IVYSCP - Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Shangtianqiong Sect.
Lou Wudu had just returned to her sleeping quarters from Fuchuan's place, a bowl of warm medicine in her hands.
Stepping through the entrance, she could see at a glance the Three Thousand Sect Rules hanging on the wall. The first rule read: Among the three thousand great Daos, never lose your own heart.
Lou Wudu's gaze swept over it coldly. She walked directly to the partition behind the wall of rules. This partition was an elegant, finely appointed study. A specially crafted calming incense still burned on the desk. Beside it, a white porcelain vase nurtured a sprig of Yueyang Orchid, its purity like moonlight. In the evening, one could even see a faint, deep blue glow rising from the tips of its petals.
As she passed the Yueyang Orchid, Lou Wudu reached out as usual and brushed her fingers along the flower stem, infusing it with spiritual energy to sustain its vitality.
This Yueyang Orchid should have withered and died long ago. She had forcefully extended its life with spiritual energy for a hundred years. The flower's fragrance was long gone, and the departed would never be seen again.
A landscape painting hung on one side of the study. Lou Wudu walked straight toward it. The mountains and waters on the painting shimmered, and her figure vanished from the room.
Behind the painting was another space. Sunlight was just right, and a gentle breeze carried the scent of flowers and birdsong. A colossal vine tree rose from the ground, its branches lush with verdant leaves, casting mottled shadows on the earth below.
Beneath the vine tree, a crystal coffin rested silently. Through the coffin, one could faintly see a person lying within.
The woman's figure was almost transparent. It was not her physical body lying in the crystal coffin, but her soul.
The forcibly gathered soul looked extremely fragile. Cracks like spiderwebs covered its entire form, requiring a constant, unending supply of spiritual energy to maintain it. Therefore, a Spirit-Gathering Formation was arranged around the crystal coffin, and scattered nearby were countless heavenly treasures whose spiritual energy had been exhausted.
Lou Wudu walked to the crystal coffin, her gaze tender and lovingly pitying the person inside. "Yanchun, your elder sister has come to see you. How do you feel today? Are you any better?"
Her fingers brushed across the coffin's surface, tracing her younger sister's face. The slightly upturned curve of her lips stiffened, then vanished completely. She lifted her eyes to look at the vine tree behind the coffin, her gaze cold and darkly overcast.
As her sight fell upon the vine tree, it became clear that the tree's roots were not anchored in the ground. Instead, they took root and lived within a person's meridians. That person was bound hand and foot, kneeling on both knees facing the crystal coffin in a posture of atonement and apology.
Lou Wudu circled the crystal coffin. She raised the tonic in her hand, meticulously prepared by the Medicine King's chief disciple, above the kneeling person's head. Slowly tilting the bowl, she poured the medicinal liquid all over that person's head, where it was then completely absorbed by the vine roots embedded in their meridians.
The person, who had been hanging her head lifelessly, suddenly gasped for breath as if jolted back to life. She lifted her head, her eyes murky and dull, like a walking corpse.
Lou Wudu watched her icily, then a mocking smile curled at the corner of her lips.
No one could have imagined that the once illustrious and renowned former Shangtianqiong Sect Leader, Sword Venerable Wang Changming, would be trapped here by her, her spiritual energy drained to such a state.
Lou Wudu bent down, meeting her eyes. "Master, your disciple has some good news to tell you."
Wang Changming stared straight at the crystal coffin before her, showing little reaction to the words.
"Your most beloved little disciple, Ling Qingyue, has returned."
As the words fell, those vacant eyes suddenly looked upward, reflecting Lou Wudu's smiling face. Wang Changming struggled briefly, but the vines only bound her tighter. She looked at Lou Wudu and spoke for the first time of her own accord, her voice so hoarse it was barely recognizable, filled with entreaty. "Let her go. She's innocent. You've already caused her death once. Don't hurt her."
