What the Hell Was That?

"It was Fairy Ye who stepped in—no wonder Little Junior Sister was found so quickly! Many thanks to Fairy Ye!" When the three arrived outside the gates of Sword-Imperial Pavilion, a young man came forward with over a dozen disciples to welcome them. They had already received word that Little Junior Sister had been found and was on her way back, prompting a burst of cheers. These past two days, Sword-Imperial Pavilion had been nothing short of hell on earth. Other than eating and sleeping, they had done nothing but search for their junior sister—and even their sleep had been scarce. Every time they returned empty-handed, the elders would tear into them again, leaving everyone on tenterhooks. Thankfully, it was finally over.

"Alright, go back with them. Remember not to run off again." Ye Wan gave Qin Ziyan a brief instruction, then turned and left with Chen Fan without sparing the Sword-Imperial Pavilion disciples a single glance. "Come on. Do you really intend to wait here for rewards and recognition? Your identity is special, and you stand out too much here. I'll take you back to the outer court first." With that, she swept up a light breeze and rose into the air with Chen Fan.

Inside Sword-Imperial Pavilion, three elders sat in the positions of honor within the grand hall, with five stewards standing below them. Three elders and five stewards—this was the standard arrangement for the three palaces of the inner court. The disciples stood in rows on either side. Other than those absent from the sect or in seclusion at a crucial stage of cultivation, every disciple was present.

Qin Ziyan knelt in the middle of the hall, her face full of grievance and her every word steeped in remorse. "Ziyan was mischievous and caused a great disaster this time, making all of you elders worry and burdening all my senior brothers and sisters. Ziyan regrets it beyond measure. I beg Master, Martial Uncles, Senior Brothers, and Senior Sisters to forgive me. From now on, Ziyan will certainly turn over a new leaf and conduct herself properly. Please forgive me. Ziyan knows she was wrong!"

Qin Ziyan truly held a special position in this palace. She had directly become the First Elder's disciple and was also the Pavilion Lord's granddaughter, so she addressed elders of their generation as Martial Uncles. Yet among those of her own generation, she was the youngest. Calling them Martial Nephews was too awkward, so she addressed them as Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters instead. There were many such cases in the other palaces as well, usually involving young geniuses. For instance, the two Swordheart Hall disciples they had encountered earlier were the same. Such arrangements were quite common in large sects.

Watching her put on this performance, the disciples could not help feeling contemptuous. Again? When have you ever admitted your mistakes? You, settling down and behaving yourself? What a joke. Still, everyone was used to it. Yet this time, she had truly scared them badly. Although this little junior sister could indeed be willful and unruly at times, if anything had truly happened to her, they would have been devastated. After all, many of them had watched her grow up. Not to mention those old fellows—by now, they were probably dying to drag her back to their side.

The First Elder watched Qin Ziyan kneeling there and secretly smiled bitterly. He had genuinely flown into a rage this time, but this little girl was truly sly and full of tricks. After all that, could he still bring himself to scold her?

"Fine. Since you know you were wrong, and no serious consequences came of this, we shall give you another chance. To recognize one's mistakes and correct them leaves no virtue greater. However, we must still punish you. Alright, the rest of the disciples may withdraw. We will interrogate her personally," the First Elder declared.

The disciples were speechless again. Tch! The same routine every time. Can't you come up with something new? Do you take us all for fools? Personally interrogate her? More like personally fuss over her, right? Yet outwardly, every one of them deeply bowed to the First Elder before filing out of the hall.

The moment everyone had left the grand hall, one steward shut the doors. Then, with the speed of thunder before one could cover one's ears, the three old fellows appeared before Qin Ziyan.

"Are you alright? Where exactly did you go?" "I heard you were injured. Did someone bully you?" "Who dared? Tell us, and we'll stand up for you!" The three elders spoke in turn. The five stewards also gathered around, their faces filled with concern. These people truly had their hearts in one place. Their squad of calf-protectors had not earned its name for nothing.

"Reporting to Master and Martial Uncles, it is a long story. This disciple truly escaped death by a hair's breadth this time. That day, on a sudden whim, this disciple went to the back mountain after nightfall to practice swordsmanship..." Qin Ziyan recounted the events in detail. When she reached the dangerous moments, her expression became pitiful beyond words. The old fellows' brows drew tighter and tighter as they listened, only relaxing slightly when they heard that she had later detoxified herself and recovered.

After hearing the story, the First Elder nodded thoughtfully. "Based on your description, it should have been a Three-Green Flower Python. This snake is born carrying deadly poison and possesses third-stage strength. If an ordinary second-stage disciple were poisoned by it, they would be utterly unable to circulate their cultivation and expel the venom on their own."

