As they flew toward the distant north of the continent, they crossed over many vistas and under many stars. Most of them had noticed that the stars they saw here and the stars they saw from the central continent were not the same. As none of them were astronomers, they could not say for certain, but if anything else, at least these stars didn’t feel so malevolent, or as if they stared back at them with ill intent.

  Living on the central continent — at least, that’s what they thought it was — for an entire year has made them a bit indifferent to the constant feeling of pressure. After all, living under the protection of a Tyrant wasn’t something one could casually forget. Which one of them did not think that they would wake up one day, only to find Wukong standing over their corpse?

  That is why most of them had a light heart, as they flew, finally free from the constant feeling of living under a great sword that could fall on their necks at any time.

  Thinking like this, most of them also wished the Galaxy Sword disciples good luck, and plenty of bravery, because they did not learn firsthand that, at least for the time being, the Tyrant did not wish them harm.

  While flying under the cover of stars and moonlight, Ren Jinhai accelerated a bit and offered Zhu Xuelian some qi recovery pills.

  “Sister Zhu, if you are tired, please take one of these,” he said.

  Zhu Xuelian smiled and took the pill. “Thank you, brother Ren. I will hold on to it for now.”

  Zhu Xuelian’s martial art was so advanced compared to theirs that she could fly for days at top speed and not get tired. But Ren Jinhai’s concern for the few Core Formation cultivators did not escape her notice. Maybe it was partly because he was also still a Core Formation realm cultivator.

  “May I ask you something?” Ren Jinhai asked.

  “Don’t hold back,” Zhu Xuelian said as they flew through a cloud.

  “Please don’t take this the wrong way. I am not accusing you of anything, okay?” Ren Jinhai said.

  Zhu Xuelian nodded. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I overheard that guy say that you practice the royal family’s martial art,” Ren Jinhai said. “Is it true?”

  Hearing this, the others also flew a bit closer, though they kept their gazes on the horizon, keeping a lookout for any potential trouble.

  “I cannot say for certain, but I have very strong reasons to doubt it,” Zhu Xuelian said.

  Ren Jinhai didn’t ask more, but it was clear that he was curious about the reason.

  Wu Yulan came to hover next to Zhu Xuelian and smiled. “Xuelian and I obtained our arts from Eternal Red of the Nine Frozen Suns,” she said.

  “Nine Frozen Suns?” Lei Yangming asked, as he also came to fly closer.

  “It’s a title, probably,” Zhu Xuelian said. “Maybe a place?”

  Ren Jinhai and the others found it dubious for a place to be called Nine Frozen Suns. There was but only one sun, and it certainly wasn’t frozen.

  “Maybe it’s the name of a sect?” Yuan Qiuyue suggested.

  Wu Yulan and Zhu Xuelian shrugged at the same time. They really did not know.

  “Who is this Eternal Red figure?” Ren Jinhai asked.

  “She is just about the worst monster you could ever cross paths with,” Yun Fei said. “I heard from sister Yulan that she tortured her, and sister Xuelian for weeks. That she has powers over life and death, from which I also benefited when I was poisoned.”

  Hearing this, the group seemed shocked to find out that such an expert existed on the Sky Continent. As for their thoughts on the matter of torture, living for an entire year on the central continent, and going through their own torture and daily taste of death has only slightly dulled their compassion for untenable circumstances.

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  “Have you ever been to Star City’s Red Banner Festival?” Zhu Xuelian asked.

  They shook their heads.

  “I’ve never been, but I have heard of it. It’s to honor Lu Long, who buried his lover in the mountains. It is considered a lover’s festival,” Yuan Qiuyue said.

  Zhu Xuelian nodded. “The legend goes that Lu Long courted the Fire Empress, a fairy that came from another world. There are many different accounts on who she was, but some say the Fire Empress was at the end of her lifespan, and that she was fleeing her engagement to a celestial official who was a tyrannical sort. They fell in love with each other, and she wanted to die as a mortal, married to a mortal.”

  Many of them smiled at this interpretation of the Fire Empress’ legend, and many of them thought that if they were in her shoes, they would’ve liked to have done the same.

  “What happened?” Lei Yangming asked.

