After Faking Her Death and Fleeing, the Emotionless Daoist Master Regretted It - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Disguise Exposed – A Different ‘Master’

Su Lingqing couldn’t remember how long she had slept. When she saw her Master, she subconsciously believed that a night had passed, as her Master had said she would come over in the early morning of the next day.

The Dongfu door was already closed. Dozens of luminous pearls adorned the surroundings. Without using divine sense, it was impossible to perceive the outside situation.

“Master…”

“Lingqing is not being good. You promised Master to cultivate diligently, so why did you slack off in a blink of an eye?”

The young girl’s face was slightly red, and she mumbled: “This disciple… this disciple couldn’t calm down. I thought I’d lie on the bed for a while, but unexpectedly, I slept all night.”

No sooner had the words fallen than her head was gently tapped.

“Master, it hurts~”

Su Lingqing’s eyes were blurred with tears as she covered her forehead.

Facing the young girl’s accusing gaze, the Ice Deficient, who was in the guise of her Master, said righteously: “It should hurt a little. You slept so soundly you even forgot the time… It’s not even the hai hour (9 PM – 11 PM) yet. How could a whole night have passed?”

“What?” Su Lingqing was stunned for a moment and subconsciously asked: “Didn’t Master say she would only come over in the early morning of the next day?”

“I was just worried, you see. By asking that, does it mean you don’t want me to come over?”

“No!” The young girl shook her head repeatedly: “If possible, this disciple wishes to stay by Master’s side at all times. How could I not want Master to come over…”

Looking at the young girl’s eyes, full of trust and dependence, the Ice Deficient liked what she saw more and more, and couldn’t help but reach out and pinch her fair, rosy cheek.

At that moment, Su Lingqing’s mind went blank.

“Master?”

A voice with a hint of disbelief rang out. She couldn’t imagine her Master treating her this way.

Is this person really Master?

Snapping back to her senses, a hint of doubt arose in the heart of the blushing Su Lingqing.

The light, elegant fragrance she smelled was all too familiar; it was her Master’s scent. If it were someone else in disguise, their body scent couldn’t possibly be the same.

The Ice Deficient looked at the confusion and a faint hint of suspicion in the young girl’s eyes and chuckled, “Lingqing, why are you looking at me like that?”

“This disciple…”

Su Lingqing was very conflicted. Her Master treated her so well; she shouldn’t doubt her Master. But… tonight’s Master really felt a little different.

She didn’t know how to respond.

Directly asking was certainly not an option. If she was being overly sensitive and wrong, she couldn’t imagine how her Master would view her.

The Ice Deficient watched the young girl gradually become helpless. Combining this with the hint of suspicion shown earlier, she instantly guessed her thoughts and reached out again to pinch the young girl’s flushed cheek.

“Is Lingqing thinking that my behavior is inconsistent with usual, and I might be an impostor?”

Her thoughts having been revealed, the young girl’s face gradually turned pale.

“Master, this disciple…”

She wanted to say No, but she couldn’t lie to her Master.

At this moment, she decided she had guessed wrong. If it were truly an impostor, they would be trying desperately to conceal it, so how could they speak so carelessly?

Her Master treating her intimately was clearly a good thing. Why had she suspected her just now?

The more Su Lingqing thought, the more she blamed herself, and the more guilty she felt.

“Master, I’m sorry…”

Large teardrops kept sliding down her cheeks. Listening to the young girl’s suppressed sobs, the Ice Deficient also became flustered.

“Lingqing, you… you don’t cry…”

She quickly leaned forward and embraced the young girl to comfort her.

If her Master knew she had made her cry, she would likely be in serious trouble.

To quickly soothe the young girl, she simply told the truth.

“Lingqing, your guess is right. I am not your Master. I am Ice Deficient, the Sword Spirit of your Master’s Natal Dao Treasure, the Ice Deficient Sword.”

