"Su Hua again?"
Gu Qingfeng pondered. It had been several months since his awakening, and the name he'd heard most often was Su Hua. People had discussed her at the First-Rank Villa, Ouyang Ye had mentioned her many times, and even many disciples of the Yunxia Sect often talked about her. Now even Huode was bringing her up.
"Who is this Su Hua lass?"
Gu Qingfeng shifted his position, leaning sideways in his chair, crossing his legs, and taking a leisurely sip of his wine. He asked slowly, "Praised as a peerless woman and a heaven-defying talent—is she really that extraordinary?"
"She masters all ten arts of the Immortal Dao. Isn't that extraordinary?"
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng raised an eyebrow dismissively. "That's nothing special..."
"Of course, in your eyes, mastering the ten arts of the Immortal Dao is nothing special, but to us ordinary folks, it's anything but ordinary."
Huode shot Gu Qingfeng a disdainful glance and continued, "Not only does she master them, but she's also helpful, often lecturing on the Dao across the world. Many have improved their arts under her guidance..."
"And that makes her a peerless woman?" Gu Qingfeng scoffed. "At best, she's a preacher, right? Is she a reincarnated mighty one?"
"I've heard she's not."
Huode scratched his head, thinking for a moment. "But even some reincarnated mighty ones show her great respect."
"Oh? Why?"
"Do you know why everyone calls her a peerless woman?"
Seeing Huode putting on airs, Gu Qingfeng knew the old man was about to play coy again. He didn't ask, just sipped his wine and waited, knowing Huode couldn't hold back and would spill it himself.
Sure enough, after a short while, Huode cleared his throat twice and said, "I hear that girl knows the Mandate of Heaven and is especially skilled in the art of divination..."
"Oh?" Gu Qingfeng rubbed his chin, muttering, "So she's a fortune-telling crone..."
"Damn it! How does a proper art like divination become 'fortune-telling crone' in your mouth?... She's no crone; she has real skills. Whoever has immortal fate, fortune, or calamity, she predicts it spot-on..."
"Is that so..."
In all heaven and earth, there were few things Gu Qingfeng felt an innate aversion to, and the art of divination was one of them. He was naturally repelled by such things, especially these mystical divinations and deductions. They annoyed him—either being deliberately mysterious or downright superstitious. Back in the Celestial Realm, he'd been tricked by this stuff a few times.
"Does she want your Yunxia Sect's Yanyang Heart too?"
"She didn't exactly ask for it, just inquired about it... And... after learning the Yanyang Heart had been borrowed by the Nine-Hua Alliance's Old Master Rong, she said, 'As long as it's not in Yunxia Sect, it's fine'..."
"What does that mean?"
"How should I know?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head. The biggest reason he disliked these superstitious types was that they always said half and left half, glorifying it as 'heaven's secrets cannot be revealed'.
"But! Hehe... That girl seems very interested in the musical scores you used to play... I hear she's searching the world for the scores you left behind... And... she seems quite interested in your affairs too. A few years ago, she asked me about you quite a bit..."
"Asked about me? What things?"
"Your affairs at Yunxia Sect, of course."
"And you told her?"
"What do you mean, 'I told her'? Your little scandals were already turned into stories and spread across the world ages ago. Now, if you grab anyone off the street, even a three-year-old knows your little scandals. Did I need to tell her?"
"Quite something..." Gu Qingfeng pondered. The Yanyang Heart was his first branch of Karma. Why was this Su Hua girl looking for it? And specifically asking about his affairs? Searching the world for his music? Most crucially, that woman was skilled in divination and knew the Mandate of Heaven? Could she truly know some heavenly secrets?
He didn't know.
Such matters couldn't be figured out by thinking. If he had a chance to meet Su Hua, he'd get to the bottom of it.
For now, the priority was to get the Yanyang Heart.
Since the Yanyang Heart was in the hands of an old man from the Nine-Hua Alliance, and he seemed to be coming out of seclusion by year's end... Whether the other party would return it wasn't something Gu Qingfeng considered. He wasn't in a hurry, nor was he worried about whether they'd return it.
