Uncanny Immortal 49

Chapter 49

At first, it was just a bone-chilling coldness on her skin, silently seeping into every pore. Then the cold began to spread along her blood vessels, wrapping around her limbs and bones, causing her whole body to tremble uncontrollably.

The street was crowded with people. Her vision gradually blurred. She could only circulate her spiritual energy, trying her best to resist the cold in her body.

She clenched her hands, her knuckles turning white from the effort. A warm body pressed against her, took her by the wrist, and transferred warm true qi to her, then carried her horizontally.

She said in a low voice, “Don’t go back to the manor… go outside the city…”

There were too many people in the manor. She didn’t want to expose her physical condition.

Xie Qingzheng hummed in acknowledgment, held Mo Jiangxue tightly in her arms, and sped towards the outside of the city.

The weather was not cooperative. The sky suddenly darkened, and layers of dark clouds rolled in, as if a downpour was imminent.

Xie Qingzheng remembered seeing an abandoned, dilapidated temple outside the city on their way. She immediately carried Mo Jiangxue and flew towards the abandoned temple.

The moment she stepped into the main hall, she heard a few loud rumbles from outside. She turned to look. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, the sky was dim, and then large drops of rain began to fall.

The wind and rain were heavy, and the gale blew. The person in her arms seemed to be trembling even more.

Xie Qingzheng closed the wooden door of the abandoned temple and then took off her outer robe, placing it on a worn-out cattail hassock.

Mo Jiangxue’s lips were bloodless. She sat cross-legged on the hassock, her body still trembling slightly. She regulated her breathing, focused her mind, and circulated her internal energy to suppress the backlash of the curse in her body. Her face was ashen, then turned red, then ashen again. Then, a cold qi rose from the top of her head, and cold sweat poured down.

Xie Qingzheng took an incense burner and lit an ever-bright talisman. The blazing flame illuminated their faces.

She bit her fingertip and, using her blood as a medium and her hand as a brush, drew a circular curse array on the ground around Mo Jiangxue.

This was an ice-breaking array she had learned from a book on arrays. It was originally used by Xuanmen disciples to melt ice and snow. Standing on the array, the heat was intense. Although it couldn’t suppress Mo Jiangxue’s cold poison from the inside out, it could temporarily make her feel a little warmer.

After drawing the array, she had consumed a great deal of spiritual energy and blood. Xie Qingzheng stood up, her vision went black for a moment, and her hands were also trembling uncontrollably.

She turned to look at her master. Her master’s body was no longer trembling, and her lips had also turned a little redder.

She had been worried that the cold and heat poison in her master’s body would backlash, so she had rehearsed these steps in her mind countless times, just in case.

After doing all this, Xie Qingzheng sat behind Mo Jiangxue and transferred her spiritual energy to her to help her get through the backlash of the cold poison.

An unknown amount of time passed. The sound of a sword cutting through the air suddenly came from outside the temple. Xie Qingzheng’s eyes flew open, and her heart chilled. Friend or foe? Are they here to take shelter from the rain? Or are they after them and the Tianxuan Sword?

She released her spiritual sense to probe, but the next moment, her spiritual sense was blocked.

She saw nothing. The newcomer’s cultivation was much higher than hers.

Her master was in the middle of circulating her energy to heal, her life hanging by a thread. Xie Qingzheng’s heart leaped into her throat. She stood up, drew her sword, walked to the door, hesitated for a moment, and then unlatched the door.

The rain poured down from the eaves. A woman in a splendid brocade robe, her face covered by a golden mask, walked out of the rain and stood at the entrance.

She stood with her hands behind her back, not a drop of rain on her. Her thin lips were tightly pressed together, and the eyes under her mask were as deep as water.

Xie Qingzheng couldn’t tell if she was hostile, but she had a guess. “Sect Master Xie, did you have someone follow us?”

Seeing the suspicious look on her face, Xie Youke took a step closer and said calmly, “I just sent someone to see if Yun Yi had obediently left, and by the way, I saw your situation.”

Xie Qingzheng pointed her sword at her chest and asked in a low voice, “What do you want?”

Xie Youke’s lips curved. She asked with great interest, “To offer help in a time of need? Or to kick someone when they’re down? What do you think?”

Xie Qingzheng couldn’t guess her thoughts, said nothing, and stared at her warily.

Xie Youke raised her hand, held the sword with her fingers, and gently bent it. The blade curved, but she did not break it directly, only looking at Xie Qingzheng, a trace of sadness in her eyes, as if she had thought of something.

Xie Qingzheng was completely unaware and only said, “If you want to harm her, you’ll have to kill me first.”

Xie Youke said, “You’re willing to risk your life to protect her? It seems she treats you quite well.”

Xie Qingzheng said nothing.

