Chapter 211 - Something Ugly (1/2)

The Elder they saw when the disciple opened the door looked exactly like his voice had seemed: old, almost ancient.

At first glance, he was nothing more than a patch of black and white. Jing Yi blinked and it turned out that the Elder was wearing a dark robe and that his hair and his skin were nearly as pale as tofu. This was probably what happened if you lived inside a mountain for too long where the sunlight couldn't reach.

Jing Yi gripped Qiu Ling's sleeve. Somehow, he felt a little afraid in front of this Elder.

Qiu Ling reached over and caressed the back of Jing Yi's hand. His eyes stayed on the Elder in front of them, though. Mn, that guy was sufficiently talented for a mortal. But this kind of face … Just looking at it for a while Qiu Ling wanted to lock himself into a room and do something for his own skin. How had all those wrinkles even enough place? It seemed like they were growing across each other.

The Elder glanced at Jing Yi before focusing on Qiu Ling. The two men stared at each other, none of them saying a word.

Qiu Ling watched with amazement how another wrinkle seemed to grow right in front of him. In reality that was just the Elder frowning, though, because he felt disturbed by Qiu Ling's unwavering gaze.

”Young man. Is there something you want to say?”

Jing Yi hugged Qiu Ling's arm closer at the raspy voice. It seemed to come straight out of a nightmare. Would all people in the demonic sect be this terrifying? He wasn't sure if he would be able to find out anything in that case. He was already frightened.

Originally, Qiu Ling had felt the mood to share a bit of free advice with this poor man. When he felt that Jing Yi didn't like this person's company he dropped that thought like a burning stick. ”We came to become disciples.”

Elder Shan looked at the disciple that was waiting at the door. The young man nodded. That was indeed what they had said when they came over. Elder Shan turned back toward Qiu Ling and Jing Yi. ”He's at the seed stage only. And you …” He frowned even more, his wrinkles deepening further.

Qiu Ling's hands twitched. He really wanted to touch his own face to make sure it was alright. This type of aging wasn't contagious, was it?

Jing Yi had no idea what was going on in Qiu Ling's head but he could feel that his fiance was getting nervous himself. It did nothing to calm him down. When had he ever seen Qiu Ling in a nervous mood? Sure, he had seen him serious and restless and clingy and a lot of other things but as far as he could remember he had never seen him nervous.

He couldn't understand why he would need to be, either. Qiu Ling was a practitioner and a cultivator, someone that had advantages over both groups and he wasn't weak. It shouldn't be a problem to deal with this Elder, should it?

With a troubled gaze, he looked at Qiu Ling. He couldn't ask now, he could only hold it in and hope that Qiu Ling would find a way out of this.

Qiu Ling pressed his lips together and shoved the thought aside. ”What's with me? You need a demonstration?” Ah, this was just like six years ago when he wanted to be taken in by the Yun Zou Sect. Why was it so hard for a dragon to be admitted into a human sect?

The Elder drew his brows together. He couldn't sense Qiu Ling's cultivation. That left three possibilities: This young man in front of him was a practitioner and not a cultivator, he hadn't started cultivating yet or he had such a high cultivation base that he was unable to perceive it. The latter wasn't likely considering his age and his attitude suggested that he should be a talent instead of a good-for-nothing.

”You're a practitioner?”

”Mn.”