Hong Yuye, sect master of the Heavenly Sound Sect

The Heavenly Sound Sect.

Hundred Flowers Lake.

It lay at the highest point of the Heavenly Sound Sect, like a lake in the heavens.

Flowers of every kind grew along its shores. The water was clear and still, with spirit beasts occasionally surfacing to send ripples across it.

An island stood at its center, flowers blooming along its edges and setting off a crimson pavilion.

At that moment, a woman dressed in red sat beneath the pavilion, her brows slightly furrowed and her eyes filled with icy coldness. She lightly touched the front of her body, and a trace of disgust entered her eyes.

Whoosh.

A breeze swept through the flowers.

A delicate, beautiful woman in white landed before the pavilion and addressed the woman within, her voice both startled and respectful:

"Sect master, have you come out of seclusion?"

The woman in red shifted slightly to look behind her. Her stunning face came into the white-robed woman's view, but those icy eyes frightened the latter into lowering her head.

"Bai Zhi, has everyone forgotten the Heavenly Sound Sect in recent years?"

She was Hong Yuye, sect master of the demonic Heavenly Sound Sect.

Before she took power, the Heavenly Sound Sect had been merely a second-rate sect. Only with her had it leaped into the ranks of the first-rate sects.

On her first day as sect master of the Heavenly Sound Sect, she launched a war, subjugating every scattered force in the surrounding area in one sweeping campaign.

The war lasted thirty years, and blood flowed in rivers.

Over those thirty years, the Heavenly Sound Sect grew stronger with every battle, acquiring ever greater resources, while the name of the Heavenly Sound Demoness resounded far and wide.

After the war ended, Hong Yuye began managing the sect. In just ten years, she balanced the allocation of everything, put the sect on the right track, and enabled the demonic sect to run itself.

After that, she entered seclusion for sixty years.

"Please enlighten me, sect master," Bai Zhi said fearfully, dropping to her knees.

Bai Zhi was one of the Heavenly Sound Sect's four guardian elders. Deeply trusted by the Heavenly Sound Demoness, she managed the Heavenly Sound Sect in her stead.

If the Heavenly Sound Sect's reputation had faded in recent years, then the fault lay with her ineffectual leadership as acting sect master.

How could she not be terrified?

Hong Yuye stared at Bai Zhi expressionlessly, saying nothing.

Other than the wind, the only sound around them was Bai Zhi's unsteady breathing. After a while, Hong Yuye slowly withdrew her gaze.

After sixty years in seclusion, everything should have gone smoothly. Yet at the critical moment... she had been ambushed.

Her attackers were not members of a demonic sect. The cultivation technique they practiced was Azure Heaven Mountain's Three Purities Art, and their methods were utterly vile.

That woman, in particular, had hidden other toxins within her body. Once she was killed, those toxins would invade everything around her, making them impossible to guard against.

The invading toxins, compounded by cultivation deviation, had ultimately...

Driven her to the foot of the nearest cliff, Heartbreak Cliff.

That was how last night's events had come about.

It was a method she could not defend against, one Azure Heaven Mountain should not have possessed.

"Have those reputable sects made any unusual moves lately?" Hong Yuye's bearing was elegant yet imposing.

"No." Bai Zhi hurriedly shook her head and continued:

"Azure Heaven Mountain is the orthodox sect closest to us, but they've been busy with their Dao discussion gathering lately. They have no capacity to do anything else.

"Besides, you fought them yourself back then, sect master. With their strength, they would never dare act recklessly."

"Is that so?" Hong Yuye smiled meaningfully.

Seeing that Bai Zhi did not dare speak, she continued:

"Keep my emergence from seclusion a secret for now. Continue managing the Heavenly Sound Sect.

"Then investigate the sect's disciples and see how many spies from other sects there are."

"Yes." Bai Zhi hurriedly agreed, not daring to ask any questions.

Another silence followed before Hong Yuye suddenly asked:

"Bai Zhi, you aren't a spy sent by another sect, are you?"

Thud!

Bai Zhi struck her forehead heavily against the ground, utterly terrified.

"Sect master, how would I dare, and how could I possibly be one?"

Hong Yuye lowered her eyes and watched Bai Zhi for a long time before nodding and saying softly:

"You may go."

Bai Zhi rose shakily. She had just turned when she heard the sect master's voice again:

"Oh, and organize the sect's records. Mark the arrangements made in recent years. I want to see what you've done all this time."

"Yes." Bai Zhi withdrew from the island.

Only after Bai Zhi left did Hong Yuye gently raise her hand, press the back of it to her lips, and cough twice.

Sixty years ago, she had trusted Bai Zhi. Sixty years later, she still trusted Bai Zhi, but...

Only Bai Zhi knew where she had secluded herself. After the ambush, her first thought had been that Bai Zhi had betrayed her.

Yet so far, judging by what she had seen, she still felt Bai Zhi could be relied upon.

Then Hong Yuye slowly closed her eyes, and everything around her fell silent.

Heartbreak Cliff.

The Spirit Medicine Garden.

Jiang Hao made his way to the entrance of the Spirit Medicine Garden, intending to go inside and collect some panel bubbles.

They could increase his strength.

This place was quite far from his residence, situated in the central area.

Heartbreak Cliff resembled a valley, with a stream flowing out from one corner, so Jiang Hao's residence lay toward that corner.

It was quiet, and he had freedom there.

An array covered the area around the Spirit Medicine Garden, and two outer disciples guarded the entrance.

Both were at the fifth level of Qi Refining, which was quite an accomplishment.

Anyone who reached the eighth level of Qi Refining before turning twenty could enter the inner sect.

That was how he had entered.

Only after reaching Foundation Establishment could one secure one's status as an inner disciple. If someone still had not reached Foundation Establishment by forty but retained the title of inner disciple, it was best to accept a mission and leave.

Otherwise...

They would be scorned by their fellow disciples and shunned by the sect.

Even their cultivation resources would be snatched away, leaving them with no hope of ever rising above their circumstances.

He had witnessed it once a few years ago.

Back then, he had only just entered the inner sect. While collecting his resources, he had seen a forty-year-old disciple at the ninth level of Qi Refining being mocked and robbed of his resources.

Out of naive kindness, he had given the man a pill when no one else was around.

The man had been so shocked that he questioned everything he knew about life.

Jiang Hao had never seen him again afterward.

He had heard that the man had accepted a mission and gone outside. In all likelihood, he had died out there.