Father
Qi Xianqing thought she could probably be counted as someone spoiled by her sect.
Because she had an exceptionally gifted Immortal Spirit Physique, the sect had protected her far too well.
After she reached the Light-seeing Realm, she became the sect’s public face and traveled throughout the human world.
But no matter where she went in the mortal world, she had never once come to the Western Region.
The shadow that incident had left in her heart was too deep. Back then, even the tiger demon had nearly gone mad over her physique, and Yun Zhen worried that if Qi Xianqing came here, first, the Immortal Spirit Physique would attract the tiger demons; after all, in this world, becoming stronger and ascending were immense temptations to both humans and demons alike.
There would be many demons willing to pay any price to obtain the Immortal Spirit Physique.
Second, Yun Zhen feared that if Qi Xianqing were to confront the tiger demon, it might affect her state of mind.
This time, the reason Qi Xianqing had come to the Western Region was not only because the higher-ups had ordered it, but also because she felt her state of mind was steady enough.
Qi Xianqing had already resolved to face what happened back then herself.
Qi Xianqing glanced at Yan Jue.
The warm glow of candlelight and the clear light of the moon fell together across Yan Jue’s face.
The girl looked quietly at the distant emerald-green mountains, her naturally lovely features all red lips and white teeth, with not the slightest trace of calculation on her face.
Qi Xianqing knew this trip was dangerous, so of course she would not let Yan Jue get involved at all.
-
The weather was very good today; warm sunlight scattered over their shoulders, lifting even one’s mood.
Qi Xianqing and Yan Jue then set out on the path to find the Azure Immortal Grass.
The maid sent by City Lord Liang had been waiting for them early at the city gate.
Smiling, the maid said, “Two immortal lords, City Lord Liang sent this servant to guide you. Just follow me.”
Before she had even finished speaking, Qi Xianqing stepped forward, lowered her eyes to the girl, and nodded. “Thank you.”
There was suddenly a swallowing sound in the air.
Because the surroundings were quiet, it sounded somewhat harsh.
Yan Jue froze, her gaze falling on the maid as she vaguely felt that something was off.
The three of them left the city gate together.
Following behind slowly, Yan Jue said thoughtfully, “Commoners have been harmed repeatedly outside Skyferry City, to the point that no one dares go out for recreation. Are the ones harming them demons and evils, or demonic cult cultivators?”
“Not a single clue.”
Qi Xianqing walked ahead with her hands behind her back. “Precisely because there are no clues, we should come out and take a look.”
Hearing their words, the maid turned back with a smile. “Two immortal lords, don’t be nervous. Though monsters do harm people, daytime is safe.”
Qi Xianqing looked at her. “Mm, thank you.”
-
Outside Skyferry City, the green mountains were lush.
A few people walked slowly along the road and soon reached the foot of Fuxian Mountain.
Fragrance drifted at the tip of the nose, and the ground was covered in golden petals; the sound of footsteps on the earth could be heard clearly.
Since several years ago, the people of the Western Region had regarded leaving the city as taboo.
Because everyone who left had disappeared mysteriously.
Some said they had been carried off by mountain spirits.
Some said they had been eaten by demons and evils.
This grove of osmanthus trees had once been a place crowded with travelers and filled with laughter and joy.
Yan Jue frowned slightly, carefully observing the scenery around her, when the corner of her eye suddenly caught the maid’s back.
They had already climbed the mountain. The stone steps of Fuxian Mountain were steep, yet the maid at the front led the way steadily and quickly.
Looking at the maid’s back, Yan Jue could not help finding it strange.
She had not noticed yesterday whether City Lord Liang was a mortal, but why was even the maid beside her in such good physical shape?
The stone steps on Fuxian Mountain were very steep, but both Qi Xianqing and Yan Jue were cultivators, so climbing them did not feel especially strenuous.
For an ordinary person, however, this would not be easy at all.
Could this maid be a cultivator?
Yan Jue’s senses were especially sharp when it came to demons and evils. Although she had not felt any demonic aura from the girl in front of her, there was still something very strange about her.
Qi Xianqing looked at the green mountains in the distance, somewhat distracted.
The mountains were verdant, veiled in mist.
At first, they had passed through a grove of osmanthus trees, and then it had been replaced by one towering tree after another.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves, and the ground beneath their feet glimmered faintly like diamonds.
Qi Xianqing glanced around and slightly narrowed her eyes.
Two hours later, they reached a wide, open cliffside.
Fuxian Mountain was one of the world’s famous mountains and already extremely high.
Qi Xianqing stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down, seeing only layers of white mist with no bottom in sight.
Sunlight fell from the vault of heaven, making everything around them seem like a fairyland.
This cliff marked the end of the entire osmanthus grove and offered a view of Fuxian Mountain’s sea of clouds and surrounding peaks.
If it had been long ago, it likely would have been a scenic spot that delighted the eye.
The maid turned around and smiled. “Two immortal lords, this is the place.”
