Uncanny Immortal 126

Chapter 126

The sword light rushed towards her. Xie Qingzheng did not speak, only letting out a gasp of pain.

She raised her left hand to press the wound on her abdomen to prevent excessive blood loss, and with her right hand, she held her sword and blocked the incoming sword move.

It’s alright. I have the antidote for the corpse poison on me. After I give it to my master, my master will be able to return to normal… It’s alright. We are master and disciple. That day, we had sparred in the Xuanji Sect. I am familiar with my master’s sword moves. My master will not be able to kill me…

She absolutely could not let her master kill her. She could not imagine the consequences…

Xie Qingzheng held her sword with one hand and parried Mo Jiangxue’s attacks one by one.

The blood from her abdomen flowed continuously from between her fingers. She temporarily let go of her hand and fed herself a hemostatic pill.

Mo Jiangxue took the opportunity and stabbed Xie Qingzheng’s left shoulder blade with another sword strike.

Mo Jiangxue had lost her consciousness, and every move was a killing blow. But Xie Qingzheng only parried and defended, fearing she would harm her master in the slightest.

The Tianxuan Sword, sensing that Xie Qingzheng was injured, let out a series of buzzing sounds.

The first master of the Tianxuan Sword was Mo Jiangxue, and Xie Qingzheng was the second. For Mo Jiangxue to use the Tianxuan Sword to kill Xie Qingzheng, the Tianxuan Sword could not disobey the command, let alone protect Xie Qingzheng. It could only let out a sound of injustice.

Yan Ling smelled the thick scent of blood, and her eyes shone with a strange light. She did not make a move, but just stood to the side and watched the master and disciple fight with a calm and composed air, watching the cultivators of the righteous path and the cultivators who had been poisoned by the corpse poison kill each other. The more fiercely they fought, the more excited she became. Hearing the sound of the Tianxuan Sword, she smiled faintly and said to the Tianxuan Sword, “How useless. What’s there to be sad about?”

She then said to Xie Qingzheng, “Are you trying to stall for time for Xie Youke to arrive? Do you think that as long as you stall until Xie Youke arrives, all of this will be over? The great battle between the righteous and demonic paths will be completely over? Don’t even think about it. Your Sect Master Xie is being held up by the people of the Ten Directions Domain. She won’t be able to make it for a while.”

Her throat was full of the smell of blood. Xie Qingzheng was in so much pain that she could hardly hear the sounds of the outside world, let alone see the figures of others. While she was parrying her master’s attacks, she shouted with all her might, “Scram!”

Yan Ling laughed loudly. “If I scram, who will save your master? Didn’t you come to the wildlands to find me? I am standing by your side now. Why are you telling me to scram?”

Xie Qingzheng’s mind was in a mess. She couldn’t bear it any longer and said, “Scram! You are so disgusting!”

So disgusting! Such a disgusting person! She didn’t want to see this person, didn’t want to hear this person’s voice!

Yan Ling said, “I said that tonight, either you die or I die. Now it seems that you will have to die before me!”

She infused spiritual energy into her palm, raised her fan, and with a wave, she sent a gust of wind at Mo Jiangxue. Mo Jiangxue’s hair fluttered slightly, and the spiritual light of the Tianxuan Sword in her hand instantly shone brightly.

The sword light was like a weave, enveloping Xie Qingzheng. Xie Qingzheng was forced back step by step, and before long, she was hit by three or four more sword strikes, and her body was covered in blood.

The last flash of cold light, and the tip of the Tianxuan Sword was pointed at Xie Qingzheng’s heart. Xie Qingzheng’s heart trembled. She stared at Mo Jiangxue’s face, her lips moving silently.

Master… is she really going to kill me?

To die under her sword is better than to die at Yan Ling’s hands, isn’t it?

Xie Qingzheng helplessly closed her eyes, but the expected pain did not come. She opened her eyes—

Mo Jiangxue’s turbid eyes rolled slightly, and the hand holding the sword trembled. The tip of the sword was an inch from Xie Qingzheng’s chest, and it could not move forward no matter what.

She was clearly expressionless, and her eyes were also turbid, but Xie Qingzheng seemed to see her struggling in pain.

Her eyes couldn’t help but burn, and her chest ached as if it were being torn apart.

Yan Ling let out a “tsk.” “At a time like this, you are still putting on a show of a deep master-disciple relationship.”

