Shangguan Yu

"Hey, so this is the Immortal Cult higher-up you guys caught?" A voice suddenly sounded behind Lu Yang, scaring him half to death. Turning around, he saw the young girl, Shangguan Yu. "I mean, running a barbecue stall was going so well—why couldn't he think straight and had to go mess around with a demonic cult?" Shangguan Yu bobbed her head from side to side, reminiscing over the flavor of the grilled skewers and sighing in pity for these people. "Anyway, you folks at the Dao Seeking Sect did good, catching a big fish like this. How many years has it been since someone of this stature was captured? May you pry out some useful intelligence." Shangguan Yu gave Lu Yang an encouraging pat on the shoulder with a smile. "I'd say you were born to be in the Dao Seeking Sect. Keep up the good work! I have high hopes for you. Who knows, maybe one day you'll even surpass Daoist Buyu!" Yun Zhi chimed in from the side, "He can surpass Master, of course." Shangguan Yu scratched her head. What she actually meant was that Lu Yang's wild imagination could surpass Daoist Buyu's. Did Xiaoyun misunderstand something? Oh well, forget explaining—too much hassle. Just as Lu Yang was about to speak, Shangguan Yu vanished into thin air, leaving no clue as to what method she had used. ... Up on the stands, the Grand Elder was restoring order. "Everyone, remain calm! It was merely a few demonic cultists at the Body Integration stage trying to ambush us with an immortal treasure. It's nothing to fuss about." The Grand Elder wore an expression that practically screamed: *This happens all the time in our Dao Seeking Sect.* *You folks from the Five Elements Sect haven't seen anything like this before, have you?* *People like that can't even make a ripple here.* Qiu Jin'an would bet his life this bastard was showing off to him. Demonic cultists at the Body Integration stage launching an ambush with an immortal treasure—if that happened at the Five Elements Sect, they would have been on maximum alert. Who could be like the Dao Seeking Sect, casually playing around with them? You lot really don't have a care in the world! "From the Immortal Cult?" Qiu Jin'an recalled that Yun Zhi seemed privy to certain secrets regarding the Immortal Cult, likely having obtained a few clues. At the Body Integration stage, he had to be someone on the level of a Vice Cult Master. The Dao Seeking Sect had reeled in a massive fish this time. Qiu Jin'an looked on with envy. If one dug deep into such a big catch, all sorts of good things could be unearthed. Why did all the good luck always fall into the Dao Seeking Sect's lap?! "Indeed so," the Grand Elder replied with a veneer of bookish elegance. Suppressing the urge to give the Grand Elder a thrashing, Qiu Jin'an negotiated, "The Five Great Immortal Sects share a common enemy. Once you interrogate some intelligence out of him, share it with us too, won't you?" The Grand Elder looked utterly self-composed. "That's easy. As long as you take the initiative to admit your Five Elements Sect is inferior to the Dao Seeking Sect and become our little brother, we as the big brother will naturally tell you whatever intel we get." "Qin Jiunian, don't push it too far! Out of you Nine Scions of the Dao Seeking Sect, Daoist Buyu is the only one I couldn't beat!" Qiu Jin'an slammed the table and rolled his shoulders, his joints popping and creaking. The Grand Elder sneered and snapped his fingers. The Second through Eighth Elders instantly appeared behind him, spreading out in a row like a peacock fanning its tail. Qiu Jin'an sensed a suffocatingly terrifying aura—the Sixth Elder was here. A smug smile crept onto the Grand Elder's face. He opened his mouth to speak, only to realize he couldn't utter a single sound. Helpless, he sent a voice transmission to the Sixth Elder: *Sixth Junior Sister, when will you finally learn to control that Immortal Physique of yours?* The Sixth Elder rolled her eyes. *Be content! Out of every Immaculate Immortal Physique in history, I have the best control. The last recorded one was Chi Qianqian—after she reached the Body Integration stage, her body automatically repelled the ambient spiritual energy, forcing her to abandon cultivation altogether.