Chapter 2: The Most Beautiful Lady of the Five Elements Sect

Among the eighty subsidiary peaks of Chiyang Peak, the one Yu Xiu resided on was closest to the main peak.

One reason was her identity as Master Chiyang’s sole personal disciple.

Due to his easygoing nature, Master Chiyang had never intended to take on a personal disciple. In fact, Chiyang Peak historically had only accepted inner disciples—no outer disciples, and certainly no personal ones.

But Yu Xiu had achieved Foundation Establishment at the age of twelve, shaking the entire Five Elements Sect. It was such a rare feat that Master Chiyang had finally broken tradition and made an exception for her.

As she neared the main peak, Yu Xiu dismounted her spiritual sword. Her descent was as graceful as a butterfly fluttering through air. From there, she continued on foot.

Flying swords within another cultivator’s domain was a minor breach of etiquette. Master Chiyang wouldn’t have cared, but Yu Xiu was always meticulous about courtesy.

The peak’s residence—Chiyang Palace—stood quietly ahead.

Yu Xiu once recalled players of Five Elements Immortal Domain joking that the developers were unimaginative. The peak, the Peak Master, the palace, even the spiritual artifacts all shared the same name: “Chiyang.” Master Chiyang’s natal spiritual sword, for example, was literally called the Chiyang Sword.

Yu Xiu made her way down the familiar stone path to Chiyang Palace.

A young man hurried out to meet her. “Miss Yu Xiu!”

Mo Hui, the peak’s sole immortal servant, looked about sixteen or seventeen. His expression lit up with joy. “Congratulations on exiting seclusion and advancing further on your immortal path!”

After offering his cheerful congratulations, he respectfully led Yu Xiu to the main hall, serving her a cup of spiritual tea before presenting a thumb-sized white jade slip.

“Miss Yu Xiu,” Mo Hui said with solemn courtesy, “this arrived from the Disciple Affairs Hall of Tianshuang Peak.”

In this world, cultivators usually used voice transmission talismans for instant, two-way communication. Jade slips were a more formal method, used for one-way information delivery—most often for sect matters.

Yu Xiu smiled. “Thank you for your hard work.”

She took the jade slip and channeled a flicker of spiritual power into it. The embedded restriction—a measure to prevent leaks—easily dissolved at her touch. With a sweep of her divine sense, she absorbed its entire contents.

The demonic cultivators’ den was located in Qingshui Village, approximately four thousand li from the Five Elements Sect.

Villagers had reported strange activity there as far back as three years ago. The information passed through multiple channels before reaching the Sect’s Affairs Hall, where it was logged as a mission.

According to the original report, there were only two evil cultivators, both mid-stage Qi Refinement. Qingshui Village was remote and sparsely populated, and the damage done had been minimal, so the mission was ranked “medium difficulty” and assigned a modest reward—meant for Qi Refinement disciples.

Four thousand li would’ve been an epic journey in Yu Xiu’s past life. But to cultivators, it wasn’t considered extreme—especially within the Five Elements Sect’s protection zone.

Even so, for Qi Refinement disciples, it was a risky and distant trek. With high danger and low reward, few had taken the mission.

In the last three years, only one pair of disciples attempted it. Neither returned.

That wasn’t uncommon in the cultivation world, and the mission continued to go unnoticed—until one month ago.

Another team of five disciples took on the mission. Three died in the village.

Of the two survivors, one succumbed to injuries en route. The other barely made it back to the Sect and soon perished as well.

Before dying, that disciple relayed one critical piece of intelligence:

Besides the two Qi Refinement evil cultivators, there was a third, far more powerful one—clearly beyond Qi Refinement.

With this new information, the Affairs Hall reclassified the mission and sent jade slips to every peak, hoping a Foundation Establishment cultivator would take it on.

On most peaks, a mission like this wouldn’t require disturbing the Peak Master.

But Chiyang Peak had so few disciples that the jade slip was addressed directly to Master Chiyang—and naturally fell into Mo Hui’s hands.

Yu Xiu had barely finished reading when the man himself finally arrived.

“Yo!” Master Chiyang strolled into the palace, stroking his long beard. “Yu You’s back!”

Yu Xiu stood and bowed with a polite smile. “Greetings, Master.”

