Ask Immortal Pavilion

"Disciple pays respects to the sect master!"

"Disciple pays respects to the Grand Supreme Elder!"

After Taiyuan True Person and the unknown old woman appeared, the Shushan elders cupped their hands and bowed respectfully.

"Senior sister, I'll be leading the group to Ask Immortal Pavilion for the Six Paths Assembly. I'll leave Shushan in your care."

Taiyuan True Person also spoke to the old woman with considerable respect.

Senior sister?!!

The Shushan elders present were astonished.

The unknown old woman was actually the sect master's senior sister!

Taiyuan True Person had lived for over three thousand years, so the old woman had surely lived no fewer years than him.

When the old woman made a name for herself, the younger generation of Shushan elders had not even been born.

"Leave Shushan to me during that time. I have no hope of passing my tribulation, and my lifespan is nearly exhausted. This is one of the few contributions I can still make to Shushan."

The old woman sighed.

Taiyuan True Person and the Shushan elders were filled with reverence.

This Grand Supreme Elder knew she had no hope of passing her tribulation, yet even before her death, her heart remained with Shushan. She had ended her secluded cultivation and taken Chen Yao, a peerless genius, as her final disciple for Shushan's sake, leaving her legacy behind.

What noble character!

"Senior sister..."

"My cultivation is lacking. Everything is ordained by fate. Go on."

"Yes."

Taiyuan True Person cupped his hands and bowed to the old woman, then led the group away from Shushan.

Flying swords sliced through the air, streams of colorful light flowing around them as they flew toward Misty Peak, where Ask Immortal Pavilion was located.

The mortals below could only see countless streaks of light flying overhead. Thinking they were witnessing an immortal miracle, they all prostrated themselves in worship.

Among the Shushan elders making the journey, Lu Changsheng took a secret inventory of Shushan's hidden strength.

Taiyuan True Person's cultivation was unfathomable; even Lu Changsheng could not see through it.

The person with the next-highest cultivation was First Senior Brother Li Changye, who was at the ninth layer of the Dao Palace Realm and possessed the Myriad Desolations Indestructible Body. Lu Changsheng suspected that Li Changye could put up a fight even against a formidable opponent in the early Void Refinement Realm. After all, according to the tales in Shushan, Li Changye had once fought three Demon Sect elders of the same realm at once and slain them all.

Li Changye was somewhat similar to Lu Changsheng. His foundation at every realm was incomparably solid, and he also had a special physique, making him stronger than cultivators of the same realm.

Besides Li Changye, the acknowledged foremost elder of Shushan's younger generation, there were five elders at the major accomplishment stage of the Dao Palace Realm.

There were more than ten elders like Lu Changsheng and Zhao Wuyan, who were in the middle stage of the Dao Palace Realm.

The rest were all elders in the early Dao Palace Realm or at the major accomplishment stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

This was only part of Shushan's strength, which showed just how terrifying its hidden resources were.

Taiyuan True Person had even felt at ease leaving Shushan in his senior sister's care.

Shushan's hidden strength was certainly not so simple.

Lu Changsheng had learned from Lian that four Dao Palace Realm elders secretly guarded the fifth floor of Shushan's scripture repository. None of those four elders were among the elders who had left the mountain this time.

"Master, is Ask Immortal Pavilion a lot of fun?"

Lian was beside herself with excitement.

"I heard the Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion had a grudge with our Shushan Sect Master when they were young. You mustn't run wild at Ask Immortal Pavilion, or even I won't be able to protect you."

Back in Shushan, Lu Changsheng, Li Changye, and Taiyuan True Person all let Lian cause trouble wherever she went. This time, on Ask Immortal Pavilion's territory, if the pavilion master caught her doing something wrong, the matter could turn out to be serious or trivial.

The Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion had a grudge with Taiyuan True Person from their youth, which meant the two were figures from the same era.

"Lian understands."

The little disciple also knew that the Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion was an important figure she could not afford to provoke, so she became much more restrained.

Ask Immortal Pavilion was located on Misty Peak in the Yue Kingdom. It covered ten thousand li, with countless peaks rising straight into the clouds, wreathed in mist.

