Black Eagle Sect! Li Xian's Genius Senior Brother and Senior Sister! The Heavenly Maiden An Yanbing!

Qingshan Town, along a mountain road.

Three swift horses galloped along, kicking up clouds of dust and dirt as they headed toward Shuanglin Village on Qingliang Mountain.

On one of the horses rode a young man of seventeen or eighteen, dressed in a white martial robe embroidered with a flying eagle. He was handsome and carried himself with distinction, but his face was taut with anxiety.

This was Li Xian, who was desperate to return to his village and wipe out Black Wind Stockade.

After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Black Wind Stockade, Li Xian had taken the lesson to heart. He had gone straight back to Anyuan County Town to ask his senior brother and senior sister from Black Eagle Sect to come out of seclusion, swearing to eliminate the scourge that was Black Wind Stockade.

The two had readily agreed. They would naturally never turn down a chance to rid the people of a menace, especially when their junior brother Li Xian had asked them personally.

"Junior Brother Li Xian, don't be so anxious. Black Wind Stockade is a bandit den that has brought no end of harm to people. When we get there, Senior Sister An Yanbing and I will uproot it and make sure it can never hurt anyone again."

"Exactly. Black Wind Stockade may have a Meridian Opening Realm expert, but the rest are nothing but a rabble!"

On one of the swift horses, a man of about twenty spoke. He wore a black martial robe embroidered with a huge flying eagle, a design similar to the one on Li Xian's robe. It was the emblem of Black Eagle Sect of Anyuan County Town, and the man was Li Xian's senior brother, Xiao Yingkai.

It was said that Xiao Yingkai, too, had come to Anyuan County Town from a remote mountain village. Thanks to his impressive natural aptitude, Black Eagle Sect had taken him in as a disciple. Perhaps because he came from a village, Xiao Yingkai had a deep hatred for evil.

When he heard that the people of Black Wind Stockade had injured Junior Brother Li Xian—and learned that the villagers were often oppressed and bullied by them—Xiao Yingkai had been determined to avenge Li Xian.

After all, the senior and junior brothers had always gotten along well within the sect.

On another swift horse rode a woman dressed in white martial garb. She was young, no more than nineteen, yet possessed astonishing strength: she was a Meridian Opening Realm expert.

The woman in white was named An Yanbing. Tall and slender, she had exquisitely beautiful features and snow-white skin, along with an aloof air about her. She spoke very little, but whenever Li Xian and Xiao Yingkai looked her way, their eyes filled with awe.

Though Senior Sister An Yanbing was young, her strength was terrifying. The elders of the sect said that she had already reached the late stage of the Meridian Opening Realm, having opened the twelve extraordinary meridians that ran through her body. She would soon reach the realm's peak and was already preparing to break through to the Tendon Changing Realm.

Her strength, talent, and insight were truly fearsome.

She was Black Eagle Sect's undisputed heavenly maiden!

The reason An Yanbing had agreed to take action this time was simple: she couldn't stand Black Wind Stockade's misdeeds. She hadn't imagined that a den of bandits like this could exist in the surrounding mountains. Since the authorities weren't going to wipe them out, she would do it herself.

An Yanbing also had another reason for coming to Qingliang Mountain: she wanted to see whether there were any promising martial arts prospects. If she found one, she would bring them back to Black Eagle Sect for training.

With so many sects and small clans entrenched in Anyuan County Town, most promising martial arts prospects were recruited by them before anyone else could get to them. If this continued, it would hamper Black Eagle Sect's growth.

The Huang Family, a small clan in Anyuan County Town, had even begun to consider swallowing up all the county's sects and gangs. This had put Black Eagle Sect under pressure as well.

Though the Huang Family was a small clan—not necessarily a true aristocratic clan—its very designation as a small clan spoke to its strength. It had already become powerful enough to dominate a region.

After all, aristocratic clans were without exception among the martial world's top powers. When a clan of that caliber flew into a rage, mountains and rivers trembled. Even the authorities and imperial court dared not provoke the great clans of the martial world. That alone showed the weight carried by the words "aristocratic clan."

So, for the sake of Black Eagle Sect's future, An Yanbing naturally had to recruit promising prospects with good natural aptitude.

As for the Huang Family's ambition to swallow up every gang and sect in Anyuan County Town, it might be ambitious, but it wouldn't be easy to accomplish. Every sect had a web of complicated connections and backers behind it.

Take Black Eagle Sect, for example. Though it was based in Anyuan County Town, it had deep ties to a major power in the prefectural city. If the Huang Family wanted to move against Black Eagle Sect, it would have to consider whether it could withstand that major power in the prefectural city.

"Senior Sister An Yanbing, I have a friend in Shuanglin Village. He didn't start practicing martial arts until after he turned eighteen, so he got a very late start. Yet even without a body-tempering cultivation technique, he still managed to reach the early stage of the Body Tempering Realm. Do you think he has a chance of joining Black Eagle Sect?"