  “Because she was cursed by the heavens, when the Fire Empress reached the end of her lifespan she turned into a red dragon and laid waste to the world. Lu Long, who loved her with all his heart, was the one to slay her. On death’s door, he brought the remains of the empress to a mountain and buried her under it, and was never seen again. Some say that he remained in her tomb, or that he died of heartbreak and injuries shortly after,” Wu Yulan concluded the story.

  “That is quite a tragic story for a festival,” Mu Jingyu said.

  Zhu Xuelian shrugged. “It is not true, anyway. Eternal Red is the Fire Empress from that story.”

  “When we cut our roots to kill her, she gave us half her origin, which she said was that of a phoenix,” Wu Yulan explained. “And she gave us a condition: to kill Lu Long within twenty years, or we would die.”

  These words surprised them and shocked them, for many reasons. They cut their roots to kill someone, and they were not dead — in fact, their roots were outstanding, likely due to the origin they received. However, the thought that Zhu Xuelian and Wu Yulan only had less than twenty years to live also shocked them.

  “Lu Long didn’t bury the Fire Empress. He did not even love her,” Zhu Xuelian said. “He just exploited her, turned her into a monster, and trapped her in a formation, under a mountain, for reasons only he knows if he still exists in this world.”

  “What a villain.” Ren Jinhai’s scowl was more than enough to indicate his true thoughts on the character of the man these two described, and the word villain was not even close to encompassing the full gravity of his disgust.

  The others also wore similar expressions of disgust and contempt.

  “So, to answer your question from earlier, our martial arts come from Eternal Red, who, as far as we can tell, is not even from this world, and either the true descendant of a divine beast, or a divine beast in human form,” Zhu Xuelian said. “If this Zhu Xuelian ever regretted anything in her life, it is crossing paths with that psychopath.”

  Wu Yulan snorted but also nodded in agreement while trying to suppress a giggle. It was easy to laugh about it now that they were no longer forced to endure Eternal Red’s hospitality.

  The others didn’t quite seem to think it was that bad — Zhu Xuelian and Wu Yulan got incredible martial arts out of it, and by the sounds of it, excellent ice and fire roots. Naturally, they underestimate the capacity of Eternal Red’s cruelty, and if they spent even one hour with the monster, they would likely change their minds.

  Even so, Zhu Xuelian and Wu Yulan were somewhat grateful to Eternal Red. The princess, as she referred to herself then, taught them many things, and whatever heights they reached in the future would be directly related to this fact.

  “What if Lu Long came from the Sun Kingdom, and the martial art the royal family practices is an inheritance he stole from Eternal Red?” Ren Jinhai asked.

  Zhu Xuelian blinked in surprise. She looked at Wu Yulan, who also seemed to find the theory surprisingly plausible.

  “Brother Ren, you might be right about this,” Zhu Xuelian said. “Until now, the only lead we had was that he might have been related to the Heavenly Mountain Pavilion because he was known for his spear martial arts.”

  Lei Yangming shook his head. “The Heavenly Mountain Pavilion was once a righteous sect. Today, it is a den of villains and old men who value their lifespan over destiny. But once upon a time, a villain like Lu Long would not dare to set foot within a hundred miles of the sect.”

  “Brother Lei, you have such great respect for the history of the sect, yet you still speak of destroying it casually,” Zhu Xuelian said.

  “I, Lei Yangming, also know a thing or two about honor and settling debts,” he simply said.

  Zhu Xuelian nodded. As the leading expert on settling debts, at least in this group, she understood Lei Yangming’s thoughts and feelings very well.

  “At least we have a new lead to pursue,” Wu Yulan said. “Maybe Lu Long was from the True Sun Kingdom.”

  “If your martial arts are related to their royal arts, does that make you royalty?” Ren Jinhai asked.

  Zhu Xuelian smiled. “I doubt they are related. If Lu Long really managed to steal an inheritance from Eternal Red, I think there wouldn’t be four continents; there would be only one. But thinking like this, I can see why he would try to attempt it — to steal a sun that is far greater than his!”

  A Dao Art that even her children would inherit, and could practice from the mortal stages all the way to sainthood. It was also the art of a phoenix, and there was potential for reincarnation and rebirth within that relation.

  Who could resist a power with access to this kind of an absurd inheritance?