After Faking Her Death and Fleeing, the Emotionless Daoist Master Regretted It - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Level Seven Qi Condensation – Master’s Warning

The person who arrived was none other than Xu Miaoluo of Beast-Taming Peak.

Since listening to Junior Sister Chi Wanyun’s suggestion last night, she had begun planning how to approach Su Lingqing.

However, she hadn’t expected to encounter the young girl at the Treasure Depository.

This was also the first time she had seen Su Lingqing.

The young girl was wearing a light azure floral pleated skirt. Her dark hair was secured only by a wooden hairpin, half-cascading down the back of her head. She had apricot eyes, willow eyebrows, and a slender waist that could not be spanned by one hand.

The person she had wished to take as her Master for many years was standing beside the young girl with her hands behind her back.

Xu Miaoluo suppressed the complex thoughts that surged in her heart and bowed to Ling Yunyue.

“Miaoluo greets the Venerable.”

Ling Yunyue slightly nodded, taking it as a response, and quickly walked past the woman.

Xu Miaoluo turned and watched the Master and disciple’s receding figures, the sense of unwillingness in her heart intensifying.

Ling Yunyue led her disciple forward, entering the artifact-exclusive area on the first floor of the pavilion.

“The person just now was Xu Miaoluo, the daughter of the Beast-Taming Peak Master. If Lingqing encounters her within the sect in the future, try to avoid her. Do not become close friends with her.”

Hearing this, the young girl was full of doubts: “Why is that?”

Ling Yunyue’s eyes were cold, and she said calmly: “When the time comes, Lingqing will know.”

Xu Miaoluo possessed a Metal Spiritual Root. Her aptitude was excellent, and her comprehension was also superb. She was a rare cultivation prodigy. This woman had repeatedly expressed her wish to take her as a Master, but she had been rejected every time.

This was because her Master, the Heaven-Extending Sect’s former Sect Leader, had once performed a divination to predict the sect’s prosperity and decline within the next five thousand years when he was alive.

In the divination, among the sect’s nine hundred and ninety-nine peaks, only Beast-Taming Peak showed a conspicuous red character.

In the art of divination, this symbolized separation from the main body. In other words, the lineage of Beast-Taming Peak might betray the Heaven-Extending Sect in the future.

This result was not absolute. If a variable appeared, the event would not happen.

With such a divination result existing, even if Xu Miaoluo was outstanding, Ling Yunyue could not accept her as a disciple.

To this day, only she and the current Sect Leader, Senior Sister Rong Jiangzhu, knew about that divination.

Regardless of the future, the Beast-Taming Peak lineage currently showed no signs of rebellion. They could only remain vigilant, avoid accepting cultivators from that peak as disciples, and let the rest take its natural course.

Su Lingqing’s curiosity grew stronger after hearing her Master’s words.

Her Master’s meaning was very clear: it was inconvenient to state the reason now. Although she was extremely curious, she obediently refrained from asking further, only silently looking at the artifacts displayed around her, using them to distract herself.

The artifact area had multiple rows of jade shelves, categorized by type.

At a glance, sword-type artifacts were the most numerous.

Since her Master’s Natal Dao Treasure was the Ice Deficient Sword, Su Lingqing also intended to choose a flying sword as her artifact.

Walking to the corresponding area, she saw a detailed classification of attributes.

The available sword-type artifacts were classified into eight attributes: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Ice, Wind, and Thunder. Each attribute was further divided into four grades: Low, Medium, High, and Extreme.

Su Lingqing had a Wood Spiritual Root and could only choose from Wood-attributed treasures.

The appearance of the sword-type artifacts was mostly similar. For a moment, she found it difficult to make a decision.

Seeing her disciple look conflicted, Ling Yunyue simply helped her choose. She filtered out the Low, Medium, and High grades, leaving sixteen Extreme-grade items. After looking for a while, she finally picked up a sword that was entirely silver and presented it to the young girl.

“Lingqing, take a look. How is this sword? Do you like it?”

