After Faking Her Death and Fleeing, the Emotionless Daoist Master Regretted It - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Initial Sword Qi Formation – Recalling the Past

To remain by Shizun’s side, Su Lingqing went all out, without the slightest hint of perfunctoriness.

In the first round, the moment she attacked, she used the Shadowy Light sword technique. Her body instantly transformed into an afterimage, flashing past the surroundings.

The Flowing Light Sword moved with her, its target clearly the ethereal, fairy-like woman.

In a moment, a sudden clang reached her ears.

The treasure sword, which could cut iron like mud, was easily clamped by the woman’s two slender, jade-like fingers, unable to advance another inch.

“Your speed is acceptable, but the chosen angle of attack was incorrect. A cultivator’s primary vital point is the dantian, followed by the yin-tang point on the brow, and then the heart and neck. Lingqing’s attack just now came toward my left shoulder. Is there still hesitation in your heart, or did you simply not consider these points?”

A slightly cool voice reached the girl’s ear. Compared to usual, it lacked some tenderness and held more severity.

Su Lingqing looked ashamed: “This disciple was slow-witted. Thank you for the reminder, Shizun.”

In fact, the moment she attacked, she subconsciously chose the position that would cause the least harm.

Ling Yunyue had already guessed the truth. Seeing that the girl was unwilling to admit it, she looked deeply at her and reminded her faintly: “Regard me as your imaginary enemy and begin again. I do not wish to see the situation from just now happen a second time.”

Su Lingqing solemnly replied, “This disciple understands.”

She wanted to gain Shizun’s approval, so she once again self-suggested that there was a huge disparity in strength between her and Shizun. No matter how she attacked, she would not truly hurt Shizun in the slightest.

Continuous self-suggestion finally, in the subsequent rounds, slowly changed the behavior of her subconscious.

But even so, in every round, she was still defeated in a single move.

Although Shizun had suppressed her cultivation, she was rich in combat experience and could often predict her moves in advance.

After dozens of rounds passed in this manner, Su Lingqing suddenly gained an insight. She first used Silent Moonfall. Halfway through the move, she quickly shifted to Illusory Shadow Tracking, changing direction and quietly approaching Shizun from behind.

This time, Ling Yunyue moved her body, taking a step to the side.

The sword’s momentum instantly missed. Su Lingqing reacted extremely quickly, the sword spinning with her body, instantly changing its trajectory to attack from the side.

In the next moment, the sound of metal clashing instantly reached her ears.

As this was a sparring session with suppressed cultivation, Ling Yunyue did not use the Bing Que Sword but instead used spiritual power transformed into a blade, easily blocking the girl’s attack.

In her eyes, her disciple was making obvious progress. As a Shizun, she naturally felt greatly comforted.

Su Lingqing was fully immersed at this moment, discarding all distracting thoughts. The sword was directed by her will, and her whole demeanor was subtly changed by the momentum of the sword.

Before she started, she displayed a fragile and delicate beauty due to her inner emotional hurdle. Now, she was like a sturdy pine or vibrant bamboo—resilient and unyielding.

As time passed, the two figures weaved back and forth through the falling snow, their cloud-like sleeves dancing in the wind.

The sound of sharp blades clashing occasionally reached her ears. Ling Yunyue skillfully suppressed her strength, gradually engaging her disciple in a draw.

In terms of innate talent, Lingqing’s comprehension of the Way of the Sword surpassed her own back in the day.

She believed that in the near future, her disciple’s name would undoubtedly be among the sword tianjiao (heavenly talents) of the Xuan Tian Realm.

Two hours later, Su Lingqing’s spiritual power was depleted, and the sparring ended.

The moment she put away the Flowing Light Sword, inspiration struck her, and she instantly fell into a state of sudden enlightenment.

The peak was covered in white snow. Without spiritual power to sustain her, a wood spiritual root cultivator was highly susceptible to cold.

To prevent this, Ling Yunyue waved her sleeve and took out an umbrella-shaped magic treasure. Upon activation, the treasure instantly flew into the air, suspended above the girl’s head.

A layer of faint, flowing light descended evenly from the umbrella’s surface, completely isolating the falling snow outside.

At this moment, Su Lingqing’s sea of consciousness was undergoing a myriad of changes.

In the space constructed by her meditation, she sometimes stood on a mountain peak, feeling the immense, formless, yet destructive power of the howling wind; sometimes stood beneath a waterfall, comprehending the simultaneously supremely hard and supremely soft power brought by the flowing water; and sometimes stood within an ancient forest, where seasons changed in the blink of an eye, sensing the cyclical process of all plants, from new growth to decay, until rebirth and surging vitality…

After a long while, the meditation space shattered with a roar.

Su Lingqing emerged from her enlightenment. She joined her fingers like a sword, and a wisp of invincible Sword Qi instantly condensed. Under the control of her divine sense, it struck a boulder buried under the snow ahead with lightning speed.

Accompanied by a loud bang, large snowflakes mixed with countless碎 stones scattered in all directions.

From this moment on, Su Lingqing successfully entered the first stage of the Way of the Sword.

By then, the night was deep, and her depleted spiritual power had long been restored to normal.

Sensing the faint spiritual light enveloping her, Su Lingqing subconsciously looked up and saw the pale purple treasure hovering above her head.

She immediately realized that Shizun was casting a spell to protect her.

However, looking around, the familiar figure was nowhere to be seen.

Su Lingqing quickly went into the cave dwelling. The area visible to her was empty.

Where could Shizun be?

At this instant, a trace of panic spread from the depths of her heart.

She repeatedly reminded herself that she had completed the sword practice. Shizun would not abandon her…

Su Lingqing returned to the spot beneath the floating treasure. It was the only source of comforting light in the pitch-black night sky.