“Fuxian Mountain is one of the immortal mountains of the world. Many travelers like to come here to climb high and compose verses. The people who came here to play before were here just like this... ”
Before she could finish, a flash of green light suddenly cut across the air.
The immortal sword Zhuying left its sheath and shot straight into the maid’s chest.
The maid’s pupils shrank sharply. She formed hand seals with both hands, but before she could do anything, she collapsed to the ground.
Yan Jue froze and turned to stare at Qi Xianqing. “What are you doing?”
Holding Zhuying, Qi Xianqing slowly returned the sword to its scabbard. Green-blue electric light faintly rippled from her fingertips.
“Her yin energy is very heavy.” Qi Xianqing looked at the person on the ground, her expression cold. “She’s already not human.”
Sure enough, after Qi Xianqing said this, the maid’s corpse lying on the ground suddenly floated up with the wind and gradually vanished into the air, turning into a wisp of green smoke.
Yan Jue suddenly remembered the strange swallowing sound she had heard at the city gate earlier. This maid clearly had a physiological reaction to Qi Xianqing’s Immortal Spirit Physique. “Then she is... ”
Suddenly, a very faint whistle came from far away.
Qi Xianqing abruptly turned her head. A sharp arrow whistled toward her chest.
At the same time, a faint golden light radiated from around Qi Xianqing’s body.
Heart-protecting mirror.
In an instant, countless flying swords shot over from that direction. Yan Jue’s gaze sharpened, and she immediately summoned the immortal sword Drifting Ice. Drifting Ice’s body crashed through the air like a soaring dragon, actually knocking every sword back.
When Drifting Ice returned behind Yan Jue, she felt it pressing tightly against her back, vibrating violently.
A demon and evil!
Yan Jue turned to look at Qi Xianqing and saw that Qi Xianqing’s face was frost-like as she stared fixedly into the distance.
Behind a great tree not far away, a person slowly walked out.
The woman’s skin was like congealed cream, her mouth red as cinnabar. She wore an ornate red dress with butterfly sleeves and gold-thread embroidery, beautiful and otherworldly beyond compare.
That person was City Lord Liang.
Only, under these circumstances, seeing such an exquisite beauty did not make one feel delighted at all; instead, it sent a chill through the heart.
Yan Jue’s whole body tensed. She gripped the immortal sword Drifting Ice tightly, and suddenly felt a tightening at the back of her neck.
Yan Jue froze. Before she could react, she saw Qi Xianqing grab the collar of her clothes and hurl her sharply to the left.
“... ”
Qi Xianqing’s explosive force was truly astonishing. Before Yan Jue could react, her body shot out like an arrow released from a bow, arcing gracefully through the air before crashing down on the mountain steps five li away from Qi Xianqing.
Ancient pines stood on both sides of the stone steps. Yan Jue’s body rolled several times on the steps, then was flung down hundreds of stairs by the tremendous force. She braced her hands against the ground and forced herself to stop.
Yan Jue looked at the steep mountain path before her, both shocked and furious.
Qi Xianqing had thrown her away?
City Lord Liang raised her slender fingers and lightly covered her red lips, laughing softly. “That maid was one of my little ghosts, but I already sealed her yin energy with a secret art.”
“As expected of Lord Meng Heng of the Five Dragons Sect; your senses really are sharp.”
The mountain wind blew in, making Qi Xianqing’s skirts whip sharply. Powerful waves of electric energy spread out from all around her.
Qi Xianqing raised her head, her expression cold. “Though secret arts can seal demonic energy, a presence doesn’t change.”
“I found you familiar yesterday when I saw you.”
Qi Xianqing said faintly, “You knew long ago that I would come to Skyferry City to seek treasure, so you killed the real City Lord Liang and transformed into her appearance to wait for the fish to take the bait.”
The female tiger demon choked slightly.
Why was there not even the slightest trace of panic on Qi Xianqing’s face? There was even a hint of composure.
This was, of course, all within Qi Xianqing and Yun Zhen’s expectations.
Before leaving the mountain, Qi Xianqing had already made all her preparations. It had been nearly half a month since she had delivered her letter of allegiance to the Administrative Hall, so she had already given the tiger demon ample time to prepare.
But when she entered the city lord’s residence yesterday, she had not expected the female tiger demon to directly transform into City Lord Liang and wait for her.
The real City Lord Liang may already have been killed.
No matter how exquisite the female tiger demon’s illusion was, one could still smell a faint fragrance of storax on her.
Qi Xianqing would never forget that smell.
City Lord Liang smiled, slowly opening a blood-filled mouth lined with sharp teeth. “I never thought we would meet again. I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Ah Qing.”
Qi Xianqing was overcome by a wave of dread.
She would never forget.
That year, it had been a cold winter day, and a man and a woman had stopped at the door of her home and knocked.
Though the Qi family was not a cultivating clan, it was still a scholarly household, and their living conditions had been quite good.
