A Guide to Self-Rescue in the Cultivation World - Chapter 9

Mingluo’s face instantly went white.

“Watch out!”

The two women exchanged glances, simultaneously assuming a defensive stance.

“Zing! Zing!”

Two razor-sharp poison arrows shot through the screen, carrying a cold draft. Their angles were incredibly precise, aimed directly at Zhou Suyao’s glabella and Dantian.

The sense of fatal danger made the hair on her arms stand on end.

She was the target again, and this time, the goal was to kill her outright.

“Be careful!”

Mingluo shrieked, instinctively wanting to dive forward, but the distance was too great. The two streaks of light were already upon Zhou Suyao.

In this moment of life and death, the survival instinct crushed all other thoughts. Her body arched backward in a most undignified posture. The two arrows sliced barely past her face.

With two more zings, the poison arrows slammed into the wall behind her, instantly corroding small, black-smoking holes in the redwood carving. She didn’t dare imagine what would happen if those arrows had pierced her body; she probably wouldn’t even get a chance to flop over like a salted fish.

Just as she was letting out a silent sigh of relief, another sharp “Zing” sounded in her ear.

She snapped her head up.

This arrow, imbued with an unknown amount of spiritual power, was wreathed in terrifying black mist and shot straight toward her heart.

She instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.

In that critical moment, she heard a loud “Buzz—”

The white jade pendant that Second Senior Brother had given her, hanging at her chest, shattered in response. The massive backlash sent a surge of metallic-sweet bl00d into her throat, and she slammed violently onto the ground.

“Suyao!”

Mingluo started forward, but Zhou Suyao stopped her urgently. “Don’t move!”

The next moment, the door, along with half the adjacent wall, was blasted apart by a huge surge of spiritual power. Through the splintered wood and broken stone, a tall, suffocating figure, like a demon or ghoul, walked in.

The newcomer wasn’t Xuan Yangming, but a withered old man Zhou Suyao had never seen. He wore a Daoist robe embroidered with a gruesome ghost face, his eye sockets were sunken, and he carried a white bone staff wrapped in thick death qi. His pupils were a chilling, ashen gray.

“Elder Feng Jiuchu… how is this you?” Mingluo, standing to the side, looked utterly disbelieving, her voice shaking. “You…”

“You told me about Master’s strangeness, you told me the history of Ning Qinggui… you were waiting for this moment?”

The old man neither confirmed nor denied her question, simply speaking in a hollow voice. “Miss Mingluo, I am merely here on the Sect Leader’s orders to request your immediate return to the mountain. As for this little girl,” he pressed the tip of his bone staff hard onto Zhou Suyao’s shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain, and revealed a deeply sinister smile. “Kill her on sight and confine her soul to be brought back to the Xingcong Sect.”

The moment he finished speaking, the bone staff in the Elder’s hand erupted with a bone-chilling dark qi. The qi carried an immense suppressive force that instantly dissolved the messenger Linque bird Zhou Suyao had just attempted to condense with her spiritual power.

The air was sucked from her lungs. She felt her vision darkening.

Was this really the end?

In this moment of crisis.

A cold, ringing sword hum instantly sliced through the room’s gloom. A golden sword qi, carrying both the sharpness that cleaves all things and the pure yang energy of a scorching sun, arrived faster than the Elder’s attack, striking precisely onto the white bone staff pinning Zhou Suyao’s shoulder.

The deafening clash of metal on metal exploded instantly.

In that instant, Feng Jiuchu felt a powerful energy surge through his staff—a force that was the natural bane of the dark arts he cultivated. He grunted, retreating repeatedly, his ashen pupils showing a look of genuine horror for the first time.

With the sudden turn of events, the suppressive force wrapped around Zhou Suyao vanished. She gasped for air, then quickly condensed another Linque bird messenger with her fingertip. Having done this, she looked up and finally saw the newcomer clearly.

The man was clad in dark, fitted clothing. The long sword in his hand glowed with a faint golden light, and a golden Qilin embroidery with eyeless sockets was stitched onto his shoulder. In the dim light, the Qilin seemed to come alive, exuding an air of supreme authority.

It was Qi Jie or Qi Jue.