Hearing this, Su Lingqing was stunned for a moment and gradually stopped crying.

“You… you are Aunt Ice? Why… why are you in Master’s appearance?”

Seeing the young girl’s emotions stabilize, the Ice Deficient leaned against her shoulder, picking up a lock of her dark hair and slowly playing with it.

“When Master refined me, she incorporated her Natal Spiritual Bl00d, so my appearance after shapeshifting is exactly the same as Master’s. It was not a deliberate disguise.”

At this point, the Ice Deficient changed her tone and continued: “Lingqing, let’s negotiate something. Call me Big Sister, okay?”

The young girl hesitated: “But Master told me to call you Aunt Ice.”

“It’s just an address. If you quietly change it, Master won’t mind. I like Lingqing calling me Big Sister.”

The Ice Deficient wrapped her arms around the young girl’s waist, her breath fragrant like orchids.

Knowing that the person in front of her was not her Master, Su Lingqing felt a little resistant.

However, the Ice Deficient was extremely powerful, and she was constrained, unable to break free.

“Aunt Ice, could you please let go of me first?”

“Be good, Lingqing~ Call me Big Sister, and I’ll let go.”

The young girl’s face flushed crimson. Biting her lip, she hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice and said, “Big Sister.”

The Ice Deficient’s eyes narrowed slightly. She responded with a satisfied smile and slowly released the young girl.

Regaining her freedom, Su Lingqing looked at the face identical to her Master’s and was momentarily lost in thought.

“Big Sister, since you are Master’s Sword Spirit, are you connected in thought with Master?”

“Of course not. Master and I have independent thoughts and do not interfere with each other. However, if Master wants to know my whereabouts, she can use a secret technique to investigate. Also, since I am Master’s Natal Dao Treasure, my fate is connected to hers. If Master is injured, I will also be injured.”

“What about the reverse? If Big Sister is injured, will Master also be injured?”

“That won’t happen.”

Receiving this answer, the worry that had just arisen in Su Lingqing’s heart instantly dissipated.

The Ice Deficient looked at the young girl’s visibly relieved expression, sighed softly, and said faintly: “Lingqing, you are so heartless. You only worry about whether Master will be injured. Don’t you feel any concern for Big Sister at all?”

“Of course, I do! Lingqing wishes that both Master and Big Sister stay far away from danger and have brilliant immortal paths in the future.”

“That’s right then.”

The Ice Deficient approached the young girl again, preparing to pinch the cheek she couldn’t get enough of. However, this time, the young girl seemed to have anticipated her intention. She instantly jumped up like a rabbit, quickly moving away from the bed, putting distance between them.

Meeting the Ice Deficient’s puzzled gaze, Su Lingqing bit her lip and quietly explained: “Big Sister’s appearance is exactly the same as Master’s. It’s more appropriate to maintain some distance. I don’t want Master to misunderstand.”

“Does Lingqing mean… that you would accept it if I changed my appearance? Does Lingqing prefer a cool and aloof woman, or one that is enchanting and alluring?”

“Big Sister!” Su Lingqing stamped her foot. “I don’t like any kind! I just want to focus on cultivating!”

“Is that so?”

“Of course it is!”

The Ice Deficient smiled at the young girl’s combination of shame and indignation.

“It’s a long night. Since Lingqing said she wants to cultivate, Big Sister will impart a spell technique to you.”

With these words, the Ice Deficient pointed a finger at the void, and several lines of ancient text instantly floated in the air.

“This is the Form Concealment Art. Once cast, it can hide your presence, making it suitable for escaping and secretly doing mischief.”

Su Lingqing hesitated slightly: “Big Sister, is this a Daoist sect’s spell technique?”

“Of course it is, and it’s a unique spell of the Heaven-Extending Sect, not taught to outsiders. Even if I didn’t teach you, Master would certainly impart it to you in a few days. Lingqing must remember that any unique sect spells must never be passed on. Otherwise, the consequences are severe. If discovered, it will be treated as the crime of betraying the sect.”

