Watching Eldest Senior Sister stand rooted where she was, making no move at all—

Perfected Master Qingfeng let out a sigh and drifted down from the sky, giving Jiang Qiulan a courteous nod. "This way, miss."

"Much obliged."

Jiang Qiulan gave a slight bow of the head and followed him down the mountain.

Only once they'd reached the foot of the mountain did Qingfeng steal a furtive glance upward and murmur through voice transmission: "Ignore her — she's just a madwoman. Always going around thinking she's the only true heir Master ever had, clutching that token day and night, throwing her weight around as Eldest Senior Sister."

"When you get in there, just relax and answer whatever Master asks you straight out. What she said just now wasn't really scolding you — she was just saving that madwoman a little face."

With that, Qingfeng gave an encouraging smile.

Jiang Qiulan blinked, and before she could reply, she suddenly sensed another blast of spirit-pressure sweeping down from the mountain peak, landing without the slightest mercy squarely on the young man.

Poof!

Perfected Master Qingfeng's whole body went flying sideways.

Several fresh gashes opened across his body.

"Ow..."

He lay on the ground for a moment before finally clambering up, grimacing.

Despite his cultivation being nearly at late-stage Spirit-Transformation, faced with that spirit-pressure, he'd ended up in exactly the same state as Jiang Qiulan.

He shot a resentful glare up at the peak, the picture of someone furious yet not daring to voice it, looking thoroughly wronged.

"Let's go, let's go!"

Qingfeng flung his sleeves and limped off toward a hidden path at the mountain's base.

Only once they'd passed through that hidden path and into the mountain's interior did he finally let out a breath, stamping his foot in anger. "Just wait till Senior Brother Nie breaks through to Spirit-Transformation Perfection — he'll get my face back for me, no question! Beating me right in front of my own disciple, of all things! You just wait and see!"

"..."

Jiang Qiulan followed silently behind him.

The more she interacted with this…