"It hasn't even been a year since I stopped beating you and you have already forgotten what I am capable of? Want me to remind you?" Senior Qi said as she stared daggers at Chu Liuxiang.
"That's not it, Master. I am well aware of your capabilities, but compared to Yuan… I don't want to call him a monster, but… If you have seen what he's capable of, you'll understand my feelings."
"Hmph! As if I'd lose to some 18-year-old who only recently regained his ability to move!" Senior Qi coldly snorted.
"But Master, you're not that much older than him yourself… And Yuan, he defeated a demon by himself." Chu Liuxiang said with a bittersweet smile.
"Wait… What did you just say?" Senior Qi's face suddenly became serious.
"Y-You're only 25 years old, which isn't that much older than Yuan. Or am I wrong?" Chu Liuxiang swallowed nervously when she saw how Senior Qi's expression changed, and she wondered if it was because she had mentioned her age.
"Not that! You said that he'd defeated a demon by himself? I thought he merely assisted the Six Spiritual Families? That's what they said." Senior Qi said.
In order to keep Yuan away from the spotlight, the Six Spiritual Families told the world that Yuan had only assisted them in defeating the demon. In truth, Yuan had defeated the demon by himself, but only very few individuals are aware of this fact.
"Oh, right. The Six Spiritual Families changed the story a bit to help Yuan since they knew he didn't like to be in the spotlight. But it's true. Yuan fought the demon from beginning to end by himself without any help." Chu Liuxiang revealed the truth.
"...Are you okay, Master?"
Chu Liuxiang asked her when she noticed that Senior Qi looked a little nervous afterward.
"I am…"
Just as Senior Qi opened her mouth, a loud voice suddenly resounded.
"Lulu! Are you here?! I am here to take you back as promised!" Yuan's voice echoed in the garden.
"Yuan?!"
Chu Liuxiang immediately stood up and looked around with an excited expression on her face.
"Yuan! I am here!" She shouted back.
And hearing Chu Liuxiang's voice respond, Yuan immediately rushed in the direction her voice came from.
"Huh? Yuan? He's not Young Master Qin?" The young maid stood there with a dazed look on her face when she realized that she'd screwed up.
After standing there for a few moments, she turned around and ran away from the scene while silently praying to herself, hoping that nobody saw her together with Yuan.
A few minutes later, Yuan arrived at the pond and the immortal cave to see Chu Liuxiang standing behind a beautiful young woman.
"Lulu! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Yuan immediately asked her.
Chu Liuxiang vigorously shook her head out of excitement, "No, I am okay. What about you? Are you hurt? What happened to my family?"
"Well… I encountered your brother Chu Wuyang as well as his elder brother… And Sebastian…"
"My brothers and Sebastian? Did something happen to them?" Chu Liuxiang could sense Yuan's nervousness even though they were standing so far away from each other.
"They stood in my way, so I took them down." Yuan sighed.
"T-Took them down? You killed them?" Chu Liuxiang's eyes widened with shock.
"Eh? N-No! I merely knocked them unconscious!" Yuan said, skipping some details, such as turning Chu Wuyang's face into a bloody mess and nearly breaking the elder brother's neck.
"I see… As long as Sebastian is alive, I won't complain. He might have tried to stop you, but it's not because he wanted to. I hope you'll forgive him. I don't care about the other two. They have always been a pain to deal with. I couldn't care less even if they died." Chu Liuxiang said.
"I know. Sebastian is only doing his job." Yuan nodded.
"Ahem! Are you ignoring me on purpose?" Senior Qi suddenly cleared her throat, interrupting their 'reunion'.
"Who are you?" Yuan quickly asked.
"My surname is Qi. Do you recognize it?" Senior Qi suddenly asked him, almost as though she was expecting him to recognize her surname for some reason.
"No, I don't. Should I?" Yuan said.
"..."
Senior Qi turned silent for a moment.
"I heard from my disciple that you had defeated the demon from the Jaded Garden all by yourself. Is that true?" She asked him a moment later.
"Disciple? So you're Lulu's master?" Yuan was surprised to hear this.
"Answer my question! Did you defeat the demon by yourself?!" Senior Qi asked again, clearly anxious for an answer.
"So what if I did?"
"How did you do it?"
"Huh? Why do you care?" Yuan found this Senior Qi's behavior to be very suspicious.
"Because I don't believe you. There's no way a nobody like you can defeat a demon! After all, they're indestructible! They are supreme beings that can only be sealed!" Senior Qi exclaimed.
"You…" Yuan was surprised by Senior Qi's knowledge regarding demons. It was almost as though she knew of their existence even before the incident at the Jaded Garden.
"You… Who are you? Why do you know so much about demons?" It was now Yuan's turn to ask such questions.
"..."
Senior Qi did not respond to his question. Instead, she lifted her hand and pointed her palm towards the immortal cave.
The next moment, a sword flew out of the immortal cave and into her hands.
'Qi Manipulation? She's a Spirit Grandmaster?' Yuan was inwardly shocked when Senior Qi used Qi Manipulation.
"If you defeat me, I will tell you what you want to know. But if I defeat you, you'll tell me everything you know," she said to him while pointing the sword at him in a provocative manner.
"Very well…" Yuan nodded in agreement.
"Where's your weapon? I don't want to hear any excuses when you lose." Senior Qi then asked.
Yuan didn't say anything and raised his arm until it was parallel to the ground.
Senior Qi and Chu Liuxiang watched his movements with interest.
A large sword that was as tall as Yuan himself suddenly appeared out of thin air the next moment and entered his grasp.
The second Yuan tightened his grasp on the sword, his aura skyrocketed, and the sword began vibrating with excitement.
"T-That's his sword in Cultivation Online… How did he…" Chu Liuxiang mumbled in a dazed voice when she recognized Yuan's sword— the Empyrean Overlord!