"Indeed, that boy is truly strange. Even if he did not circulate his cultivation much or fight after being poisoned, it was nighttime. Ziyan had the Starforce Formula protecting her body, yet even she could not withstand the venom's invasion at all. How could he possibly remain unharmed? And that pill—it sounds like some kind of poison..." the Second Elder added.

"What? Poison?" Qin Ziyan was startled. "That can't be! At the time, the poison had already attacked my heart, and my life hung by a thread. If not for that pill temporarily stabilizing the poison, this disciple would have died long ago. How could it have been poison? If he wanted to harm me, he could simply have ignored me. Why would he give me poison to take?" Qin Ziyan refused to believe it and hurried to defend Chen Fan.

The First Elder waved for her not to panic. "It was indeed poison. However, it was poison used to fight poison—allowing the two toxins to restrain each other, thereby temporarily suppressing their toxicity. It was not an especially brilliant method, but for such a young man to possess this insight—and for that pill to have clearly been made from materials he gathered on the spot nearby—he is truly remarkable."

So that was it. Qin Ziyan felt a weight lift from her heart. He really had been trying to save her. No wonder that medicine had smelled so awful. At that moment, she thought even more highly of Chen Fan.

"It seems this boy is not an inner court disciple. Does anyone know his background?" The First Elder looked toward those present.

"From what we know, he is certainly not an inner court disciple. I saw that girl Ye Wan taking him toward the outer court just now. Perhaps he is an outer court disciple?" the Second Elder analyzed.

"Oh? The outer court? The one responsible for this palace's outer court affairs should be Steward Xu, correct?" the First Elder asked.

"Reporting to the First Elder, that would be me." Another elderly man stepped forward and bowed. "I presume all the elders know that the requirements for this sect's latest intake of new disciples were raised considerably compared to previous years. Though there were a few exceptional geniuses selected directly into the inner court, including several in our Sword-Imperial Pavilion, there were actually many promising seedlings among this group. Their talent was clearly quite good, but because they were slightly over the age limit, or had lacked cultivation resources since childhood and had yet to fully reveal their strength, they could only enter the outer court to study and cultivate first. To prevent these disciples from being overlooked, the sect sent some outstanding younger inner court disciples to teach courses and share cultivation insights in the outer court, hoping that disciples with decent cultivation could emerge from there in the future. That would also better strengthen the sect overall. Ye Wan had previously been the instructor teaching outer court swordsmanship, so that disciple's swordsmanship likely came from there. However, I do not know his exact circumstances. Based on his talent and age, though, he should have entered the sect just this year. Several disciples from each of our three palaces participated in evaluating the new recruits. Perhaps someone has seen him."

"So that is how it is." The First Elder nodded. "Who handled the new recruit evaluations in our palace? Call them in and ask."

After a short while, a tall middle-aged man entered the hall with a nervous expression. He bowed and said, "This junior, Li Hui, pays respects to all Elders and Stewards."

"No need for formalities. I heard you previously oversaw the evaluations of new disciples. Do you know a disciple named Chen Fan?" the First Elder asked.

"Th-this... Reporting to the First Elder, this disciple was indeed responsible for the three days following the new recruit evaluations." Li Hui was horrified. He had just seen the Little Witch arrive with Chen Fan and Fairy Ye, and had been deeply puzzled. Now he had been summoned here—could the Little Witch's disappearance have something to do with Chen Fan? If so, he was in for terrible luck. But he did not dare lie, so he truthfully reported, "That day, this disciple personally evaluated Chen Fan. When I first tested his Internal Qi realm, I was truly shocked. Though he was only fifteen, his Internal Qi had already reached the peak of the second stage. It was exceedingly rare."

At this, the elders and stewards were all slightly startled. Li Hui continued, "However, during the following External Force evaluation, this disciple had clearly never cultivated swordsmanship before and used only his internal cultivation to drive brute force. Yet its power truly reached the first stage. Moreover, a Soaring Heavens Palace disciple, Wu Xu, conducted the evaluation alongside this disciple, and Steward Liu of Swordheart Hall later reviewed it and assigned him to the outer court... This disciple showed Chen Fan absolutely no favoritism. I beg the First Elder to see clearly!"

After blurting out the entire sequence of events in one breath, Li Hui was already drenched in cold sweat. He had said all this merely to distance himself from Chen Fan. Besides, there had been no issue whatsoever with his evaluation process, so surely the elders could not punish him for anything. Yet his heart still rose and fell like fifteen buckets at the well, for whenever matters involved the Little Witch, these old fellows had never been people of much principle. If they took their anger out on him, he would truly be finished.