By the end of her words, the Ice Deficient’s expression had become much more solemn, no longer joking.

Su Lingqing knew the gravity of the matter and responded with a serious Yes.

Cultivating a spell technique requires time for comprehension. She quickly immersed her mind and began to focus on it.

The Ice Deficient also stopped disturbing her, only silently guarding her nearby.

After about two hours passed in this manner, she received a transmission from her Master, so she temporarily left and went outside the Dongfu.

At that moment, Ling Yunyue had returned from Heavenly Moon Peak.

Facing the Sword Spirit, she showed no trace of gentleness. The aura around her was extremely cold, as if laced with a layer of frost.

“Ice Deficient, I asked you to guard Lingqing and protect her safety, not to approach her with ill intent.”

“Has Master misunderstood something?”

“Is it truly a misunderstanding? I used a secret technique to sense you holding Lingqing, sitting on the bed in an intimate posture.”

Ling Yunyue looked at the Sword Spirit’s face, which was identical to her own, and a subtle trace of discord gradually arose in her heart.

When she first refined the Ice Deficient Sword, to increase its grade and strengthen the connection between herself and the treasure, she had used a considerable amount of her Natal Spiritual Bl00d.

After the Ice Deficient shapeshifted, influenced by the spiritual bl00d, her appearance was exactly like hers.

She hadn’t cared about this before, but now, her perspective had changed.

“It is easy for a Sword Spirit to change its appearance. When you appear before Lingqing in the future, you are forbidden to use this face again.”

Hearing this, the Ice Deficient’s eyebrows slightly arched: “While changing appearance is easy, the new look requires continuous spiritual power to maintain. Master being angry about today’s incident clearly shows you have unusual feelings for Lingqing.”

“Stop talking nonsense!” A trace of anger surfaced on Ling Yunyue’s face.

“Your behavior was inappropriate to begin with! It is precisely because of this appearance that Lingqing did not reject your advances. In the future, if you wish to appear before Lingqing again, you must do as I say!”

Facing her dominant Master, the Ice Deficient sighed softly and agreed to the matter. However, she grumbled internally: People whose words don’t match their actions often have a hard time winning the heart of their beloved.

At this moment, she thought again of the Emotionless Dao her Master cultivated… For cultivators, as long as they haven’t ascended, the Dao path is never immutable.

Sometimes, she couldn’t understand why her Master was so obsessed with cultivating the Emotionless Dao. There are three thousand Great Daos; there were clearly many ways to achieve Dao.

The Ice Deficient had a guess: it was for the legacy of Profound Heaven Peak. But as far as she knew, since the founding of the Heaven-Extending Sect, Profound Heaven Peak had had eight previous Peak Masters. Although all of them cultivated the Emotionless Dao, none had successfully achieved Dao with it.

The sect never mandated that a peak’s legacy must follow the same Dao path. In her view, the true legacy lay only in the cultivation methods and Dao arts. As long as these were passed down, it counted as success.

Unfortunately, her Master was stubborn. She had offered suggestions, but her Master had always refused to choose an alternative Dao path.

The Ice Deficient felt a little helpless. She knew she couldn’t interfere with her Master. For now, she could only take things one step at a time. Perhaps a turning point would emerge one day…

Inside the Dongfu on the mountainside of Profound Heaven Peak, Su Lingqing was still immersed in comprehending the spell technique and was unaware of the events outside.

The lines of ancient text suspended in the air gradually disappeared as time passed.

She had firmly memorized the content of the spell. At a certain moment, she formed seals with both hands, and a layer of spiritual light instantly appeared around her.

In just a moment, Su Lingqing completely merged into the surrounding environment, with no trace of her existence visible anymore.

When Ling Yunyue entered the Dongfu, she happened to witness the scene of the young girl disappearing…