Uncanny Immortal 128

Chapter 128

Gu Hongying of the Tianshu Sect hated the evil path the most, and Xie Youke was naturally the same, as could be seen from her youth.

The evil path, if it fell into her hands, what good end could there be?

In the tent, the young girl, with her hair disheveled and in a red robe, had the Shenshang Sword hanging from her waist and the emerald-green Yanyu Xiao in her hand. She stood in the center of the soul-summoning array, her gaze warily sweeping over the cultivators in the tent.

The sword cultivators of the Tianshu Sect had stern expressions. They all stood up, their longswords in hand, and seven cold lights pointed at her. The qin cultivators of the Xuanji Sect had complicated expressions, their ten fingers on the strings, ready to strike.

Xie Qingzheng looked around and said, “Are you also going to kill me?”

On the battlefield between the righteous and demonic paths, she had also fought side by side with these people. Now, these people saw her as a demon and pointed their swords at her.

The Xuanmen talismans pasted in the room, she had once used them with ease. Now, they had all become weapons to restrain her.

Xie Youke’s expression was stern, and she aimed her feathered arrow at her.

Xie Qingzheng’s gaze fell on the bow and arrow.

The bowstring and the arrow shaft were both made of special materials, specially used to deal with an evil demon like her.

Demon-breaking, purifying, sealing…

Which one would it be?

No one answered her question. After a moment of silent confrontation, Xie Youke drew her bowstring to its fullest, but she did not shoot the arrow for a long time.

She just looked at Xie Youke with a blank expression.

At this time, Xie Youke suddenly said, “You all go out first.”

The cultivators of the Tianshu Sect all looked at Xie Youke and tried to dissuade her:

“Sect Master, be careful! Her malevolent qi is too heavy. She is definitely not an ordinary ghost!”

“Sect Master! She has just taken shape and is at her weakest. If we don’t suppress her now, she will surely cause a great disaster in the future!”

After a person died, if their soul did not disperse, it would be a “ghost.” According to the malevolent qi and ability after death, the cultivation world divided the levels of ghosts into “wandering soul,” “resentful spirit,” “vengeful ghost,” and “fallen demon.”

A “wandering soul” almost never did evil. Some didn’t even remember their own names and wandered the mortal world in a daze. They could be delivered.

A “resentful spirit” had an obsession and resentment at the time of death and was unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation. It was easy for them to be fierce and harm people. They would only be reincarnated after their obsession had been resolved.

A “vengeful ghost,” like Jiang Ran of Dutou Village, had at least ten human lives on its hands. If its resentment could be purified, it could also be delivered. If it could not be purified, it would either be directly scattered or be suppressed for a few decades until its resentment had dissipated, and then it would be delivered.

The last level, “fallen demon,” was extremely rare. In the Xuanmen classics, there were only three recorded “fallen demons,” and each one had caused a bloodbath in the cultivation world and had in the end been jointly attacked by the cultivation world and had had their souls scattered. Just like a cultivator’s ascension tribulation, the formation of a “fallen demon” was often accompanied by a “transformation lightning tribulation.” A deep resentment was enough to withstand forty-nine lightning tribulations before it could successfully take shape.

The first seven days after its successful transformation were when its strength was at its weakest.

Xie Youke ordered, “Get out!”

The group did not dare to say any more. They glanced at Xie Qingzheng and cautiously retreated from the tent.

Only the two of them were left in the tent. Xie Youke stared at Xie Qingzheng and said, “Zheng’er, come back to the Tianshu Sect with me. I will help you.”

Before, she had said this to Xie Fuyun. Now, she was saying it to Xie Qingzheng.

Before, she really could not protect Xie Fuyun, but times were different now. She would never let the person before her, like Xie Fuyun, have her soul scattered.

A sinister smile appeared on Xie Qingzheng’s lips, and a malevolent qi arose in her heart. “Help me? You mean to discipline me, to suppress me? Or to kill me with one arrow? Didn’t you say that you would rather see me die than see me enter the demonic path? Now that I have really become an evil demon, you can kill me.”

Xie Youke said, “Don’t be like this.”

“Like what? Xie Youke, when I needed you, you were never there. When I was protecting myself and taking revenge, you came out to interfere! Yes, you are of the righteous path, you are the head of the Xuanmen, and I am an evil demon. It is only right for you to eliminate me! But if I don’t become a demon, am I supposed to wait for you to save me? I had hoped so much that you would come at that time!”

She had always been gentle, protected under Mo Jiangxue’s wing, and her temperament was so kind it was a little naive. The her of before would not have been so rude as to call her by her name directly, let alone say these aggressive words.

The knuckles of Xie Youke’s hand holding the bow turned white. After a moment of silence, she said softly, “I’m sorry for not being able to make it in time.”

She had protected many people, but she had always failed to protect the ones she cared about most.

