Jiang Lu carefully recalled the many prodigies on the Talent Ranking just now. The Great Elder had once explained the origins and backgrounds of figures from every side to them one by one, yet there was one person no one had ever mentioned.
After pondering for a long while, full of doubt, she turned to Ye Qing at her side.
"Master, the Great Elder told us about the backgrounds of everyone else on the ranking, but Mu Xiaoqing of the Jade Void Sect is the only one whose name I have never heard. Why is that?"
Beside the stone table, Ye Qing, who had been raising a cup of tea to his lips, suddenly paused.
Though it was only a fleeting disturbance, Jiang Lu caught it precisely, and her thoughts stirred.
There's... a story here!
Ye Qing slowly set down the celadon teacup in his hand, and a long sigh slipped from his lips.
That sigh was filled with regret, along with a trace of the melancholy and disappointment of hating iron for not becoming steel.
He lifted his eyes toward the ranking hanging high in the void, his gaze finally settling on Mu Xiaoqing's name as he slowly spoke.
"Mu Xiaoqing was a child of extraordinary talent. It was said that she had originally come from the Mortal Realm. Back when Lingyun Venerable traveled through the Lower Realm, he happened to discover that she possessed peerless spiritual roots. He brought her onto the path of immortality and accepted her as his personal disciple. She was also Lingyun Venerable's only inner disciple in his entire life."
At this point, Ye Qing's tone sank slightly. His fingers around the teacup quietly tightened, the tips faintly whitening, his expression too complicated for words.
"Unfortunately, after master and disciple spent years together day