The young girl nodded repeatedly: “I like it!”

How could she not like something personally chosen by her Master?

Su Lingqing joyfully accepted the sword.

The characters “Flowing Light” were engraved on the hilt.

“Master, is the name of this sword carved by the Artifact Master?”

Ling Yunyue nodded: “Yes. The treasures in the Treasure Depository are all provided by Artifact Peak and have exclusive names. Lingqing, you can look around again and see if there are any other treasures you like.”

Su Lingqing slowly shook her head: “Having the Flowing Light Sword is enough for this disciple. When I reach the Foundation Establishment stage, artifacts will no longer be suitable.”

She believed that she would not remain long in the Qi Condensation realm.

Furthermore, there was another reason: she was new to the sect and had no contribution points. All the artifacts were exchanged with her Master’s help, and she didn’t want her Master to spend too much.

She held her Master’s kindness in her heart but was temporarily unable to repay it. The only thing she could do was to improve her cultivation as quickly as possible.

An hour later, Su Lingqing returned to Profound Heaven Peak.

Due to her urgency to improve her strength, she quickly went into seclusion in the Spatial Pouch.

Drinking from the Spiritual Spring daily, going out at the chen hour (7 AM – 9 AM) and xu hour (7 PM – 9 PM) to the dining hall for meals, she continued this day after day. Finally, half a month later, her cultivation broke through to Level Seven Qi Condensation.

On this day, Su Lingqing went to the dining hall as usual and saw the sisters Mu Xin and Mu Yao, who had returned from Misty Demon Island.

Because she had sought help from her Master initially, Mu Xin regarded her as a benefactor and spoke to her without reservation.

“Not long after the Immortal Master and the Venerable left that day, the Senior Disciple of Beast-Taming Peak came to Misty Demon Island and inquired about the Immortal Master.”

Su Lingqing was initially surprised, then slowly realized that Mu Xin was referring to Xu Miaoluo.

Xu Miaoluo was the daughter of the Beast-Taming Peak Master. Although she had not yet taken a Master, sect disciples referred to her as the Senior Disciple of Beast-Taming Peak.

“What exactly did Senior Sister Xu ask?”

“First, she asked why the Immortal Master and the Venerable went to Misty Demon Island. Then, she asked about some details of the Immortal Master’s interactions with the Venerable. She also threatened my sister and me not to speak of this matter.”

By the end of her sentence, Mu Xin gnashed her teeth, a hint of anger showing on her face.

“I didn’t think much of it initially, but after she made those threats, why would she do that if she had no ill intentions? Although my sister and I haven’t been in the sect for long, we have both heard about the Senior Disciple of Beast-Taming Peak and know that she desperately wanted to take the Venerable as her Master. Now that the Immortal Master has become the Venerable’s disciple, she probably hates the Immortal Master.”

Su Lingqing neither confirmed nor denied this.

To be fair, her first impression of Senior Sister Xu was not bad, but her Master’s subsequent warning had made her cautious.

Now, hearing Mu Xin’s words, a trace of guardedness gradually arose in her heart.

“Thank you for telling me this, Miss Xin’er.”

“Immortal Master, please don’t be so polite. If the Immortal Master is willing, you can just call me Xin’er.”

Su Lingqing smiled and nodded: “Alright. Then Xin’er, please stop calling me Immortal Master from now on.”

“Mmm, when there are fellow disciples around, I can only use that address, or it will break the rules. How about I call you Big Sister Su in private, Immortal Master?”

Su Lingqing’s eyes curved: “That’s fine, of course.”

Service disciples of the sect could not address formal disciples as Senior/Junior Sisters. Mu Xin actually wanted to call Su Lingqing “Senior Sister,” but unfortunately, their status was different.

However, she believed that the future would not always be this way.

Those who became service disciples in the Heaven-Extending Sect all possessed Five Spiritual Roots, which were widely considered to be waste spiritual roots in this world. If they could achieve Foundation Establishment, they could bypass the outer sect and directly become inner disciples.

