February second.

The dragon raises its head.

This world doesn’t seem to know this saying, but the double "two" day is indeed a good day, at least Dongshan City has already felt the spring breeze.

The branches of willows by the street sprout a touch of new green.

All things are revived, spring has arrived.

Si Miaoxue is at the age of youthful frivolity, she never lets go of a chance when there’s an opportunity with Lin Miao, yet she’s quite inept herself. Despite possessing the "Charm Girl Heart Skill," she can’t withstand more than a few moves before losing, not his match at all.

Ever since Lin Miao comprehended the "Embrace Yang" practice, it was truly different, as if he could suppress Si Miaoxue’s "Charm Girl Heart Skill."

She’s inept and loves to play.

After being mocked, she’s still not convinced, which results in her total downfall.

Each time she feels she’s lost a lot, yet every time she can’t resist, Si Miaoxue feels as if she’s controlled by a mysterious power.

"What is it, got something on your mind?" Lin Miao gently caressed Si Miaoxue’s full head of Qingsi, inhaling the slight fragrance coming from it.

"I can sense she’s here, but don’t know where, feeling uneasy." Si Miaoxue bit her lip and said.

"Maybe it’s just your illusion, since she’s here, why hasn’t she come to find you?" Lin Miao knows who she’s talking about, obviously that candidate Consort Yue Yin Mei’er!

"Do you think she might go searching for the Saint Heir herself, if she finds him, what should I do?" Si Miaoxue lifted her head.

"You and your mentor have been searching for ten years, and couldn’t find him, she comes and finds him, that would be too impressive." Lin Miao chuckled, "Don’t worry, however capable she is, she’s only just arrived, and can’t compare to your ten years of operation in this place."

"This isn’t certain, the Yue Family is very familiar with the Saint Heir’s bloodline, maybe she truly has a way to determine the Saint Heir’s location..." Saying this, Si Miaoxue got up and started dressing.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to make a trip to Longchuan Canyon, if she hasn’t come to Dongshan City, she must have gone to Longchuan Canyon!" Si Miaoxue stated confidently.

"Miaoxue, did you forget what time it is now?"

Si Miaoxue paused, realizing that it’s nighttime, even if she wants to leave the city, the gates won’t be open, she’s overly anxious and lost her composure.

"It’s all your fault, I’m getting dumber now." Si Miaoxue grumbled.

"You’re getting dumber and blaming me?" Lin Miao couldn’t help but laugh helplessly, it’s really hard to understand this woman’s logic.

"It’s all because of you, my entire mind is fixated on you, I can’t calm down to think about other things, and keep making jokes, isn’t it because of you?"

"Alright, if you want to go to Longchuan Canyon, I won’t oppose, but advise you to be more cautious." Lin Miao said, "I’ve never met this Yue Mei’er and don’t know what kind of person she is, but since she came to Lanzhou, hasn’t revealed herself, surely she has her own plan, hasn’t your mentor taken you there many times over the past decade at Longchuan Canyon?"

"Yes, when my mentor was still around, she would take me at least twice a year, but Longchuan Canyon is too deep and long, over these ten years there are still many places we haven’t explored, there are some places inside that are quite dangerous, my mentor didn’t dare to tread lightly, not to mention me." Si Miaoxue replied.

"Can you confirm that the people who abducted the Saint Heir brought him into Longchuan Canyon?" Lin Miao inquired.

"Yes, we found Mrs. Yin’s remains and her belongings in a hidden cave in Longchuan Canyon, back then she’d been gnawed by a beast beyond recognition, but my mentor recognized her instantly."

"How could there be beasts in a hidden cave?"

"That cave is home to a mature brown bear, Mrs. Yin was already severely injured, she fought hard to hold off the bear so that the mute servant could take the Saint Heir away, died of exhaustion afterwards..." Si Miaoxue fell silent, the scene was truly tragic.

"So the mute servant escaped with the Saint Heir, but you lost their trail after tracking to Longchuan Canyon?" Lin Miao questioned.

"Yes, we’ve searched near that cave for half a month, ran out of all our provisions, even killed the brown bear and ate its meat to last another half month, but found no useful clues about the mute servant or the Saint Heir." Si Miaoxue stated.

"They knew you were searching for them?"

"Sure, both Mrs. Yin and the mute servant grew up by the Saint Heir’s side, who would’ve thought they would abduct him."

"When your Saint Heir was abducted, he should have been young, the Sect Leader should still be alive, couldn’t another be born, which shouldn’t be hard?"

"Once cultivation reaches Celestial Essence Realm, conceiving offspring becomes incredibly difficult, the Saint Heir was born before the Sect Leader rose to Celestial Essence Realm, despite the efforts for the next ten years, sleeping with countless women, no heir was born with the bloodline."

"So there were others who bore children?"

"No, none at all." Si Miaoxue shook her head, "Some in the sect suspect there’s a problem with the Sect Leader’s body."

"You left the Moon Worship Sect at sixteen, weren’t you afraid you’d be chosen by the Sect Leader, and become a childbearing machine?" A flash of insight struck Lin Miao, he somewhat understood why a sixteen-year-old Si Miaoxue would run off with her mentor to search for the Saint Heir.

If chosen by the Sect Leader, would she even have the chance to refuse?

"Yes, once a woman of the Sect Leader, she would be confined for life, completely stripped of freedom, required to serve at all times, living like a walking corpse, I don’t want such a life, my mentor found an excuse and took me out..."

"Doesn’t your Moon Worship Sect advocate freedom and equality? How can there be such insane rules?" Lin Miao asked, puzzled.

"Freedom and equality are for the ordinary followers. These rules don’t apply to the Sect Leader," Si Miaoxue replied.

This is a typical double standard!

