Translator: Sparrow Translations  Editor: Sparrow Translations

In Fang Zhengzhi's impression, the leaders of the Five Sects of the Holy Region tended to be older. At the very least, a Sect leader couldn't be so young.

However, the woman standing before him was very young indeed.

“Yu Er! Yu Er… Is that really you?” Lin Mubai suddenly spoke. He was severely injured and lying on the ground, but now he was trying to stand up.

“I got it right?” Fang Zhengzhi was slightly startled.

However, Ping Yang's body shook after she heard Lin Mubai. She stared at the woman standing before her, and she could hardly hold the Blazing Qilin Spear anymore.

“Mother? Are you my mother?” Ping Yang was shocked to her core.

After all, she had never expected to meet her mother under such circ.u.mstances, not to mention the fact that her mother was the leader of Ling Yun Tower.

She couldn't help but be surprised.

However, the woman disregarded Lin Mubai and Ping Yang. In fact, she didn't even look at them. Shrouded by a golden light, she walked towards Cang Yue. Under the suns.h.i.+ne, she seemed so holy just like the warmest light in the world.

“Leader, Cang Yue… I've disappointed you!” Cang Yue furrowed her brows and supported herself with her arm.

“It's fine, you've done well.” The woman shook her head and supported Cang Yue up while placing her other hand on the wound on Cang Yue's chest.

In the blink of an eye, the wound started healing at a visible rate. It recovered completely in just a short while.

“Hmph?” Fang Zhengzhi was intrigued. Although the woman was very young, the healing ability that she displayed was something that only King Xieluo, the Monster King, was capable of, to the best of Fang Zhengzhi's knowledge.

However, he wasn't too concerned about her healing ability. He was more taken aback by how Cang Yue addressed the woman.

“Leader? Shouldn't it be ‘Master'?” Fang Zhengzhi didn't know about Ling Yun Tower's rules, but under normal circ.u.mstances, since Cang Yue was the woman's servant, she should have addressed the woman as her master, unlike the other disciples of Ling Yun Tower.

“What's going on? Did I get it wrong? However… If I really got it wrong, why did the woman ignore the other disciples and only tended to Cang Yue's injuries?”

“Most importantly, even if I was wrong, Lin Mubai couldn't possibly get her ident.i.ty wrong, unless, there was something that I had yet to figure out.”

Fang Zhengzhi was puzzled.

“Could it be… Is this woman in a secret relations.h.i.+p with Cang Yue?!” While Fang Zhengzhi's mind was running wild, he heard Lin Mubai again.

“Yu Er… I…”

“Lin Mubai, shut up. You better take a good look. This is our leader, not my master! Furthermore, I've already told you that master wouldn't see you again. Stop getting your hopes up!” Cang Yue interrupted Lin Mubai coldly.

“You aren't Yu Er?!” Lin Mubai trembled and opened his eyes wide, scrutinizing the woman standing before him. After a brief moment, he said agitatedly, “You are not Yu Er, who… Who are you?”

“She's not Yu Er?” Fang Zhengzhi was astonished.

Ping Yang was astounded too. Confused and lose, she looked at Lin Mubai, who was struggling to get up, and then at the woman.

She obviously trusted Lin Mubai, however, she wasn't sure if Lin Mubai was fully conscious, given how badly injured he was.

“Father, you haven't seen mother in many years, so…”

“No, she definitely isn't Yu Er. For several years, I've spent every single day with Yu Er. Even if I'm separated from her for two or three decades, I'll still be able to recognize her, not to mention a dozen years. I can confirm that she isn't Yu Er, however, she looks so much like her, so much…” Lin Mubai shook his head, extremely certain of his judgement.

“Are you Fang Zhengzhi?” The woman finally looked at Fang Zhengzhi.

She was calm and collected, and she looked like a holy divine spirit with her golden dress.

However, she never took a single glance at Lin Mubai or Ping Yang.

“Shouldn't you state your own name before asking for someone else's name? It seems like the leader of Ling Yun Tower isn't very courteous.” Fang Zhengzhi replied with a question instead.

“Watch your mouth!” Cang Yue stood up. She was clearly enraged by Fang Zhengzhi's disrespectful comment. The other disciples were equally furious, including Hong Ying and the two girls wearing white dresses.

“How dare you!”

“It's ok.” The woman waved her hand at the disciples. She then looked towards Fang Zhengzhi with a faint smile and said, “You aren't wrong. It is common courtesy to state one's name before asking for another person's name. However….”

The woman paused, before looking towards the sky and continuing, “Cultivating is an act of going against the world. Since you are a cultivator, you shouldn't be following these inflexible rules. Furthermore, we are at Ling Yun Tower. As Ling Yun Tower's leader, I am one who decide the rules.”

“You are the one who decides the rules”

Fang Zhengzhi smiled when he heard her. As he had expected, people from Ling Yun Tower were naturally arrogant, as if it was an inherited trait. Despite so, he wasn't too concerned about it, since he was used to such arrogance.

“You are right, but since it's my mouth, I can say that you are uncourteous if I want to. I can even say that you're an ugly and old witch, am I right?” Fang Zhengzhi said with a smile.

“I've always heard that you are glib-tongued. It seems like the rumors are true.” The woman nodded gently instead of getting angry with Fang Zhengzhi.

She retracted her gaze towards the sky, and continued, “Let's cut to the chase – are you here to bring Ping Yang away?”

“Yup, that's right.” Fang Zhengzhi nodded. He was actually here to take Ping Yang away. If he hadn't seen how Ping Yang was treated at the Icy Pond, he wouldn't have come to provoke Ling Yun Tower.

