Chapter 107
This was not a good thing to follow up on. Xie Qingzheng sank her qi into her dantian, suppressed the heat on her face, changed the subject, and asked Xie Youke in a low voice, “Sect Master Xie, how did we end up at the Tianshu Sect?”
Xie Youke said in a cold voice, “What’s wrong with being at the Tianshu Sect? My Tianshu Sect has not set up a barrier against you of the Xuanji Sect.”
Xie Qingzheng: “…”
This was also not a good thing to follow up on.
She was just curious, why not go back to the Xuanji Sect? And what about her senior sisters?
Mo Jiangxue said, “The alliance ceremony is in three days. The sect masters of all the major sects are gathered at the Tianshu Sect. Sect Master Xie brought us back here. Min He and the others should be serving by Sect Master Wangqing’s side now.”
So that was it.
Xie Qingzheng looked at Mo Jiangxue and smiled faintly at her. Her master always knew what she was thinking.
Mo Jiangxue was also looking at her.
Their eyes met, one with a calm gaze, the other with a flickering one.
Ripples spread in Xie Qingzheng’s heart. Suddenly, she heard two coughs by her ear.
Xie Qingzheng followed the sound and saw that it was Sect Master Xie, covering her lips and coughing lightly.
Only then did Xie Qingzheng notice that the lips under Xie Youke’s half-golden mask were extremely pale, as if she had not yet recovered from a serious injury. Her voice was as steady as she could make it, but if one listened closely, one could still hear that it was a little weaker than usual.
It must have been in the ghost city, where she had consumed a great deal of spiritual energy to rescue them.
She raised her head slightly, still with a noble and proud air. But at this moment, Xie Qingzheng thought of the dream, of her lowering her head and pleading with Xie Fuyun to go back with her.
A feeling of pity and gratitude arose.
“Sect Master Xie.” Xie Qingzheng took a step closer to Xie Youke and asked with some concern, “Are you alright?”
She had many questions to ask her.
Xie Youke gazed at her for a moment and then held out her hand.
She had originally thought that Sect Master Xie was reaching out to touch her head, like an elder affectionately caressing a junior. She had even stretched out her neck and had taken the initiative to move her furry head forward, full of anticipation.
But it was a coolness between her brows.
Sect Master Xie brought two fingers together, tapped her between the brows, closed her eyes to sense for a moment, and then opened her eyes and asked, “Your seal has weakened a lot. Have you remembered something?”
Xie Qingzheng shrank her head back and said frankly, “Yes.”
Although she had remembered many images, what had flashed in her mind were all Xie Fuyun’s memories.
What her master had awakened with the Yaoguang Bell before was probably also Xie Fuyun’s memory.
The person who had appeared most in Xie Fuyun’s memory was the Sect Master Xie before her.
Xie Qingzheng thought for a moment and said frankly to Sect Master Xie, “I have many questions to ask you.”
With that, she glanced at her master.
Mo Jiangxue raised an eyebrow slightly and also asked directly, “Do I need to leave?”
Xie Qingzheng had a conflicted expression.
In truth, there was nothing to avoid. Besides that audacious feeling of adoration, she could say anything to her master.
It was just that, what if, from Sect Master Xie’s mouth, that terrible thought was confirmed? She really didn’t know how to face her master.
Since she had entered the Xuanji Sect, she had been living with the identity of “Xie Qingzheng.” She had wishfully thought that Xie Fuyun was her mother and had wanted to explore her mother’s past, to know how her mother had died.
Later, after hearing a few words from Sect Master Xie about her background, that Xie Fuyun had just wanted to use her body to possess, she was half-believing.
It was only now, after seeing it with her own eyes in her memory and hearing it with her own ears, that she dared to believe that she was really just a tool for Xie Fuyun’s body-snatching.
And she still couldn’t be sure if she had really been possessed.
The master and disciple looked at each other.
