Even the Golden Emperor Ant couldn't stand it anymore. He thought Xu Yan was an idiot when it came to romance, so he reminded him, "Master, that woman is obviously interested in you."
This monster, who had lived for who knew how many years, could tell at a glance that the girl was clearly in love. And yet Xu Yan was still too dense to understand what was going on.
Xu Yan looked at the Golden Emperor Ant on the table. "Little Gold, that can't be right, can it? She's a proper cultivator. Even if she's a junior cultivator, she's still beautiful. There's no reason she'd fall for me."
A cultivator falling in love with a mortal? It sounded like something out of a fantasy.
"Damn it, do you think I'd get something like this wrong?" the Golden Emperor Ant cursed. "That woman is clearly interested in you. Whether you're interested in her, though, I have no idea."
He had never liked meddling in other people's love lives, but Xu Yan was just too dense, so he couldn't help giving him a reminder.
What happened after that was up to Xu Yan.
Anyway, he thought that woman named Qin Yudie was pretty good, though her cultivation talent was a little lacking.
Xu Yan didn't take it too seriously. "Forget it. I'll just let things take their course. I've already made peace with the idea of growing old alone."
A hint of disappointment showed in his eyes. His greatest regret was that he couldn't cultivate.
Su Jiuer looked at Xu Yan, a thousand thoughts passing through her mind. In the end, she slumped over the table, looking utterly listless.
In an extremely gloomy valley, a woman with wine-red hair sat upon the throne in the palace hall. Listening to her subordinate's report, she slowly opened her blood-red eyes and gazed coldly at the thousands of people in the valley.
The valley was utterly silent, though the sound of many ragged breaths could be heard. The atmosphere was stifling.
After a moment, a white-haired elder addressed the seductive, alluring woman with wine-red hair in a respectful voice. "Protector, I am willing to go to the Southern Domain and retrieve the Heaven and Earth Chessboard!"
He was an elder of the Evil God Palace, a powerhouse whose cultivation had surpassed the Sea of Consciousness Realm.
The valley held thousands of people, all of them elite members of the Evil God Palace. Even the weakest among them was a branch leader.
The blood-clad woman on the throne looked at the elder and said coldly, "According to the reports from the Southern Domain, there's a reclusive expert there. Hall Master Mu was also injured by that reclusive expert, and the Heaven and Earth Chessboard was given to someone else by him."
"Are you confident you can defeat that reclusive expert?"
The Evil God Palace was everywhere, and it had plenty of people in the Southern Domain as well. Some were hidden within various factions, acting as informants.
As a result, the Evil God Palace received news very quickly and could often avoid danger in advance.
The Evil God Palace elder spoke up. "Protector, I think those cultivators in the Southern Domain are simply weak. They were bluffed by someone with slightly higher cultivation. There probably isn't any reclusive expert at all."
He was an elder of the Evil God Palace, and had lived for who knew how long. He had never encountered any reclusive expert.
He thought stories of reclusive experts were all lies. What cultivator would fail to work hard at cultivation and hide away like a mortal instead?
If they wanted to live in seclusion, they might as well honestly become mortals. That would save them from all the strife among cultivators.
"No. I'll go myself!"
The woman on the throne refused. A glint of icy light flashed in her blood-red eyes.
She wanted to see for herself what kind of reclusive expert dared to compete with her for the Heaven and Earth Chessboard. He must have a death wish.
"Protector, it's such a small matter. Just leave it to me. There's no need for you to go in person," another elder said.
Everyone knew the Southern Domain wasn't a powerful place. At best, it was average, and it couldn't compare at all to the Central Domain in Muzhou, where the cultivation civilization was at its most prosperous.
So he thought that no matter how formidable the reclusive expert in the Southern Domain might be, he couldn't be all that strong. Most likely, he wasn't even as strong as himself.
The woman on the throne fixed him with a frigid gaze. "I said I'm going myself. Are you questioning me?"
The moment she spoke, a powerful pressure swept through the entire valley, leaving the branch leaders and hall masters gasping for breath.
The elder who had just spoken dropped to his knees and begged for mercy. "I spoke out of turn. Please forgive me, Protector!"
His whole body trembled. This Protector was the most terrifying person in the Evil God Palace, a mass murderer who would kill even her own people if they crossed her.
And yet the Protector was incredibly powerful. Even the Palace Lord could do nothing about her.
"Enough. I have no interest in wasting time here with you."
The woman spoke coldly. By the time her words fell, she had already vanished from the throne.
The pressure throughout the valley disappeared in an instant. Some of the branch leaders and hall masters gasped desperately for air; they had nearly suffocated just now.
The Protector was terrifying!
After Jiang Li had finished cleaning up for Xu Yan, he looked at him expectantly. "Divine Doctor Xu, I'm going to take the Tianren Sect's test tomorrow. Will you come?"
Time had flown by. Tomorrow was the day the Tianren Sect would recruit disciples, and he had started to feel nervous.
He was worried that if he failed the test, he would disappoint his mother, Divine Doctor Xu, and himself.
"I'll be there. Don't be nervous. Relax, and you'll be fine," Xu Yan said reassuringly.
He didn't know whether Jiang Li had the talent to cultivate. He had only noticed that Jiang Li seemed to be in considerably better shape than an ordinary person.
But as long as Jiang Li had the talent to cultivate, he should be able to enter the Tianren Sect without trouble. Xu Yan had already spoken to Qin Yudie and Qin Tian; he just didn't know what positions their acquaintances held in the Tianren Sect, or how influential they were.
Still, they probably weren't anyone important. The Tianren Sect was a major sect, even Xu Yan, a mortal, knew that much. Qin Tian and Qin Yudie were merely junior cultivators who couldn't even match him at chess or drinking.
"Okay!"
Jiang Li was delighted to hear that Xu Yan would come tomorrow, and he felt much less nervous.
Actually, he was nervous not only because he feared failing the test, but also because he was going to a cultivators' sect. It was an entirely unfamiliar place, and going alone made him a little apprehensive.
"Go back and get a good night's rest," Xu Yan said with a smile.
He could sense that Jiang Li depended on him, as if he saw him as an older brother.
He didn't mind that feeling. In fact, he rather liked it—the feeling of being depended on and needed.
"Mhm!"
Jiang Li left, full of anticipation for the future.
Watching Jiang Li's figure gradually disappear down the street, Xu Yan smiled and returned to the shop.
Then he took out the carving knife the system had rewarded him with and began carving.
He wanted to give Jiang Li a gift to celebrate his becoming a cultivator.
Half an hour later, an exquisitely carved wooden puppet was finished.
The puppet was none other than Jiang Li. Xu Yan meant to give him a wooden puppet made in his own likeness.
Looking at Jiang Li's wooden puppet, Su Jiuer hugged her own wooden puppet to her chest.
Still, this young lady's wooden puppet is the best-looking!
Before you continue