IVYSCP - Chapter 75
Chapter 75
Ling Qingyue's face shifted abruptly. She looked at Gu Huai and kept her voice very low: "How... is that possible? The Formless Demon Lord was destroyed a hundred years ago."
Gu Huai blinked: "What are you talking about? I only said it's not just blood demon blood that can cause demonization. I didn't say this body of yours came from the Formless Demon Lord."
Ling Qingyue: "..."
The breath she'd just drawn in snagged and dropped hard. She'd successfully choked on it.
Gu Huai looked at her and laughed. "Besides, who would have that kind of ability to split the Formless Demon Lord apart anyway?"
Ling Qingyue thought that was true. The Formless Demon Lord had been destroyed right before the eyes of a thousand cultivators. No one could likely have pulled anything off under the watch of that many people.
Then she asked: "So what's the deal with this body of mine?"
"It won't be a blood demon. If it were really a blood demon, you wouldn't even look human right now. Half your body would be a bloody mess."
As she spoke, Gu Huai leaned in and reached out to feel, musing: "I've seen half-human half-demons before. To be honest, this body of yours shows remarkably little demonic nature. Almost none. It probably only emerges under certain extreme and specific conditions, right?"
Ling Qingyue nodded.
When her consciousness had first recovered, the demonic markings had appeared. They also appeared during lightning tribulation. And that time at the Bone Burial Ground in the Ancient Yao Forest, when she saw that stone.
The first three times could all be explained. So what was the reason for the last one?
"Your lightning tribulation being unlike that of ordinary people is probably also influenced by demonic nature. Perhaps you could try to fully suppress this half portion of demonic nature. Then the lightning tribulation would weaken considerably."
Ling Qingyue saw her eyes shining as she stared at her and couldn't take it anymore. She removed the hand Gu Huai had placed on her arm. "Sect Leader Nie said you raise flowers and plants now and don't touch these things anymore. Why do I feel like you still haven't changed?"
Gu Huai curled her lip and gave a humph, then turned and went back before the medicinal furnace to watch the spirit fire. She said flatly: "In this world, I'm afraid you won't find a second person who can help you suppress this demonic nature. Even if my honored master... even if the Medicine King were here, she would be helpless."
Ling Qingyue took two steps to her side, a bit agitated: "Is that true? You can really suppress this body's demonic nature?"
Gu Huai shook her head with an exaggerated sigh: "No can do. I promised Sect Leader Nie that while I'm at Piaomiao Sect, I can't be like I was before."
She turned her head to look at Ling Qingyue and pronounced each word clearly: "I. Have. Reformed. And. Turned. Over. A. New. Leaf."
Ling Qingyue: "..."
Ling Qingyue put on a smile: "The Little Medical Immortal is so magnanimous. Surely she wouldn't mind the nonsense I just spouted."
Gu Huai seemed to adore it when people called her "Little Medical Immortal." Her expression visibly turned pleased. "Then this medical immortal will consider it."
Ling Qingyue showered her with more praise, thoroughly cheering her up, until Gu Huai was busy refining pills and had no time to deal with her. Only then did Ling Qingyue leave the treehouse.
The moment she stepped out of the treehouse, Xue Zizai eagerly came up to her: "Master."
Ling Qingyue: "..."
She'd nearly forgotten there was still this one here.
"Let's go talk over there." Ling Qingyue tilted her chin toward the cave dwelling over there.
Xue Zizai followed behind her.
Lin Zhao was looking at the spirit plants Gu Huai had grown, comparing them against a medical text.
"In a little while, you'll come with me to Water Cloud Dwelling," Ling Qingyue said to Xue Zizai. Xue Zizai had no objections and nodded obediently.
Lin Zhao raised her head, clutched the medical text tighter, and looked at Ling Qingyue with some nervous uncertainty.
"Lin Zhao..." Ling Qingyue walked over and asked quietly, "Do you want to learn these things?"
Lin Zhao didn't hesitate and nodded: "I want to learn."
"Then you'll stay here. If there's anything you don't understand, ask the person in the treehouse." Ling Qingyue offered her advice. "If she doesn't like you calling her Master, just call her Little Medical Immortal. Praise her more. Got it?"
Lin Zhao's lips curved into a smile: "Got it!"
Ling Qingyue patted her shoulder: "Study hard. We're leaving first."
Since Xue Zizai still couldn't fly, Ling Qingyue brought her along, both stepping onto the wooden sword.
