The twitch of her mouth showed great satisfaction.
Tang Nai hugged Su Mu, a hint of a smile in her gray eyes, as if saying, “Why can’t you just admit it? It’s all for you, isn’t it?”
“You want to win up there, right? That’s easy, I’ll just crush through…”
Tang Nai reached out and pressed down on Su Mu’s shoulder, who was eager to jump in, signaling her to be patient.
“Forget it, so I have to go to that… World’s Greatest Martial Arts Tournament?”
“Don’t rush. If you really do that, you might not even get the recognition of the Transcendence Authority. Remember your true goal: not to attract attention, but to find your own authority.”
Su Mu nodded as if she understood, lowered her hand, pondered for a moment, then curved her eyes and looked at Tang Nai.
Tang Nai smiled slightly.
“Since I’ve said so much, you must have a plan, right?”
“Good, pretty sharp. I’ve already thought of it for you—next, you’ll use that disguise method from before, dress up as an unknown lone ranger to participate in the tournament. That way, at least there’s a higher chance of getting approval from your mom.”
As she spoke, Tang Nai pulled out several brocade pouches from her pocket and placed them in Su Mu’s hand.
“When you’re indecisive, open these pouches in order. When you see the words inside, you’ll understand what to do.”
Su Mu weighed the light pouches in her hand, momentarily speechless.
‘This one really gets into the role.’
“So you’re not coming with me?”
“Of course. I can at most give you advice. I can’t be by your side every moment; that would be harmful and unhelpful. If I weren’t worried you had no clue, I would have hidden from the start. Sigh, Little Su Mu, you need to learn to make Sister Tang Nai worry less about you.” Tang Nai chuckled lightly, noncommittal.
Seeing her sighing with such pretense, Su Mu hit the nail on the head about her little scheme: “You’re just feeling too lonely, so you came to me, right?”
“Whatever you think. I’m leaving. Good luck.”
With that, Tang Nai waved her sleeve, and her entire figure vanished into thin air, leaving Su Mu stunned.
After thinking for a moment, Su Mu shook her head helplessly and walked toward the inner room.
‘I’ll disguise myself and then get ready to set out.’
However, as soon as Su Mu entered the room, a petite figure stumbled toward her from inside.
The delicate little face was wet, whether with tears or snot.
“Chief, you finally got rid of that bad woman. I thought she had bewitched you and you’d never return to the Flower Full Tower and the sisters and Qing’er…”
Su Mu pressed down on Qing’er’s head with disgust to prevent her from wiping her tears onto her sleeve.
“I didn’t say that. Now I have something to do outside. Qing’er, you don’t need to follow…”
Hearing the distance in Su Mu’s words, the purple-haired loli’s nose twitched, but she didn’t dare cry out loud, only quietly wiped her tears again and again.
“Boo hoo, the chief has no use for Qing’er anymore…”
Su Mu saw her pitiful appearance, lowered her eyes, and recalled memories of Qing’er.
Since Qing’er was originally Sun Chuan’s mortal enemy, Su Mu really couldn’t look at her properly.
But seeing how excited she got every time she saw her, she suddenly felt many doubts.
‘That bad woman out there planned to kill me… But she’s a Witch, which means she was originally a Magical Girl. Could I have misjudged her?’
After a moment, Su Mu found the answer.
In the Dream World, Su Mu’s first meeting with Qing’er was at a stronghold of the Flower Full Tower.
At that time, Qing’er was still a purple-haired young girl no taller than a cartwheel, dragged by her parents to the madam to be sold to the Flower Full Tower.
Qing’er was very attached to her parents, completely unaware that she had been seen as a burden since birth.
The reason they were willing to raise her to this age was only to sell her at the brothel for a good price.
Treated coldly by her closest family, Qing’er cried miserably.
Su Mu happened to be inspecting the area at that time, and seeing this, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy, so she took Qing’er in.
However, Qing’er had no talent for martial arts.
Her meridians were congenitally defective, almost unable to withstand inner energy, and her heart meridian was extremely fragile.
If she hadn’t met Su Mu, she would have been destined to become an ordinary brothel girl.
At the age of blooming beauty, she would be ravished by men; if pregnant, fed saffron soup to abort, then receive clients again, and so on, until she grew old and lost her looks, no longer favored, then reduced to a servant’s wife, praying not to be plagued by a hundred diseases, and die painfully.
But Su Mu saved her from that terrible fate, erased her original name, and from then on only called her Qing’er.
Qing’er couldn’t learn martial arts, so Su Mu kept her as a personal maid and occasionally used her inner energy to regulate her meridians.
Even though she still couldn’t practice martial arts, at least it improved her physical condition, keeping her free from illness and disaster.
