Meanwhile, Yun Hua was thunderstruck. Immortal Cultivators were real?! ‘Like, the real deal? The ones that fly on swords and defy the Heavens as a pastime?!

‘Aren’t they supposed to exist only in fairy tales and novels?!’ She shrieked inwardly, her brain threatening to burst from the information overload! ‘How can I not know they exist?!’ 

She whipped her head towards her granduncle, staring at him with scorching eyes hot enough to melt his precious Silver Dragon Armour - which he wasn’t currently wearing. Yun Meng, though, avoided those resentful eyes.

‘It’s not my fault you never asked. Who told you to believe in your father’s nonsense?’ he thought, conveniently forgetting the fact that he’d have been the same if it weren’t for his encounter or his visit to the Provincial Capital.

Yun Hua gritted her teeth when she saw Yun Meng expertly avoid her gaze. ‘Just see what happens next time you beg for a shoulder massage! Hmph!’ No one knew what she had in mind, but it sure as hell wouldn’t just be his muscles being massaged!

Then, she recalled how, a few hours back, she’d been ‘humbly’ showing off her ‘advanced’  Martial Skills and ‘awesome’ talent to Xiao Hong who was an Immortal Cultivator, and seemingly a ridiculously powerful one at that - judging by her granduncle’s reaction. 

Instantly, her face and neck burned, hot embarrassment radiating off her in waves that could probably singe her eyebrows! ‘Goodness, it was like a 3-year-old toddler showing off her scribbles to a Master Painter!’

She quickly opened the window and stared outside, letting the wind cool off her face and avoiding looking at Xiao Hong at the same time. 

Brilliant move! Now if only she could keep doing so for the next decade or so, everything would be fine!

Thankfully for her, Xiao Hong was still too busy comprehending her own relative awesomeness in this weak little province.

***

In just half an hour, a vast estate appeared in their vision. 

‘What a wonder this world is, even a slightly rich family in the backwater boonies can own an estate large enough to put to shame the richest back on Earth…’ Xiao Hong couldn’t help but sigh, as colossal lands of the Yun Family came into view. 

What felt more absurd to her was that, if she wanted to, she could totally own an estate ten times larger! And it would be really easy. All she had to do was throw around her aura a little and people could come scurrying over to donate all those to her! They might even have a small tussle for the position of being the one to hand over their assets.

‘Well, that would only work here, though.’ She thought as the carriage-taxi pulled up to the entrance gate of the Yun family’s estate, ‘The moment I go to a higher-level place, like the Super Factions’ or top-grade Factions’ territories, and pull something like that, I would be flattened before I could say “building”.’

After entering through the rather imposing gate, Xiao Hong saw dozens of courtyards with nearly identical structures neatly placed next to each other. Their sturdy-looking walls carried the emblem of their Family - the character for ‘Yun’ encapsulated within a circle and wings, representing the Soaring Cloud Branch of the Yun Family. Or so Yun Meng told her. 

***

“Welcome to my Yun Family’s humble estate, Miss Xiao,” Yun Meng said as he extended a polite hand to Xiao Hong, ushering her out of the private carriage-taxi.

‘... humble estate?’ She glanced at the colossal mansion that could easily rank within the top 10 largest mansions back on Earth. Then, she gave Yun Meng a weird glance. 

‘I think you misunderstand the meaning of the word,’ she couldn’t help but ridicule inwardly.

“It is my pleasure, Sir Yun.” She replied politely with a light smile, nonetheless.

With a few more pleasantries, he led Xiao Hong down a wide path paved with cobblestone. It was decorated with all sorts of ornamental plants, creating a rather magnificent view. 

As he led her down the path, he asked, “Would you like me to show you around the estate? Or do you want to take a rest?”

“Oh, do show me around, please. I have always wondered what a Martial Arts Family’s estate looked like,” replied Xiao Hong. She didn’t really have anything to do at all. Now that she was away from all the pressure, she might as well take a proper look at this world and enjoy what it had to offer.

“Very well then.” He nodded and politely gestured to her to follow beside him.

Walking through another gate, Xiao Hong saw another wider path, paved with cobblestones. 

Yun Meng pointed to the left, where Xiao Hong saw a huge field occupied by dozens of teenagers, practising Martial Arts in unison, bodies glistening from sweat under the late-morning sun. Their forms were a mixture of kicks, punches, jabs and palms all with myriad variations all gracefully flowing into the next.

‘Like clouds, gentle, but ever-changing and unpredictable.’ thought Xiao Hong.

