Chapter 540 - The Woman in a Court Dress
Chapter 540 The Woman in a Court Dress
“Yes, Martial Uncle!” “Yes, Master!” the three of them replied.
They bowed toward the old man and cupped their fists before rushing out of the National Warrior’s Mansion. With several jumps, they rushed down the mountain like mechanical springs and as fast as meteors.
After the three of them left, the short old man’s calm face showed a worried expression, and his eyes glinted with wisdom as he said, “Seventh Brother, the mere Demon Cult and the Corpse-driven Sect actually dared to violate the Peace Agreement openly and start a fight in Yan Jing. I think this matter is not simple.”
“Hump, they are not trying to provoke us but to probe Third Brother’s injury.”
Although the tall old man seemed to have a bad temper, he was not a fool. As one of the 13 Heroic Guards that had followed the Great Ancestor to fight in the north and south, he would have died many times without any political wisdom.
He never thought that these two small sects dared to make trouble in Yan Jing, and in his eyes, they were simply courting death. It would be strange if he couldn’t find anything fishy at the point.
“Do they want to destroy the Peace Agreement?”
The short old man, who was also the ninth guard of the 13 Heroic Guards, asked in horror.
The tall old man’s eyes glittered, and his voice sounded distant as he spoke. “Not actually. Maybe it has something to do with the prediction of the Tianji Pavilion some days ago.”
The short old man looked even more shocked and cried out involuntarily, “Are you referring to the Sky-reaching Relic?”
“Yes, you’re right.”
The tall old man frowned and nodded, but he did not say anything more.
The short old man did not pursue the matter either. His eyes glittered brightly, and he seemed to be lost in thought.
After a long time, he changed the subject and asked, “Seventh Brother, has your Third Brother recovered? When can he come out?”
“Alas, my Third Brother has been in isolation for practice for more than 20 years. That’s why these rascals think that there is no capable one in our National Warrior’s Mansion and have sent someone to test us.”
The eyes of the tall old man were full of killing intent. “Maybe they only remember that Martial Marquis of Country Zhen is in our National Warrior’s Mansion, but have long forgotten that the two of us, two dying old men, are also here.”
On hearing this, the short old man showed a heroic look on his face and said with a proud smile, “Yes, people only know that the remaining five guards of the 13 Heroic Guards followed the Great Ancestor, shocked the whole ancient martial world, and reached a Peace Agreement with the ancient martial world, and that they paid a huge price, for two of them died and two were seriously injured. Only our Third Brother was slightly injured and took charge of the National Warrior’s Mansion later. After so many years, these people may think that the two of us, the two old men who were seriously injured back then, have died. They don’t know that Third Brother mobilized the people of the whole country to search for spiritual herbs so as to heal us. Although we didn’t recover fully, we survived and stepped on a different path of becoming Spiritual Immortals.”
“Haha, then let’s show these guys that there isn’t only Martial Marquis of Country Zhen in our National Warrior’s Mansion, and that not all the guards of the 13 Heroic Guards died. So many years have passed, and it’s time for you, ‘Reaper’ Qu Wuyou, and I, ‘Iron Wall’ Xiang Tiange, to appear in public again.”
The tall old man, Xiang Tiange, suddenly showed a look of heroism and laughed wildly.
…
In a small courtyard in an alley in Yan Jing, Night Lone Ranger affectionately looked at her residence where she lived when she practiced in the Bureau of Religions. Then, she left without looking back.
She had been living there for more than two years, and now, it was time for her to leave. She had to leave before her sect received the notice of the ending of her training in the Bureau of Religions, so as to find a place to give birth. Otherwise, the cold-blooded seniors and elders in her sect would hurt her unborn child.
Unfortunately, something beyond her expectation happened. Just as she was about to set off, a person in a white court dress appeared in front of her and asked, “Lone Ranger, where are you going?”
Night Lone Ranger opened her mouth in surprise and looked at the unexpected newcomer in front of her. “Master, how come you’re here?”
The woman in the white court dress wore a light veil on her face. Her beautiful eyes that were exposed in the air were shining and full of infinite charm. However, her temperament was completely different from her look. She gave others an aloof and holy feeling, like an otherworldly fairy who had descended to the mortal world, which made others feel awe.
