Azure Province City, A New Life

Two months later.

It was the height of summer. The blazing sun hung above Azure Province City like a massive furnace, scorching the streets below.

Heat waves rolled through the air as Su Yueli entered the great city with the crowd.

Compared to Fengling City, Azure Province City was simply a colossal beast lying dormant upon the plains.

The city was even more prosperous within. Restaurants and teahouses stood side by side, traffic filled the streets, and the banners of shops on both sides blotted out the sky.

Taking in the scene, Su Yueli's heart tightened. There were actually cultivators in this city.

Now and then, cultivators in robes of various colors passed along the streets. Ordinary people lowered their heads and stepped aside, their eyes full of reverence.

Occasionally, when she looked up, she could even see one or two streaks of light flash across the sky as someone flew on a sword.

In Azure Province City, cultivators did not seem to be anything rare. They had truly become intertwined with the mundane world.

Su Yueli looked at those immortals, then at herself.

To ordinary people, a Third Realm martial artist was already an expert. But to cultivators who could split mountains and sever rivers, they were still only slightly larger ants.

"Miss! You there, pretty miss, hold on!"

Beside the road, before a jewelry stall selling rouge, cosmetics, and hairpins, the sharp-eyed middle-aged proprietress called warmly to Su Yueli.

"On such a hot day, miss, have a look at these fine jade hairpins, and this Hundred Flowers Rouge! With heavenly features like yours, if you dressed up just a little, the young masters of Azure Province City would wear down their thresholds for you!"

Su Yueli stopped and glanced over the dazzling array of women's accessories spread across the stall.

Under the sunlight, the jeweled flowers and hairpins gleamed with dazzling light.

She shook her head. "No need. Thank you."

Her voice was cool and clear, without the slightest ripple of emotion.

For one thing, she had the soul of a man beneath it all, a male soul in a female body. She had no interest whatsoever in smearing powder on her face or putting flowers in her hair.

Over the past twenty-odd years, she had never dressed herself up at all.

For another, she was truly poor—her pockets were cleaner than her face.

Living in the isolated Blackwind Ridge, she had done nothing but practice boxing and dig holes to bury the dead. Where would she have found a place to earn money?

The few scraps of silver she had possessed had long been spent on strong liquor two months ago.

In this flourishing mortal world, one could not take a single step without money.

"Auntie, may I ask you about someone?"

Su Yueli grew a little more courteous and asked, "Is there a senior in the city named Tie Tu? Do you know where I might find him?"

The woman had been somewhat disappointed at losing a sale, but upon hearing that name, she immediately perked up.

"Tie Tu? Miss, you're asking about Hall Master Tie!"

The woman pointed toward the east side of the city. "Follow this long street straight ahead. At the end, cross the stone bridge, and the largest residence there is it—Ironbone Martial Hall, the most renowned martial hall in Azure Province City. You'll know it when you get there."

"Thank you."

Su Yueli nodded, then turned and walked into the crowd.

Only after Su Yueli's back had been swallowed by the flow of people did the stall owner come back to her senses. She stared in the direction Su Yueli had left, smacking her lips.

"Good heavens... since when did Azure Province City have such a stunning beauty?"

The woman's face was full of amazement.

She had seen clearly from up close just now. That girl's clothes were practically no better than a torn burlap sack, and she did not even have a wooden hairpin in her hair. Her face was entirely bare.

Yet that face, that crystalline air about her icy skin and jade-like bones—it made even the carefully adorned courtesans of the House of Delight look a hundred times less lovely.

"What a pity. Dressed so poorly, she's probably a poor unfortunate soul." The woman shook her head and resumed calling out to customers.

Su Yueli made her way down the long street.

Half an hour later, after crossing an arched bridge, a grand residence appeared at the end of her sight.

Above its main gate hung a plaque with a black background and golden lettering—Ironbone Martial Hall.

Two imposing stone lions stood at the entrance, and from beyond the high walls came the faint, orderly shouts of training.

Su Yueli stood at the gate and raised an eyebrow, a trace of surprise flashing through her clear eyes.

She had thought that someone who could become sworn friends unto life and death with a martial man like her master, who had fought his way out from piles of corpses, would most likely be a solitary and eccentric figure living in seclusion deep in the mountains.

She had not expected him to be a martial artist who ran a martial hall in a bustling city and accepted disciples far and wide.

The contrast was truly rather great.

Su Yueli climbed the steps and crossed through the gate.

What met her eyes was a broad, open-air training ground.

Under the blazing sun stood more than thirty men of varying ages. The oldest were brawny men in their thirties or forties, while the youngest were boys of fourteen or fifteen. All of them were honing their strength, drenched in sweat.

Some lifted stone locks weighing several hundred catties, while others punched wooden posts. Their grunts of exertion shook the ears.