On the other side of the field, several children in their pre-teens stood, faces red from the exertion of holding the legendary horse stance. 

“Here is the Martial Arts training field, where our youngsters and younger adults of our clan train their Martial Arts.” Yun Meng gestured towards the field, with a hint of pride in his voice. This generation of his family was particularly powerful!

‘Those stereotypical movies didn’t lie?!’ Xiao Hong, on the other hand, was stunned. They really placed bowls of boiling water on your legs, shoulders and head when they were doing the horse stance! She had always believed that to be pure bullshit! 

“Sir Yun,” Xiao Hong began, “does the water truly need to be so hot? Isn’t that a little… too harsh?” She couldn’t help but ask, pointing towards one of the younger children who had spilt the scalding water on himself and was crying. While a nearby wiry-looking instructor scolded him severely for being a dunderhead. 

“Harsh?” Yun Meng was taken aback. Then, he chuckled lightly, shaking his head, “That’s hardly anything. As we Martial Artists progress, we have to bear greater pain than mere burns. Martial Arts are made for battle - battles where we fight with our lives on the line. And during those battles, injury is inevitable - the only variable is the degree of said injury.

“If we don’t battle, we don’t challenge our limits. And when we don’t challenge our limits, we don’t improve.”

Yun Meng let out a somewhat forlorn sigh after a short pause, “Just like me and the head of the Liang Family. We don’t dare to fight with our lives on the line, because without us, our families will be in danger.”

“I see…” Xiao Hong nodded thoughtfully. 

‘Just like the Yun Family, the Liang Family and the Ferocious Bear Gang also have their own backers. And these backers all probably have a tacit agreement with each other to not interfere with this city.’ she deduced. This kind of situation was prevalent all over the world of Cultivation. Bi Xin City close to the Demon Beast Haven Secret Realm was the same. Sandwiched between three of the most powerful forces on the Continent, it could retain a modicum of autonomy only thanks to the agreement between the Sects that surrounded it. 

‘Therefore, the moment something happens to the Head of the Family, the other two will jump in like hyenas, tearing them to shreds.’

“Besides, it is only through such harsh training that their bodies will remember the right stance.” Yun Meng continued, quickly returning to his normal tone. “The human body will do its best to avoid pain. When it associates the wrong stance with pain, it will try its best to avoid that stance!

“In fact, because of this, the body will also push itself harder, accelerating the progress of one’s strength.”

He gestured to the scalded boy, who, despite his sniffles and trembling legs, held his stance with surprising determination. A determination she would never expect from a child not even a decade old.

‘These Martial Artists are truly hardcore!’ Xiao Hong’s eye twitched slightly. Suddenly, she felt thankful for her talent in Immortal Cultivation - as shitty as it was. While Immortal Cultivation was also quite difficult and painful, one didn’t need to go through such an abnormal amount of strain.

After that small divergence, Yun Meng continued to introduce the Yun Family’s home to her. 

The estate itself was divided largely into five sections. The Eastern Section, where the disciples at the Body Refining Stage disciples practised Martial Arts, represented the Yun family’s hopes. Thus, they placed them in the most auspicious direction. The Northern Section was where the older generation leisurely stayed, representing the collective wisdom of the family. The Central Section was where all mid- to late-stage Blood Qi Awakening Martial Artists stayed, representing the backbone of the family.

Strangely, Yun Meng did not seem particularly keen on bringing her to the Western Section. 

He explained as he brought Xiao Hong to the Southern Section where they welcomed and housed their guests, “The Western Section is where all the sinners of the family are sent. I do not wish to sully Miss Xiao’s visit with the presence of scum and their descendants.”

Xiao Hong frowned slightly. She felt it was a little too much to force innocent children to bear the sins of their ancestors. While she knew such a thing was prevalent across the world, it was her first time truly seeing such a thing. 

Just as she was wondering if it was her place to comment on this, Yun Meng continued, “Of course, it’s not like they don’t have a chance to redeem themselves - if they contribute enough to the Family they will be exempt from the punishment.”

Xiao Hong nodded.

Soon, Yun Meng brought her to the middle of the Southern Section to select a courtyard to stay in.

She just casually selected one of the peaceful-looking courtyards and decided to stay there for a while.

***

After settling the guest in the courtyard, Yun Meng walked out keeping a light smile on his face. 

He gestured to a teenage girl in the outfit of a maidservant, who promptly scurried over to him. He whispered to her, “The young lady in that courtyard is an esteemed guest. Make sure all her demands, no matter how difficult, are met. If there is something you cannot handle, come to me immediately.”

