Outside the Mysterious Domain, the Huangfu clan had claimed the mountain closest to the domain’s exits and built a temporary palace to live in while the guardian of the Huangfu clan’s young master—the late-Golden Core Stage cultivator, Huangfu Qielan—personally watched over this place. The Huangfu clan master had personally guided the young master to the Mysterious Domain originally, but the clan master couldn’t stay here permanently; he’d already left by now, leaving Huangfu Qielan in charge in his stead.

　　Aside from him, there were also the Golden Core and Foundation Stage cultivators from the Eight Bewitched Follower tribes. It could be said this much combined battle prowess was enough to wipe out an entire country, yet all of them were here for the sole purpose of welcoming the return of the Huangfu clan’s young master. There were also up to a thousand servants, including a few hundred charming and delicate maids and dancers led by some very experienced older maids, all of whom had cultivation levels. There were so many people that secluding themselves to a single mountain hadn’t been easy, to the point it actually felt rather crowded.

　　Restrictive formations surrounded the mountain, and any cultivators who got within a hundred feet of the perimeter were to be killed on sight. Fang Xing arrived during the early hours of the day and squatted a hundred feet out, hiding inside a bush while observing what was going on like an animal silently watching their prey. Just an hour before the first light of dawn, he heard the formations being lifted from a mountain path leading to the temporary palace, right before the sound of crisp laughter settled into the air and a dozen or so beautiful maids walked out holding a sky-blue-colored vase apiece.

　　After a week’s worth of observation, Fang Xing had established some of the typical habits for the Huangfu clan’s temporary palace. These beautiful maids would travel a full mile to a river for the sake of bringing back water to the palace; the elder of the Huangfu clan never uses any backwater and he didn’t permit men to bring water—only young and beautiful maidens like these were allowed to do so. The group of beautiful maids giggled and laughed as they walked towards the river down the hill while two mid-Foundation Stage clan guards protected them from the sides.

　　Fang Xing quietly followed within the bushes from afar. The group of beautiful maids finished gathering the water, raised the water vases over their hair topknots, and began gracefully walking back amidst their chattering while the two Foundation Stage protectors silently watched from ten feet behind. When the group in the front rounded a corner, the two protectors in the back were unable to see them—this was the moment Fang Xing was waiting for.

　　Fang Xing had hidden himself inside deep ditch, and just as the maids in the front turned the corner, he flicked his finger and startled a hare, causing it to abruptly jump and flee towards the forest. The group of maids didn’t have a very high cultivation level, and as they all turned to look in surprise, Fang Xing covered up the third-to-last maid’s mouth, slit her throat, pulled her into his storage sack, and took her vase into his hands, all at the fastest speed. He’d used the Mask of Wanluo to take on her appearance beforehand and quickly moved to take her place.

　　The maids all relaxed and began to laugh. “Pfff, we are cultivators as well, yet we all jumped at a small wild hare….” The two protectors saw the change and flew closer, but when they saw everything was fine, they began to relax as well.

　　When the maid behind Fang Xing saw him rise from the ditch, she began to smile; in her eyes, it had looked as though he’d nearly fallen and only just managed to stand back up. “You’re becoming more and more timid, Qiao’er, for a wild hare to nearly scare you into a ditch. You must be very careful; if you’d broken the water vase, the head maids would’ve hit you again….”

　　“Nn!” Fang Xing softly answered in a muffled voice. From there, he raised the water vase above his topknot like the others and continued on ahead.

　　The group of maids chatted while walking ahead without anyone aware there was a different person in their group. Once they arrived in front of the temporary palace, the lead maid said a few words with the mountain guards—causing the restrictive formations to open—and the maids began entering in an orderly fashion. The maids moved to the back kitch, poured all of the newly-obtained water into a giant milky-white jar, and then each went back to their own residential courtyard to change their clothes.

　　Servants soon began bringing red-colored meal boxes with breakfast, and as all the maids were finishing their meal, a round-faced girl teasingly took a lotus seed from Fang Xing’s bowl of snow fungus soup ¹ . In revenge, Fang Xing casually caressed her breasts and finished up his breakfast amidst laughter, right before two cold and stern-faced head maids arrived at the courtyard to instil order.

　　“The young master has confirmed he shall leave the Mysterious Domain after a quarter past nine. All of you, those who are to hold flower bouquets will hold flower bouquets, and those who are to offer wine will offer wine. All of your actions must be according to procedure, and your ears must listen carefully to obey the orders given from the protocol officer. With such a serious event, anyone who dares to break a rule can say goodbye to their petty little life; a punishment such as death by caning would be leniency. It’ll be late to regret should such happen; don’t say we didn’t remind you!”

　　The maids all replied that they would not dare to do so and held their heads low without even daring to breathe too loudly. Once the two head maids finished their instructions, they repeated the rules once more before having all of the maids do a mock practice. Fang Xing watched coldly from the side and memorized the rules as fast as possible, to the point that after a mock practice, he didn’t seem different from the others at all.

　　Fifteen minutes before nine, all the maids followed the head maids out from the courtyard and departed to the entrance of the Mysterious Domain to wait. The temporary palace of the Huangfu clan had become a bit chaotic and very busy by this point, with groups of guards and servants running from one place to the other under the housekeeper’s commands. Those in charge of the decorations and orchestra were all focused on their own jobs at hand, while the group of maids brought about fresh flowers, rare fruits, and wine with the head maids leading all of them in an orderly procession.