Lou Wudu laughed aloud, as if overjoyed. After her laughter subsided, she spoke with vicious intensity. "Indeed, she died once, so how could she come back to life? Tell me, how could I let her go? I need to know how she was resurrected. I've schemed for a hundred years for Yanchun, and Yanchun has yet to open her eyes. Why can Ling Qingyue be resurrected? Just because she's a person of the Immortal Realm? Just because she's favored by the Heavenly Dao, a pride of the heavens, so she can live again even after death?"
Lou Wudu stared at Wang Changming, enunciating each word. "I will not let her go."
A tear streaked from the corner of Wang Changming's eye. She questioned her, "Do you have no heart? She is also a child you raised, she is also your younger sister..."
"She is not!" Lou Wudu cut her off sharply, her palm aching from how tightly she was clenching it. "I have only one younger sister. Her name is Shi Yanchun."
At the mention of Shi Yanchun, Wang Changming's eyes filled with sorrow as she looked at the crystal coffin before her. "Yanchun wouldn't want you to become what you are now either."
"Shut up! What right do you have to speak of her!" Lou Wudu was enraged. Just as she was about to strike, her gaze suddenly paused.
Someone had trespassed into Yuelou Country.
Lou Wudu let out a cold snort and withdrew her hand, sending a transmission to Cui Heng.
"Careful, these vines are strange."
Pei Yin raised her hand, and a formation descended beneath her and Ling Qingyue's feet, shielding them from the surrounding vines that were stirring restlessly.
Ling Qingyue's eyes followed the slowly moving vines around them. "These vines seem to exist only to protect Yuelou Country. The Mortal Realm doesn't have excessive spiritual energy to nourish them," she said.
Pei Yin nodded in agreement.
The two advanced side by side, the golden threads connecting their wrists standing out conspicuously in the dimness.
Pei Yin said, "These are all rootless vines. The main root is probably not here."
Ling Qingyue replied, "Rootless vines are enough to guard against mortals entering. Immortals from the Immortal Realm generally wouldn't come here, let alone specifically seek out such a remote place."
Ling Qingyue's steps slowed. Pei Yin glanced sideways at her. "What is it?"
"Lou Wudu is meticulous in her actions. She values Yuelou Country so much. If she senses something abnormal here, will she come?" Ling Qingyue was somewhat worried.
Right now, both she and Pei Yin were here in soul form, their cultivation at most fifty to sixty percent of their true bodies. If Lou Wudu came personally, they would likely be in trouble.
"She won't." Pei Yin said with certainty. "The Ranking Tournament is imminent. As Sect Leader, she has to handle negotiations and relations with numerous sects. She'll be very busy recently. If she sends anyone, it will either be a clone or someone she trusts."
Ling Qingyue breathed a slight sigh of relief at these words.
As long as it wasn't Lou Wudu herself, that was fine.
"What, are you afraid you can't beat her?" Pei Yin teased.
Ling Qingyue glanced at her guiltily, but her mouth retorted, "N-Not at all! My swordsmanship is not inferior to hers!"
Of course, just swordsmanship. As for cultivation level, let's not talk about that.
Pei Yin nodded. "I think so too."
Her swordsmanship acknowledged, Ling Qingyue's lips curved upward. She raised her head proudly, her hair swinging in an arc behind her before settling on her shoulder.
Pei Yin pressed her lips together in a soft laugh.
So easy to coax.
Yuelou Country was a small kingdom, perhaps not even as large as a city under a major immortal sect in the Immortal Realm. Nestled deep in the mountains, most of its buildings were constructed of wood and stone, simple and unadorned in an old-fashioned way.
Approaching the royal city, through the layers of encircling vines, one could faintly see that the houses there were all built with smooth green stone, looking considerably better.
The closer they got to the royal city, the denser the vines became. But limited as they were in the Mortal Realm, this level of obstruction couldn't stop the two who were pressing forward.
Ling Qingyue didn't even need to lift a hand. The formation beside them rotated. Vines attacked from Ling Qingyue's side, only to emerge from Pei Yin's other side and entangle with the vines there.
Seeing this, Ling Qingyue once again marveled at the uncanny nature of formation techniques.
