Startling Name

Xiao needed to stay focused, he had always thought that when authors would write about overwhelming beauty or the likes, that they were just exaggerating as there shouldn't be anyone with the looks to literally stun someone, or at least, Xiao had thought himself immune to such things.

Perhaps he had overestimated himself, or maybe he had underestimated the sort of beauty a woman could reach in this world, now that he thought about it, it was true that the ladies of this world were all rather pretty compared to his original one.

He rubbed his forehead, feeling like exhaling strongly to lower the pressure building inside of him, and did his utmost to look her in the face instead of lower, no matter how nice the view was down there.

The youth had to crank his neck up to look her in the eyes as the woman before him was just ten centimeters short of being two meters tall, and seeing her exposed forearms, she wasn't exactly skinny either, she could probably pop his head with a headlock.

"Imagine the strength of those thighs…"

'Master! You're not helping me!'

'How even is she? She's an elder of the sect? Which of them was a tall woman like that?' in the few moments of silence before anyone spoke, his mind went into overdrive trying to figure it out.

But as far as he remembered, there were only two female elders in this sect, and now that refreshed his memory, he knew that both weren't the sort of person he would want to be around at any given time, far from it.

Without introducing herself, she just grabbed his hand and looked intently at it as if trying to read his future through his palm.

Her blood red eyes locked onto Xiao's fierce crimson eyes, which weren't looking at all fierce right this instant, torn between the fear of unsuspectingly encountering a rather dangerous figure in a place where he shouldn't have according to the script he remembered, and also, well, Xiao was a still a young man and was naturally interested in the opposite sex.

Even if the opposite sex in question was undoubtedly a crazy woman.

"What's your name?" she asked, her tone undoubtedly neutral, but still sent ripples coursing through his body.

He focused so as to not stutter and look like an idiot.

"Xiao" he responded clearly.

"I see, looks like some seals have been put on you, but I can tell that what lies beneath is good, so do follow me" she said, forming a smile that made him want to call for an adult, he turned his head to the outer disciple, and the fellow was just looking at the gate like it was a most prized piece of art.

"Why are you afraid? This is the Myriad-Arm Sect, she won't do anything to you" the ancient cultivator did not seem fazed, having met his lot of scary women, naturally, since when it came to human ladies, those were the sort he favoured.

'You haven't seen it in a hundred years, how can you be so confident?'

"Instinct, my dear junior- Also, she's extremely hot, don't be a coward and follow her, she'll probably lead the way and you can stare at her-"

'Urgh… Alright…' feeling a bit exasperated, Xiao tried to appear composed and follow the elder, whose name he wasn't certain about just yet, he remembered the overall personality of the character, at least from what he had read about her, though.

Contrary to what his master had said however, Xiao did not stay behind her to stare and instead picked up the pace a bit to place himself to the side, as messing around with powerful figures might feel natural to Elder Chengzhe, but it was nothing short of pure stupidity to do so at Xiao's current level.

Thankfully however, he wasn't led to anywhere weird, and instead taken to the place where his seals were supposed to be removed, he looked up in wonder at the sect's main building, a simply enormous piece of fine architecture, built out of pure white wood in its entirety, it resembled a beacon of divine light under the shine of the sun.

On the very first floor, he was taken into a room that did not appear all that special and sat down on a chair, although the presence of the female elder troubled Xiao for the simple reason that the story had dictated that it should have been Elder Gang instead of her that welcomed him, the overall process seemed to be the same.

Some sort of talisman or charm was placed on his forehead, and the elder just circled around him like staring at some exotic animal.

"Hum… Miss Elder?"

"What's the matter, little Xiao?"

'Little Xiao?!'

"Sorry, my dear disciple, I fear that you have been placed in the 'little zone', it has happened to the best of us…" the emerald ghost shook his head and stared into the distance as though remembering terrible moments of his past.

Xiao did his best to ignore him.

"I was wondering what your name was, so that I may properly address you" he said with a small smile.

"Ah, I didn't introduce myself, did I? I am elder of the Myriad-Arm Sect, Ku Xing"

Reminded of the name, Xiao paled a little whilst Chengzhe somehow managed to choke on his saliva as an ethereal apparition.

The old master approached Ku Xing and stared up intently at her face.

"May I be damned, she does look like her! I knew there was something familiar…" he was reminded of an old friend, whilst Xiao was reminded about a lot of stuff he had completely forgotten until now, although she herself wasn't that important of a character in the story, the name Xing was another story as it was also the name of a major antagonist of a very unsavoury variety.

'I better be careful…' he thought, unwillingly sending them over to Chengzhe.

"Indeed, the Xing have always been devils… And she is probably no exceptions, although I personally would still go for it were I in your shoes, I recommend that you put some distance with this woman, Xiao- I could sense an air of dangerousness, but it seems that my senses are duller than I thought in this form, anyone called Xing should be avoided by the likes of you"

"Unless one is powerful enough or somehow aligns well with their… Interests, interacting with them is a bad idea" hearing even the old man tell him to keep his distance, Xiao turned into a stiff block of wood.

Either unknowing of his inner turmoil, or uncaring, Ku Xing grabbed hold of his chin and lifted his head up, inspecting his face.

"Mmh… Did something happen to your face that was recently healed?" she asked.

"Yes, why do you ask, Elder Ku Xing?" he responded, at least not showing it in his voice that he felt like running away by crashing through the window.

"Just asking" she smiled slightly and removed the talisman off of his forehead before pressing her index and middle finger in the solar plexus, making him suddenly puke some sort of black tar.

"The seals are removed, let me accompany you to get the appropriate clothing now that you're an outer disciple"

He wanted to say something of the nature of :

'No need to bother yourself, Elder Ku Xing, I'll do it myself!'

But he felt like it was best to just go along.