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Over the following days, Duan Yi devoted himself wholeheartedly to martial arts practice, only occasionally going out to hunt for meat to make up for the depletion caused by cultivating qi.

After making up with Duan Yi, Helan Yue'er trailed after him day after day like a little tail. She called it practicing together, but in truth, she wanted to deepen their bond.

Duan Yi did not mind. He simply treated it as playing with a little sister. More importantly, it gave him opportunities to seek Granny An and Eunuch Qiu's advice on martial arts matters, and he gained greatly from it.

Without realizing it, Duan Yi also came to grasp something of the martial foundations of the two elders.

Granny An had once studied martial arts in the Five Poisons Sect, a major sect of Jiannan Dao. Her main practice was the Spirit Snake Staff Technique, supplemented by a mysterious poison art. Her cultivation was profound; if she were allowed to gather strength for a single strike, even Bái Xī Wén would suffer badly.

Eunuch Qiu's martial arts had been passed down through his family. His specialties were the Seven Severances, Seven Absolutes Heartbreak Palm and the hidden-weapon arts of Exquisite Nimble Hands. He had also been the one who wounded the Zhou Family's servants in Daming County and saved Duan Yi that day.

Cultivating and practicing martial arts amounted to nothing more than wealth, companions, methods, and a suitable place. This "companion" referred to elders who could resolve a cultivator's doubts, or like-minded companions.

Duan Yi might have had the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts as a cheat, but it was not omniscient or omnipotent. On the path of martial arts, he still needed others to guide and teach him.

The two elders possessed extraordinary martial arts and life experience alike. The help they could offer Duan Yi was self-evident.

Still, guidance was one thing. Although Duan Yi wished to learn the two elders' divine arts, he did not dare shamelessly ask for them. Thus, he could only hear of these ultimate techniques, not learn them.

Throughout this time, aside from diligently cultivating, Duan Yi was not entirely ignorant of the outside world.

People from the Moon Worship Palace ascended Shalu Mountain on the fifth day of the ninth month. The entire Golden Cauldron Sect was stirred; disciples gathered before the mountain gate to await them, making for an enormous spectacle. Only because Duan Yi was not of the Golden Cauldron Sect did he enjoy some peace and quiet.

As mentioned before, Shalu Mountain had five main peaks. The Golden Cauldron Sect was wealthy and powerful, monopolizing three of them. West Peak was one such peak.

The Moon Worship Palace's people were currently residing in West Garden, the Golden Cauldron Sect's lodging for honored guests on West Peak. Ordinary people were not permitted to disturb them.

As Qū Dōng Liú's niece, Helan Yue'er knew far more than ordinary disciples. In response to Duan Yi's seemingly casual inquiries, she also revealed quite a bit.

This wedding banquet truly was only a wedding banquet. The customary steps of a marriage—presenting gifts, asking names, divining auspiciousness, offering betrothal presents, setting the date, and welcoming the bride—had all been omitted. Qū Dōng Liú and Yuè Bì Nǔ had simplified everything. Yuè Bì Nǔ had even come to his door early as the bride's side, practically throwing herself at him.

For that reason, this marriage had not been publicly announced, nor had familiar friends and allied forces been invited. Only the disciples of the two sects knew of it, and they would simply have a feast to make things lively. It was truly shabby and impoverished.

Surely no woman could endure such a hasty wedding, much less the master of the Moon Worship Palace. Yet Yuè Bì Nǔ had no choice.

In the past, under the leadership of Duan Yi's grandmother Yán Susu, the Moon Worship Palace had maintained a quiet reputation, but it had also done many things beneficial to the righteous martial world and was widely respected.

Although her hasty rebellion this time had won the support of most Moon Worship Palace disciples, outsiders still saw it as betraying her master and destroying her ancestors. She would face the scolding, condemnation, and perhaps even punishment of righteous martial artists.

Had the Golden Cauldron Sect not been involved, lending the two sides combined formidable strength, and had Qū Dōng Liú not publicly claimed that Yán Susu had suffered a cultivation deviation and Yuè Bì Nǔ had been forced to temporarily take over, giving them a veneer of respectability, people would have come to demand an accounting long ago.

The two of them had committed such a great deed. Maintaining the present situation peacefully was already good enough; they absolutely dared not further provoke the sensitive nerves of Hebei's martial world.

This was not much different from the information Duan Yi had learned before.

Yuè Bì Nǔ had also kept things simple this time, bringing only twelve disciples from the Moon Worship Palace. Four were of her own generation, known as the Moon Palace Four Swords and her most steadfast supporters. The other eight were of Yuè Jiāo Nú's generation and had come to the Golden Cauldron Sect as attendants.

According to Granny An, all these Moon Worship Palace disciples possessed impressive martial arts, no worse than the Golden Cauldron Sect's disciples. They were also exquisitely beautiful, each one a beauty chosen from a hundred, stirring the hearts of quite a few male disciples.