Xie Youke said in a commanding tone, “Sheathe your sword.”

Xie Qingzheng still looked at her warily and did not sheathe her sword.

“I’m here to help her. Believe it or not.” Xie Youke made her intentions clear, let go of Xie Qingzheng’s sword, and took another step forward, the tip of the sword pressing against her chest.

Another step closer, and the blade would have hurt her.

Xie Qingzheng tightened her grip on the hilt, gritted her teeth, lowered her sword, and asked, “Sect Master Xie, what do you really want?”

“I want to help her.” Xie Youke glanced at the environment of the abandoned temple, walked to Mo Jiangxue’s side, and sat down cross-legged. “Go outside and set up a barrier. Don’t let anyone else get close.”

Xie Qingzheng looked at her, afraid that she would do something to Mo Jiangxue after she left. But then she thought, even if she really did do something now, could she stop her? No.

All she could do was die.

Her thoughts raced. Xie Qingzheng no longer doubted her. She bowed to Xie Youke, strode out of the abandoned temple, and set up a barrier in the rain.

Healing by circulating one’s energy was like meditating and refining one’s qi. The most taboo thing was external interference. If one was attacked from the outside, with the slightest carelessness, at best, all previous efforts would be wasted. At worst, one would suffer a qi deviation.

After setting up the barrier, Xie Qingzheng immediately returned to the hall. Seeing that Xie Youke was indeed transferring spiritual energy to Mo Jiangxue to heal her, she was a little relieved.

She walked over, sat down as well, and was about to cast a spell when Xie Youke said, “Keep that little bit of skill for yourself.”

She let out a soft snort, ignored Xie Youke, and still transferred her spiritual energy to her master.

She only listened to her master’s words. She didn’t care about what others said.

Half a shichen later, Xie Youke withdrew her palm. Mo Jiangxue opened her eyes, nodded slightly, and said, “Thank you.” Then her eyes closed again, and she fainted.

Xie Qingzheng quickly rushed over to catch her and let her lean against her.

The body in her arms was no longer as cold as a block of ice. Xie Qingzheng blew out the burning ever-bright talisman, reached out to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead and neck, and then destroyed the array on the ground.

To avoid overheating and triggering the backlash of the heat poison in her body.

Xie Youke stood to the side calmly, looking at the master and disciple with cold eyes, and asked Xie Qingzheng, “How did she get such an insidious curse?”

She had recognized it as a curse at a glance.

Xie Qingzheng said, “It was originally a curse on me. She helped to transfer it to herself.”

Xie Youke let out a cool “oh.” “No wonder you’re willing to risk your life to protect her. How did you get such an insidious curse?”

Xie Qingzheng shook her head. “If I knew, I would have gone and killed the person who cast the curse long ago.” She then asked Xie Youke, “Sect Master Xie, you’ve seen me as a child. Do you know my background? How did my mother really die? And how did the people of Wen Family Village die?”

Outside the abandoned temple, the rain poured down, and the sound of the rain was loud. Streaks of lightning flashed, illuminating the room, now bright, now dark.

Xie Youke looked down at her. “If you’ve forgotten, then you’ve forgotten. Why do you need to know so much? Forgetting may not be a bad thing.”

Xie Qingzheng blurted out, “Sect Master Xie, if you didn’t remember your past, if your important person’s life was in danger, would you still be so calm and say that if you’ve forgotten, then you’ve forgotten?”

The moment her words fell, she regretted it.

These were not words a junior should say. This was not something she would normally say.

She didn’t know why she dared to be so presumptuous in front of this person. She even wanted to say, “You are always so high and mighty. You never know how to put yourself in other people’s shoes and consider their feelings.” She had no idea where this impression came from.

Xie Youke’s eyes were angry. She raised her hand in a fluster and said, “Is this how you speak to an elder? Is this what Xiao Wangqing and Mo Jiangxue taught you?”

Fearing she would slap her, Xie Qingzheng shrank her neck.

Seeing this, Xie Youke lowered her hand, no longer looking at her, and said slowly, “It’s one thing for Yun Yi to speak to me like that, but you should be more polite. I can’t discipline her, but can’t I discipline you?”

Xie Qingzheng was quiet for a moment and then retorted softly, “Sect Master Xie, it was you who wanted me to stay at the Xuanji Sect back then… In what capacity are you disciplining me now? Are you disciplining your senior sister’s daughter? Or are you, as the head of the Xuanmen, disciplining a junior?”

Xie Youke raised her hand again. “Are you looking for a beating—”

Xie Qingzheng timidly shrank her neck again.

Xie Youke snorted coldly and lowered her hand. “I was the one who picked you up. I was the one who taught you the Myriad Manifestations Steps. When you were a child and had no milk to drink and were crying, I was the one who caught a mother goat to milk for you. Do you think I have the right to discipline you?”

