Chapter 51: First Encounter (Part 1)

  In the depths of the forest, a man and a woman strolled leisurely towards the strange rock formations. The man in green clothes was handsome and elegant; the woman in white clothes looked like a goddess.

  "Little sister, why did Qingxuan Shizu let you move out of the back mountain and put you under my master's name?" Song Ning stared at Luoxue's profile, feeling an inexplicable sense of satisfaction in his heart.

  This morning, Song Ning was accompanying Chu Yang in a stroll through the trial forest when he received a transmission from their Master, ordering him to return to the main peak immediately. This made Chu Yang, who was having a great time chasing birds and beasts, extremely dissatisfied. However, facing the Master's authority, he could only let Song Ning leave, and then continued to cause a commotion in the trial forest, disturbing the peace of the birds and beasts.

  Following the master's instructions, Song Ning arrived at the right courtyard of Tianxuan Hall (the hall where the gatekeeper lived), and from a distance saw a white-clothed woman sitting in the stone pavilion by the lotus pond, chatting with his master.

  Song Ning arrived at the stone pavilion, bowed his head and clasped his hands in greeting: "Master, I'm back."

  Liu Changqing waved his sleeve to dismiss the formal greeting, and began to complain: "Ning Er, where have you been for half a month? You received my message, but it took you an hour to report back!"

  "Sorry, Master. I've been in Yun Tian's trial forest for the past few days and made you wait!" Song Ning replied, not daring to look up.

  "Hehe, Cloud Sky Trial Forest is just right!" Liu Changqing called out to the two in the pavilion. "Snow Master Sister, this is my senior apprentice I mentioned earlier - Song Ning. Since Old Ancestor has placed you under my name, you should call him Senior Brother. Ning'er, come and meet your Junior Sister, Huang Luoxue."

  "Long time no see, Senior Brother!" Huang Luoxue stood up and bowed.

  Song Ning turned around to face Huang Luoxue and returned the courtesy with a bow: "Little... sister"

  Song Ning only then saw clearly Huang Luoxue's stunning appearance, and for a moment he was stunned, but his upbringing was good, and he hurriedly apologized: "Sorry, Shifu, you look very familiar, I was momentarily rude, please forgive me!" At this time, his heart was pounding wildly, as if it wanted to jump out of his chest. He used his spiritual power to suppress it with all his might, so that others couldn't see anything unusual.

  "It's nothing!" Luo Xue replied calmly.

  "Alright, now that we've met, Ning Er, you take Little Martial Sister to the Cloud Sky Trial Forest for training, but you must ensure Little Martial Sister's safety, this is why I brought you back."

  "Yes, Master, I will put Sister's safety above my own life!" Song Ning promised.

  "Alright, go!"

  Liu Changqing watched as Song Ning's two figures disappeared into the distance, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

  "You think you can suppress me with your spiritual power, but I couldn't see anything unusual about you? I've raised you for over 30 years, and every move you make is clear to me. The only one who can't see it is that little girl, she's young and naive, and will have a hard time dealing with you in the future! In the past, I've only seen you avoiding those female cultivators who are infatuated with you, now let's see how you pursue your own heart's desire! Hehe, this is quite entertaining."

  Song Ning didn't know about his master's sinister intentions, he silently brought Huang Luoxue to the Yun Tian trial forest, his emotions undulating, he felt that Huang Luoxue was his destined soulmate, not because of her stunning beauty, nor because of her icy demeanor, but simply because when he first laid eyes on her, all his heartstrings were moved.

  It wasn't until much later that Song Ning finally calmed down his excited emotions, he decided to have a conversation with the person he had a crush on, to deepen their impression of each other, and that's how the previous question came about.

  "My master said I'm too introverted and hopes that I can interact with more people, so he ordered me to move to the main peak and register under the care of the eldest senior brother." Huang Luoxue replied.