* Clearly, Immortal Physiques came with their drawbacks. With the Sixth Elder dampening the mood, the Grand Elder lost all appetite for mocking Qiu Jin'an. The Sixth Elder tactfully departed. The closing ceremony was not yet over, and if she stayed any longer, neither the Grand Elder nor Qiu Jin'an would be able to read their closing remarks. In the matches between the Five Elements Sect and the Dao Seeking Sect, the Five Elements Sect had lost miserably, barely securing any wins. The disciples of the Five Elements Sect were by no means delicate greenhouse flowers. They had vanquished plenty of demons and monsters, and had mingled in bustling mortal markets to accomplish missions, boasting ample combat experience and street smarts. Yet they had genuinely never witnessed fighting styles like those of the Dao Seeking Sect. Everything was too unpredictable, rendering all their experience utterly useless. As for the few matches the Dao Seeking Sect did lose, they were entirely because their own disciples suffered intermittent bouts of insanity. For instance, in one Golden Core match, a Dao Seeking Sect disciple fought with ferocious aggression from the start, a stark departure from his usual demeanor. Just when his Five Elements Sect opponent was on the verge of collapsing under the pressure, the Dao Seeking Sect disciple abruptly collapsed from total exhaustion. In what seemed like his dying moments, he gasped to the referee, "This... was a do-or-die battle... Before the match, I took a lethal poison pill... It kicks in after five minutes... Only after stepping off the stage would I take the antidote... If I couldn't defeat my opponent within five minutes... I was bound to die... I... I won't make it... I just wanted to win one match so badly..." Seeing that the disciple was on the brink of death and having no antidote on hand, the referee hurriedly fished out two of the exact same poison pills to extend his life by ten minutes, then dashed outside the arena to find the antidote and save him. After delivering their hypocritical closing speeches, the two sect leaders bid each other a fond, lingering farewell. To anyone watching, the bond between the Five Great Immortal Sects appeared deeply affectionate, completely refuting the rumors outside that the Dao Seeking Sect was alienated from the other four. "Haha, Sect Master Qiu, do visit our Dao Seeking Sect often in the future!" "Most certainly, most certainly! Given the opportunity, I will surely return to broaden my horizons." In their hearts, both cursed simultaneously: *Thank goodness I don't have to look at this old bastard anymore.* The Second Elder, meanwhile, harbored genuine affection for Shangguan Yu. "If anyone bullies you at the Five Elements Sect, just come find me! I watched Qiu Jin'an grow up from a boy. He looks upright on the surface, but he's rotten to the core. Don't let him fool you!" Shangguan Yu giggled, saying that Qiu Jin'an wouldn't dare trick her. The Second Elder's heart ached with worry, warning that she was far too naive and had fallen for Qiu Jin'an's deceit. Qiu Jin'an stepped between them, his face so dark it looked ready to drip water. "Second Brother Ba, I told you: stay away from her!" The Second Elder wore an uncaring smirk. "Don't try to scare me. Rumors outside claim Shangguan Yu is your half-sister, but I've already looked into it—your father had only one son, you! You don't have any sisters at all. "We've known each other since we were kids. Who doesn't know everything about everyone? You don't have a fiancée either, so Shangguan Yu has no relation to you. What right do you have to stop me?!" Qiu Jin'an flew into a rage. "She's my mother!" The Second Elder stiffened his neck. "Even if she's your mother... Huh? What did you say?!" The Second Elder had retorted out of pure instinct, but halfway through the shout, something felt horribly wrong. How did trying to court a girlfriend end up turning into someone's mother?! The Grand Elder and the others quietly took several steps back. Likely having been beaten too many times in their childhood, they felt an instinctive reverence and an urge to steer well clear of the older generation. The reaction of the Five Elements Sect disciples was even more intense than that of the Dao Seeking Sect. One of the Five Great Mysteries of the Five Elements Sect had finally been unraveled! "No wonder they say in the cultivation world that you can never judge age by appearance—it's true!" "I remember someone came to propose marriage once, and the Sect Master kicked him out with a furious scowl! Everyone assumed he had a sister complex back then, but who knew this was the real reason!" Qiu Jin'an turned back to Shangguan Yu, who was enjoying the spectacle, his tone laced with despairing exasperation. "Mom, you too! You can't intentionally hide your identity just to act like a young girl. Do you have any idea how many misunderstandings that's caused?!" Shangguan Yu thought her son was terribly unfilial. "What do you mean 'act like a young girl'? Am I not only eighteen years old? Besides, what's wrong with pretending to be your younger sister? Your dad even agreed to it!" "The grass on my dad's grave is taller than me! Did he appear in your dreams to tell you that?!"