"You know, I have heard a lot about you from my husband," Ren Xia continued.
Sun Rouxi raised an eyebrow, her eyes flickering with intrigue. "Oh? What does he say about me?"
"He said you were always nagging at him." Ren Xia chuckled. "That you made his life in the Immortal Monastery more difficult than it had to be."
Sun Rouxi shook her head with a bittersweet smile and replied, "If I didn't nag at him, who would? He was always getting into trouble, acting recklessly and without a care for his life."
"So he was like that as a disciple, too, huh? I thought it was something he picked up after he left the sect." Ren Xia remarked with a surprised look on her face.
"It was a habit of his to belittle himself, calling himself talentless and whatnot. And because of his lack of talent, he would constantly push himself to the brink of death. I have lost count of how many times I had to save him."
Sun Rouxi glared at Ren Xia and asked, "What do you like about that brat, anyway? Aren't you a young lady of the Immortal Clans?"
Ren Xia chuckled and replied, "It's precisely his recklessness that I love."
She narrowed her eyes slightly and continued, "And you? What was it about him that made you keep an eye on him? Disciples getting into trouble happens all the time, yet you specifically decided to pay special attention to him."
Sun Rouxi lifted her head to stare at the empty ceiling. After a moment of silence, she muttered, "I wonder."
"What?" Ren Xia raised an eyebrow.
Sun Rouxi continued with a profound smile, "If you think about it, there's really nothing truly special about Tian Yang as a disciple. If you saw him in a crowd, he was just like any other disciple, completely ordinary. While his recklessness is on another level, he wasn't the only disciple desperate for improvement. I see them almost daily. However, there was just something about him that I couldn't ignore, and I am still trying to figure out the cause even to this day."
"That sounds like love at first sight," Ren Xia chuckled.
"What?" Sun Rouxi looked at her with wide eyes, almost as if she couldn't believe her ears.
She then spoke, "I may not understand why I was attracted to him, but I can say with certainty that it wasn't such emotions. I just got this feeling that I couldn't leave him alone."
"I was only joking." Ren Xia shook her head with a smile.
"If you don't mind me asking… Why was someone like you working as a sect elder at the Immortal Monastery? You're a member of the Three Pillars of Heaven, right? With your qualifications, you could even ask to be its sect leader, let alone a sect elder."
"Sorry, but I cannot tell you the reason. However, I can tell you that nobody at the sect was aware of my true background, as that would've defeated my purpose for being there in the first place."
'So she was in a situation where she had to keep her background hidden, huh?' Ren Xia thought to herself.
As someone from a privileged background, she could think of several reasons why Sun Rouxi had to conceal her identity.
While Ren Xia and Sun Rouxi continued their conversation, Tian Yang spoke with Kulas.
"So the Three Pillars of Heaven have business with me, huh? Well, I had already anticipated something like this when I heard they would show up."
"Do you mind speaking with one of them right now? She's…" Tian Yang explained the whole situation to Kulas.
"What? Elder Sun?" Kulas' eyes widened with surprise at the news. "To think you'd meet her by chance… this is more than mere coincidence. It must be fate."
"Alright, I'll meet with her," he agreed.
Tian Yang returned to tell Sun Rouxi of Kulas' approval and brought her to meet him.
Some time later…
"It's an honor to meet you, Giant Emperor." Sun Rouxi politely greeted him.
"You can drop the formality." Kulas casually waved dismissively. "You may not remember, but this is actually our second meeting."
"Oh? Where and when did we last meet?" Sun Rouxi asked.
"Here, on this continent. Right before the opening of Han Zexian's Tomb. Moments after you spoke with my dear friend."
"Then you're…" Sun Rouxi immediately recalled Kulas' words to her on that day.
Kulas silently nodded in confirmation.
"You should've seen his face afterward." Kulas laughed out loud. "It had nothing but guilt all over it."
Hearing such words, Sun Rouxi subconsciously shifted her gaze to Tian Yang, who was sighing as he rubbed his eyes.
"Anyway, why did you want to meet with me?"
"The Three Pillars of Heaven has something they would like to discuss with you, and I wanted to see if we could schedule a meeting."
