Something big had happened in the Upper Azure World recently: word was going around that the Soul Formation Fiendish Cultivator Yu Meng had been killed. Even his subordinate Fiendish Cultivators who had killed many people were gone. Sky Severance Cliff, the Fiend Den which even the aristocratic families had trouble getting rid of, had been wiped out overnight.
Sky Severance Cliff was extremely easy to defend and it was at the border of the Mirage Sea. The Yin Qi had always been strong there, never dissipating. There was a great array formation of Yin just outside the Fiend Den which was set up specially to get rid of Immortal Cultivators. The four great aristocratic families and the immortal cultivation sects had tried countless times to destroy the Fiend Den but the Yin Qi had stopped them from doing so—they were always forced to retreat even before they made it to the top of Sky Severance Cliff. As time went by, the Fiendish Cultivators made their homes on the cliff. That was how the Fiend Den had formed.
Who would have thought that the den would disappear without a sound? Even the great array formation of Yin that once surrounded Sky Severance Cliff had disappeared.
No one knew exactly who had taken down the Fiend Den. All that was known related to this incident was a single word which was left on the stone wall atop Sky Severance Cliff—"Invincible". This was the talk of the town. Some said that the four aristocratic families had finally had enough of the constant provoking from Sky Severance Cliff and so had gathered a whole group of their best Traveling Immortals to take down the Fiend Den by force. Others said that the fiends had offended the Great Demons from the Demon Realm. Since demons were unaffected by Yin Qi, they would be able to get rid of the fiends. Yet others said that some hidden expert had done the deed and the word "Invincible" was meant as a warning to the Fiendish Cultivators so they would not get too c.o.c.ky.
These were all wild guesses, however. n.o.body from the immortal sects or the four aristocratic families were able to solve this mystery.
Lonemoon and Yi Qing had heard about this news as they were looking on the streets for Shen Ying. They had felt it the moment Yu Hong and her group of ladies had left; they had known there was something suspicious about the group of ladies. However, they had never guessed that they would leave in such a hurry. Lonemoon wasn"t bothered at first. They could leave if they wanted to as they could always find other people. But Yi Qing then realized… Shen Ying was missing too!
Shen Ying did not have the radish to navigate the way and knowing how bad she was with directions, they had no choice but to search for her. They searched to no avail, however. They had tried to follow the aura of the group of girls, but they were suddenly lost. That was until they realized anomalies were happening in Upper Azure Town. It was then they knew where Shen Ying was. Lonemoon and Yi Qing remained in Upper Azure town that night to search high and low for Shen Ying and then the next day, they heard the news.
By the time the two of them made it back to the sect, they realized that Shen Ying was already sitting at the stone table at the rear hall. Her expression was calm and in front of her stood a group of girls dressed in robes of various colours, fussing over Shen Ying.
"Sect Master, what do you think about the dumplings? Are they to your liking?"
"Sect Master, please try the lotus seeds. I used spirit fire to cook them. They"re really fragrant!"
"Sect Master, my Xiao Long are cooked! Would you like to try them?"
"Sect Master, why don"t you try this soya bean milk that I"ve made?"
"Sect Master…"
Lonemoon: "…"
(╯‵□′)╯(┻━┻
What is this? This… are we filming some gourmet program? How does she always manage to turn everyone around her into chefs each time she comes back?
"This is ridiculous!" Yi Qing marched over and pushed everybody away from Shen Ying. "These dumplings are too thick, these lotus seeds are too tough, these Xiao Long Baos are too crammed full of stuffing, and the soya bean milk looks disgusting. How dare you bring all of this food to Master? You"re mistreating her!"
"…"
You r.e.t.a.r.d, would you like to join them?
(╯‵□′)╯(┻━┻
"Shen Ying!" The corner of Lonemoon"s mouth twitched and he pulled Shen Ying to her feet. "Talk! What in the world is going on?"
"I"m really hungry," Shen Ying explained innocently.
"Master, I"ll make some rice for you." Yi Qing put away all the food on the stone table and headed into the kitchen.