The young Qi Xianqing had been reading in the courtyard at the time. She was the first to hear the sound, and so she had hurried over on little quick steps to open the door.
A man and a woman stood outside.
Seeing unfamiliar faces, the timid Qi Xianqing had wanted to close the door, but her mother, who had come up behind her, held her back.
It was cold in winter, and travelers on the road must have been exhausted.
They should be invited in to sit for a while. Those were her mother’s words back then; Qi Xianqing still remembered every single one of them.
So the Qi family door was opened, and the two were let in.
The man and woman ate a full meal and, profusely grateful, stayed in the side room.
Who would have known that when they slept until the second half of the night, what awaited the Qi family was a bloody slaughter.
The muscular man transformed into a giant tiger, while the coquettish, seductive woman beside him stood smiling sweetly next to the tiger.
The air at the nose was filled with thick blood and a faint scent of storax.
No one in the Qi family survived, except Qi Xianqing.
Perhaps when the tiger had killed, it had noticed something strange about the scent on Qi Xianqing’s body; perhaps this was a robbery that had been fully planned long ago.
Qi Xianqing was dragged into the demon lair by the two tiger demons.
Although she was very young at the time, Qi Xianqing still could not forget how it felt.
At five or six years old, Qi Xianqing was locked in a dark, lightless cellar. She wept every day, eating bitter medicinal herbs that made her head spin, and could only watch the sky outside her window brighten bit by bit while living in constant fear of being eaten at any moment.
The one who came daily to feed her was a lesser demon. Qi Xianqing actually had very little direct contact with those two tiger demons.
Qi Xianqing had only once seen the male and female tiger demons on the night her whole family was killed.
And one glance was unforgettable forever.
A flash of green light; Zhuying left its sheath once more.
Qi Xianqing did not bother exchanging any pleasantries with the female tiger demon, instead immediately using her movement technique to cross a thousand li in an instant. In the blink of an eye, she appeared before the woman.
The wild wind sent her robe hems fluttering violently. Qi Xianqing’s expression was cold as frost and snow as she raised her hand and held her sword aloft like a god of slaughter. Violent electric energy poured outward from around her, condensing in the air into streams of ghostly fire-like currents.
Liang Tingmian actually raised a hand to block directly. Her slender white hand instantly transformed in midair into a steel tiger paw, forcibly taking Qi Xianqing’s blow.
Liang Tingmian flashed backward, instantly retreating to five steps away from Qi Xianqing, and smiled. “Little girl, your cultivation has improved.”
“Yesterday in the city lord’s residence, since you had already recognized me, why didn’t you kill me?”
Qi Xianqing: “There are many restrictions in Skyferry City that protect the common people. I couldn’t kill you with my own hands. If I wanted to kill you, it had to be in the wilderness.”
Liang Tingmian: “Oh? Then you were sure you could kill me?”
Before her words had even faded, she suddenly threw her head back and let out a thunderous roar, and in an instant, heaven and earth changed color.
The shrill roar pierced the eardrums and carried a faint sense of shattering. In an instant, a hazy phantom appeared in the sky; the tiger’s howl condensed into the image of a giant tiger, charging toward Qi Xianqing like a landslide.
Green light flickered in the sky, and majestic sword qi burst forth, forming a huge crescent-shaped sword glow in midair that directly met the phantom.
This tiger phantom was actually a doppelgänger cultivated by the female tiger demon over decades.
Not only was its attack power infinitely close to that of her physical body, but merely approaching it carried a terrifying mental assault.
Bloodlust filled Qi Xianqing’s eyes as she tightly gripped Zhuying. Her movement technique flashed in midair, and in an instant she appeared several zhang away. She slashed fiercely through the air, and sword qi mixed with thunderous might spread out like ripples across the sky.
Qi Xianqing stomped her right foot onto the ground and, with her right hand holding the sword, drew a talisman. In an instant, an Eight Trigrams formation flickering with pale blue light appeared beneath the phantom.
Qi Xianqing’s mastery of formations was clearly already extremely skillful. One streak of sword qi after another struck around the Eight Trigrams diagram, continually reinforcing the formation.
“Roar...” The tiger phantom was instantly immobilized.
Qi Xianqing slashed fiercely with her sword, and the phantom was split into pieces by green-blue sword light.
Liang Tingmian’s eyes suddenly snapped open, and she said with a savage grin, “I didn’t think your cultivation would advance so far that you could actually destroy one of my doppelgängers cultivated for a hundred years.”
Qi Xianqing lifted her eyes coldly. “What other methods do you have? Use them today.”
-
After Yan Jue finally struggled back up from the stone steps, she sensed a massive surge of spiritual power.
Qi Xianqing and the female tiger demon were fighting fiercely. Zhuying soared through the air like a roaming dragon, emitting bursts of dragon roars and phoenix cries, while immense spiritual energy turned into multicolored radiant light that enveloped the surroundings.
