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(Mount Xilean- Unnamed Location)

(Forest Clearing)

Shi Jian had lived for a long time.

A very long time. 

In fact, he could no longer recall what was his exact date of birth and how long that he had been alive.

At the higher stages of cultivation, it was possible for one to live for hundreds of thousands of years.

Shi Jian had only lived for a few thousand years but still… there was very little that could surprise him anymore.

But today… he was shocked for the first time in centuries.

The Sect Leader knelt down to get a closer look at the face of the girl who was still unconscious with her chest slowly rising upwards with every breath that she took.

Xu Lu\'s face… it was… it was… horrible.

Horrific scars criss-crossed the entire surface area of her face as if someone had taken a blade and carved random paths through her flesh.

At the edges of the scars were what appeared to be burn marks. There was not single undamaged part of her face except for her eyes.

"I don\'t understand…" Shi Jian\'s voice trailed off as he continued to stare at his junior sister\'s apprentice.

His mind was a mess.

Confusion, anger, grief… these emotions bubbled up in his chest until he found it had to breathe properly.

The Sect Leader furrowed his brows as he made a mental note to interrogate his junior sister and find out why she had not bothered to heal her apprentice\'s wounds.

Shi Jian reached into his storage bag and shifted around for the most powerful healing pill that he owned.

This pill was known as the resurrection pill. It was so powerful that it was said to be able to bring one back from the brink of death.

Of course, such a powerful revitalisation effect also came with regenerative properties. Shi Jian held the pill in his right hand and then slowly pushed it inside Xu Lu\'s mouth.

The pill was round- shaped and a light green colour. It smelled very pleasant like the scent of freshly cut grass.

The Sect Leader pushed the pill into the saintess\' mouth and then waited patiently as the pill dissolved and the liquid ran down her throat.

The bloody wounds that he had caused during their sparring session immediately began to heal and soon every inch of her flesh was repaired.

Wait… this didn\'t make any sense…

Shi Jian watched in confusion as the flesh surrounding Xu Lu\'s face wriggled slightly as if attempting to heal before going silent.

The Sect Leader stretched out his palm and was about to touch the young woman\'s face when he noticed her eyelids fluttering slightly.

He quickly grabbed the silvery grey mask and placed it back on the saintess\' face just as she opened her eyes.

"Where… where am I?" Xu Lu asked in confusion as she looked around the destroyed clearing.

"Are you okay?" Shi Jian asked warmly as he placed a hand on the young woman\'s shoulder and tried desperately not to let his emotions show on his expression.

"Sect Leader? The last thing I remember was our spar… I guess I lost then…" Xu Lu sullenly whispered as got up from the ground and stretched out her arms.

"You should feel very proud of yourself. In the final moments of our confrontation, I was forced to use some of my void stage cultivation," the Sect Leader comforted her with a smile.

"Your talent is far greater than mine but… um…"

Xu Lu tilted her head in confusion as the elderly man suddenly appeared very uncomfortable. He kept sneaking glances at her when he thought that she was not looking.

Maybe he was concerned that she was too strong?

The saintess took a small step back even though it would be useless if the Sect Leader decided to kill her.

What to do? What to do?

Shi Jian\'s hands trembled slightly as he could not look away from the silvery grey mask that covered his junior sister\'s apprentice\'s face.

He needed to know… how had that happened?

His first thought was that maybe Xu Lu had gotten those wounds during a mission outside of the sect.

But that theory did not hold up when you consider that she was wearing that silvery grey mask even before she stepped into the outside world.

So, she must have gotten those injuries while she was in the sect and of course that meant that a question was floating through Shi Jian\'s mind.

Why did Lei Ying not tell him about this situation?

Clearly, she must know. 

No… it was impossible that she did not know.

The saintess and her master had a relationship that was similar to parent and child considering that she was raised on the fifth peak with only Lei Ying as company.

A deep burning curiosity filled the Sect Leader\'s thoughts and his fingers curled up into a tight fist as he came to a decision.

"Saintess… I mean Xu Lu… what happened to you?" the Sect Leader spoke solemnly with an undercurrent of concern in his voice.

"What do you mean? I feel fine after the spar… actually I\'m quite…" Xu Lu\'s reply was cut off by the Sect Leader\'s next words.

"No… I am referring to what caused the damage to your face," the Sect Leader whispered softly.

Time stood still.

Xu Lu remained frozen in place as a cold breeze swept through the destroyed clearing and rustled the few bushes that had survived.

Her face?

How? How did he know?

The saintess knelt down and grabbed her chest as she felt as though a heavy weight was pressing down on her body.

The voice in her mind got louder and louder until it became a never-ending scream of despair and self-loathing.

(HE KNOWS. HE KNOWS… HE KNOWS!)

(YOU HAVE TO LEAVE! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!)

(HE CAN\'T KNOW… PLEASE… HE CAN\'T KNOW…)

Xu Lu grabbed her head using her hands and had to resist the urge to scream. Her body trembled violently like a leaf in the wind.

"How… how did you know?" Xu Lu stuttered with a great deal of effort since she was barely holding herself together.

"I… I wanted to feed you a healing pill after our sparring match so I removed the mask covering your face…" the Sect Leader continued to speak but Xu Lu could no longer hear him.

It was like his words were coming from a distance and distorted and muffled as if he was speaking underwater.

Darkness began to creep up along the edges of Xu Lu\'s vision and the voice in her mind continued to shriek non-stop.

Fear and panic.

Those two emotions made it hard to focus and ask more questions or even reply to the Sect Leader\'s words.

"Are… you…" the Sect Leader was saying something as he walked closer, but something finally snapped in Xu Lu\'s mind.

She banged her head against the ground with so much force that blood trickled down the edges of her mask.

The world suddenly became clear as the pain forced the voice in her mind to temporarily fall silent.

"I… my face is like this because… because of my master," Xu Lu hissed darkly as she watched an expression of shock flash across the Sect Leader\'s face.