They were all young people in the golden years of their lives, their blood running hot and their spirits soaring. None believed themselves inferior to anyone else, and they eagerly challenged Xi Yue to battle.
Xi Yue naturally turned no challenger away. Even after cultivating for so long, she still lacked a clear sense of her own combat strength. This was the perfect chance to test it.
"Will you fight me?" A youth in green stepped forward and looked at Xi Yue, blazing fire flickering in his eyes. He seemed faintly excited.
"Not bad. You've got spirit!" She looked him over and nodded. "Let's fight."
The youth became a bolt of human-shaped lightning. At the same time, golden light blossomed in his hand, forming a symbol in the air, and a golden roc appeared.
It descended ferociously, bringing countless feathers that resembled immortal-metal swords.
Xi Yue reached out and gave her hand a gentle shake. Without even using divine power, she sent those feather swords flying amid the ringing clash of metal.
Then her palm and fingers shone. Strand after strand of divine radiance climbed over her hand, and her crystalline, jade-like palm struck out.
With a boom, the youth flew backward, only crashing to the ground after hurtling several hundred zhang.
Everyone looked over. Dust billowed there, shattered rocks shot through the air, and a deep pit gaped in the ground, so dark that its bottom could not be seen.
"That... isn't her body far too powerful? Are we sure she isn't a primordial savage beast in human form?" someone exclaimed, their eyes filled with disbelief.
Everyone was stunned, almost petrified.
Using nothing but her physical body, she had caught a precious technique bare-handed and sent a creature of the same cultivation level flying with one slap. What tremendous power!
"Even the Heavenly Horned Ant, famed for reaching the pinnacle of strength, could do no better!" someone declared.
Surprisingly, no one argued. They all remained silent, not daring to speak carelessly.
Several breaths passed before the youth climbed out of the pit. Dust covered his once-delicate features, but he had suffered no serious injuries.
That was because Xi Yue had held back. Otherwise, with her physical strength, a full-force slap would have left him half-crippled, or very nearly so.
The youth walked over shakily. On closer inspection, a bright red palm print remained on his chest, vivid as a freshly bloomed flower.
"Thank you," he said sincerely, his eyes clear.
A loss was a loss. That was an established fact, and he was not someone who could not bear to lose.
Xi Yue was rather bewildered. She had sent him flying with a slap, yet this unfortunate kid was thanking her?
Had he awakened some peculiar trait?
She shook her head and regarded him with a strange look, as though she had seen through everything.
Her stare made the youth's skin crawl. What was that look supposed to mean? His face instantly flushed scarlet. He hastily took his leave and vanished from the spot.
Xi Yue shook her head with a laugh. In truth, she understood perfectly well. A mischievous impulse had simply come over her, and she had wanted to tease the young fellow.
"Does anyone else want to fight me?" Her gaze swept across the crowd, a slight smile on her lips and her eyes utterly clear.
Everyone lowered their heads, afraid to look at her. They realized that she was a formidable one. Perhaps only the prodigies their clan kept hidden could stand shoulder to shoulder with her.
The girl before them brimmed with vital essence. Though she looked eleven or twelve, she was certainly frighteningly young. The surging vitality within her could not be faked.
Possessing such terrifying combat strength at such a young age was truly hard to imagine.
There were even Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators among those present. Their eyes narrowed, but none stepped forward.
Seeing their reaction, Xi Yue sighed softly, suddenly finding it all rather dull.
These young people were extraordinary, but that was all. They could not be considered truly top-tier prodigies.
Atop the divine mountain, two gray-haired elders were playing a board game. With the bearing of immortals and the vigor of men far younger, they exuded a distinctive grace merely by sitting there.
"How does this granddaughter of mine compare to little Xian?" Lan Canghai picked up a game piece but did not place it for some time. He looked at the elder opposite him with a broad smile.
"She is certainly extraordinary, but compared to little Xian..." He did not finish, but his meaning was plain.
"Heh, I know what you're thinking. Isn't it just that little Xian won the Firmament Seed's recognition?" Lan Canghai remained composed, then changed tack.
"But how do you know the Xu Family hasn't found a heaven-defying ancient seed?"
The elder opposite him nodded, a gleam passing through his eyes. "That's true. I overlooked that. Still, we're all family. There's no need to insist on deciding who's superior. Doing so would only cheapen things."
Elsewhere, Xi Yue left and continued wandering through the Ancestral Land. Now, however, she stopped, seeming to notice something, and raised her slender brows slightly.
Her spiritual perception was extraordinarily keen. Her primordial spirit had undergone several transformations, and she had even opened a partially embryonic primordial spirit cave heaven. This feeling could not be mistaken.
"Big sister, you've been following me all this way. Don't you think that's a little rude?"
She looked into the void. Runes flickered in her eyes like the stars of all the heavens shining together, with the sun and moon rising and sinking among them. Brilliant divine light burst forth, piercing through illusion.
The next instant, the haze dispersed, revealing a woman dressed in blue. Her blue hair fell over her shoulders like an ocean waterfall, her eyes were as blue as diamonds, and an aloof, serene grace rested between her brows.
Once Xi Yue saw her clearly, a curious gleam passed through her eyes. She had a guess as to the woman's identity.
Her eyes brightened. Without the slightest reserve, she stepped forward and took hold of the woman's sleeve. "Big sister, what's your name?"
The blue-haired woman was startled, unable to react for a moment. The girl before her seemed a little too quick to act familiar.
"Lan Xian." She still gave her name.
Just as I thought, Xi Yue mused, though outwardly she continued pretending they were strangers.
Come to think of it, this Fairy Lan seemed to be her cousin.
As she recalled, her own grandfather and Fairy Lan's grandfather were twin brothers. Reckoning it that way, weren't they cousins?
However, Lan Xian had been sent to cultivate at the Immortal Academy at an early age, so the two had never met before. Now they had finally encountered each other.
She was also a future young supreme, one who would fuse with the firmament dao seed and draw upon the power of the Nine Heavens' rivers of stars. She could rightfully be called the foremost fairy of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
In the original timeline, even prodigies like Yao Yue and Wang Xi paled before her.
"You know me?" Lan Xian asked. Her voice was clear and melodious, like jade striking jade, intoxicating to hear.
Moreover, she was breathtakingly beautiful, her figure graceful and willowy. Her blue eyes blinked, limpid and full of spirit, shimmering with flecks of radiant light.
"Of course. As it happens, you're my older cousin," Xi Yue said with a cheerful smile, the corners of her lips lifting.
Lan Xian thought for a while, then nodded slightly. It seemed they really did have such a connection.
She had only just returned to the clan when she came across Xi Yue's duel with the youth. Astonished by the girl's physical strength, she had become somewhat interested.
This girl seemed quite extraordinary, in no way inferior to the prodigies in the academy. In fact, they even fell short of her.
She had even wondered whether the girl belonged to the Sacred Academy. After all, only disciples from that place possessed such powerful bodies.
That was precisely why she had followed her all this way, wanting to see what surprises the girl might bring her. She had never expected to be detected, which left her marveling once again.
"You're from the Xu Family?" Lan Xian's eyes flickered, and she quickly identified the girl's background.
"What kind of thing is that to say? Am I not part of the Lan clan too?" Xi Yue spread her hands, her large eyes blinking.
The two chatted happily and soon grew familiar with each other. By the end, they were even calling each other sister.