The Weight of a Name and a Sister’s Shame

“You’re wondering why I let him go, Layman Li?” the middle-aged Daoist said after a moment of silence.

“Heh. A little. That kid had a good magic tool. Even I was tempted,” the old man admitted without any attempt to hide his thoughts.

“You’d better drop that idea. That one can’t be killed,” the Daoist said with a frown, a hint of warning in his voice.

The old man in the blue robe looked surprised but didn’t ask. He knew the other man would explain on his own.

Sure enough, the Daoist continued in a flat voice:

“That man is closely connected to Ma Yunlong of Tianque Fortress. It’s better not to provoke him.”

The old man was visibly stunned. “You mean the Ma Yunlong—the one who has the best chance of reaching Core Formation in a century?”

The Daoist let out a bitter sigh. “Who else? I’ve met him a few times. The Dust-Settling Pearl the youth was holding is definitely that man’s signature magic tool. There’s no mistake. That young man is deeply connected to Ma Yunlong. We’d best leave him alone.”

“Right. Thank you for the reminder, Brother Dao. I nearly made a grave mistake. Let’s collect the herbs quickly and leave before more uninvited guests show up,” the old man said, recovering from his surprise.

The Daoist agreed, and the two each took one “Purple Ape” fruit before going their separate ways.

Similar events were unfolding elsewhere, but the conflicts there were far less peaceful and far more intense.

Beside a stone hut on a ridge of the ring mountain, four people had split into two factions and were locked in a fierce battle, commanding various magic tools.

One man and one woman, both wearing yellow uniforms, were disciples of Yellow Maple Valley. The man, around forty with a scholarly air, wielded a gleaming silver brush and a brilliant golden book. With every sweep and flick, a storm of silver talismans and golden light drove their opponents into a desperate retreat.

The pretty young woman assisting him with a blue and a yellow flying sword was clearly far weaker. Even a casual observer could see that her strength didn’t match her companion’s and was, in fact, inferior to both of their opponents. She was barely a distraction and needed the powerful man to rescue her several times.

Their opponents weren’t from the same sect. One was a hideous man protecting himself with a green light shield, commanding a thick flying serpent and a swarm of giant wasps to desperately block the golden light barrage. It was Zhong Wu of Spirit Beast Mountain, the same man Han Li had exchanged information with.

The other was a delicate, handsome young man in green robes, likely a disciple of Carving Knife Dock.

Two red flying knives danced before him, radiating brilliant light. They were clearly extraordinary magic tools. But these offensive blades had been reduced to two cartwheel-sized light shields, barely holding back a rain of silver talismans.

“Stop! We surrender! Cut it out, Chen! The spirit herbs in this stone hut are yours!” The Carving Knife Dock youth finally admitted defeat.

Zhong Wu, beside him, showed a trace of reluctance but didn’t object, effectively accepting the surrender. He recalled his flying serpent and bee swarm.

“Hmph! You think you can just surrender and walk away?” The weaker Yellow Maple Valley woman flicked her hair back, unwilling to let it go. Having been ignored throughout the fight, she was full of pent-up frustration and her tone was sharp.

“What do you want? Are you trying to kill us all? I doubt you have the ability!” The Carving Knife Dock man snapped back in a shrill voice, so high-pitched it sounded like a frightened woman’s. The other three couldn’t help but shiver.

“Of course not. My seventh sister is just venting. You may leave. I, Chen, won’t make things difficult,” the middle-aged Yellow Maple Valley man said with a slight frown, using his eyes to stop the woman from continuing. His tone was calm.

“Heh. Brother Chen truly lives up to his reputation as the eldest son of the Chen Clan. Your bearing is certainly different from some little girls. We’ll take our leave, then.” The Carving Knife Dock youth suddenly calmed down, his voice returning to a normal male tone. In an instant, he looked like a graceful young gentleman. The stark contrast was startling.

After saying this, the youth and Zhong Wu cast one last reluctant glance at the stone hut before leaving with heavy hearts, disappearing behind some rocks.

“Big brother, why didn’t you kill them? We were so close,” the pretty woman finally turned to the middle-aged man after watching them leave.

“Seventh sister, I’ve noticed you’ve become a bit extreme since that incident. You want to kill everyone at the drop of a hat. Do you know who those two are? Their families are well-known. They may not compare to the super clans like Yan or Chen, but they’re not to be taken lightly. It’s best not to make unnecessary enemies.

“Besides, even if I really wanted to kill them, it probably wouldn’t work. The golden book and silver brush made them look helpless, but that was only because they weren’t trying to run. If I’d pushed for a kill, they’d have fled instantly. My golden book and silver brush are powerful, but not powerful enough to stop two people who are determined to escape. All I’d do is create more enemies for nothing.”

The middle-aged man gently scolded the young woman in a doting tone, then carefully explained his reasoning. The woman finally understood.

“By the way, seventh sister. That Lu bastard hasn’t shown up anywhere since he tried to harm you. It seems he really was killed by whoever saved you. If that’s true, he got off easy. Otherwise, I’d have made his life a living hell and taught him the price of messing with the Chen Clan. But the identity of your savior is very intriguing. I spent a lot of effort checking which disciples were out of the valley that day. None of them could have threatened that Lu bastard. His magic power was negligible, but that Green Flood Dragon Banner of his was a top-grade magic tool. For someone to save you from him, they must be quite strong. Could it really have been a passing cultivator from outside our sect?” The woman’s brother suddenly shifted to a fond tone as he addressed his “seventh sister.”

This “seventh sister” was the now-cold “Junior Sister Chen.” In front of her older brother, she clearly reverted to her true nature. She blushed and whined:

“Pfft! Why mention that jerk? Fine, he saved me. But then he left me alone in the wilderness and took my Foundation Establishment Pill. I’m pretty sure he’s not a good person either!”

Junior Sister Chen was clearly indignant.

But what really made her blush with shame wasn’t that. It was that thinking of him brought back that unforgettable night of confusion and nakedness, when her body had burned with fever.

She could still remember the rough hands that had roamed freely over her body and the strong masculine scent of the man who had saved her.

Out of shame and irritation, she did her best not to think about it, burying the memory deep in her heart. But now that her brother had brought it up, it flooded back, and her face flushed alternately red and white as she sank into thought.

When Junior Sister Chen finally snapped out of her daze, she found her brother staring at her with a knowing smile, as if he had seen through all her secrets. This only made her blush even deeper.

Mortified, she stomped her foot. “I’m going to pick the herbs!” she declared and rushed toward the stone hut, trying to cover up her inner turmoil.

The middle-aged man watched his most beloved little sister’s back and smiled slightly. A plan was already forming in his mind.

Then he followed her.

……

In a dense forest, a girl in green bit her lip hard, commanding a small white eagle as she struggled against a two-headed strange snake. The battle seemed evenly matched. Behind the snake stood a fiery red tree bearing several fist-sized red fruits.

……

In a narrow, underground cave, a procession of white-robed men and women walked in silence. There were about fifteen or sixteen of them—all the surviving Moon-Masking Sect disciples in the forbidden land. At the front was the sprite-like young woman who had once seen Han Li from afar.