Yan Jue could not get close at all, so she immediately invoked the Cloudvoid Umbrella to conceal herself.
Qi Xianqing was surrounded by dark purple mist, bloodlust filled her eyes, and the arm holding the sword was faintly trembling. Her condition was clearly somewhat off.
Yan Jue frowned slightly.
She suddenly remembered something and took an object from her Qiankun bag.
A jade seal of emerald-green jade, with the character for “Gu” carved on the bottom, had previously been taken by Qi Xianqing to the Refining Hall for modification and now carried healing functions.
Yan Jue immediately activated the jade seal. It instantly expanded in the air and moved toward Qi Xianqing.
The jade seal gave off a faint golden light in the sky, and with a loud boom, a pale blue halo instantly enveloped Qi Xianqing.
Qi Xianqing frowned slightly, feeling that the fear that had just been shrouding her heart had instantly lessened considerably.
This tiger demon had monstrous strength, and every movement carried the pressure of its bloodline. Such pressure should not have been so easily dispelled.
Could it be...
Qi Xianqing came back to herself and could not help feeling both exasperated and amused.
Could that person not understand what she meant, and had actually run back again?
Qi Xianqing had long since grown used to fighting alone, but for some reason, ever since some point in time, whenever she tangled with an enemy, there was always someone standing behind her.
Thinking this, Qi Xianqing suddenly felt something strange in her heart.
She was being protected by someone.
Clearly, City Lord Liang had not noticed the person behind Qi Xianqing. Her body suddenly flashed backward, and Qi Xianqing also retreated a step. Zhuying was instantly activated, swelling in the air until it was several people tall.
Sword Art: Shaking the Earth.
Zhuying fell from the sky and plunged straight into the ground. In an instant, the earth shook violently and directly sent Liang Tingmian stumbling backward.
Liang Tingmian retreated a few steps to steady herself, then suddenly formed hand seals with both hands.
Qi Xianqing slightly narrowed her eyes.
City Lord Liang’s head suddenly exploded, turning into a massive tiger head.
This was the true form of a tiger-headed human. Her skin turned a dark blue-purple, and the tiger clan’s bloodline directly took effect on her body, causing all her bodily functions to surge in an instant.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!” The female tiger demon’s body leaped forward repeatedly, and in the blink of an eye she had reached Qi Xianqing’s front.
Qi Xianqing stood there, staring fixedly at that tiger head.
She seemed to still be affected by its spiritual force.
She actually stood motionless, dazed.
The female tiger demon was delighted. She thrust out one tiger paw and swatted.
That tiger paw appeared pale green in the air, hard as steel, bent into a hooked shape, and when it moved, it carried a fierce gale. Any mortal touched by even a little of it would instantly be turned into mincemeat.
In that instant, the female tiger demon saw a crafty glint of success in Qi Xianqing’s eyes.
Something was wrong!
Qi Xianqing smiled faintly.
Tigers were indeed born with great strength, but that did not mean there was no way to deal with them.
Qi Xianqing knew this very well. She had already taken Dragon Blood Pills and Celestial Gang Pills earlier, and a surging flood of spiritual power was raging wildly within her body.
Qi Xianqing raised her hand and caught the female tiger demon’s paw with one hand.
When the tiger demon met Qi Xianqing’s eyes, as calm as still water, her pupils suddenly shrank.
No one had ever been able to grab her tiger paw. The instant it was caught, the female tiger demon suddenly felt overwhelming terror and desperately tried to pull her hand back.
In the next breath, that steel tiger paw was directly crushed in Qi Xianqing’s hand.
Thick blood splashed out from her palm, and Qi Xianqing used her other hand to seize the female tiger demon’s arm. Shuaituo was unleashed, directly hurling the tiger demon out.
Qi Xianqing immediately followed with a step, her figure as fast as lightning. Zhuying rose in the air and shattered into one little green-light sword after another. Qi Xianqing narrowed her eyes slightly and swung one hand hard; countless little swords fell from the sky.
Myriad Sword Art.
The female tiger demon suddenly opened her mouth wide and let out a hoarse growl from her throat.
She had clearly never expected that the girl who had been powerless more than ten years ago would have reached such a level today!
This was the Immortal Spirit Physique.
Though the blood of Immortal Spirit Physiques was coveted by demons and devils, it was a being cherished by heaven and earth.
This was also why the upper ranks of the Five Dragons Sect unanimously agreed to let Qi Xianqing go to the Western Region to destroy the enemy; precisely because of this uniquely endowed physique, Qi Xianqing had already broken through to the mid-stage Heart Stirring Realm at barely over twenty years old.
With the added power of Dragon Blood Pills, the female tiger demon was no longer Qi Xianqing’s opponent at all!
Sword light fell like rain.
Within the rain of sword light, the female tiger demon stared wide-eyed as she was gradually devoured by Zhuying.
When Zhuying’s radiance completely faded, only a cold tiger demon corpse remained on the ground.
