Chapter 393

Chapter 393: Your Master Is Dying

The emperor spoke mildly: “Minister Yu.”

Yu Zhi Yi dipped her head: “Your Majesty summoned this subject-what is the matter?”

Before the emperor could speak, the Empress Dowager gave a short snort and said: “Does the emperor need a reason to summon an official?”

Yu Zhi Yi kept quiet, and the emperor smiled: “I just established a Grand Preceptor’s Manor. Starting today, Immortal Qing Feng will serve as State Preceptor of my Great Sheng Empire.”

Yu Zhi Yi lifted an eyebrow.

The seat she refused back then had now been taken by someone else?

She slowly turned to Immortal Qing Feng and met his eyes.

Immortal Qing Feng sat straight-backed, cold and proud, without looking at Yu Zhi Yi again.

“May I ask, Immortal Qing Feng,” she said, “under whom did you study?”

Immortal Qing Feng stayed indifferent.

A woman’s voice sounded: “Official Yu, how rude. People announce their own backgrounds. Who forces others to reveal their masters?”

At the familiar voice, Yu Zhi Yi’s brow twitched.

You Bing Yue.

The bold, striking woman stood beside Immortal Qing Feng, smiling sweetly at Yu Zhi Yi.

Yu Zhi Yi’s lovely face cooled.

So You Bing Yue’s backer was Immortal Qing Feng.

No wonder she had a teleportation talisman.

No wonder she dared to make a scene on Mount Ming.

This new backer was far stronger than Ou Yang Shuo.

Seeing Yu Zhi Yi fall silent, You Bing Yue decided she was scared and felt delighted.

For the past half year, every time she met Yu Zhi Yi, she lost for no reason at all.

And she lost badly.

As someone used to pride, she couldn’t accept it.

Yu Zhi Yi is a master of Mystic Arts. Though You Bing Yue is skilled at killing, she must either get close to her target or touch something the target owns-especially their food.

She could do neither.

Yu Zhi Yi was always wrapped in a defensive shield. The moment You Bing Yue attacked, every strike bounced back onto herself.

In the end, her own spear turned on her.

Poisoning was even more hopeless, because Yu Zhi Yi almost never ate anything when she was out.

You Bing Yue even wondered if this woman didn’t need to eat or drink at all.

Her proudest skills were like ants in front of Yu Zhi Yi. You Bing Yue felt crushed.

Now, at last, she could raise her head.

Even if the one making Yu Zhi Yi suffer wasn’t her, the one doing it was her friend.

Borrowing a tiger’s might felt great.

Yu Zhi Yi chuckled softly: “Miss You is right. How can I push others to announce their lineage before announcing my own? This official was rude.”

She faced Immortal Qing Feng and offered the salute of a Mystic Arts Practitioner: “I am Yu Zhi Yi, the 128th-generation lay disciple of the Heavenly Secret Sect.”

Immortal Qing Feng finally showed a change of expression: “You’re from the Heavenly Secret Sect?”

Yu Zhi Yi felt a bit uneasy as she named the Heavenly Secret Sect.

She wasn’t afraid the sect was too unknown to be believed. She worried that her identity as a lay disciple wouldn’t hold up.

After all, aside from a few tokens left by her senior brothers, Master hadn’t left any solid proof.

She hadn’t expected him to accept it so easily.

That was surprising.

Yu Zhi Yi didn’t know that, in the Hidden Realm, knowledge of the Heavenly Secret Sect splits people into two camps.

Those with low cultivation or weak sects have never heard of it.

Only the top powers know the name.

If Yu Zhi Yi had pulled the banner of some small sect, Immortal Qing Feng might have doubted her.

But she used a name that only the very top had heard-and he had already heard from You Bing Yue that Yu Zhi Yi excelled at reading fate.

So he didn’t doubt it.

Not doubting, though, didn’t mean he respected her.

You Bing Yue, meanwhile, started to feel uneasy.

She had just thought Yu Zhi Yi couldn’t cause any trouble, yet Immortal Qing Feng’s attitude changed after hearing her sect.

Was the Heavenly Secret Sect really that powerful?

She clenched her fists.

This was the flaw of being dropped into this world halfway through a life.

Others had time to work from the womb; she had to take over someone else’s first ten awful years.

No connections, no strong body, no power.

Everything had to be built by herself.

She didn’t notice that her mindset had already twisted a little, trapping her in odd logic.

She felt the heavens were unfair to her, forgetting that she had already died in the modern world and now had a second life.

That alone was a gift most people could never dream of.

As for landing in a poor identity-

Yu Zhi Yi’s identity hadn’t been good either.

She was the daughter of the Martial Alliance’s second master and the adopted daughter of the former Minister of Revenue-titles that sounded impressive.

But as a child she was taken from her parents by bad people. In the Minister’s Manor, people ignored her; the true young lady pressed her down; even the servants bullied her.

She was only a ten-year-old little miss then.

Compared to that, You Bing Yue’s starting point wasn’t worse at all.

Heaven is fair in a cold way.

It ignores everyone equally and watches all beings struggle.

Whether you can climb out of the mud depends on yourself.

Whether you bloom also depends on yourself.

“That’s right,” Yu Zhi Yi said. “My master is Immortal Zi Chan.”

Thank goodness-before leaving, Master had at least told her that honorific.

The Empress Dowager’s pampered hand tightened.

“Immortal.”

The Imperial Court and Dragon-Tiger Mountain don’t have close ties, but they do know a few things.

For example, anyone called “immortal” is a great expert who can fly by swordflight.

Rather than “immortal,” it’s more like “Golden Immortal.”

So Yu Zhi Yi’s master was also a Golden Immortal?

That would be troublesome.

Just then, Immortal Qing Feng sneered and said: “Immortal Zi Chan? You mean that Purple Cicada immortal whose lifespan is almost up?”

Yu Zhi Yi felt as if something had grabbed her heart hard.

[Lifespan almost up? Is that why Master left in such a hurry?]

Her mood fell-but others brightened.

You Bing Yue almost laughed. She had thought Yu Zhi Yi could pull in a great Buddha.

Who knew it was an old elder about to die?

On her face, though, she put on a look of regret and said: “Official Yu, is your master’s life almost over?”

The Empress Dowager’s tense shoulders loosened.

The emperor asked with interest: “Immortal Qing Feng, how do you know this?”

A good question.

Yu Zhi Yi wanted to ask it too.

She herself hadn’t known her master was close to death.

Yet this Immortal Qing Feng knew?

Immortal Qing Feng gave Yu Zhi Yi a sideways look. He seemed to be explaining for her sake, but he was really speaking to the emperor and the Empress Dowager: “It isn’t a secret in the Hidden Realm that Immortal Zi Chan’s lifespan is running low. A Golden Core Realm expert lives five hundred years. If they can’t break through to the Nascent Soul Realm before then, they die in their five hundredth year.”

“Immortal Zi Chan is already four hundred seventy-eight-only a bit over twenty years remain.”

“She left the Heavenly Secret Sect more than ten years ago, said to be seeking a chance to break through.”

“Now that a decade has passed and she still hasn’t returned, she likely knows there’s no hope. She’s probably looking for a mountain where she can sit and pass away.”

Yu Zhi Yi tightened her hands.

This was a hidden truth she had never known.