Guardian
In an instant, blood splashed everywhere.
The immortal sword Zhuying trembled violently, letting out a piercing shriek that rang through the air.
Heavenly Master Su Yang widened his eyes. He opened his mouth to shout, but the back of his head was suddenly struck hard.
It was a strand of gold thread that had somehow flown over from who knew where.
Yan Jue formed a seal with her right hand, and the gold thread lashed Su Yang again and again.
Before Heavenly Master Su Yang could even react, he had already collapsed into the pool of blood.
A corpse instantly appeared on the ground, cold and still.
Yan Jue froze in place. After a long moment, she finally managed to speak a single syllable: “You…”
Qi Xianqing: “We already have the information we need. There’s no point lingering.”
Originally, the sect had sent Qi Xianqing here to investigate whether Qingyu Taoist Temple had any connection to the Demonic Cult.
Now the situation was perfectly clear. There was indeed no need to stay.
Tap, tap… tap, tap…
Something seemed to be rushing over at high speed. Qi Xianqing’s expression turned cold as she looked back.
“I noticed something was wrong just now!”
The big spider from before was moving its six long legs and rapidly approaching. “You’re from the immortal sect?”
It was so fast it was like a ghost.
At that moment, Qi Xianqing felt a massive surge of demonic energy rising from its body.
She frowned slightly, and a strong wave of disgust welled up in her chest.
The illusion created by the Thousand Transformations Immortal Art instantly collapsed. Qi Xianqing’s black clothes snapped in the gale; she rose into the air, formed seals with both hands, and silently recited the sword incantation.
The immortal sword Zhuying trembled madly, radiating rainbow-colored light in the air as it howled toward the spider.
The spider let out a long roar to the sky; its deafening cry was especially harsh in the narrow cave.
In an instant, a pale green protective barrier appeared above it, and Zhuying slammed straight into the shield.
A grating boom followed; the whole cave shook, and the immortal sword was blocked outside.
Qi Xianqing stood in the air and invoked the Myriad Sword Art. In an instant, the blue-green longsword Zhuying split into countless smaller swords.
Her face cold, she swept her right hand through the air. The tiny swords, like flickering candlelight, all shot toward the spider.
Each strike was vicious; each strike was fierce. Every move was meant to take the opponent’s life.
The spider slowly retreated. Behind its rear end, a clinging mass of spiderweb-like protrusions suddenly emerged.
The web twitched slowly, as if something were about to break through it!
The spider moved swiftly through the cave.
Wherever it passed, sticky webs crisscrossed the ground.
It was laying eggs.
On the webs it spawned, little lumps bulged up one after another.
The lumps suddenly burst open, and swarms of tiny spiders poured out.
This spider was at least at the Fourth Realm; Qi Xianqing was not finding it easy to deal with.
Seeing the dense mass of green little spiders crawling toward her, Yan Jue immediately sent a voice transmission to Qi Xianqing. “I’ll go save the children. I remember the way back.”
Qi Xianqing: “Mm.”
Yan Jue frowned. “Be careful.”
The little spiders surged forward like a tide.
Yan Jue used Flying Swallow Steps, her body as ghostly as a phantom as she leaped high and skimmed over the green spiders, heading straight for the cave passage.
The cave was dimly lit, the path winding and twisting.
Yan Jue could feel little spiders hot on her heels and did not dare relax for even a moment. Soon, she reached the room where the medicine was changed.
Because she had once come here under Heavenly Master Su Yang’s orders to count the children, Yan Jue was naturally very familiar with the place. From two steps away, she leaped up and kicked the door hard.
The internal force she had built up over the past month of martial training had made her power more and more profound; this strike gathered the spiritual energy in her meridians and came down both hard and precisely.
The door was kicked open at once.
The little spiders immediately rushed up.
Yan Jue took out Xue Shuangxing’s transmission talisman.
A transmission talisman was one of the simple methods cultivators used to communicate.
Last night, Xue Shuangxing had left Yan Jue and Qi Xianqing a transmission talisman tablet. If they encountered danger, they only had to crush the tablet and she would rush over afterward.
Now it could finally be put to use.
Yan Jue clutched the transmission talisman tightly and crushed it hard. The tablet shattered on impact.
Yan Jue slammed the door shut.
-
The spider’s body was as hard as an iron shell. The Myriad Sword Art battered it until it was covered in wounds, but it still could not inflict any real damage.
Qi Xianqing turned her palm in the air; Zhuying, like a nimble snake, darted left and right, hovering above the spider demon as it searched for an opening.
The spider demon had been pierced in the back and was bleeding, but it still looked full of spirit.