Only a person who had been thrown into the Corpse Refining Pool and soaked would completely turn into a poison corpse. The corpse poison powder only temporarily made one lose their consciousness and could be controlled by her. The effect of the poison would pass before long.

Mo Jiangxue was unwilling to kill Xie Qingzheng. Yan Ling’s eyes darted around, and she saw a few familiar cultivators. She smiled faintly and suddenly waved her folding fan at those people. Mo Jiangxue’s sword momentum suddenly changed, and following the direction of the fan, she flashed and stabbed at the few people with her sword.

The sharp blade at her chest was withdrawn. Xie Qingzheng knelt on the ground, barely supporting herself with her sword, not letting herself fall. She turned to look at the people who had been attacked by her master.

They were all living people, all familiar faces. These past few days, those who had mocked her master, had gossiped, had challenged her master, and also the one who had launched a sneak attack on her master outside the city to test her cultivation, had all had their tongues cut off by her master with one sword strike, and then had been killed with one sword strike through the heart.

“It’s bad! Lady Yunshao is also poisoned!”

“She has killed someone!”

An elder shouted, “Retreat! Quickly retreat! Let’s retreat back to the city first and then make a plan!”

All the cultivators of the righteous path were retreating, away from Mo Jiangxue. In the chaos, Xie Qingzheng’s eyes were red. She supported herself with her sword, stood up, and walked towards Mo Jiangxue, step by step.

Her master had never killed anyone since she had entered the world. The only things she had killed with her sword were evil spirits. This was the first time she had killed a living person.

A female cultivator from the Xuanji Sect fell to the ground, her eyes filled with terror as she looked at Mo Jiangxue. “Elder Mo… spare… spare my life… don’t kill me…”

Mo Jiangxue slashed down with her sword. With a clang, Xie Qingzheng flashed in front of the female cultivator and blocked Mo Jiangxue’s sword move.

The female cultivator scrambled back and flew back to the city on her sword.

Xie Qingzheng looked at Mo Jiangxue’s turbid eyes and called out in a hoarse voice, “Master…”

She could not kill anymore. If she killed any more, she would harm the innocent.

Hearing her voice, Mo Jiangxue’s hands trembled, and her teeth chattered.

Yan Ling closed her folding fan and looked at the several hundred cultivators of the righteous path who had flown back to the city and were standing on the city wall, warily staring at her, whispering to each other, it was unknown what they were saying.

Outside the city, only a few dozen poison corpses were left. Yan Ling turned to look at Mo Jiangxue and Xie Qingzheng and said slowly, “Alright, you two, stop putting on a show of a deep master-disciple relationship. The bet is on. The show is starting.” She snapped her fingers.

Mo Jiangxue lowered her hand, closed her eyes, and her body fell limply. Xie Qingzheng quickly took a step forward and held her.

“Let go of her!” Yan Ling shouted.

Xie Qingzheng ignored her, held Mo Jiangxue and sat down, took out a pill, and fed it to her.

It’s alright… it’ll be alright after you take the medicine…

Xie Qingzheng steadied herself and wanted to wipe the blood from her master’s face, but her hands were also covered in blood, and the more she wiped, the dirtier it got. Her body was also covered in blood, and the fresh blood had accidentally stained that white robe.

She looked at the person in her arms, sighed softly, and suddenly remembered the first time she had seen her master. She had stood quietly under a peach tree in the courtyard, her white robe simple and elegant, untouched by dust, like a stark winter plum blossom blooming in a world of ice and glazed glass, inspiring awe and fear.

But now, her white robe was stained with blood and sand, and she was so weak and pale she was like a wisp of light smoke that would disperse at any moment.

Why was it like this? In this life, she had clearly not harmed a single person. She had been saving people all along. Why was it like this?

Yan Ling opened her folding fan and, with a wave of her hand, a gust of qi, like a mountain collapsing and a sea churning, rushed towards her. Xie Qingzheng was suddenly thrown backward. She spat out a few mouthfuls of blood, and she staggered as she got up. Just as she was about to walk towards Mo Jiangxue, she sensed a transparent barrier blocking her.

She infused spiritual energy into her palm and slapped the barrier, but the barrier did not move at all.

Mo Jiangxue on the ground slowly opened her eyes, and her gaze returned to clarity. She sat up from the ground, her face a little bewildered, having forgotten what had just happened.

Xie Qingzheng shouted, “Master!”

