CHAPTER 270: CHAPTER 265: HEROINE AND DEMONESS

"What a beauty! Why would you rather suffer in the martial world when you could follow me home and enjoy the finest foods and drinks?" The White-faced Young Master fanned himself with a folded fan as he teasingly eyed the disciple clad in red from Qingyi Pavilion. Although his features were handsome, he exuded an undeniably sinister aura.

"You lecherous scoundrel, courting death!" The disciple from Qingyi Pavilion, her face flushed with anger, unsheathed her sword and lunged at him, summoning a fierce sword wind on the Martial Arts Arena in an instant.

"This disciple from Qingyi Pavilion has decent foundational skills, too bad..." Ye Lingxian watched as the White-faced Young Master easily countered the female disciple’s Sword Qi with his fan and shook his head in pity. The gap in strength between these two was simply too great; the people from Qingyi Pavilion were bound to lose.

Running out of options, the female disciple’s complexion turned ashen as she unleashed another lethal move.

After watching for a while, Ye Chongtian furrowed his brow: "Who is this person? So young, yet so skilled—I’ve never heard of him. And his style of martial arts is untraceable."

Ye Lingxian replied indifferently, "Perhaps we’ve secluded ourselves in Medicine Valley for too long and have become disconnected from the martial world."

"My beauty, it seems that today you are fated to come home with me." The White-faced Young Master gave a wicked smile. After neutralizing the disciple from Qingyi Pavilion’s moves, he shamelessly stole a kiss from her cheek.

"Shameless! Even if I die here today, I will never be yours," declared the disciple from Qingyi Pavilion, realizing she was no match for him and, in her desperation, attempted to take her own life.

"Senior Sister Xue!"

"Don’t!"

The remaining disciples from Qingyi Pavilion, dressed in light blue robes, cried out anxiously from below the Martial Arts Arena. However, the red-clothed disciple was resolute, and the White-faced Young Master, who professed to take pity on beauties, displayed no intention of stopping her.

The Martial Arts Arena was a neutral ground established by various sects to resolve disputes. What transpires on the platform, including life and death, must not be interfered with by onlookers. Hence, even though it was a disciple from the prestigious Qingyi Pavilion who might face death today, no one could hold the White-faced Young Master accountable.

No one expected events to unfold to this dire state, yet it was also within expectations. The crowd that gathered to watch gradually dispersed, leaving only a few of the low-level disciples from Qingyi Pavilion rushing onto the Martial Arts Arena in grief, then tending to their senior sister’s body.

Since arriving in this world, this was the first time Ye Qiu witnessed someone dying before her eyes, and it brought home the brutality of this world.

Ye Chongtian and Ye Lingxian deliberately allowed their daughter to witness the dangers of the jianghu, choosing not to shield her from this scene.

"Let’s go," Ye Chongtian said, leading his silent wife and daughter away. He did not notice the meaningful glance the White-faced Young Master cast toward Ye Lingxian from the platform.

"Will Qingyi Pavilion seek vengeance against that man?" Ye Qiu asked her parents back at the Nursery Hall.

"Generally speaking, once matters are settled on the Martial Arts Arena, the score is considered settled and no revenge is allowed. But these things are never clear-cut, after all, if vengeance is taken in secret, no one will know," explained Ye Lingxian.

"But this time, it’s unlikely that Qingyi Pavilion will be able to seek revenge," she added.

"Why?" Ye Qiu asked in confusion.

"Because that man was disguised," Ye Chongtian said with certainty, his face somewhat grave. "And his disguising skills are very masterful, his fake face as thin as cicada’s wings, expressions vivid. I guess he used human skin."

"If Master hadn’t specifically taught us various disguise techniques, I’m afraid even we wouldn’t be able to recognize him. Brother Tian, when did someone in the world possess such superb disguising skills as Master? And this kind of disguise technique must use fresh human skin; after a long time, it wouldn’t be so lifelike anymore. Master had specifically instructed us never to do such a heinous act. Where exactly does this person come from?"

At this moment, listening to her parents’ conversation, Ye Qiu felt her heart skip a beat. She had an ominous hunch, coupled with a strong sense of crisis. It was because in her previous life, her mother was injured by someone known as Thousand Faces when she left the Medicine Valley alone. Just like his moniker, Thousand Faces was extremely skilled at disguising.

He was also a protector of the Demon Sect, having a pivotal position within the sect. Ye Qiu had insisted on dragging her father out of the valley this time precisely to prevent her mother from reliving the tragedy of her past life.

But her father and mother’s martial arts prowess wasn’t very strong, and they were burdened with her, who was but a drag on them. If it really was Thousand Faces, would they stand a chance? If the man just now really was Thousand Faces, had he taken notice of her mother?

Thinking of this, Ye Qiu felt the Rainy Pear Blossom Needle inside her bundle. If Thousand Faces dared to come, she was determined to stab him through the heart with it.

"Dad, Mom, have you considered that he might be from the Demon Sect in the Western Regions?" Ye Qiu tentatively said.

Ye Lingxian frowned: "But ever since the Demon Sect was driven out of the Central Plains Martial World a hundred years ago, they haven’t shown themselves again. Does the Demon Sect really have such formidable people now?"

"It’s not impossible," Ye Chongtian mused. "I observed carefully. The martial arts of that person just now are vastly different from those of the major sects of the Central Plains. The people from the Demon Sect have always had bizarre techniques, and their members are all oddballs. Although they were driven to the Western Regions a hundred years ago, no one knows how the Demon Sect has developed there today."

Upon saying this, Ye Lingxian was also startled: "Now that you mention it, I hadn’t noticed before. Brother Tian, we haven’t heard any news from the Demon Sect over so many years. Isn’t that strange? Although few masters from the Central Plains travel to the Western Regions, the exchange between merchants has never ceased. How come no one has mentioned the Demon Sect?"

Ye Chongtian’s expression grew solemn: "There are only two possibilities. Either the Demon Sect has completely declined, or they are now incomprehensibly powerful. They are intentionally concealing themselves, perhaps..."

Ye Chongtian and his wife exchanged a glance, then he hurriedly said, "No, I must send a letter to Brother Yin right away."

"Why not send a letter to each major sect!" Ye Qiu suggested. Seeing her parents looking at her, she continued, "After all, it’s a matter of convenience. The more people we have, the stronger we’ll be!"

"Qiu’er makes sense," Ye Lingxian said, patting her daughter’s head and smiling reassuringly.

While Ye Chongtian went off to write the letter, Ye Lingxian took Ye Qiu to visit everything inside the Nursery Hall. Currently, the Nursery Hall cared for more than thirty orphans, the youngest being only a few months old, and the oldest a year older than Ye Qiu.

According to the policies of the Nursery Hall, once a child turns twelve, the Hall no longer provides for them for free. Those with good talent would enter Medicine Valley as an attendant. Those with lesser talents could still help out in the medicine shops and halls run by Medicine Valley.

But this was not compulsory. If a child had other aspirations, they could seek their fortunes elsewhere, but they would have to reimburse the Nursery Hall with three years’ worth of support payments.

This was the practice of the orphanages under many major sects, greatly ensuring the sustainability of the Nursery Hall. After all, doing good deeds wasn’t so easy nowadays. There were many poor families who even intentionally abandoned their children to the Nursery Hall to be raised, only to take them back once they were grown and able to work, leaving the Hall bereft of both people and resources. That’s why this system was put in place.