“I caught your scent just now…” It sneered at Qi Xianqing. “So you’re the exceedingly rare Immortal Spirit Physique.”
It raised both arms and slammed them violently into the ground.
Qi Xianqing’s figure flickered. In the next instant, she was already on a rock wall five zhang away.
“What incredible movement technique!”
“You clearly had a chance to run; why stay here and make an enemy of me?” the spider laughed. “I’m at the same realm as you. For a cultivator of the same realm, a demon race is stronger. Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?”
Qi Xianqing stared at the spider, her expression growing slightly dark.
Even knowing that this spider was also a demon cultivator at the Fourth Realm, that fighting it could easily end with both sides injured, Qi Xianqing would still stay.
This spider demon had taken countless lives. If she let it roam free, it would be far too unfair to those innocent children.
Since no one had come yet to make it pay its karmic debt, then she would do it herself.
The spider demon licked its lips. “So fragrant… so fragrant… the aura of an Immortal Spirit Physique. How should I deal with you later? Steam you and eat you like those children before…”
Memories of demons and monsters harming the common people flashed through her mind one by one.
Anger flickered faintly in Qi Xianqing’s eyes as she gripped Zhuying tighter.
The immortal sword swept through the air above her head, drawing a blue-green sword arc charged with immense force as it flew toward the spider demon.
The most detestable things in the world were demons and monsters.
If demons and monsters did not die in the mortal world, she would swear never to ascend.
That was the oath Qi Xianqing had once made before her master.
This spider demon had committed every kind of evil. Fighting it would at worst mean wounds and bloodshed, but she had never feared that.
The spider raised its head and let out a deafening cry. In an instant, the whole mountain shook!
The ground split open at once, and the originally intact floor cracked into countless fine fissures.
Scorching heat surged up from beneath the earth.
The spiderwebs the spider had just spun on the ground suddenly lit with a faint blue glow.
The blue light gradually rose into the air, rippling like water.
Qi Xianqing spun and leaped aside, narrowly avoiding it.
She lowered her body slightly to absorb the force and barely managed to steady herself on the ground.
The spider demon: “This cave originally belonged to me. I noticed something was off with you long ago, so I already laid down the Purple Miasma Binding Immortal Array. This array is specifically for dealing with cultivators like you!”
The moment it finished speaking, the formation activated!
Qi Xianqing only felt as if some invisible force had instantly suppressed all her cultivation.
With the spider demon’s summons, the little spiders underfoot suddenly began to smoke.
In an instant, the upper part of the cave was filled with thick poisonous mist.
Qi Xianqing retreated a step; the little spiders at her feet gathered together and, in midair, turned into a single arm that clutched her ankle tightly.
The scent of the Immortal Spirit Physique drove the little spiders even more frenzied. Their sharp teeth pierced through her skin, and blood gushed out.
Qi Xianqing’s spiritual power exploded outward, flinging the little spiders back all at once. She leaped upward abruptly and, with all her strength, drove Zhuying into the rock wall.
Zhuying instantly embedded itself firmly in the wall. Qi Xianqing grabbed the hilt with her right hand and hung there in midair.
The ground had already shattered into pieces; scorching heat rose from below.
Qi Xianqing looked down.
The fissures in the ground were very deep, and faintly, red cracks could be seen within.
Magma was rolling inside.
She had not expected that beneath this cave, such searing flames were buried.
Flames and poisonous miasma.
They had actually forced her into a narrow corner.
The spider followed Qi Xianqing’s gaze and looked down as well, laughing. “This is called Red Lotus Karmic Fire. It is said to be a karmic flame derived from the Eighteen Levels of Avici Hell. If you move even a fraction atop this fire, you’ll be burned by it and gradually melt away.”
Then it transformed into an old man again, muttering softly under its breath.
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire below slowly surged upward.
In an instant, flames covered every single little spider!
The temperature around them instantly turned scorching hot.
The spider: “I’m going to deal with another little brat. If you don’t want to die quickly, stay here.”
“As soon as you get close to me, you’ll be swallowed by my children at once.”
Red Lotus Karmic Fire was a terrifying flame.
It devoured the body from the outside and corroded the soul from within.
A single touch would reduce everything to ashes; there was absolutely no chance of escape.
Even the tiny spiders had flames all over their backs, while green poisonous gas floated in the air.
They wandered frantically on the ground as if waiting for Qi Xianqing to come and die.
If an ordinary cultivator faced such a scene, they would probably hold their breath and not dare move an inch.
Because the moment they used immortal arts, their true qi could be corroded by the toxic environment; worse still, they might be burned to death by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire!
