Chapter Ninety-One: An Unexpected Encounter

That little incident soon passed. Ji Mo and the other two wandered about a while longer. After crossing Falling Reverie Street and turning into Brocade Jade Street, just as they were preparing to look for a place to stay, they ran into several young cultivators from the Ten-Direction Great World of Cultivation, much like Bai Ze and Geng Xiao.

There were four of them in all, and one stood out above the rest. He wore a bright golden robe of brocade; his handsome face bore an inborn nobility, and when his tiger-like eyes shifted, they carried a stern, commanding majesty. He seemed a king by nature. Merely standing there at random, he made everything around him appear no more than a backdrop.

The moment Geng Xiao saw him, his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. Bai Ze noticed the change in his expression and was just about to ask, when the group opposite had clearly also spotted Geng Xiao, Bai Ze, and Ji Mo. The young man in yellow let his gaze fall on Geng Xiao, a faint flicker passing through his eyes, and said coolly, “Geng Xiao? I did not expect to run into you again. The last time, you managed to escape with your life from my hands. That counts as some small measure of ability.”

“Thanks to Your Highness the Crown Prince for your care, I have engraved that kindness upon my heart. Should the chance arise one day, I will certainly repay it in full,” Geng Xiao replied, his pupils tightening slightly as he stared at him.

Ji Mo was a little startled. So this was the genius of the Ji clan who had inflicted a crushing defeat upon Geng Xiao when he first entered the Flame Domain. But this Ji clan was actually the imperial house of Woodstar?

The young man in yellow laughed lightly, unconcerned. “I shall await your instruction at any time.”

Geng Xiao was indeed exceptional, especially the black blade in his hand, whose power was astonishing. Among the thousand Core Condensation geniuses from the Ten-Direction Great World who had entered the Flame Domain, Geng Xiao’s overall combat strength ranked within the top fifty. Even so, he was still not important enough to be taken seriously by this man.

He came from the imperial Ji clan of Woodstar and was the crown prince personally invested by the reigning Ji Emperor. His given name was Shengrui. His talent was so great as to be almost unbelievable. If one ranked the thousand Core Condensation cultivators currently in the Flame Domain from the Ten-Direction Great World, he would place within the top three. Geng Xiao and Bai Ze were both extraordinary in their own right, but compared with him, there was still a considerable gap.

Geng Xiao gave a cold snort, unwilling to entangle himself further, and was about to walk around them. But Ji Shengrui’s gaze happened to fall upon Ji Mo. He paused slightly, looked her up and down a few times, and let out a soft exclamation of surprise.

“Oh? A disciple at the Qi Refining stage has actually made it to Redwind City? Is she from your Bright Dawn Cultivation World?”

For over a hundred thousand years, the Ten-Direction Great World of Cultivation had not sent any Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment disciples into the Flame Domain. And yet now such a person had appeared beside Geng Xiao and Bai Ze. He could hardly be blamed for being curious.

“That’s right,” said Bai Ze, instinctively stepping forward to stand in front of Ji Mo.

Even now, Bai Ze still did not know where Ji Mo came from, but that did not prevent him from protecting her.

Ji Shengrui chuckled. “It seems your Bright Dawn Cultivation World thinks highly of her indeed, to have both of you escorting her together. But in my view, it is entirely unnecessary. For all these years, what none of our ten cultivation worlds could accomplish—could it be that your Bright Dawn actually believes it has a chance?”

Bai Ze’s brows shot up, and he nearly erupted on the spot. But when he thought of the man’s status—and that even Geng Xiao was not his match—he knew that if he fought him now, he would only be humiliating himself. In the end he could only suppress the anger in his chest, snort heavily, and remain silent.

Ji Shengrui cast the three of them an amused glance and said nothing more. A mere Qi Refiner was not enough to arouse much of his interest. He lifted his foot and walked past them. Yet just as he passed Ji Mo’s side, he suddenly halted and looked at her again, examining her closely several times. For no reason he could name, a faint sense of familiarity arose in his heart, and he could not help asking, “What is your surname?”

Ji Mo pressed her lips tightly together and said nothing.

For some reason, the moment she saw this man called Ji Shengrui, she felt an instinctive discomfort and rejection, as though she wanted no connection with him whatsoever. Naturally, she had no wish to answer his question.

“What, are you mute? I am speaking to you.” Seeing Ji Mo act as though she had not heard him at all, Ji Shengrui’s brow drew together slightly. In all likelihood, very few people in his life had ever ignored his words. A young man in blue standing beside him suddenly barked at Ji Mo.

Ji Mo raised her head and looked at him coldly. “Why should I answer you? Do I know you? What does who I am or what my surname is have to do with any of you?”

“You’ve got nerve!”

It was the first time in his life that a Qi Refining cultivator had dared answer him back to his face like this, and the young man in blue flew into a rage. He raised his hand, ready to teach her a brutal lesson. Meanwhile Bai Ze, standing in front of Ji Mo, narrowed his eyes slightly. The instant that blue-robed youth made a move, Bai Ze was prepared to make him pay. He might not be able to defeat Ji Shengrui, but as for this man in blue—hmph...

“Enough. We’re leaving.”

