Chapter 574 506: Ye Liyuan's Unspeakable Dark Past, Today I Know I Am Me...

She had long understood a profound truth: the tree that towers over the forest is the first to be toppled by the wind.

Therefore, after entering the Sect, she needed to lay low and build her strength, all while avoiding a potential manhunt by the Jiangnan Ye Family.

She hid her otherworldly beauty and talent, adopting the persona of "Lin Yuan," a quiet, hardworking, and slightly timid ordinary Female Cultivator.

Within the Outer Sect, Ye Liyuan remained ever vigilant. She watched people's expressions, observed her surroundings, and assessed all available resources and connections.

Her goal was clear: to acquire cultivation resources, increase her strength, and establish a firm foothold in the Sect.

To climb… She had to climb, no matter the cost.

Only by becoming strong enough could she seize control of her own destiny and avoid being locked in a cage, stripped of her freedom.

She would lay low and bide her time for five years. For those five years, no one would know just how sharp her sword had become.

Only when the Outer Sect's Grand Competition began would she bare her fangs and unsheathe the sword she had honed to kill any enemy—just as she had when she left the Ye Family.

Later, to gain real combat experience, Ye Liyuan joined a mission to hunt Demon Beasts.

Then, the mission went awry.

The number of Demon Beasts was far greater than the intelligence had indicated.

Deep within the gloomy green forest, the stench of blood mixed with the roars of Demon Beasts rushed toward them.

Ye Liyuan stood with her back against a rock wall. She watched her fellow disciples fall one by one, her face a mask of terror, but her mind was calmly calculating an escape route.

Just as she was about to abandon her team to save herself, the world suddenly fell silent.

A sky full of falling leaves froze in mid-air.

A figure in white appeared, as if walking on moonlight. With a flutter of his sleeves, a frigid wave of Sword Qi decapitated a Demon Beast dozens of yards away.

Ye Liyuan's pupils contracted. She held her breath, staring at the scene before her.

Not a single drop of blood stained the tip of his sword. The Moonlight traced the chiseled, ice-like contours of his profile. Beneath long lashes, his eyes were colder than the blade's edge, sweeping over the survivors as if they were nothing more than trees in the forest.

"Brother... Brother Pei!"

"It's Brother Pei! The top Sword Dao disciple of the Inner Sect's younger generation!"

"I heard Brother Pei is the strongest contender for the position of the Dao Sect's Saint Son. Seeing him now... he's even more strikingly handsome than in the portraits..."

The team leader was so excited he could barely form a sentence, while the female disciples on the team sent a flurry of flirtatious glances his way.

But the impossibly handsome and cold Sword Cultivator, Pei Yuhang, didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow. Without a single word, he mounted his sword and flew away.

The night wind caught the Jade Pendant at his waist, sending a cold arc of light flashing before Ye Liyuan's eyes.

That was the first time Ye Liyuan had ever seen Pei Yuhang.

The first time she witnessed the power of an Inner Sect Disciple.

The sheer presence he exuded with every move made Ye Liyuan feel that even her family's strongest Golden Core Ancestor—a being powerful enough to influence several Human Dynasties—would be nothing before him.

Looking at this peerless, otherworldly White-clothed Sword Cultivator, Ye Liyuan felt an acute sense of her own insignificance.

But at the same time, a wicked thought bloomed in the most hidden corner of her heart.

'This aloofness, so powerful he seems utterly untouched by the mortal world... this man, so flawlessly, purely beautiful.'

'What kind of woman would have the honor of "defiling" such a man?'

'Would he... ever encounter a cage of his own?'

Back in her quarters, Ye Liyuan stood before her Copper Mirror and slowly wiped away the plain disguise, revealing her true, beautiful, youthful face.

"The Inner Sect..."

"Top disciple of the Sword Dao... Saint Son."

"Men conquer the world, and women conquer men."

She held her palm up to the Moonlight, as if trying to grasp that distant, unattainable blade of light.

Ye Liyuan's nails dug deep into her palm. The pain only made the fire in her eyes burn hotter.

That fire was ambition.

...

Five years of arduous cultivation later, Ye Liyuan stepped onto the tournament stage for the Outer Sect's Grand Competition.

As her simple white robes fluttered in the breeze, she slowly removed the gray veil that had hidden her face for years. The entire tournament ground fell deathly silent.

Her eyes were like moonlight reflected on a Cold Pool—clear, bright, and chilling. Her brows were shaped like distant, dark mountains.

As her fingertips caressed the hilt of her sword, her long, jade-like fingers seemed almost transparent in the sun. A flick of her wrist, and a thousand points of light bloomed.

"Is that... Lin Yuan?"

Someone in the spectator stands gasped.

No one had ever imagined that this plain, unassuming "ugly duckling" was actually so beautiful. As her robes fluttered, a flash of her snow-white waist was enough to dazzle the eye.

But what was even more shocking was her strength.

Even the strongest prodigy of the Outer Sect couldn't withstand more than three of her moves.

Five years of building power, unleashed in a single day.

Ye Liyuan had done it. Unsurprisingly, she was accepted as a True Disciple by the highly respected Nameless Daoist of the Inner Sect.

The Nameless Daoist led her back to his residence. When she pushed open the door, she saw a handsome figure in white, silently practicing his sword amid a shower of falling autumn leaves.

A faint smile touched Ye Liyuan's lips.

'Now, I'm finally standing among the top prodigies.'

...

Because the Cultivation Realm was in turmoil, the Nameless Daoist often had to leave the Sect. Therefore, the task of training his new junior sister, Ye Liyuan, fell to Pei Yuhang.

While training under Pei Yuhang, Ye Liyuan came to understand just how much influence the taciturn Brother Pei wielded within the Inner Sect.

Every day, an endless stream of female cultivators came to bother him.

The ever-observant Ye Liyuan noticed that Brother Pei did not seem pleased by this... in fact, he often looked annoyed.

'Brother Pei... could he be a misogynist?'

'No, it's more than that. Sometimes, when faced with the fanatical, aggressive gazes of his admirers, he seems to shrink back, a flicker of fear inadvertently showing in his eyes.'

'Perhaps... he suffered some great trauma in the past because of a woman.'

'This seemingly powerful Cliff Sword Immortal with his pure Dao Heart... seems to have a secret, unspeakable past of his own.'