As their horses galloped along, something came to Li Xian's mind, and he spoke up.

He had thought of Su Mo, back in the village. Hoping that he had misjudged him before, Li Xian explained Su Mo's situation to Senior Sister An Yanbing, asking her to take a look and judge whether Su Mo had a chance of entering Black Eagle Sect.

"No. Your friend started cultivating far too late. Even if he managed to break through to the Body Tempering Realm, he was already over eighteen when he began cultivating. His natural aptitude has most likely solidified, locking in the limits of his martial path. If he manages to reach the Meridian Opening Realm in this lifetime, that will already be quite an achievement. But he is nowhere near qualified to enter Black Eagle Sect."

An Yanbing shook her head and spoke coolly.

She wasn't deliberately targeting Junior Brother Li Xian's friend. His friend had simply started cultivating too late. His natural aptitude had likely solidified, leaving him with an extremely low ceiling for martial arts talent. As a major sect in Anyuan County Town, Black Eagle Sect wanted disciples with superior natural aptitude, not prospects without talent.

An Yanbing had started cultivating at fifteen, so she knew just how serious the consequences were when someone began at eighteen, after their natural aptitude had solidified. She therefore rejected Junior Brother Li Xian's suggestion outright.

Li Xian felt sorry for Su Mo, but there was nothing he could do.

Xiao Yingkai, standing nearby, thought it was only to be expected. Black Eagle Sect recruited geniuses, not mediocrities. It seemed Junior Brother Li Xian was letting his feelings get the better of him.

Black Eagle Sect didn't take just anyone!

Remote mountain villages might produce geniuses more easily, but it depended on the circumstances. A genius who was already old was hardly a genius anymore. Their natural aptitude had become blocked and rigid. Even if Junior Brother Li Xian's friend had forcefully broken through to the Body Tempering Realm without a body-tempering cultivation technique, that alone showed how gifted he was.

But his age, late start, and natural aptitude were all crippling flaws. Black Eagle Sect couldn't possibly take him in.

"By the way, I heard that things have been unsettled around Qingliang Mountain lately. Some time ago, the authorities in Anyuan County Town caught a heretic from the Fire Worship Cult, but for some reason, he escaped. I've even heard he fled into these mountains."

"This wanted heretic from the Fire Worship Cult is no weakling. He's a Meridian Opening Realm Martial Artist, and he possesses some kind of Mysterious Body Refining Technique that gives him astonishing defenses."

Xiao Yingkai spotted the boundary marker for Qingliang Mountain in the distance, and some recent news from the county town crossed his mind.

It was said that the Fire Worship Cult was one of the martial world's great demonic cults. It was skilled at spreading lies to mislead people and liked to turn ordinary folk into its heretics and believers. This time, the authorities in Anyuan County had caught one of its heretics. They said the man possessed some kind of Mysterious Body Refining Technique, giving him a fearsome defense that let him withstand the attacks of several experts of the same realm without dying.

Relying on this Mysterious Body Refining Technique, he had escaped from the authorities' escort and attempted roundup, fleeing into Qingliang Mountain.

An Yanbing remained calm and didn't seem to take the wanted heretic from the Fire Worship Cult seriously.

Li Xian, however, panicked a little. They hadn't even dealt with Black Wind Stockade yet, and now a Fire Worship Cult heretic had entered the mountains?

But seeing how at ease Senior Brother Xiao Yingkai was and how cool and composed Senior Sister An Yanbing remained, Li Xian gradually calmed down. If they ran into the Fire Worship Cult heretic, he was sure his senior brother and senior sister would have a way to deal with him.

Deep in Qingliang Mountain, in a secluded mountain hollow.

An Azure Leopard at the Meridian Opening Realm was patrolling its territory. A savage, violent aura radiated from its body. But the next moment, a disheveled figure spotted it and launched an attack.

The Azure Leopard roared. As a demonic beast at the Meridian Opening Realm, it was the ruler of this hollow. When had any creature ever dared attack it? But to its surprise, the figure seized its head in an instant, then snapped its neck with a twist.

The Meridian Opening Realm Azure Leopard died on the spot.

The entire time, the Azure Leopard hadn't even managed to fight back before the sudden figure killed it.

"Only the Fire Worship Cult can save all those who suffer calamity and hardship. The Fire Worship Cult will endure forever..."

The figure's hair hung wild and disheveled, obscuring its face and leaving only a pair of cold, sinister eyes visible. It wore strange clothes, upon which a mass of eerily blood-red flames had been embroidered. One look at them was enough to make anyone feel as though they were losing themselves in the fire.

An intensely dangerous aura radiated from its entire body as it muttered to itself.

After killing the Azure Leopard, the man began devouring it raw. When he had finished eating, he vanished into Qingliang Mountain.