The girl hugged her knees, squatting in the snow. Her mind uncontrollably recalled the events that happened when she was eight years old.

That year, besides being bitten by a poisonous snake and nearly losing her life, another incident left a deep impression on her.

Huan Yue Mountain was vast and had many medicinal herbs, but they grew very slowly. Once an area was harvested, she needed to look for another. One time, because she wasn’t familiar with the mountain paths, she got lost and couldn’t find her way back home.

By night, she was tired and hungry, on the verge of collapsing. Despair silently spread from the bottom of her heart.

Just as she was giving up hope of living, a faint torchlight appeared in her slightly blurred vision, moving from far to near.

The person was the village hunter.

He came forward and asked if she was lost. She replied yes and begged him to take her back to the village. He agreed, carrying the torch and leading the way, but it wasn’t the usual path.

She was puzzled and asked softly. The reply was that they were taking a shortcut back to the village to save some time.

She believed him.

Then, the man led her to the edge of a cliff and pushed her down.

As her body hung in the air, the man’s voice, like a ghost from hell, reached her ears: The inauspicious person with the innate Fiend Body deserves to die and does not deserve to live in this world!

Su Lingqing fell down the cliff, but a massive green plant on the cliff face caught her body, preventing her from plummeting.

She spent the entire night slowly climbing up. After escaping death, she, who had been completely lost before, actually found the direction back to the village.

She saw white funeral streamers hanging in the hunter’s home.

The villagers said the hunter slipped on his feet while returning from hunting last night, just as he reached his doorstep. The long arrow he used for hunting happened to pierce his heart, and the man was gone just like that.

Su Lingqing knew the villagers disliked her, so she didn’t reveal that the hunter had pushed her off the cliff. At that time, she had a premonition that if she said it, the villagers would not only fail to comfort her but would also accuse her of causing the hunter’s death.

Her premonition was correct. Later, when someone did ask where she had been that night, she merely said she was picking herbs on the mountain, got lost, and only returned after searching all night, thus escaping a potential disaster…

Recalling this, Su Lingqing felt immense sorrow.

She was fortunate to have met Shizun, with whom she felt the remaining warmth of the mortal world. Because of this, she was even more terrified of losing Shizun.

Now, Shizun was nowhere to be seen. Where should she look for her?

When Mu Xin arrived at the peak with dinner, she happened to see the girl’s apricot eyes filled with unshed tears.

“Senior Sister Su?”

She lifted her skirt and quickly ran to the girl, squatting down and asking softly: “What’s wrong, Sister? What happened?”

Su Lingqing looked up at the newcomer, trying desperately to suppress the sorrow in her heart, but she couldn’t. She finally forced a smile uglier than crying: “Xin’er, I can’t find Shizun…”

Hearing this, Mu Xin immediately understood and quickly comforted her in a gentle voice: “Don’t worry, Senior Sister Su. The Venerable is at Yingdao Peak. Sister has been cultivating, so she didn’t know the Venerable left.”

Her words instantly reignited hope in the girl’s heart.

“Is Shizun truly at Yingdao Peak?”

Mu Xin nodded repeatedly: “Around the first quarter of the Shen hour (around 3:15 PM), the Heavenly Fire Sect from the Scarlet Flame Continent suddenly sent visitors. The commotion was huge. The specific reason is unclear. Not only the Venerable, but the Sect Master and the presiding elders of all major peaks have gone there.”

The Heavenly Fire Sect was the premier sect in the Scarlet Flame Continent. In terms of overall strength, it was comparable to the Tianyan Sect.

Su Lingqing slowly calmed her mind, recalling what Shizun had once said: because they belonged to different continents, the two sects had no conflict of interest.

Now that cultivators from the Heavenly Fire Sect had come, what could be the reason? Was it good or bad for the Tianyan Sect?

Mu Xin saw the girl remaining silent and continued to console her: “Senior Sister Su, don’t worry. As the saying goes, a strong dragon cannot crush the local snake. Moreover, our sect is also a dragon. No matter what the Heavenly Fire Sect’s intentions are, this is not the Scarlet Flame Continent after all, and with the Venerable here, they can’t cause much trouble.”

Su Lingqing nodded slowly, agreeing with her words.

“Thank you for taking the trouble to bring meals these past two days, Xin’er.”

Mu Xin smiled, pursing her lips: “Senior Sister Su, you’re too kind. With the spiritual crane, a round trip barely takes any time. Compared to the kindness Senior Sister showed me before, what I’m doing is just a small matter.”

Due to the cold at the peak and the spiritual crane waiting nearby, Mu Xin soon left the area.

Su Lingqing picked up the steaming food container and temporarily went into the cave dwelling. She ate while contemplating the matter of the Heavenly Fire Sect.

After a while, she remembered the little fox that had recognized her as its master and immediately contacted it via thought transmission.

“Ruozhu, how long have you been in the sect?”

A response quickly came from her sea of consciousness: “From the time I gained memory until now, it’s been almost ninety years. But calculated by demon race age, Ruozhu is not yet an adult.”

Su Lingqing continued to ask: “Before today, have you heard of any Heavenly Fire Sect cultivators visiting the sect?”

“Hmm… let me think… In memory, there hasn’t been any public appearance. As for whether they sent people in secret, I don’t know. Anyway, I never heard anyone mention this sect when I was at Beast Taming Peak.”

The transmission paused here, and Ruozhu’s tone shifted as she asked a question: “Master, when are you coming back? The spiritual beast egg that has been soaking in your spiritual spring had a slight movement today. Its shell cracked open with a tiny fissure…”