9: Chapter 9 The Reborn Empress Comes to Provoke!

Taixuan Sect, Sect Master's Great Hall.

Over a dozen Inner Sect Elders surrounded the girl in the white dress, each throwing out enticing offers.

"Ye Qingyao, your natural talent is the likes of which our Sect has only seen once in a century. Join my tutelage, and I will teach you everything I know!" Elder Wang stroked his beard, his eyes full of yearning.

"This girl has an Innate Sword Bone; she should Cultivate the sword with me!" the Sword Peak Elder snorted coldly. "Elder Wang, you practice a fire-attribute cultivation technique. How could you possibly bring out her talent?"

"As long as you take me as your Master, this Foundation Establishment Pill is yours right now!"

The Elders argued until they were red in the face. If this scene were to spread, it would be enough to shake the entire Eastern Wasteland Cultivation World. One must know that these Elders were usually high and mighty, and accepting a Disciple required layers of assessment.

Now, they were fighting tooth and nail for a girl who had just entered the Sect.

All because when Ye Qingyao was being tested, that spirit measuring stone had directly shattered.

This meant her talent had already exceeded the upper limit of the spirit measuring stone.

However, the girl who was being treated like a star had not even a ripple of emotion on her cold and beautiful face.

Her gaze was calm, and beneath that calmness was an indifference enough to freeze the Soul.

Standing in the hall, Ye Qingyao found the Elders' bickering laughable.

She was once Empress Yaoguang, who stood at the Peak of this world, looking down upon the rise and fall of ages. Only because she was betrayed by a close friend while attempting to reach a higher Realm and fell under siege did a wisp of her remnant Soul experience Rebirth here.

These Cultivators before her, who were at most Golden Core or Nascent Soul, were no different from ants by the roadside in her eyes.

Take them as her Master?

In her previous life, any one of the Protectors under her command could have ground these people into the dirt.

She joined the Taixuan Sect only because she saw this place as relatively stable, where she could use some meager resources to recover her strength. Once she returned to her Peak, not one of those who had betrayed her would escape.

Seeing the girl remain unmoved, the Sect Master Qingyunzi on the main seat gave a bitter smile. This girl's pride was heavier than any Genius he had ever seen.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Ye Qingyao, you are proud and arrogant; ordinary Elders indeed find it hard to catch your eye."

"Very well."

"In our Taixuan Sect, there is still a 'Little Martial Ancestor' to whom even I must show the etiquette of a Disciple, hidden on the back mountain's Changge Peak."

Qingyunzi's voice became respectful. "That senior is a true Immortal figure."

As soon as he finished speaking, the hall instantly fell silent.

All the Elders showed looks of awe and longing.

Little Martial Ancestor!

That legendary existence who, with a single stomp of his foot, could draw the 'Purple Qi Coming from the East for Thirty Thousand Miles'!

Hearing this, a trace of emotion finally flickered in the depths of Ye Qingyao's eyes.

It wasn't curiosity, but mockery.

Purple Qi Coming from the East for Thirty Thousand Miles?

Heh.

What a barren land. In her previous life, she had seen the true phenomena of a Saint, where purple Qi shrouded three million miles of Dao domains, a grand sight where all living beings came to worship. This so-called 'Little Martial Ancestor,' in her view, was ten thousand percent a charlatan putting on an act.

A thought rose in her heart.

It just so happened that she was a newcomer and needed an opportunity to establish her prestige and awe the entire Sect.

What could better demonstrate her vision and strength than publicly exposing a 'fraud' who was revered as a god by the entire Sect?

"Fine."

Ye Qingyao finally spoke, her voice as clear and cold as an icy spring.

"I shall go to Changge Peak to pay a visit to this 'Little Martial Ancestor'."

She changed her tone, her cold gaze sweeping across the room.

"But if he is merely someone who fishes for fame..."

She didn't say the rest.

But that invisible pressure made all the Elders present feel a tightness in their chests.

Qingyunzi's expression changed slightly; he wanted to dissuade her, but he saw Ye Qingyao's figure flicker as she turned into a streak of light, shooting straight toward the back mountain.

"Fine, fine..." Qingyunzi sighed, but a hint of anticipation flashed in his eyes.

It was just as well. This girl had an unyielding pride; letting her go to the Little Martial Ancestor's place to hit a wall and get some tempering would be a great thing instead.

...

The night was as dark as ink.

Ye Qingyao stepped onto the mountain path leading to Changge Peak, her footsteps light and silent.

