Everyone was cheering!
The Qing Imperial Family was applauded and glorified for the good news.
The Purple Plumed General was admired for killing a key figure among the evil demonic cultivators.
Sword Flash Ye Mo received praise from everyone for playing a big role in the fight against the Demonic Faction.
The Ye Sect of Leaf City, a first-tier city in the Northern Mei Territory, became famous for producing a hero like Sword Flash.
The Righteous Path gained an upper hand in the war before the war had actually started.
Banquets were prepared by different influences from across the lands in order to celebrate this good news, uplifting the spirits of not only them but also the commoners under their jurisdictions who had suffered in fear lately due to the increasing death toll.
Credits and praises were given to all... but to the one who actually deserved it.
Of course, several versions of the story were spread across the four Territories of the Qing Blessed Lands; none of them were containing the truth.
No one would have believed that Ghost Blade's death was all thanks to a little girl who believed that the life of a first-ranked assassin was only worth three sticks of tanghulu.
While everyone was in jubilation, the cause and true heroine of the incident, Little Yin, was sound asleep inside a courtyard temporarily assigned to Ye Mo by the sect.
With the Tenth Elder's manor being half-destroyed, there was no choice but for everyone to lodge in a different place for the night.
Yin was asleep until the greater part of the morning; she let Ye Mo and Ye Hua, that pair of uncle and nephew, deal with the boring stuff of cleaning up and talking to people while she used her being a child as an excuse to slack off.
She didn't want to be questioned; also, she didn't want to bother with the formalities of being thanked by the Qing-whoever people. It wasn't like she did that for them. No offense, but she only did that for food.
"Elder Sis, lemme play outside a bit," she said after eating breakfast.
At this moment, Ye Mo and Ye Hua were outside dealing with who-knows-what. Why would Yin not take advantage of this rare chance to sneak around?
Yin looked well-dressed. Instead of the normal white robes that every Ye Sect disciple was required to wear, Wu Xuan'er had donned her in a cute and girly pink robe with purple flowers embroidered on the sleeves.
Her hair was braided into a single bun with a yellow ribbon. Wu Xuan'er even let her borrow a pretty white jade hairpin, making her look like a perky young miss from a rich household.
"All right. Let me first inform the head steward to handle some errands so I can accompany you to walk—"
"Ah, you don't have to, Sis Xuan'er!"
Yin wanted to secretly check out the entire Ye Sect, even the so-called restricted areas. How could she bring Wu Xuan'er along?
"But how can I let you be by yourself?"
"I'm strong! Old fogey even said so himself." Yin showed her a toothy grin. "I will be all right. I heard you talking to the servants awhile ago. You have plenty of things to handle; you shouldn't waste your time looking after me."
Wu Xuan'er laughed at this. "Spending time with you is not a waste of time."
Yin knew that Wu Xuan'er was being sincere. She added, "Besides, I can not bear to move too much around and dirty my new clothes! There are plenty of elite disciples around and they will take care of me too. I promise that I will be extra careful."
Wu Xuan'er thought for a while before agreeing. "Don't run too far. Come back before your lunch with Young Master Qing."
"En!"
"Uncle Mo said that he might be a member of the Imperial Family. We could not be impolite by showing up late."
"I'll be back soon! Don't worry!"
With that, Little Yin happily skipped out of the courtyard. She randomly chose a path and then followed the trail towards where she heard voices talking.
This time, she was careful not to throw a stick or a rock towards anyone. She is a fast learner, okay?
Outside a large building with words she could not understand written at its entrance, she saw a group of teenagers in white robes talking. The oldest seemed to be no older than eighteen, while the youngest had to be around fourteen.
"Have you seen the Purple Plumed General?"
"I saw her from afar!"
"Me too!"
"I heard the elders will have a banquet tonight inviting every power and influence within the Leaf City. The Purple Plumed General will be there too!"
"Are you coming? Do you have a seat?"
"Of course. My father is a Protector! He guaranteed that I and my mother will have a table for ourselves."
"I'm jealous! You can see the Purple Plumed General up close."
"Ah, she is so beautiful! Instead of a military person, she looks like a princess!"
"Are you stupid? She is really a princess surnamed Qing, a daughter of the Crown Prince."
"Are you serious? How come she is serving in the military?"
"How unambitious are you? Of course, she wanted to have achievements! Not all women wanted to be just pretty flower vases."
"I also heard she's a middle stage Foundational Spirit Realm cultivator."
"Really? What a genius! She's like what, sixteen, seventeen?"
"In our sect, the youngest Nascent Divinity Realm cultivator is the Tenth Elder, who reached it at the age of thirty. If I remember it correctly, Tenth Elder reached the middle Foundational Spirit Realm at the age of nineteen."
"Ah, it means that in the future, she'll be stronger than our Tenth Elder?"
"How can that be? Our Tenth Elder is said to be the greatest genius—ah, little sister, are you lost?"
One of the female cultivators felt someone staring at her slightly-larger-than-normal chest. As many males had harassed her due to its size, she became utterly sensitive and grew uncomfortable whenever a person stares at her chest.
She was just about to rebuke whoever that was when she realized that a little girl no higher than her waist was standing not too far away from her circle of friends, looking at them in a daze.
She seemed to hear the little girl sigh dejectedly.
"I'm Li Yaoyao," she smiled as she approached the little girl. "What's your name? Are you lost?"
Her friends came forward too. Ye He, the oldest among them, crouched to pick up the little girl. "Let older brother carry you—"
"Hey," the little girl frowned, her arms akimbo. In a voice as beautiful as an oriole's song, she said, "Don't touch me! Men should not be touching females without asking permission, let alone you're a stranger. Are you not taught basic etiquette?"
The fourteen-year-old boy beside them was in stitches, laughing very loudly he even slapped Ye He's back. "Senior Brother He, you got burned!"
"Why don't you shut up, Feng'er!" Ye He looked like he wanted to punch his friend.
If Ye Mo was here, he would have probably consoled the younger man. Ye He wasn't the first and he wouldn't probably be the last to taste such a grievance for merely trying to be nice to Little Yin.
"She's probably the granddaughter of a visitor for tonight's banquet," the boy beside Li Yaoyao said. "Let's find one of the protectors or teachers so she could get back to her relatives."
"Li Ci, you have a communication talisman from your father, right?"
"Yes, wait—"
Yin cleared her throat to get their attention. "I know where my grandpa is. They entered a pocket dimension nearby. The one full of treasures."
Li Yaoyao voiced her concern. "Is there a pocket dimension nearby here?"
"I don't know."
"Full of treasures? The Sect Treasury? But that's near the Assembly Hall in the east side of the sect."
"I can't recall a pocket dimension in this area," the boy called Li Ci frowned. "Little Sister, are you sure that it is nearby?"
However, the group discovered that there was no one in front of them, as if the little girl they saw earlier was only an apparition of a ghost.