Yang Qing was half tempted to pump up his gait and smugly take in the pleasure of being admired by a beauty and maybe even take a recording or two, but he immediately shook his head free of those self-incriminating ideas.

"Sad that I can't make a recording otherwise I would use it to rub it in Yi Jie's, Feng Xin's, and that bastard Kang Huilang's faces.

To think they dubbed me a shameless misinformed toad for saying I had the looks and presence of a fallen immortal. See, even a celestial sacred swan with all their unhealthy obsession with perfection chose to reveal themselves to me.

Mao Mao you've really lucked out having me.." thought Yang Qing with a smug look on his face that was quickly interrupted by the celestial sacred swan.

"Human Yang Qing, seems like you have some prideful thoughts there. I can't help but wonder what it's about.." the celestial sacred swan said with a slow but regal tone, as a dangerous smile appeared on her face.

Yang Qing quickly extinguished his thoughts as his boot-licking defense mechanisms kicked in when it detected the danger.

"Forgive me. I was just thinking this was my greatest fortune of several times to be in such a noble presence. Forgive me for lacking the composure to control myself," he said with a humble performance accompanied by a gentle inclined apologetic bow.

"It seems humans everywhere are gifted with a glib tongue. Most of the ones I've met usually use it to hide their vile intentions toward me, at least this time even if I detect a little insincerity in the words spoken by you, human Yang Qing, your intentions are not vile.." said the celestial sacred swan with a light chuckle when she saw Yang Qing rubbing his nose in embarrassment.

The embarrassment didn't last long as Yang Qing had long since padded his skin with countless layers. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone within the Order with a thicker skin.

Yang Qing's gaze instantly turned solemn, his cheeky behavior, completely removed.

"It might be presumptuous of me, but how do I address you?" asked Yang Qing.

The brows of the celestial sacred swan rose slightly in surprise at Yang Qing's swift change in demeanor.

"You can call me Gu Xing.." said the celestial sacred swan, with a strange flash in her eyes, which Yang Qing interpreted as a look of melancholy, one that seniors often used when they reminisced about old friends that they had outlived.

"You can call me Yang Qing, just Yang Qing is fine...Human Yang Qing sounds odd.." said Yang Qing with an awkward smile."Sorry Hu..I mean, sorry Yang Qing, just Yang Qing.." Gu Xing answered with a cheeky smile.

"I don't normally converse with humans that much, well not long enough to know their names. I normalized calling you all the same over the years and it has become a habit. Sorry for that.." she added.

"It's okay. So why did you decide to reveal yourself?" asked Yang Qing with a puzzled expression.

He knew she had already sensed him when he was about a kilometer away. Such a distance was more than enough for her to hide herself or even create an ambush but she openly revealed herself which was something he didn't think celestial sacred swans did.

Of course, he had never met one, and his assumptions were purely based on what he had read on some scrolls, but if the tales were true, then he would have expected the celestial sacred swan to exercise an abundance of caution towards the unfamiliar, especially a human cultivator who didn't look weak at that.

"Just a feeling.." Gu Xing casually answered as she took a seat beneath the sapphire crystal grove tree. Even just the casual act of just sitting evoked grace and matchless beauty capable of stirring the hearts of many.

Though it didn't work on him as his heart had already been set elsewhere, Yang Qing had to admit, Gu Xing,had an unmatched beauty and presence.

"Feeling?" asked Yang Qing as he mirrored her actions by sitting himself.

"Yes, a feeling.." Gu Xing said with her eyes shining with curiosity.

"I have never met a human like you..You have this smell and presence, it is like seeing nature encased in a human body. It resembles my body, so I got curious about how there could be a human with such a nature-filled presence.

From what I know of your kind, you're harbingers of greed and destruction.." she said as she picked some dust from the ground.

"Just like those humans who were here. They cared not of the sanctity of this place and contaminated it with their greed. Stealing the inheritance blood crystals.. " she added, her tone rife with disdain.

"Is there no bottom line to what your kind will go to, to gain strength? Dishonoring the sacrifices made by these spirit beasts means nothing to your kind.

To honor those who enshrined their wills in this place, I killed them all, their ashes entombed here to atone for what they did.." she said as she dusted her hands.

"Is that so.." Yang Qing said with a sigh.

"I am sorry for what they did.." Yang Qing said as he solemnly cupped his fists.

Gu Xing with a perplexed look on her face asked,

"Why are you apologizing for them? You are not part of their organization, are you? From what I can feel and tell, it's not like you need these crystals.."

"I may not know them, but it doesn't mean I am not remorseful for what they did, especially since we are the same race after all. Some part of me feels shame like I was with them in the act.." answered Yang Qing.

Gu Xing stared at him for a short while, her golden sun eyes flashing before she said,

"You humans are hard to figure out. I wish there was more like you out there..."

With the heaviness in her tone, Yang Qing could tell she likely had horrible experiences with humans.

"Have you always been here?" asked Yang Qing in wonder. If she had been, there was no way the Hua Clan or the other members of their alliance, would have been able to get their hands on the crystals.

He even had doubts about whether whoever had fed the information to those organizations about the location of the graveyard, would have been able to know of the location without alerting Gu Xing to their spying.

The sensory abilities of a celestial sacred swan were powerful enough to make them even sensitive to domain senses.

A small frown appeared on Gu Xin's face as she said,

"About 800 years ago I detected an unfamiliar presence lurking at the boundary of this place. By that time, I had served as the guardian of this place for 11,000 years. The sanctified nature of this place suited me perfectly and the various leaders of this range, agreed to me being the guardian of this graveyard.

I have seen many things over the years, but that presence made my body shiver from fear and disgust. Like if I end up in that figure's hands, death would be the least of my worries. That presence was like an amalgamation of pure terror. I couldn't even tell what it was.

Knowing I would not be its match, I left this place to bring in reinforcements. I went to search for Lady Gild but she had already left, her disciple was already in closed seclusion, and other powerful figures that I thought would be capable of handling that presence had already left.

Left with no choice, I left the range in search of at least one of them. I knew most had gone to the Green Fog Region, so that's where I went.

I left a few spirit beasts to monitor the situation in case of any changes while also leaving a wisp of my spiritual imprint on this tree.." said Gu Xin as she placed her dainty masterfully crafted hands on the scarlet crystal grove tree next to her.

"The search proved unfruitful as the region was bigger and more ferocious than I could imagine, but luckily I didn't receive any report of the intruder coming in. But erring on the side of caution despite receiving no report I decided to continue the search up until four months ago when my imprint alerted me of several figures sneaking into the area and stealing the crystals.

At that moment, it didn't matter whether it was that strange presence or not, I rushed back to honor my my role as the guardian regardless of whether I would lose my life or not.

I arrived yesterday, just in time to catch those humans trying to steal from this place again.."