Chapter 1810 — Turning and Walking Away

"Yes, that is how it happened..." Elder Zhang dared not conceal anything, and recounted the whole affair to the Grand Elder in detail.

"Oh? What is her name?" the Grand Elder asked.

"She says her name is Tang Yun," said Elder Zhang.

"Tang Yun..." The Grand Elder's expression shifted almost imperceptibly. The matter of Bingtang and the hidden Tang family's acknowledgment of kin was a secret at the level of the hidden families, but at the level of the ancient powers it was no secret at all; Snow Valley had its own channels of information, more or less, and the Grand Elder knew very well that Bingtang had some connection with the hidden Tang family.

After all, their movements could not be hidden from Snow Valley, so if this visitor bore the surname Tang, she might truly be Bingtang's younger sister.

"Xiaoli, Elder Zhang, come with me to meet this sister of Palace Master Bing..." said the Grand Elder.

"Grand Elder, Bingtang has just rejected our proposal... why should we give her face?" Xueli asked, looking at the Grand Elder in puzzlement.

"Xiaoli, do you think I am giving face to Bingtang?" the Grand Elder said mildly. "Bingtang may be a fine hand at the peak of the late Heaven rank, but her cultivation still falls a little short of mine. Why would I fear her?"

"Then you are..." Xueli was baffled, and Elder Li was baffled too. After all, the Grand Elder as a rule received no guests; even envoys from other ancient sects or ancient families who came here would not draw the Grand Elder out. Only if a sect master came to Snow Valley in person might the Grand Elder possibly appear.

Yet today, for the sake of Bingtang's sister, the Grand Elder was actually going to receive her in person. It truly seemed unbelievable.

"Xiaoli, what was the reason you contacted Bingtang before?" the Grand Elder asked.

"Because of... the inheritor?" Xueli was no fool; at the Grand Elder's reminder she understood something at once, and a trace of delight flashed in her eyes. "Grand Elder, you mean..."

"Exactly! Since Bingtang has a false Ice-Heart Jade-Bone constitution, might her sister not share the same constitution?" The Grand Elder nodded. "If her sister has it too, then all we need do is take her into our sect and refine an Ice-Heart Jade-Bone Pill for her, and the trouble that has plagued Snow Valley for years will be solved!"

"Good, let us go and see!" Xueli was rather excited, a faint unnatural flush rising to her cheeks, but the cold air about her rose with her agitation to its utmost; the whole room seemed turned to ice and snow, and in an instant a layer of frost had settled over the furniture.

Fortunately, Elder Li and the Grand Elder both cultivated arts of ice and cold, so they were unaffected; an ordinary person would likely have frozen to death long ago.

"Xiaoli, how many times have I told you: to cultivate the Art of Heartlessness is to cultivate the mind. Only by keeping an icy heart can you go further on the martial path. To be so easily angered does not serve the cultivation of the mind... To be neither elated by things nor grieved by oneself—that is the highest realm of the icy heart.

Xueli was at once a little embarrassed, and lowered her head before the elder on the platform like a child. "I am sorry, Grand Elder, I lost my temper..."

"Never mind. Who has not been young?" The Grand Elder shook her head with some helplessness; it was plain she doted on Xueli. "You are only in your twenties; it is only natural that your temperament should still be that of a child..."

Elder Zhang said not a word on the side; at such a moment he could only feign deafness and blindness and pretend he had seen nothing. The Grand Elder was very gracious to Xueli, but toward others she might not be. Snow Valley's rules were strict; had Elder Zhang let out even a laugh, he would likely have been punished with patrolling the valley, elder though he was.

The Grand Elder, Xueli, and Elder Zhang came together to the guest room. The appearance of the Grand Elder and Xueli left Tang Yun unable to judge which of them was the valley master of Snow Valley, so she could only say, "Greetings, Valley Master, Elder Zhang..."

"This is our Grand Elder of Snow Valley!" Elder Zhang shot Tang Yun a look and made the introduction.

"Ah... greetings, Grand Elder..." Tang Yun was startled, wondering how even the Grand Elder had been stirred. She had thought it difficult enough merely to see the valley master, yet the Grand Elder herself had come out. Tang Yun was somewhat overawed, unable to guess why Snow Valley would put on such a display—could it be because of Bingtang?

"Which one is Tang Yun?" the Grand Elder asked.

"That is me..." Tang Yun said cautiously.

"Hold out your hand and let me have a look." The Grand Elder glanced at Tang Yun without expression and spoke to her.

"Ah? All right..." Though Tang Yun did not know what the Grand Elder meant, she still held out her hand as instructed and offered it to the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder directly pressed her fingers to the pulse gate on Tang Yun's arm, as if examining something, while Elder Zhang and Xueli said nothing. This left Tang Yun, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu rather suspicious, yet they did not dare to ask.

Though the Grand Elder did not speak, her brows knitted slightly. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she sighed, shook her head a little, and said, "Elder Zhang, see our guests out!"

Tang Yun, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu's expressions changed at once. They did not know why the Grand Elder suddenly wished them gone, but Tang Yun was unwilling to let this last chance slip; tears were nearly falling. "Grand Elder, Valley Master, please help us, I beg you—a billion, we will pay every last coin..."

But the Grand Elder did not wish to say another word. Sometimes things are simply that realistic: had the Grand Elder found Tang Yun to truly have the false Ice-Heart Jade-Bone constitution, she would likely have flattered her in every way, greeted her with a smiling face, and sought to keep her; but Tang Yun did not, and so in her eyes Tang Yun had no value at all, no different from any ordinary person.

"I beg you!" At that moment Tang Yun too made a connection. Back then, because Xiaoxiao had a yin-cold constitution, the Ice Palace had valued her and kept her, making her the Ice Palace's inheritor, and it was precisely for that reason that Xiaoxiao's life had been able to continue. But if Xiaoxiao had not had a yin-cold constitution, things would surely have turned out differently... Fortunately, Wei Zhao's perseverance had moved Elder Qing, and had also led her to discover Xiaoxiao's yin-cold constitution!

And earlier, the Grand Elder had probably been testing her constitution. But Tang Yun knew well enough—what yin-cold constitution did she have? Nor did she have an Ice-Heart Jade-Bone constitution, not even the false kind that Bingtang had; otherwise Bingtang would have discovered it long ago, and it would never have fallen to Snow Valley's Grand Elder to examine her.

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