What?!

Xie Qingzheng’s heart skipped a beat. She looked at Xie Youke, dumbfounded.

Xie Youke continued, “You and Xie Fuyun have no blood relation. You are not her biological daughter. Your biological parents were common people who died in the chaos of war. When you came out of your mother’s womb, your mother was already dead, and you were about to die on the roadside when I picked you up.”

Xie Qingzheng: “Th-th-then why did the elder of the Xuanji Sect say that I have Xie Fuyun’s bloodline flowing in me? And the Tianxuan Sword even acknowledged me as its master before?”

All her life, she had always regarded Xie Fuyun as her own biological mother.

Sect Master Xiao of the Xuanji Sect, and those elders, had all said that she was Xie Fuyun’s daughter. Elder Jin Suchen had even always said that like mother, like daughter, and that she would sooner or later become a scourge that would harm the righteous path.

But Sect Master Xie had said that she was not Xie Fuyun’s biological daughter at all.

Whose words should she believe?

Xie Youke said, “Because you died once. Xie Fuyun used the infant-refining evil art of the Ten Directions Domain, took half of her own qi and blood, and refined you back to life. However, she didn’t have good intentions in reviving you. She only had a few years left to live at that time. She went through all that trouble to revive you because she wanted to use your body to possess and be reborn in a few years.”

The more Xie Qingzheng listened, the more confused her mind became.

Was what Sect Master Xie said true?

She had always regarded Xie Fuyun as her own biological mother. She had spent countless nights trying to recall the blurry face in her mind, trying to picture her mother’s face.

Now, someone was telling her that not only was Xie Fuyun not her biological mother, but she had even wanted to possess her and be reborn in her body!

All of this was too chaotic, too subversive of her understanding…

Xie Youke continued, “Don’t investigate the matter of Wen Family Village anymore. Knowing too much is not good for you. You are an anomaly, with no surname in the three mountains, no name in the ghost pass. You should not exist in this world. You only have this one life. If you die, you cannot be reincarnated. Live well.”

With that, her gaze fell on Mo Jiangxue’s Ninth Heaven Qin. “Give me the Tianxuan Sword under the qin. When I have combined the Soul-Gathering Lamp, I will also help the person in your arms to break the curse.”

Hearing the words “Tianxuan Sword,” Xie Qingzheng’s mind cleared for a moment. She pressed her hand on the qin strings and said firmly, “I don’t know if what you said is true or false, but this is something from the Xuanji Sect. I am now a person of the Xuanji Sect. I cannot give it to you.”

She couldn’t help but be suspicious: Is she after the Tianxuan Sword, deliberately saying these heart-striking things to throw me into a mess, just like how she treated Yun Yi last night…

Xie Qingzheng asked, “Are you telling the truth? Or are you lying?”

Xie Youke said, “What I said is indeed your background. It’s up to you whether you can accept it or not.”

Xie Qingzheng said, “Then how did Xie Fuyun die later? Why was her soul scattered? Didn’t she want to use my body to possess and be reborn?”

Xie Youke said coldly, “I don’t know. I raised you with her until you were years old. I didn’t want her to do such a harmful thing as body-snatching, so she took you away, and I couldn’t find her. She probably suffered a backlash from cultivating evil arts. Hmph, I told her long ago not to practice those evil arts. She just wouldn’t listen. She brought it on herself!”

Xie Qingzheng was a little angry. “She was your senior sister. It’s one thing for others to speak ill of her, but why do you hate her so much?”

For some reason, she just didn’t believe that Xie Fuyun was a bad person.

Xie Youke said, “Because I know her better than you do. She killed our master, implicated the Tianshu Sect’s reputation, consorted with the demonic evils of the demonic cult, and cultivated the evil path. For all these things, death is not enough.”

Xie Qingzheng said, “Sect Master Xie, perhaps she had some hidden difficulties. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. Have you never tried to put yourself in her shoes and consider her feelings and thoughts? Have you never asked her? You grew up with her. You should know best whether she was good or bad. And, the Soul-Calming Pearl you gave to Manor Lord Yun, who was it originally for? Your master? Or your senior sister?”

As the words fell, another pale flash of lightning streaked across.

Xie Qingzheng, by that flash of light, looked at Xie Youke’s face and saw that the half of her face under the mask was also pale, as if without a trace of blood.

She said in a cold voice, “What do you know? The rice you’ve eaten is not as much as the salt I’ve eaten, yet you dare to speak so presumptuously in front of me.”

Xie Qingzheng retorted softly, “That’s right, 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.”

“A little brat who knows nothing. Why am I wasting my breath on you here…” Xie Youke shot her a look, then shook her head, and walked out of the abandoned temple alone, like a lone soul, disappearing into the pouring rain.