　　A ceremonial platform a hundred or so feet wide had been built in front of the Mysterious Domain, and a ten-feet-wide, three-hundred-feet-long silk carpet colored a bright red had been placed from the ceremonial platform all the way down all the steps leading right in front of the Mysterious Domain’s entrance. When their young master left the Mysterious Domain later on, he would walk on this silk cloth step by step to the ceremonial platform, then report back to the clan’s elders about all the accomplishments he’d obtained within the Mysterious Domain as a show of respect.

　　Everyone waited under the scorching sun for another hour until smoke began to rise up from within the Mysterious Domain and a blue-robed young man appeared at the entrance. Behind him was a personal guard clad in red armor, and behind even him were four powerful cultivators with different types of bodies, some half-human and half-beast while others were completely bestial—the remaining young leaders of the Eight Bewitched Followers.

　　“The young master has returned, may the heavens bless the clan of Huangfu!”

　　After a clear shout from the protocol officer, the pageantry surrounding the Mysterious Domain began in full force. The orchestra played music that traveled out hundreds of miles, and a countless number of people began to gather around the temporary palace to watch with awe and envy as the Huangfu clan’s young master made his return.

　　“So this is the young master of the Huangfu clan? The only cultivator in all of Jambu who made it into the rank of the Big Dipper? I have heard his name numerous times already, but the Huangfu clan was simply too low-profile. In all these thousands of years, they hid within Blackwater Lake and didn’t once show their true appearance….”

　　“I’m afraid the Huangfu clan won’t be so low-profile after the Mysterious Domain’s opening. The so-called hidden royal family might make their way to center stage!”

　　“Hmph, the Huangfu clan doesn’t seem all-powerful though. Didn’t a large number of their people get killed? Didn’t the Sword Mound get robbed?”

　　All kinds of emotions could be witnessed while everyone discussed amongst themselves a hundred feet away from the palace. Some were filled with envy, others with awe, and there were naturally those who were dissatisfied and spoke with bitter sarcasm.

　　The third most powerful elder of the Huangfu clan—Huangfu Qielan—swept his gaze across the crowd and all the chattering died down in an instant. In front of the third most powerful person in the Huangfu clan, no one dared to speak so casually.

　　A single gaze was enough to intimidate the cultivators. The trace of a smile appeared on Huangfu Qielan’s face and he no longer paid them any more attention, instead looking towards the young master at the entrance to the domain. “Shen’er, I’ve heard of the accomplishments you achieved within the Mysterious Domain. You’ve done well to challenge an elite from Videha and win, and the rank is also within the rankings of the Big Dipper. Such impressive results are things only the children of our Huangfu clan can achieve….” Such words were powerful and resonated with great passion, purposefully loud enough to be heard by all.

　　There were still some who were unconvinced even after hearing this, however. The Huangfu clan’s young master was indeed the only person to make it into the rankings of the Big Dipper, but he was not the first person to dare challenge someone from Videha. To count, the very first to challenge a Videha cultivator was the western deserts’ Han Ying of the Han clan, even though Han Ying’s rank was a little lower.

　　The Huangfu clan’s young master showed a calm expression. “If it weren’t for the time constraints, the rank could have been higher.”

　　At this, all the cultivators gasped in amazement. For the Huangfu clan’s young master to challenge someone from Videha and obtain a rank within the Big Dipper was already a grand feat, yet he was saying he could have gone even higher; did this not mean he was actually eligible to battle it out with the cultivators in the higher rankings? The people might not have necessarily believed such words if they had come from someone else, but since they were spoken by the Huangfu clan’s young master, there was no doubt at all.

　　When Huangfu Qielan heard this, he let out a laugh and said, “Very good! You are indeed the child of our Huangfu clan, for it is only us who would have such ambition!” He then clapped his hands and smiled. “Shen’er, remove your armor and come up; let us return to our clan. You may not know this, but Videha’s Li Hentian—Grand Elder Hentian—has sent a letter. He wishes to call you over to study under him in Videha, and once you enter his sect, you will immediately become one of his core disciples. After you return to Blackwater Lake to give your respect and bid farewell to the grand elder, you may pack your belongings and prepare to depart for Videha!”

　　These words caused even the calm-looking young master to show a trace of a smile with gleaming eyes.

　　The eyes of the surrounding cultivators were so round with envy they were nearly popping out. That was Videha’s Li Hentian! Their sect was considered one of the largest within all of Videha, and to think their grand elder would actually invite the Huangfu clan’s young master….

　　It seemed as though the rumors were not false. If someone were to leave their name behind on the Monument Slab, they would assuredly be given the chance to enter one of the large sects of Videha.

　　“Young Master, please remove your armor….” Some of the beautiful maids came up and helped the young master undress his blood-stained armor before redressing him in soft, lightweight robes. He then began to step onto the ceremonial platform with an escort of maids, while the red-armored guard and the four young leaders of the Eight Bewitched Followers halted their steps behind him. It was a great honor to step onto the Huangfu clan’s ceremonial platform, something they did not have the qualifications to do.

　　As the Huangfu clan’s young master continued to step onto the platform, the maids on both sides half-kneeled between the platform with their heads lowered, waiting for the young master to pass while presenting fresh flowers, rare fruits, and wine. Within those maids was Fang Xing, holding a bunch of grapes.