Following the blow of a spiritual wind, hundreds of miles of snowy forest actually showed a burst of early spring blooming.
Yun Yiyi, leaning against the tree with her hair in disarray, stared in disbelief at the golden aura emanating from 'Feng Yu'.
Spiritual energy is born from all things, and all things begin in the spring of the four seasons. "His" spiritual energy was the pure spirit of spring.
Yun Yiyi had read something in an ancient scripture.
Only a cultivator who remains undisturbed like an ancient well with no ripples can cultivate within themselves a spring spirit; such cultivators can step into verdant life where there is no scorching summer, withering autumn, or harsh winter -- everything springs to life in their presence.
However, throughout history, many cultivators have been called saints, but no one has truly reached this level.
Simply living inevitably brings disturbance through the cause and effect of the world, whether it is power, money, fame, wealth, or obsession. Only babies who have just been born from the mother's womb can be completely outside the mundane cause and effect.
This person named 'Feng Yu' was just like a piece of white paper, like a newborn baby.
And her second sister, who was a foul-mouthed drunkard, unexpectedly met such a person.
It was no wonder that she was willing to discard her identity as a Sword Sect Young Lady and follow this man to become a cultivator couple who sold wine for a living.
She previously suspected that 'Feng Yu' had some hidden agenda regarding her second sister, but now it seemed it was just like her sister said at the time: "You don't understand my brother Yu."
Now, Feng Yu came to save her second sister.
However, Ye Anping...
Thinking of this, Yun Yiyi felt inexplicably sad, and there was even a hint of jealousy in her eyes. But looking at Feng Yu holding her sister now, she didn't know if it was that jealousy at work or subconsciously cursing that lovers would end up as sisters or something.
She suddenly had a strange feeling that this person was not a man but rather a girl.
"..."
Yun Yiyi's gaze involuntarily moved to Yun Jiujiu's face.
With her understanding of her younger sister, if this 'Feng Yu' was indeed a woman disguised as a man, she would probably be in for a shock...
In any case, the matters between "them" had nothing to do with her.
At this moment, three spiritual lights passed through the sky and noticed a hint of emerald green in the vast snow-white below. At once, the three flying swords descended.
Yun Xi, Pei Lianxue, and Zhang Yihe landed in front of them.
Seeing that her two annoying older sisters were still alive, Yun Xi furrowed her brows and let out a sigh of relief. She approached Yun Yiyi, and after hesitating for a while, she smiled coldly and asked, "Huh, are you okay?"
"...I'm fine."
"It's good that you're fine." Yun Xi pursed her lips, then took out two high-level healing pills from the storage bag and threw them to her, saying, "Take these and recover quickly. We will protect you. The other Elders will probably arrive soon."
"Mm..."
Watching Yun Yiyi take the pills and start meditating to restore her qi, Yun Xi looked at Feng Yu Die and Yun Jiujiu again. She thought that since Feng Yu had come after them, Ye Anping, who was with Yun Yiyi, should have also followed. Not seeing him around, she asked, "What about Young Master Ye? Where is he?"
Behind her, Pei Lianxue also shifted her gaze toward Feng Yu Die. Because she had to pretend she didn't know who 'Feng Yu' was, she could only use her eyes to ask: Where is my brother?
"Uh huh huh?"
Feng Yu Die pondered that since Ye Anping did not appear earlier, it was probably because he didn't want to show his face in front of Yun Yiyi and the others. She found it awkward to speak up, so she puckered her mouth and glanced sideways in the direction where Ye Anping was, using grimaces to hint at Pei Lianxue. "Uh-huh-huh--"
?
Seeing her puckering her mouth and grimacing in her direction, Pei Lianxue tilted her head, indicating that she didn't understand anything.
But at this time, Yun Yiyi said, "...Young Master Ye is dead."
Hearing this, Yun Xi and Pei Lianxue's expressions instantly became dull.
Yun Xi was taken aback and asked in confirmation, "Ah? No way? He really..."
"Well..."
Yun Xi swallowed nervously and looked at Pei Lianxue with concern, whispering, "Sister Pei..."
Yun Yiyi also looked at her with guilt in her eyes and lowered her head in apology. "The responsibility for Young Master Ye's matter lies with me, so..."
However, there was no change in Pei Lianxue's expression. She silently stared at Yun Yiyi, then suddenly her ears twitched, and she rushed into the depths of the snowy forest without a word.
"Ah?! Sister Pei..."