Xie Qingzheng let out a small sigh of relief and withdrew her hand from the Ninth Heaven Qin.

Her learning ability had always been very good. It was just heart-striking words. Who couldn’t say a few?

Although they had only met a few times, she seemed to understand the other’s temperament. And it was precisely because she understood that she knew what words could hurt the most.

After Xie Youke left, only the sound of the pouring rain was left in the abandoned temple.

Xie Qingzheng held Mo Jiangxue tightly in her arms and recalled her own life.

Orphaned at a young age, blind, with a strange illness. Overnight, she had learned that the villagers who had raised her were ghosts. Amnesia. A curse…

In truth, she rarely pitied herself. Her mentality was quite good, and she didn’t feel that her life was that bitter. She even felt that she was quite lucky. She just occasionally envied others for having family.

But today, she was really confused.

She had always wanted to know her background. She wanted to find out the cause of her mother’s and the Wen Family villagers’ deaths, to know why she had lost her memory, and why she had a curse on her.

But today, someone had suddenly told her that her so-called mother was not her biological mother at all, and that she was a tool for her “mother’s” body-snatching.

Whether it was true or false, in any case, it was quite heartbreaking…

Xie Qingzheng thought back to what Xie Youke had said, and then to her own heart-striking words. Slowly, her eyes turned red, and an uncontrollable feeling of guilt and sorrow welled up in her heart. The image of that back, walking alone in the heavy rain, lingered in her mind.

Could it be that those were words that Sect Master Xie usually had no one to say to, and that was why she had said them to her today? And not only had she not sided with her, but she had also been defiant at every turn, as if she were certain that she would not harm her.

How presumptuous…

This kind of presumption and certainty was like saving one’s good temper for outsiders and one’s bad temper for family, certain that family would tolerate them, and that no matter what hurtful words were said or what hurtful things were done, they would quickly be forgiven…

Xie Qingzheng carefully put down Mo Jiangxue in her arms, hurried out of the abandoned temple, and ran into the rain, wanting to find Xie Youke and say, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that to you. Let’s talk properly again.” But the rain was heavy. Where could she find her?

Xie Qingzheng returned to the abandoned temple, dejected.

She was soaking wet, like a drowned rat. Just as she was about to cast a spell to dry her clothes and then go and hold Mo Jiangxue, she saw that Mo Jiangxue had already opened her eyes and was leaning against a pillar, quietly looking at her.

She smiled, but her eyes were still red. “Master, you’re finally awake. Are you better?”

Mo Jiangxue nodded. “Much better.” She then added, “I’m a little cold. Come here.”

Xie Qingzheng circulated her spiritual energy, dried her clothes, and walked over, kneeling by her side. “I’ll block the wind for you. I’ll light a fire.” With that, she lit another ever-bright talisman and placed it in the incense burner.

The flickering firelight made the tear tracks on her face particularly clear. Mo Jiangxue raised her hand to wipe them away and asked softly, “What are you crying so sadly for?”

People are so contrary. If no one comforts them, they don’t feel so bad. But if someone comforts them a little, their grievance does not decrease but increases, and seven parts of sadness will turn into ten.

Moreover, her master’s tone today was exceptionally gentle. She couldn’t control the flutter in her heart. She wanted to stay away, to keep her distance, but she was immersed in this gentleness and was reluctant to leave.

Just this once, she thought, she would let herself be indulgent.

She took her master’s hand and affectionately rubbed her cheek against the back of her hand.

Her master’s hand was cool and smooth, but her fingers had a thin layer of calluses from playing the qin all year round.

Mo Jiangxue did not withdraw her hand. She looked at Xie Qingzheng and asked her, “Did Sect Master Xie bully you?”

Xie Qingzheng did not answer, her eyes sad. She asked, “Can you hug me?”

Mo Jiangxue hesitated for a moment and then slightly opened her arms.

Xie Qingzheng smiled and gently hugged her, her warm body pressing against the cold one.

She wrapped her arms around her master’s waist and hid in her embrace, like a rain-soaked bird hiding under the eaves. She said softly, “Your kindness to me is the purest.”

She repeated Xie Youke’s words, one by one, to her master.

Author’s Note:

Sect Master Xie: Master is dead. Senior sister is dead. The daughter I raised as a child has grown up, doesn’t recognize me, and even defends an outsider, turning her sword on me and saying some heart-striking things… (continues to have her defenses broken)

Mo: Is that so? She never says heart-striking things to me. She’s very gentle, very considerate, very sensible, and now she’s even learned to be coquettish.

Little Xie: Sigh, I clearly don’t remember anything, but I feel so guilty for saying that to Sect Master Xie… Eh, Master is so gentle today. I’ll be indulgent… just one hug, just this once… (in the future) once more, and again…