Xie Qingzheng looked at her master’s clear gaze, and her heart beat a little faster. Many fragmented thoughts inappropriately popped into her head: If I really am Xie Fuyun, then does the master-disciple relationship with my master still hold? Can I be of the same generation as my master? Eh, then what about Sect Master Xie? I see that the two of them, senior and junior martial sisters, seem a little ambiguous…
“Cough, cough…”
Another light cough came to her ear.
Xie Qingzheng quickly withdrew her gaze and looked at Xie Youke.
Xie Youke frowned slightly, as if she couldn’t quite understand. “Why are you two always looking at each other as if no one else is around?”
She had not expected Sect Master Xie to be so direct, and with the natural, concerned tone of an elder. Xie Qingzheng’s face flushed again, and she said guiltily, “Th-that’s naturally because we are master and disciple! When my master and I were out for training, when it was not convenient to speak, we would always use our eyes to signal and communicate. Over time, we have gotten used to looking at each other…”
She felt that her master had been looking at her a lot lately, and it was indeed because of this reason.
A master and a disciple, together day and night, had developed a silent, tacit understanding.
A curve appeared on the corners of Mo Jiangxue’s lips, and that faint smile seemed to say, I didn’t know it was because of this reason.
Xie Youke shot a cool glance at Mo Jiangxue and said impolitely, “You should leave first.”
Mo Jiangxue’s toes tapped, and she lightly flew up to the roof, saying coolly, “I will stand here. I won’t be able to hear you.”
Her voice came from afar. Xie Qingzheng looked up at that graceful figure and thought to herself: With your cultivation, how could you not be able to hear? In the Xuanji Sect, you can hear everything on the entire Ethereal Peak.
In an instant, her heart skipped a beat. Could it be that with her master’s current cultivation, she really couldn’t hear anymore? Had she become so weak?
Xie Qingzheng’s face instantly turned pale.
The next moment, she saw Mo Jiangxue take out her qin, and with a few plucks of the strings, she cast a simple sound-proof barrier for them.
Xie Qingzheng: “…”
Don’t scare her like that… she would have taken it seriously…
Mo Jiangxue looked at her from afar, her expression composed.
Xie Qingzheng’s feelings were complicated. She withdrew her gaze, looked at Xie Youke, and got straight to the point, “Sect Master Xie, what happened back then? Why did Senior Fuyun fall into the demonic path?”
Xie Youke was about to speak when Xie Hanlin came in with a small yellow dog and said to Xie Youke, “Master, what do you think of this dog?”
The dog had a lame leg and hopped when it walked. The moment it saw Xie Youke, it wanted to pounce on her enthusiastically.
Xie Qingzheng was in a daze for a moment and asked, “Has Hanlin moved Black General’s soul into this little yellow dog’s body?”
Xie Youke looked at Xie Hanlin, her gaze cold, her tone not good. “If you think it’s okay, I can also find a lame yellow dog for you and stuff your soul into it.”
Xie Hanlin chuckled and scratched her head in embarrassment. Xie Youke had asked her to find a dog’s body as soon as possible to house the Black General that she had brought back from the ghost city, but she hadn’t said what kind.
Just now, when the three of them were talking, she had flown down the mountain on her sword and had searched for a while, and had casually picked up the body of a lame little yellow dog.
Xie Youke said coldly, “Stop smiling foolishly. Go and find a black dog, not a lame one.”
The Black General of the past had been so strong and brave. How could it be stuffed into the body of a lame little dog?
Xie Qingzheng thought to herself: Sect Master, you are so considerate. You even want the color to be the same…
“Yes, disciple will go and find one now.” Xie Hanlin bowed and took her leave, leading the dog away. As she walked, she mumbled, “A little yellow dog is also very cute. If its leg is lame, I can also treat it…”
Xie Youke held it in, did not lash out, and turned to face Xie Qingzheng, saying coldly, “What are you asking her for? Didn’t I say that her matters have nothing to do with you?”
Xie Qingzheng suddenly bent her knees and knelt before Xie Youke.
Xie Youke was taken aback and asked, “What are you doing?”
