Ya Fei's Choice

He furrowed his brow. Though he had a good temper, that didn't mean he would let someone like Ya Fei repeatedly ignore him. The difference between them was like heaven and earth. To put it bluntly, Zhang Nian also possessed the pride befitting a Dou Sheng Expert.

"You really aren't willing?"

Oh no...

Ya Fei could hear the anger hidden in his tone. Only then did she realize that the young man before her, who looked no more than twenty, had another identity.

"Lord Saint... I..."

Her delicate brows drew together, and she lowered her beautiful eyes, not daring to meet Zhang Nian's gaze. Though she was unwilling, she...

"I'm simply not worthy of becoming your disciple. There are countless other talents on this continent. Why insist on me...?"

It seemed to take all her strength to say those words. At that moment, Ya Fei looked like a walking corpse, her hands hanging limply at her sides. She knew all too well that if her words displeased him, she would have doomed the entire Mittel Family.

"Whew..."

He let out a long breath. So that was the reason...

Hearing Ya Fei's answer, he assumed she truly felt inferior because of her cultivation talent. Then again, the Mittel Family's cultivation talent really wasn't anything special, but that wasn't a problem in his eyes. The system was constantly watching him, however, and its first condition for taking a disciple was that the other party had to willingly pledge allegiance—he couldn't force them. According to the system, an unwilling bond would bring a certain punishment.

He turned his palm over. A faint glimmer flashed from the Storage Ring on his finger, and space rippled. An exquisite jade bottle appeared in his hand. He set it gently on the table, then turned and headed for the door, speaking in a mild tone.

"This is a Ninth-Grade Treasure Pill called the Yin Yang Sumeru Pill. Taking it can add two hundred years to your life and reshape your foundation, defying fate itself. I imagine it should be able to change your circumstances."

With that, he clasped his hands behind his back and left the room, leaving Ya Fei standing there in a daze.

Her thoughts were thrown into turmoil. To the people of this continent, Ninth-Grade pills were the limit. And here in the Jia Ma Empire... forget Ninth-Grade pills—they hadn't even seen a Seventh-Grade pill.

But then she reconsidered...

What had she done to deserve this? Besides, the pill's effects were so potent. Why would he give it to her?

In Ya Fei's eyes, Zhang Nian must have ulterior motives—and they weren't innocent ones. Otherwise, why would he go to such lengths to get close to her?

To Ya Fei, the pill on the table wasn't a chance to defy fate. It was the price she had to pay with her body...

"But he's already shown the utmost sincerity... If I turn him down again, wouldn't that make me ungrateful?"

She smiled bitterly. At that moment, she realized that perhaps she had lost the power to choose the instant she entered the mountain gate. Everything had been decided long ago, and her fate wouldn't change...

Fate, huh...? She turned to look at the exquisite jade bottle on the table. Since she had no choice, she might as well accept her fate. The pill could defy destiny; she could only hope it might change hers, too.

She reached out with her slender hand and picked up the jade bottle. After removing the cap, a heart-stirring medicinal fragrance surged out like a tide, filling the entire room before drifting through the window and off into the distance.

Zi Yan had just been turned away by Yun Yun and was about to look for Ya Fei to ask where their master was. Her pretty face was full of displeasure. Everyone else had tasty treats, but she didn't!

"Hmph! I'll go ask Sister Ya Fei where Master is in a bit. Why does everyone else get tasty treats? I want some, too!"

Suddenly, a wave of medicinal fragrance seemed to hook Zi Yan's little nose with an invisible hand. She sniffed the air, and a glint flashed in her watery eyes. This scent was just like the pills Master had been holding when she first met him... And it smelled so good! There had to be something delicious!

With that thought, she dashed off in the direction the fragrance came from, her ponytail swinging behind her.

Inside the room

Ya Fei hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand and popped the white pill into her mouth. It dissolved instantly. A warm sensation spread through her meridians, and a strange energy welled up in her lower abdomen, where her dantian was. As that energy coursed through her, her body began to undergo subtle changes.

Energy enveloped her delicate body, sending objects in the room tumbling in every direction. The pill's tremendous power burst out through her skin, forming a circular barrier around her. A pale beam of energy shot up from the room's roof and pierced the sky, passing through the barrier.

Feeling that strange energy, Zhang Nian's lips curled slightly. It seemed Ya Fei had made her choice. But it was a Ninth-Grade Treasure Pill, after all, and he had no idea what the final result would be. Still, he believed that after the pill's transformation, Ya Fei would be reborn. Surely she wouldn't refuse to become his disciple now.

On the mountain

Yun Yun had just sat down cross-legged when she heard the tremendous commotion in the sky. She frowned, sprang to her feet, and left the room to gaze up at the sky in curiosity. The energy was surging from neither Zhang Nian's residence nor Medusa's.

"That's..."

Ya Fei??

She turned and saw Medusa behind her, gazing toward the source of the energy. Medusa's expression was clear and calm, as if she wasn't at all puzzled.

Yun Yun understood. It seemed Ya Fei was about to join their master's fold as well.

She glanced at Yun Yun, who was watching her, then looked away, closed the window, and went back to her room to cultivate.

Sigh...

Hopefully, Ya Fei's arrival would ease her difficult situation a little...

In Yun Yun's eyes, Medusa and Zi Yan were probably cut from the same cloth, while she herself seemed unlikely to fit into this family. Ya Fei, on the other hand, belonged to the Jia Ma faction, just like her. That made her closer to them than those two.

Meanwhile, in the Jia Ma Empire

Jia Xingtian studied the sky in the distance and said to Yao Qi beside him, "If you see this kind of thing often enough, it stops being so shocking. Still, our Imperial Family ought to find a way to claim a share of such an opportunity. Has Yao Ye still not returned? The Misty Cloud Sect and the Mittel Family have both sent women from their own ranks to Saint Qinglian's side. Surely you understand what that means?"

"According to the reports, Yao Ye won't be back in the Imperial Capital for another month. The empire is still busy arranging matters in Yan City... For some reason, I can't help feeling that Saint Qinglian's arrival won't bring the empire any benefits..."

Worry was written all over the mature man's face. He seemed troubled by what lay ahead. A Dou Sheng Expert appearing out of nowhere in a third-rate empire couldn't possibly be a good thing—or so it seemed to him. Yet both the Misty Cloud Sect's leader and the empire's pillar, Jia Lao, believed this was an enormous opportunity. Yao Qi could do nothing to change their minds, so he could only let events run their course.

At that moment, in the Jia Ma Empire, in the forest outside the barrier near the mountain gate of the Misty Cloud Sect's former stronghold, a black figure flashed past. Wisps of black mist curled around him as he stared at the barrier over the distant mountain range, especially the white flame atop it. It radiated a sacred yet destructive aura. Even he, a powerful Dou Zong, felt a shiver of dread just from seeing it from afar.

"A Dou Sheng Expert has appeared in the Jia Ma Empire... I have to report this to the organization as soon as possible... And these strange celestial signs... This person is no ordinary figure."

The shadow vanished into the forest in a flash, startling flocks of birds into flight.