"Schedule a meeting? You're more reserved than I expected. I was anticipating the Three Pillars of Heaven to simply walk in here and demand an audience like they own the place." Kulas remarked with a smile.
"To be honest, they'll likely do that if you refuse."
Kulas then said, "Since you're already here, why don't you tell me what the Three Pillars of Heaven want from me?"
Sun Rouxi shook her head and explained, "I may have come here with them, but I am not part of the discussion, so I don't know what business they have with you." "Is that so? Then, do you mind me asking what sort of position you stand within the Three Pillars of Heaven?"
"My position, huh? I am just one of many in the main family. It's nothing impressive."
"..."
Kulas could sense that Sun Rouxi wasn't giving the full details, but decided to ignore it because of her relationship with Tian Yang.
"Very well. If the Three Pillars of Heaven want to speak with me, we can do so after the Tournament of Strength. It's not like I can turn away the most powerful family in the world, anyway."
"Thank you."
"Since you're someone close to my brother, I'll let you linger at the palace as well. Just don't wander around alone."
"I understand."
After her audience with Kulas, Sun Rouxi stayed a little longer to chat with Tian Yang.
"Hey, why don't we have a little spar?" Sun Rouxi suddenly said.
"Out of nowhere?" Tian Yang looked at her with a weird expression.
"I want to see how much you've grown."
Tian Yang smiled and said, "Don't complain if you lose."
"Lose? To you? When have I ever lost to you? You may be a True Immortal now, but that won't change anything."
"If you say so."
Tian Yang brought her to the training ground inside Kulas' world.
"This is… a personal world?" Sun Rouxi seemed to be surprised by its existence. "You look surprised. Don't you have plenty of these at the Holy Continent?"
"What? Who told you that?" Sun Rouxi looked at him with a puzzled face.
"Nobody. It was just my own speculation."
"What a wild speculation. Do you think it's easy to create personal worlds? It requires a tremendous amount of resources and time. Even the Three Pillars of Heaven cannot make them willy-nilly. While we do have a few, they're all used as secret vaults, not as a training ground like this…"
"Anyway, for this spar, I won't use my family's techniques to make things fair," she then said.
However, Tian Yang shook his head and said, "Aren't you underestimating me a little too much? You're already going to lose, so why cripple yourself even more?" "Looks like you've gotten quite arrogant since the last time I saw you," she said. "How about this? If you can force me to use my family's martial techniques, I will owe you a favor."
"You know that I defeated the Immortal Clans, right?" Tian Yang said.
"Of course."
"Yet you're still underestimating me… You must be powerful enough to crush the Immortal Clans effortlessly, then."
Sun Rouxi quickly responded with a confident smile, "If I really wanted to? I could've dealt with them in a few days."
"Now I really cannot wait to fight you." Tian Yang said as he beckoned her. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"As your senior, I'll let you make the first move," she said.
"Then I won't be humble!" Tian Yang immediately made his move without hesitation, striking her with a lightning-quick sword technique.
In response, Sun Rouxi used a movement technique, easily avoiding his sword technique.
Tian Yang immediately followed up with another sword technique, one that Sun Rouxi was very familiar with.
"The Immortal Monastery's sword techniques?"
"There's more where that came from!" Tian Yang laughed as he continued using the Immortal Monastery's martial techniques.
"You kept training their techniques even after you left? Why?" she eventually asked. "I'm sure you have acquired many powerful and high-ranking techniques."
"I didn't practice them out of nostalgia or anything," he said with a smile. "For some reason, using them puts me at ease, so I do so from time to time—to clear my mind or as a warm-up."
"Seriously? This is the first time I've heard of such a thing."
"What about your techniques? If they're not from the Immortal Monastery or your family, where'd you learn such techniques?" Tian Yang asked her.
"There is something called the Heavenly Knowledge within the Three Pillars of Heaven. It contains countless nameless techniques created by the three families."
"What? Isn't that technically techniques from your family?"
"Technically, yes, but the ones I am using aren't created by my family but the other two families, so it's fine. Also, most of these techniques are either abandoned or unfinished, hence why they're nameless," she explained.