As we travel along, my mind begin to wander about what he had told me.

… His grandniece?

Well, since he’s a cultivator and she’s a cultivator, it’s very possible. Normal even, as strange as it is to consider.

But even so, she’s clearly much farther along in cultivation than he is. And everything I’ve heard from about her has been that she’s the youngest elder in a very long time.

So why does she look that old?

Certainly, she could have had a cultivation growth spurt late in her years, and that’s what many people assume about her. Even within the sect.

But I get the feeling that the real answer isn’t as simple.

My scan gives me the answer, pulling together different pieces of information that would make sense.

Including what I have in my bag with me.

She’s been cursed.

Cursed with massively accelerated aging, speeding it up by a factor of 25. At least, it appears to mimic the effect of such a thing.

To make it even worse, my estimation shows that the curse had been placed upon her just before she had cultivated.

Which can only mean that cultivating for her had become a desperate struggle to gain more years to live.

Not only that, but it even aggressively affects cultivators.

If I’m not incorrect, moving into the Qi condensation realm gains you 50 years of life span, foundation establishment 200 years, Core formation 500 years, and nascent soul 1000. After that, you go into a semi-immortal state.

Visually, she looks like she’s 85 or 90.

So, judging based on the estimated time., her current state, and where she is in her cultivation (which I guess to be peak core formation) … She’s probably only around 40 or 45 years old.

Still older than me, but almost unimaginable in cultivation years.

But unless she makes it to Nascent Soul, she likely only has five more years left to live.

But before I can continue this train of thought, we finally begin getting to the area where we had gotten our spirit roots tested.

From this point of view, I can see that she is speaking to the latest batch of recruits, just like how she was doing with my group. It Looks like they’ve already done the spirit root testing, but they haven’t gone through the additional ones yet.

Each of them, even the cultivators beside her, looks at her as someone far older and above them. Not knowing her true age.

My understanding, everyone other than those in leadership believe that she just came in and started cultivating at a later age, which is why she looks so old. No one really knows that she’s really not that much older than them.

But does it really matter if she has the skill and knowledge to be at that level?

With that perspective, it’s clear why they made her an elder.

Because just from the short time I’ve been here, I can already see that she’s exceptional at reading the situation and is clearly far above the average cultivator at her rank.

I can’t help them look at her in a new light with this knowledge.

… My thoughts immediately stop, as I spy in the crowd of recruits, two people I’ve been waiting to see for a long time.

Ai and Lin.

All thoughts of Senior Song and the issues that she faces leaves my mind at the sight of them.

Just by seeing me come over the horizon, both of them have immensely bright smiles, simply glad to see me.

… and that I likely got into a good position.

The mere fact that I’m on a sword with a sect cultivator could only mean good things in this situation. But I can still sense a hint of worry from them, so I give them a huge grin, to show them that all is going according to plan.

Their smiles become almost blinding as I can visibly see the anxiety wash off of them.

Things are going well.

I give them a cautious thumbs up for their situation, which, surprisingly in this culture means the same thing it did in mine.

They give it right back.

The meaning is clear to us both.

They got into the inner court as well.

I’m a little surprised, as I feel a loosening in my back, as well. I had been more worried than I thought about the situation with them.

A distance away, I can see a squad of giant spiders that accompanied them on the way up. Which is one of the main reasons I wasn’t worried about their safety in the situation. Not only that, but they are more than capable enough to make it up themselves.

Taking a closer look at them, I can see that they are much more toned than before.

I know each of them has been constantly pushing their bodies to the limit with training, using my healing to build them up better.

… I think they might be stronger than me. Which is terrifying in its own way. Even without the advantage of the Healing Constitution, they are using my aura to become absolute monsters in the physical sphere.

I wonder if they’ve had to use it on the way up?

After a quick glance at the dynamics of the group, I can easily see some males looking fearfully in their direction.

… even I’m a little scared of them, at this point. I wonder what they did to earn those looks.

Oblivious to my now strange thoughts, they continue to beam at me unknowingly.

But it’s not all positive, as I can feel a heated look toward me that pulls my thoughts away from them. When my gaze lands on the subject in question, I can feel my face freeze in shock at what I see.

I can see an amazingly attractive, yellow sashed, curvaceous, wavy-haired blonde woman w/ Asian feature gazing at at me. To be frank, her beauty is a few notches below Wu Qing’s true form, the Yellow Sashes leader.

This isn’t a knock on her, but a compliment. Just the sight of Wu Qing was enough to put me in a complete daze. To be hypnotized by her looks.

To be compared to her, especially when she hasn’t even cultivated yet, is the greatest of compliments.

But even with that, she seems familiar for some reason. A beauty like this isn’t easily forgotten and I quickly remember how I know her.

It appears she was a high-end escort back in Monchon City… who I had accidentally disrespected when I went into autopilot mode. She was trying to catch my attention, but I didn’t even see her because I was so deep in it.

It’s one of the main reasons I plan on never going full autopilot again, as while it’s effective for the request, it makes it so I might miss other things.

In either case, this woman stormed off in shock and anger after I had done so. And I hadn’t seen her again, even with me running all over the Yellow Sashes base in the city.

But even with that… why does she seem so fixated on me? I couldn’t have made that much of an impression, right?

My confusion briefly seems to come over my face and just as I as fix it, she caught it.

Her eyes twitch in irritation and she seems infuriated. Her head sharply turns up and away, as if displaying that she’s now ignoring me.

There’s a group of women that seem familiar, but after looking at her, they give a small wave and then follow suit.

… I’m not sure how to handle this. But I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to deal with this later.

So, I’m just going to ignore it and focus back in on the situation.

Luckily for me, we are quickly touching down next to Senior Song.