Jiang Shiyu stood in the alley, completely silent.
Because standing across from her, that young man who looked about her age, was indeed riddled with all sorts of suspicious points.
More importantly, she really hated his condescending attitude.
Just a mere Body Forging Realm cultivator...
But then again, was he really just a Body Forging Realm cultivator?
Jiang Shiyu wasn't sure.
But she knew that back in Kang Mansion, what this young man named Chen Yan had said to Kang Zongdan wasn't just directed at Kang Zongdan.
It was also directed at her.
"Is it really okay not to return to Mirage Palace with Protector Huang and the others?" Chen Yan asked.
Jiang Shiyu simply shook her head.
Of course, it was fine.
Because Protector Huang and the others, who were still on their way back to Mirage Palace right now, had already completely forgotten who she was.
In their memories, there were only three Mirage Palace cultivators who had come to Yunxi Country's Kang Family this time.
As for Jiang Shiyu, her existence had already been erased.
Just as she had inexplicably appeared in the memories of Huang Yong, Wang Jianian, and Feng Ya, she had now vanished without a trace.
This technique of manipulating memories was one of Weaving Dreams Tower's secret illusion arts—the Thousand Mirror Flowers.
But pulling off a technique that could manipulate memories, implant completely nonexistent fragments, and fix them in place through memory's elasticity, was no simple matter.
It required a precise trigger.
She first had to find an entry point into the target's memories—something like an extremely joyful event, or an extremely sorrowful one.
As for how Chen Yan knew Jiang Shiyu would be here...
He just knew.
From that night attending the banquet at Kang Mansion, Chen Yan had seen that this young girl's purpose in coming to Jiangdu Prefecture was different from the other three Mirage Palace cultivators.
"Care to have a proper talk?" Chen Yan spoke up.
"... "
The young girl in the deep green daoist robes didn't respond. She still faced Chen Yan with a highly guarded posture.
Chen Yan smiled lightly, then turned around:
"If that's the case, then Chief Disciple Zhou, please accompany me to the Listening to the Waves Pavilion. Let's sit down and talk there."
Without looking back, Chen Yan strode toward the Listening to the Waves Pavilion.
Leaving behind the Weaving Dreams Tower's chief disciple standing frozen in place, her pupils constricted, completely shaken—
Zhou Jinyun.
...
Of course, Chen Yan was just guessing.
He couldn't be absolutely certain that the young girl who had once saved Su Hongzhen's life was the legendary Mirage Palace Daomen Xingzou who had been close to the Falling Star Realman—Zhou Jinyun.
But based on reasoning and speculation from the information he had, Chen Yan believed her identity was almost certainly Zhou Jinyun.
So he tested it.
And when he addressed her as "Chief Disciple Zhou," the look in her eyes and the expression on her face undoubtedly confirmed it.
This young girl, who appeared slightly older than Little Su, was the future Daomen Xingzou of Mirage Palace, and the current chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower—Zhou Jinyun.
"Big Brother!"
Seeing Chen Yan step through the gates of the Listening to the Waves Pavilion, Su Hongzhen, who had been sitting cross-legged in the courtyard meditating and drawing spiritual energy from heaven and earth into his body, called out. Then his gaze shifted from Chen Yan to the young girl behind him wearing Mirage Palace robes:
"Ah... Immortal Master Jiang."
Su Hongzhen's attitude was somewhat cautious.
He still remembered that during the banquet at Kang Mansion, when he had tried to thank her, she hadn't given him much of a good reaction.
That made Su Hongzhen feel a bit awkward facing the young girl from Mirage Palace again.
And ever since he had started cultivating, Little Su often heard various bits of information about the cultivation world from Chen Yan.
For example, this world was called Chenping Continent, spanning tens of millions of miles in both length and width.
Once, the number one sacred land of cultivation in Chenping Continent was called Heavenly Summit Mountain, but it had been destroyed over fifty thousand years ago. Now, the most powerful immortal sects in Chenping Continent numbered five, and Mirage Palace was one of them.
Also, Chenping Continent had produced a total of thirty Ascending to Immortality beings, the last being True Person Caiyun of Qingchan Peak in Kongshan Sect, and the last to fall was True Person Xuzhou of Lingxiao Temple.
And so on, and so forth.
But with mere words, Su Hongzhen couldn't form a clear concept of the vastness of this world or the dominance of the Five Great Sects.
He had to experience it himself, walk those paths himself, to truly understand many things.
"You should call her Immortal Master Zhou now," Chen Yan said with a smile, then passed by Su Hongzhen and sat down at the stone table in the courtyard of the Listening to the Waves Pavilion. He then looked up toward Zhou Jinyun and gestured to the stone stool across from him:
"Please, have a seat, Chief Disciple Zhou."
"What do you want to talk to me about?"
Zhou Jinyun sat down across from Chen Yan, her attitude extremely wary.
"Exchange information, of course," Chen Yan said.
"Before we exchange information, I have a question," Zhou Jinyun said. "Who exactly are you, and how do you know who I am?"
"Well..."
Chen Yan didn't immediately answer Zhou Jinyun's question. He just sat on the stone stool, lightly tapping his right index finger on the stone table in front of him.
Tap, tap... tap, tap...
A bit impatient, Zhou Jinyun looked down at Chen Yan's tapping finger.
Tap, tap.
As Chen Yan tapped the table, a wisp of extremely subtle spiritual energy seeped from his fingertip.
"... "
Zhou Jinyun was silent for a brief moment, then immediately stood up from the stone stool and bowed toward Chen Yan with a formal salute:
"Your junior has poor eyesight and failed to recognize a Senior of the upper three realms. I have offended you greatly before. I humbly beg your forgiveness!"
Any cultivator with even a slight understanding of the realm system knew what being able to wield spiritual energy meant.
And Zhou Jinyun, as the chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower at Mirage Palace, was even more knowledgeable.
But even Zhou Jinyun, the chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower, had rarely seen great powers of the upper three realms.
Chen Yan still wore that same calm, unruffled expression, his eyes half-lidded, saying nothing.
The very picture of a lofty master.
Now that he still hadn't recovered his cultivation, he had to temporarily rely on the Great Derivation Art to bluff his way through.
Chen Yan understood this well, so he didn't hesitate.
And this trick never failed.
With his current cultivation at only the Body Forging Realm, he still couldn't experience just what the peerless Great Derivation Art was truly capable of.
But forcibly activating the Great Derivation Art to derive spiritual energy—even with his current cultivation at just Body Forging—he could barely manage it.
Beside them, Su Hongzhen watched as the previously confrontational Zhou Jinyun suddenly showed Chen Yan the utmost respect for no apparent reason, looking thoroughly bewildered.
"I don't wish to interfere in Mirage Palace's internal affairs, nor do I intend to delve into the reasons behind them," Chen Yan said calmly. "But on one condition—Chief Disciple Zhou must agree to a request of mine."