On either side of the archway stood female disciples, clad in plain white daoist robes adorned with ice patterns, their expressions as cold and impassive as ice sculptures.
They wielded long ice-crystal swords that gleamed with chilling light, their sharp gazes sweeping over the winding ice steps below, which resembled a staircase ascending to the heavens.
The air was thick with a pure yet frigid spiritual energy, so potent that ordinary people would feel their blood congeal upon approaching.
The entire atmosphere was one of solemn severity and imposing majesty, brooking no intrusion.
An old, stooped figure was slowly and laboriously ascending the seemingly endless ice steps, pausing with each arduous stride.
It was Yang Po Po.
She was dressed in old, faded clothes, laundered so many times they had turned almost white, a stark contrast to the ethereal grandeur of this immortal sect.
The biting wind, sharp as a knife, sliced across her wrinkled face.
Her frail body trembled under the piercing spiritual pressure.
Each step she took felt impossibly heavy, leaving shallow wet marks on the ice steps; whether from melted frost or the sweat beading on her brow, it was impossible to tell.
After a month’s arduous journey, she had finally reached the mountain gate of the Xuan Nv Sect.
In her hand, she clutched a tattered cloth bundle, its contents unknown, yet she held it so tightly, as if it were more precious than her own life.
What sustained her all the way here was a fleeting yet stubborn belief: ‘Lin Mo isn’t dead! The cross-dressing person who died tragically in the street was not Lin Mo.
Miss Qiu Yue searched all over Luofeng City for him, and the one killed wasn’t Lin Mo.
And on that fateful day, only the Xuan Nv Sect was recruiting disciples…’
The only remaining possibility, then, was that Lin Mo, this child, under her own muddled arrangements, had genuinely, by some sheer stroke of accidental luck, stumbled into the Xuan Nv Sect!
She had no idea whether Lin Mo was alive or dead within the Xuan Nv Sect’s confines, but a voice in her heart constantly cried out: ‘That boy is blessed with great fortune; he will surely turn misfortune into blessing!’
If it weren’t for this, how could Miss Qiu Yue, with her proud nature, have acted so uncharacteristically, willingly joining the Xuan Nv Sect, a place with which her family had no prior connections and that was renowned for its harshness?
The Qiu family maintained good relations with other major sects, and Miss Qiu Yue, moreover, was a once-in-a-century genius, having achieved Foundation Establishment without a master’s guidance.
She should have been sent to a more prominent sect to be meticulously cultivated to the standard of a ‘Saintess’.
Her choice to join the Xuan Nv Sect had only one explanation: ‘Lin Mo is still alive! And he is right here, within the Xuan Nv Sect!’
This thought was a faint glimmer of light in her despair, the sole belief that kept her from collapsing.
‘Lin Mo is blessed with great fortune; he will surely be safe!’
Even knowing the Xuan Nv Sect’s formations were as impenetrable as an iron barrel…
Even knowing the rules of the Hall of Clarity were as cruel as purgatory…
She… still chose to believe.
That child would not simply die without a trace.
He absolutely would not!
This was both to comfort herself and to desperately soothe the immense guilt that threatened to consume her.
This was almost her entire life’s savings, and her only ‘bargaining chip’.
Finally, she arrived, breathless, beneath the archway.
The biting cold air nearly suffocated her.
After nearly a month’s journey, Yang Po Po had finally reached the archway of the Xuan Nv Sect.
‘If it were in the past,’ Yang Po Po thought, ‘how could I ever be so disheveled?
Whether I came on my own accord or was invited by others, I would always be treated with utmost respect.’
“Stop! This is a vital area of the Xuan Nv Sect; all unauthorized personnel must retreat immediately!”
The gatekeeper disciple’s frigid voice pierced through the air like an ice pick, carrying an undeniable authority.
Several icy gazes instantly locked onto her, as if she were a mere ant that had wandered into a forbidden zone.
A powerful spiritual pressure was deliberately unleashed, descending like a colossal, frigid boulder.
The biting cold and invisible pressure made Yang Po Po’s body sway violently, almost forcing her to her knees.
She struggled to steady herself, her clouded old eyes fixed on the haughty immortal sect disciple, and with all her remaining strength, she rasped, “I have a matter to discuss with Martial Aunt Zhao Qiubai. Please, young lady, inform her immediately.”
After speaking, Yang Po Po couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, ‘Time truly changes a person profoundly.
When did I become so humble and deferential?’
A flicker of disdain and annoyance crossed the gatekeeper disciple’s eyes.
“Hmph, what are you? A mortal old woman, daring to demand an audience with our Grand Martial Aunt? Pure delusion! Get down the mountain at once, or don’t blame us for being impolite!”
