The Sect Master's Secrets

What, his biological daughter? Where had a biological daughter come from?

Even the sect master himself was dumbfounded. He did not even have a Dao Companion—when had he suddenly become a father?

He looked up and found everyone around him casting condemning looks his way, especially the Fifth Elder, whose expression could not have been more stern.

The other elders looked heartbroken too, as though they were staring at some peerless scumbag who had abandoned his wife and daughter.

"Sect Master, when did you get a Dao Companion? You even abandoned your own daughter?" the Second Elder asked in shock.

"Let me work this out. Could it have been a hundred years ago? The sect master disappeared for a while a hundred years ago. Could he have formed a bond with another female immortal then?"

With that reminder from the Second Elder, Yun Chong finally remembered. He had indeed disappeared for a few years back then, but after returning, he had forgotten everything about that period.

Could he really have become Dao Companions with another female immortal during that time, only to dump her and refuse to acknowledge even their child?

Yun Chong shuddered. Was he truly a scumbag who had abandoned his wife and daughter?

"Wait, that doesn't add up. The sect master disappeared a hundred years ago. If he had a daughter then, she would have to be at least a hundred by now!" The Second Elder finally realized that the timing was off and added this.

"Besides, when our Southern Spirit Sect takes disciples, we generally require a bone age of fifteen. We don't accept anyone older, so how could..."

"Second Brother, have you gone stupid? This isn't the Human Realm, where women have to carry a child for ten months before giving birth."

"There are plenty of female immortals in the cultivation world who stay pregnant for ten years or more. A hundred years isn't impossible! Listen to me, anything is possible!"

The Sixth Elder below had actually been following what was happening up here all along. Hearing their speculation, he could not resist sending them a voice transmission.

After all that conjecture, even Yun Chong could not help doubting himself. Could it all be true?

During the period he could no longer remember, had he left a frail female immortal pregnant for a hundred years, enduring a thousand hardships before finally giving birth to their daughter?

If that was the case, he truly deserved ten thousand deaths...

[So tragic, so tragic! Every time I read about the heroine, I think she's suffered far too much! How could anyone have such a miserable background?]

On the raised platform, the sect master trembled all over, his eyes nearly reddening.

H-had his daughter lived such a miserable life?

It was all his fault. If he had not abandoned his wife and daughter, if he had made a proper effort to recover his memories back then, perhaps his daughter would not have...

[Come to think of it, the sect master probably doesn't even know this daughter exists. But that's normal. What normal person would imagine that their sworn enemy had spent so long pining for them in secret, and had even seized a chance to steal their blood essence?]

The sect master's reddened eyes instantly widened, and the tears he had just worked up were forced back.

What????

Sworn enemy? What sworn enemy?

How was it that he understood every word Lan Yue said, but could not make sense of them together?

"Sect Master, who would have thought you had such a formidable secret admirer? Why be sworn enemies? Wouldn't it be better to become Dao Companions?"

The peak master of Jade Snow Peak wore a flowing blue dress and held a pale blue round fan, covering her mouth with it as she chuckled.

There were very few people who could qualify as the sect master's sworn enemy. First of all, their cultivation and combat prowess had to be on par with his.

If a female immortal like that joined forces with the sect master, wouldn't their Southern Spirit Sect gain another powerful backer?

The other peak masters nodded in agreement. The sect master's strength was unfathomable. Anyone who could compare with him certainly could not be weak.

Facing everyone's eager gazes, Yun Chong, surrounded in the middle, was instead utterly bewildered. The problem was that he did not know who this sworn enemy was either!

He very much wanted to know who this person was, too. They had actually dared to do something like that in secret!

[Oh? All those tangled tales of love and hate between the sect master and his sworn enemy-this gossip looks pretty juicy too. I need to look it up.]

Not far away, Lan Yue's eyes lit up. She had not noticed at all that the tournament grounds, so noisy just moments before, had now fallen incredibly quiet.

On the five conspicuous arenas, the people who had just been fighting fiercely were now leisurely crossing swords. They seemed to be exchanging blows back and forth, but in reality, they were all following those tangled tales of love and hate involving the sect master.

If they had not all feared the Immortal Artifact's intimidating power, they probably would have been unable to resist coming over to discuss it with Lan Yue.

[So that's how it was. No wonder, no wonder...]

Lan Yue's inner voice stopped there, but everyone around her was frantic with impatience, wishing they could press their ears right up beside her and listen along.

Only the sect master's face alternated between red and white as he hesitated over whether to go over and stop her.

In the end, however, Yun Chong sighed. He also desperately wanted to know his daughter's origins. If those things became public, so be it, as long as he could find his daughter.

