Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

A disciple of the Holy Feather Sect rushed over at top speed, his young face filled with excitement and disbelief.

Duan Xingchen stopped in his tracks, tugged at the whip in his hand, pulled Yun Ping, who was not far away, back, and turned to look at the disciple of the Holy Feather Sect.

The moment Duan Xingchen turned his head, the disciple immediately recognized him and exclaimed excitedly, "You...you're back alive? My senior brothers and sisters all said you perished during this training mission..."

"what……"

Duan Xingchen looked slightly taken aback, hesitated for half a second before saying, "Various things happened, but I can say I've returned safely."

"That's great..." The disciple breathed a sigh of relief. "Holy Maiden, you have no idea how furious the elders and the sect leader were when they heard the news of your demise. They're already preparing to take their magical artifacts to avenge you..."

revenge?

I reckon the elders won't see any demons after they go to the ruins.

Silently cursing to himself, Duan Xingchen nodded to the disciple and then said, "I'll go and explain to Master and the others now that those demons have been eliminated, there's no need for a major conflict."

The words had barely left his mouth—

"What do you mean 'don't be impulsive'?! I'm going to the Abyss of Demons right now and chop those disgusting bastards to pieces!"

That was an extremely violent roar.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the sound. It was a young man standing outside the palace in the distance, holding a silver sword and wearing a white-gold Daoist robe from the Holy Feather Sect. His long golden hair flew like a furious lion, and his handsome face, which could make thousands of women fall for him, was filled with endless rage.

He shoved aside an elderly man with white hair who was blocking his way and shouted angrily, "Xingchen's body is already cold, and you're telling me to calm down? How the hell can I calm down? If it were you, could you calm down?"

"No, I'm telling you, Xingyao... even if you want revenge, don't go to the Abyss of the Demon Clan. Going there is a sure way to never come back..."

"Bullshit! I'm really going today. To avenge Xingchen, I'll go in and self-destruct, you believe me? Even if I can't flatten the Demon Abyss, killing a few hundred or a few thousand demons would be a huge win!"

"Calm down! Calm down, Xingyao!" The white-haired old man grabbed the blond youth tightly, shouting to the surroundings, "Someone come and help me! This kid Xingyao is going to his death!"

The young man named Xingyao didn't bother with him. Right now, his mind was completely overwhelmed by anger. After learning of Duan Xingchen's death, he was in a state of explosive rage. Boundless killing intent transformed into raging spiritual energy that swirled rapidly around him.

He swiftly broke free from the old man's grasp, then looked around at the Holy Feather Sect disciples who were trying to persuade him. With a single sword strike, he left a deep and terrifying sword mark on the jade steps, shouting, "Today I must go to the Abyss of the Demon Clan! Anyone who dares to stop me, I'll cripple them!!"

After these words were spoken, almost no one dared to step forward to stop them.

The young man snorted coldly, then turned and walked down the mountain without looking back.

During this process, many disciples of the Holy Feather Sect saw the speeding golden figure and, without any hesitation, immediately made way for it.

How could they dare to stop him? This was the Third Elder of the Holy Feather Sect. Given their status, if they were to actually obstruct him, they would be punished by death a hundred times over.

However, there were indeed people who dared to stand in the way of the young man.

It was a graceful figure with long golden hair just like the young man's, but at this moment, her face was filled with an indescribable and complex expression.

"I already told you to get out of my way! Anyone who tries to stop me will be crippled!!"

The young man, who was running at breakneck speed, didn't even have time to see who was coming. But when he saw that someone still dared to stop him, he warned them again.

"If you're so capable, try crippling me and see what happens."

Duan Xingchen uttered this sentence in a rather indifferent manner.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

The young man stopped abruptly in front of Duan Xingchen, because he suddenly realized that the voice was so familiar.

A familiar face appeared before my eyes, familiar long hair, familiar eyebrows, familiar corners of the mouth—

Can't go wrong.

The young man's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Duan Xingchen standing before him, and he shouted excitedly.

"Sis?! Didn't you die in the accident?!"

Duan Xingchen's face darkened, and he sighed helplessly, "Don't call me 'sister' when we're out..."

"Ah, oh, oh, oh!" Duan Xingyao immediately realized what was happening, but still couldn't hide his excitement. "Um, my dear disciple, what happened to you? Did those people who came back to report make a mistake? Spreading rumors of your death?!"

"No, it's not that. It's a complicated matter. In short, nothing serious happened to me."

"As long as it's okay, it'll be okay..."

Duan Xingyao let out a long sigh of relief and finally put down the sword he was holding.

Before the anger on his face had subsided, Duan Xingyao noticed Yun Ping and Ye Yuchan out of the corner of his eye.

He didn't care about Ye Yuchan and Zhang Ruoxue at all; what he cared about was Yunping, who was currently bound up using a special method.

Who is this man?

Duan Xingyao's tone became quite unfriendly as soon as he opened his mouth.

"He's the one who saved my life, I suppose." Duan Xingchen tugged at the whip in his hand and said, "He said he was coming to our Holy Feather Sect, so to prevent him from doing anything unnecessary, I tied him up."

