze, looked left and right, and only then realized that the Zhenglun Sword hanging at his waist had, at some unknown point, been swiped by Bai Mao Nangong Xianzi to use as an ornament…

……

(End of chapter)