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

She will never again eat the dishes cooked by her senior sister and master, nor will she ever see the junior sister who used to act coquettishly next to her master, nor will she ever see the quirky senior brother who used to bicker with her.

Gone, all gone.

"It's fine."

Yunping squatted down.

With a gentle smile and a reassuring tone, he comforted his grand-disciple: "It's alright, your grandmaster is here..."

"Grandmaster..."

Lu Yingqiu looked up blankly, her eyes red-rimmed.

"Ah."

Yunping smiled and nodded, then hugged the little girl who was crying incessantly.

He patted her petite back softly, as if soothing a child, and said gently:

"You are a disciple of my Yuntian Academy, so no one can bully you."

……

The silver-haired girl gazed at the scene before her, her heart surging with a mix of emotions.

Words that are generally the same.

When I was just starting out, Yunping had said the same thing to me.

"Do not worry."

Yunping condensed wisps of spiritual energy in his palm and poured them into Lu Yingqiu's body.

The petite girl's cries gradually faded as spiritual energy entered her body, eventually disappearing completely, and she slowly sank into a dream.

"The grudge against Yuntian Academy—"

Yunping's face suddenly turned extremely gloomy, and his tone was full of chilling killing intent.

“I, Yunping, have noted it down.”

……

……

distance.

Extreme Celestial Domain.

"Have we arrived yet...?"

With her red hair slightly swaying, and her petite figure resembling that of a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, she abandoned her ponytail and instead let her bright red hair fall loose.

She has lost some of her childlike energy, but gained more of a noble air.

She raised her head and looked at the mountain gate in front of her, which consisted of countless thin, suspended steps.

This is located on the edge of the vast sky—where there is a five-peaked mountain.

If it were thirty years ago, these five peaks would have been known to everyone in the Extreme Heaven Domain.

The reason is quite simple—

Because this is the Qin Sect!

The four arts of qin (a stringed instrument), chess, calligraphy, and painting were created by Emperor Wen in ancient times. Since the beginning of the Lingze era, these four arts have become widely known, and many scholars and literati have devoted themselves to them in order to gain the favor of the literary world and thus ascend to the rank of sage.

Successful people are few, but they definitely exist.

The best among them went on to establish the Four Emperors of Emperor Wen.

The Qin Sect is located atop the Five Peaks Mountain in the Extreme Heaven Domain.

"There might be clues here."

The little girl in the light red cloak was none other than Lin Yuan, who had left the ruins of Yuntian Academy not long ago.

There was only one reason why she came to the Qin Sect.

She needs to know the location of the Azure Secret Realm.

Yes.

Even if that damned Jiang Shengxuan said something alarmist like, "Jiang Yuetian is a cursed star; if you get any closer to him, you'll only bring bloodshed upon yourself," Lin Yuan would never abandon Jiang Yuetian.

She wanted to correct her senior brother's thinking. Even if he really was a cursed star, Lin Yuan felt that... rather than running away, she was more likely to try to fight against the heavens that dared to curse her senior brother.

Are you really sure?

In my mind.

A cacophony of demonic sounds arose—it was Lin Yuan's second personality, the Demon Queen, raising her questions.

Xiao Linyuan frowned, seemingly quite displeased with the little queen's suspicion, and immediately responded in her divine soul.

"Are you really willing to let your senior brother grow old alone?"

[Ha, what is that man's relationship with me?]

"Oh? You were so angry with that Jiang Shengxuan before."

"...That's because that little devil dared to be arrogant in front of me, ha."

"So you don't care about your senior brother?"

How could I possibly care?

Even if I won't be able to eat my senior brother's cooking anymore?

【…】

The little queen suddenly stopped talking.

After a long silence, an extremely unwilling voice suddenly came to my mind.

"Tsk, alright, now that you mention it, I do remember. That man seems to be qualified to be my personal chef. Since he's my chef, I should naturally go and try to recruit him."