Using the excuse of bloodline continuation, acting out of selfish motives, even depriving others of freedom, made Lin Miao think of something else...

"What is the name of your Sect Leader of the Moon Worship Sect, and how old is he?" Lin Miao asked out of curiosity.

"I don’t know either. He should be over sixty this year. As for the Sect Leader’s name, my master is also very secretive about it and has never mentioned it in front of me."

"You don’t even know who your Sect Leader is in the Moon Worship Sect?"

"My master said that each generation’s Sect Leader has only one character in their name, but once they assume the position, no one calls them by that name anymore," Si Miaoxue said.

"How do you address him in your sect?" Lin Miao asked. It was peculiar. Without a name, how do they usually call him?

"Sovereign or Demon Lord."

"What about outsiders? They can’t possibly call him that too, right?"

"Moon Demon or Moon Sovereign."

"Is it because your succession is through bloodline that these titles exist?" Lin Miao inquired.

It is similar to a dynasty succession, where everyone who ascends the dragon throne is called Emperor or Son of Heaven, never changing the epithet.

And the Moon Worship Sect’s leader is always called Moon Demon or Moon Lord.

"What about the Saint Heir? Does he have a name?"

"Yes, once a Saint Heir’s bloodline is confirmed, they are given a name. This generation’s Saint Heir is named Shang."

"Shang?"

Such a depressing name. No wonder his fate is so troubled.

"It’s the ’Shang’ in ’noble,’ not the ’Shang’ in ’wounded’!" Si Miaoxue corrected him.

"Anyway, it’s quite a gloomy name. Over the years, you and your master have definitely searched many times without success. That leaves only two possibilities: First, the mute servant took the Saint Heir and hid, and they haven’t returned, likely because they don’t wish to. Second, they are long gone. The Longchuan Grand Canyon is so dangerous that even a Peak of Meridian Passage Realm expert like your master wouldn’t dare venture deeply. How could the mute servant survive in that environment with a child of about six? It’s possible they ended up nourishing some wild animal."

"My master and I have analyzed it. What you said isn’t impossible. But with a glimmer of hope, we don’t want to give up. If we were to adopt the ’spiritual selection’ method, it could cause another upheaval within the Sect."

Si Miaoxue was right. In any power or family, trouble with an heir can lead to severe upheaval, possibly resulting in total collapse.

So, even with a thin hope, finding the Saint Heir would be absolutely beneficial for stabilizing the situation in the Sect.

Honestly, if this so-called Saint Heir is a person of great fortune, he might still be alive. But as Si Miaoxue described, the Saint Heir seems to suffer from some incurable disease. Not just for him; even this world might not be able to cure it.

Based on the onset of the disease, he might already be a withered skeleton in a tomb.

However, this is only his speculation and conjecture, not definitive. Sometimes, miracles do happen.

"Your Sect Leader should be in the Celestial Essence Realm, right? With such a high martial realm, he should live many years, not urgently needing a successor, right?"

"The Sect Leader’s bloodline is unique. He can use the energy of the Moon Pool to quickly cultivate to the Celestial Essence Realm, but his lifespan is limited. He’d live much less than ordinary Celestial Essence experts. Each time the Moon Pool is opened, it depletes the Sect Leader’s lifespan. So, if it were to open again, the Sect Leader’s remaining lifespan might be almost exhausted. Moreover, opening the Moon Pool is not just for cultivating the Saint Heir; people within the Sect can enter to reap great benefits. Since assuming leadership, the Sect Leader has opened the Moon Pool twice, once every twenty years, thirty-six years ago once, sixteen years ago once, and there are still three odd years left until the third time."

"Is there a limit on the number of times and periods each Sect Leader can open the Moon Pool?"

"Yes, the Moon Pool opens once every twenty years. People entering cannot be older than thirty. The closing time isn’t fixed, and it ends when the last person exits. Each twenty-year opening of the Moon Pool is both the responsibility and duty of the Sect Leader. The Moon Pool is our Moon Worship Sect’s biggest secret for grooming experts. Everyone who emerges from the Moon Pool is at least a Meridian Passage Realm expert," Si Miaoxue said. "This is one of the reasons our Moon Worship Sect continuously generates experts."

This is no secret. Having existed for a thousand years as a major sect, even if I told you how we cultivate experts, you’d still need the ability to achieve it.

No one, not even those who’ve entered it, can clearly say what’s inside the Moon Pool. Perhaps it’s a secret known only to Sect Leaders of each generation.

The "Moon Pool" doesn’t seem to be something of this world.

"Miaoxue, if it opens this time, you’ll have a chance to go in, right?"

"If it opens on schedule, I barely qualify to enter, but I don’t need it now," Si Miaoxue said. She’s very clear about her direction, and the Meridian Passage Realm is easy for her. Entering the Moon Pool doesn’t really matter.

Entering the Moon Pool would mean she could never leave the Moon Worship Sect, which might not be a better choice for her.

Though people gain immense benefits from the Moon Pool, there are many issues. These are sect secrets. As a disciple of the Protector Long Po, Si Miaoxue knows a bit and is reluctant to get involved with the Moon Pool.

Long Po, due to being stuck in terms of age, was ineligible to enter the Moon Pool, but ultimately still cultivated to become a Peak of Meridian Passage Realm expert and one of the four Protectors.

Back then, six people entered the Moon Pool, including the Sect Leader. Of the other five, Mrs. Yin defected and took the Saint Heir. Another, Yuegui, the Left Envoy, went from being a dashing gentleman to a cold enigma, neither human nor ghost. Another of the four Protectors, ’Mountain Ghost,’ is merciless and bloodthirsty, and Yin Mei loves beautiful men, neither yin nor yang. There was also the ’Consort Yue’ at that time, who disappeared completely upon leaving—no one even questioned it, and traces of her existence were deliberately erased.