Ye Hongyao

The sight left Shi Mu and Zhong Xiu staring in stunned silence.

Only then did the woman turn around and casually remove the hood from her head, revealing a beautiful face that still retained its youthful charm. She looked to be only thirty-seven or thirty-eight, but the slight upward tilt of her brows gave her an icy air.

Yet when she looked at Zhong Xiu, her gaze was now alight with fervor.

"When I set out this time, I only meant to take care of a matter Old Monster Sun had entrusted to me. I never expected to find such a rare talent! What's your name? Where do you live? Why was this man chasing you?" the woman murmured, then asked Zhong Xiu warmly. She didn't spare the distant Shi Mu even a glance.

"Senior, my name is Xiu'er. Big Brother Shi and I used to live in Feng City, but we offended someone from the Jin Family, so we had no choice but to flee in the middle of the night," Zhong Xiu replied honestly, her heart easing a little at the woman's kindness.

"The Jin Family? So it's only a minor local clan. Let me ask you this: would you be willing to join the Mystic Sound Sect? Our sect is one of the Three Great Sects of Great Qi. We have countless disciples and possess all kinds of martial arts and techniques. We also have our sect's supreme art, the Jade Sound Myriad Wave Art. Once you master it, you can step into the legendary Earth tier." The woman stared at the girl and spoke in one long, increasingly gentle breath.

"The Three Great Sects, the Mystic Sound Sect... Please give me a little time to think it over. Senior, could you treat Big Brother Shi's injuries first?" Zhong Xiu was clearly a little bewildered by the hooded woman's rapid-fire words, but she quickly remembered something and hurriedly pleaded with her.

"This boy's tough as an old boot. Nothing serious, just a little exhaustion and two broken arms... Oh, the Blood Sha Palm injury is a bit troublesome, though... Forget it, I'll do you a favor. I have a Qi Blood Pill here. Take it, and you should be fine." The hooded woman was taken aback at first, then turned her gaze to Shi Mu. After a brief glance, she made two casual remarks.

With a wave of her sleeve, she sent a small white bottle flying. It landed neatly beside Shi Mu.

Shi Mu was delighted and reached for the bottle, but his face suddenly turned pale, and beads of sweat the size of beans appeared on his forehead.

Both his arms were broken. The agony that even the slightest exertion caused was easy to imagine.

Seeing this, Zhong Xiu hurried over and picked up the bottle. She poured out a fragrant, fiery-red pill and carefully fed it to Shi Mu herself.

After Shi Mu swallowed it, a surge of heat welled up inside him and quickly spread throughout his body. The strange numb itch in the arm injured by Wu Tong's Purple Sha Palm vanished in an instant.

His spirits lifted. He looked again at Wu Tong, frozen into an ice sculpture not far away, and, still shocked, secretly tried to guess the woman's true level of cultivation.

Zhong Xiu, meanwhile, continued to watch Shi Mu with concern.

Seeing the girl's expression, the hooded woman furrowed her delicate brows. She looked over Shi Mu's face a few more times, and a thought suddenly came to her. Then she spoke slowly:

"The Qi Blood Pill is a special medicine of our sect. It works wonders on both internal and external injuries, and is also greatly beneficial to one's cultivation."

"Thank you for coming to our aid, Senior!" Seeing that Shi Mu's complexion had indeed improved, Zhong Xiu exclaimed with joy and tears in her eyes.

"Miss Xiu'er, if you don't mind, I'd like to test your bloodline first. What you displayed earlier seems exactly like a certain bloodline I had in mind, but to be safe, it would be better to test you with a proper artifact."

"All right, Senior. Please test me," Zhong Xiu said, glancing at Shi Mu before nodding.

"Excellent. I happen to have a Blood Ruyi with me. It tests bloodlines more accurately and reliably than other artifacts. You need only place a drop of your essence blood on it." Delighted, the hooded woman immediately took a white jade ruyi from her sleeve.

The girl bit her finger, stepped forward, and let a drop of essence blood fall onto the ruyi.

The next moment, the jade ruyi glimmered with pale golden light, and a lilting sound rang out, melodious as a phoenix's cry. Mysterious white characters appeared across its surface.

The hooded woman lowered her head and studied the characters for a moment. Then she exclaimed with delight:

"Just as I thought! You have the third-grade Phoenix Sound Bloodline possessed by our sect's founding patriarch. Only someone with this bloodline can cultivate the Jade Sound Myriad Wave Art to its highest level."

"I have an upper-grade, third-grade Phoenix Sound Bloodline?" Zhong Xiu murmured, her expression uncertain.

"Miss Xiu'er, I am Ye Hongyao, the master of the Ethereal Pavilion of the Mystic Sound Sect. I now formally represent my master, the Mystic Sound Sect's Great Elder, in taking you as her disciple. Are you willing? If you agree, then from the moment you join the Mystic Sound Sect, you'll be of the same generation as me. Among the younger generation of the entire sect, no one will surpass you in status or standing." The hooded woman didn't give Zhong Xiu time to think further. With a solemn expression, she asked again.

"If I become that Great Elder's disciple, will I be able to become as powerful as you, Senior?" the girl asked.

"If you can truly cultivate the Jade Sound Myriad Wave Art, even reaching just a minor level of mastery will let you sweep through the entire Xiantian realm. How could I compare to you?" Ye Hongyao replied without hesitation.

"I don't really have anywhere else to go, but... Big Brother Shi, what do you think I should do?" The girl was tempted by the woman's words, but still turned to Shi Mu and quietly asked his opinion.

"Senior, are you a Xiantian Martial Artist?" Shi Mu pondered briefly, then finally asked Ye Hongyao the question on his mind.

"You have a sharp eye. This seat is indeed an early-stage Xiantian Martial Artist!" The hooded woman was somewhat surprised, but replied with pride.

"But I've heard that there are only a handful of Xiantian Martial Artists in all of Great Qi?" Shi Mu was startled, then asked hesitantly.

"Ordinary people don't know many Xiantian Martial Artists. Most of those they know are the so-called Nation-Protecting Martial Artists appointed by the Great Qi court. We of the Three Great Sects aren't included among them. The powerful figures in our sects only come out when Great Qi faces annihilation or when a threat arises that ordinary forces can't handle. Even the so-called Great Qi royal family was established by our three sects as a means of maintaining balance. If they ever angered us, any one of our sects could easily depose them." Ye Hongyao clearly looked down on the Nation-Protecting Martial Artists appointed by the Great Qi court.

"So the true masters of the martial path are all in the sects?" Shi Mu was utterly astonished and blurted out the question.

"Of course. The other two kingdoms are the same. With Xiu'er's talent, it's only a matter of time before she reaches the Xiantian realm if she joins the Mystic Sound Sect," Ye Hongyao replied without hesitation.

"If that's the case, the Mystic Sound Sect is an excellent place for you. Miss Zhong, you should accept Senior Ye's offer." Shi Mu let out a long breath, then spoke solemnly to the girl.