Cultivators were all sanctimonious and terribly afraid of death!
The spider demon looked at Qi Xianqing, hanging motionless on the rock wall, and nodded in satisfaction. Thinking that when it returned later it would be able to taste the rare soul essence of the Immortal Spirit Physique, a smile appeared at the corner of its mouth…
Then its smile froze.
A sudden gale surged across its face. Qi Xianqing had actually leaped off the cliff wall, sword raised in both hands.
That figure moved through the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, her body arcing elegantly through the air; in the blink of an eye, the fair-skinned girl had appeared beside it.
The immortal sword Zhuying came with the cry of a dragon, and the spider’s eyes flew wide open.
A thunderclap seemed to explode in its mind. It had miscalculated!
Fighting this immortal sect woman just now had already been extremely difficult, so it had brought out its life-saving trump card to suppress her.
But this Red Lotus Karmic Fire, this exquisite poisonous spider’s trap, could restrain its target only because it was built on the assumption that cultivators feared death.
What if this girl simply did not fear death?
In that final moment of life, it saw a sky full of beautiful candlelight. Then Qi Xianqing severed its two slender arms, and her face was splattered with spider blood, her expression cold and ruthless.
The little spiders frantically climbed up and bit at her legs below, while faint traces of poison slowly crept up her hands.
With its arms gone, the spider let out a pained shriek and lunged forward.
Qi Xianqing spread her arms and held it tightly; it was an unexpectedly soft embrace.
Zhuying drove inch by inch into the spider’s vital points.
The spider screamed, “You’ll fall with me too if you do this!”
Blood streamed down Qi Xianqing’s arm. She clung to the spider tightly, both feet planted hard against the ground; with a sudden burst of strength in her arms, she used the Throwing Art and flung the spider off the cliff.
At the same time, Qi Xianqing was also dragged down from the rock wall by the big spider.
She spat out a mouthful of blood, then, expressionless, gripped the sword in both hands and slashed fiercely in midair, cutting off the spider’s other three arms as they clung to her.
The spider fell off the cliff.
With her body freed, she tapped the protruding rock wall with her toes and leaped into the air.
This cave had been sealed by restrictions, so Qi Xianqing could not freely use her divine abilities. She did not know how much force she had used in that jump. Straining with all her strength, she reached out, trying to grab the highest rock.
Yet everything came to an abrupt stop just as she rose to the highest point.
Qi Xianqing had not guessed wrong.
The force of that leap was not enough for her to catch the rock.
She fell straight down from the air, with blazing Red Lotus Karmic Fire beneath her feet.
Pa—
Something flashed past her eyes.
It was the immortal sword Zhuying.
Zhuying let out a whinny amid the poisonous miasma, and Qi Xianqing grabbed the hilt at once.
The immortal sword strained to pull her upward.
Zhuying only had the mind of a five- or six-year-old, but it also knew its master was in grave danger. After being corroded by the poison miasma, the spiritual light on its body had dimmed considerably, yet it still pulled on Qi Xianqing with all its might.
After rising by about an inch, Zhuying slowly began to sink.
Qi Xianqing: “…You really are something.”
Zhuying shook violently, just about to run out of strength and drop when a soft sound rang out; it was actually seized by someone.
Qi Xianqing froze slightly.
What came into view was the girl’s bright, vivid face.
Yan Jue bit down hard, her face pale as paper. She gripped a golden rope with all her strength. The rope twisted around and around, wrapping around the immortal sword Zhuying and pulling her up.
-
Half an hour earlier.
Yan Jue crushed the talisman tablet and waited anxiously in place.
The door to the medicine room was suddenly smashed open.
A mighty big cat strode in from outside, raised its head, and let out a loud roar. The children in the cave were stunned speechless on the spot, and a large number of them immediately burst into tears.
Xue Shuangxing followed behind the tiger-hound, her expression unchanged but her face full of surprise. “I thought you would need to lie low for a long time. Why are you already…”
Yan Jue: “There was an accident. In any case, these children are in your care, fellow daoist.”
Xue Shuangxing nodded and formed a hand seal, activating her Qiankun-in-the-belly immortal art.
A faint light lit up in the tiger-hound’s stomach.
It came to the children, opened its huge maw, and swallowed them all in one gulp.
Xue Shuangxing turned and said, “I still have a small teleportation array here. Lord Meng Heng is immensely capable and can hold the rear by herself. Staying here will only hamper her. It would be better to leave first.”
Yan Jue: “No, I need to help her.”
Xue Shuangxing was speechless. The girl before her looked to be only at the Second Realm. Where on earth did she get the confidence to think she could help Lord Meng Heng?
