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The Hill of Swords. As the name implied, it was pretty much a graveyard filled with swords. It was a holy land as well as a forbidden zone in the Sect. It stored all of the blades that had once belonged to disciples that reached the Heaven Realm.

Someone broke into the Hill of Swords, of course it was a big deal to the Scorpio Temple. That was why Qi Qiqi left with such urgency after receiving the news. Because she left in such a hurry, Qi Qiqi reached the gate of the Hill of Swords first, the rest of the elders followed soon after.

“Elder Zhang, what’s the current situation?” Qi Qiqi asked the elder tasked with guarding the Sword Hill, Zhang Ming¹, who was currently pacing back and forth in front of the gate after she landed.

“So it’s like this…“ Zhang Ming explained the whole story in a single breath, the situation confirmed their suspicions. Qi Qiqi frowned when she heard the explanation given by Elder Zhang, she began to wonder if this was truly a case of trespassing.

“Then, do you suppose this was done by Master Beiming?” After a brief silence, Zhang Ming responded, “Well this is just a guess on my part, but in order to sneak past under our watch and get into the Sword Hill, they must at least be at the Heaven Realm. Even then, the Sword Hill is protected by a large formation, so even Heaven Realm masters couldn’t break in easily. Not to mention that Senior Beiming is the only person in the Heaven Realm with such a childish voice.”

Liu Chenzong snorted disdainfully at Zhang Ming’s explanation.

“Ⓑⓤⓛⓛⓢⓗⓘⓣ, Master Beiming is the only grandmaster in our entire Hua Dynasty, there is no reason for her to break into our Sword Hill.”

“Is Elder Liu’s implying that Elder Zhang is blind and couldn’t see a little girl pass by right in front of him?” Xia Xue interrupted, fueling the tension between them.

“Oh, so is that what you’re trying to say, Elder Liu?”

“No, I didn’t mean that.”

Like this, Liu Chenzong clashed with Zhang Ming with Xia Xue fueling the flames. Ignoring the two people itching to fight each other, Ye Zhen took a step ahead and said apologetically, “Matriarch, I’m afraid that we’ll need to request your assistance in opening up the Sword Hill.”

“My great-grandfather warned me not to open the Sword Hill,” Qi qiqi frowned again. Li Wanting², who sported a red ponytail, whispered to Qi Qiqi, “I think Ye Zhen has a point, the issue regarding the Sword Hill is that important.”

“Sister Ting, even you think so?” Qi Qiqi rubbed her forehead before raising her hand as a way to indicate that she wanted everyone to be silent so that she could talk.

“Why do you all think that there is an intruder?”

Everyone froze when they heard Qi Qiqi’s question and for a moment they just looked at each other and stared. They wondered why she’d ask a question with such an obvious answer. It had only been a year since her great-grandfather had left and yet they’d all forgotten his words. Qi Qiqi sighed, then looked at the group of elders for a moment before asking her next question.

“Did any of you consider that it may have been our little ancestor?” The crowd was shocked.

Their faces all seemed to say, “Right, Of Course! Why didn’t I think of that!”

“Maybe it was because of the way the disciple presented her report that misleads them,” Qi Qiqi thought, trying to comfort herself. She didn’t want to think that the elders in her sect were fools who would drop the ball in important situations.

Ye Zhen recovered from the shock first, he coughed with embarrassment and then responded with a serious face, “It would be the best if it were our Little Ancestor, but what if it wasn’t? We’ll never know if we just stand here waiting around! Regardless, we still need to send people inside to check…”

“Um? Vice chief, why did you stop talking?”

Qi Qiqi gave him a strange look, meanwhile, Ye Zhen looked like he’d seen a devil. His eyes were glued to the gate as he shakily pointed his finger towards it.

His face looked as if he had just seen a dragon soar in the sky.

“What is going on?” Qi Qiqi followed his finger to where it was pointing.

Then—

Her facial expression became a carbon copy of Ye Zhen’s immediately. Someone had appeared in front of the Sword Hill’s gate, seemingly out of thin air. It was a little girl with a doll-like cute face.