What did interest him was the connection between the Bingxuan Sect and Yunxia Sect, and the Bingxuan Sect's Ice-Profound Heart. If dual cultivation with the Yanyang Heart truly had wondrous effects, then things got complicated. Dual cultivation was the union of Yin and Yang, and the Yanyang Heart was Gu Qingfeng's first branch of Karma. Anything connected to the Yanyang Heart should have Karma ties with him.
The Dao of Karma was profoundly complex, especially now that the Laws of Karma were re-condensing... Karma was very unstable.
He recalled the old monk's words: probing Karma at this time might reveal not just the Karma of this life, but possibly past lives, or even future lives.
And Gu Qingfeng knew even better that Karma could involve not just past and future lives, but even lives before past lives.
As Gu Qingfeng chatted idly with Huode, Fei Kui hurried in.
"Young Master, Elder..." Fei Kui was very proper, bowing respectfully. "There are outsiders here."
"Outsiders? What outsiders?"
Huode suddenly thought of something, asking in surprise, "Could it be people from the Nine-Hua Alliance?"
"No... Elder Ren De said they seem to be from the Bingxuan Sect."
"Bingxuan Sect?"
Huode seemed surprised they were just talking about the Bingxuan Sect, and now people from there had arrived. What a coincidence.
"We haven't had dealings with the Bingxuan Sect for a long time. What are they doing here now?"
"This... I don't know either. Elder Ren De asked you to come over."
"Alright, let's go then. I'd like to see what the Bingxuan Sect is up to!"
Standing up, he drained the bowl of wine in one gulp. Huode asked, "Ancestor, are you coming?"
"Coming, why wouldn't I? I'd like to see the lasses of the Bingxuan Sect."
Perhaps having lain in the rocking chair for too long, Gu Qingfeng stood up and stretched, his bones cracking with a series of crisp pops that made Huode and Fei Kui's scalps tingle.
At this moment.
In the main hall of the Yunxia Sect.
A group of over ten people sat upright in chairs—some old, some young, mostly women. The elders all wore stern expressions, their eyes seemingly holding disdain for the Yunxia Sect. The younger ones were dressed splendidly, their brows exuding an air of arrogance.
Elder Ren De was receiving them while instructing people to serve tea quickly.
Seated at the head of the hall was a middle-aged woman with an expressionless face. She sat upright, eyes closed, not saying a word.
Ren De recognized her—she was an inner sect Elder of the Bingxuan Sect, Dao title True Person Ziyun, also a renowned heroine in the surrounding regions.
In the secondary seat was a sharp-featured, thin-faced old man named True Person Cangsong, a peer of Ren De's generation.
When the tea was served, True Person Cangsong took a sip, then spat it out in disgust. Wiping the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, he looked at Ren De and said lightly, "Small sects are ultimately small sects. Even the tea is of such poor quality... I say, Ren De, your Yunxia Sect is truly declining year by year."
Ren De smiled awkwardly.
Although the Yunxia Sect and Bingxuan Sect had deep historical ties, and both were once renowned orthodox sects in the Great Northwest Territory—even officially graded by the Northwest Imperial Dynasty—ever since the Yanyang Heart mysteriously lost its vitality a thousand years ago, the Yanyang Fire Spirit Vein beneath hadn't been as vigorous, and the Yunxia Sect began to decline.
In just a few hundred years, it fell from a graded major sect directly to third-rate.
By Tu De's generation, it was even worse...
Especially after the incident involving the Scarlet Firmament Monarch, the Yunxia Sect became a laughingstock of the world, not even third-rate. If not for its long heritage and deep foundation, it might have perished long ago...
The Bingxuan Sect was the opposite of Yunxia. While Yunxia declined more and more, Bingxuan grew stronger and stronger, once becoming one of the top major sects in the surrounding regions.
Although it nearly suffered annihilation during the Cataclysm of the Myriad Heavens, the Bingxuan Sect had many experts and managed to hold on. After the Calamity, in just a hundred years, the Bingxuan Sect flourished even more. As a host of experts emerged from seclusion and talented disciples within the sect increased daily, it was now one of the prestigious major sects in the four regions, with even some figures from the Nine-Hua Alliance, the overlord ruling the four directions, showing considerable wariness towards it.