Righteous Path Alliance, Scripture Pavilion.
"Indeed… it really is the Ancient Artifact Refining Method…"
Leng Qingqiu flipped through a jade slip, comparing its contents piece by piece with the Heavenly Silk Jade Armor she had obtained from Bai Yiyi.
The result did not disappoint her. This Heavenly Silk Jade Armor had indeed been forged using the ancient refining techniques that were nearly lost to time.
In fact, the moment she put it on, she sensed something was wrong. She couldn't use it at all.
But unlike Ye Ling, she wasn't completely baffled. Born into a great clan, her horizons were far broader than those of Ye Ling, who had only recently entered this world.
More importantly, she herself possessed a damaged Dao Artifact, the Void Sword Casket.
When she had first obtained the Void Sword Casket, she had felt the same frustration, as if she had strength but nowhere to apply it. That was why she never suspected Bai Yiyi of toying with her by deliberately handing over a mere display piece that only carried the aura of a Spirit Artifact.
In many places that sold artifacts, the real items were never put on display. Instead, model-like display pieces were used.
These display items were identical to the genuine articles in both appearance and aura, but they were completely unusable.
The sensation they gave was exactly the same as having insufficient True Qi to activate a real artifact.
If Leng Qingqiu were to take this Heavenly Silk Jade Armor elsewhere, cultivators who couldn't use it would likely assume it was just a display piece rather than the real thing.
However, after consulting a vast amount of material, Leng Qingqiu finally confirmed that the Heavenly Silk Jade Armor was genuine. The only issue was that she herself couldn't use it yet.
Even so, she discovered that even her strongest attack couldn't penetrate its defenses. She couldn't even leave a scratch on it.
Unlike Ye Ling's Heaven-Ordained Battle Robe, hers was a piece of soft armor. Even as a Dao cultivator, she could wear it directly for protection.
"What kind of existence is the Heavenly Gate Sect, really?"
After her initial excitement faded, worry crept in.
She had found ways to verify the Ancient Artifact Refining Method, yet she couldn't uncover a single piece of information about the Heavenly Gate Sect. The sect was like a black hole, swallowing all traces of itself.
Even Heavenly Peak in Ying Prefecture was only vaguely marked on maps. If not for this mission, she would never have known that a sect existed at its summit.
Could it be… that she had no choice but to go back?
Leng Qingqiu bit her lip, a flash of unwillingness crossing her face.
Although the Righteous Path Alliance's Scripture Pavilion housed countless texts, it still couldn't compare to those of top-tier sects or hidden clans. At best, it only had an advantage in sheer volume.
Still, compared to the sour faces back in her clan, Leng Qingqiu wanted even more to make one thing clear to Ye Ling.
She was not someone to be bullied.
Of course, she knew she probably couldn't defeat Ye Ling head-on. But she was determined to make him owe her a favor. When that time came, she could demand whatever she wanted and vent the resentment she had bottled up inside.
In her eyes, even if the Heavenly Gate Sect was a hidden sect, its dilapidated appearance made one thing clear. It was short on manpower.
What good was being strong on your own?
In the modern cultivation world, wasn't everything built on connections?
What could one person accomplish alone?
Could a single cultivator really stand against the entire world?
Even those at the Great Ascension Stage had their limits.
And once they broke through and ascended to the Immortal Realm, no matter how powerful they were, they could no longer influence the cultivation world.
Because of this, Leng Qingqiu was full of confidence. Give her enough time, and she was certain she could build her own power.
She wasn't even twenty yet, but she already possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation, and an exceptionally solid one at that. Even ordinary Golden Core cultivators were no match for her.
She firmly believed that one day, she would rely on her own strength to stand above the heavens and rise above all others.
When that day came, whether it was the Leng Clan or that hateful man Ye Ling, they would all have to come to her for help.
But before welcoming that bright future, she decided to return home first.
Only by understanding her opponent could she formulate the right plan of action.
...
The Leng Clan.
The moment Leng Qingqiu returned to the family estate, she was greeted with an outpouring of enthusiasm from the clan.
"Oh? Isn't this the Saintess?"
"So you finally decided to come back? Didn't you say you weren't returning, Saintess?"
"Saintess?"
"It's the Leftover Maiden."
"Huh? What happened? I just got back."
"The Ye Clan just came to cancel the engagement."
"What? The Ye Clan? Which Ye Clan?"
"Which one do you think? Of course, the Ye Clan that arranged a childhood betrothal with our Leftover Maiden all those years ago."
"Wasn't that engagement already canceled?"
"That was because our family gave birth to the Leftover Maiden. Naturally, the marriage had to be called off."
"Then…"
"But the Ye Clan's divination was wrong. They actually had a boy."
"What? Wasn't it supposed to be a girl?"
"The Ye Clan produced a true dragon. This young master has extraordinary cultivation talent and was born with prophetic dreams. Afraid he might die young, the Ye Clan kept it secret all this time."
"There's really such a thing?"
"There is. But recently, they couldn't keep it hidden anymore, so they came to cancel the engagement, saying that the young master ran off and disappeared."
"Ran off? More like he looked down on our Leftover Maiden."
"…"
The Leng Clan was an enormous family, its estate resembling a small city. So the moment Leng Qingqiu stepped off the clan's teleportation array, she was immediately surrounded by cutting remarks and mocking voices.
However, as she read further, Leng Qingqiu's expression gradually turned strange.
I was actually the one who got dumped?
Leng Qingqiu knew the Ye Clan well. It was a family on par with the Leng Clan, and the two clans had maintained friendly relations for generations.
Originally, the plan had been for the Leng Clan and the Ye Clan to intermarry and form an alliance. But because of her birth, everything had fallen apart.
But what did that have to do with her?
Ignoring the murmurs around her, Leng Qingqiu headed straight for the family's Scripture Pavilion.
So the engagement was canceled. So what?
But… the Ye Clan, huh?
I'll remember this.
Another entry was quietly added to the little ledger in Leng Qingqiu's heart, this time under the name of the Ye Clan.
For some reason, Ye Ling suddenly came to mind.
Impossible!
Leng Qingqiu shook her head and quickly dismissed the thought.
A major clan like the Ye Clan would never send out a true dragon to another sect. Wouldn't cultivating their own techniques be far better?
Besides, Ye Ling's cultivation was unfathomable. Leng Qingqiu simply didn't believe anyone could reach Ye Ling's level at the age of twenty. After all, the children of the Leng Clan and the Ye Clan had been born in the same year.
As for Bai Yiyi claiming that Ye Ling had reached Foundation Establishment in five days, Leng Qingqiu didn't believe a single punctuation mark of it.
You beat me like I was a grandson, and you're telling me this Foundation Establishment was achieved in five days?
If Ye Ling really was at the Foundation Establishment stage back then, I'll personally go marry that young master of the Ye Clan!
If I don't, I'm a dog!
With that confidence, Leng Qingqiu stepped into the Leng Clan's Scripture Pavilion.