Xiao Ruoling was greatly shocked.
From Chu Zhiyuan, she learned how to distinguish between Grandmasters and Masters. Masters exude a forceful aura.
Grandmasters, on the other hand, have no discernible aura.
As a Perfected Innate, she was very perceptive. If she couldn't sense an aura, it meant one of two things: either the person had no martial arts ability, or they were a Grandmaster.
Those with no martial arts skills were obvious at a glance. If someone looked like a martial artist but didn't exude an astonishing aura, then they were a Grandmaster. Grandmasters were actually easy to identify.
It's just that people rarely saw Grandmasters, so they didn't know what a Grandmaster actually looked like. Grandmasters simply returned to simplicity, but they weren't truly ordinary people.
If you looked closely, you could still tell.
But these nine beautiful, young women before her were all Grandmasters! And such beautiful, young Grandmasters!
Could they all be Saintesses? Saintesses who had practiced the Great Yin Chain Technique?
After landing, Xiao Ruoling cupped her fists and bowed: "Junior Xiao Ruoling greets all the Elders."
"How is Yuan'er doing in the palace?" the leading beautiful woman asked softly.
Her features were soft and lovely, and her voice was gentle. She was truly a gentle and graceful woman.
Xiao Ruoling said: "Master is well, but she misses this place terribly. She often dreams of returning to the sect at night."
"Alas... Yuan'er is suffering," another beautiful woman sighed. "If she really misses it, she should come back and visit."
Yet another beauty harrumphed: "Exactly! We can't go, so we should at least let her come back and visit, right? It's too heartless to keep her away all the time."
"Indeed, Yuan'er is suffering. We old fogeys are enjoying leisure while Yuan'er is suffering. Being there, she's restricted and bound, with a mountain of rules. How is that different from being in prison!" A cold and beautiful woman harrumphed: "And there's that annoying man who's a nuisance. Yuan'er must be itching to draw her sword and kill that annoying man."
"No, no," Xiao Ruoling quickly said: "Master is just very bored, feels it's uninteresting, and misses returning to the sect more and more."
"Alas... it's not that easy for her to return. It will only work if the Emperor is changed."
The cold and beautiful woman said: "Ruoling, how is your family's Young Master doing? Can he become the Emperor? He needs to hurry up, lest your Master wait in agony."
Xiao Ruoling was immediately stumped by the question.
"Junior Sister Yun!" The gentle woman said helplessly: "Don't talk nonsense, the junior will laugh at you."
"Ruoling, will you laugh at me?"
"Elder..." Xiao Ruoling looked embarrassed.
"Giggle giggle giggle..." Yun Qiuhua laughed.
"You..." The gentle woman said: "Ruoling, don't listen to her nonsense. What else did your Master say?"
Xiao Ruoling gently shook her head: "Master only said that I was suitable to be a Saintess, so she sent me here."
"Whether you're suitable or not still depends on fate," Yun Qiuhua said with a smile: "If fate doesn't allow you to be one, don't force it."
"Fate?" Xiao Ruoling was puzzled.
Yun Qiuhua said: "After entering the secret realm, you will naturally understand. If you can find the place and obtain the inheritance of the Great Yin Chain Technique, then you are a Saintess. If you cannot obtain the inheritance, then you are not a Saintess."
"Isn't there a martial arts competition?"
"If you all find the place and several people meet together, then naturally you have to compete to see who wins the inheritance."
"What kind of place is it?" Xiao Ruoling asked curiously.
Shen Hanyue also pricked up her ears to listen, and hearing this, she also blinked her big eyes and looked over curiously.
"The place of inheritance is the Profound Yin Palace," Yun Qiuhua said: "When you get there, you will obtain the inheritance of the Great Yin Chain Technique. As for where the Profound Yin Palace is, you have to find it yourselves."
"If we have to find it ourselves... is there a map?"
"No."
"Then how do we find it?"
"Just wander around," Yun Qiuhua said with a smile: "If the Profound Yin Palace chooses you, you can stumble into the Profound Yin Palace no matter how blindly you walk. If it doesn't choose you, it's useless no matter how hard you search."