Her next thought was that she didn't want to fight anyone skilled in formations. Immediately after, she secretly smiled. Fighting was fine. Pei Yin knew formations, and there probably weren't many more formidable than her.
"What are you smiling about?" Pei Yin asked.
Ling Qingyue coughed twice. "Nothing."
Pei Yin raised an eyebrow. She could see that hint of smugness on Ling Qingyue's face again.
What was she so pleased about this time?
Compared to outside the royal city, the interior was a scene of utter devastation. Walls had collapsed, and mottled bloodstains were still visible on the ground. It was clear that when Yuelou Country was attacked, the target had been the royal city.
Back at Liuyun Immortal Sect, Lian Yange had said the destruction of Yuelou Country was connected to her. Yet as they journeyed, they could still sense lingering traces of the Demon Race within Yuelou Country.
Could it be that Lian Yange had led the Demon Race to Yuelou Country? And what about Shi Yanchun afterward?
As Ling Qingyue walked, her steps suddenly halted. She abruptly turned her head toward another direction.
Without hesitation, she reached out and grabbed Pei Yin's hand, heading that way. Her pace was urgent, and her breathing had become unsteady.
Ling Qingyue explained as she walked, "The mental cultivation method I practice comes from the same lineage as my master's. Those who learn this method can sense each other's spiritual energy. I feel my master's aura."
Pei Yin thought for a moment and asked, "What about Lou Wudu?"
Ling Qingyue frowned slightly. "Master said her mental fixation was too heavy, that it wasn't suitable for her, so she taught her a different one."
That meant Lou Wudu very likely hadn't detected the presence of this aura.
Ling Qingyue followed that faint trace of aura, so weak it was barely perceptible, all the way to a palace hall. The walls were crawling with vines, and beside them were piled several skeletons. Those skeletons still clutched rusted swords in their hands. Even in death, they had guarded the palace doors. But what they faced were not soldiers also wielding blades, but the Demon Race, creatures even Immortal Realm cultivators had to face with caution. They had been brutally killed without any chance to resist, their bones bearing traces of erosion from demonic qi.
Forcing back the vines blocking the door, Ling Qingyue reached out and pushed the palace doors open. After four hundred years of decay, the doors groaned with the sound of rot.
Pei Yin produced a lantern from somewhere, standing beside Ling Qingyue to light the way ahead.
The palace was vast, the dwelling of nobility within the royal city.
Her master's lingering aura was here.
Ling Qingyue went to the main hall first. It seemed to be a place for handling official business, piled with many documents and old records, all now covered in a thick layer of dust.
She casually picked one up and flipped through it. It contained state affairs reported by officials, inquiries about children entering the academy, with annotations beside them. The handwriting of those annotations was familiar and piercing.
Ling Qingyue's eyes suddenly reddened. This was her master's handwriting. Though not as mature and practiced as it was in her memory, it was undeniably her master's handwriting.
She looked through a few more volumes. Some contained her master's handwriting, and some bore another person's.
Ling Qingyue blinked, and in a daze, it was as if she could see the two of them back then, sitting side by side at the desk, discussing these state matters.
Lian Yange had said her master used Shi Yanchun to perfect the Emotionless Path. Ling Qingyue had never believed it.
Putting down the documents, Ling Qingyue headed toward the rear courtyard. Her master's aura pointed there.
Crossing the courtyard gate, Ling Qingyue looked up, and her gaze froze.
Vines were densely packed in the courtyard, which was nothing unusual. But this courtyard contained something not found elsewhere.
Many things resembling silkworm cocoons hung suspended in midair. Each cocoon was the size of a person, and they pulsed rhythmically, as if breathing.
"What are these?" Ling Qingyue quietly asked Pei Yin.
Pei Yin narrowed her eyes. "The things inside are alive."
So saying, Pei Yin raised her hand, preparing to cut one open to see. Who knew that the vines, which had previously evaded them, would suddenly go berserk as if their reverse scale had been touched, launching an assault on them.
As the vines lashed out, they actually swung forth wind blades akin to sword qi.
Ling Qingyue suddenly froze.
This sword qi...
It was her master's!
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