Princess Qingyue leaned softly against the chair, her breathtakingly beautiful face turning somewhat pale, a faint sheen of cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. Waiting for her to regain her composure, Zhao Yi asked, "Princess Qingyue, how are you feeling? Are you all right?"
Princess Qingyue shook her head and said, "Immortal Master, I am fine, just feeling a bit mentally exhausted."
*Just mentally exhausted?* For those with low cultivation levels, getting caught up in that could result in serious injuries at best, or their soul being scattered and a miserable death at worst. Fortunately, he had warned her in time; otherwise, the consequences would have been dire.
"Princess, what did you see?"
"I—I seemed to see a sword flying toward me, and then it kept flying straight into my mind. It was terrifying, I felt as though I had been pierced to death by that sword." Princess Qingyue patted her chest, still lingering in fear. "Oh, the feeling is gone now, but I..."
Princess Qingyue suddenly stopped herself. She felt a current of air darting around erratically inside her body. But being in front of the Immortal Master, she felt too embarrassed to speak of it. She decided she would wait and ask Ruonan later; since Ruonan practiced martial arts, she should know more about such things.
"Well, is there anything else? Why did the Princess stop talking?"
"Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all. I just wanted to thank the Immortal Master for waking me up, otherwise I would have been in big trouble," Princess Qingyue said insincerely. Feeling that nothing was seriously wrong, she straightened her posture, raised her eyes, and let her gaze fall once again upon the two paintings on the opposite wall. There were two paintings of women dancing with swords on the wall across from her, and two more such paintings on the back wall.
Zhao Yi guessed that the princess might be an immortal cultivator, or perhaps someone with a cultivation constitution capable of sensing Spiritual Energy. If the princess truly possessed a Spiritual Root and the aptitude for cultivation, he would report it to his sect and send her there to train. The appointed patrons in mortal kingdoms did not merely keep watch over the imperial court and suppress evil entities; searching for cultivators with Spiritual Roots was also part of their duty. In Zhao Country, there were virtually no rogue cultivators; all of them had been taken in by the Imperial Sword Sect. The Imperial Sword Sect was forced to do this out of helplessness—the beast tides that occurred every fifty years consumed far too much of the cultivators' strength, and the sect had no choice, otherwise it would be difficult to pass down their heritage. The Zhao Country imperial family also had a small number of cultivators training within the Imperial Sword Sect, with the highest cultivation reaching the late Foundation Establishment stage. Only a few whose lifespans were drawing to a close would leave the Imperial Sword Sect and return to the royal family to live out their days until death. The patrons were required to monitor all such individuals and report any changes to the sect in a timely manner.
Zhao Yi prepared to ask the princess if she was a cultivator. At that moment, he saw the princess freeze again, as if mesmerized by something. Zhao Yi turned his head to look—the two paintings on the wall had nothing special about them and posed no threat to people. Unlike the characters for "Imliving Residence" which possessed offensive power, the princess must have been utterly captivated. Zhao Yi turned back and called out in a puzzled and loud voice, "Princess?"
"Ah, what? What is it?" The princess snapped back to her senses. Seeing that it was Zhao Yi calling her, she looked at him apologetically and said, "Whose paintings are these? They are truly wonderful. The woman in them is dancing while wielding a sword—she dances so gracefully, and handles the sword so prettily." Reluctantly drawing her gaze away, she spoke on as if still unsatisfied, feeling that the current of air inside her body was flowing once more, moving in time with the sword dance. How very strange.
"What? You saw someone dancing with a sword? Dancing and swordplay?" Zhao Yi blurted out in astonishment. In his eyes, these paintings were entirely ordinary, with nothing remarkable about them. Zhao Yi looked at the two paintings again. After gazing at them for a moment, they remained ordinary paintings with no movement whatsoever. Could there be some secret hidden within the paintings?
It was unknown who had painted these works; legend had it that the founder of the sect had placed them here. Everyone had always assumed they were ordinary paintings, and past patrons had never discovered any secrets within them. Yet today, Princess Qingyue had actually seen the woman in the paintings performing a sword dance.
Could this be the woman's fortuitous encounter? Thinking thus, Zhao Yi gave the princess a profound look. The princess was still nervously smoothing her sleeves, looking as though she had broken something valuable in a host's home and was awaiting punishment.
"Princess Qingyue need not worry. If you like these paintings, feel free to look at them more often later. It will likely bring you benefits, and no harm at all."
"Really? Immortal Master, you aren't blaming me? That's wonderful! I will definitely look at them more often from now on. I think the paintings are truly breathtaking." Princess Qingyue suddenly cheered, as happy as a child.
Waiting for the princess to sit down quietly, Zhao Yi asked with a solemn expression, "May I ask, Princess, are you of an immortal cultivation constitution?"
Upon hearing Zhao Yi's question, Princess Qingyue fell abruptly silent, remaining motionless for a long while.