Liu Xiaolou blinked, totally thrown. What’s that got to do with ?
He frowned, genuinely confused. “Can’t you just tell , Altar Mistress?”
She pressed his lips into a smile. “Alright then. Xue Bu, that girl is twenty-eight. She’s been cultivating the Azure Wood True Scripture for twelve years and is now at the tenth layer of Qi Refinent. Her starting ridians are the Foot Yang Bright, Hand Lesser Yang, and Hand Faint Yin. Sheng Han, that girl is twenty-five. She’s cultivated in the Cloud-and-Rain Technique for thirteen years and is now at the ninth layer. Her starting ridians are the Foot Faint Yin, Foot Lesser Yang, and Hand Lesser Yin. I raised both of them myself. They’re the standouts among the younger disciples of Qingyue Altar. I couldn’t think of a better pair to offer.”
The mont Liu Xiaolou heard this, he felt completely let down. Their cultivation thods didn’t match his at all.
He hurried to ask, “Is there anything else?”
The Qingyue Mistress paused. “You don’t like them? Why not?”
Liu Xiaolou said, “Honestly, none of their starting ridians match mine.”
The Qingyue Mistress blinked, confused. “You choose a wife based on starting ridians?”
Now Liu Xiaolou was the confused one. “A partner? What partner?”
Her gorgeous eyes lingered on Liu Xiaolou’s face for a long mont, the warmth draining out of them. “Since you didn’t co to Qingyue Altar to propose marriage… which ans you’re just here to screw around with my sect?”
The second he heard the words “propose marriage,” Liu Xiaolou’s brain short-circuited. It was like soone yanked him ten years back in ti. Back when his younger self accidentally stumbled into the marriage trials at Red Conch Manor
…Shit, he thought to himself. Not this again.
Seeing him frozen and silent, the Qingyue Mistress grew even more displeased. Her face hardened with frost. “Liu Daoist, if you don’t explain yourself clearly today, I’m afraid—”
“The fault is mine,” Liu Xiaolou snapped out of it and gave a pained smile. “A friend told your honorable sect held an opportunity of great value, so I rushed over. I had no idea it was this kind of ‘opportunity.’ I would never ss with your sect. I’m just a rogue cultivator. I have no right, no qualifications, to toy with your reputation.”
The Qingyue Mistress kept staring daggers at him. After a long mont she finally said, “Han Jiuxian told us you might co to propose! He left just yesterday, and you show up today!”
He rubbed his forehead. “Brother Han really misunderstood .”
The Qingyue Mistress still hadn’t cooled down. “Then what kind of opportunity are you looking for?”
Liu Xiaolou replied, “I have a close friend whose sect’s inheritance is incomplete. So of the ntal formulas and oral teachings were lost. He asked to help him find a chance to make up for it. I ca hoping your sect might have a suitable cultivation thod. I’m willing to pay a high price.”
The Qingyue Mistress gave him a mocking look. “This ‘friend’ of yours is actually you, isn’t it?”
Liu Xiaolou gave an awkward little laugh.
After thinking for a mont, the Qingyue Mistress said, “In that case, this works out too. Between Xue Bu and Sheng Han, choose one. Marry her, and from then on we’re family. All the techniques and scriptures in Qingyue Altar will be open to you. Wouldn’t that solve everything nicely?”
Both won were excellent cultivators. For a mont, Liu Xiaolou was genuinely tempted.
Being allowed to take her away and also learn their cultivation arts... could anything in the world really be that good? Back when he left the Su family, he couldn’t even take Susu, a re servant girl. So how could Qingyue Altar possibly let him walk off with one of their most outstanding female disciples?
“If I could marry one of them, of course that’d be great,” Liu Xiaolou said, glancing at the Qingyue Mistress. Honestly, marrying you wouldn’t be bad either. Out loud he continued, “I just don’t know what you need to do. Is there so service I can offer your sect?”
There’s no such thing as a free spiritual pill. Liu Xiaolou understood that much.