He turned his head slightly, his gaze quickly sweeping over the disheveled Zhou Suyao. Once he confirmed she was not seriously hurt, his eyes locked onto the man before him, his voice colder than his sword, laced with unconcealed killing intent.

“Elder Jiuchu, wearing that Daoist robe, while you look like Xuan Yangming’s sewer rat lackey? Do you even deserve it?”

Seeing who the newcomer was, Elder Jiuchu’s horror instantly faded, replaced by a look of playful malice. His voice was hoarse. “Well, if it isn’t the Second Young Master of the Qi family. Forgive my lack of welcome. But the RaoTian Dao Sect is stretching its arm too far! This is an internal matter of the Xingcong Sect—cleaning up our house and apprehending the culprit who trespassed into the Underworld and disrupted the competition. Do you mean to say the RaoTian Dao Sect intends to interfere in even such a small matter?”

“Internal matter?” The smile on Qi Jie’s lips grew more mocking. The pure yang sword qi, like golden flames, drove back the surrounding gloom. “Colluding with dark spirits, opening the path between Yin and Yang, and harming the rising stars of various sects! By collecting you today, I’ll be doing Heaven’s bidding!”

“Arrogant!” Elder Jiuchu’s eyes flashed savagely. Knowing words were useless, he slammed his bone staff onto the ground.

“Boom—!”

A thicker, more viscous, and more ominous death qi than before instantly erupted. The room was instantly coated in a thick layer of frost. Zhou Suyao saw Mingluo let out a muffled groan. The Life-Sharing Seal beneath her collarbone glowed red, and then Mingluo collapsed, unconscious.

Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach.

This was the Life-Sharing Seal Mingluo spoke of—that it would activate when the caster needed it.

But… shouldn’t the caster be Xuan Yangming?

Why now…?

She had no time to think. The frost was spreading visibly, quickly reaching her feet. Beside her, the golden flames of Qi Jie’s pure yang sword qi stubbornly burned. The two spiritual energies clashed, issuing a nerve-grinding crackle.

Taking advantage of the brief lull in their fight, she quickly cast a protective spell on the unconscious Mingluo.

Unexpectedly, this small gesture instantly caught Elder Jiuchu’s attention. A horrific grin stretched across his face. He fiercely spun his staff, and a dark shadow of qi shot out, pointing rapidly toward her.

“Hah, can’t even protect yourself, yet you worry about others?”

The massive gust of air threw her back several meters, slamming her hard against the wall. Bl00d immediately seeped from the partially healed wound in her lower abdomen, staining her grey robe.

“Zhou Suyao!”

Seeing Zhou Suyao slump against the wall, seemingly knocked unconscious, Qi Jie roared, veins bulging on his forehead. The sword, soaked in abundant yang energy, fiercely thrust toward the ghostly Feng Jiuchu.

The attack was swift and vicious, containing all of his will and power—a true, life-risking strike.

Elder Jiuchu’s ferocious grin instantly froze!

“Ohm—!!”

In that split second, a massive, unearthly pressure, as if from the Nine Heavens, descended without warning.

Qi Jie’s attack was entirely redirected back onto himself. The immense impact felt as if all his ribs had shattered. Dark bl00d spurted from his nose and mouth.

Elder Jiuchu’s movements also froze instantly. The malevolence and killing intent on his face were replaced by utter terror. His body trembled uncontrollably, and he dropped to his knees with a thud, bowing his head to the floor, his voice filled with endless fear:

“Se- Sect Leader…”

“Enough.”

A calm, yet chilling voice resonated in everyone’s minds, clear as a whisper:

“You can’t even defeat a mere boy. Where has all the Dao you consumed gone?”

“Feng Jiuchu’s voice shook like chaff. He stayed prostrated on the ground, his forehead hitting the cold flagstones with a dull thud.

Zhou Suyao forced her eyes open, struggling to push herself up from the wall. The wound in her abdomen was tearing open again, soaking her grey robe. Yet, she forced herself to lift her eyelids and look toward the slightly warped space.

The newcomer was the Sect Leader of the Xingcong Sect, Xuan Yangming.

“Sect Leader… Sect Leader, please calm your anger…” The nearby Feng Jiuchu tried to explain, but his trembling voice made his words sound utterly weak. “Your subordinate is incompetent, but I only meant to…”

“Be quiet.”