Ask Immortal Pavilion was one of the Six Great Orthodox Sects and currently ranked fifth. But two hundred thousand years ago, when it was first founded, it had once stood above Shushan.

Even if Ask Immortal Pavilion had fallen on hard times, it still had two hundred thousand years of accumulated resources.

This time, it was Ask Immortal Pavilion's turn to host the Six Paths Assembly. To prepare for it, the entire sect's disciples had been mobilized, and the place was bustling with activity.

"The last Six Paths Assembly was held at Shushan fifteen hundred years ago. The pavilion master sparred with the Shushan Sect Master and lost all three matches. Now it's our turn to host the assembly. We have to regain our honor somehow."

"Shh, have you forgotten? The elders forbade us disciples from mentioning it. If the pavilion master hears, we'll surely be punished."

As the disciples of Ask Immortal Pavilion prepared the venue for the Six Paths Assembly, they whispered among themselves in private.

"The people from Shushan are here!"

"What a powerful presence!"

"They truly deserve their place as the foremost of the Six Great Orthodox Sects today!"

No one knew which disciple shouted first. The people of Ask Immortal Pavilion looked up at the sky above Misty Peak and saw a group of Shushan elders approaching on flying swords.

"Shushan."

At the seat of honor for the Six Paths Assembly, the Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion spoke the two words in a low voice.

Below the pavilion master, the elders of Ask Immortal Pavilion rose to confront the arriving Shushan elders as equals.

The Shushan elders descended, every one of them bearing a sword on their back and possessing the bearing of an immortal.

Taiyuan True Person stood where he was, like a mountain ten thousand zhang tall. The vast majority of Ask Immortal Pavilion's elders felt a sense of powerlessness in their hearts.

Taiyuan True Person had towered over an entire era. Back then, the Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion had relied on her heaven-given talent to challenge him, only to lose all three matches.

"Fairy Su, have you been well?"

Taiyuan True Person was the first to speak.

"Hmph. You and I are both old relics who've lived three thousand years. I'm no fairy."

The Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion spoke coldly, but Lu Changsheng could faintly tell that she did not seem to dislike the way Taiyuan True Person addressed her.

Lu Changsheng looked toward the seat of honor and saw a graceful fairy with an oval face, delicate brows, and a smooth nose, dressed in a moon-colored Daoist robe.

The Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion was actually a woman.

Lu Changsheng lowered his gaze slightly and saw an exceptionally lovely figure of great beauty in the seat closest to the pavilion master, a longsword strapped to her back.

Her gaze happened to turn toward him as well. Their eyes met in midair, and each nodded in greeting.

It was none other than Xia Ningxue, the saintess of Ask Immortal Pavilion.

Xia Ningxue's seat was second only to the pavilion master's, making her status self-evident.

"Junior Brother Lu, have you heard a certain secret about our Shushan?"

Zhao Wuyan secretly sent a voice transmission to Lu Changsheng.

"I'd like to hear the details."

Even the ever-serious Senior Brother Zhao gossiped?

Lu Changsheng's gossip-loving soul burned fiercely.

"It's said that Fairy Su of Ask Immortal Pavilion pursued our master before she became pavilion master. Her love went unrequited, and in a fit of anger, she cultivated Ask Immortal Pavilion's forbidden cultivation method, the Supreme Forgetting Emotions Art, declaring that she would sever the threads of love. But for three thousand years, she and our sect master have remained entangled..."

"Something like that happened?"

Understanding dawned on Lu Changsheng.

No wonder the relationship between the Pavilion Master of Ask Immortal Pavilion and Taiyuan True Person was so complicated. The secret Zhao Wuyan had spoken of was most likely true.

"Ahem, but you must keep this matter from others."

"I understand."

Lu Changsheng gave him a look.

"The Master of Crouching Dragon Temple and the elders of Crouching Dragon Temple have arrived!"

Not long after the people of Shushan reached Misty Peak, the people of Crouching Dragon Temple, one of the Six Great Orthodox Sects, also descended upon Misty Peak.