Mu Xin had never given up hope.

After finishing her meal, Su Lingqing returned to her Dongfu along the original path. However, halfway there, a white fox dashed out from nowhere and leaped into her arms.

Since her spiritual sense gave no warning of danger, she did not take action, merely holding the white fox gently.

“Little fox, why did you appear so suddenly? Where did you come from?”

She knew that the spiritual beasts in the sect likely had owners, so she temporarily remained in place, waiting for the white fox’s owner to come and look for it.

She waited for about fifteen minutes.

The white fox was very clingy. Its clean paws held onto her sleeve, and its fluffy tail swung back and forth. From time to time, it affectionately rubbed its furry head against her wrist.

Su Lingqing waited and waited, but no one came looking for it.

Her Master did not keep spirit pets, and it was unlikely to belong to a service disciple on the peak. She hesitated: Should I just leave the white fox here?

She still needed to cultivate. She couldn’t afford to be delayed any longer.

Thinking this, Su Lingqing slowly made a decision.

She squatted down and gently placed the white fox on the lush green grass. Then, she stood up and continued toward the Dongfu.

Almost at the same moment, the white fox, which had just landed, turned into an afterimage and pounced at her again.

This time, Su Lingqing was prepared, and her figure swiftly shifted to the side.

The white fox missed, falling awkwardly to the ground. It let out a whimper, looking at the young girl’s retreating figure.

The mournful cry caused Su Lingqing to stop again.

The white fox seized the opportunity and quickly jumped onto her.

Su Lingqing was a little helpless. She blamed herself for being too soft-hearted. The white fox might or might not have an owner. She couldn’t just take it back to the Dongfu. If someone came looking for it, it could easily cause a misunderstanding.

She thought: Even if a spiritual beast cannot talk, it can basically understand human speech. So, she tried speaking: “Little fox, I need to cultivate, and I can’t stay here with you all the time. If you have an owner, nod your head, and I will put you down and go with you to find your owner. If you don’t have an owner, shake your head, and I will take you back to the Dongfu.”

No sooner had the words fallen than the white fox shook its head back and forth like a rattle drum.

Su Lingqing smiled: “Little fox, you made this promise yourself. Since that’s the case, I will assume you don’t have an owner and take you back to the Dongfu.”

The white fox made two ao ao sounds, rubbing affectionately against the young girl’s wrist, expressing its joy.

Seeing this, Su Lingqing had no more reservations and carried it towards the Dongfu.

Xu Miaoluo was hidden in the shadows, her gaze deep as she watched the young girl, holding the white fox, gradually disappear into the distance.

Returning from Misty Demon Island that day, she had planned to find a way to approach Su Lingqing, but the young girl had been immersed in cultivation, staying inside the Dongfu except for mealtimes.

The Dongfu was enveloped by a restriction, making it impossible for her to approach.

According to sect rules, the dining halls of each peak were restricted to the peak’s resident cultivators and service disciples. Others were not allowed to enter without permission. This was to prevent malicious individuals from poisoning the food, a tragic incident that had occurred many years ago before this rule was in place.

Xu Miaoluo, as the daughter of the Beast-Taming Peak Master, held a respected status, but she still could not enter the Profound Heaven Peak dining hall without permission.

Thus, she lost a major opportunity to interact with Su Lingqing.

As for waiting along her route, it felt too deliberate. After much thought, she finally decided to start with a spiritual beast.

The white fox was chosen by her after extensive selection on Beast-Taming Peak. It had extremely high intelligence and was both adorable and cute, knowing exactly how to please people.

She did not form a recognition bond with it but spent ten days casting a secret technique to attach a wisp of her divine sense to the white fox.

This wisp of divine sense could not influence the white fox, nor could it control its actions. Its sole purpose was to constantly monitor Su Lingqing’s movements.

She wanted to figure out the young girl’s preferences as quickly as possible, which would be more conducive to the implementation of her plan.