Ruirui Is Insulted

On top of a mountain range hundreds of thousands of miles away...

Golden lights made from glittering lapis lazuli flickered, appearing and disappearing among the swaying of the leaves of a towering tree.

Up to 100 lamps of flickering turquoise had been placed in the depths of a hall where green smoke was billowing.

The wick of every lamp was putting out turquoise smoke.

Pfftt~

A lamp in the last row was suddenly extinguished.

Thick black smoke billowed from the wick of that lamp.

Swoop~

A person wearing a green outfit appeared in the hall, staring at the wick in the back that had just gone out.

He put a new wick in and attempted to light the lamp again.

However, his first two attempts failed.

When the lamp had finally been lit, its flicker looked weak and no green smoke was emitted. Then, the lamp was extinguished mere moments later.

"Whose lamp would this be?"

He checked the identifying plaque beneath the lamp.

The man in green then turned and left the hall.

This hall was filled with none other than the soul flickers of important figures of the Xuan Sect.

Only those who were at least of personal disciple status would get to have a lamp lit for them.

The fuel in these lamps was derived from the inner fat of Kun whales from the deep sea and the blood of the disciple in question. The lamp could only be lit after several charms had been put on it.

An extinguished lamp represented the death of the person.

Personal disciples were considered important figures within the Xuan Sect.

The death of each one of them was seen as a huge loss.

In the Yuheng Palace...

The man dressed in green reported his findings to Elder Yuheng.

The sect master had been training in isolation.

As the eldest among the elders, Yuheng had become the person in charge of the entire sect at the moment.

"You're saying that Bo Wei is dead? When did they venture outside?"

"Seven years ago when the lair of a Perfected Person in Zhongzhou was discovered, they headed there to see if they could gain something from it."

"When did we lose contact with them?"

"We lost contact about a year ago, but they were already at Nanzhou by then, and there were hardly any formidable warriors at Nanzhou. We didn't pay any attention during the first year or two when we lost contact. Furthermore, with Zhai Tianfang with them, they shouldn't have been in any danger."

The man in green explained everything after he had sorted out what he had found out.

"With Bo Wei now dead, Zhai Tianfang should have sent word back to us. I wonder if anything has happened to all of them."

"Elder, are you saying that there might have been infighting among them?"

"That is a possibility. Judging from the information at hand... They were out pursuing a lone cultivator who had obtained a piece of a Perfected Person treasure."

The man in green lowered his head.

There is another possibility. They might have been beaten by that lone cultivator.

The possibility of this happening would be miniscule though.

"Huo Fei, go out there and take a look. Find them and bring them home."

"Elder, what about the Hall of Soul Flickers…?"

"Let Zhao Wu take care of it. He's already at tier three of the Spirit Manipulation Realm, and he needs to calm down for a bit," Elder Yuheng pondered this question and replied.

Zhai Tianfang had brought Zhao Wu back here ten years ago, and a good number of elders in the sect had been stunned by the martial arts potential he'd displayed.

Things happened as expected.

He'd managed to make a breakthrough into the Spirit Manipulation Realm from the Higher Heaven Realm in just five years.

It took only another five years for him to reach tier three of the Spirit Manipulation Realm.

He was only 23 or 24 at the moment.

He would most probably reach the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm in another 20 years.

He was practically the first in all of the Xuan Sect who had managed to achieve such a frightening rate of progress.

"Yes, sir."

Huo Fei excused himself.

He was currently 180 years old.

Cultivators were capable of extending their life span by 20 years once they had broken into the Higher Heaven Realm, and extend it another 50 after breaking into the Spirit Manipulation Realm.

Common warriors at the Spirit Manipulation Realm would have life spans at least 70 years longer than regular people.

Those who reached the Saint level would double their life spans.

Thus, 180 years old was still be considered young for someone with his level of powers.

"Nanzhou is a secular place where the primordial qi is thin. Forget it, I wouldn't be able to make a breakthrough now anyway. Let's get on with it then."

Huo Fei was the third personal disciple of the Xuan Sect.

He was at tier nine of the Saint level.

He was one of the most promising contenders for the position of sect master in the future.

But then again, that could only happen if the current sect master was willing to step down. And Zhao Wu had yet to rise sufficiently.

Everyone in the Xuan Sect knew about this.