Xie Qingzheng was taken aback.

She had been prepared to be criticized and scolded, but what she got was her bowing her head and apologizing.

She had always been high and mighty. Only others had ever said this to her. When had she ever been heard to bow her head and say sorry?

It wasn’t her fault at all. What could she be blamed for?

Who would have thought that Yan Ling was the Yuheng Cauldron, the last spirit artifact they were looking for? Who could have predicted that the people guarding the city would lock Mo Jiangxue out of the city gate and watch as she was surrounded by poison corpses and forced to her death by Yan Ling?

Xie Youke then said softly, “I’m sorry for what I said to you before.”

The malevolent qi in her heart dissipated a little. Xie Qingzheng shook her head, and her tone softened. “Sect Master Xie, you really are… you always wait until someone is dead before you know how to say some soft words. What’s the use?”

She had fought her way out of Yehuo Cheng. She had used the karmic fire to burn those people to death. She herself had also died, and her soul had even fallen into the demonic path, never to be reincarnated.

She could never go back.

She could only walk this path to the end. There was no other choice. Only this path could allow her to protect herself and take revenge.

Xie Youke looked at the pale body on the ground and said nothing.

Xie Qingzheng also looked at her own physical body on the ground and reminded her, “Sect Master Xie, you must preserve my physical body well and irrigate it with a bowl of fresh human blood every day.”

Xie Youke said, “It’s useless. You cannot be revived a second time. Even if the Soul-Gathering Lamp is combined, it cannot help you.”

Xie Qingzheng shook her head and said, “It’s not me who is to be revived. You will understand if you use the soul-chasing art to probe the spiritual sea of my physical body.”

In her spiritual sea was a wisp of a residual soul protected by spiritual energy, Xie Fuyun’s residual soul, which was very weak. If it weren’t for the addition of Tanluan’s spiritual energy, when she had fallen into the demonic path, that wisp of a residual soul would have almost been scattered by the forty-nine lightning tribulations.

Xie Youke did not move, and her eyes grew even more stern.

The malevolent qi in Xie Qingzheng’s heart arose again. “You don’t believe my words? Are you afraid I’ll take the opportunity to escape?”

Xie Youke said, “Even if you can control your killing intent now, over time, you will, like Xie Fuyun, have a great change in your state of mind and harm the innocent. I can only suppress you.”

Xie Qingzheng said, “Don’t suppress me! At least not now!”

Xie Youke was impassive. She drew her bowstring to its fullest, ready to strike, and the feathered arrow shone with a golden light.

Xie Qingzheng threatened, “Only I know the whereabouts of the Yuheng Cauldron! If you seal me, you will never be able to find the Yuheng Cauldron again!”

Xie Youke’s expression softened, but the hand holding the bowstring loosened.

A golden light rushed towards her.

Xie Qingzheng closed her eyes, and a golden feathered arrow grazed past her ear.

Xie Youke put down her bow and arrow.

In the end, Xie Youke did not seal her. She announced to the public that she was keeping her to “use a demon to control a demon, and to stop killing with killing.”

Anyone with discerning eyes could see that Xie Youke was intentionally protecting her. Due to the pressure of the Tianshu Sect, the various sects did not dare to say anything to her face, but behind her back, the controversy about Xie Youke grew larger and larger.

The physical bodies of the master and disciple were sent back to the Tianshu Sect by Xie Youke to be preserved.

Xie Qingzheng stayed in the wildlands, on the battlefield of the righteous path, but she only listened to Xie Youke’s orders. The other people of the righteous path could not command her.

Yan Ling had disappeared, and the Ten Directions Domain had no leader. On the battlefield, when the ghost cultivators met Xie Qingzheng, they were either burned to ashes by her karmic fire or devoured by her.

The more ghosts and monsters she devoured, the stronger her own power became. The side she was on was the side of an overwhelming victory.

The raging flames shot into the sky. She was in a red robe, with a sword and a xiao hanging from her waist. She walked in the midst of the firelight, killing gods and demons, and sweeping through all opposition.

She had fallen into the demonic path as a living soul. Her skin was originally fair, and after she had become a ghost, it was even paler than snow. Her body was filled with an unconcealable cold and gloomy qi, and the ghostly qi was so thick that even a spiritual cultivator three li away could see it. But her appearance was so beautiful, and her features were tinged with a bit of gloom and resentment, making her look even more profound than before, like a ghost and also like an immortal. Over time, she had earned the title “Ghost Immortal.”

After she had come down from the battlefield, Xie Qingzheng did not interact with anyone. She hid her presence and turned into a transparent ghost fire, floating towards the rear.

After the battle, the young cultivators of the various sects in the rear gathered together and discussed.

“How many people did she kill this time?”

“A ghost eating a ghost. It seems she has devoured them all…”

“She’s quite powerful.”

