A day later, when Li Yan stepped into the sect master's hall of Falling Star Valley, he saw three people already seated above.
Xing Ming sat in the middle, with two people seated in order below to his right.
One was a middle-aged Daoist with the bearing of an immortal, appearing to be around thirty. His black brows swept into his temples, and a massive sword case was strapped to his back.
He held a snow-white horsetail whisk in one hand, occasionally giving it a gentle flick. He looked unworldly and transcendent, and his cultivation was no weaker than Xing Ming's—he was likewise at the late Golden Core Realm.
"An external sword cultivator!"
The instant Li Yan saw this Daoist, he thought of the sword cultivators of Ten-Step Academy's External Sword Academy. Their most obvious mark was the enormous sword case on their backs.
Most of them cultivated sword formations, whose power was immense, sharp, and ruthless.
The person seated below the middle-aged Daoist gave Li Yan pause, because for a moment, he could not tell whether the other person was male or female.
His skin was fair, his figure slender, and he wore a glazed robe. With delicate brows, phoenix eyes, and a face like peach blossoms, his handsome features carried a trace of dazzling beauty.
Judging from his clothing and long, loose hair, he should have been a man. Li Yan's gaze swept over his throat and chest before he finally confirmed it, though inwardly he remained astonished.
"He truly blurred the line between male and female. With just a slight change of appearance, who would know he was a man?"
The man in the glazed robe seemed to notice the flicker of surprise in Li Yan's eyes. He merely smiled back without the slightest change in expression,