But Mo Jiangxue did not react, as if she could not hear her voice at all. She just looked at the sword on the ground in a daze.

Her lost Shenshang Sword.

Mo Jiangxue walked over, picked it up, and asked Yan Ling, “And her?”

Yan Ling let out a chuckle. “You’re actually asking me? Lady Yunshao, you are truly a noble person who forgets things…”

Mo Jiangxue put away the Shenshang Sword and, without a second word, she raised the Tianxuan Sword and attacked Yan Ling.

Yan Ling’s whistle came from her mouth, and a few dozen poison corpses rushed up from behind her, blocking Mo Jiangxue’s attack.

She transmitted her voice to Mo Jiangxue, “Lady Yunshao, today we will bet on the people in the city. Will they open the city gate to save you? I lost to you last time, and I will never set foot in the Central Plains again in this life. This time, if I lose to you again, I will willingly wash away my sins and return to the righteous path. If I win, the conditions are the same as last time. You will stay in the wildlands with me.”

Mo Jiangxue bypassed the group of poison corpses and attacked Yan Ling with her sword, saying coldly, “You are pestering me. What do you really want?”

Yan Ling held up her fan to block. “You are truly a noble person who forgets things. We have met many years ago.”

Mo Jiangxue said, “I have met so many people. Do I have to remember every single one?”

Yan Ling smiled coldly and, with a wave of her fan, she said, “Then I will make you remember forever!”

Mo Jiangxue’s sword move faltered slightly, and images and sounds from many years ago appeared in her mind—

At night, on a long street, a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl was walking on the street with a lantern. A woman in a red dress followed behind her. Suddenly, a cool voice came from behind her, “Little girl, why are you walking on the street alone at night?”

Then came three sharp notes from a qin.

When the girl turned around, the soul of the woman in the red dress had already turned into a wisp of smoke and dispersed. A few zhang away, there was only an ethereal, immortal-like woman in a white robe, holding a qin, with a white veiled hat, a jade xiao at her waist, and her robes fluttering.

The girl tilted her head and said, “I was visiting a playmate in the neighboring village and came back late.”

The woman in the white robe glanced at her, put away her qin, and slung it on her back. She walked to her and handed her a talisman. “The yin qi is heavy at night. Hold this in your hand and go home early.”

The girl said, “Alright.”

The woman in the white robe then asked her, “May I ask if there is any immortal sect in this place that exorcises evil spirits?”

The girl asked, “What are you asking this for?”

The woman in the white robe said, “I have just come from Penglai and would like to know.”

The girl pointed to the east and said, “There is a Xuanji Sect on the East Sea. The immortals of that sect often come to help us exorcise evil spirits, and they don’t charge any money. They are like you, some use the qin, and some use the xiao.”

The woman in the white robe nodded. “Thank you.”

The girl said, “Are you going to the Xuanji Sect? Then I’ll go too. Can I become your disciple?”

The woman in the white robe shook her head and walked forward. “I do not take disciples.”

…

“How about it? Do you remember now? The first person you met after you left Penglai was me! And it was I who guided you to the Xuanji Sect. You were in seclusion for three years, and the moment you came out, I brought people to visit you, but you didn’t remember me at all!” Yan Ling said with a smile. “You said you don’t take disciples. Why did you take one later?”

Mo Jiangxue said in a cold voice, “Just because of that? So you have been pestering me until now?”

Yan Ling shook her head. “Of course it’s not just that. It’s also because you are too much of a busybody. I was using the people of Qingjia Town to test the corpse poison powder. Why did you have to interfere? Do you like being a high and mighty savior so much? How many people have you saved? I’m afraid you don’t even remember yourself, right? But what’s the use? The people you have saved, not a single one of them is willing to open the city gate to save you now!”

Mo Jiangxue was taken aback for a moment and looked up at the people on the city wall.

In the eyes of those people, there was fear, evasion, hesitation, caution, and a sense of entitlement. Seeing her look over, the crowd was silent for a moment, and no one was willing to be the first to speak.

At this time, an elder from the Kaiyang sect shouted, “Elder Mo, hold on for a while longer! Sect Master Xie will be here soon!”

With someone being the first to speak, the other cultivators in the crowd also gathered their courage and shouted from a distance, “Elder Mo, we have already sent a sound transmission to Sect Master Xie!”

“Hold off that demon! Sect Master Xie will surely come when she sees the warning signal!”

