Meet an Old Gentleman

The bamboo forest stood dense as a canopy, with a few thatched huts scattered among the trees.

At the doorway of one hut stood Ma Kui Xian, the eldest disciple of the Great Duan Dynasty's female Martial God. He faced the visitor across the clearing.

The visitor was a tall, slender man in a long green robe and cloth shoes, standing among the bamboo.

Two women emerged from separate huts nearby. Both looked young, though neither truly was. They were Ma Kui Xian's junior sisters. One came from the Yun Chuang Dou clan, a leading Great Duan family. The other had begun as a Wild Cultivator before becoming a Pure Martial Artist and joining the army. After a brutal battle, National Teacher Pei Bei, who had commanded the campaign, recognized her talent for martial arts and took her as a disciple. Her advancement had been as unstoppable as a bamboo stalk splitting joint after joint.

Dou Fenxia, her hair arranged in a spirit-snake bun, leaned lazily against a green bamboo stalk. The full-figured woman narrowed her eyes and smiled as she studied the green-robed man who had clearly come looking for trouble.

Before stopping, she had bent to pick up a few pebbles and bamboo leaves. Now she leaned against the bamboo, lightly tapping the ground with the tip of her foot, again and again.

Not far away stood her junior sister Liao Qing'ai. Having once pursued cultivation, she had entered the Cave Mansion Realm early, so she still looked like a girl despite being around fifty. Her waist was slender, and a long saber hung at her side.

Of the three fellow disciples, Ma Kui Xian, the eldest disciple, had reached the consummate Peak Realm.

Dou Fenxia and Liao Qing'ai were both Pure Martial Artists at the bottleneck of