A thick stench of sweat and male hormones washed over her.

Standing in the shade, Su Yueli swept her gaze around once and immediately saw through these people's capabilities.

Among the thirty-some men, the vast majority had not even touched the threshold of First Realm Skin Tempering. They were merely training the most basic brute strength.

The occasional few who had entered First Realm Skin Tempering also had unsteady auras.

As for Second Realm Bone Forging, only the two instructors leading the exercises at the front had barely reached it.

Moreover, the boxing techniques they practiced looked to Su Yueli like children playing house.

The moves were broad and powerful-looking, but in truth were riddled with openings. They were full of performative flourishes and lacked even a hint of killing intent.

What mortal martial halls taught was, in the end, only worldly techniques for strengthening the body and throwing one's weight around in a fight.

They were utterly different from the killing arts Lu Chen had taught her—arts that abandoned all defense, every move carrying the intent to perish together with the enemy, for the sole purpose of tearing the opponent apart.

"Hu—ha!"

Just then, a young disciple resting nearby caught sight of Su Yueli at the entrance from the corner of his eye.

The ladle in his hand dropped to the ground with a clatter. He froze as though he had seen a ghost, his eyes going wide and blank.

That strange sound instantly drew everyone's attention.

Following their gazes, the noisy training ground seemed to have had its pause button pressed.

The cries of exertion came to an abrupt stop.

The brawny men lifting stone locks forgot to lower them, while the boys striking wooden posts froze in mid-swing.

More than a hundred eyes fixed in unison upon the girl at the gate.

Though she wore coarse hemp clothing, it could not conceal her tall, graceful figure.

Her peerless face was cold as frost, and beneath the blazing sunlight seemed to gleam with a faint, icy radiance. Especially the tear mole at the corner of her eye—it lent her a breathtaking beauty that kept others a thousand miles away.

In an Ironbone Martial Hall filled with sweat and nothing but rough men, the sudden arrival of such a peerless fairy untouched by worldly dust was no less visually shocking than a giant boulder crashing into a placid lake.

After a brief dead silence, the training ground instantly erupted.

"Gulp..."

No one knew who had swallowed loudly.

"Th-this is some young lady from a noble family who came through the wrong door, right?"

"Are you stupid? Would a noble young lady wear clothes like that?"

"Good mother of mine, she's far too beautiful! Even the city lord's daughter isn't this lovely, is she?"

"What are you staring at? Hurry up and put your clothes on! Don't offend the beauty!"

Several bare-chested men immediately panicked, scrambling about for short shirts to pull on. The martial artists, normally as bold and burly as they came, all blushed at that moment and did not even know where to put their hands and feet.

Watching the comical scene, Su Yueli could not help wanting to laugh.

Just as she was about to speak and ask for someone, the curtain of the inner hall was lifted, and a girl in a goose-yellow dress hurried out.

"What's all this noise? Today we're testing your stance work! Whoever slacks off again... eh?"

Before the girl could finish speaking, she too noticed Su Yueli at the entrance.

Su Yueli looked her over.

The girl appeared to be sixteen or seventeen. She wore her hair in two playful buns, with a round face and almond-shaped eyes. She was a lively, adorable little sweetheart.

The girl blinked her large eyes and curiously stepped forward, sizing Su Yueli up from head to toe.

"Big sister, you're so pretty!"

The girl was naturally familiar with strangers, her eyes sparkling. "Did you come to our martial hall to take a master and learn martial arts? But we've always accepted only male disciples here."

Su Yueli shook her head. "I did not come to learn martial arts."

She clasped her hands in front of her and gave a peer's salute according to martial custom.

"As the disciple of an old friend, I came specifically to seek Senior Tie Tu. Might I ask whether he is in the hall?"

"You're looking for my father?"

Hearing this, the girl covered her little mouth in surprise. Then she smiled, revealing a pair of adorable tiger teeth.

"So you're the disciple of one of Father's old friends! My name is Tie Ling'er. Big sister, come with me. My father is having tea in the rear courtyard right now."

Tie Ling'er turned around. As she led the way, she looked back and shouted sweetly at the men on the training ground, who were still craning their necks to look.

"What are you looking at? Keep staring, and I'll dig your eyeballs out! Hurry up and train!"

After being yelled at by this little ancestor, the men immediately shrank their necks and hurriedly resumed training with grunts and shouts.

Yet their sidelong glances still drifted from time to time toward the direction Su Yueli had gone.

Su Yueli followed behind Tie Ling'er toward the quiet rear courtyard.

Listening to the girl's lively chatter along the way, Su Yueli lowered her eyes slightly.

He had a stable livelihood running a martial hall, and an adorable daughter who brought joy to his side.

This Tie Tu lived far more like a human being than her own master, who had grown old and died alone in the deep mountains.