Xuan Yangming didn’t even spare him a glance. The two words floated down softly, yet they caused Feng Jiuchu to completely wither, unable to maintain his prostrate position. He simply collapsed to the ground in pain.

Xuan Yangming’s gaze slowly swept over the ruined room.

When it passed over the unconscious Mingluo, his eyes didn’t linger at all, as if she were nothing more than an irrelevant object.

It was only when his vision finally settled on Zhou Suyao’s face that a slight crack appeared in the depths of his eyes.

“You…” Xuan Yangming spoke slowly. “You resemble her greatly.”

Zhou Suyao shuddered. The nightmare images of Ning Qinggui gently stroking the mirror and her resolute walk into the Hall of Pure Radiance exploded in her mind. She forced herself to suppress the churning bl00d, digging her nails deep into her palms, using the sharp pain to stay conscious.

“Resemble who?” Her voice sounded terribly hoarse. “Resemble Ning Qinggui, the vessel you personally sacrificed to Dao Moxing a hundred years ago?”

At these words, the air instantly solidified.

Qi Jie suddenly looked up, his eyes wide with disbelieving horror. Feng Jiuchu was scared out of his wits, stopping even his whimpering.

The composure on Xuan Yangming’s face finally gave way to a subtle break. It wasn’t anger, but the annoyance of having one’s deep contemplation interrupted.

“You know more than I thought, it seems.”

He raised his hand slightly.

“Uh…!”

Without any warning, a huge force suddenly clamped onto Zhou Suyao’s throat, lifting her entire body off the floor.

Suffocation arrived instantly, making the tearing pain from her abdominal wound seem distant.

“Let her go!”

Qi Jie roared. The next second, a cold flash of light shot out, and the room went silent.

“An ant.”

Xuan Yangming’s gaze returned to Zhou Suyao, who was being choked by an invisible force. His look was one of obsessive focus.

“Now you can continue to tell me,” his voice was cold. “What else do you know? About Qinggui, about… Dao Moxing? And… what else do you know?”

Zhou Suyao’s pupils dilated from lack of air. As her consciousness hovered at the edge of fading, she met the old man’s scrutinizing gaze. This clash, between the enormous mystery and the brink of death, paradoxically ignited her will to survive.

She had so many mysteries yet to unravel; Heaven definitely wouldn’t let her die.

Since she wasn’t dead, there was still room to maneuver!

Just as she tried to gather spiritual power in her fingertips, a sound of profound agony suddenly came from the side. They looked over and saw Mingluo using Qi Jie’s sword to pierce Feng Jiuchu’s heart.

It was Mingluo!

She had somehow regained consciousness. Her hands trembled slightly, her chest heaved violently, and her face and clothes were splattered with bl00d.

Some of the bl00d had even splattered into her eyes.

But under the absolute suppression of Xuan Yangming’s power, the act ultimately seemed like a futile effort—a grasshopper trying to stop a carriage.

Xuan Yangming effortlessly dodged her next thrust without even a tremor of his finger. An invisible force locked her movements in place like a sheet of ice. Even more horrifyingly, the red mark beneath her collarbone flared with a terrifying light. Immediately afterward, the spiritual qi around her was visibly absorbed entirely by the seal.

Bl00d trickled from Mingluo’s lips, and her eyes slowly closed.

The bloodstains on her body were a messy smear, indistinguishable as to whose bl00d was whose.

“No—!”

Zhou Suyao’s eyes were bloodshot. She writhed her body. Though she knew it was all in vain, she still struggled, desperately seeking a final sliver of hope.

Xuan Yangming watched her hopeless struggle and gave a cold smile. His boot stepped over the broken wood fragments, finally stopping in front of Zhou Suyao, looking down at her.

“Futile resistance,” his voice was indifferent. “It was like this a hundred years ago, and it is the same today.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” he added, a hint of playful mockery finally appearing on his face. “I know what you were waiting for, but…”

He held out his palm toward Zhou Suyao. In his hand, a messenger Linque bird lay completely lifeless.

“Resistance that is bound to fail… what was the point of it from the very beginning?”

He chuckled softly again, but the smile held no warmth whatsoever.

“Then, let’s both ‘return’ to the Xingcong Sect.”