“That’s right! Please hold on for a while longer!”

“It’s all up to you!”

Mo Jiangxue looked at those people with cold eyes, said nothing, and her gaze swept over them one by one, but she did not see Xie Qingzheng’s figure.

Where had she gone?

Yan Ling snapped her fingers, and the group of poison corpses swayed and rushed forward, surrounding Mo Jiangxue.

Mo Jiangxue came to her senses, sheathed her sword, took out her Ninth Heaven Qin, sat down cross-legged, and her ten fingers flew. The sound of the qin poured out like a torrent.

On the city wall, a female cultivator from the Xuanji Sect pleaded, “Elders, this won’t do! Quickly open the barrier and let Elder Mo in!”

The elders who had the authority to open and close the barrier were silent. They looked at each other, unwilling to take a stand.

At this time, an alchemist from Yuheng Palace pointed at Yan Ling and said, “No! Once the barrier is opened, that demon will also follow in!”

The female cultivator from the Xuanji Sect said, “Are we just going to watch as Elder Mo dies outside?”

A noisy discussion broke out in the crowd. Someone shouted, “Let Elder Mo in! She is injured and cannot fight for long!”

Someone stopped him, “Once the barrier is opened, what if those poison corpses and that demon follow in?”

Someone said, “Let’s just wait for Sect Master Xie and the others to come. We are in charge of guarding the city. We must guard this city and protect the common people in the city!”

“That’s right! There are still common people in the city. We absolutely cannot open the barrier easily!”

No one mentioned opening the city gate again.

The sound of the argument reached Mo Jiangxue’s ears, and the fingering of her qin was slightly chaotic.

Yan Ling smiled and said to Mo Jiangxue, “You see, this is the righteous path you protect. At a time like this, not a single person has come out to help you.”

With a zheng, the “Gong” string of the Ninth Heaven Qin snapped, cutting Mo Jiangxue’s index finger.

The qin string was stained with blood, and her mind was in a mess. Her Dao heart was broken, and the sound of the qin was tinged with a sourness.

On the city wall, the elder from the Kaiyang sect said, “Didn’t she defeat ninety-seven masters in one battle before? I think that only she can fight here!”

As soon as these words were spoken, someone in the crowd immediately agreed, “That’s right. Lady Yunshao’s cultivation is profound. With her here, everyone need not worry.”

Another person reminded coldly, “Don’t you forget, she was also poisoned by the corpse poison just now and killed someone! What if the poison has not been completely removed, and she comes in and goes on a killing spree again?”

“That’s right! If she kills the enemy outside, she can still atone for her sins. But if she comes into the city and harms the common people in the city, then her entire lifetime of fame will be ruined!”

Hearing this, Mo Jiangxue looked at the few bodies in the desert.

Yan Ling smiled. “That’s right. You were the one who killed those people! Do you know how miserably they cried to make you not kill them? Those people kept kneeling and kowtowing, until their heads were broken, and they cried and begged you to let them go, and said sorry to you. But you still killed them with one sword strike. Tsk, tsk, the speed of that sword strike was so fast! Lady Yunshao, now your hands are stained with blood just like mine. Do you still want to be a high and mighty savior?”

Mo Jiangxue’s breathing was rapid, and her mind was in a mess. The sound of her qin trembled, and with two sharp notes, the “Shang” string of the Ninth Heaven Qin snapped.

Yan Ling continued, “Do you know who the last person you killed was? Look at your Tianxuan Sword. Isn’t there a lot of your disciple’s blood on it?”

“The blood on you is also hers! She was afraid that you would find out that you had killed her. She didn’t dare to say a single word and wanted to die far away from you, afraid that you would be sad…”

“You seduced her, and then you killed her with your own hands. How cruel!”

A sharp pain came from her heart. Mo Jiangxue’s face was as pale as paper, and her whole body was trembling. The sound of her qin was in a mess, and with two sharp notes, the “Jue,” “Zhi,” and “Yu” strings of the Ninth Heaven Qin snapped.

The strings were broken, and the rhythm was scattered. It was difficult to form a melody. She spat out a mouthful of blood, and her chest ached so much she could barely breathe.

Seeing her on the verge of collapse, Yan Ling let out another loud laugh, as if she had seen the most comical scene in the world. “Saving all living things? Look at you now, your hands are stained with the blood of your fellow Daoists, you have killed your own disciple with your own hands, and the people you have saved have locked you out of the city gate. Not a single person is willing to open the gate to save you! What kind of all living things are you saving?”