“I came to take you back.”
“Back to our sect?”
Night Lone Ranger was caught unprepared by this sudden change, and she felt nervous. She didn’t know whether her master came to see her on purpose because she had known something.
“Yes, your training must be ended in advance. The world is going to be in chaos, and I can’t feel at ease to let you stay in the secular world.”
Fortunately, the woman in the court dress was so worried that she didn’t notice the strange reaction of Night Lone Ranger. She continued to explain, “I’ll have the Bureau of Religions informed of your ending the training in advance, so your training is over now. Go back with me.”
Night Lone Ranger was slightly relieved. It seemed that her master knew nothing about her pregnancy, but as long as she returned to her sect, the secret would be exposed soon. For time being, she could only play it by ear and delay the plan of going back before she found a way to escape.
She immediately held her master’s arm and said in a sweet tone, “Master, you must be tired after this long trip. Take a rest in the room, and it won’t be late for us to set off tomorrow.”
The woman in the court dress hesitated for a moment and nodded. “I’m not tired, but there is indeed something interesting that will happen in Yan Jing tonight, so let’s leave tomorrow then.”
Night Lone Ranger took the woman in the court dress into the room and poured her a cup of tea. She asked curiously, “Master, what are you referring to?”
“Well, it’s about the upcoming chaos. The Sky-reaching Secret Land is about to open.”
The woman in the court dress lifted her veil, revealing a startlingly beautiful face. She took a sip of tea and frowned. “It tastes so bad.”
Night Lone Ranger replied reproachfully, “We’re in the secular world, and it’s lucky that we have tea to drink here. Do you think this is the Spiritual Tea of our Holy-goddess Tribe? Just make do with it.”
“That’s true. The tea in the secular world can’t be compared to the Spiritual Tea of our Holy-goddess Tribe.”
The woman in the court dress wore a natural expression as if she were talking about something that was naturally true. Night Lone Ranger rolled her eyes after hearing the words. Although her master was very powerful, she was pure-minded, and sometimes, she was even very adorkable. In others’ eyes, they were the master and disciple, but in fact, they were like sisters, and there were not many rules between them.
With two years of experience in the mortal world, Night Lone Ranger was no longer a naive person. She held the arm of the woman in the court dress intimately and said, “Master, go on, what is the Sky-reaching Secret Land?”
The woman in the court dress petted her head and said with a serious look, “The Sky-reaching Secret Land is related to the Ancestor Land of our tribe.”
“Ancestor Land? Isn’t it on the Boundless Mountain?”
Night Lone Ranger covered her small mouth in surprise and asked.
“Not actually. It’s a long story. In ancient times, our tribe was not called Holy-goddess Tribe but Mysterious Ladies’ Tribe.”
The woman in the court dress showed an expression of nostalgia on her face. “According to the story told by the ancestors and the ancient records, our Mysterious Ladies’ Tribe used to be responsible for guarding the people in and the peace of the world, and were the descendants of Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven, who was the God of War.”
“Huh? Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven? Isn’t that a myth?”
Night Lone Ranger, who heard the history of her tribe for the first time, asked in surprise.
“I don’t know, either. It’s a story told by our ancestors, and there’s proof from the ancient books. So I think it should be somewhat real.”
The woman in the court dress frowned slightly, and Night Lone Ranger was a little absent-minded while looking at her stunning face. She soon came to herself and asked, “What’s the relation between the Sky-reaching Secret Land and our tribe?”
“It’s said that there’s a secret lying in the Sky-reaching Secret Land that leads to the Path of Immortality.”
The woman in the court dress showed a longing look in her eyes. She blinked her eyes and replied, “You’ve spent so many years in our sect, so you should have known that in the past 100 years, there has not been a single expert of the God Martial Arts Realm in the ancient martial world, let alone any expert at the Saint Level. Therefore, the appearing of the Sky-reaching Secret Land will inevitably be coveted by all the sects.”
“Become an immortal? Is there really an immortal in this world?”
Night Lone Ranger was astonished and asked in disbelief.
The woman in the court dress was amused and looked at her with a smile, saying, “The so-called immortal is just someone more powerful than us. In the eyes of ordinary people, we are also immortals as well.”
