HSSB43: What they say doesn’t count
A girl surnamed Feng, of about her age. After sifting through his memories for ages, Yan Zhaoge finally managed to recall a vague piece of information related to this.
The Sacred Sun Clan was the first Sacred Ground to have discovered the method with which to control the Crown of Extreme Yin. At the same time, it had also been the first to begin searching for and gathering Maidens of Extreme Yin.
At first, the Sacred Sun Clan stringently sealed all news regarding this matter, prioritising keeping it a secret.
Even the other clans of the Sacred Grounds were unable to gather any specifics regarding the Sacred Sun Clan’s Maidens of Extreme Yin.
Even after having searched for a long time, the valuable reports they had managed to obtain were still woefully few in number. Of these, there was one particular piece of information that had not actually been verified.
The Sacred Sun Clan’s Maiden of Extreme Yin, was a female disciple called Feng Muge.
Sadly, other than the name itself, no other valuable piece of information related to that person had been successfully gathered, her facial features and characteristics even more so being a total mystery.
However, close to two years ago, during the very first Extreme Yin Bout, it had been Meng Wan who had made her debut.
After that, the rumours regarding a Feng Muge had been thought to be a smokescreen thrown by the Sacred Sun Clan itself.
Still, looking at the Feng Yunsheng currently standing before him, he couldn’t help but link the two together.
If it were a Maiden of Extreme Yin who would be able to help to represent Broad Creed Mountain in the fight for the Extreme Yin Crown, the value of such a person would be worlds apart from a mere Sacred Sun Clan disciple who had betrayed her own clan.
The value of objects lie in their rarity. While the Sacred Sun Clan had Meng Wan, up to now, Broad Creed Mountain had never had a Maiden of Extreme Yin.
“Before escaping from the clan, Feng Muge was already Feng Yunsheng.”
However, hearing Feng Yunsheng’s words, and looking at the expression on her face, Yan Zhaoge’s heart instantly sunk slightly.
The meaning of the other party’s words was obviously not that she had cut off her past ties and bid the Sacred Sun Clan farewell, before leaving it for good.
“Something went wrong with your Extreme Yin Physique?” Yan Zhaoge frowned as he asked, “Before escaping from your Sacred Sun Clan, you had already lost it?”
Thinking about it again, there was indeed a high possibility of this having happened. Otherwise, the Sacred Sun Clan also wouldn’t have allowed a Maiden of Extreme Yin to be roaming the outside world alone as she liked.
Even though they already had Meng Wan, they still couldn’t tolerate the possibility of Feng Yunsheng throwing in her lot with one of the other prominent clans.
On the contrary, even while already possessing Meng Wan, they would still put in a lot of effort in grooming Feng Yunsheng.
The fact that Feng Yunsheng was herself extremely talented in the martial dao aside, being at the very least quite likely to eventually reach the Martial Grandmaster realm, just their simultaneous possessing of two Maidens of Extreme Yin alone would only make the Sacred Sun Clan happier, despite the corresponding increase in the already huge expenditure of resources that would entail.
With the pressure from the major world of the Flame Devils weighing down on them, as well as considering the limited number of Maidens of Extreme Yin in existence, the Extreme Yin Bout had not set the restriction of each Sacred Ground only being able to send out a single representative.
To the Sacred Sun Clan, with Feng Yunsheng alongside Meng Wan, it would be like having bought a double-layered insurance.
Having regained her former ease of expression, stemming from an ability to not linger on matters best not put to heart, Feng Yunsheng laughed, “If Feng Yunsheng were still Feng Muge, even if my old Grand Master had not passed on from this world, Xiao Shen would also not have dared to mess around with me, and all the events which followed would also not have happened.”
Yan Zhaoge nodded, “Indeed, you are the one Xiao Shen, Chao Yuanlong and the others have been looking for. You entered the Sealing Dragon Abyss previously?”
Feng Yunsheng said frankly, “That’s right. In order to conceal my traces and get rid of my pursuers, I did hide in the Sealing Dragon Abyss for a period of time. Of the wounds that are on me now, a few of them were actually inflicted there.”
“How did you lose your Extreme Yin Physique?”
“Once, while out tempering myself, I got too close to the outskirts of Hell and accidentally stumbled into an Evil Yin Ground. The excessive Yin caused a backlash, damaging my body’s meridians and physique.”
Although Yan Zhaoge’s question was directed at her most painful scar, Feng Yunsheng’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.
‘At that time, I had already realised that something was wrong. Upon returning to the clan, I discovered that the Yin power within my body was fading away slowly and unceasingly, till it finally vanished for good.”
Feng Yunsheng laughed in a self-ridiculing manner, a hint of disgust within her gaze, “At that time, Grand Master had just passed away not long ago, but I just had to go and lose my Extreme Yin Physique then.”
“Seeing this, Xiao Shen actually came up with the notion of taking advantage of me. In the end, he was heavily injured by the body-protecting treasure my Grand Master left me.”
