Mistaken Era – Chapter 14
Since she had managed to gain a slight upper hand in her previous struggles against the demon pearl, and her cultivation had also modestly improved, she had no reason to easily submit to the demonic malice.
Though the flare-up of the malice did indeed inflict excruciating pain, as the malice coursed through her meridians towards her dantian, she could distinctly sense its path at each point.
Amidst the agony, Cui Xiaoxiao discovered that she had suddenly comprehended the mechanics of circulating internal energy through the meridians – something she had never truly understood before, but now grasped under the demon malice’s influence.
It must be understood that for cultivators, whether practicing qi circulation, pill refinement, or talisman drawing, the first step is unblocking their meridians and learning to circulate their internal energy. Only by skillfully manipulating this energy can one be considered to have entered the path.
Xiaoxiao’s previous inability to enter meditative trances like her martial siblings was due to this very issue, often leaving her with an aching back and waist.
The master had said that on the path of cultivation, one’s innate talent and willpower accounted for half, but “opportunities” were something one could encounter but never seek.
She finally understood that some opportunities did not come wrapped in flowers, but were accompanied by thorns and blades.
It was because of the suppression from her extremely yin-natured blood that she avoided being tormented into losing consciousness by the malice and becoming a mindless husk like the White family’s wife.
By enduring the torment of the malice, she could cross the lofty threshold separating mortals and cultivators faster than ordinary people.
She would have to see who ultimately begged who between her and Qin Lingxiao!
The Sword Sect disciples seemed surprised that even in such dire straits, Cui Xiaoxiao remained so unyielding, leaving them momentarily dumbstruck and unsure how to respond.
Meanwhile, in the main hall of Nine Mystic Sword Mountain, Qin Lingxiao, in a state of dimensional transcendence during his meditation, was using his Divine Vision technique, borrowing the eyes of one of his disciples to witness Xiaoxiao’s defiant refusal.
Having long since mastered the eighth level of sword qi and not flown into a rage for quite some time, Qin Lingxiao was nearly enraged enough by Cui Xiaoxiao’s impudence to rise up.
The foolish girl simply didn’t know what was good for her!
He had gone through so much trouble to consider her reputation, even offering her a marital position, yet it turned out to be a futile effort, wasting all his goodwill!
That level of demonic malice was enough to torment even celestial immortals. What abilities did this worldly mortal girl possess to resist it?
Did she think his initial marriage proposal was made out of lust for her beauty, hoping to take advantage of her?
Originally assuming her ignorance of propriety, Qin Lingxiao had deliberately waited until Cui Xiaoxiao was suffering a malice flare-up to give her a way out.
Now it seemed Tang Youshu’s disciples were just as stubborn and obstinate as their master!
But if Cui Xiaoxiao was unafraid of death and could endure, Qin Lingxiao could not drag this out indefinitely.
As Cui Xiaoxiao had speculated, it was not his overflowing righteousness driving him to hastily rescue her, but his own need to use the demon malice to suppress the demonic backlash from his own cultivation.
Otherwise, if the demonic nature gained the upper hand, wouldn’t his decades of bitter cultivation be ruined in an instant?
Thinking this, Qin Lingxiao used his mind transmission technique to issue orders to the disciples: “Ignore whatever Cui Xiaoxiao said, quickly bring her back to Nine Mystic Sword Mountain!”
Just the day before, Ling Zhishan had sent word that she had obtained another demon pearl “Wrath”, lacking only the “Greed” pearl possessed by Cui Xiaoxiao, which was proving so troublesome to acquire.
Qin Lingxiao immediately decided that since Cui Xiaoxiao disdained becoming his spouse, he need not worry about preserving her reputation or granting her any status.
He would first bring her back, force the demonic malice out in the cold pool, and deal with the rest later.
After all, he was still saving her life by doing this, whether she was grateful or not was another matter entirely.
At that moment at the foot of Fengchi Mountain, upon receiving the sect master’s orders, the Sword Sect disciples exchanged glances and stepped forward, reaching out towards the prostrate Cui Xiaoxiao.
Just as their hands were about to reach her, the writhing Xiaoxiao had already endured the first bout of torment from the malice flare-up.