A wisp of remnant soul drifted out from the tiger demon’s body and fled swiftly beyond Qi Xianqing’s attack range.
It was only a tiny strand of soul; it was weak and even lacked intelligence.
But if it could find a place to recuperate, perhaps after a hundred years it could rise again.
Qi Xianqing also noticed the remnant soul trying to escape, and her expression sharpened. Suddenly, a piercing whistle sounded from behind her.
A nail glinting with cold light shot over and directly pierced the female tiger demon’s ethereal remnant soul.
The remnant soul shattered into pieces in the sky.
Piercing Bone Nail.
The Piercing Bone Nail pierced through the remnant soul, then nailed itself directly into the large tree behind it. It actually penetrated straight through the tree and flew out, then pierced through another tree behind that one. Only after three trees did it stop, then blasted the tree flying away.
Qi Xianqing glanced back. There was nothing behind her.
No need to ask; that Yan Jue girl was definitely hiding under the Cloudvoid Umbrella, secretly helping her.
That was best.
This was high up on Fuxian Mountain, with a sheer abyss behind them.
The green mountains were lush, white clouds coiling around them, autumn wind bleak and desolate, blowing the leaves overhead into wild motion.
All around was silent. Yan Jue’s ears twitched as she alertly spread out her Divine Sense and suddenly sensed something rapidly approaching.
Boom!
With a loud crash, Qi Xianqing flipped backward several zhang in succession before she was not smashed into mincemeat by the thing that had suddenly flown over.
Blood slowly slid down her arm.
A man with knotted, bulging muscles slowly walked over.
His face was hideous, with a deep scar on the left side of it. When Qi Xianqing met those golden eyes, she suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her temples.
The blood-soaked scenes in her memory surged back. The ones who had taken her away back then had been a male and a female tiger; and the man before her was the male one.
He was also the one who had killed the most people in the Qi household that night and used the most bloody, violent methods.
Qi Xianqing pressed a hand to her temple, still keeping a clear head.
She knew these two tigers might be using some kind of spiritual attack, causing her anger to surge to its peak in an instant.
This was an overdraw on the body; Qi Xianqing naturally would not be so foolish as to fall for it.
Crack.
A crisp sound rang out in the air.
Qi Xianqing crushed the communication talisman Yun Zhen had given her.
The man kept his hands behind his back and slowly walked over. When he looked at Qi Xianqing, his eyes were filled with obsession and frenzy, with not a trace of grief for a lost wife: “Immortal Spirit Physique, I thought I would never see you again in this lifetime... ”
“But I never expected we would meet again so soon.”
“Oh?” Qi Xianqing smiled lightly. “Your wife was just killed by my hand, yet you don’t seem the least bit sad.”
The man laughed heartily. “For the Immortal Spirit Physique, what if we’re separated by life and death? That’s not impossible.”
He walked slowly up to the woman, then suddenly opened his blood-filled mouth and swallowed the fallen female corpse on the ground.
Qi Xianqing frowned slightly, and a wave of disgust rose within her.
The man’s eyes instantly lit with golden light, and as his nostrils flared slightly, strands of purple smoke poured out from them.
The purple smoke coiled above his head like a flood dragon. As it gradually dispersed, a woman with a tiger head and human body appeared in the clearing.
The woman wore a red dress with butterfly sleeves and gold-thread embroidery, yet she had a huge tiger head. The tiger’s golden eyes narrowed slightly, and its tongue licked the pink tip of its nose with satisfaction.
Chang ghost.
Liang Tingmian, who had just been killed, actually appeared instantly before Qi Xianqing, opening a blood-filled mouth and biting straight at her.
Qi Xianqing expressionlessly raised her sword and slashed viciously at the back of Liang Tingmian’s neck. Her strikes were extremely fast and ruthless; in the air, only streaks of sword light could be seen flashing past.
The combination of the Dragon Shadow Sword Art and the Five Dragons Sect’s Heaven Heart Sword Art carried an added trace of domineering force amid its righteousness. The blood-red sword glow transformed into the shape of a flying dragon in the air and drifted out lightly.
Liang Tingmian’s body was instantly split in two.
The man froze, not expecting that the girl who had been locked in the cellar all those years ago and knew only how to cry would become such a murderous god of slaughter.
Qi Xianqing looked up coldly, frost and blood mist seeming to congeal on her snow-white face.
The man: “Not killing you back then, but instead raising you until you were sixteen, was a complete mistake.”
“No matter. What I didn’t manage to do back then, I’ll do slowly today.”
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Qi Xianqing’s figure flicker and the immortal sword Zhuying hook through the air.
The man opened his mouth again, and several purple-blue souls slowly oozed out from it. “You and your family can have a proper reunion now.”
Purple mist wound together overhead like coiling flood dragons, layer upon layer. Qi Xianqing’s temples began to throb violently again, and her vision darkened slightly.
She raised her sword and swung, a streak of sword light flashing through the air and knocking the purple mist around them apart.
