Even without Bai Ning saying anything, it was obvious that he felt ashamed after being named as one of the creators of the… Unique sword, that Mui was proudly showing off.
But at the same time, it also made him curious as to just what could have happened to produce such a unique sword in the first place.
Even if Mui did not have any experience when it came to blacksmithing and essentially had no idea how to do anything, Bai Ning was incredibly skilled when it came to blacksmithing, even surpassing a large number of the blacksmithing elders in sect.
For this reason, it should have been easy for him to help Mui in producing some lower grade artifact, and if not, at least some normal weapons. No matter what, he should have been able to prevent the unique sword currently in Mui's hand from appearing…
"…" Knowing this, Xuan Hao could not help looking curiously towards Bai Ning standing a few meters behind Mui. Looking like he was about to jump forward and take the sword in Mui's hands away by force before destroying it and any evidence that he had ever been part of the process in making it.
At this point, the only thing stopping him from doing this, was that he didn't want to take away the prized possession of his new junior sister and damage their relationship. Especially considering that she was the only one among his master's disciples other than himself that was genuinely interested in blacksmithing!
Unaware of the internal struggle that Bai Ning was going through as he kept his eyes focused on the sword in Mui's hands, Xuan Hao signalled for Zhi Ruo, who had arrived at some unknown point during the conversation, to come over.
"Mui, this is Zhi Ruo, the person in charge of keeping the palace clean and help out with things like bringing snacks or food."
"Greetings, young lady Mui."
"G-greetings!" Hearing how she had suddenly been called a young lady by Zhi Ruo, Mui stuttered nervously before tightening the grip around the sword.
Out of everything that had happened over the past day since she had entered the Star Shattering Sect, she had never expected to be addressed as a young lady. Bringing in the reality of just how much her status had changed compared to a short time ago when she had still been trying her best to survive inside one of the independent city states in the core region of the Sky Empire.
"Given that it's already gotten rather late and both of you should be exhausted, I think now would be a good time to end things for today. Mui, Zhi Ruo will be showing you to your room. From tomorrow, I will begin teaching you the basics of cultivation and the world."
"Yes, master!" As Bai Ning turned around and left in the direction of the Sea of a Thousand Furnaces after saying this, Mui did not fall behind, as she repeated what he said- "Yes, master!" Before following Zhi Ruo inside the palace. Heading towards the room that she would be sleeping inside of from now on.
"This is-!"
Arriving inside her new room, Mui could not help freezing on the spot while staring towards the large comfortable bed located inside her room with a dumbstruck expression on her face.
The reason for this was rather simple, as she had never slept on a bed before. Always having to look for the most comfortable place on the ground during her time living as a street orphan in a city in the core region of the Sky Empire. Even during the few rare moments that she was lucky and managed to sell a higher-than-normal quality herb for a lot of coins, she had never thought of getting something to sleep on. Although… The main reason for this, was that there was a high chance of it being stolen if she really ended up buying a bed or something to sleep on, something she had seen happen more than once!
Swish-!
For this reason, after the shock had worn off, Mui didn't waste a single second before diving into the fluffy and soft bed. Not taking more than a few seconds before her eyelids started growing heavy and she ended up drifting off into dreamland. Leaving Zhi Ruo to take off the pair of shoes she had forgotten to take off before jumping into the bed.
As for cleaning the dirt that had inevitably ended up in the bed due to this-
Whoosh~
Zhi Ruo used a cleaning specialized technique that she had invented to deal with it without waking Mui, who had just fallen asleep, up in the process.
…
At the same time Mui had drifted off into dreamland with a blissful smile on her face as she was buried in the fluffy and soft bed, a large number of important elders and sect masters belonging to the different major sects inside the Sky Empire had gathered together to talk about the things currently taking place inside the Sky Empire.
"That old man Xu Bao is still alive!? How is that possible!? We clearly saw him get engulfed by the power of the two Soul Ascension Realm Experts in a half dead state!"
"Not only that, but we also stayed around to observe the situation for a good few minutes before things got too dangerous. Even if he had some kind of artifact that would allow him to resist the power of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts, I doubt that it would have lasted for long. If it really did, a treasure like that would be sure to catch the attention of those two Soul Ascension Realm Experts!"
"But… The information given by our spies are all saying that Xu Bao returned to his sect alive and well. Even if the chance of him being well might not be true, I doubt our spies would have mistaken someone else as him…"
"Hmph! Even if he returned alive, it's not something we can do anything about in our current situation. Dealing with the independent sects now that most of our major sect's resources are focused on fighting off the Hollow Thunder Family will only cause our position in the Sky Empire to worsen even further. All because of the Green Mountain Sect not being capable of controlling their own elders!"
"Ha!? Do you want to fight it out old man!? This is clearly something that was planned by the noble families to weaken us major sects. Even if Elder Green Wing didn't do anything, they would just have found another reason to attack us. Not to mention, Elder Green Wing is already dead!" As the conversation moved away from Xu Bao and towards the Green Mountain Sect, the sect master of the Green Mountain Sect instantly got up to defend Elder Green Wing before blaming the entire matter of the Hollow Thunder Family and the rest of the noble families.
Considering that the major sects had always been somewhat against these noble families due to them often clashing with each other over different things like control of certain spiritual herb valleys, spirit stone mines or other things. Many of the people present did not feel that it would be odd if the Hollow Thunder Family had indeed made everything up as an excuse to attack them to prevent the imperial family intervening to stop it before it even had a chance to involve the younger generation of the two.
However, not everyone believed blindly in this and some of them had even personally known Elder Green Wing before his death…
"Hehe! You really think everyone will believe in that? Don't think we have no idea about this Elder Green Hat of yours!"
"Who!?" Hearing that he was being called out by someone, the sect master of the Green Mountain Sect could not help turning towards the origin of the voice filled with killing intent. "So, it's you!"
Realizing that the person that had called him out was the sect master of another major sect that he had fallen out with a few hundred years ago, the killing intent in the eyes of the sect master of the Green Mountain Sect only increased further as his aura erupted before he directly launched an attack without holding back.
"Hehe, what a quick temper… But don't think I will just stand still!" Not one to fall behind, the other sect master similarly erupted with all his power before launching an attack in response-
"SILENCE!"
It was just at this moment, as the two attacks were about to collide with each other, that a terrifying aura erupted from the entrance meeting. Instantly reducing the two powerful attacks of the Domain Lord Realm sect masters to nothing.
""…""
Everything happened far too fast for the two sect masters to react, as they could only stare towards the origin of the terrifying aura filled with fear after realizing what had happened.
Even if it had only been for a brief moment, the terrifying aura clearly did not belong to someone in the Domain Lord Realm...!