ALL NOVEL Heavenly Sword Mountain Range
(A few days earlier...)
(Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, Mistress Hall)
"...Disciple Yueli pays respect to Master," said Chu Yueli kneeling before Gong Yuxian. The aura which the current Yueli exuded wasn't that overbearing as before. If at all her typical attitude was cold and aloof, the present her seemed to be completely unlike the usual her. One could observe her trembling eyelashes from time to time.
"Yueli, What is it that you wanted to tell?" asked Gong Yuxian stoically. She clearly emphasized for no one to disturb her free time as she was preoccupied with selecting more of her Sect's disciples to the Tournament. But as Yueli insisted on meeting her, she couldn't say no and decided to hear on her end.
"Disciple Yueli is here to inform Master that my disciple Qingyue can no longer participate in the tournament," Chu Yueli said in a low voice while lowering her head as she didn't dare to look into Gong Yuxian's eyes. Yueli just revealed the details to her Master mustering up whatever confidence she could.
The surrounding temperature rapidly began to drop and the profound strength of a Throne descended onto the entire room.
"Why?" A chilly tone rang in Yueli's ears which was the coldest voice she could ever hope to hear from her Master but was well-prepared for that.
"M-Mistress, Qingyue received a backlash absorbing the Profound Beast Core of Sky Profound Realm, and her veins were slightly d-damaged." Chu Yueli's body was now trembling in fear as she could no longer maintain her composure and she had no will to call Gong Yuxian her Master anymore and called her Mistress instead.
Qingyue wasn't gifted with Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins so her forceful absorption combined with the devastating effects of Frozen Arts put hefty stress on her, letting her body unable to bear up any further resulting in her present predicament.
Gong Yuxian was casually sitting on her icy throne but her expression turned frosty. Even with cultivating Frozen Cloud Arts at a higher level, it became hard for her to control her inner fury which was wreaking havoc in both her mind and soul.
She has been dreaming for their Sect to top up the Ranking in the upcoming Blue Wind Tournament and wanted to show the might of her Sect to the Empire. But all her hopes... were now burnt to ashes!
It took a while for Gong Yuxian to hold a grip on her emotions and a word hardly escaped through her lips.
"Leave.." she muttered.
Chu Yueli felt as if this single word was what she wanted to hear the most, and hurriedly left the room as if her life depended on it.
(Present)
(Xiao Clan, Xiao Lingxi's Courtyard)
"Grandpa, will you join us at the Tournament?" asked Yun Che. As Xiao Lei rarely left Xiao Clan for the past few years, he thought it'd be a good idea to take his Grandpa to the Blue Wind Tournament similar to going on a trip.
It was not that he was overconfident, but with his current cultivation, it would be a joke if he feared to win. For that matter, he wanted to invite Xiao Lei and Lingxi as well.
"It'd be better if Grandpa comes.." Cang Yue didn't hesitate to voice out her opinion but didn't force as well as she knew Xiao Lie was too connected to the place as this is where he spent most of his life with his wife.
"How can I say no, when my Che'er is the one participating?" Xiao Lie said with a laugh happily accepting to tag along complying with Cang Yue's request.
"I'll definitely have to be there to witness your growth," he said. With fastened steps, he left the room in order to pack up things for the upcoming tour.
"Grandpa, wait..." Cang Yue too followed behind Xiao Lei wanting to help him.
As Xiao Lei and Cang Yue left, only Yun Che and Lingxi were left behind in the room and the former heaved a sigh and soon sat down beside Lingxi.
With her attraction-nay, love-she had for Xiao Che, Lingxi couldn't doze off to sleep and was silently in thoughts of what to do. Should she just remain quiet even after knowing they've not been related by blood or should she just step forward and confess?
"Little aunt, I know you're not asleep," said Yun Che pinching Lingxi's nose as her face was contorting expressions from time to time.
"Little Che, am I that bad at acting?" she asked gently opening one of her eyes to see Yun Che staring right into her.
Yun Che smirked but didn't answer.
