Facing the inquiry of the Taoist Sect, the silver-haired girl lowered her eyes. She raised her hand to put on her hood, concealing her face, and replied indifferently, "Since I was young, I was taught by my teacher and his wife. As I grew up, I didn’t know my own father."
"He left me at the doorstep of the Stargazing Lineage when I was very small," she continued.
"My connection with him is only through blood and this silver hair," she added.
The Taoist Sect was silent for a long time before he said, "Your father..."
He paused, then refrained from using that term.
The Taoist said calmly, "In any case, he was a person of unique temperament, always free-spirited and self-centered, starting from humble beginnings, his learning encompassed the Three Teachings and Nine Streams, yet he never joined the academy, excelling instead in the Formation Path and possessing mystical skills."
"During the years he roamed the world, no one’s formations could surpass his," he affirmed.
"Not even Si Wei, who was then head of the Formation Path at the academy."
"Si Wei, out of anger, left the academy and went to make deals with the imperial palace of Chen Country and the royal family of Ying Country, setting up a great formation for each nation and afterward perusing all the formation scriptures in both nations’ book collections," he disclosed.
"And the person who defeated him had ventured out to sea on the waves alone two years ago," he continued.
"Traveling alone on a giant turtle to fish for whales," he mentioned.
"He is not a villain, merely not good at expressing emotions. Perhaps he is not as you know. After all, the Stargazing Lineage is not so skilled at formations," he suggested.
Shaking Light replied, "So, my coming into this world was just an accident for him."
"He doesn’t like that this accident disrupted his life," she said.
"So he left me at my teacher’s doorstep, leaving behind the main volume of a formation," she explained.
The silver-haired girl lifted her head; her hand hanging down, she unconsciously clenched her robe. Her voice was calm:
"This is not the affection of a parent."
"It’s merely guilt, merely annoyance, merely caring about his own reputation," she stated.
The Taoist Sect looked at the girl standing before him, the Taoist’s demeanor gentle and tranquil, merely listening.
The tone of the silver-haired girl became slightly quicker. She hesitated, seemingly realizing her loss of composure, and regained her original cool and calm demeanor. Her eyes serene, she inquired:
"Senior of the Taoist Sect, in your view, which is greater, the grace of upbringing or the grace of birth?" she asked.
The Taoist replied gently, "The grace of upbringing."
The silver-haired girl agreed calmly, "I think so too."
She smoothed the folds of her robe and stood up, speaking tranquilly:
"It’s time to leave," she said.
"Li Guanyi, he isn’t one to stay here waiting for everyone’s gratitude, then fully enjoy it. When he returns, it will be time for us to depart," she stated.
"I need to prepare to leave this place, senior, please excuse me." she said.
The Taoist Sect nodded, watching the girl walk away, his expression peaceful. The Taoist sat there, looking at the sky, his voice cold as if an observer, saying, "Love and hatred, desires unfulfilled, attachments not let go, the bitterness of grievance, and the suffering of separation, the vast Martial World, all under heaven’s institutions, who can truly make it clear?"
"The myriad human emotions, when together divergence follows, success leads to destruction; honesty leads to impediments, respect brings controversy, initiatives result in losses, virtue leads to schemes, unworthiness leads to deception. Humanity is not purely one color, so where is the distinction between good and evil?" he pontificated.
The Taoist stood up to diagnose and personally treat the bodies of children whose blood had been extracted and used for cultivation.
Li Guanyi had ridden a fast horse, following the path he had learned of until he found a location at the foot of a mountain,
The youth tightened the reins.
He wore the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword at his side and held a War Bow from Xue Family’s general store in his hands.
The Xue Family was known in the Martial World for their Divine Shooting; naturally, their War Bows were of superior quality.
The horse beneath him, trained by disciples from the Divine Beast Manor, was highly sentient. At this moment, it was steadily climbing the mountain. Li Guanyi saw from afar a building on the mountaintop resembling a Taoist temple, guarded at the entrance by two disciples dressed in Martial Artist attire.
They looked like disciples of a righteous faction.
They were chatting, "I heard Deacon Liu took people down."
"Yes, those brothers who can go to the town are quite fortunate; they get to consume the Blood Returning Pill," one remarked.
"And can vent their frustrations," added another.
"Hey, you’re not picky, what’s so good about village girls... it should be the ones from inside Zhenbei City..." they laughed.
Their essence bore the stench that could trigger a reaction in the "Eternal Moon Undying Body" Golden Core.
While chatting, seeing a young Taoist riding towards them, they were about to speak out in rebuke.
Before they could open their mouths, a soft buzzing sound was heard, and two arrows directly pierced their mouths, twisting into their brains, causing them to fall to the ground, dead beyond dead. Li Guanyi gripped the bow,
The shot arrows carried the properties of Inner Qi from the Jade Arm Divine Bow Skills.
It was straightforwardly the explosive and fierce Jin Qi,
a characteristic of the Breaking Cloud Sky-shattering Bow, capable of various wonders even within the space of the Nine Cauldrons.
The Xue Family War Bow emitted a faint hum.
Li Guanyi rode slowly forward, the third layer of the "Jiangnan Misty Rain Twelve Layers" activated, his Primordial Spirit sensing the disciples of the Yin Yang Reincarnation Sect here, then just like that calmly executing covert snipers, his Primordial Spirit Skills allowing him to conceal his presence, then using Xue Family’s Divine Shooting to finish off the hidden targets.
The basic disciples were merely at the level of Inner Qi, Entering Realm.
In the hands of Li Guanyi at this moment, using Xue Family’s shooting techniques to assassinate, they practically had no chance to fight back.
Three quivers of arrows, twenty-five per quiver.
Merely the arrows used by hunters.
Yet even so, in the hands of Li Guanyi, they remained an absolute killing force.
The youth’s hands were steady, the bow’s humming like birds flapping their wings. When the first quiver of arrows had been used up, there was already a thick smell of blood; when half of the second quiver was used up, finally someone realized something was wrong and shouted, "Someone is here to cause trouble!"