Xie Qingzheng knelt on the ground, held her head in pain, and did not dare to listen to the sound of the qin, did not dare to look at Mo Jiangxue’s reaction. She wailed, “Don’t—don’t do this to her—”

“Open the gate! You open the gate—”

No! No!

How could it be like this? The defensive array was to defend against the demons of the demonic cult. How did it become to defend against their own people? Why didn’t they open the city gate? Why didn’t they let her in? Why did they leave her outside to suffer this torment alone?

Exorcising demons and defending the Dao, saving all living things? What did all her persistence count for?

Dark clouds suddenly gathered in the night sky, and lightning flashed and thunder roared. The black clouds rolled, and raindrops began to fall.

Mo Jiangxue looked at this strange celestial phenomenon, as if she had sensed something. She wiped the blood from the corner of her lips and stood up in a daze.

She held Xie Qingzheng’s Shenshang Sword in her hand and staggered towards the pile of bodies. She turned them over one by one, but she still did not find Xie Qingzheng’s figure.

Yan Ling followed behind her. “Painful? It’s alright. It will be over soon. I have won. This time, I have won! From now on, we are of the same path. I will protect you!”

Mo Jiangxue said nothing.

Yan Ling said madly, “Now only I can save you! Only I!”

“You beg me, beg me, and I will save your life. As long as you speak, I can immediately return to the original form of the Yuheng Cauldron. I am the only one missing, and the Soul-Gathering Lamp can be combined.”

“Beg me!”

“Quickly beg me for mercy!”

Mo Jiangxue, as if she had not heard, completely ignored Yan Ling’s existence.

Yan Ling could not stand this coolness and indifference. Even hating her was better than ignoring her. She smiled sinisterly and waved her folding fan at Mo Jiangxue.

The scenes of her losing control and killing people just now appeared in her mind one by one. After a moment, Mo Jiangxue’s eyes were no longer bewildered, but were filled with an indescribable despair and sorrow.

The rain fell on her, mixed with the tears on her face. She shivered, and in an instant, she felt incomparably cold.

She looked at the Shenshang Sword in her hand, turned the blade, and pointed it at her own abdomen. She stabbed it in cleanly, and then pulled it out with another sword strike. Then it was her left shoulder blade, her arm… and finally, her heart.

She had stabbed Xie Qingzheng as many times as she had stabbed herself with the Shenshang Sword.

She used her own life, a blood debt to be paid with blood.

The smile on Yan Ling’s face froze.

The black clouds turned to ink, and a strong wind rose, rolling up the yellow sand and forming a series of whirlpools. In the night sky, the lightning and thunder grew more and more dense. Suddenly, a few flashes of lightning struck down, landing right in the whirlpool.

A wave of malevolent qi rolled in. Mo Jiangxue pulled the sword from her chest and staggered forward.

This was the celestial phenomenon of someone falling into the demonic path…

After walking two steps, Mo Jiangxue collapsed to the ground, in the mud, and the blood mingled with the rainwater, a field of scarlet. Her body could no longer feel any pain. Her vision was dark, with only flashes of lightning and clusters of karmic fire.

The last flash of lightning struck. On the great desert, the karmic fire shot into the sky, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day. At the same time, the karmic fire burned, destroying the barrier, and rushed towards the city gate, burning the dozens of people on the city wall into charred bones.

The cultivators who had not been burned by the flames fled in all directions. On the city wall, screams erupted, and it was a mess.

In the midst of the firelight, a young girl’s figure gradually took shape. She knelt before the Ninth Heaven Qin, two lines of bloody tears on her face.

She took off the last two strings that had not yet broken, and with a flick of her wrist, the qin strings were wrapped around Yan Ling’s neck, and she tightened them bit by bit.

A sharp pain came from her throat. Yan Ling’s face was pale, and a crimson liquid dripped down. Just as she thought she was about to have her throat cut by the qin strings, Xie Qingzheng flicked her wrist again and withdrew the qin strings.

“To die like this is too easy for you, Yan Ling. I will cut the flesh from your body, piece by piece.”

Author’s Note:

The late Sect Master Xie: QAQ My obedient and cute daughter is gone.

The disheartened and heartbroken master: I will never enter the world again.

The fallen Little Xie: I will kill, kill, kill! Both the righteous and demonic paths