Xiao Ruoling was extremely curious.
She turned her head to look at Shen Hanyue.
Shen Hanyue also looked confused.
"Giggle giggle giggle..." Yun Qiuhua saw their expressions and giggled again and again. The gentle woman shook her head.
Yun Qiuhua said: "Forget all the paths your Masters told you, they're useless. There has never been a repeating path to the Profound Yin Palace. Those will only become obstacles for you."
Xiao Ruoling said: "Elder, can we take some Sky-Penetrating Grass?"
"As you please, just don't eat that stuff."
"How much can we take?"
"Thank you, Elder."
"Your Master should have told you about the hidden dangers of Sky-Penetrating Grass, right? You still want to eat Sky-Penetrating Grass? .. Oh, I understand, it's for your Young Master, right?"
Xiao Ruoling was immediately embarrassed.
At the same time, she also knew that her Master and Yaoyue Palace must be communicating frequently, and her affairs were no longer a secret.
"Ruoling, you are the first in the history of our Yaoyue Palace to come and compete for the Saintess position even though you're engaged," Yun Qiuhua said with a smile.
Xiao Ruoling showed an embarrassed expression.
Yun Qiuhua chuckled and said: "We don't care. Who asked your Master to be Junior Sister Zeng Yuan? As long as the Profound Yin Palace chooses you as the Saintess, we won't object."
"Elder, is our Yaoyue Palace not allowed to marry?"
"When the male disciples were expelled from the palace, everyone believed that Yaoyue Palace disciples could not marry."
"Then no Yaoyue Palace disciple has ever married?"
"Well... it seems that other than your Master, there hasn't been anyone else."
Xiao Ruoling was puzzled.
"If you practice a martial art to a very deep level, but once you marry a man, your cultivation will be completely destroyed, and you can only be an ordinary woman, without great power and aging quickly, what would you choose?"
"This..."
Xiao Ruoling pondered for a moment and knew the choice most people would make. How could one know that the man she married was worthy of entrusting her life to?
Without powerful martial arts, she could only be bullied by others. Without beautiful looks, would the man still love her as always? The choice was actually easy to make: don't marry.
"If you can't become a Saintess, then go back and be the Young Master's wife. Don't continue cultivating in the sect, lest you become more and more unwilling to marry. The Young Master is guarding his empty room, giggle giggle..." Yun Qiuhua said and giggled.
Xiao Ruoling already vaguely knew Yun Qiuhua's temperament and said with a smile: "Elder, my marriage won't destroy my cultivation, right?"
"You are practicing the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden Technique, and your family's Young Master has also mastered the Qionghua Nine Chapters Record. Not only will it not destroy your cultivation, but your cultivation will become stronger and stronger. It's really infuriating!"
Xiao Ruoling smiled embarrassedly.
"But if you stay in the sect for too long, you might not want to get married anymore," Yun Qiuhua said with a smile: "Because you will find that staying in our sect is so much fun."
The gentle woman said: "Junior Sister Yun, let's talk about serious matters first."
"Oh, right, serious matters. This time, there are a total of four of you going to the secret realm. Let's see who has the best luck," Yun Qiuhua said: "Don't use fatal moves during the competition. The Great Yin Chain Technique can maintain youth, but our Yaoyue Palace's martial arts can also restore youth when practiced to the Grandmaster level.... Like the nine of us, only three have practiced the Great Yin Chain Technique. The other six haven't, and aren't they just as young?"
"Yes."
"Especially you, Shen Hanyue, you've reached Perfected Innate at such a young age and are so proud and arrogant that you can't stand failure and are prone to using fatal moves."
"No, no," Shen Hanyue quickly shook her head vigorously: "Don't worry, Elder, I won't use fatal moves."
"I'll go greet those two girls. You guys go in now. The sooner you choose, the sooner it's over." As she spoke, she flashed and disappeared without a trace.
A moment later, two white-clothed girls floated over behind her, curiously sizing up Xiao Ruoling and Shen Hanyue.
Xiao Ruoling had been in a daze all along, feeling that Yaoyue Palace was completely different from what she had imagined.
It was vastly different from what she had imagined.