The expression on her innocent face revealed a trace of natural, refined temperament. Her golden eyes seemed to glow with dim light, bright and clear at the same time. The Spiritual Qi that surrounded her made her feel inhuman. However, there was something that was much more shocking…

“What is wrong with her clothes?”

She walked on the ground without any boots or protection for her feet. Whatever kind of garment she was wearing on her upper body had an open collar, stretched so far as to reveal one of her shoulders. Just the article of cloth seemed like a full dress, but the hem only barely fell halfway to her thighs.

On the front side of the garment a few words were written with brushstrokes that read, “Even if it is for the tribe, you lose if you work seriously,” every word was drawn with incredible style, but even if that was true Qi Qiqi had no clue what the hell it meant. Because of that, it gave her a sense of mystery.

All that mystery came to an end almost immediately—

“Ya!”

She tripped over herself.

Everybody turned to Qi Qiqi, they expected her to go and help the little girl stand up.

“How come this is the only time they work in sync!” Qi Qiqi had half a mind to shoot them all a dirty look. As soon as she began to hesitate, the little girl suddenly stood up and started cursing.

“Son of Ⓑⓘⓣⓒⓗ! Who put that mother ⓕⓤⓒⓚⓘⓝⓖ banana peel on the ground to troll me!”

Silence. The area was submerged in extreme silence, even the air itself seemed to froze.

Qi Qiqi had no clue how to react. The only thing she knew was that her first impression of that little girl had fractured into pieces and was completely wiped from her mind. She was pretty sure the elders behind her all felt the same.

“Uhm? Why are there so many people standing here?” The little girl wrinkled her innocent eyes, looked around and seemed to have just found that Qi Qiqi and the other elders were standing in front of her.

The crowd looked at the girl, then looked back to Qi Qiqi.

Their eyes all seemed to say: “Go for it!”

“You should do it if you think you can!” Qi Qiqi wanted to scream, but sadly she had to suppress it within her mind. As the Matriarch of a sect, there are times where you just have to accept things as they come. Under the pressure from the elders, Qi Qiqi walked towards the little girl.

“Hello little ki–”

Suddenly, the girl’s face became a bit strange. Qi Qiqi suddenly realized that her appellation might be wrong, so she shut her mouth. She was about to call her “little kid”, but on second thought, there was a chance that the little girl was her little ancestor or really any old grandmaster that had returned to a younger form, so she stopped.

Qi Qiqi coughed a bit, then asked again, “Excuse me, young lady, may I ask who are you?”

“Are you talking to me?” The little girl asked while pointing a finger at herself.

Who else could it be?! Qi Qiqi almost tripped over herself.

“Yes, I am certainly talking to you, young lady.”

“What young lady, I am…” Sue Kirin coughed before realizing, “well anyhow, my name is Sue Kirin.”

Then the little girl went on to say angrily:
“By the way, why are you talking in such a gentle style? It sounds weird.”

“Weird?”

“Yeah, weird.”

Qi Qiqi looked back to other members of Scorpio Temple, “Do I sound weird?”

The crowds shook their heads together.

“You guys are so weird, why are y’all dressed in ancient costumes? Are you guys filming? Where is the camera?” The girl who claimed to be Sue Kirin opened her eyes wide open, looking around.

“She ying ji³?” Is that some sort of new type of chicken, or it is a name of some local dish? Qi Qiqi was completely clueless.

Let us get back to business! She decided not to think too much about it. It was for the best.

“So, Ms. Sue, how did you end up in the sword hill?”

“Sword hill?” Sue kirin thought for a bit, then suddenly clapped her hands, “are you talking about the mountain behind me?”

“Yes, the place full of blades sticking out of the ground.”

“Oh, so you are asking me why would I come out from that place…”

Sue Kirin held up both of her hands, tilted her head and thought for a while, then she smugly shrugged and said, “Well, it is hard to tell, I was in there before I realized it. By the way, do you guys know Scorpio Temple?”

‘Is she asking because she already knows the answer? That has to be it!’