Xue Shuangxing: “I know Lord Meng Heng is your senior sister, fellow daoist, but now is not the time to act on impulse—”
Yan Jue had already rushed out.
Xue Shuangxing: “…”
As a fox demon, Yan Jue’s sense of smell was especially keen. Even from far away, she could pick out the scent of Qi Xianqing’s Immortal Spirit Physique.
That spider’s cultivation was clearly not low. Although it was at the Fourth Realm like Qi Xianqing, the strength of a demon race was far greater than that of human cultivators.
Which meant Qi Xianqing was in danger!
Soaring Swallow Steps burst into motion at once. Wind rose beneath Yan Jue’s feet, and she quickly reached Drunken Breeze.
Drunken Breeze was no longer the same Drunken Breeze it had been before.
The temperature inside the cave was extremely high. The originally pitch-black rock floor had actually split apart in great slabs, revealing magma underneath.
The magma was extraordinarily hot, and the surrounding rocks burned with a dim golden sheen.
Yan Jue soon saw Qi Xianqing hanging at the edge of the cliff wall, gripping Zhuying tightly. Even in such a situation, Qi Xianqing’s stunning face still showed little expression; only her delicate brows were faintly furrowed, and her complexion looked somewhat grim.
Countless little spiders crawled over the ground, their bodies burning with eerie flames and spitting out wisps of green smoke.
Perhaps sensing Yan Jue’s presence, the little spiders surged toward her like a tide, seeming intent on forcing her back.
Yan Jue was driven back a step by the poisonous mist.
Demonic energy filled the area, and the Northern Sea black iron around her neck began to vibrate violently.
Yan Jue stared at the spiders; in her amber pupils, faint golden light suddenly flickered.
Something seemed to emerge faintly above Yan Jue.
If Qi Xianqing saw it, she would surely be shocked beyond measure.
What emerged above Yan Jue was actually the outline of a massive red fox.
The red fox was hazy and indistinct in the air, its eyes flashing with ferocious golden light. A mouthful of sharp teeth crisscrossed together carried a force as ancient as the primordial world, making one want to kneel instinctively.
In an instant, those little spiders seemed frightened and retreated sharply!
Yan Jue darted to Qi Xianqing’s side and activated the Northern Sea black iron.
The second move of the Spirit Communion Formula spun wildly in her mind, gradually becoming smooth and clear.
In her hands, the black iron actually turned into a rope as thick as a thumb, winding around Zhuying again and again.
Yan Jue pulled with all her might to haul Qi Xianqing upward.
Qi Xianqing met those clear amber phoenix eyes, and her gaze sharpened slightly.
Borrowing that force, she leaped upward violently.
The countless little spiders that had already fled seemed to catch the scent of Qi Xianqing’s Immortal Spirit Physique again, and once more surged forward like a tide.
At this moment, Yan Jue absolutely could not use her fox demon true form to suppress them. Watching that swarm of little spiders carrying poisonous miasma about to encircle Qi Xianqing, she formed a seal with her right hand.
Then she suddenly summoned a painting.
The painting was entirely dark green, its roller fittings faintly gilded. As it unfurled slowly in the air, Yan Jue saw the lush purple bamboo grove within the painting, as well as the inn…
Yan Jue froze. Of course she remembered this painting.
It was the illusion artifact they had seized when she and Qi Xianqing were in Nanxing Town!
Qi Xianqing had already subdued this earth-grade magic tool and made it her own!
Qi Xianqing raised the painting, and a tremendous suction force suddenly surged through the air.
The swarm of spiders rushing in was sucked into the painting in an instant.
-
When it was all over, the cave was very quiet.
Qi Xianqing sat cross-legged, trying to force the poison out of her body.
But the spider had clearly been highly venomous; the toxin could not be expelled so easily.
The dark bruising on her arms only deepened, not lessened, and beads of sweat the size of beans slid down Qi Xianqing’s cheeks.
“Huff… huff…” Qi Xianqing barely steadied her ragged breathing and lifted her eyes to look at Yan Jue.
There were many wounds on her body, and most of them carried poison.
If she and Yan Jue were fellow disciples from the same lineage, it would not be impossible for the other girl to help suck the poison from the wounds.
After all… they were both women.
But now, she and Yan Jue obviously were not at that kind of relationship.
Qi Xianqing: “I can only wait until we return to the mountain and ask Master—”
She took two steps forward, and suddenly a wave of dizziness hit her. She had to brace one hand against the wall.
Yan Jue supported her. “You’re pushing yourself too hard.”