Beside her, Mo Hui winced. “Master… her name is Xiu.”

Only their Peak Master could forget his only personal disciple’s name after so many years.

Good thing Miss Yu Xiu had a good temper.

“Right, right, Yu Xiu, Yu Xiu!” Master Chiyang waved him off and dropped lazily onto a seat. “Anyway, take a look at this. You’re the only one here who fits the bill. If any of your senior brothers or sisters went, it’d be bullying the demonic cultivators.”

It was true.

Chiyang Peak held the sect record for the fewest disciples. Sometimes, a full century would pass without a single new recruit.

Yu Xiu’s own senior brothers and sisters hadn’t joined in hundreds of years. The youngest of them arrived three centuries ago.

Their cultivation started at Golden Core. Sending one of them for a mere Foundation Establishment mission? That would indeed be overkill.

Mo Hui muttered under his breath, frowning, “Bullying? Those demonic cultivators are worse than beasts. Burning, killing, looting—scum like that should be exterminated.”

As always, Master Chiyang showed no intention of dealing with anything himself. He clearly expected Yu Xiu to handle it.

The cultivators of Chiyang Peak were notoriously solitary. Even Master Chiyang never kept more than one servant.

For years, Mo Hui had handled all the chores—big and small—on his own. Fortunately, with so few people on the peak, he’d managed.

But Master Chiyang was such an expert at slacking off that Mo Hui had often worked himself into a frenzy trying to maintain order.

That changed once Yu Xiu arrived.

As Master Chiyang’s personal disciple, she took responsibility for all decisions requiring authority. Mo Hui finally felt like the sky had cleared after a long storm.

Not only was Yu Xiu dependable, her sense of organization and strategy was exceptional. Her vision was far-reaching, yet grounded in practical action.

At first, Mo Hui had simply been surprised. Then awed. Now, he completely relied on her.

Master Chiyang, of course, was delighted by the arrangement—gladly handing over all responsibilities to Yu Xiu without shame.

In terms of actual authority on Chiyang Peak, the true ruler was none other than its youngest disciple.

That was the second reason Yu Xiu’s residence stood closest to the main peak.

In fact, had she not been in closed-door cultivation, Mo Hui would’ve delivered the jade slip to her directly.

Now, not even bothering to check where Master Chiyang had wandered off to, Mo Hui turned back to Yu Xiu and asked with practiced ease, “Will you be accepting this mission? I’ll send your reply to the Affairs Hall.”

He was already skilled in such administrative tasks.

The mission had only recently been reissued. The reward was nothing special. No other Foundation Establishment disciple had taken it yet.

Mo Hui knew Miss Yu Xiu well—benevolent and responsible, she would never let such a task go ignored.

As expected, Yu Xiu nodded.

“Understood,” Mo Hui said, bowing with genuine respect.

Then, without waiting for Yu Xiu to ask, he proactively reported on the various affairs of Chiyang Peak during her two years of seclusion.

Chiyang Peak had so few people that its overall administrative matters were minimal.

Yu Xiu, used to being a high-level executive in her past life, had efficiency far beyond that of ordinary people. Handling these matters didn’t affect her normal cultivation at all.

Mo Hui was also an experienced, diligent, and capable subordinate. Yu Xiu only needed to issue a few key instructions.

Listening to Yu Xiu’s consistently decisive and brilliant decisions, Mo Hui’s attitude grew even more respectful—and even a little adoring.

As long as Miss Yu Xiu is here, Chiyang Peak has a backbone! As for Master Chiyang, he’s not important.

Master Chiyang had long since slipped out of the hall and vanished who-knows-where. Yu Xiu was already used to this. After asking Mo Hui to convey to him that she was about to depart, she left Chiyang Palace.

Watching Yu Xiu’s elegant figure—where even an ordinary step seemed like lotus blooms unfolding—Mo Hui thought of Master Chiyang’s sloppy appearance and carefree attitude every time they met.

He couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head.

Forget it, forget it. It’s not like I just found out there’s no comparison…

Qingshui Village.

This small village, nestled deep in the mountains, had always been sparsely populated.

After evil cultivators appeared three years ago, those who could move had already left. Only a ghost town remained.

