Su Chen said calmly, "I heard your holy land is currently short a Peak Master?"
Murong Xue nodded. "That's right. Why do you ask?"
Su Chen said, "Then could I be a Peak Master?"
Murong Xue and the elders behind her were stunned. They hadn't expected the man before them to have come to the Star Holy Land for that purpose.
Murong Xue nodded. "Of course you can be the Ancient Moon Peak Master, fellow Daoist, but there is one condition."
Su Chen said, "Go ahead."
Murong Xue said, "You must defeat me. If you defeat me, fellow Daoist, you can naturally become the Ancient Moon Peak Master."
Su Chen nodded. "All right. Make your move."
Murong Xue glanced at Ye Lingxi in Su Chen's arms. "Aren't you going to put her down?"
Su Chen shook his head. "There's no need."
Seeing how confident Su Chen was, Murong Xue's expression turned cold, and anger flickered in her eyes. She felt that Su Chen was looking down on her.
Without another word, a cyan longsword appeared out of thin air.
At that moment, several streaks of cyan Sword Qi shot toward Su Chen. Each streak was terrifying enough to wipe out every living being below the Venerable Realm!
"That brat is finished."
"He doesn't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is. He actually dared to challenge Peak Master Murong. He won't even know how he died."
"Exactly. You have to remember that Peak Master Murong is the strongest one here apart from the Holy Lord!"
The elders of the Star Holy Land sneered.
Just then, the terrifying streaks of Sword Qi shattered the instant they approached Su Chen.
Murong Xue suddenly appeared above Su Chen and slashed down with her sword. As the blade fell, the whole world turned gray and dim, and the terrifying sword intent seemed capable of cleaving the heavens apart!
Su Chen's expression remained calm, his three thousand silver strands whipping wildly as he slowly raised his right hand and extended two fingers.
Boom!
A terrifying shock wave swept out, sending ripples through the void.
Su Chen had actually caught Murong Xue's sword between two fingers!
Silence fell all around.
Everyone stared at the sight in disbelief.
They were all dumbfounded!
Th-this is too damn awesome!
A storm of shock surged through Murong Xue's heart.
At that moment, she was truly shocked. She had put her full strength into that strike, holding nothing back. Even someone who had just entered the Half-Saint Realm would have had to retreat three leagues before it. Yet the man opposite her had effortlessly blocked it with just two fingers.
Ridiculous!
She tried to pull her cyan longsword back, but no matter how hard she strained, it didn't budge.
With no other choice, she gave up.
She decisively abandoned the cyan longsword and shot back more than a hundred zhang.
Su Chen spun the cyan longsword around, took it by the hilt, and nodded. "Not a bad sword."
With that, he tossed it back to Murong Xue.
Murong Xue caught the cyan longsword and stared solemnly at Su Chen. Even now, she still couldn't calm herself.
Su Chen said evenly, "Does that count as defeating you?"
Murong Xue gripped her longsword tightly. Clearly, she wasn't convinced, but she also knew that since Su Chen had blocked her strongest strike so easily, his strength had to be far above hers. There was no need to continue fighting.
A loss was a loss. She could afford to lose!
She nodded. "Yes."
Then she looked at an elder nearby. "Take him to Ancient Moon Peak."
With that, she turned into a streak of cyan light and disappeared. She needed to calm down; what had just happened had dealt her too great a blow.
The elder came before Su Chen, his eyes full of reverence. After all, the strong were respected wherever they went.
He said respectfully, "My name is Du Yuan. May I ask how to address you?"
"Su Chen," Su Chen said.
Du Yuan nodded. "I'll take you to Ancient Moon Peak, Peak Master Su."
Su Chen nodded. "All right."
Back where they stood, the elders looked at one another, seeing shock and excitement in each other's eyes. From now on, their Star Holy Land would have another powerful expert!
That very day, news that Su Chen had defeated Murong Xue and become the Ancient Moon Peak Master spread to every corner of the Star Holy Land in an instant.
Ancient Moon Peak had a lake, and beside it stood a pavilion nestled among ancient trees and encircled by their branches. It was worth mentioning that the Spiritual Qi here was more than ten times as concentrated as it was outside!
Du Yuan said, "Peak Master Su, this is Ancient Moon Peak."
Su Chen nodded and set Ye Lingxi down.
Ye Lingxi looked around curiously, a sweet smile appearing on her face. Clearly, she liked it here very much.
Du Yuan said, "Peak Master Su, you'll need to visit the Holy Lord at Stars Peak later. The Holy Lord will give you the Ancient Moon Peak Master Token."
The Peak Master Token was a symbol of status.
Su Chen nodded, then asked, "Why doesn't Ancient Moon Peak have a Peak Master? It doesn't even have a single disciple."
Du Yuan smiled bitterly. "Ancient Moon Peak originally had a Peak Master, but that Peak Master suddenly disappeared seven years ago. Ever since then, no one whose strength could match the other Peak Masters has appeared in the Star Holy Land."
"So the position of Ancient Moon Peak Master has remained vacant. As for why Ancient Moon Peak has no disciples, the previous Peak Master had a rather strange temperament and didn't like taking disciples, so there aren't any here."
With that, he took out a communication stone and handed it to Su Chen. "If you need anything, contact me with this communication stone. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be going."
Having said that, he turned and left.
Ye Lingxi tugged at the hem of Su Chen's clothes and whispered, "Brother, I'm hungry."
Su Chen smiled faintly and pinched Ye Lingxi's cheek. "All right, I'll make you something."
An hour later, the aroma of roasting meat drifted across the whole of Ancient Moon Peak. Su Chen was roasting two jade rabbits over a charcoal fire, and they were gradually turning golden and fragrant, their aroma enough to make one's mouth water.
Ye Lingxi stared, her eyes fixed on the rabbits, wiping the drool from the corners of her mouth from time to time.
Su Chen handed a roasted rabbit to Ye Lingxi and smiled. "Go on, eat. Careful, it's hot."
Ye Lingxi nodded, took the roasted rabbit, and blew on it before taking a bite.
The roasted rabbit was crisp on the outside and tender and juicy within. Ye Lingxi ate with utter satisfaction.
Su Chen smiled as he watched Ye Lingxi.
Over the five years they had spent together, he had found that Ye Lingxi was truly obedient and had a healing presence. Whenever she smiled, in particular, he couldn't help wanting to cherish and protect her.
Perhaps this was what it felt like to have a younger sister.
The reason Su Chen had come to the Star Holy Land to become the Ancient Moon Peak Master was that he no longer wanted to wander without a fixed home with Ye Lingxi. Besides, he had seen enough of this lower realm. Now he only wanted to find a place to live comfortably for a few years before returning to the immortal realm.
By now, Ye Lingxi had finished her roasted rabbit. She couldn't help looking at the other one, but then she seemed to realize that wasn't proper and hurriedly looked away.
Su Chen smiled faintly and handed the other roasted rabbit to Ye Lingxi. "Go on, eat."
Ye Lingxi shook her head. "You eat it, Brother."
Su Chen rubbed Ye Lingxi's head and smiled. "I'm not hungry."
Ye Lingxi still shook her head. "No."
Su Chen smiled helplessly. Then he brought two fingers together and turned them into Sword Qi, slicing the roasted rabbit cleanly in half. He held one half out to Ye Lingxi and said, "We'll each have half. Is that all right? If you still won't take it, then I won't eat either."
Ye Lingxi hesitated for a moment, then nodded and took the half rabbit, gnawing on it in great mouthfuls.