"Hahaha, favoritism? Not only did you show no favoritism—even if you had, it would have been splendid favoritism, marvelous favoritism, favoritism worth cheering for!" the First Elder laughed loudly.

What? Only now did Li Hui dare raise his head, which had remained lowered all this time, and look at the First Elder. He truly seemed delighted. What was going on? Sure enough, there were no principles here—but this was the complete opposite of what Li Hui had expected. Though baffled, the heart he had been holding in his throat finally settled.

"With that boy's Internal Qi realm, Swordheart Hall actually did not want him? He can now fight Ziyan and Swordheart Hall's second disciple without falling behind. His swordsmanship must have been comprehended only after entering the sect. Such swordsmanship talent defies the heavens. Since Swordheart Hall does not want him, then they will not get him in the future either." The First Elder spoke with a sly expression. "Alright, you have done well in this matter. You may leave. Oh, and afterward, go collect a reward from Steward Xu."

"Many thanks, First Elder!" Li Hui was overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. He hurriedly rose and withdrew from the hall, afraid that the First Elder might change his mind. This was far too thrilling. The great rises and falls of life were nothing more than this. Just a moment ago, he had thought disaster had dropped from the sky upon him, only for a huge windfall to fall into his lap in the next instant.

Within the hall, the First Elder's expression softened with affection as he said to Qin Ziyan, "For the next two days, cultivate at my side. I will personally help you clear the remaining poison from your body completely. I trust that after this incident, you have reflected somewhat. I hope you learn your lesson and restrain that temper of yours more in the future."

Meanwhile, at the Swordcry Sect's outer court, an elderly man sat cross-legged at the center of the training ground, with more than twenty disciples scattered loosely around him. The outer court elder was teaching an internal cultivation class. Compared to the grand spectacle of the morning's External Force class, however, the attendance was simply too miserable to behold.

Just then, two figures flashed past from the side. None of the disciples attending the lecture noticed them. Only the old man frowned and narrowed his eyes slightly before paying them no further attention and continuing his lesson.

Ye Wan had brought Chen Fan here using the Soaring Art all the way. The moment they landed firmly, she asked, "Why did you not take out the token I gave you earlier?"

Chen Fan paused slightly before replying, "This matter was this junior's personal affair and had nothing to do with Fairy Ye. Besides, those two had decided I was not a Swordheart Hall disciple. Even if I had produced the token, they would not have believed it. Why make an unnecessary move?"

"You have rather good character, boy." Ye Wan nodded as she looked at Chen Fan. "Those two were the latest disciples taken in by this palace's Third Elder. By seniority, they are of the same generation as me. The slightly taller one is called Bu Shi, and the other is Sha Ye. I saw from afar that you could fight both of them alone. Your swordsmanship must have improved by leaps and bounds recently."

Sha Ye and Bu Shi? What kind of bizarre combination was that? "To be frank, Fairy Ye, this junior only knows a few clumsy moves. If Fairy Ye had not appeared, I fear I would have died a very ugly death," Chen Fan said helplessly.

"Pfft." Fairy Ye actually gave a soft laugh. What was going on? This iceberg beauty had actually smiled. Was she smiling at him? Chen Fan stared blankly at Fairy Ye, only to hear her say, "Did you think I would not know?"

Damn! So this woman had arrived nearby long ago. Perhaps she had merely wanted to see how he would deal with it, which was why she had not shown herself immediately. What was going through this woman's mind? What if those two had killed him in a single move?

"Don't worry. They could not have hurt you. Even if I had not acted, someone else would have." At the time, she had seen someone already gripping the sword hilt, with faint starlight flickering around her body.

Who? Chen Fan was baffled, but then a beautiful silhouette surfaced in his mind. He did not know whether Fairy Ye was telling the truth.

"Alright, it is fine as long as you are alright. You missed class this morning, so take this Green Mountain Sword Manual. I believe you can study it on your own. Come find me if you need anything. I will not be teaching next month. It is boring." With that, Fairy Ye turned around and vanished in a flash.

What? Chen Fan stood frozen where he was. Only then did he remember that today was a teaching day. Had she gone out of her way to find him because he had not attended? This was a little too... something. She would not be teaching anymore? Fine, then—if she would not teach, she would not teach. He did not know that Ye Wan had made this decision on the spur of the moment and had told only him. When the vast crowd arrived for class next month, they would be terribly disappointed.