Lonemoon"s face turned dark. That r.e.t.a.r.d is hopeless. "Where have you been the entire night?"
"I went to fight!"
"…" So she really was the one who took down the Fiend Den! "What are these people doing here?" He pointed to the group of girls who had returned from their escapade. "Who did you hit this time?"
Before Shen Ying could answer him, Yu Hong stopped her and explained, "Supremacy, Sect Master saved all of our lives and she helped us take revenge. So… we just want to do what we can to repay her."
The girls nodded and looked at Shen Ying. The suspicion that was once in their eyes was gone and was replaced with pure freaky admiration. They looked so much like the crazy fans Lonemoon had seen in his previous life.
The group began to recount the events of the previous day, taking turns to speak.
"That"s right," Shen Ying suddenly added. "That sc.u.m was friends with the two people who bullied Roasted Chicken Gal."
"You mean…" Lonemoon hesitated. He realized what she was saying. The person behind the jade token was the Perfected One of the Yu Family"s branch lineage. It was no wonder Gan Zirui was able to hide in Sword Comprehension Peak. Suddenly, everything he had gone through made sense.
Lonemoon turned to a.s.sess the group. A moment later, he lowered his voice and said, "Forget it! Since you girls were victims, I won"t hold it against you for infiltrating my Invincible Sect. Since everything is solved now, you girls can go ahead to wherever you need to be."
"Supremacy, we wanted to go to the Middle Azure World"s Ming Yin Mountain," Yu Hong explained. "Ming Yin Mountain"s Fiend Supremacy is different from other Fiendish Cultivators—she has never done anything evil. The disciples in her sect are the same. We heard that she had suffered from the same fate as us a while ago and took in many girls like us. We"re just not sure if she would take us in given our special ident.i.ties…"
"I see." Shen Ying looked as if she had an idea as she said, "Father Niu, do you have pen and paper with you?"
"What for?" Lonemoon frowned. Nevertheless, he took out a piece of paper and a pen and placed them on the stone table.
Shen Ying sat down and immediately began to write on the paper. She afterwards handed the piece of paper over to Yu Hong.
"This is for you. Roasted Chicken Gal knows us very well, so take this to her. She"ll definitely take you in."
Yu Hong was stunned, her face blank.
"Roasted Chicken Gal is the Fiend Supremacy on Ming Yin Mountain, Qi Chengyu. Aren"t you girls planning to go to the Middle Azure World to look for her?" Lonemoon explained. Turning around to glare at Shen Ying, he chided, "Can"t you even remember a freaking name?"
Yu Hong was clearly surprised. But after a moment, her face fell. She turned around to exchange looks with the girls behind her and then gritted her teeth as if she had decided on something. The nine of them took in a breath simultaneously before they knelt before Shen Ying.
"Sect Master, please accept us!"
"…"
"Sect Master," Yu Hong began without waiting for Shen Ying to say anything. "After what happened yesterday, we understand that no matter how strong our protection is, we will only be able to truly control our fate if we ourselves become strong. Ming Yin Mountain is good, but we are Immortal Cultivators after all. Unless we"re willing to render our cultivations null and train again from scratch, we will never be able to improve there."
"We"d much rather work and train hard to live a life that we want to instead of living a life of fear. We have never done anything to hurt anyone else, so why can"t we hold our heads high in this world?"
"We want to become like you, Sect Master, who is so strong and fearless that no one can bully you and embarra.s.s you. Sect Master, your cultivation level is extremely advanced. We"d be honored to learn to become even one percent as powerful as you."
"Before, we were ignorant. That was why we offended you, Sect Master. We"re willing to take any punishment as long as you allow us to remain in your sect. From today onwards, we will train hard to bring honor to Invincible Sect. Please, Sect Master, accept us as your disciples!"
All of them spoke at once:
"Please accept us as your disciples, Sect Master!"
Thud…
But before Shen Ying could answer them, the sound of something dropping to the floor came from behind her. Yi Qing flew out of the kitchen, surging with Sword Qi. The rear of the hall collapsed to the ground behind him.
"No!"
- A type of bun