"Grandpa Turtle, was what you just said true?"
Seated on Turtle's back as he sped through the water like wind and lightning, Dragon Lady could not help asking.
"Of course it was." Turtle chuckled. "I know what's on your mind, girl. You've seen what young Luo Sheng and his lot can do, and for the moment you can't imagine what greater powers might look like. But those two sects only rule the roost in the Eastern Sea. Put them in the Central Plains, and they'd be nothing remarkable."
Dragon Lady asked him why.
"Penglai and Fangzhang claim to be the orthodox line," Turtle said, "but they strayed from its teachings long ago. Now and then, someone among them reaches the Fifth Great Realm, yet fewer than one in ten truly reaches Beyond the Mundane. Why do you think that is?"
Without waiting for her answer, he gave a low laugh. "They call themselves the orthodox Mystic Sect, but the birds in the cage were swapped long ago. The disciples who truly came from Kunlun's Jade Void were slaughtered to the last. The people of Penglai and Fangzhang today are descendants of pirates!"
"What!?"
Dragon Lady's expression changed sharply. Eyes wide, she asked, "Descendants of pirates? Grandpa Turtle, are you saying the original orthodox Mystic Sect is gone? That someone took over those two sects like a magpie occupying another bird's nest? How could that be? True Person Luo Sheng may be an enemy of the Dragon Palace, but he has the bearing of an immortal. To say he's descended from pirates..."
"What's so strange about it?" Turtle sneered. "Since ancient times, a man who stole a hook was executed, while one who stole a kingdom became a marquis. Ordinary bandits who failed to make their mark were remembered by later