Thump! Thump! Thump! Hua Mu knocked gently on the wooden gate under dim moonlight.
A short while later, the gate opened, and a teenage girl in a long, ocean-blue dress and a ponytail appeared.
The moment Nie Tian saw the girl, he felt as if the entire Shatter City had been lit up.
He had never seen a face so beautiful. Her beauty overshadowed every girl he had ever seen, including Jiang Lingzhu, An Shiyi, and Su Lin.
The girl’s eyes were as pure as crystal, and not even the least impurity could be found within them. It was as if she could make any man alive fall for her with one glance.
Nie Tian was deeply captivated by her eyes; as a matter of fact, since the moment he saw her, his gaze never moved away from them, as if they had captured his soul and were pulling it away from him.
“Long time no see, Mr. Hua.” The girl sounded neither warm nor cold.
Only then did Nie Tian suddenly snap out of his daze and realize that he had been staring at her the whole time.
He immediately averted his gaze from her, fearing that he would lose Hua Mu’s face and the girl would think less of him.
Hua Mu had long since taken note of Nie Tian’s reactions. He chuckled and patted his shoulder, saying, “No need to feel embarrassed. Everyone who sees her for the first time reacts the exact same way as you did.”
Before Nie Tian could explain, Hua Mu turned to the girl and introduced, “This is my nephew, Hua Tian. This is his first time in the Realm of Split Void. He wants to temper himself, so I plan to leave him here with you and your master for a while. Also, since he knows nothing of this realm, I hope you can help enlighten him.
“You can throw any chore his way and pay him accordingly. No need to give me face and overpay him.
“I see.” Pei Qiqi looked Nie Tian up and down with a measuring gaze before saying with a frown, “His cultivation base is quite low. Does he know anything about equipment forging?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Hua Mu answered on Nie Tian’s behalf.
“If that’s the case, he won’t get paid very well.” Pei Qiqi’s tone was indifferent, and she didn’t take Nie Tian’s ego into consideration, even though she knew that Nie Tian was Hua Mu’s nephew.
Nie Tian, who had just recovered a clear mind, heard her words and realized that she didn’t have a high opinion of him, but he didn’t utter a word.
“It’s alright. I’m no stranger to your master’s rules.” Then, Hua Mu smiled as he turned to Nie Tian and said, “This is Pei Qiqi. You’ll listen to her from now on. If you want to earn spirit stones, then you’ll need to prove yourself worthy. Qiqi won’t treat you better just because you’re my nephew.”
“I understand,” Nie Tian replied, nodding.
“Okay, this is it. I still have some urgent matters to tend to. Please excuse me.” Hua Mu turned around and prepared to leave.
“Mister Hua,” Pei Qiqi called out softly.
Hua Mu turned back and, looking at her confused face, he asked, “Yes?”
“Now that you’re here, don’t you want to meet my master?” Pei Qiqi asked. “After all, it’s been a long time since you were here, and it’s hard to say when you’ll get the chance to meet again.”
A hint of panic appeared in Hua Mu’s eyes as he shook his head and said, “Maybe next time. I’m really in a hurry.”
With these words, he rapidly walked away without looking back, as if he were afraid that the longer he stayed, the less he would have the heart to leave.
Watching Hua Mu leave hastily, Nie Tian wondered that it might be the first time that he had seen Hua Mu so flustered.
Watching Hua Mu leave, Pei Qiqi sighed, as if she were pitying something.
Nie Tian discovered that her mind seemed to have drifted away, so he quietly formed a Heaven Eye with the power from the fragmentary stars in his soul and used it to examine her cultivation base.
However, when he did, he found that he couldn’t sense a single thing, as if she were in another dimension, even though she was standing right in front of his eyes.
Nie Tian had never had such strange feelings before.
Ever since he had learned how to form the Heaven Eyes and use them to examine another’s cultivation base, he had only failed once, which was when he had used it on the outsider commander Caro. Caro had glanced at his approaching Heaven Eye, and it had immediately exploded.
Other than that, he had never failed, but Pei Qiqi was an exception. He believed that, considering her age, she couldn’t have reached Caro’s cultivation stage.
The reason he sensed a special anomaly on her must be because she was not ordinary.
“What are you doing?” Pei Qiqi seemed to have sensed the anomaly. She let out a cold harrumph and said with an unpleasant tone, “You’re quite daring for someone with such a low cultivation base!”
Nie Tian smiled embarrassedly. “Well… Sorry. It’s my habit.”
It seemed that he had yet to recover his ability to have proper conversations with a girl so beautiful.
“Your habit?” Pei Qiqi put on a long face as she turned around and stepped into the courtyard. “Follow me.”
Nie Tian did as he was bid.
“Senior Martial Sister Pei.” As soon as she entered the courtyard, a short, fat young man that looked like a barrel approached her and asked, smiling, “Who was that? And who’s this?”
“His name is Hua Tian, Mr. Hua’s nephew. He’ll stay with us for some time. It was Mr. Hua that I talked to just now.” It seemed that Pei Qiqi felt relieved that she could dump Nie Tian on the fat young man. “You’ll be responsible for him from now on. This is his first time in the Realm of Split Void. You’ll tell him about this realm and find him something to do first thing tomorrow.”
“No problem. Hua Tian, is it? You’ll report to me from now on.” The fat young man said casually.
Nie Tian was at a loss for words.
Hua Mu had assigned him to Pei Qiqi just now, and Pei Qiqi had promised Hua Mu to take care of him.
He had never expected that so soon after Hua Mu left, Pei Qiqi would assign him to this fat boy. He wasn’t sure whether it was because he had offended her by examining her with his Heaven Eye or that she just attached no importance to him.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go. What? Are you upset that you can’t work under Senior Martial Sister Pei?” The fat young man twitched his mouth and said with an unpleasant tone, “Forget about it. Senior Martial Sister Pei doesn’t take those who come here because of their relationship with my master. You should consider yourself lucky now that I’m willing to take you with me.”
He grabbed Nie Tian by his hand and forcibly dragged him away from Pei Qiqi.
After the two of them were gone, Pei Qiqi frowned and muttered to herself, “Mr. Hua has always lived by himself. How come he’s all of a sudden shown up with this nephew? Another strange thing is that when that guy used his psychic awareness to examine me, my spatial field suddenly began to operate by itself.”