Yet the usually dead-silent Qingshui Village was extremely “lively” today.

More than a dozen half-human-sized, blackish-purple spider monsters scurried on their eight legs, chasing after three young cultivators clad in the outer disciple uniforms of the Five Elements Sect’s Tianshuang Peak.

There were two males and one female.

One of the young men, with disheveled hair, was already unconscious and seriously injured, slung over the shoulder of a shorter, stout young man. The latter, along with the girl beside him—her hair tied with a red ribbon—was also covered in wounds and bloodstains, clearly injured during earlier skirmishes with the spider swarm.

Behind them, two evil cultivators controlled their “pets,” cackling madly.

“Jie jie jie! The last batch of tender little snacks wasn’t enough. And now new ones arrive so quickly!”

As long as no one completed a mission from the Five Elements Sect’s Affairs Hall, it remained open for acceptance. The “last batch” referred to the disciples who had died here a month ago.

These three were just unlucky. They’d accepted the same mission shortly afterward, unaware of the updated intelligence. It had taken them nearly two months to travel from the sect to Qingshui Village, and they hadn’t realized that what seemed like a moderately risky training mission was actually a death trap.

The two still-conscious cultivators were growing weaker by the second, vision darkening, limbs trembling.

The red-ribboned girl’s voice trembled, laced with despair. “It’s over… we can’t escape… we really can’t escape…!!”

The stout young man cursed hoarsely, “Son of a b*tch! The Affairs Hall called this mid-stage Qi Refinement?! That’s clearly a late-stage cultivator! I—”

He didn’t finish.

The spiders, seeing their prey faltering, surged forward in a deadly wave.

The evil cultivators’ laughter rose even higher. “Die! Jie jie jie hahahahaha!”

And then—

A crimson-gold sword light descended from the sky like thunder crashing to earth.

In the blink of an eye, all dozen spider monsters were disintegrated—turned to dust under the brilliance of that blade.

The beasts that had nearly claimed the disciples’ lives vanished in a single strike.

The red-ribboned girl and the stout young man stared in disbelief.

They looked up—and saw a graceful woman hovering above, clad in a suoh-colored dress, holding a longsword of matching crimson-gold hue.

—

Yu Xiu had arrived from the Five Elements Sect using a sky-riding technique. She had sensed something wrong, so she summoned her natal spiritual sword—Peize.

This first strike after her seclusion gave her a clear grasp of her current power.

With another casual swing of her sword, she obliterated the two evil cultivators trying to flee.

The entire battle took less than a single breath.

The two disciples below were utterly dumbfounded.

Two strikes. Just two.

This expert had resolved a life-or-death crisis with only two strikes!

The stout young man was frozen. The last time he’d seen a sword cultivator this strong was an elder from Tianshuang Peak. But even that elder’s strikes didn’t look as smooth, as effortless, as… divine.

The red-ribboned girl’s eyes widened with recognition. “H-Head Senior Sister!”

She grabbed the stout boy’s arm excitedly. “It’s her! The famous Head Senior Sister from Chiyang Peak! The peerless genius who outshines even the Heavenly and Mutated Spiritual Root geniuses with her dual spiritual roots!”

The young man’s eyes lit up. “So it’s Head Senior Sister Yu Xiu!”

He added excitedly, “They say her beauty makes fish sink, geese fall, the moon shy, and flowers blush—she’s the number one beauty in the entire Five Elements Sect!”

Yu Xiu, hearing all this clearly from above, was speechless.

Looks like I don’t need to worry about their injuries being too serious. If they were, they wouldn’t be this energetic.

She had been hearing herself called the “number one beauty” for several years now. What once amused or annoyed her had simply become background noise.

After all, the Five Elements Sect was the core of the “Five Elements Immortal Domain.” How could a romance-plot game not be overflowing with handsome men and beautiful women? She knew of at least ten who could qualify.

As for my looks… only inexperienced junior disciples would still think I’m number one.

Setting aside such thoughts, Yu Xiu’s gaze sharpened.

She extended her divine sense, surveying the entirety of Qingshui Village from the air.

She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but ever since she’d come within a hundred li of this place, something had felt… off.

It was as if, hidden within this inconspicuous village, something deeply mysterious was tugging at her attention—something extremely tempting.