"Hum~"

Lin Yuan struck a victorious pose and chuckled twice.

He then raised his head and looked at the delicate silk staircase, which resembled a harp string, his expression slightly serious.

She clenched her fists, the tragic scene of the ruins of Yuntian Academy and Jiang Yuetian's appearance flashing through her mind, which filled her with determination.

"Senior brother, wait for Yuan'er."

“Yuan’er will definitely come to pick you up… definitely.”

11. Qin Zong’s birthday

A continuous staircase.

Lin Yuan took light, slow steps, step by step, onto the mountain gate that was as slender as a silk thread.

She had walked this road countless times.

Since arriving in the Extreme Heaven Domain with Jiang Yuetian, they found a propitious place to settle down temporarily and established a brand new academy there.

Lin Yuan was a complete stranger in the Extreme Heaven Domain, and moreover, she didn't know when the war between immortals and demons would affect her. Therefore, most of the time, Yuan'er would not go out on her own.

But to be honest, Lin Yuan wasn't completely unfamiliar with everyone.

Qin Zong.

If everyone's life must have an end, then the end of the path Lin Yuan walked was the second true immortal in history, Emperor Wen, whom she greatly admired.

She was quite passionate about playing the zither, but had little interest in spiritual cultivation. Most of the time, she was engrossed in the ever-changing zither techniques and myriad sounds created by Emperor Wen Xuan Lei, unable to extricate herself from them.

Therefore, the Qin Sect became the place where Lin Yuan realized her dream.

In fact, several years ago, Yuan'er had already become a ninth-level Qin Master in the Qin Sect based on her understanding of the music, and broke the record for the youngest ninth-level Qin Master.

Her status in the Qin Sect was quite high.

The Qin Sect that Lin Yuan has now arrived at is the main sect of the Qin Sect, not the branch sect that was once located in Maple Leaf City of the Desolate Sky Domain. It is precisely because of this that there is the String Ladder that can prevent those who are not proficient in the art of playing the qin.

That's right.

The strings beneath Yuan'er's feet are closely connected to the literary arts of heaven and earth. Each step she takes symbolizes a musical technique. If one is completely ignorant of musical skills and wanders around aimlessly, she will be blasted away by the spiritual energy hidden within this stringed ladder.

The main branch of the Qin School is not a place that just anyone can enter.

only……

Lin Yuan's steps gradually came to a stop.

Standing at the end of the Tongxian Staircase, before the towering Five Peaks Mountain, I peered through the thin clouds into its interior with a puzzled gaze.

Familiar buildings stand in rows, with crested ibis-colored pavilions built in an elegant style everywhere. However, the blue jade bricks underfoot do not look like they have been trampled on. Looking around, the surroundings are desolate and there are few people.

"Huh? What about people?"

Lin Yuan tiptoed and looked around, trying to find traces of the Qin Sect disciples in the front hall after coming up the Tongxian Staircase.

Logically speaking, this front hall is spacious. Although it is not a good place to practice the zither and hone one's musical skills, there are quite a few people coming and going in and out of the mountain gate in the past.

For some reason, there wasn't a single person in sight today.

Where did they all go?

[Let's go in and search. There's no demonic aura around here, so nothing serious should have happened.]

The little queen in her mind, however, coldly dispelled Lin Yuan's worries.

As the embodiment of the three drops of true blood from the former demon slayer, the little queen within Lin Yuan was naturally very familiar with the aura of demons. Since she said there were no demons nearby, it was likely that the Qin Sect had never been invaded by the demon dynasty.

But that makes sense. The Qin Sect itself was placed under the rule of the Immortal Capital because of Ji Tian Yi Hong. The Demon Dynasty's influence shouldn't extend to the Qin Sect.

But problems soon followed—

What about people?

Where have all the people from the Qin Sect gone?

With a slight sense of unease, Lin Yuan stepped into the front hall of the Qin Sect and followed the familiar path toward the inner courtyard.