Somewhere in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range…
Three sparsely vegetated mountain peaks rose up in three directions like the points of a triangle. In between them all was a huge valley, which was the home of the Spiritual Treasure sect.
Numerous stone pavilions stood tall in the valley, and streams of people walked along the wide stone paths.
On the three mountain peaks surrounding the Spiritual Treasure sect were large numbers of caves, with people from the Spiritual Treasure sect constantly going in and out of them.
Those caves belonged to the sect’s equipment forgers.
When they entered the caves, they were all well-dressed, and their bearings were confident and elegant, but when they walked out from the cave, their appearance was always messy, their hair disheveled and their faces dirty.
Of those who walked out, some held spiritual tools in hand and cheered loudly, while others held their head down, disheartened, looking almost as if their parents had just passed away.
The main gate of the Spiritual Treasure sect stood high at the north entrance of the valley, and often saw luxurious carriages passing through, carrying travelers from distant lands.
An Shiyi stood at the gate, dressed in fine red garments, her delicate and beautiful face filled with a smile. Whenever she saw someone coming, she would step forward to greet them and arrange their accommodations.
She wore a silver bracelet on her jade-like wrist, and a heart-shaped pendant could be seen hanging around her snow-white neck. Her every single movement showed off the most beautiful side of a woman, provoking deep desire in every man who saw her.
However, under her seemingly everlasting smile, there appeared to be sorrow deeply hidden in her eyes.
In the past, her status in the Spiritual Treasure sect had ensured that she would never be entrusted with a menial task like receiving guests.
However, as the representative of the Spiritual Treasure sect and person in charge of the Green Illusion dimension trial, she had failed to notice the actions of the Ghost sect and the Blood sect, which directly led to the annihilation of the entire Grayvale sect team, as well as heavy casualties to the other three sects. Because of this, her status in the Spiritual Treasure sect had greatly dropped.
In order to appease the other three sects, An Shiyi had received severe punishment, and had descended to a point where she had to greet guests in front of the sect’s main gate.
Over the years in the Spiritual Treasure sect, everything had gone her way. She had been highly regarded by the sectmaster and had never met such a huge setback before.
Thanks to the sectmaster’s high regard, the old men within the sect who harbored evil intentions towards her had all hidden their intentions and not dared to act imprudently.
However, according to the rumors, due to her dereliction of duty regarding the Green Illusion dimension trial, the sectmaster seemed to have raised doubts regarding her competence, and thus had removed her status as a deacon.
Therefore, the old ones who had been drooling over her beauty immediately grew restless.
Recently, each and every one of them had sent people to test out her intentions, expressing their wish of becoming partners with her.
After rejecting them a number of times, she had discovered that her situation in the Spiritual Treasure sect had become more and more difficult.
An Shiyi thought to herself, “There must not be any accident at this convention. Otherwise… things will be even more difficult in the future.”
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Panting sounds rang out as three Gold Horn Beasts dragged a huge carriage from the north.
On the carriage, Sang Bing from the Grayvale sect looked coldly at An Shiyi, his face grim.
Next to him sat Yuan Xian, who, at the first sight of An Shiyi, said unpleasantly, “An Shiyi, how do you still have the face to receive us? If it wasn’t for you, my Feng’er wouldn’t have died in the Green Illusion dimension! Because you failed to detect the Ghost sect’s and Blood sect’s actions, my precious Feng’er is dead!”
Yuan Xian was the sister of Yuan Fengchun, master of the Yuan clan from Frost Stone City.
Yuan Feng, who had led the Grayvale sect’s disciples into the Green Illusion dimension, had been Yuan Fengchun’s grandson. Yuan Xian, who had never married in her entire life, had always treated Yuan Feng as her own grandson.
The reason Yuan Feng had been deemed as a ‘seed’ by the Grayvale sect was not only because of his exceptional talent, but also partly because of her.
Admittedly, Yuan Fengchun was a well-known figure among the major clans of the seven cities, but compared to his sister, he wasn’t even worth mentioning.
From a young age, Yuan Xian had displayed exceptional cultivation talent, and as of now, she was already one of the five valemasters of the Grayvale sect.
Grayvale consisted of five vales, each of which had a valemaster. Although she was the master of the smallest vale, she was the fifth most respected person in the entire sect.
It was because of her that the Yuan clan dared to act domineeringly among all the subordinate clans of the Grayvale sect, and was also why the Yuan clan was deemed as the number one clan in Frost Stone City.
As for the reason why the Yun clan had gotten rid of Nie Qian and made Yun Zhiguo marry Yuan Qiuying, it was because they took a fancy to the Yuan clan’s loft status in the Grayvale sect.
After all, the Yun clan was merely an insignificant subordinate clan.
“Senior Yuan,” An Shiyi smiled bitterly, “it was the Ghost sect and Blood sect that killed Yuan Feng, not me, right? If you want to take revenge, you should go to the Ghost sect and Blood sect. Why make things difficult for me?”