“She was already very powerful before she fell into the demonic path.”

A cultivator from Yuheng Palace spat, “What’s the use of being powerful? A demon is a demon! No matter how many evil spirits she kills, it cannot cover up the fact that her hands are stained with the blood of her fellow Daoists!”

Outside Yehuo Cheng, Xie Qingzheng had used the ghost fire to burn to death more than ten cultivators in one go. Those people were well-known on the righteous path. The moment they died, their masters, senior and junior martial sisters and brothers, and aunts and uncles all came out to make things difficult for her, cursing her as an evil demon, insane.

Xie Qingzheng thought to herself, It’s better for a sect to be lively. For someone like her, who has a single lineage, when something happens, there is no one to speak up for her.

Although there was no one to speak up for her, fortunately, the fellow disciples of the Xuanji Sect never made things difficult for her. Xiao Wangqing had even instructed a few of the senior sisters to often come and visit her and to recite some scriptures by her side to dissolve her evil energy..

Now she had indeed fallen into the demonic path. She had originally planned to ignore these idle words, but seeing that the cultivator who had spat at her was a little familiar, as if he were the alchemist who had been guarding Yehuo Cheng before, she couldn’t help but stop and listen to their complaints.

“What is this? Atonement?”

“Atonement, my ass! She has killed so many people. Has she apologized?”

“I don’t understand why we have to keep a demon in the army. We of the righteous path are not all dead!”

“Just treat her as a dog raised by Sect Master Xie!”

“Even if she is a dog, she is a mad dog. I think she will sooner or later harm the righteous path!”

“To think that I had once praised her, thinking that her cultivation was exquisite, and her character was first-rate, a rising star of the righteous path. It’s so disappointing!”

“To be in the company of such a demon is a disgrace!”

Xie Qingzheng listened silently.

Before, she had been of the righteous path, and everyone had praised her as a great master producing a great disciple, and that with time, she would surely become a role model for the Xuanmen, a beacon of the righteous path. Now that she had fallen into the demonic path, some had lamented her encounter, and some had regarded her as a flood or a fierce beast, and had avoided her. And some had hated her for killing her fellow disciples, so much that they wished her soul would be scattered.

She was now an evil demon. No matter what she did now, whether she laughed or cried, whether she sat or stood, in the eyes of these people, she was the shame of the righteous path, had ulterior motives, and was a great evil.

A sharp pain suddenly arose in her chest, and then a strong hatred arose.

Not only did she hate Yan Ling and the demonic path, but she also hated the righteous path, hated all people, and wished she could kill them all.

That strong hatred and anger even overshadowed the pain and despair.

What was righteous? What was evil? And why should she still stay in the righteous path?

A cultivator from Yuheng Palace snorted coldly. “She had better learn to tuck her tail between her legs and be a good dog from now on! And not kill the innocent anymore! Otherwise—”

“Otherwise what?”

Everyone was taken aback and looked towards the source of the sound. They saw a red-robed young girl quietly appear behind them. She held a cluster of karmic fire in her right palm, a sinister smile on her lips, and looked at them with cold eyes. “Otherwise, you will beat me until my soul is scattered?”

Those people immediately stood up, scattered, and seeing the karmic fire in her palm, they stared with wide eyes, drew their swords, and rebuked, “Stop! You have already fallen into the demonic path. Sect Master Xie has spared your life to atone for your sins. Do you want to continue to harm the innocent?!”

Xie Qingzheng sneered, and with a flick of her wrist.

In an instant, the karmic fire passed through, and a raging fire arose. Screams arose.

The firelight filled the sky, and one after another, the tents were burning. The clothes and hair of those people were on fire. Xie Qingzheng walked leisurely in the firelight with her hands behind her back, looking at the group of cultivators whose faces were contorted from the burning of the karmic fire and who were running around. She said with a calm and composed air, “When I was of the righteous path, you couldn’t beat me. Now that I have become an evil demon, you still can’t beat me. A bunch of trash.”

As her words fell, the sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air suddenly came from behind her. She turned around, and a sharp pain suddenly came from her chest.

She saw Xie Youke standing a hundred steps away, holding a golden bow, the bowstring still trembling.

She reached out and touched it. She felt a cold feathered arrow in her chest, the arrowhead deeply embedded in her heart, and she could not pull it out.

Xie Youke had still attacked her…

Her consciousness faded bit by bit. She did not look down at the arrow, but stared at Xie Youke, her lips trembling slightly, and she silently called out two words.

A ghost who had fallen into the demonic path, why should she still stay in the righteous path?

It was just that, before Yehuo Cheng, the moment she had abandoned her physical body and had fallen into the demonic path, she had remembered all of her past.

The person who had raised her as a child, the person she had called “Mother,” was still the head of the righteous path, so she had stayed…