"Little Che, why do you call me little aunt? We're not relatives anymore, do we?" she asked after a moment of silence, her eyes shifting to the roof.
"It's because, you call me, Little Che, even though I'm older than you," replied Yun Che with a smile.
"But we... we grew up thinking we're blood-related, what can I even do?" she said trying to justify herself.
"Then.. why don't we start anew?" Yun Che suggested.
She wouldn't remain the same little aunt to him as the tiny bit of memories he received from the previous 'Xiao Che' wasn't even his. Yun Che chose not to want to disclose his reincarnation secret to anyone either. So this is the suitable course of action he decided to do.
"Start anew?" Lingxi repeated, her eyes retracing back to Yun Che.
"Mm.. I'll start calling you Little Sister Lingxi.. Or Sister Lingxi or just Lingxi... is fine, you too could do something like that," he blurted.
Hearing her name being called out numerous times by Yun Che, Lingxi's body start to quiver and her face was flushed along with her cheeks turning slightly redder.
"hmm.. then I'll call you B-Big Brother Che..." she said timidly, regaining her calmness. Yun Che was older than her by a year, so she chose to call him Big Brother... for now, which earned her a smile from Yun Che.
'Maybe this way, Little Che will no longer treat me as a family member.' she thought.
"Big Brother Che, c-can you r-really cultivate now?" Lingxi asked in a muffled voice as it was constantly in her mind which she was holding herself back from asking.
When Yun Che left Xiao Clan before, Xiao Lei just assured her not to worry by telling her Yun Che can now cultivate like any other which she felt too hard to believe. And it is for this reason that Lingxi refrained herself from sneaking away from the Xiao Clan and go search for Yun Che.
"Mn.." Yun Che admitted.
"Ooh.. so Big Brother Che became so handsome after cultivating..." Lingxi summarised. More or less, she understood Yun Che's change in appearance was linked to him being able to cultivate. She was hoping to increase her own beauty by increasing her own cultivation.
"Now.. come on, Sister Lingxi... You need to get ready, We'll be leaving for the tournament.." said Yun Che seeing that Lingxi was feeling much better than before and turned away with his back facing her.
"Me?.." The sound of the closing door was heard. After some time, a murmuring too was heard.
"Senior Sister is so lucky.. "
The Phoenix finally landed on Yun Che's shoulder after it circled the Floating Cloud City for a while.
'Master, I sensed some meager amount of Purple Veined Divine Crystals lying around this Mountain Region,' The Phoneix telepathically informed Yun Che of its findings while rubbing its beak against its feathers.
Purple Veined Divine Crystals were something Jasmine needed to reform her body. But as the System was currently performing the job, Yun Che no longer was in need of it. But he still decided to get a hold of it as that might aid him in leaping over several Realms.
Yun Che along with Phoenix traveled to the Mountain Range. Pinpointing the exact location where the Crystals lied was no big deal for the Phoenix using its divine sense. The System then started to extract the Crystals.
[Extracting Purple Veined Divine Crystal...]
[Extraction 1%..5%....77%....99%.100%]
[Extraction Complete]
[Storing the Purple Veined Divine Crystal in Host's Inventory]
The system's notification sound rang out indicating the completion of the extraction process.
[Absorbing the Crystals to increase Host's cultivation base will take place shortly]
The System informed.
Yun Che then left the Mountain Region.
Around half an hour later, Xiao Lei along with Cang Yue arrived at the Courtyard.
When Lingxi came out of her room, her eyes brightened on seeing the Phoenix. It was her first time seeing something as huge as that. She quickly sped up towards it and began caressing its feathers.
The Phoenix didn't resist and let her do it.
A foreign aura started to invade through the Phoenix's body, when Lingxi ran her fingers, much to its shock. The aura which assaulted its senses was a much purer divine aura that not even the original Phoenix possessed!
"Sister Yue, It's... cute," said Lingxi to Cang Yue.
"Yes, it is," Cang Yue agreed.
The Phoenix lowered one of its wings.