Of course, that was putting aside his business with Cang Yue.

“If that's the case, why aren't you leaving?” The woman asked again.

“Do you allow me to leave?” Fang Zhengzhi's smile grew brighter.

“Why wouldn't I?”

“So, it seems like I could get out of this alive.” Fang Zhengzhi chuckled. He didn't know what the leader of Ling Yun Tower was thinking.

This was not the outcome that he was expecting. In fact, this was far from what he had envisioned. It was obvious that the leader of Ling Yun Tower was much tolerant than he thought.

The leaders of the other sects in the Holy Region would never offer to let him off if he had wounded so many of their disciples.

However, the leader of Ling Yun Tower… Was willing to do that!

In that case, there were only two possibilities. She was either pretending to be weak, or she wasn't confident of beating Fang Zhengzhi, which was why she didn't want to initiate a fight. Fang Zhengzhi felt that the latter was more likely to be true, but he couldn't be certain just yet.

However, he was taken aback that the disciples of Ling Yun Tower, including Cang Yue, didn't make a single complaint when the woman offered to let him off.

The degree of their obedience was astounding.

“Since the ancient times, anyone that dares to trespa.s.s Ling Yun tower would be executed. However, I can break the rule for you and give you two options!” The woman didn't pay attention to the minor changes in Fang Zhengzhi's expression. Rather, she didn't care about what he was thinking of.

“Oh? Please enlighten me.” Fang Zhengzhi nodded. He was interested in knowing his choices.

“The first option, which is the way you can get out alive, is if you swear to accomplish three tasks for Ling Yun Tower. If you do that, you can take Ping Yang and Lin Mubai away.” The woman stated the terms directly.

“It's that simple?”

“Given your current strength, using all your effort to complete three tasks in exchange for the lives of a few Ling Yun Tower's disciples isn't a bad deal.”

“It seems like the other option is death?”

“Yup.” The woman didn't deny it.

“In that case, could you answer a few of my questions before I make my choice?”

Obviously, Fang Zhengzhi asked another question instead of making a choice.

“I know what you want to ask, so I can answer three of your questions. However, you have to return the Pentcoloured Wonder Flowers that you have taken.” The woman seemed to have expected Fang Zhengzhi's request.

“Ok, my first question is, are you really not Yu Er, and that you have never posed as Yu Er before?”

“No?” She shook her head.

“Is Yu Er in Ling Yun Tower?”

“Yes.”

“Why is Yu Er unwilling to meet both Ping Yang and the emperor?”

Fang Zhengzhi looked towards Ping Yang and Lin Mubai before asking the final question.

The two of them held their breaths when they heard him, obviously eager to hear the answer.

“Are you sure that's your last question? Are you not going to ask about Yu Er's whereabouts?” The woman looked at Fang Zhengzhi with a surprised expression instead of answering his question directly.

“I'm sure.” He nodded.

“Alright. I don't really want to answer this question, but since I've given you my words, I shall keep my promise… Yu Er isn't unwilling to meet Ping Yang or Lin Mubai.” The woman hesitated before she spoke, and the golden light around her grew stronger afterward.

“Yu Er is willing to see me? Yu Er is really willing to see me… That's right, Yu Er would never hurt me. Why? Why don't you let Yu Er see me!”

Lin Mubai stood up immediately despite his injuries. His eyes were glowing as the ma.s.sive golden dragon swam around him.

“Father!” Ping Yang held her father up, but she was feeling complicated.

She could obviously tell that her father's injuries had not recovered, but he had never looked so determined before.

“Don't worry, Ping Yang. Yu Er would never abandon you. Yu Er is not a cruel person. She must be in the tower, that's right, she is definitely in the tower!”

“Father, mother is…”

“Who are you? Why do you look so much like Yu Er? Where did you imprison Yu Er? Where is Leader Lan? Where is she?!” Lin Mubai couldn't keep his cool anymore.

“Master had already pa.s.sed away.” The woman answered Lin Mubai's question for the first time.

Meanwhile, Fang Zhengzhi knitted his brows together tightly.

If this woman wasn't lying when she said that Yu Er was not the current leader of Ling Yun Tower, then why would she care so much about Cang Yue.

Cang Yue was obviously not one of the strongest disciples in Ling Yun Tower. Putting the other disciples aside, Hong Ying was already stronger than Cang Yue.

However, when the woman took away the knife in Hong Ying's hands, she didn't treat her first. Instead, she tended to Cang Yue's injuries first.

This was strange.

Most importantly, if this woman wasn't Yu Er, and Yu Er wasn't unwilling to meet Ping Yang and Lin Mubai, then where was she?

Was Yu Er at Ling Yun Tower?

If she was at Ling Yun Tower, why wouldn't she meet them?

Cang Yue had brought Ping Yang to Ling Yun Tower for half a year already. Yu Er couldn't possibly not know about this. If she knew about this, why wouldn't she come out to meet Ping Yang?

Fang Zhengzhi couldn't wrap his head around this.

“I've answered your three questions and even Lin Mubai's question. You can return the Pentcoloured Wonder Flowers now.” The woman's voice interrupted Fang Zhengzhi's thought. She seemed extremely calm.

“Pentcoloured Wonder Flowers?” Fang Zhengzhi wasn't dumb. He quickly figured out the woman's motive. However, he was surprised by her answer, so he decided to ask another question, “You did answer my questions, but I can't tell if you are lying or not. Since you said that Yu Er is willing to meet Ping Yang and the emperor, why isn't she here?”