When the mist finally dispersed, several blurry figures appeared in the clearing under the sunlight.
Qi Xianqing’s hand suddenly froze.
Chang ghosts.
These chang ghosts were her father, mother, brothers, and sisters.
Those eaten by tigers would become chang ghosts.
Chang ghosts were ghosts and possessed no intelligence; they could only exist as the tiger’s slaves.
Back then, in the Qi household, it had been this male tiger who had eaten the most people.
It was not strange at all that he could summon old acquaintances from those years.
Qi Xianqing looked at the people before her, her expression cold as frost, and tightened her grip on the sword hilt.
Her father stood on the left. His face was so familiar, but his fingers could no longer be made out in their original shape. The man came before her and lifted a hand to strike at her.
Qi Xianqing froze in place. Though chang ghosts had no intelligence, they were formed from a human’s “spirit.”
These were still her own family members.
Smack.
Qi Xianqing was slapped across the face by a claw swiped head-on. Several faint blood marks instantly appeared on her fair cheek.
Qi Xianqing had reunited with her parents many times in dreams, but she had never expected that meeting them again in the real world would be this kind of scene.
For a moment, she actually did not know what to do.
The woman beside the man smiled gently, as if she had returned to that snowstorm-filled night, when her mother stood behind her and softly held her shoulders.
“Xianqing...”
Whoosh...
Suddenly, something whistled through the air, and before Qi Xianqing could defend herself, a sudden tightness gripped her leg.
In an instant, a heart-rending pain shot through her.
Perhaps knowing she had the heart-protecting mirror, this arrow had specifically struck the blind spot in the mirror’s protection, her leg.
Qi Xianqing staggered a step and formed seals with both hands like a mountain.
The immortal sword Zhuying erupted instantly and blew the male chang ghost’s head apart.
Qi Xianqing gritted her teeth.
This was not her family at all; the ghosts that served as a tiger’s accomplices were merely mindless puppets.
Even so, her heart still hurt as if it had been torn apart, and her whole body felt as though it were about to fall apart.
Qi Xianqing slashed once. Green light flashed, and the figures around her were all cut down.
The man watched the scene before him with satisfaction. To see this girl’s state of mind gradually destroyed under the siege of chang ghosts, to watch beautiful things gradually be ruined by his own hand—that was probably the most satisfying thing in the world.
The man closed his eyes and formed seals. Purple smoke kept curling out of his nostrils.
These chang ghosts were nothing more than the “spirit” that dead people retained in their bodies.
A complete spirit could be divided into many strands.
Thus, chang ghosts were endless.
Suddenly, the man’s eyes flew open, his pupils shrinking sharply.
A faint rustling sounded around them, and a wave of blood-soaked malevolent energy suddenly welled up beneath his feet.
An ambush!
Ice and snow burst beneath his feet, and a girl in a daoist robe holding a sword in both hands sprang from the ground.
Crash...
A scarlet blood mark instantly appeared across the back of the male tiger demon.
Yan Jue’s expression was as cold as frost as she silently recited a mental incantation.
The green-blue Zhuying over there suddenly erupted in midair and roared toward Yan Jue’s Drifting Ice.
Yan Jue leapt violently into the air and raised the immortal sword Drifting Ice high.
Drifting Ice and Zhuying collided fiercely in the sky, then fused.
Tiny fragments of golden sword light cut bloody openings across Yan Jue’s cheeks. Yan Jue raised her sword with all her strength, and the two swords merged into one in the air, forming a massive vortex of spiritual power.
Violent golden dragon sword qi spread outward in all directions, and for a moment, the sound shook the four fields.
A brilliant halo burst in the sky, like the clouds at dawn along the horizon.
Twin-Sword Fusion.
The man froze in place and was suddenly swallowed by immense spiritual power. He let out a scream, and his muscular body instantly transformed into a giant tiger.
Majestic sword qi rippled in all directions, nearly flattening the surrounding pine forest.
That giant tiger was crushed madly by the sword qi; first the head, then the body...
Perhaps because this male tiger demon was also a ferocious beast entangled in blood-soaked malevolence, Drifting Ice displayed a rare and ferocious violence, and the power of Twin-Sword Fusion reached an unprecedented peak.
Qi Xianqing stared blankly at the scene before her when a sudden burst of intense pain shot through her leg.
She took a step back, nearly unable to stand steady, and was violently swept by the gale over the cliff. Yan Jue had long since noticed Qi Xianqing’s condition. Running over like the wind, she recalled the twin swords while throwing her body forward and fiercely seized Qi Xianqing’s wrist.
But Qi Xianqing’s body was already hanging in the air at the cliff’s edge.
Amid the roaring wind, Yan Jue held tightly onto Qi Xianqing’s hand.
Fuxian Mountain was extremely high; beneath them lay a bottomless abyss, and shattered stones kept rolling down around the two of them.