  She didn't particularly dislike Song Ning, this senior brother of hers, but she couldn't say she liked him either. She had always been calm and unruffled, which her master said would allow her to focus solely on her cultivation and make rapid progress, but it also meant that she would eventually hit a bottleneck in her training. Moreover, with her master about to go into seclusion, he ordered her to move out of the rear mountain and cultivate like an ordinary sect disciple. However, he was also fond of this little junior sister, so he entrusted her care to the Sect Master's nephew, Liu Changqing. As the Sect Master was busy with various tasks, it was naturally impossible for him to be by her side at all times, which also didn't meet the requirements of Qingxuan Old Ancestor. So, he let his most accomplished disciple, Song Ning, take care of familiarizing her with sect life. When Song Ning mentioned the Trial Forest, Liu Changqing had an idea and sent them there for trial. This was a place that sect disciples loved to stay in, aside from the market. Moreover, it was said that this little girl hadn't participated in any battles except for cultivation! How could that be allowed? As her nominal master, he couldn't let her have such a weakness.

  "I see, I'll introduce my junior sister to more people in the future." He had many opportunities to interact with his junior sister afterwards, which was great! As for the fact that Luoxue's words revealed that she was his own aunt, it was selectively forgotten by him.

  "Thank you, senior brother!"

  "Has your junior sister ever come to the Cloud Sky Trial Forest before?"

  "Never."

  "In that case, I'll tell you about the Cloud Sky Trial Forest, junior sister..."

  Song Ning gave a detailed explanation of the environment of the Trial Forest, interspersed with introductions to the various demonic beasts and spiritual herbs they encountered along the way. He occasionally glanced over at his companion's gentle gaze, completely like a senior brother bringing his junior sister to the Trial Forest for a leisurely stroll. Oh, except that the junior sister was a bit cold and detached, only responding with a few perfunctory "uh-huhs". As for the leisurely stroll, it was because the outer perimeter of the Trial Forest wasn't exactly a walk in the park for even those who had already built their foundation, let alone beautiful young men and women! If any demonic beasts were to make a move, Song Ning would just need to exert his dominance to chase them all away.

  Soon, the two walked into the strange stone forest.

  "There's a fluctuation of spiritual energy from the fight ahead, let's take a detour," said Song Ning.

  When he was young, he was also hot-blooded and impulsive. However, after saving people, the ones he saved would either turn around and rob him or be on guard against him. Some even had female cultivators who wanted to repay him by offering their bodies as a reward for his heroism. Gradually, even the hottest blood cooled down, and whenever he saw a fight scene, he would avoid it from afar.

  "No, let's go straight, I have a feeling in my heart, something seems to be calling me forward."

  Huang Luoxue quickened her pace, and Song Ning, for the sake of his heart's desire, wouldn't slacken off. With a few strides, he caught up to her front, unfolding his spiritual sense to carefully examine the situation ahead.

  "It's fellow disciples and Jinmao Mouse fighting, with two more familiar faces, let's fly over!" After all, it was the cultivation of the later stage of foundation building, Song Ning soon 'saw' through the situation ahead.

  He drew out the flying sword, Lei Guang, just as he was about to invite Huang Luoxue, only to see her already standing on a magnified handkerchief. Song Ning felt disappointed and mounted the flying sword, Lei Guang, speeding through the air, and in the blink of an eye, he was about to fly into the midst of the battle.

  "Big Sister Jiu!" Luo Yu exclaimed in surprise, but actually she had a premonition all along that the female lead Luo Xue would definitely come here, so she was always observing the changes around her. As for Song Ning's appearance, she was quite unexpected.

  She was already being beaten back by the third-level Golden Mouse, and had to deal with its descendants' sneak attacks. Her face and hands were covered in wounds, looking very pitiful. If she kept her Spirit Silkworm Robe open all the time, her spiritual energy would not last for even a moment, so she could only use it as a last resort. Moreover, if she relied on external objects all the time, what was the point of her trial?