[When I read the book before, I swallowed it whole without chewing, skipping over plenty of it. All I remembered was that the heroine had a tragic background and tremendous strength. I never imagined her other half was actually of the ** bloodline!]

The young girl's shocked inner voice spread throughout the Martial Arena.

Everyone who heard it, however, nearly went mad. What bloodline was it?! How did this Immortal Artifact even have automatic censoring? Had she triggered some hidden secret?

Was their sect master's sworn enemy really that formidable?

[But the North Ridge Sacred Son had it pretty rough too. After finally managing to steal the blood essence and bring it back, he nurtured it with all sorts of heavenly treasures for nearly a hundred years. Who would have thought that just as his daughter was about to be born, someone would actually steal her away!]

Lan Yue sighed again and again. If only she had read more carefully back then. She had outright missed an enormous piece of juicy gossip!

Luckily, she had transmigrated into this book and even obtained a Three Realms Gossip System.

As she secretly enjoyed the gossip here, she noticed nothing amiss. She only felt that her surroundings had grown somewhat quieter than before.

She did not notice that everyone beside her was reeling in shock. Even one disciple fighting in an arena accidentally dropped the sword in his hand.

Fortunately, his opponent was just as distracted and did not notice at all.

"The N-North Ridge Sacred Son?" The Sixth Elder's eyes nearly froze in place, and even his voice trembled.

"You mean the one I'm thinking of? That battle maniac, the North Ridge Sacred Son who leveled our peak with a single sword strike?"

South Spirit and North Ridge had always been at odds.

That feud had continued for thousands of years. Supposedly, North Ridge had once been a main peak that split off from South Spirit.

But those were only rumors. What exactly had happened back then? No one knew. All they knew was that ever since they joined the sect, the two powers had been as incompatible as fire and water.

Back then, a peak master from South Spirit had spoken insolently. As a result, the North Ridge Sacred Son had charged straight over, leveled one of that peak master's mountains, and finally strode away.

The North Ridge Sacred Son had done plenty of other things too. Apparently, over in the Demon Race Devil Domain, merely hearing his name was enough to make people take a detour.

And a battle-crazed monster like that had actually been secretly in love with their sect master?

"Hiss..."

Countless people sucked in a breath of cold air. They truly could not imagine how a madman like the North Ridge Sacred Son would secretly pine for someone.

[Sigh, no wonder the heroine had it so rough. If she'd grown up beside the North Ridge Sacred Son, probably no one would have dared bully her.]

Not far away, the Second Elder glanced at the sect master and secretly wiped away his sweat.

He thought that, indeed, no one would dare bully her. With the North Ridge Sacred Son's combat prowess, they would only ever be the ones bullying others.

Hadn't an entire enormous mountain in their Southern Spirit Sect vanished? That was a lesson written in blood and tears!

[What a shame. After the heroine was stolen, she changed hands several times and finally ended up in a Prince's Mansion in the mortal realm. The princess consort happened to swallow her, mistaking her for a spirit fruit, and she was eventually born after all.]

The sect master on the raised platform breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, his daughter had been born safely. What was wrong with that North Ridge Sacred Son?

A grown man like him had actually managed to lose their daughter? How disgraceful!

Still, if she had been born in a Prince's Mansion, her life should not have been too bad. Why had Lan Yue described it as so miserable?

[That princess consort was short-lived too. Not long after giving birth to the heroine, her oil ran dry and her lamp went out. The heroine was left alone in the Prince's Mansion, surrounded by wolves, washing clothes for all those people like a servant. In winter, she even had to fetch water on the ice! So this was the root of the heroine's miserable childhood! Damn them, how dare they bully my Nü E like that!]

[My Nü E was born with six fingers. What an amazing child she would become! Yet that prince let a secondary consort in his household cut off her sixth finger by force. Just thinking about it hurts unbearably!]

[No, no, the more I read, the more upsetting it gets. I really should curse the author some more! It's all the author's fault for writing something so tragic!]

Lan Yue looked up indignantly, only to find that her eldest senior brother, who had been dazed just moments before, had begun streaming tears at some point.

"Boohoo, it's so tragic!"

Lan Yue thought her eldest senior brother meant that their falling down here together was tragic, so she reached out a paw to offer a little comfort.

"Eldest Senior Brother, we were pretty lucky. We'd only just fallen down when we were rescued!"

Yet the more she comforted him, the harder Li Bai cried, until his fair, tender face was flushed red.

Lan Yue scratched her head. Finally, her eyes lit up, and she quietly leaned closer. "Eldest Senior Brother, as long as you stop crying, I'll secretly tell you something about the Fifth Elder."

Li Bai's sobbing stopped abruptly.

The Fifth Elder beside them: "????"