Yan Jue gritted her teeth, but Twin-Sword Fusion had consumed nearly all her strength. Even though she was trying very hard, she could only pull Qi Xianqing back a little.
In the sunlight, Qi Xianqing’s face was deathly pale, cold sweat soaking the broken hair at her brow.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Yan Jue’s face, flushed red under the sunlight.
Qi Xianqing suddenly clutched Yan Jue’s wrist. “Let go.”
Yan Jue was furious enough to smoke at all seven orifices. “I’m not letting go! I’m not like you!”
Qi Xianqing froze.
Suddenly, another massive surge of spiritual power came from behind them.
The corner of Yan Jue’s eye snapped toward it. It turned out that from inside the belly of the tiger demon they had just killed, chang ghosts were crawling out one by one.
Their faces were black, their bodies a faint blue-purple under the sunlight.
This tiger demon must have killed who knew how many people in daily life, which was why it had cultivated so many chang ghosts.
Those chang ghosts drifted about all around, seeming somewhat bewildered after losing their master.
One chang ghost suddenly spotted them and slowly walked over.
Yan Jue froze and subconsciously gripped Qi Xianqing’s hand even tighter. To her surprise, the brow and eyes of the male chang ghost walking over were actually three parts similar to Qi Xianqing’s.
Crash...
The two of them slipped a little farther toward the cliff edge.
The male chang ghost walked over and revealed a purple-blue head over the cliff’s edge, staring blankly at Qi Xianqing.
Qi Xianqing frowned slightly and met his gaze for a long moment.
Father.
The man stretched out one hooked hand and fiercely shoved at Yan Jue’s back.
He had no intelligence left. The last shred of his consciousness only told him that his master very much wanted these two to die.
Caught off guard, Yan Jue was shoved off the cliff in one motion. In panic, she fiercely grabbed Qi Xianqing’s hand.
At the same time, a round inner core gleaming with dazzling golden light slipped from the man’s palm and happened to fall into Yan Jue’s collar.
The wind howled in their ears.
The two of them fell together.
-
Yan Jue woke to the sound of water trickling.
Her body was icy cold.
Struggling, Yan Jue opened her eyes a slit and discovered that she was actually floating on clear water.
It was a not-very-wide stream, deep yet crystal clear to the bottom, with a few osmanthus petals floating nearby.
And her body was slowly drifting downstream with the current.
Yan Jue’s vision was black. She couldn’t help closing her eyes and moving her fingers.
She could sense spiritual power beside her. This was a stream full of spiritual energy, which was why they were able to float on it.
They.
Yan Jue abruptly opened her eyes and looked to the side.
Qi Xianqing’s face was deathly pale, her eyes closed and brows locked, floating quietly beside her.
Their hands were still tightly clasped together.
Qi Xianqing’s knee seemed to be seriously injured; the blood flowing out had almost dyed the surrounding stream red.
Qi Xianqing had indeed crushed the communication talisman earlier.
But such talismans only locked onto a position at the instant they were crushed. If the two of them moved afterward, then even if Yun Zhen arrived, she would only find a cold tiger corpse at the original spot.
Yan Jue remembered that she and Qi Xianqing had fallen off a cliff. How deep that cliff was, or how far they had drifted downstream with the current, she had no idea.
In any case, Yun Zhen was probably no longer able to find them.
Fortunately, the Qiankun bag at her waist was still there.
Yan Jue raised a heavy hand and suddenly noticed a lump bulging at her collar without knowing when.
Yan Jue was slightly stunned and took out the thing that had somehow been placed inside her collar.
It was a huge golden inner core the size of a palm, faintly radiating a strong demonic aura.
Yan Jue’s pupils shrank sharply.
It was the tiger demon’s demon core from earlier.
But by rights, a demon core should not be this large. Yet that male tiger demon had eaten the female tiger demon, and the two demon cores had merged together, becoming what they were now!
Yan Jue gripped the cold demon core tightly, and her arm could not help trembling a little.
...
Yan Jue dragged Qi Xianqing and laboriously swam toward the shore. Fortunately, the stream was not wide, and she reached the bank very quickly.
Her whole body was soaked through with stream water. Yan Jue was dizzy with exhaustion, so she cupped some water to wash her face, then lifted Qi Xianqing’s leg and carried her on her back.
Qi Xianqing had no strength at all. When Yan Jue carried her up, her head tipped backward, and Yan Jue hurriedly leaned her own body slightly forward so Qi Xianqing could rest against her back.
She stumbled along the upper reaches of the stream.
The sky had turned dim.
Yan Jue did not know whether she was still in Fuxian Mountain or not, so she could only carry Qi Xianqing and walk along the mountain road.
In any case, as long as they got out of the mountains, they would surely be able to see a town.
Qi Xianqing lay against her back and still had not woken.
She was still bleeding. The knee injury from earlier had been roughly bound by Yan Jue with grass rope, so the blood would not drip, but it gradually soaked the rope.