Cang Yue climbed on it and signaled Lingxi to do the same. Lingxi was a little nervous but quickly overcoming it, she sat down on the Phoenix's back and locked her arms with Cang Yue's waist fearing her fall.
"Che'er, we're all set to go," Xiao Lei informed as Cang Yue already stuffed everything he wanted in her Storage Ring.
"Grandpa, Brother Che, we're leaving..."
"Sister..?" Lingxi came out of her excited state and asked clutching Cang Yue's waist tightly as her intuition told her something definitely isn't going to happen the way she wanted.
*Screech*
With Yun Che and Xiao Lei watching, The Phoenix with a cry shot into the sky followed by a scream.
Yun Che smiled looking at Cang Yue's antics and materialized his own <Profound Handle>.
A sword manifested on Yun Che's left hand which was golden in color. He then used the <Physical Manifestation> form of the Profound Handle turning it into a suitable size. It looked similar to a flying sword but was of much breadth.
Yun Che along with Xiao Lei quickly walked to it. Yun Che then turned his profound handle invisible with his <Camouflage> skill and made a thin barrier around the sword.
With a swift motion, the sword ascended to the sky.
For the people on the ground, it appeared as if there were two silhouettes hovering in the Sky which let them assume they were someone of Sky Profound Realm.
(Heavenly Sword Mountain Range)
Looking over from afar, a terrifying aura seemed to come over, assaulting the senses, it was as if the entire mountain range was surrounded by waves of icy, sharp sword energy that people could only look from afar but not dare to approach.
This was the Heavenly Sword Mountain Range where Heavenly Sword Villa was located.
The Phoenix only slowed down after it reached the Heavenly Sword Mountain Range. It didn't take them long to reach here.
"Sister Lingxi, we're short of time, so I have to do it this way," Cang Yue said smiling apologetically looking at Lingxi's current state. Lingxi clutched her waist with closed eyes all the time, too afraid to glance at her surroundings.
With Cang Yue's reassurance, Lingxi began to slowly open her eye-lids.
"Sister Yue, don't scare me again.." she said.
"I won't," Cang Yue promised.
Only then did Lingxi's hands separated from her waist. But when she peered down to the ground, her tender hands once again repositioned to Cang Yue's waist with her slightly trembling body.
Cang Yue sighed.
"Sister Lingxi sure acts like a kid," Cang Yue chuckled.
"I am just 15 this year, and this is indeed my first time riding on a bird," Lingxi said.
"Brother Che and you're really far off the age," Cang Yue hasn't asked Yun Che of his age and was in thoughts that Yun Che might be around 18... just like her.
"Eh..? We're only 1 ye.." Words that Lingxi wanted to say were stuck in her throat when her gaze landed on the Villa lying not far away from their location.
"We're here," said Cang Yue turning her attention to the Heavenly Sword Villa.
Heavenly Sword Villa is the most powerful of the Four Major Sects in the Blue Wind Empire with its strength surpasses the other three sects combined.
The villa is situated within the Heavenly Sword Mountain Range. The mountains lie within the borders of the Blue Wind Empire but the land was gifted to the villa and is solely controlled by the villa. The entire villa stretches for more than twenty-five kilometers and is the size of a small city.
The Mountain Gate was being guarded by the Heavenly Sword Disciples who were currently receiving guests from Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace.
Among the group, Chu Yuechan who was walking into the Entrance suddenly stopped in her tracks, swiftly turned her gaze to the direction Cang Yue was. Not finding any traces of Yun Che, she reluctantly reverted her gaze back but not before giving a soft smile. With her veil, it wasn't visible to everyone. But Cang Yue gave a nod in understanding.
One of the Heavenly Sword Disciple went to inform the Villa Master, the news of Chu Yuechan's arrival. The other one continued to receive the guest from the other Sects.
The current Villa Master Ling Yuefeng was presently talking to Cang Wanhe, Emperor of Blue Wind Empire about the various events that recently took place in the Empire so the disciple didn't dare disturb them and returned back.