Xie Qingzheng kowtowed and said softly, “I’m sorry for what I said to you in the abandoned temple.”
—“Perhaps there was a misunderstanding?”
—“Have you never tried to put yourself in her shoes and consider her feelings and thoughts?”
—“You grew up with her. You should know best whether she was good or bad.”
—“The Soul-Calming Pearl you gave to Manor Lord Yun, who was it originally for? Your master? Or your senior sister?”
—“I don’t know as much as you do. I only know that if someone is very important to me, I will trust them with all my heart.”
At that time, in the abandoned temple outside Xinye City, she had said these things to Sect Master Xie without restraint, every word a stab to the heart.
Xie Fuyun had indeed cultivated evil arts, had indeed killed many people, and had indeed wanted to use her body to be reborn. But after the two senior and junior martial sisters had parted ways, Xie Youke had still thought of getting her back, had still wanted to bring Xie Fuyun back to the sect, and had persuaded her not to possess her.
Only now did she understand that the Soul-Calming Pearl she had given to Yun Yi had been refined with Xie Youke’s own heart’s blood and had been prepared for Xie Fuyun.
The Xie Youke of the past had perhaps been powerless to save Xie Fuyun’s life, but she had found a way out for Xie Fuyun. She had wanted to use her own heart’s blood to nourish Xie Fuyun’s soul.
She had already given her greatest trust and had even lowered her stance.
She had clearly done a lot, but she was the one who was most misunderstood by the world. She had always been misunderstood when she was young, and after she had succeeded to the position of sect master, she was still often misunderstood.
Compared to Xiao Wangqing’s good reputation, Sect Master Xie’s was truly a mix of praise and criticism.
After Xie Qingzheng had finished kowtowing, she thought for a moment and then added, “Sect Master, if you spoke a little more nicely, perhaps not so many people would misunderstand you.”
Xie Youke shot her a cold glance and raised her hand, as if to slap her.
She dodged back.
But the slap did not fall. Xie Youke just twisted her ear and said, “Get up.”
Xie Qingzheng stood up and subconsciously glanced at her master.
Mo Jiangxue was still staring at Xie Qingzheng.
The scene of her kneeling and kowtowing just now had been seen by her master. Xie Qingzheng blushed and scratched her head, comforting herself in her heart: Master, you taught me skills, so I knelt to you. Sect Master Xie also raised me and taught me skills, so it’s reasonable for me to kneel to her…
Xie Youke frowned. “You had her leave, so why do you keep looking at her?”
Xie Qingzheng awkwardly withdrew her gaze and used the same excuse, “Sh-she is my master. We are master and disciple…”
Xie Youke sneered and said lightly, “Oh? You are master and disciple, so that day, even after you had come out, you had to risk your life to go back and find her? You wanted to die with her? What a touching master-disciple relationship.”
Xie Qingzheng lowered her head, pressed her lips together, and secretly thought to herself: This sarcastic tone of voice. Sect Master, it’s not without reason that you are always misunderstood.
Xie Youke looked at her and said coolly, “If you have something to say, say it.”
Xie Qingzheng looked up, her words sincere and direct. “Sect Master Xie, my master is very important to me. If she dies, I will not live either.”
A malevolent aura appeared in Xie Youke’s eyes. She closed her eyes and said nothing. After a long while, she opened her eyes, raised her head slightly, and said, “If she dies, I can find someone else to teach you skills. Why do you have to be so dramatic? What kind of behavior is that?”
Her tone was like she was scolding someone. Xie Qingzheng pressed her lips together and held back from retorting, thinking to herself: Listen to what you’re saying. ‘If she dies, I’ll find someone else.’ Is that any better?
Seeing her silent, Xie Youke said coldly again, “I have told you that you only have one life. If she dies, she can be reincarnated. If you die, you will have nothing.”
Author’s Note:
Sob, sob, sob, my little red flower is broken.
Little Xie: I will live and die with my master.
Sect Master Xie (angry): That short-lived master of yours will die sooner or later. And you’re already being so dramatic here. What kind of behavior is that?