“Flying into a rage, his grandfather distorted the facts, claiming that I, having failed to seduce Xiao Shen successfully, had my embarrassment turn into anger, thus launching a sneak attack on him. He wanted to kill me to vent his anger.”
“Luckily, I received this piece of news before trouble came knocking. With my Master secretly helping me from the side, I managed to escape from the clan successfully.”
Looking rather interestedly at Feng Yunsheng, Yan Zhaoge suddenly laughed, “Oh? What if what Xiao Shen claimed was actually the real truth? Perhaps what you’re saying now is actually all part of your plan to swindle me by making it look like you’re innocent when you’re actually not?”
Feng Yunsheng gave an easy laugh, “If I really were to take the initiative and chase a man myself, I also wouldn’t find that Xiao Shen ah. Huang Jie I’m not so sure about, not having had much contact with him; but isn’t senior apprentice-brother Tang much stronger than him?”
Yan Zhaoge shrugged his shoulders, smiling but keeping his silence.
If logic really completely stood on Xiao Shen’s side, the clan would long since have dispatched experts to capture Feng Yunsheng and bring her back. It wouldn’t make sense for her to only have been pursued by Xiao Shen and a few other similarly-aged young disciples of the clan who kept a rather close relationship with him.
While Xiao Shen’s grandfather was the Sacred Sun Clan’s Grand Elder, he was still far from the point of being able to obscure the heavens with a single wave of his hand, dictating everything without opposition.
While Feng Yunsheng’s Grand Master had already passed away, the Sacred Sun Clan still naturally had Xiao Shen’s grandfather’s rival keeping him in check.
Still, about standing for Feng Yunsheng and clearing her name, that person might not actually bother doing that.
Xiao Shen and Feng Yunsheng had had a private conflict, which, lacking witnesses, could only be accounted for through their own testimonies.
While Feng Yunsheng had not even had her skin broken by Xiao Shen, the latter had evidently been heavily injured by her.
“Today, I betrayed the Sacred Sun Clan, moreover even killing these three. The clan will definitely not let this matter rest so easily.”
Feng Yunsheng said calmly, “My clan has always leaned towards the grandson of its Grand Elder up to now, rather than the me who has lost my Extreme Yin Physique.”
“Your clan giving up on me, would also be completely normal. I only hope that Senior Brother Yan will not keep me against my will, and will instead allow me to leave as I would like.”
“While the pursuit of the entire Sacred Sun Clan should indeed be scary, I will just die at most; also, there’s no saying that I won’t actually strike it lucky and somehow manage to make it out of this whole situation alive.”
“Even without the Extreme Yin Physique, I still have the sword within my hand. If there’s a chance, I’ll give it a try; if there’s no chance, even more so then I’ll have to give it a try.”
Yan Zhaoge did not speak, only appraising her closely.
Feng Yunsheng frowned slightly, but, not seeing any perverted intentions behind his gaze, let him go on.
Still, if she were to remain here for much longer, the other Sacred Sun Clan disciples searching for her might soon stumble across this place and discover her.
As long as Yan Zhaoge did not speak, though, she would be unable to take her leave.
Feng Yunsheng shook her head, as she searched through the belongings of the three corpses next to her and robbed them clean.
Then, she brandished the jet-black short sword within her hand, drawing on the meagre amount of inner qi still available to her to unleash the power of her weapon.
The spiritual qi released by her artifact turned into an actual blazing fire, landing on the three corpses before burning strongly to consume them completely.
Yan Zhaoge suddenly moved, grabbing her wrist.
Feng Yunsheng was not embarrassed. Still, she raised her eyebrows, looking straight at Yan Zhaoge silently.
Yan Zhaoge ignored her as he fell into deep thought.
After a moment, the corner of his mouth revealed more than a hint of a smile, “Feng Yunsheng, might not actually be unable to go back to being Feng Muge.”
Feng Yunsheng was momentarily stunned, “Back then, it was our Sacred Sun Clan’s Clan Chief himself who made the judgment. All the other peak practitioners of the clan who were not in the midst of secluded cultivation, also…”
“What they say doesn’t count,” Yan Zhaoge said dismissively.
Feng Yunsheng opened her mouth, yet, as she stared at Yan Zhaoge, was unable to speak for a long time.
A long time later, a bitter smile appeared on the teenage girl’s face for the first time, “It seems like you are even more confident than me, huh. Well, although I don’t know where your confidence stems from, it I were to successfully recover my Extreme Yin Physique, as the beneficiary, of course I would be happy.”
“Senior Brother Yan’s meaning is that Broad Creed Mountain can accept me? Still, I’d like to know; to what extent can you speak for your clan on this matter?”
Smiling, Yan Zhaoge was just about to speak, but then his ears twitched slightly.
Outside the valley, the figures of the black-clothed martial practitioners acting as his guards flickered, as they converged towards him.
Someone was nearing the valley, a hostile person, whose cultivation was not ordinary!
Very quickly, a white-robed youth strode into the valley. With a large beard hanging down from his face, it was obviously Xiao Shen himself!