Another matter caught Duan Yi's particular attention. After successfully overthrowing the Moon Worship Palace, Yuè Bì Nǔ changed her name, removing "slave" and replacing it with "cloud." She became Yuè Bì Yún.

The remaining Moon Worship Palace disciples' names were likewise abolished. Those with original names reverted to them; those without original names were given the surname Yue by Yuè Bì Yún, along with new names. In doing so, she completely settled the hearts of the Moon Worship Palace's hundred-odd disciples and consolidated her rule.

Do not think she had nothing better to do. This was one of Yuè Bì Yún's methods for winning hearts.

In the past, Moon Worship Palace disciples were all called Yue So-and-so Slave. The word "slave" carried the meaning of servant and bondage, and was deeply unpleasant. After all, no one liked being a slave.

Now that they had turned over and become masters, how could they not be grateful to Yuè Bì Yún? How could they not support her?

Thus, from Duan Yi's perspective, this Yuè Bì Yún truly possessed some ability.

His grandmother Yán Susu might have had superior martial arts, but she was not skilled at controlling people. Moreover, she was too arbitrary and stubborn, planting the seeds of disaster. Her defeat at the hands of this woman and the deeply concealed Qū Dōng Liú was not undeserved.

Having witnessed Qū Dōng Liú's shrewd ruthlessness and learned of Yuè Bì Yún's methods, Duan Yi became even more cautious.

He buried this so-called blood-deep hatred in his heart, intending to settle it only when he truly had the ability, rather than seeking his own death before his wings had fully grown.

There was another piece of news that greatly surprised Duan Yi.

After Yuè Bì Yún and Qū Dōng Liú married, they seemingly would not live long on Shalu Mountain. Instead, she would still return to the Moon Worship Palace in Huaizhou to oversee its affairs.

The eight young disciples brought this time, however, would remain behind, preparing to choose suitable men among the Golden Cauldron Sect's disciples and pair off with them.

This matter sent Duan Yi's thoughts racing. Were these eight disciples the only batch, or merely the first batch?

In other words, aside from these eight disciples, would the Moon Worship Palace continue marrying its disciples to members of the Golden Cauldron Sect?

If so, the final outcome was easy to imagine: the Golden Cauldron Sect and the Moon Worship Palace would become one. No—more accurately, the Golden Cauldron Sect would swallow the Moon Worship Palace whole.

A woman obeyed her father at home and her husband after marriage. Once she married into the Golden Cauldron Sect, she became one of its people. As one side waned and the other waxed, the Moon Worship Palace might ultimately cease to exist.

That made Qū Dōng Liú's purpose in helping Yuè Bì Yún overthrow the Moon Worship Palace worth pondering.

Was it so he could openly be with his lover, or was he planning to use this chance to expand the Golden Cauldron Sect's strength?

Based on Duan Yi's impression of the man, the latter seemed more likely.

"No wonder Sister Yue once told me that Qū Dōng Liú was deep-minded and ambitious. Under his leadership, the Golden Cauldron Sect had prospered more and more in recent years, its influence growing ever greater. It really wasn't without reason."

Yet this gave rise to a new question.

Just what was the relationship between Yuè Bì Yún and Qū Dōng Liú? True love, or a false and fragile partnership founded on shared interests?

She had gone to such lengths, even bearing the name of betraying her master and destroying her ancestors, all just to make a wedding dress for Qū Dōng Liú?

If she truly did so willingly, then the two of them were truly in love.

Using this as a clue, one could make some deductions.

Back when Yán Susu had entered seclusion to practice and ignored palace affairs, Yuè Bì Yún had held sole power.

If she had truly been willing to sacrifice everything for Qū Dōng Liú, she could simply have fled with him then, concealed her name and identity, and followed him. There had been no need to make such a huge move and risk branches growing from the trunk.

Perhaps Qū Dōng Liú wanted to expand the Golden Cauldron Sect's power, so he persuaded Yuè Bì Yún to rebel against Yán Susu and seize sole control of the Moon Worship Palace.

The many things Yuè Bì Yún had done were most likely arranged at Qū Dōng Liú's instruction.

Women, especially women like this who had long been forbidden from contact with men—once they fell in love, it was like mountain floods and sea-tsunamis, impossible to contain. Giving more than usual was not impossible.

But what if she had not done so willingly, and had instead been forced?

Then things became interesting.

Previously, with Yán Susu as their shared external enemy, the two could huddle together for warmth and advance hand in hand. But once the outside threat was removed and they began dividing the fruits of victory, irreconcilable conflicts might arise between them.

The Moon Worship Palace's annexation might have been forced upon Yuè Bì Yún. This marriage, too, might not have been of her own free will, but rather because she was controlled by Qū Dōng Liú.

Thus, how things would ultimately turn out remained unknown.

"I wonder whether anything unexpected will happen on the wedding day?"