The Qingyue Mistress’s expression ward at once, her smile blooming again. “Having a Foundation Establishnt cultivator like you join our altar is already the greatest service. Why would we need anything more from you?”
“Join the Altar?” Liu Xiaolou’s stomach dropped like a rock.…Please tell this isn’t another “marry in and take the wife’s family na” deal.
The Qingyue Mistress hurried to clarify, “Of course not. Nothing like what happened to you back at Shenwu Manor.”
Seeing his face go stiff, she quickly added, “Friend Liu... all the troubles you’ve had in the past, Friend Han told us everything yesterday. Don’t worry, this is absolutely not about marrying into the family. It seems you don’t really understand the rules of our Qingyue Altar.”
Of course Liu Xiaolou didn’t know, so the Qingyue Altar Master explained it right there on the spot.
The ancestral rule of the Qingyue Altar is that the altar is always led by a woman. This rule originally followed the practices of the Hengshan Sect during its golden age. Back then, the Hengshan Sect was a sect of female cultivators, and all three of its altars were headed by won, not just Qingyue, but also Guangtian and Dongling.
Over ti though, for various reasons, the three altars drifted farther and farther apart in how they passed down their traditions.
The Guangtian Altar followed the female-only lineage strictly. There wasn’t a single man in the entire altar.
The Dongling Altar, on the other hand, took a different path and stopped caring whether a cultivator was male or female. n and won were treated the sa, and whoever had the skill rose to the top. The current altar master is actually a male cultivator.
As for the Qingyue Altar, while it protects its tradition of female leadership, it allows n to join to a certain extent. The altar still accepts only female disciples, and the altar mistress is still chosen from the most outstanding among them. But to strengthen the sect’s influence, they also help their female disciples choose Dao partners, bringing in talented male cultivators from outside.
That is why the Qingyue Altar hosts a marriage gathering every seven years. Anyone interested can climb Zhurong Peak, and as long as one of the female disciples takes a liking to him, he can join the Qingyue Altar and beco one of its mbers.
Still, no matter how gifted these n are, the Qingyue Altar is and will always be led by won. Because of that, cultivators above the Foundation Establishnt stage rarely bother to take part. Even if it isn’t exactly the sa as marrying into the family, it doesn’t feel much better.
That was why the three altars eventually went their separate ways. When the paths differ, there’s no working together.
Back in the day, Han Jiuxian ca this close to becoming the Qingyue Altar Mistress’s husband. Unfortunately, when the final selection ca around, he lost out to the Transmission Elder and the Enforcent Elder, and he was eliminated. Even so, he and the altar mistress had shared a brief romantic connection, and over ti they beca close friends.
This winter happened to be another Qingyue Altar marriage gathering. Han Jiuqian thought of Liu Xiaolou and decided to recomnd him.
When word spread that a Foundation Establishnt cultivator might actually co up the mountain for the selection, even if he was only a rogue cultivator, the Qingyue Altar felt incredibly fortunate. They sent out the two candidates preparing to compete for the next altar mistress position to et him. It was mostly a formality. The truth was that the altar had already agreed that whichever woman Liu Xiaolou chose would beco the future mistress of the Qingyue Altar.
The Qingyue Altar Mistress sweetened the offer even more. “All you need to do is join our altar. You won’t only have access to the techniques stored in Qingyue. I’ll also request permission from Guangtian and Dongling so you can study their collections as well. Altogether there are no fewer than thirty techniques. You’ll definitely find one that suits you.”
Liu Xiaolou locked eyes with those glossy, almost-dripping-wet eyes staring back at him. “You ntioned earlier that when Brother Han ca for the selection back then, he lost to the Transmission Elder and Enforcent Elder... so who did you end up marrying? Or… are you still single?”
The Qingyue Altar Mistress pressed her lips together in a smile. “Friend Liu, my two disciples are both far more beautiful than I am. As for , I married the Transmission Elder and Enforcent Elder. Both of them.”
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