"Senior Brother Kong?" Liu Zijin cried out in surprise when she saw the newcomer.
At the same time, the Blue Heart Hall disciples who had been about to disperse instantly focused their gazes on the valiant senior brother who had suddenly descended from the sky.
"Senior Brother Kong?" A Blue Heart Hall disciple muttered from within the crowd, then suddenly widened his eyes. "Could it be Water Mirror Hall's Army Breaker Spear—Senior Brother Kong An'nan?"
"Army Breaker Spear? What's his background?" several disciples beside him asked curiously.
"You don't even know that? Three years ago, Senior Brother Kong went to the Huailin region to cultivate. On the way, he happened upon a chaotic battle. To protect the fleeing civilians, he wielded a Tiger Head Engraved Gold Spear and charged alone into the rebel army, taking the head of their commanding general. The army fell into disarray, buying those civilians time to escape. That was how he earned the title Army Breaker Spear."
"He's that amazing!?" The disciple's eyes lit up as he listened, and his gaze toward Kong An'nan carried a touch of admiration.
"Of course~ Senior Brother Kong absolutely counts among the most outstanding disciples of our Returning Heart Sect in these past two years. I'd only heard of him before; I never expected to see the real man today. He truly is valiant and extraordinary."
Hearing the surrounding disciples whispering about him, Kong An'nan smiled and cupped his fists toward them. "Greetings, Junior Brothers of Blue Heart Hall. I am indeed Kong An'nan of Water Mirror Hall."
The Blue Heart Hall disciples immediately bowed and called out, "Greetings, Senior Brother Kong."
After cupping his fists toward the Blue Heart Hall disciples around him again, Kong An'nan turned to Liu Zijin. "Junior Sister, aren't you going down the mountain for your Mountain Descent Trial in a few days? Why have you come to Blue Heart Hall instead of preparing in your hall?"
Before Liu Zijin could speak, Fang Qiuyue answered first, "We came looking for that... Huh? Where did he go?"
Fang Qiuyue stared in confusion at the spot where Jiang Beiran had been standing, wondering how such a large person could vanish without a word.
Just as she was about to ask the other Blue Heart Hall disciples whether they had seen Senior Brother Jiang, Liu Zijin pulled her behind herself and bowed to Kong An'nan. "Greetings, Senior Brother Kong. Qiu Yao and I only came to handle a few matters and were just about to return. May I ask why Senior Brother has come here?"
"Oh, me... I... I was just passing by. I happened to sense Junior Sister's aura, so I came down to take a look."
"So that is how it is. If Senior Brother has matters to attend to, then please hurry along. Qiu Yao and I are also preparing to return to our hall."
"I was actually planning to return to the hall as well. We can travel together."
"Fine, then let us go together." Liu Zijin nodded, glanced once more at where Jiang Beiran had stood, then turned and left.
Elsewhere, Jiang Beiran, who had slipped away long ago, had already arrived at the entrance to Blue Heart Xuan.
"Whew... As expected of a Junior Sister capable of triggering an Earth Grade Middle Rank option. She really is terrifying."
The instant Kong An'nan landed, while everyone's attention was focused on him, Jiang Beiran had fled that place of trouble at a speed no one could detect.
And the reason he had run so quickly was entirely because he had suffered a huge loss in this regard before!
The Returning Heart Sect had a rule every disciple had to obey: once every two months, they had to descend the mountain for a trial. First, this was to prevent the disciples from staying cooped up on the mountain all day, knowing nothing of worldly affairs beyond cultivation.
Second, it was to raise the Returning Heart Sect's reputation in the local area. Put simply, it was to make the Returning Heart Sect brand known.
For instance, some Great Heroes did good deeds without leaving their names behind, but Returning Heart Sect disciples could not refrain from leaving theirs.
If a Returning Heart Sect disciple wiped out a band of mountain bandits, word of it had to spread so that everyone in the region knew it was someone from the Returning Heart Sect who had exterminated those bandits.
When Jiang Beiran had first learned of this rule, he could not help marveling inwardly that the Returning Heart Sect really knew how to work things. No wonder it could recruit so many disciples every month.
Once they received their Trial Missions for descending the mountain, ordinary disciples would generally seek out like-minded senior brothers to travel with. Most importantly, they had to find an Iron Seal to lead the group.
Within the Returning Heart Sect, once you had stayed for a full year, it meant you had gone down the mountain for trials at least six times. This meant you were already a mature Returning Heart Sect disciple. From that moment onward, you acquired a new duty: every two months, you had to serve as an Iron Seal and lead newly initiated disciples down the mountain for a trial.
So an Iron Seal was a miserable job where you had to serve as both bodyguard and nanny to those new disciples.
When Jiang Beiran first went down the mountain for a trial, Lu Bogui had served as his Iron Seal and led him to drive away a ferocious beast that frequently attacked a village. It could be said that there was hardly any difficulty at all.
After all, once one learned the Returning Heart Skill, one's strength far surpassed that of ordinary people. Fighting a few lions or tigers was easy enough.
Such days quickly passed for a year, and the huge loss Jiang Beiran had suffered began when he became an Iron Seal.
That time, he became the Iron Seal of a five-person group: three men and two women. One Junior Sister in the group was exceptionally pretty and had a wonderful personality as well, drawing the other three male disciples into a frenzy of attentiveness.
Yet that Junior Sister repeatedly showed favor toward Jiang Beiran, who gave her an immense sense of security. This made the other three male disciples wildly jealous.
Later, on the journey back, the Junior Sister gathered her courage and took out a Brocade Handkerchief she had embroidered to confess to Jiang Beiran. And she confessed to him right in front of the other four people. This utterly blew up the other three male disciples!
As for how Jiang Beiran knew they had blown up, it was because he saw three options appear before him.
[Option One: Directly agree to Junior Sister. Completion Reward: Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix (Earth Grade High Rank)] [Option Two: "Junior Sister, my mind is currently focused entirely on cultivation. I do not wish to discuss romantic matters for now." Completion Reward: Four Symbols Palm (Earth Grade Low Rank)] [Option Three: "I'm sorry, I only see you as a younger sister." Completion Reward: Coiled Dragon Ring (Yellow Rank Middle Grade)]
When Jiang Beiran finished reading the three options, he was completely dumbfounded. This was the first time he had encountered three options with none rewarding basic Attribute Points! Even the worst one rewarded a Yellow Rank Middle Grade item!
Men really are creatures ruled by their lower halves...!!!
After roaring inwardly, Jiang Beiran chose option three through tearful eyes and rejected the Junior Sister with "I only see you as a younger sister." Yet rather than being discouraged after her rejection, the Junior Sister firmly declared that one day, she would make Senior Brother stop seeing her as a younger sister.
That also made Jiang Beiran understand why there had been no basic Attribute Point option. This was a deathtrap question from the outset! No matter how he answered, those three male disciples would hate him!
But no matter how miserable Jiang Beiran felt, once he made his choice, the corresponding mission followed. Its contents required him to either eliminate the three Junior Brothers' hostility toward him or kill them outright.
I really fucked a husky!
After reading the mission details, Jiang Beiran roared inwardly once again.
Before you continue