Seeing her like this, Yun Xi reached out to stop her, but she was a bit slow and missed grabbing her shoulder. Watching Pei Lianxue run into the woods, she wanted to catch up, but Zhang Yihe, who had been silent all along, stopped her. "Third Miss, better let Miss Pei alone for a while."
"Oh..."
Yun Xi's outstretched hand slowly lowered, watching Pei Lianxue's figure gradually disappear into the depths of the forest. She didn't say much, thinking of finding her after the other Elders of the Sword Sect arrived.
Just as Feng Yu Die wanted to chase after her, suddenly, there was a loud explosion above them.
Boom---
A figure radiating golden light fell vertically from the sky and landed directly on Yun Xi, creating a thirty-foot-long trench on the forest floor.
It took a while for Feng Yu Die and Zhang Yihe to react before they turned their heads to look over.
Hu Tianyue lay in a deep pit, her face twitching, and muttered while looking angrily at the sky, "Tsk, that old geezer... is really difficult to deal with, tsk--"
She subconsciously reached back, trying to prop herself out of the pit, only to touch a soft little butt. Turning her head, she saw Yun Xi now sitting under her bottom with her face planted into the ground.
Hu Tianyue blinked. "Third Miss, you shouldn't have cushioned my fall... What cultivation level do you think I have?"
Zhang Yihe finally came back to his senses at this moment and quickly reached out in warning. "Third Miss! Be careful of Elder Hu!!"
... ...
On the cedar branch deep in the forest, Ye Anping held the trunk of the tree with his left hand, blowing the iron whistle he used to signal his sister while waiting for her to find him, and at the same time, watching the activity around Yun Yiyi.
After seeing Hu Tianyue fall from the sky right on top of Yun Xi, he flinched as if he felt the pain, his body shivering, and he murmured with a frown, "Hiss--- Is she really that unlucky?"
He let out a soft sigh without dwelling too long on the matter. It appeared that Hu Tianyue did not manage to retain Zhuang Yan, which was something he had expected.
In fact, if Hu Tianyue had actually detained Zhuang Yan, it would have been quite troublesome. Then, he would have had to find a way to fish Zhuang Yan out.
Although he did not see it, he could easily imagine that in the furnace blast, Zhuang Yan went so far as to sacrifice one of his arms to forcibly extract the unfinished demonic pill from the alchemy furnace.
Although the demonic pill was broken, it could still be used.
Now, he would have to find an opportunity to sneak into the forbidden area of the Sword Sect and use that incompletely refined pill to create a demonic body for his personal disciple, Yun Kunwu.
And once Yun Kunwu possessed that defective monstrous body, he was bound to be consumed by resentment that would cause his mind to become confused and unstable.
Ye Anping reckoned that the first person Yun Kunwu would kill was his own master, Zhuang Yan.
But that would happen later on.
For now, he had to take his sister to the secret cave at the top of Jade Snow Peak to get the first reward of the Sword Sect incident -- the Snow Jade Spirit Sword .
Ye Anping looked down from the cedar tree where he was standing.
His sister had already arrived in front of the tree at this moment and was eagerly looking up at him with her watery amber eyes wide open.
She didn't call out to him or climb the tree. She just stood under the tree, staring at him, waiting for him to come down on his own.
Sa---
Ye Anping landed steadily from the tree and appeared behind his sister, lifting her up princess-style and weighing her in the process.
When he carried Feng Yu Die earlier, he felt that she was light as a feather, as if there was a mysterious force pulling her along, while his sister seemed to be much heavier.
He could actually feel every muscle on Pei Lianxue's body in his arms.
But this weight was not about heaviness; it was more like a dense and delicate feeling. It's like holding two swords of similar length but different weights -- one sword felt heavy yet perfectly balanced when held, while the other felt unsteady when swung as if it might fly out.
Ye Anping jokingly asked, "Sister, have you gained weight? Have you been eating a lot at Yun Xi's?"
Pei Lianxue hugged her brother's neck, looked down at her waist, and asked, "I did eat a lot. Do you want me to be thinner?"
"A bit plumper is good. I used to tell you to eat more, but you wouldn't."
"Then, I'll eat more in the future."
Looking at the smile in his sister's eyes, Ye Anping put her back on the ground, then turned to look toward Yun Yiyi. Seeing that Hu Tianyue was helping Yun Xi and Yun Yiyi heal their injuries, he said, "Sister, come with me to meet someone."
"Okay."
With that, Ye Anping summoned his flying sword and stepped on it, pulling his sister into his arms. He flew out of the snow forest, found a place where Hu Tianyue couldn't notice them, and soared into the sky toward the highest summit of Jade Snow Peak.