Ling Qingyue didn't fly that high. She could feel the hand gripping her arm trembling a little. "I know you're not that keen on taking me as your master. We've met by fate, and I'll help you. You don't need to call me Master. Bringing you to Water Cloud Dwelling isn't because I want to take you as a disciple either. Right now I'm not suited to teaching disciples. Medicine Peak is full of Gu Huai's precious herbs, so the spiritual qi naturally flows toward those herbs. It's not a suitable place for cultivation."
Xue Zizai lowered her head, her voice a bit muffled: "Oh."
Ling Qingyue glanced sideways at her and didn't say more, letting her figure things out herself.
Once they arrived at Water Cloud Dwelling, Ling Qingyue first brought Xue Zizai to the West Courtyard. Xue Zizai had stayed in the West Courtyard before and was reasonably familiar with it.
Ling Qingyue found a quiet spot in the back courtyard, beneath a pine tree where one could hear the sound of wind sweeping through clouds. After having Xue Zizai sit cross-legged in meditation, Ling Qingyue raised a finger and touched it to the spot between her brows. "I'm going to disperse every cultivation method and mental mantra you've learned in this past half month or so. For a period of time afterward, you might not feel the spiritual energy within your body. You'll have to gather spirit again from scratch."
As she spoke, Ling Qingyue observed Xue Zizai's reaction.
Xue Zizai indeed wasn't very calm upon hearing this, but she still clenched her hands and accepted it. "Alright."
Ling Qingyue continued: "Your natural talent isn't bad. If someone teaches and guides you, the path of cultivation ahead won't be difficult. But you mustn't rush for quick success. I'll teach you a few lines of a new cultivation method mantra and a few sword moves. For the next half month, you'll cultivate the mantra and practice the sword moves."
"Alright."
After half an incense stick's time, Ling Qingyue withdrew her hand. Seeing Xue Zizai drenched in sweat, she raised a hand and sent over a stream of spiritual energy, instantly making the person dry and fresh and clean.
"Alright. Now go to sleep."
Xue Zizai lifted her head in a daze: "Sleep? Didn't you say you were going to teach the mantra and sword moves?"
Ling Qingyue raised an eyebrow: "What did I just say? Don't be impatient."
Xue Zizai pressed her lips together, then got up and headed toward her room. After two steps, she recalled something, turned around, bent at the waist, and performed a bow to Ling Qingyue: "Many thanks, Master."
Ling Qingyue: "..."
"I already said I'll help you. You don't need to do this." Ling Qingyue was somewhat helpless.
Xue Zizai turned her head aside and didn't look at her. "A teacher in the study hall once said long ago, one day as a teacher, a lifetime as a teacher. You've helped me and taught me, so you qualify as my master. I understand this reasoning. What's more..."
She bit her lip but still said it: "I truly do want to take you as my master."
Ling Qingyue smiled and asked: "Why?"
How rare. For the Eldest Miss to actually say something like that.
Xue Zizai didn't think on it much. "Because you're very powerful."
That was also the main reason she wanted to become a disciple.
Ling Qingyue had guessed as much and sighed inwardly.
Because she was powerful, that's why she wanted to take her as her master. To become more powerful. And then to be able to get revenge.
"Go to sleep."
A struggle flickered in Xue Zizai's eyes, but she still went.
After Xue Zizai returned to her room and shut the door, Ling Qingyue took out the xun that Pei Xi had given her. Beneath the eaves in front of Xue Zizai's room, she pressed it to her lips and blew.
Ling Qingyue's original intention was to help Xue Zizai get a good night's sleep. She hadn't expected it would actually blow Pei Xi back. Who knew how many dreams she'd eaten. The moment Pei Xi reached Ling Qingyue's side, she slumped against her, eyes half-closed, and gurgled out a string of incomprehensible beast speech.
"Perfect timing." Ling Qingyue reached out and grabbed the back collar of her clothes.
Pei Xi opened her eyes and tilted her head to look at her: "What for?"
Ling Qingyue stretched out a hand and pointed toward Xue Zizai's room. "You go eat the dreams of the person inside this room. For three days straight."
"Huh?"
Pei Xi looked somewhat reluctant. She'd eaten all kinds of dreams. Now making her eat only one person's dreams for three days? How much of a hardship for a dream-eating tapir was that.
"Go on, hurry." Ling Qingyue pushed her a little.