“Well, only the experts in the God Martial Arts Realm like you will be regarded immortal, and in the eyes of the ordinary people, I’m just a powerful warrior.”
Night Lone Ranger flattered her master in a proper way, which made the woman in the court dress beam with a smile and say, “You only know how to please me, lass.”
“Haha, master, why did you say that the Sky-reaching Secret Land is related to the Ancestor Land of our tribe?”
Seeing that her master talked about something unrelated, Night Lone Ranger quickly continued to ask.
“As I said just now, in the ancient times, our tribe was called Mysterious Ladies’ Tribe instead of Holy-goddess Tribe, and guarded the human world on behalf of the gods. The Sky-reaching Tower used to communicate with the gods was located in our Ancestor Land. Later, the world was in chaos, and all the heroes fought for power against each other. The Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor joined hands to fight against Chiyou, the overlord of the Jiuli Tribe. However, they were defeated many times. Later, they had no choice but to ask our tribe for help. They told us that Chiyou was possessed by devil and would bring chaos to the human world.”
The woman in the court dress tried hard to recall what she had read in the ancient books. “At that time, our tribe was responsible for wiping out the demons and maintaining the peace of the world, but we never interfered in the war that caused the dynasty to change. Our tribe leader, Xuan Ji, went to Jiuli Tribe to observe Chiyou and found that there were indeed signs of him being possessed by the devil. Therefore, after the matter was reported to the Ethereal World through the Sky-reaching Tower, the gods gave the Demon-locking Chains to Xuan Ji, the Fire of the Underworld to Yan Emperor, and the Flowing Light to the emperor of that time, to kill Chiyou.”
“What happened later?”
Night Lone Ranger listened with interest and asked.
“Later…”
The woman in the court dress frowned with distress. “Although they killed Chiyou successfully later, our tribe leader, Xuan Ji, had been missing since then. I don’t know what the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor told the gods that made the gods so angry. They punished our tribe. Those who participated in the human war were all killed without exception, and the bloodlines of those who didn’t were sealed, so they couldn’t break through the Holy Martial Arts Realm forever.”
“Ah!”
Night Lone Ranger heard this for the first time and covered her mouth in shock.
“This was not the worst. What’s the worst was that the Yan Emperor and Yellow Emperor complied with the gods’ order in public but opposed it in private. They said that we were acting on behalf of the gods but participated in the human war willfully. They accused Xuan Ji of fleeing away with the magic weapon given by the gods and tried to behead everyone in our tribe. There was no way that the people of our tribe at that time could explain themselves away. Except for those who had sensed the danger and escaped away, the rest of our tribe were killed.”
Even though countless years had passed, the woman in the court dress could not help but feel indignant when talking about such a miserable past. She said with a sorrowful expression, “The survivors of our tribe escaped to the wild and lived a life of the savages humbly. After thousands of years of reproduction, our tribe finally became what it is now.”
“Master, it didn’t make sense. According to what you said, the bloodlines of our tribe has been sealed, so we can’t produce any master in the Holy Martial Arts Realm. But why is our tribe still one of the Four Holy Gates? Has the seal of our bloodline been broken?”
Night Lone Ranger asked in confusion.
“No, it hasn’t.”
The woman in the court dress shook her head with a bitter smile and uttered a shocking secret, “There is no expert in the Holy Martial Arts Realm in our Holy-goddess Tribe.”
“What? Then how could we become one of the Four Holy Gates?”
Night Lone Ranger stood up in astonishment and asked incredulously.
“Because the people of the Mysterious Ladies’ Tribe are the descendants of the Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven, and practiced the skill of making formations. Even though our ancestors fled in a hurry back then, losing a large number of formation scrolls, with the incomplete formation skills left by our ancestors, the experts in the God Martial Arts Realm in our tribe could exert the combating power of the experts in the Holy Martial Arts Realm. In this way, other sects all thought that we had experts in the Holy Martial Arts Realm. As a result, we were listed as one of the Four Holy Gates.”
The woman in the court dress said with a sad look in her eyes.
Night Lone Ranger suddenly understood the reason and said gloomily, “Doesn’t that mean that you will remain in the God Martial Arts Realm for the rest of your life, master?”