Chapter 159

Translator: Myriea_ActiasLuna Editor: Nou

From the moment people heard Xuan Si’nyang had gifted a Foundation Pellet to the Melodic Ice Palace as a reward, the Qing-Yun Sect had been waiting for this. Fuyao Palace had always seen small sects like these as being equivalent, and since they’d given a Foundation Pellet to the Melodic Ice Palace, the Qing-Yun Sect would surely receive one as well. However, there had still been an air of uncertainty before it was actually offered; now that she’d mentioned it personally, it was as though a huge stone had been lifted.

The regulations elder in the distant sky saw the sect master as his only hope of being saved and rushed towards him. “Sect Master…. Sect Master, please help!”

Fang Xing wasn’t too far away, and—as he was waving his saber to his heart’s content—he suddenly looked and saw to his surprise that the sect master and chief elders were all watching at him. All of this really had gone a bit far, so he prepared to put his saber away and gloomily escape.

Fuyao Palace’s Xuan Si’nyang was completely immersed in watching the scene, and seeing Fang Xing about to leave left her dissatisfied. “Wait, don’t leave….”

Chen Xuanhua had no other choice and nodded towards Tie Rukuang, who then stepped on his cloud and flew up towards Fang Xing.

The golden crow sensed what was going on. “Should I use the Giant Peng ability to flee?” he asked in a low voice.

Fang Xing revealed a grudging frown. “Don’t worry, let him come.”

Tie Rukuang flew up and grabbed Fang Xing by the sleeve before dragging him off of the golden crow’s back and turning towards the pavilion. “Little bastard, all you know is how to cause trouble!”

Fang Xing knew struggling right now would be useless. He’d accepted the reality of the situation and said in a somewhat timid voice, “He provoked me first!”

“Sect Master, this little bastard offended his superior and now truly seeks my life. Please dispense justice by heavily punishing this boy….” In actuality, although this elder had been given quite a fright, he was after all a cultivator in the eighth tier and wouldn’t normally be as scared as he appeared now. However, he’d realized this had already caused a larger scene than he’d intended and was now trying to seem miserable to garner pity and pin all of the blame on Fang Xing. With this, when the dire crime of disturbing the important guest was brought up, Fang Xing would be the one doomed.

However, when the elder began to cry out, he hadn’t expected Chen Xuanhua would give him a meaningful look amidst the Fuyao Palace guest’s laughter. “What a handsome boy! Granny Qian, we must reward him well!”

Hearing this completely dumbfounded the regulations elder.

Granny Qian naturally knew the temperament of her master, and she smiled while announcing, “One pair of Purple-Jade Ruyi Scepters, ten Cleansing Pellets, ten Exploding Flame Talismans, two Purple Serpent Belts, a pair of Silk Dustless Boots….”

Fang Xing had already guessed this woman’s identity. He’d originally had a poor impression of the Fuyao Palace, but hearing this woman compliment his good looks caused him to feel overjoyed and he decided this Fuyao Palace guest had pretty good taste. Before Tie Rukuang had even let him go, Fang Xing cupped his hands while in the air and laughed, “Haha, thanks, but only just this much? Is there any more?”

The boy had gained all of these rewards all of a sudden—and even the most ample reward thus far at that—yet was still saying it was too little? Sect Master Chen Xuanhua and the four chief elders were left completely speechless. They all wanted to immediately cover this kid’s mouth, but they did not dare to do so in front of such an important guest and could only pray their guest would not get upset by the boy’s rudeness.

Upon hearing this, Xuan Si’nyang did not actually get upset and simply pinched Fang Xing’s cheeks with a smile. “You’re a clever little boy, aren’t you? I have plenty of good stuff here, but whether you can have them or not will depend upon you!” She then turned towards Chen Xuanhua and asked, “Sect Master, earlier you mentioned an inner court tournament. This boy would also be in it, right?”

Chen Xuanhua was a little surprised as he nodded. “Of course!” In truth, he hadn’t originally planned for Fang Xing to be a part of the tournament; Fang Xing was supposed to be confined to the Valley of Hidden Dragon while it was taking place, after all. Now that Fang Xing had been seen by their important Fuyao Palace guest, however, it had become impossible to deny.

Xuan Si’nyang’s smile broadened even more. “That’s good. Now I’m actually looking forward to your Qing-Yun tournament!” She smiled sweetly towards Fang Xing with a wink before a wind formed to take her towards the Breakwater Grand Hall.

Chen Xuanhua and the four chief elders all bowed towards Xuan Si’nyang’s departure, and they did not straighten back up again for quite a long while. Tie Rukuang shook Fang Xing still in his hands and asked, “Sect Master, what shall we do about him?”

Chen Xuanhua gave a dismissive wave of his hand with a bitter smile. “We’ll talk about this after the tournament.” His thoughts were rather complicated. When he’d first realized Fang Xing had caused such trouble, his first thought had been to hand out a heavy punishment, yet that “trouble” had unexpectedly earned the favor of their Fuyao Palace guest, turning it into a meritorious service towards the sect. Besides, the guest clearly stated she’d like this boy to be in the tournament as well—a punishment was no longer a good idea.