Her Divine Sense had already spread out, covering a ten-mile radius. This was the 'Myriad Manifestations Divine Sense Art' she had Cultivated in her previous life; even though her cultivation was now completely gone, she could still perform a fraction of it through the strength of her Soul.

On both sides of the mountain path, the concentration of Spiritual Qi was significantly higher than in other parts of the Sect.

Ye Qingyao sneered. It seemed this fraud was quite good at picking a spot, occupying a node of a Spiritual Vein.

The further up she went, the denser the Spiritual Qi became.

At the mountainside, her Divine Sense touched a layer of Restriction.

Ye Qingyao stopped and sensed it carefully.

This Restriction was quite cleverly arranged, utilizing the mountain's terrain and ley lines to form a natural defensive Formation. For an ordinary Cultivator, it would probably be difficult to even discover.

But in her eyes, every node of this Restriction and every path of spiritual power flow was clearly visible.

"Trivial tricks."

Ye Qingyao raised her hand and lightly tapped with her fingertip.

The Restriction silently cracked open a gap, just enough for her to pass through.

She passed through the Restriction and continued upward.

The Spiritual Qi at the summit was so dense it almost became physical. Ye Qingyao frowned; this Spiritual Qi concentration was already close to the grotto-heavens and blessed lands she had Cultivated in during her previous life.

Could it be that this fraud actually had some skill?

No.

Her Divine Sense swept over the entire summit and found no powerful spiritual power fluctuations.

That so-called 'Little Martial Ancestor'...

Unexpectedly didn't have even a shred of spiritual power fluctuation!

He was a complete and utter Mortal!

The contempt in Ye Qingyao's heart almost overflowed. As expected, a fraud! He probably used some secret method to gather the Spiritual Qi here, creating a false image of a Master living in seclusion.

Her figure flashed, and she landed in front of the thatched hut.

The light dissipated, revealing her graceful figure.

Ye Qingyao stood there, coldly scanning the simple summit. A thatched hut, a spiritual spring, a few stalks of Spirit Medicine, and...

A lazy young man sitting on the grass.

His back was to her, seemingly looking at the moon in the sky.

Ye Qingyao was about to speak, intending to use the most biting words to nail this fraud to a pillar of shame.

However, at the very moment she was about to open her mouth.

That young man, as if sensing her arrival, slowly turned his head.

Their eyes met.

BOOM!!!

At the moment Su Changge turned his head, it was as if billions of thunderclaps exploded simultaneously in Ye Qingyao's mind!

What did she see?

What kind of face was that?

It was handsome beyond the limits of language; all the spiritual beauty and charm of heaven and earth seemed concentrated between his brows.

But none of that was the point!

The point was that at the moment he turned his head, that faint glow around him, that untainted detachment, that indifferent gaze that viewed all things as straw dogs...

Behind him, there was no purple Qi, no golden lotus, no world-shaking phenomena.

He just sat there quietly.

But he himself was the Dao!

He was the Law!

He was the most fundamental Origin of truth between heaven and earth!

At this moment, Ye Qingyao's Empress Dao Heart, which had been silent for ages and had not wavered in the slightest through the bloodshed of gods and demons or the collapse of heaven and earth...

Actually pulsed wildly and uncontrollably!

A sense of trembling and submission originating from the deepest part of her Soul swept through her entire body!

Impossible!

This is impossible!

Ye Qingyao's mind went blank.

She had Cultivated for ten thousand years in her previous life and seen countless powerful experts. But no one had ever given her this feeling.

This feeling was like a Mortal looking up at the sky, or an ant facing a Divine Dragon.

She had clearly swept him with her Divine Sense; he didn't have the slightest spiritual power fluctuation!

Wait...

No spiritual power fluctuation...

Ye Qingyao's pupils constricted violently.

The Great Dao is simple! Return to Simplicity!

The lack of spiritual power fluctuation on him wasn't because he was a Mortal!

It was because he had already surpassed the level of 'spiritual power'!

Wasn't this the very Realm she had risked everything to touch in her previous life?!

Ye Qingyao stood frozen on the spot, her delicate body trembling slightly.

Her proud, age-old knowledge was shattered into pieces at this moment.

As for Su Changge, looking at this beauty who suddenly barged in and then started dazing at him, he was completely bewildered.

What's the situation?

In the middle of the night, a beauty suddenly appears on his mountain and just stares at him like this?

Su Changge felt a bit panicked.

Could she be here for a 'kill and loot' mission?

But looking at this girl's expression, she didn't seem like she was here to cause trouble.

He tentatively spoke, his voice gentle and clear.

"Miss, what are you looking at?"