Qi Qiqi’s eyebrows twitched a bit, if she didn’t have to maintain her image in front of the other members of the sect, she might have already burst into a rage. It was so hard to hold back the will to retort.

“This is Scorpio Temple.”

“Really? So this place is—”

The little girl opened her eyes wide and nodded her head with a face that said “so this is it.” Then, she held her arms back and began to ask another question.

“So you guys are members of Scorpio Temple, right? Is there someone called ‘Seven Seven Seven’ here?”

‘Seven Seven Seven? Do we even have that kind of person in the temple?’ Qi Qiqi thought she knew most of the people in the temple, but she couldn’t recall anyone with that name. ‘Maybe it’s some kind of nickname?’

Qi Qiqi didn’t have time to think too deeply because the little girl was staring directly at her.

Just when she began to feel that it was strange that the little girl was staring at her, she realized Sue Kirin wasn’t the only person staring at her, the rest of the sect members were staring at her as well.

“So you’re Seven seven seven?” The little girl was surprised and started sizing up Qi Qiqi from top to bottom.

“No, I am not. My name is Qi Qiqi.”

“Oh, so you are Seven seven seven⁴!”

“Wait, no, I said…” Wait a second. If you say Qi Qiqi with a slightly faster rhythm, it sounds like Seven seven seven, doesn’t it?

So this “Seven seven seven” person is definitely me! After thinking it through, Qi Qiqi’s face turned dark.

“Hey, Seven seven seven, why do you have such an ugly look on your face? Are you on your period right now?”

“LISTEN UP YOU LITTLE BRAT! MY NAME IS QI QIQI! NOBODY IS NAMED SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN HERE!”

The Scorpio Temple Matriarch’s scream echoed through the entire Scorpio mountain.

“Seven seven seven, why are you yelling? Come on, I am not deaf.”

“I think you are! Otherwise, you’re being a stupid ⓐⓢⓢⓗⓞⓛⓔ!”

After she finished talking, Qi Qiqi immediately regretted what she’d done. She turned and look at the crowd behind her, they all shared the same shocked face.

‘It’s all over. All the hard work I put into building up my image, it’s now wasted!’ At that moment, Qi Qiqi wanted to cry, but no tears would come out.

“Hey, Seven seven seven why do you have such a despair-filled face?”

“It is all because of you isn’t it?” Qi Qiqi stared at her with hatred in her eyes.

“Seven seven seven, this is all on you, how can you blame me for anything?” Sue Kirin suddenly acted as if she just remembered something, and hit her forehead with a slap.

“Right, so you are Seven seven seven, then you must recognize this thing, right?”

‘Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it!’ Qi Qiqi muttered to herself before looking at the item the little girl handed to her. It was a jade, one that Qi Qiqi was familiar with.

“The jade that belongs to great-grandfather!”

That shout roused the attention of the group of elders, they hurriedly ran forward to look at the jade in the little girl’s hand.

“Yes, that jade belongs to ancestor!” Ye Zhen agreed.

“That means…”

Sue Kirin nodded with satisfaction, stood up straight, and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Hello, everyone! I am your little ancestor, nice to meetcha.”

The wind blew. Everyone was shocked and stunned, no one knew how to react.

‘This kid was the little ancestor that great-grandfather mentioned, the one that will save us when the sect is in danger?’ Qi Qiqi looked at the Empyrean Glass Sword she was holding, thinking about the possibility of killing the brat right now and pretending she never existed.

1. Zhang Ming is written in Chinese as 张鸣 (Zhāng míng). The Surname Zhang means “To Open” or “To Spread.” His proper name Ming references the sound of a bird’s cry.
2. Li Wanting in Chinese is written as 李婉婷 (Li wǎn tíng) The Surname Li means “Plum.” Both Wan and Ting mean “Graceful.”
3. In Chinese, the word for Chicken is ji, which shares the same sound as the last character for camera.
4. Long story short this is a play on words. In Mandarin, the word for the number 7 is Qi, which sounds similar to the three Qi’s in Qi Qiqi’s name. Funny enough, The three Qi’s that appear in Qi Qiqi’s name are all different and none of them mean 7.