Look, This Is a Pass

"My master is—Chu Qing!"

"From Stone Prefecture..."

Zhao Hongxiu proudly spoke of Chu Qing's origins.

However:

Miao Zong and the others shook their heads the moment they heard it, with no interest in listening further.

Stone Prefecture?

A tiny backwater; even if it produced a Heaven-Reaching Martial Artist, it was not worth paying attention to.

The Cui Family Daughter gently tugged at her sleeve, signaling for her to stop talking.

However:

Zhao Hongxiu gritted her teeth and continued:

"My master, Chu Qing, comes from Stone Prefecture, Stone Manor, Stone Rock County."

Miao Zong and the others were stunned.

They turned and stared at Zhao Hongxiu in astonishment. "Stone Rock County? Some mud-legged peasant from a county town?"

"Are you joking?"

"For a place at the level of Stone Prefecture to produce even a few Heaven-Reaching Martial Artists is already a heaven-sent stroke of fortune."

"What kind of godforsaken place is Stone Rock County? How could it possibly produce a Heaven-Reaching Martial Artist?"

"Girl, don't speak next time."

"And don't follow us anymore."

"We're taking the Vermilion Bird Gate."

"You... probably aren't even qualified to use the lesser Fire Crow Gate!"

The other young scions of great houses shook their heads.

They felt that traveling alongside Zhao Hongxiu all this way had been utterly humiliating.

If word got out, who knew how many people would laugh at them?

The scions of the Imperial Capital already looked down on those from the main cities. If they learned of this, it would become a complete laughingstock.

They excluded Zhao Hongxiu.

Even the Cui Family Daughter said, "Hongxiu, we are not traveling the same road."

"Your master is absolutely not qualified to let you pass through the Vermilion Bird Gate!"

This was the Imperial Capital.

Even if Chu Qing's martial path reached Heaven itself,