It’d have to wait until after the tournament, then!

As for Tie Rukuang, he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry at this. Originally, not a single Duanzhen disciple had given a performance here, and although he’d put a lot of thought into the matter, he still didn’t know how he could entertain this guest. He’d given up early on, yet the head pupil of his Duanzhen Valley came out of nowhere with a great gift.

“Well, you best return to Duanzhen Valley with me today.” Tie Rukuang held onto Fang Xing and directly returned to Duanzhen Valley.

When the two arrived at the valley, there was every bit a round of scrutiny. Tie Rukuang also believed Fang Xing had raised his levels to the late stage a little too quickly, yet Fang Xing simply said it was all due to the solid foundation he’d built under Bai Qianzhang’s guidance, and that he also didn’t understand it completely.

Tie Rukuang of course didn’t believe all of this, but he was neither Qin’nyao nor Xiao Shanhe and didn’t doggedly try to find the answer. Since the little bastard didn’t want to say, best to let him be; the boy was technically his pupil now, after all.

—

Inside the Breakwater Grand Hall, Xuan Si’nyang recalled the scene of the boy standing atop the giant crow chasing after an old man. She could not restrain her joy as she spoke with a laugh to Granny Qian beside her, “This boy is very interesting and quite bold. He seems somewhat similar to our own little devil incarnate. Who knows, maybe if one day the two meet, they might even become friends!”

Granny Qian laughed. “If Master likes him, why not take him back to have him serve under the young master?”

Xuan Si’nyang shook her head. “No need. One of them in the Fuyao Palace is more than enough. To bring back another would bring nothing but chaos!”

Granny Qian grew quiet before she considered something and said, “Fourth Lady, we should still search this Qing-Yun Sect.”

Xuan Si’nyang nodded. “Since it’s been entrusted to us by someone, we will naturally do our best. Have a search, then. Which reminds me; their family is so troublesome! They forced him to leave seven hundred years ago, but now they want to find him. How excessive!”

Granny Qian smiled. “That family is yours as well, Master. Such words cannot be heard by anyone else!”

Xuan Si’nyang’s eyes widened. “I haven’t married into their family yet, they’re not considered my family!”

Granny Qian stopped speaking and only revealed a smile. She then went and spoke to a few of the other old women who’d come along, who then went outside to see if they could find any signs of evidence. These women left the Breakwater Grand Hall together, and their silhouettes were like ghosts as they appeared quietly and ever so subtly through all of the Qing-Yun Sect peaks. All of their faces were expressionless and they didn’t delay in their movements. They didn’t even respect whether an area was forbidden as they swept their Spirit Sense everywhere to distinguish any variance in the movement of Qi.

—

Xiao Shanhe had been within the Grand Hall of Scriptures. He’d ordered people to find all of the maps within a hundred-mile radius of the Qing-Yun Sect, and also had people preparing to add in any missing parts they could by traveling to these locations and measuring them out. However, such a tedious job would require quite some time to complete, and he naturally felt bored. He walked to the main hall’s entrance and looked towards the starry sky above with a sigh.

Tonight, this uncle-nephew pair had truly been unlucky. He’d intentionally planned for Xiao Jianming to perform last so as to finish with a grand climax that would obtain the greatest amount of rewards. He hadn’t anticipated that even with his nephew’s perfect performance using the sword dance, the guest wouldn’t view it with any importance. Instead, the guest’s favor had been won by the little bastard who caused all of this trouble by chasing after the regulations elder.

All of this left Xiao Shanhe extremely annoyed, and his ill feelings towards Fang Xing increased many times over. It was fortunate, however, that the guest didn’t reward the Foundation Pellet and would be watching the tournament instead. It seemed things would progress as it had with the Melodic Ice Palace and Ephemeral Butterfly; she was planning to give the Foundation Pellet to the strongest disciple, of which his nephew was favored.

Just as he’d been carefully thinking over this, he suddenly saw four or five black shadows appear in all corners of the Qing-Yun Sect, all of which walked around quietly. Startled, he was about to go check it out when his body suddenly froze and an old woman atop a flying cloud arrived from not far away. “Elder of Qing-Yun Sect, why have you not yet gone to rest?” She was full of smiles and heavily aged—it was Granny Qian.

Xiao Shanhe turned and bowed to her. “Xiao Shanhe of Qing-Yun Sect. It is my pleasure to see you, esteemed senior of the Fuyao Palace!”

Granny Qian smiled. “No need for extra etiquette. My subordinates are inspecting your sect’s protection measures to verify them—just in case. I hope Esteemed Elder does not mind?”

Xiao Shanhe hastily replied, “Of course not! Princess is extremely important, so being cautious is a good thing!” Although he said this outwardly, inwardly he’d already started to grow suspicious deep inside his heart. Inspecting the sect’s protective measures? This was most likely a pretense. From the looks of them, it seemed far more as though they were searching for something….