Pei Xi looked at her pitiably, turning her head three times with every step she took, and finally discovered Ling Qingyue had no intention of changing her words. Resigned to her fate, she passed through the door and went in.
Once that was arranged, Ling Qingyue lifted her feet and headed toward the East Courtyard.
As expected, Chu Qianshan was still breaking the formation, and Pei Yin was still copying the sect rules.
Chu Qianshan shot her a glance and laughed coldly: "So you know to come out once the sun's gone down."
Still not letting Pei Yin off the hook.
Ling Qingyue: "..."
I came looking for your disciple and you had complaints. Today I didn't come as often and you also have complaints.
Ling Qingyue didn't dare say these words out loud and could only grumble secretly in her heart.
Smiling, she went over to serve tea and pour water, explaining: "I went to Medicine Peak to check on the pill refining situation."
Chu Qianshan accepted the tea from her and gave a humph, her expression easing a little.
Ling Qingyue quietly stole a look at Pei Yin. The two's gazes met and didn't shift away again.
A long while.
"Cough!" Chu Qianshan rapped a finger on the table.
Ling Qingyue hurriedly averted her gaze and asked, as if nothing had happened: "Has it been going smoothly for you, Senior?"
Chu Qianshan ignored her and instead said to Pei Yin: "I heard from Sect Leader Nie that there's a medicinal pool out back. Before your meridians are reforged, go soak there for a while each night."
"Yes." Pei Yin acknowledged.
Ling Qingyue lowered her head, her eyes making a full circuit.
Nightfall...
Pei Yin arrived beside the medicinal pool. She shed her outer robe, left on a single inner layer, and stepped into the pool. The cool pool water passed her waist, the surface reflecting the hazy full moon up above.
In an instant, the full moon shattered, water rippled out, and the splashing sound of water broke the silence.
As if she'd expected it, Pei Yin reached out and wrapped an arm around Ling Qingyue's waist, embracing her.
Ling Qingyue was soaked from head to toe. Seeing Pei Yin's calm, faintly smiling expression, she asked, puzzled: "Why aren't you the least bit surprised? You knew I'd come long ago?"
Her fair cheeks had been rendered clear and translucent by the water. Pei Yin imprinted this image of her deep in her heart, then raised a hand to disperse the moisture from Ling Qingyue's upper body with spiritual energy. Simultaneously, she replied softly: "Master watches me very strictly. Only now is there an opportunity. Would you miss it?"
Ling Qingyue raised her hands and wrapped her arms around the woman's neck, her brows and eyes smiling open. Their two bodies pressed together. "Immortal Venerable really is divinely prescient."
Pei Yin dipped her head slightly and brushed past her cheek, her voice tinged with a hint of apology: "I've put you in an awkward position."
Ling Qingyue paused, realizing she was referring to the words Chu Qianshan had spoken earlier. She tilted her head and kissed her cheek. "It wasn't awkward. Senior only said those things out of concern for you. In her heart, I used to be a bastard who let down her good disciple's sincere heart."
Pei Yin laughed lightly and also kissed her cheek. "You're not."
They pulled back some distance. The two's eyes met, their breath blending together.
The figures reflected on the water's surface melded into one again.
Pei Yin cradled the back of Ling Qingyue's neck and deepened the kiss. The tip of her tongue tasted the clear sweetness inside her mouth.
Soft lips sucked and held each other, gradually growing scalding hot and burning. The tips of their tongues met, dodged, then chased and tangled together again.
No one could say who moved first, shifting step by step backward. Ling Qingyue pressed Pei Yin down to sit on a raised seat ledge one level higher in the pool, then she herself sat straddling across her legs.
Both their breathing was in disarray, their cheeks faintly flushed. Ling Qingyue reached out and touched Pei Yin's lower lip, which had become reddened and full. Her throat moved.
As if lured, she lowered her head, slowly drawing near...
Just as they were about to kiss again, the two heard the sound of footsteps approaching from not far away.
Who else could be coming at a time like this.
Chu Qianshan!
Ling Qingyue's expression changed. She hurriedly flipped herself off of Pei Yin's lap, buried her head into the pool water, half her body sprawled over Pei Yin's legs, hiding herself completely and utterly.
Pei Yin also swiftly adjusted her breathing and reached a hand into the water, finding Ling Qingyue's face.
The two were thrown into utter chaos. The footsteps behind them came to a timely stop.
Then a meaningful laugh came through.
Sure enough, it was Chu Qianshan.
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