Qi Xianqing met the girl’s worried gaze. “Thank you. I’m not so weak as all that.”
Yan Jue let go. Qi Xianqing walked a few more steps, sealed a pressure point with one hand, and barely managed to stop the pain; then another wave of dizziness nearly made her collapse. She could not even move while leaning against the wall.
Yan Jue suddenly thought of something and stepped forward.
Qi Xianqing was still thinking about the matter of sucking out poison and instinctively retreated, her eyes turning wary as they met Yan Jue’s.
Yan Jue handed over a pill. “This pill can cure most poisons in the world.”
Qi Xianqing paused slightly.
In Yan Jue’s hand were two pale blue pills. They looked extremely ordinary, faintly glimmering in the dim light.
Qi Xianqing knew that the poison she had been struck with could not possibly be cured by an ordinary pill, but seeing Yan Jue’s sincere expression, she still took it with the attitude of trying her luck and swallowed it.
Qi Xianqing sat cross-legged on the spot and meditated for a while with her eyes closed. To her surprise, the bruising on her arms seemed faintly to lessen.
Qi Xianqing opened her eyes, slightly surprised.
Yan Jue did not say where she had bought the pill, and Qi Xianqing did not ask either.
In this world, not inquiring into another person’s opportunities was the most basic etiquette among cultivators.
Yan Jue suddenly asked, “You clearly had a chance to escape. Why insist on staying and killing it?”
Qi Xianqing: “If I kill one demon, there is one less evil in this world; the common people also face one less danger.”
“Not to mention that spider demon had killed countless people. It deserved to die.”
Yan Jue was speechless.
Qi Xianqing’s hatred of demons was deeper than ordinary.
It seemed the stories she had told a few days ago had not been heard at all by Qi Xianqing…
Then again, that made sense.
How could the female lead’s malice toward monsters be changed so easily…
Qi Xianqing had completely dissolved the poison before standing up. She still did not let Yan Jue support her, instead walking straight to the edge of the shattered rock and glancing down at the Red Lotus Karmic Fire below.
Qi Xianqing’s eyes flickered.
She then took out a glazed bottle from her Qiankun bag and said softly, “Collect.”
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire slowly rose, gathering into a golden dragon in the air before gradually pouring into her glazed bottle.
Qi Xianqing turned back and met Yan Jue’s puzzled gaze.
Her explanation was brief and to the point: “Red Lotus Karmic Fire is not easy to obtain. It can help me break through.”
Yan Jue was at a loss for words.
Qi Xianqing was still the same as before, regarding cultivation as more important than anything under heaven.
Qi Xianqing sat down alone and meditated with her eyes closed for a long while.
The power of the flames gradually surged into her body, and she furrowed her brows in discomfort.
Then she heard Yan Jue’s voice coming from beside her. “I’ll help you guard the Dharma.”
Qi Xianqing opened her eyes and stared blankly at the girl.
Yan Jue looked down at her, her gaze gentle yet firm.
Her hair was still styled in the same two hornlike braids as before; her lips were red and her teeth white, the corners of her eyes narrow and deep. It was as if, by standing there, she could shield her from most of the hardships ahead.
Qi Xianqing was silent for a long while before speaking very softly: “Thank you.”
Someone was guarding the Dharma for her.
Qi Xianqing had never experienced this feeling before.
She had always been alone; even Zhou Leng, the closest person in the sect, had never guarded her while she cultivated.
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire was hot, slowly surging into Qi Xianqing’s dantian and burning through the sea of qi within her body.
Qi Xianqing’s brows were tightly locked. Beads of sweat the size of beans slid down her cheeks as she tried to mobilize all her spiritual power to ease the blaze.
Yan Jue also found guarding the Dharma for Qi Xianqing no easy task.
She was soaked in sweat from head to toe, as if she had been submerged in water. Sitting cross-legged, she could feel the scorching flames radiating from Qi Xianqing’s side and… the faint crackle of electricity floating through the air.
For the first time, Yan Jue felt Qi Xianqing’s meridians so clearly, as if the other woman’s very lifeline were held in her hands.
Qi Xianqing’s breathing was suppressed and low, and Yan Jue felt her ears growing numb. She frowned slightly and silently recited the Calm-Mind Formula.
As the sea of qi was seared by spiritual fire, Yan Jue could even hear the violent crackling sounds in Qi Xianqing’s dantian, like a storm.
Northern Sea black iron circled through the air, gradually wrapping Qi Xianqing in its embrace. Yan Jue turned her wrist, and layers of faint frost covered the black iron, helping lower the temperature of Qi Xianqing’s body.