Ji Shengrui suddenly turned and rebuked him in a deep voice. He, too, was displeased by Ji Mo’s insolence, but after all he came from the royal house of Woodstar. If he allowed one of his own Core Condensation cultivators to strike at a mere Qi Refiner in Redwind City, that would be shameful beyond endurance. After giving Ji Mo a long, deep look, Ji Shengrui strode away.

Once the figures of Ji Shengrui and his party had vanished, Bai Ze kept his eyes on the direction they had gone, his face thoughtful.

“Ji Mo, what was that about? Ji Shengrui’s attitude toward you was very strange.”

Given Ji Shengrui’s temperament, for him to ask a Qi Refiner’s name was no ordinary matter.

“Who knows. Perhaps he was simply curious to see a Qi Refining cultivator like me appearing in Redwind City,” Ji Mo said flatly.

She had no idea why Ji Shengrui had suddenly stopped to question her, but she had no desire whatsoever to become entangled with him. Deep inside, she seemed to possess an innate aversion to the man, and she could not be bothered to speculate about his motives.

“Ji Mo,” Geng Xiao suddenly said, “whatever the reason he may be interested in you, keep as far away from him as possible. Do not get involved with him in any way. Remember that well—the farther away from him, the better.”

Ji Mo turned to him in surprise. “Brother Geng, do you know him that well?”

“Not exactly. But his reputation is simply too great. On Woodstar, his brilliance is like the bright moon in the heavens. No matter how outstanding cultivators of the same realm may be, under his radiance they all seem dim and colorless. There are too many stories about him to recount one by one, so I will not say more. You only need to know this: though he is merely at the Core Condensation stage, the Ji Emperor has already, without hesitation, named him the next successor. That alone is enough to show just how dazzling he is.”

The imperial Ji house of Woodstar was the uncontested foremost power on the entire planet, and the Ji Emperor himself was hailed as the number one expert of Woodstar. Talents within the imperial clan were as numerous as carp crossing a river, and yet Ji Shengrui had been established as crown prince while still only at the Core Condensation stage. That was enough to show how highly both the imperial clan and the Ji Emperor personally regarded him.

Ji Mo was not surprised in the least by Geng Xiao’s description. Though it was her first time meeting Ji Shengrui, and though she instinctively disliked him, she could not deny that he was like a ruler born to command. There was a light about him that could not be ignored.

“If all he had was brilliance, that would be one thing,” Geng Xiao continued, glancing at Ji Mo. “But he also has a strange habit: anything or anyone that catches his interest—either he brings it to his side and makes it submit to him, or he destroys it.”

Ji Mo stared blankly. What sort of habit was that? A person like that was absurdly arrogant—and perverse besides.

Bai Ze glared at Geng Xiao. “Enough, don’t scare her. However overbearing Ji Shengrui may be, that is only on his own Woodstar. This is Redwind City. None of the ten great worlds are easy to provoke. Once Little Mo finishes the arena competition, she will leave the Flame Domain and return to her own plane. Whatever ideas Ji Shengrui may have, they will come to nothing.”

Ji Mo came back to herself, curled her lip, and nodded in strong agreement. “Brother Bai is right. Whatever sort of person Ji Shengrui is, it has nothing to do with me. I’m not from Woodstar, and I don’t think there is anything particularly special about me that would attract his interest. Even if, by some chance, he really is a lunatic and wants to cause me trouble, he would still have to find me first.”

But many things in this world were never absolute. At this moment, Ji Mo wholeheartedly wished to avoid any connection with Ji Shengrui. What she did not know was that the conflict and entanglement between them had been there since birth. No matter how she tried to evade it, she could not escape it. It was a destined stretch in the course of her life. Their next encounter was only a matter of time.

Of course, that is a story for later.

The episode with Ji Shengrui soon passed. Geng Xiao, Bai Ze, and Ji Mo failed to find suitable lodging on Brocade Jade Street, so they wandered through several more streets before finally settling into an inn on Rongju Street.

Once they had gotten settled, Bai Ze said to Ji Mo, “Little Mo, some of your fellow disciples should have come as well, shouldn’t they? Do you want to try contacting them? At a time like this, almost everyone who entered the Flame Domain should already have arrived in Flamewind City.”

Ji Mo shook her head. “Aside from me, no one else from my sect entered the Flame Domain.”

A trace of guilt flashed through her heart. Bai Ze and Geng Xiao treated her so well, yet she could not even explain her origins to them clearly. It truly was...

“Oh?” Bai Ze was taken aback, clearly not expecting that answer, but he soon smiled again. “No matter. Since none of your fellow disciples came, then Geng Xiao and I will accompany you to your competition.”

After three years together, they already regarded Ji Mo as their own little sister. As for where she came from—what did that matter?

Geng Xiao nodded. “Bai Ze is right. In three days, the first arena to begin will be the one for Qi Refining cultivators. We can go with you. Since the ten great cultivation worlds have not sent Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment cultivators in for many years, those two arenas can only be considered internal competitions of the Flameborn people. Now that you’re here this year, you may well shock quite a few people out of their wits.”

A glint of eager amusement shone in Geng Xiao’s eyes.