If Zhao Wu were able to rise sufficiently, Huo Fei might possibly be kicked out of the running for sect master.

Huo Fei packed up his things after handing over his duties to Zhao Wu and was about to leave.

"Please hold on, brother."

A dashing young man called out to Huo Fei, causing him to halt.

He turned around.

Someone with a stiff expression and black hair haphazardly draped about appeared behind him.

The man walked with an air of elegance.

"Brother Zhao, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

The young man who had called out to him, despite being only at tier three of the Spirit Manipulation Realm, was someone Huo Fei didn't dare to be disrespectful to nonetheless.

That man was none other than Zhao Wu.

He had already been made a personal disciple of the Xuan Sect despite being so young.

"The pleasure is mine. I heard that you're venturing out into the mortal world and might pass by the State of Xia. I'd like to ask for a favor."

"What might that be?"

"I'd like you to take my family a letter." Zhao Wu scratched his head a bit awkwardly.

Asking that a brother, a Saint-level warrior, deliver a letter for him looked like something that only fools would do.

However, he had left home ten years ago, and he was really getting homesick.

"That wouldn't be a problem. I hope you'll dedicate yourself to your training and make a breakthrough into Saint level as soon as possible, so that you can come and go as you see fit," Huo Fei answered.

There was a rule among the personal disciples: no one who had not reached Saint level was permitted to leave the sect.

Inner circle disciples were not permitted to leave unless they had reached the Spirit Manipulation Realm.

In truth, many personal disciples had broken into Saint level for untold number of years.

The case with Zhao Wu, however, was rather special.

...

Liu Rui had been married to the son of Clan Zhao for five months now.

The seventh son of Clan Zhao continued to behave like a playboy as he always had.

Despite having married such a beautiful wife who was also the eldest princess, he visited a brothel merely three days after getting married.

At present, he hadn't been home for two months.

In the seventh son's palace on the Zhao estate...

The sound of a guqin could be heard every day, melodic for a time and ragingly angry at others.

The tune was as sharp as swords drawn from scabbards or as tranquil as water running over rocks.

A lot of the members of the clan would stand outside the compound whenever a tune was played.

"That dude is really too much. Such a beautiful woman, and he just leaves her at home like that."

A young man from the clan with a goatee shook his head and sighed.

He wanted very badly to be in that man's shoes.

"Pity indeed. It would have been perfect if she were a common woman. Having a princess of Great Xia married to Clan Zhao can only mean hard days ahead."

"Such talents. Such beauty. That dude is really an *sshole."

...…

The members of Clan Zhao felt pity for Liu Rui being alone all the time.

Li Mu was lying in a tree not far away, listening to the chatter of the members of Clan Zhao below. His expression became extremely sullen.

Hard days, huh?

Whoever dares to bully Ruirui, I'll make sure that they never get to see the light of day again.

From the looks of things, Ruirui seems to be doing fine for herself.

Crack~

The door of the palace where Ruirui lived was pushed opened roughly.

More than a dozen women came inside.

A fat woman came up to Ruirui and kicked at the stand of Ruirui's guqin.

The tune stopped all of a sudden.

"What are you doing?"

If it hadn't been for her fast reflexes, catching the guqin before it dropped to the ground, that expensive piece of musical instrument would have been ruined.

"You wh*re. All you do every day is play the guqin, which is seducing our men. Aren't you ashamed?"

The fat woman pointed at Ruirui's nose and began scolding her.

"What did you say? Please show more courtesy to the princess."

A court lady who had followed Ruirui when she was married walked up, glaring at the fat woman as she spoke.

"Didn't you hear what I said? If she's really that capable, try seducing her own man. What use are her talents if she's all about seducing other men?"

"If you're that capable, watch over your own man instead," Ruirui retorted.

"You…" The fat woman clenched her fists and was about to hit Ruirui, but the court lady at Ruirui's side blocked the attack.

The fat woman became all flustered.

She then pointed at Ruirui and continued, "I'm not a b*tch or a wh*re like you! How do I watch my man, huh?"

"If you don't know how, you should learn," Ruirui retorted again.

It had been like this ever since she'd married into Clan Zhao.

None of the women in the family showed her any respect.

None of them bothered even with the most basic courtesy.

"F*ck you!"