"Heh heh, so Junior Sister Xuezhen had seen through it long ago? I thought you could keep your mouth shut forever. Who would have thought you would bring it up today after all!"
"Please forgive me, Cult Master. From the first moment I saw Zixia, I had my suspicions. But the Cult Master's wisdom is as vast as the sea; surely you knew of my doubts as well. Since the Cult Master insisted on keeping Zixia, you must have had your own plans, so naturally I dared not entertain any other thoughts... Besides, from my observations over these past years, there has been nothing strange about Zixia. It seems... she truly has been kept in the dark and knows nothing. Even... even Senior Sister Jingxuan's death... seems to have had nothing to do with her!"
"Alas, not everyone gets to see the Heavenly Dragon Sect Saintess's true face. Even within our Incense-Passing Cult, only I had the fortune to see it. Junior Sister Xuezhen must have happened upon her in the martial world many years ago as well!"
"Indeed... that was over forty years ago!"
"Thus, when Senior Sister Jingxuan brought this... Zixia back to the Incense-Passing Cult, she had certainly meant well, taking in a pitiful child whose origins were unknown and who had lost her memories. Yet she did not realize she had long since brought a hot potato back to Yi Xiang Peak."
"Cult Master, you also believe... Zixia is the Heavenly Dragon Sect Saintess's... daughter?"
Abbess Jingyi gave a bitter smile, tapping the arm of her chair as she said, "Zixia's face is almost exactly identical to that of the Heavenly Dragon Sect Saintess forty years ago. My eyes are not blind—how could I fail to see it? If Zixia had no connection to the Heavenly