"Save your life?!"

Countless scenes of heroes rescuing damsels in distress flashed through Duan Xingyao's mind. His face darkened, and he rushed to Yun Ping's side, glaring at him with a cold, condescending gaze.

For some reason, Yunping saw a look of jealousy in this guy's eyes.

It seems he's jealous that I accomplished the feat of "hero saving the damsel in distress," something he'd never achieved in his life.

"Humph~"

Duan Xingyao snorted coldly at Yun Ping, his hostility evident in his eyes.

Seeing this, Yunping seemed to understand something—

"Well, let me introduce myself."

Duan Xingchen stood next to Duan Xingyao and said to Yun Ping and the others, "This is our Holy Feather Sect's Third Elder, Duan Xingyao, who is my master."

"He's also her dear brother~"

Duan Xingyao grinned and added smugly.

Yunping immediately understood. So this was the guy who taught Duan Xingchen this binding technique.

Yes, I knew it.

Judging from Duan Xingyao's hostility towards him and his series of almost perverse words and actions, we can draw an obvious conclusion—

This guy is a total siscon.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Wishing everyone a happy Dragon Boat Festival in advance!

11. An old friend? Or...?

"So what brings you to my Holy Feather Sect?"

The council hall of the Holy Feather Sect.

Surrounded by white jade pillars tens of meters high on all eight sides, and with a Seven Star Array arranged according to the rules of formations at his feet, a man dressed in a white and gold Taoist robe sat down in the huge hall, exuding majesty.

Duan Xingyao seemed to have regained his dignity as the third elder of the Holy Feather Sect. He sat upright in front of Yun Ping and the other two, his eyes flashing with a sharp light as he looked at the white-robed youth who was still bound.

Duan Xingchen positioned himself near Duan Xingyao, but deliberately kept a distance. At the same time, his spiritual energy remained connected to the lightning whip on Yun Ping's body, his expression solemn.

Facing the stares of the brother and sister duo from the Holy Feather Sect, Yun Ping simply sat down in his chair as if nothing had happened, crossing his legs leisurely. Despite his hands being bound and his upper body being tied up, he remained as calm as if nothing had occurred.

"I came here to ask some questions about the Holy Feather Sect. I had no choice but to come here to ask your Holy Maiden, since she doesn't know anything about me."

"question?"

Duan Xingyao frowned and turned to look at his younger sister, Duan Xingchen. The latter immediately looked embarrassed and then explained, "It's like this, they said they are looking for a place called Yangque Fire Domain."

"Yangque Fire Domain?"

Duan Xingyao's expression remained unchanged, without even the slightest ripple; his handsome face was filled with nothing but confusion.

This reaction caught Yun Ping's eye, and he immediately realized that Duan Xingyao probably didn't know about the existence of the Yangque Fire Domain.

That's strange. How come they all seem to be unaware of Yangque Yinghuo?

"I've never heard of such a place." Duan Xingyao frowned, then looked at Yun Ping with suspicion, as if doubting the veracity of his words. "You're probably just making up a place name off the top of your head, aren't you?"

Yunping rolled his eyes. "If I were to make up a place name, I wouldn't come up with such a strange one."

Just then, Ye Yuchan suddenly seemed to remember something. She tugged at Yun Ping's sleeve and turned to ask the Duan siblings:

"Excuse me, if I may ask, how old are you two this year?"

"us?"

Duan Xingyao was taken aback, but answered almost without hesitation, "Seventy-five."

—To look like a twenty-year-old and say the age of a seventy-year-old man, is that what a cultivator must be like? You can't judge a person's true age just by their appearance.

Yu Chan silently rubbed her forehead. She suddenly remembered a single princess in the Lantian Empire who was over three hundred years old. She looked to be only in her early twenties.

Compared to Duan Xingyao's decisiveness, Duan Xingchen was stunned for a moment, her pretty face flushed slightly, and she turned her head to the side.

Then, in a relatively soft voice, he said, "Forty-six..."

Duan Xingyao's expression froze, as if he wanted to say something, but he was so frightened by Duan Xingchen's powerful gaze that he swallowed his words.

— Needless to say, Ye Yuchan could guess that our Holy Feather Sect's Holy Maiden had lied about her age.

However, such minor details are completely insignificant.

Ye Yuchan tugged at Yun Ping's sleeve and asked in a low voice, "When was the last time you came to this Kuntian Domain?"

"About two hundred years ago?"

“They’re a bit too young for you. When you last came here, it was questionable whether their father had even been born yet. Could it be that the Yangque Fire Domain disappeared before they were born, which is why they don’t know about it?”

"Oh~" Zhang Ruoxue also showed a look of sudden realization: "Thinking about it this way, it does seem to be possible."

"Then we'll have to ask other people."

Yunping nodded as well; he had considered the possibility Ye Yuchan mentioned.

If the Yangque Fire Domain disappeared for some reason long ago, or shortly after they left, it is indeed possible that they were unaware of its existence.

But the question is... why did the Yangque Fire Domain disappear?

"Can I make a request that isn't too unreasonable?"

Thinking of this, Yunping spoke again, but his tone became slightly more tactful.