After leaving Qinghe City, Jiang Qingyi and her companions flew toward the Zhou Kingdom Capital.
For a cultivator like the Sect Leader of the Wanjian Sect, who was at the Ascension Realm, a trip to the Zhou Kingdom Capital would take three days at most.
But she did not travel at that speed.
This was not because Huang Wei and Qiu Ye were only in the Nascent Soul Realm.
It was simply because the Sect Leader of the Wanjian Sect felt a sliver of apprehension in her heart...
Three thousand years had passed...
She had been searching for three thousand years.
Countless times, she had received news of him.
But every time, just when she thought she was about to find him, the person she met was never him...
Countless hopes and countless disappointments had gradually numbed her heart.
This time, the City Lord of Tianji City had divined it.
The City Lord of Tianji City's divination skills were unmatched in the world.
But a divination was, in the end, just a divination.
No matter how skilled a person's divination was, there was always a chance of error.
As the Sect Leader of the Wanjian Sect was lost in her tangled thoughts, she spotted a cluster of mountains nestled together to her front-left.
The Sect Leader's expression faltered for a moment before she flew toward the mountains.
Flying over the mountains, a sea of flowers came into view.
The Sect Leader's gaze wavered, and she slowly descended.
Huang Wei and Qiu Ye exchanged a glance. Unsure what was wrong with their Sect Leader, they could only follow her down.
The Sect Leader of the Wanjian Sect landed in the sea of flowers.
She walked forward, step by step.
The area was encircled by mountains, forming a basin in the middle.
At the heart of the flower sea was an azure lake.
Finally, the Sect Leader of the Wanjian Sect stopped before the lake.
In front of the lake, there was a stone.
Words were carved upon it.
However, after being washed by the tides of time, the words on the stone had become blurred and indistinct. The stone itself was weathered beyond recognition.
"Sect Leader, is this stone tablet special in some way?"
Qiu Ye walked up to the Sect Leader and asked curiously.
"Do you know the name of this place?" the Sect Leader of the Wanjian Sect asked, lifting her gaze. The clear lake water reflected in her translucent eyes.
Qiu Ye glanced at Elder Huang, who shook his head, his eyes seemingly saying, 'Don't ask me. I don't know what this place is called either.'
"This place is called the Flower Cloud Sea," the Sect Leader of the Wanjian Sect told her Sword Attendant.
"Flower Cloud Sea..." Qiu Ye murmured. "What a beautiful name. Did you name it, Sect Leader?"
The Wanjian Sect Leader shook her head. "A man named it."
"A man?" Qiu Ye asked, confused.
'What kind of man could be so important to the Sect Leader?'
"A man I must kill with my own hands!"
The Wanjian Sect Leader's pale, delicate fingers gently traced the carvings on the stone.
Qiu Ye looked again and again. Among the blurred carvings, she seemed to faintly make out the character 'Xiao.'
...
"Master, this place is beautiful... so, so beautiful..."
The young girl cried out happily, her voice echoing through the valley.
In the sea of flowers, Jiang Qingyi darted about like a butterfly.
In the year since she had left home, this was the first time Jiang Qingyi had ever seen such a beautiful place.
"Master, hurry up and come look!" Jiang Qingyi shouted to her master behind her.
"Coming." Xiao Mo walked forward, step by step, following his disciple.
"Wow, the lake is so blue!"
Jiang Qingyi walked to the edge of the water. It was as if this wasn't a lake at all, but a piece an Immortal had torn from the azure sky and laid in the middle of the flower sea.
"It is indeed very blue." Xiao Mo nodded, admiring the beautiful scenery.
"Master... what do you think about the two of us living here in seclusion?" Jiang Qingyi turned around, her hands behind her back, and looked sweetly at her master. "This place is surrounded by mountains with no paths leading out. The Blood Butterfly Pavilion will never find us."
"Silly girl." Xiao Mo reached out and gently tapped Jiang Qingyi on the head.
Jiang Qingyi cried, "OW!" clutching her head with both hands. "Master, that hurts... And... I'm not silly..."
"You say there are no paths leading out? Then let me ask you, how did we get in?"
"We flew in, of course!~" Jiang Qingyi said cheerfully.
Xiao Mo and Jiang Qingyi were being hunted, and a horse carriage was too slow. So, half a month ago, after being discovered by the Blood Butterfly Pavilion for the first time, they had decisively abandoned it.
"So you know we flew in," Xiao Mo said with a smile. "Then tell me, do you think the cultivators from the Blood Butterfly Pavilion can't fly?"
"..." Jiang Qingyi pouted. "Honestly, that damned Blood Butterfly Pavilion sticks to us like a plaster. And I so wanted to live in seclusion with Master."
"Alright, we can look for a little while longer, but then we have to go. Those people from the Blood Butterfly Pavilion are probably catching up."
"Master, wait! Let's give this place a name, shall we?" Jiang Qingyi said with delight.
"What's there to name?"
"Just pick one! Please, Master, just give it a name. This place is so pretty..."
"Fine, fine." Xiao Mo thought for a moment and casually came up with a name. "Then let's call it the Flower Cloud Sea."
"Flower Cloud Sea... Yes! Let's call it the Flower Cloud Sea!~"
With that, Jiang Qingyi drew her Profound Frost Longsword and carved a message into the stone by the lake:
[Flower Cloud Sea—Master Xiao Mo and disciple Jiang Qingyi were here.]
After she finished, Jiang Qingyi dusted off her hands. "Master, from today on, this place is our secret hideout, okay?~ Only the two of us know about it.
I've heard that when people die, they are reincarnated.
After you're reincarnated, you forget everything.
If one day, I'm reincarnated, or you're reincarnated, Master, and we come to this place, we have to promise to remember each other, okay?~
When that time comes, I'll still be your disciple."
"Let's not." Xiao Mo shook his head.
"Huh?" Jiang Qingyi grabbed her master's arm. "Why not, Master? Don't you want to remember Qingyi?"
"It's not that. I just think being your master is a bit tiring." Xiao Mo flicked Jiang Qingyi's forehead. "I'd like to take it easy in my next life."
"Oh, I see!~ Well, that's fine!~"
Jiang Qingyi hugged Xiao Mo's arm, resting her head on his shoulder.
"If that day comes, then you don't have to be the master. Qingyi will be *your* master."
"Alright." Xiao Mo ruffled her hair. "In that case, in our next life, Master, you'll have to take good care of me. Don't let my other martial brothers bully me."
"You won't have any other martial brothers."
"Why not?"
"Because in this life, you only have me as your disciple."
Jiang Qingyi's eyes curved into crescents.
"So in the next life, I'll only have you too, Master..."