As she had anticipated, in order to resist the malice, she had unconsciously begun circulating the energy from her dantian.
During the intervals when the malice subsided, she felt an unprecedented surging sensation in her dantian.
Drawing upon this irrepressible dantian energy, Cui Xiaoxiao took out the water-controlling talisman she had previously drawn, raising her arms as she silently recited the incantation.
This time, as the incantation left her lips, the intricate syllables seemed to reverberate in her ears, causing her entire meridian network to resonate with the rhythm of the spell.
Suddenly, rain began pouring down from the previously scorching desert sky.
Even Ji Wuqi was rendered speechless at this sight. Though the most senior disciple praised by the master for his decent talents, it had taken him eight years to barely grasp the arts of water and fire control.
Yet this Cui Xiaoxiao, who had joined the sect less than a month ago, had already advanced with such divine speed to this realm…
With Xiaoxiao’s successful summoning of rain, when the raindrops fell, they became her army of soldiers to drive off enemies.
Her slender arms swept out, and the countless raindrops converged into a water python that instantly blasted the Sword Sect disciples away.
Touching her drenched cheeks, she said derisively, “Is this how the upright sects invite people?”
The scene of Cui Xiaoxiao using water flows to repel the Sword Sect disciples was also witnessed by Qin Lingxiao from thousands of miles away.
He frowned slightly. When they had met at the silkworm field, this Cui Xiaoxiao did not seem capable of such feats!
Controlling water flows was not rare, but to wield them so freely for offense was an ability few in the world currently possessed.
So Cui Xiaoxiao had such profound cultivation? Had she previously been hiding her abilities?
Qin Lingxiao’s patience was thoroughly exhausted by this obstinate girl.
Currently at the Nine Mystic Sword Mountain thousands of miles away, he could not instantly transport his true body to Laoshan.
However, he was adept at the Divine Vision technique, allowing him to project an avatar over great distances by separating his soul.
Since Jiang Zheng was incompetent at “inviting” Cui Xiaoxiao, Qin Lingxiao would have to take the field himself to “welcome” her back to Nine Mystic Sword Mountain.
With a dexterous hand gesture, Qin Lingxiao once more separated his soul, manifesting an avatar that appeared before the Talisman Sect cultivators on Laoshan.
Just as Cui Xiaoxiao’s body wavered after expending her energy, starting to lean back, Qin Lingxiao’s avatar appeared and caught her slender waist with one arm.
Though this girl looked slim, her supple waist did not feel bony at all…
But just as Qin Lingxiao’s attention wavered, another group of black-robed women arrived fleetingly from afar.
After retrieving the demon pearl “Wrath”, Ling Zhishan still felt uneasy about Qin Lingxiao.
She knew that for many years, he had suffered from the demonic backlash of his cultivation, and seeing the darkening mark on his forehead indicated he was struggling to suppress his demonic nature.
Previously at the silkworm field, the “Greed” pearl seemed to have been taken by Cui Xiaoxiao and never returned. Yet Qin Lingxiao had been too lenient with that girl.
After returning from Maoshan, Ling Zhishan planned to retrieve “Greed” as well. She would not show any mercy to that foxy little girl.
Unexpectedly, when Ling Zhishan hurriedly arrived with disciples from the Twin Rites Palace, she witnessed the scene of Qin Lingxiao’s avatar embracing Cui Xiaoxiao.
Ling Zhishan was so furious her hands trembled as she channeled her energy, shooting out a spiritual sword directly at Cui Xiaoxiao’s vital points.
The violent motion caused a small box concealed in her sleeves to fling out.
As the spiritual sword closed in on the pair, Qin Lingxiao’s avatar instinctively unleashed a defensive barrier to deflect it.
The two spiritual forces collided, shattering the box and allowing the demon pearl “Wrath”, freed from its confinement, to immediately attempt an escape.
Upon seeing this, Qin Lingxiao was alarmed. This demon pearl had accumulated spiritual essence over a century. If it fled, there was no telling when they could track it down again.
Without hesitation, he released Cui Xiaoxiao to swiftly grasp the escaping demon pearl.