As the scent of the Immortal Spirit Physique seeped out with the blood, it grew increasingly rich, carrying an innate, lingering fragrance that floated at the tip of Yan Jue’s nose and made her tremble again and again, swallowing saliva several times.
Suddenly, Yan Jue’s brow twitched. By the instincts peculiar to demons and evils, she sensed something rapidly approaching ahead.
Yan Jue abruptly raised her head and indeed saw, in the grass ahead, a black figure that had appeared at some unknown point.
A monster.
A monster with eyes red as cinnabar and a body covered in black fur crouched in the grass, smiling as it stared at Yan Jue.
Yan Jue took a step back sharply and, for some reason, felt a thick aura of death from this creature.
It was a ghost.
Yan Jue had previously read many books in the Five Dragons Sect’s Library Pavilion and knew this might belong to the category of mountain sprites.
Mountain sprites were mountain spirits from legend: after a person died, their body was forcibly driven by the “spirit” and moved about in the mountains like a walking corpse, searching for weak prey.
The mountain sprite sprang into the air, greedily sniffing the smell of Qi Xianqing’s blood in the air, its expression utterly intoxicated.
Then its blood-red eyes slowly lifted and stared at Yan Jue, baring a mouthful of ferocious fangs; it was clearly trying to snatch their prey.
Yan Jue’s legs were trembling. Her true qi had already been exhausted. In desperation, she lit up her golden pupils, and the pressure of her crimson fox bloodline surged violently in the air. The mountain sprite suddenly stepped back, seemingly wary.
But the mountain sprite was not stupid either, and the pressure of the crimson fox bloodline was not omnipotent. Yan Jue knew this intimidation would not last long. The moment the mountain sprite discovered that her own body was already close to its limit would be the moment it launched its attack.
By then, she would have no ability to resist at all.
The mountain sprite stuck out its tongue and licked around the edge of its huge mouth, circling around Yan Jue with both enjoyment and wariness, its greedy gaze constantly falling on the Immortal Spirit Physique.
Yan Jue suddenly remembered something. “Spirit-Transforming Pearl.”
She turned to look at Qi Xianqing, who still had not awakened.
Yan Jue had no choice but to reach into Qi Xianqing’s Qiankun bag. As the chief disciple of Thunderflame Sect, Qi Xianqing’s Qiankun bag held surprisingly few things.
Half of them were resources Yan Jue had shared with her.
Qi Xianqing was not someone who liked to ask her master for things.
Yan Jue’s hand trembled slightly as she grasped Qi Xianqing’s hand and smeared blood over the top of the Qiankun bag. Qi Xianqing’s light-blue Qiankun bag lit up faintly, and Yan Jue finally slipped her hand inside and took out the Spirit-Transforming Pearl.
In an instant, blinding light erupted. The mountain sprite retreated sharply and ducked back into the grass it had come from.
...
With the Spirit-Transforming Pearl in hand, Yan Jue killed many mountain sprites along the way, but Qi Xianqing behind her still did not wake up. Yan Jue was so exhausted she was almost limp. The sky had gradually darkened, and just as Yan Jue put Qi Xianqing down on the ground and planned to go there to drink some water...
She suddenly heard violent coughing from behind her.
Yan Jue whipped around and saw Qi Xianqing’s brows tightly knit as she actually coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Yan Jue hurriedly turned back. “How are you?”
Qi Xianqing opened her eyes slightly, brows still locked tight. “Where.”
Her vision was black, and she could not see anything at all. Her heart also ached in stabbing pulses, and even using all her strength she could only ask these two words.
Yan Jue: “I don’t know.”
Qi Xianqing’s voice was hoarse. “Communication talisman.”
Yan Jue found the communication talisman from her Qiankun bag. Qi Xianqing barely managed to pour in Divine Sense, but there was no response.
Communication talismans came in two types. One was the jade slip Qi Xianqing had just crushed at the cliffside; once crushed, it allowed a specific person to lock onto one’s position.
The other was like this one now; by infusing it with Divine Sense, one could carry out simple communication with another person.
When they fell off the cliff earlier, Qi Xianqing had also released true qi to protect herself, just like Yan Jue. Her true qi had been depleted so heavily that it was already almost at the brink of exhaustion, and she had no way to infuse Divine Sense anymore.
After Yan Jue drank some water, she put Qi Xianqing back on her back and staggered up the mountain.
Qi Xianqing’s voice came from behind her, faint and weak. “Thank you.”
“Thank me for what?” Yan Jue tried to act as if she did not care, but gave a bitter smile. “You’ve carried me so many times yourself.”
It was almost dark. If too many monsters were drawn by the fragrance of Qi Xianqing’s Immortal Spirit Physique, then even with the Spirit-Transforming Pearl they would not be able to hold them back. With no shelter in the mountains, it was truly too dangerous.
Pain stabbed fiercely from Qi Xianqing’s knee as she lay on Yan Jue’s back and softly drew in cold breaths.
Rare to see her weak once. Yan Jue thought.