Xie Tianhua was stunned, a trace of despair flashing in her eyes. She couldn't believe that in her panic, she had flown straight towards the Old Tree Courtyard. Now, ahead was a mountain of knives, and behind was a sea of fire; it seemed no matter which direction she took, it was a dead end.

Finally, she gritted her teeth...

Her parents had fought desperately to hold back the clan’s experts so Xie Tianhua could escape. If she were captured now, their sacrifice would be in vain. Charging into the Old Tree Courtyard was almost certainly a death sentence, but at least it would prevent the Blue Sparrow Clan and Qiao Minglong from getting what they wanted.

With this thought, Xie Tianhua took the risk, transforming into her human form and rushing into the Old Tree Courtyard.

"Damn it!"

"Crazy woman!"

The two elders responsible for capturing Xie Tianhua were almost frightened out of their wits, hurriedly flapping their wings to follow. They never dreamed Xie Tianhua would dare to invade the courtyard.

Though the two elders were more powerful, they didn’t dare fly too fast, fearing they might accidentally end up inside the Old Tree Courtyard. Additionally, being caught off guard, they set off a fraction of a second later than Xie Tianhua, ultimately allowing her to succeed in entering the brick-paved courtyard. Xie Tianhua pressed her blood-soaked wounds and leaned against the ancient tree by the well.

Upon closer inspection, Xie Tianhua realized the well was constructed from a strange material. It wasn't brick, stone, metal, wood, bamboo, or even gems. Just touching it sent waves of cold seeping into her organs, penetrating her bones, and reaching her soul, causing her intense fear.

Then, there was silence.

As the jewel of the Blue Sparrow Clan, Xie Tianhua often imagined how terrifying the forbidden area of the Old Tree Courtyard must be. Even the two great forbidden areas, Storm Sea and Huanglian Mountain, would give some face to the Blue Sparrow Clan in the Green Bamboo Sea. Although Xie Tianhua didn't dare say she could swagger through these two great forbidden areas, there was no real danger.

But the Old Tree Courtyard was different; even the clan leader didn’t dare approach it.

However...

Now that Xie Tianhua was inside the manor, nothing noteworthy happened. The wind still blew, the leaves still rustled, and the ancient well remained silent. There was no movement at all...

She had imagined this place sealing an evil spirit with overwhelming pressure.

She had also imagined ancient formations here that could suppress gods and buddhas.

She had even imagined this as the secluded retreat of an unparalleled expert whose cultivation had surpassed the limits of the Xuanhuang realm.

In reality... there was nothing.

"Huh?"

"Could it be that the Old Tree Courtyard was just hyped up as a forbidden area and is actually just an empty name?"

The two elders exchanged a glance, then gritted their teeth, transformed into human form, and gently landed in the courtyard. The moment their toes touched the brick floor, they immediately unleashed their divine powers, surrounding themselves with green light that formed six or seven layers of armor. They also deployed their defensive treasures, not daring to hold anything back.

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Silence.

Nothing happened.

Only then did the two elders breathe a sigh of relief, turning their eyes to Xie Tianhua, their gazes instantly becoming cold and mocking.

"Miss Xie, you risked your life to enter the courtyard, but it turns out the legendary forbidden area is just a joke. How do you feel?"

Xie Tianhua smiled bitterly, shaking her head weakly:

"I’ve lost; I can no longer cause any trouble. May I ask the two elders, for the sake of our past familial terms, to tell me why the clan is so determined to hand me over to Qiao Minglong?"

"You will know once we return. What difference does it make if you know sooner or later?"

The old woman elder cackled, looking extremely pleased.

Suddenly…

The wooden door creaked open.

The sound wasn’t loud, but to the two Blue Sparrow elders, it was like thunder. They hastily retreated to the courtyard gate, their eyes almost nailed to the wooden houses.

A man in his thirties with stubble on his chin and neatly cut hair walked out into the courtyard. He wore coarse cloth clothes, his pants rolled up twice, with dried mud still on the hems.

The man stretched and smiled, asking:

"Do we have guests? What a rare treat."

The two elders exchanged another glance, then without hesitation, quickly formed seals and turned into two gusts of wind, fleeing the Old Tree Courtyard. Xie Tianhua lay by the well, only able to gape at the fluid motions of the two elders.

She now understood a bit why these two were the oldest elders in the clan. Such fluid escape skills couldn’t be honed overnight.

“There’s a girl here. Hey, miss? Are you hurt?”

Xie Tianhua frowned slightly. The man who just came out of the wooden house spoke so rudely, not calling her "miss" or "young lady," just referring to her so casually.

However, thanks to his appearance, the two elders were scared away, and she wasn’t one to forget kindness. She was about to stand and pay her respects when suddenly, Xie Tianhua froze in terror, standing dumbfounded in the courtyard, her face blank.

Currently, she was gravely injured, and her attention had been on the two elders just now, so she hadn’t carefully sensed her surroundings. Now, as she probed with her divine sense, she realized that the man scratching his head in confusion had no trace of true qi, not even a hair-thin strand.

This realization almost shattered her worldview.

In the Xuanhuang realm, every living being, even those with defective meridians or paralyzed, would have some trace of cultivation as long as they breathed, even if it was negligible.

But... this man had no trace of true qi at all.

Xie Tianhua thought to herself, could this seemingly ordinary man be the forbidden presence of the Old Tree Courtyard?

The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became. How could an ordinary person live openly in this courtyard? Not to mention, the cold emanating from the well could instantly freeze and kill even a low-level cultivator if it leaked out, let alone a mortal.

"It seems that compared to those two cunning elders, I am still too naive," Xie Tianhua thought with a bitter smile.

Realizing that the man in front of her was likely an ancient taboo, she dared not be disrespectful anymore. Ignoring her injuries, she gritted her teeth and stood up in pain. She clasped her hands together and was about to bow when a voice suddenly came from the west wing:

"Alright, stop forcing yourself. Even if you don't care about your own life, don't dirty my courtyard, okay?"

As soon as the voice fell, Xie Tianhua felt warmth envelop her body, as if she were soaking in a bath of rare herbs. The wounds crisscrossing her body gently closed, scabbed over, and grew new skin. In the blink of an eye, she was fully healed, her face rosy and her spirits lifted. She felt even better than usual.

She looked in shock towards the west wing...

The Old Tree Courtyard truly lived up to its reputation as the forbidden area of forbidden areas. Besides the mysterious man who had come out of the main house, there was another equally terrifying presence here.

The Blue Sparrow Clan was feared because their blue divine light had purifying powers. Once exposed to the divine light, injured flesh would be continually purified, turning the meridians and internal organs to ash. This power, once inside the body, was like a ravenous leech; any contact with divine consciousness would result in further purification, making it extremely difficult to remove.

Even though Xie Tianhua, being a Blue Sparrow herself, had some resistance to the blue divine light, it would still take her several days of treatment to heal such injuries.

However, the person in the west wing had healed her completely with just a few words, neutralizing the purifying power of the blue divine light.

Moreover...

Someone with such terrifying power lived in the west wing, implying a lower status than the man from the main house.

Speaking of that man...

While she was still in a daze, he had already closed the courtyard door and was turning back towards the main house. Seeing this terrifying figure about to leave, Xie Tianhua thought of Qiao Minglong easily defeating her, his backing by a sacred land, and her parents whose fates were uncertain. Feeling helpless, she suddenly made up her mind, gritted her teeth, knelt down, and kowtowed:

"Please, master, take me as your disciple!"