But in that very moment the bundle on Ji Wuqi’s back suddenly caught fire, and the wooden carving inside broke free of its restraints, slowly rising into the air.
Simultaneously, red and blue beams of light radiated from Cui Xiaoxiao and Qin Lingxiao’s avatar, shining directly into the hollow eye sockets of the carving.
Immediately after, a fissure appeared in the sky, spawning a vortex that swiftly drew in the carving, Cui Xiaoxiao, and Qin Lingxiao’s avatar, making them vanish in an instant…
…
When Cui Xiaoxiao was pulled into the vortex, she had no time to react, only feeling suffocated and unable to breathe before blacking out.
When she finally regained consciousness, Xiaoxiao felt like her body was floating in water. Realizing this, she raised her head abruptly and flailed her arms, discovering she had fallen into a pool at the edge of a stream.
Struggling to stand up in the water, she looked around dazedly, realizing the raging winds must have swept her off and dropped her at the foot of some mountain cliff. All around were towering ancient trees so dense they blocked out the sky.
Xiaoxiao vaguely recalled the Second Senior Martial Sister mentioning that the Fengchi Pool of Laoshan was where the Apocalypse Wei Huo had been slain by Qin Lingxiao two centuries ago.
Back then, Wei Huo was determined to open the Gate to the Underworld. Though Qin Lingxiao managed to stop him, five phoenixes had circled endlessly overhead, with the lead Crimson Phoneix mournfully screeching flames that ultimately scorched the forests for hundreds of li around Fengchi Pool.
Perhaps due to that divine fire’s scourging, the area around the Phoenix Pool remained barren wasteland for two hundred years without a single blade of grass.
Cui Xiaoxiao was certain she had been swept away from Laoshan Mountain, but being surrounded by lush greenery now, she felt utterly lost as to her current location.
She considered calling out to the Second Senior Martial Sister and the others, but feared attracting Qin Lingxiao and that deranged woman Ling Zhishan, so she could only first attempt climbing up the mountain stream.
Perhaps her three martial siblings were also searching downstream for her.
With that thought, Cui Xiaoxiao wrung the water from her clothes. Though unable to control fire, quickly drying her robes was simple enough.
She silently recited a water control incantation, and in a moment the droplets on her body evaporated, leaving her clothes fresh and dry.
Once refreshed, Xiaoxiao found a sturdy vine on the cliffside and tested its strength before beginning her arduous ascent.
Having learned some martial arts from her adoptive father as a child, Xiaoxiao’s agility allowed her to swiftly scale the cliff and reach the top.
But as she stood upright after climbing over the edge, her eyes widened again in surprise.
Stretching out below was a vast slope…that looked just like the area beneath Laoshan, covered in rows of stone steles! However, unlike those shattered remnants, these steles were perfectly intact.
Xiaoxiao slowly approached and saw the steles were indeed pristine, with clearly visible transcribed characters, indicating this was definitely not Laoshan Mountain.
However, she did not notice that as she passed a boundary stele, a gust of wind parted the waist-high grasses to reveal the words “Laoshan Mountain” carved on its surface…
Looking around in bewilderment and seeing no one, Cui Xiaoxiao pursed her lips and couldn’t help but call out: “Senior Martial Brother! Second Senior Sister! Where are you?”
The clear young voice echoed across the flat expanse, stirring only a few birds into flight with no answering calls.
Xiaoxiao furrowed her brow. Could it be…they had also been captured by the Sword Sect disciples?
She could only continue searching downhill to inquire about directions.
At that moment, the sound of crumbling stone came from further down the slope. Xiaoxiao focused her gaze and saw that at some point, a tall, slender man had taken a seat atop the highest stele.
His back was turned to Xiaoxiao, clad in a black robe with long hair casually draped behind him. One long leg was propped on a stele as he leisurely sipped from a gourd of wine.
After drinking his fill, he flicked his wrist and lashed out with the long whip in his other hand, shattering a nearby stele into pieces…
From afar, Cui Xiaoxiao watched the man effortlessly demolish several steles in the blink of an eye.
For some reason, his silhouette exuded a sense of desolate loneliness, that broad back seemingly dispersing an aura of profound solitude…