He stared at her intensely, “Is that understood?”

“Y-Yes, Master!” The maid stammered and nearly cried under the intensity of Yun Meng’s gaze.

“Good!” He gave a satisfied nod, “If your performance is satisfactory, I’ll immediately promote you to Head Maid of the Eastern Section. So work hard.”

Saying so, he briskly made his way to his study with a light smile as though he were in a good mood.

Internally, however, he was anything but calm. 

‘My initial estimate was off. Completely off! She isn’t a Sky Spirit Cultivator at all - she’s  at least a Divine Sea Stage Cultivator!’ Yun Meng’s heart jumped around frantically and his soul nearly fled his body again! Almost permanently this time!

It was because of the intensity of her aura and how Yun Hua described the scene when she ‘fell’ from the sky that he had evaluated Xiao Hong as a Cultivator above the Earthen Origin Stage. Since he couldn’t tell how much stronger she was than an Earthen Origin Stage Cultivator, he just assumed that she was a Sky Spirit Stage Cultivator. But now, he realised that she was a damned Divine Sea Stage Cultivator! Which made her one of the strongest in the entire province!

He’d wondered several times on the way - was he perhaps wrong? Did his brain finally fail due to old age? But no, he was sure it was not the case.

And he was sure of his guess because of her…  arrogance. 

It wasn’t the unpleasant, annoying, in-your-face kind of arrogance that some ignorant silk-pants had, throwing around their weight and names like they were worth anything without their powerful ancestors. In Yun Meng’s eyes, those people were merely monkeys, jumping around until someone smacked them into place.

Oh, no. Miss Xiao’s arrogance was very different - and she was probably not even aware of it. It was the utter lack of caution displayed towards him, despite having known him for less than 5 hours. Simply because she was so much stronger than them that any scheme or attack of any kind would be useless against her. It was as if she had absolute confidence that a mere mortal like him could not even scratch her skin.

And because of this, Yun Meng realised that Xiao Hong had completely let her guard down around him, letting her inner thoughts show very easily. 

Yun Meng had carefully watched her reactions when he explained to her about the power distribution of the City. 

She did not give a damn. 

It was as if they weren’t even worthy of her consideration at all. He could tell so clearly because he had also felt the same when he watched those non-Martial Artists and Body-Refining Martial Artists fighting for benefits. It was like watching a bunch of ants fighting over a grain of sugar. Somewhat interesting to watch, but ultimately, it was of no consequence to him. 

Moreover, after he explained to her about the Provincial Capital’s experts, she still did not give a shit. Instead, she was even more relaxed! The way her entire demeanour shifted from ‘cute newbie cultivator’ to ‘relaxed supreme being’ was as obvious as the difference between night and day to him. 

So, from all these clues in Miss Xiao’s behaviour, he deduced that she was at least a Divine Sea Stage Cultivator!

Yun Meng’s ‘calm’ smile twitched slightly, as he entered Family Head’s study,  ‘She’s also quite young - probably not much older than 30, judging from her behaviour and looks.’ 

In Yun Meng’s mind, the Divine Sea Stage was already a God walking the Earth! With their unparalleled destructive power and incomprehensible Spell Arts, there was very little that could cause harm to them.

And it required monstrous talent and centuries of arduous Cultivation to barely reach that Stage. Yet, right in front of him was someone who could achieve such great heights at such a young age! 

He did not even dare to imagine that such a thing was possible!

It was only after a while that Yun Meng managed to calm himself down. 

‘Perhaps those stories about the Holy Lands of Cultivation aren’t complete nonsense…’ He sighed in resignation, silently accepting this as a fact. After all, there was a human-sized sucker punch to reality waiting for him just a courtyard down! 

Moreover, if she was already this strong, he couldn’t even imagine how strong the Elders of her Sect would be. It was simply beyond his comprehension. 

A thought suddenly struck him. His mouth twitched as he looked up at the ceiling of the Family Head’s Study, ‘Speaking of Elders, I should also warn those idiotic Elders of my own family to keep their brats in line. Otherwise, those brats would chase after her with all five limbs wagging… and then be turned to dust.’ 

He suddenly had the illusion that a massive headache was eyeing him, rubbing its hands, happily wondering how much pain it could cause him. He pinched the bridge of his nose, silently pondering, ‘Now, how do I ensure I can get through this without erasing the Yun Family from the face of the earth…?’