Qing’er, who grew up by Su Mu’s side, remembered all this.
Although she didn’t say it, she had long regarded Su Mu as her most important family.
And now, upon hearing that she was about to be left behind, she naturally was full of grievance and cried loudly, giving Su Mu a headache.
“Alright, stop crying. If you cry anymore, I’ll really leave you behind.”
Threatened by Su Mu like that, the little loli immediately stopped crying, only staring at her with tearful eyes, making it hard to refuse.
“Like this, come here.”
Su Mu beckoned to Qing’er, bringing her in front of her.
Then, threads wrapped around her body, and in the blink of an eye, the little loli turned into a fair-skinned, rosy-lipped little book boy.
Qing’er stared blankly at herself in the mirror, her eyes full of disbelief.
She curiously felt up and down, then looked at Su Mu with joy.
“So amazing. What kind of technique is this, Chief?”
Su Mu smiled slightly, moved the threads again, and disguised herself as a pale-faced young scholar heading to the capital for exams.
“This is called magic. And by the way, outside, don’t call me Chief. Call me Young Master Su.”
Meanwhile, outside the imperial city, there stood a manor second only to the imperial palace in scale.
If one looked down from above, even high officials and nobles who had seen great spectacles could not help but sigh in admiration.
Yet this grand manor had no high defensive walls on all sides, as if it was completely defenseless against bandits and thieves.
The gatekeeper was only a withered old man, sitting on the steps with half-closed eyes, leaning against the gate, looking weary.
But no one dared to underestimate him, because above his head hung a plaque with three gold-lettered characters: Heavenly Origin Mansion.
The vigorous strokes matched the mansion’s fame in the martial world, sitting in the position of “Number One Mansion Under Heaven,” facing the imperial city from afar.
Disciples spread across the world only need to show their identity jade token to earn everyone’s admiration.
And the reason Heavenly Origin Mansion had such fame, aside from years of legacy and generational management, was more due to that peerless martial couple.
Heavenly Origin Mansion’s Lord, Sword God Ye Qing; former Flower Full Tower Chief, Nameless Sword Su Ya.
All in the martial world wished to become their disciples, learn from the Sword God, and master skills to roam the world.
But common folk who only knew their names were more curious about the secret of their childbearing, and thus many absurd rumors spread.
Some said it was Ye Qing challenging the heavens with her sword, winning by half a move, thus reversing yin and yang to give birth to an heir.
Others said that the young master of Heavenly Origin Mansion had yellow hair, so surely someone took advantage of the situation when Flower Queen Su Ya was in distress, having a one-night stand with her.
Regardless, that young master of Heavenly Origin Mansion was always the focus of attention.
With the Sword God and Flower Queen teaching him from childhood, he should have become the most dazzling prodigy in the martial world, however…
“Sword Qi, third stage, unqualified!”
The handsome yellow-haired boy stared blankly at the giant rock that only bore a shallow white mark, his hand holding the sword trembling slightly.
The black-haired girl behind him immediately stepped forward.
Although the boy said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine, Shan’er,” seeing his trembling right arm, the girl’s dark eyes couldn’t help but show a hint of worry.
“Young master, perhaps you should go see the Lord instead. This is futile and will only leave you more discouraged…”
“I just want to be alone. No need.” The young master waved his hand.
He turned and left, his yellow hair tied neatly behind him, swaying left and right, gradually fading away.
The black-haired girl stared blankly at his back, momentarily speechless.
“Lu Shan, it’s your turn.”
Called by the martial arts instructor, Lu Shan snapped back to reality, her pretty face only showing indifference.
She did not move her feet, only casually flicked her sleeve toward the giant rock.
The rock, like an artificial mountain, was instantly shattered by an invisible force, crushed into powder and dissipated.
Yet the small pond behind it did not ripple at all, not a trace of force leaked.
Such exquisite martial arts left the onlookers stunned.
The other Heavenly Origin Mansion disciples behind her helplessly sheathed their swords, their faces bitter.
And Lu Shan had no intention of showing off.
Seeing the rock shattered, she casually turned around and chased after the yellow-haired boy.
At this time, the boy had already returned to his own courtyard, climbed onto the roof alone, and sat blankly at the corner, playing with the yin-yang fish jade pendant in his hand.
Why, born as the only child of the number one person under heaven, is he, Ye Bei, just an ordinary person with poor talent and ordinary sword skills?
And his childhood sweetheart, the black-haired girl Lu Shan from the Western Regions’ Seek Immortal Mountain, has talent no less than Ye Qing in her prime.
How could this not make him feel frustrated?
‘Mother… I…’