The female disciple, gripping her ice-crystal longsword, had already drawn it slightly from its scabbard, its sharp blade glinting with a chilling light, radiating palpable killing intent.
Observing her tattered clothes, her decrepit appearance, her disheveled long hair, and her grimy face, the old woman truly resembled a beggar from the roadside.
As the disciple spoke, Yang Po Po, with trembling hands, painstakingly fumbled deep within her tattered coarse cloth bundle, extracting a palm-sized, ancient-looking profound iron token.
The token felt cold and heavy in her grasp, neither metal nor wood, its edges already worn.
Yet, at its center, two ancient seal characters, ‘Qiubai,’ etched with the strength of iron and the grace of silver, remained strikingly clear!
On the token’s reverse, an exceedingly tiny Xuan Nv Sect snowflake emblem, faintly radiating a chilly spiritual aura, shimmered subtly in the dim light!
She held the token with both hands, as if cradling her own life and Lin Mo’s, and tremblingly extended it towards the leading female disciple.
The gatekeeper disciple, already exceedingly impatient and about to wave her hand to sweep this ‘old beggar woman’ off the mountain cliff, abruptly froze at Yang Po Po’s words!
Her gaze shot towards the token like a bolt of lightning!
“Grand Martial Aunt Zhao?” Her heart pounded violently!
Zhao Qiubai was one of the sect’s core elders, holding a position of immense reverence!
How could this withered, tattered old woman before her claim to have a past connection with Grand Martial Aunt Zhao? And even possess a token?
‘That was a person of such noble standing,’ she thought, ‘how could she be associated with this crazy old woman who looked like a beggar?’
‘Absurd!’
This was her initial reaction.
However, when her gaze fell upon the unique ‘Qiubai’ characters on the token, and especially when she sensed the faint spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the snowflake emblem on its reverse — fluctuations unique to a Xuan Nv Sect core elder and impossible to fake — her complexion instantly changed!
Disdain and annoyance receded like a tide, replaced by immense shock and disbelief!
‘This token… it’s actually real?!’
Although its style was ancient and worn, the spiritual energy fluctuations and the emblem could not be faked!
‘This old woman… she actually holds Grand Martial Aunt Zhao’s personal token?!’
“This…!” The female disciple’s face instantly went deathly pale, a cold sweat breaking out on her back!
Recalling her earlier scolding and killing intent, it felt as though she had been dancing on the precipice of hell!
If the old woman’s words were true, her actions just now would be enough to land her in the Ice Prison for ten years!
She almost stumbled forward, no longer daring to show the slightest disrespect, and with utmost reverence, she took the heavy profound iron token with both hands.
It felt cold to the touch, yet it made her fingertips tremble.
She meticulously examined it, and the more she looked, the more her heart surged with tumultuous waves — it was unequivocally real!
It was Grand Martial Aunt Zhao’s personal token!
“Pre… Senior!” The gatekeeper disciple instantly dropped to one knee, her head bowed deeply, her voice filled with an unprecedented awe and a hint of almost imperceptible fear.
“This junior… this junior had eyes but failed to see! Offending Senior is a crime punishable by ten thousand deaths! Please, Senior… forgive me!”
The several disciples behind her also instantly reacted, uniformly kneeling in unison, not daring to breathe loudly.
Yang Po Po watched this dramatic shift, a mix of emotions swirling within her.
She could only sigh, reflecting that no matter how many times the world changed, it remained the same, always governed by human relations and worldly affairs.
Even those revered as immortals were ultimately not exempt from the vulgarities of the mortal world.
“It’s fine…” Yang Po Po waved a weary hand, her body barely holding up, her voice hoarse, having no strength left to quibble.
She was no longer who she once was.
“I only ask… to meet with Martial Aunt Zhao. Kindly… inform her immediately.”
“Yes! Yes! Senior, please wait a moment! This junior will immediately report to Grand Martial Aunt Zhao using the highest-grade transmission secret art!”
The female disciple, as if granted a great pardon, quickly rose, carefully cradling the token in her hands as if it were a peerless treasure.
She swiftly pulled out a jade talisman carved with complex ice patterns from her waist, injecting spiritual energy into it frantically.
The talisman immediately erupted with dazzling ice-blue light, and an extremely condensed message, carrying the token’s aura, instantly shot through the air, directly towards the cold, majestic hall deep within the Xuan Nv Sect, symbolizing discipline and authority!
Having completed all this, she respectfully stood by, her hands clasped, no longer daring to show the slightest negligence, though her heart still churned with questions: what exactly was the relationship between this seemingly frail, old woman and the stern, formidable Grand Martial Aunt Zhao?
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