Yuan Xian’s gaze was as cold as ice. “Of course I won’t let them off! But you have to take responsibility too! If you didn’t fail at your job of discovering their plans, how would they have been able to set foot in the Green Illusion dimension? If they weren’t able to enter the Green Illusion dimension, how would Feng’er have possibly died?”
With these words, Yuan Xian paused for a while and glared at An Shiyi. Face bleak, she said, “An Shiyi, if you want to rely on your pretty face to keep a foothold in the Realm of Flame Heaven, then you’d better find someone strong to rely on. I heard that… some of the elders in your sect have quite a taste for you. I’d say, obey them.
“After all, a woman like you, other than your good looks, what else do you have?
“If you marry one of them, I might have to give them face and leave you alone. But… if there is no one to protect you, then with your current status in the Spiritual Treasure sect, I have plenty of methods to use on you!”
Yuan Xian was blunt about the scandals in the Spiritual Treasure sect, despite the fact that there were people around watching.
After hearing her words, An Shiyi’s face flickered. She wanted to retort, but with a second thought about her current situation, she chose to simply accept the abuse.
At that time, she noticed that around her, many Spiritual Treasure sect disciples were now looking at her with strange gazes.
She immediately realized that the troublesome matters that had been weighing her down recently, had already been made public before she knew it.
“Senior Yuan, please enter the sect.” An Shiyi bowed, indicating for Sang Bing and Yuan Xian to enter the gate.
Yuan Xian wasn’t in a rush to go in, and continued to sit on her carriage, looking down upon An Shiyi.
“After all,” she said coldly, “the An clan’s foundation is too shallow. Your clan doesn’t even have one elder in the Spiritual Treasure sect, but rather they depend on you and your sister to maintain their foothold in Black Cloud City. Once you lose your power in the Spiritual Treasure sect, your sister and your clan may all go down with you. An Shiyi, you’d better think it through. Think about your sister and your clan.”
“Thank you for your concern, Senior Yuan,” An Shiyi replied with a frown.
She was already quite aware of what Yuan Xian was trying to say.
She knew perfectly clear that one of her pursuers was very close with Yuan Xian, and that those words that Yuan Xian had just said were very likely spoken in that person’s favor.
The meaning behind her words was that, as long as she submitted to that person obediently, Yuan Xian would no longer pursue her fault in the Green Illusion dimension trial.
Otherwise, Yuan Xian would spare no means to make life difficult for her and possibly even involve the entire An clan.
However, just thinking of that person’s disgusting appearance made her feel cold and gave her goosebumps.
“You should really think about it.” Yuan Xian gave her a cold look and waved to Sang Bing to get off the carriage and get inside.
At that very moment, a low-pitched cry suddenly rang out from deep within the clouds.
Upon hearing the cry, everyone at the front gate subconsciously looked up.
Before long, they saw a spirit beast gradually appear from within the thick clouds, and rapidly draw near.
WHOOSH!
A gale blew past, and when it cleared, a gigantic spirit beast had already landed in front of the crowd.
The three Gold Horn Beasts, which had previously been pulling the Grayvale sect’s carriage, began to tremble and slowly crouch down.
“A Thunder Beast!”
Seeing the spirit beast descending from heaven, everyone’s faces slightly flickered.
Even Yuan Xian and Sang Bing suddenly fell into silence upon its appearance.
A curious voice echoed out from the back of the Thunder Beast. “So this is the Spiritual Treasure sect?”
Everyone looked over with rapt attention, and found that there was well-built young man sitting on the Thunder Beast’s back.
“It’s… it’s him!!” An Shiyi was flabbergasted.
“Yee? Big Sister An?!” Nie Tian looked around and immediately spotted An Shiyi. Sitting on the back of the Thunder Beast, he waved his hand towards An Shiyi. With a smile, he said, “Long time no see!”
“It’s only been half a year,” An Shiyi said, smiling.
Sang Bing, who was still sitting on the carriage, whispered to Yuan Xian, “He’s that kid from the Nie clan.”
Yuan Xian took a deep look at Nie Tian and nodded briefly, not saying a word.
“That kid is now Eccentric Wu’s disciple,” said Sang Bing. “He’s not someone we can afford to provoke… should we tell the Yun clan to dial down their actions a bit?”
Yuan Xian remained silent for a while and then said, “Qiuying is my niece, but a girl who marries into another clan is like water that has been poured away. I would certainly not offend Eccentric Wu because of her.”
“That’s good,” said Sang Bing, sounding a bit relieved.
“Let’s get inside,” said Yuan Xian.
While Nie Tian jumped down from the Thunder Beast’s back and walked towards An Shiyi, the people from the Grayvale sect took the initiative and entered the gate one after another.
Seeing them leave, An Shiyi’s mood lightened a bit.
She understood that if it wasn’t for the arrival of Nie Tian, then with Yuan Xian’s harsh nature, she would mock her well and good in front of the Spiritual Treasure sect’s main gate and there was no way that she would have let her off that easily.
It had only been half a year since they had parted. However, a complicated expression appeared on her face as she sized up the current Nie Tian. To her, it felt like it had been ages.
“This little punk…”