Uncanny Immortal 95

Chapter 95

The temperature difference between day and night in the great desert was extreme. At night, gusts of cold wind blew, the chill piercing to the bone. Xie Qingzheng had lived on Ethereal Peak for many years and was accustomed to the cold environment, so she felt alright. But once it was daytime, the heat was steaming, as if she were walking in a giant steamer, making her consciousness hazy.

The yellow sand under her feet was soft, firm, and a little hot. As she walked, she seemed to have transformed into a grain of silent yellow sand. From time to time, some strange and bizarre illusions would appear before her eyes—

A pagoda soaring into the blue sky, a city wall stretching for six or seven li, a bustling marketplace…

In the deserted great desert, where would there be a pagoda, a city wall, or a marketplace?

These illusions looked too strange and terrifying, like ghouls who were skilled at weaving illusions to lure mortals closer.

Xie Qingzheng always felt that in the next moment, those “people” would gouge out their eyeballs, break off their own heads, and float over to swallow them in one bite.

Although her spiritual energy was limited, she still had many evil-exorcising talismans on her. Hmph, such terrifying and harmful evil spirits must be eliminated as soon as possible.

Xie Qingzheng held a talisman and, the moment she got close, the illusion instantly disappeared without a trace.

Was it afraid of her?

She turned a few circles in a daze, not sensing a single bit of malevolent qi. Only then did she belatedly realize: perhaps she had encountered the “mirage” recorded in the Astronomical Annals.

Alright… it was not bad to have a mirage to look at. It was better than having only the vast yellow sand in sight…

Xie Qingzheng sighed, put away the talisman, and continued to walk in the desert with Mu Qingdai on her back.

The wind blowing across her face carried a dry, stuffy heat. The outlines of the distant sand dunes changed with the wind, sometimes gentle, sometimes steep.

As she walked, Xie Qingzheng suddenly saw a figure in the distance: a white veiled hat, a jade qin on her back, as graceful as a startled swan, standing on the top of a pagoda, as if looking out at the four corners of the wilderness.

This figure was very far away from her, but she was extremely familiar with it.

In an instant, her chest pounded.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, the clear sound of her heartbeat echoed in her ears. Xie Qingzheng’s throat was dry, and her eyes were red. She broke into a run, heading in the direction of the figure.

How could Master be here? Is she looking for me? I must have made her worry!

Xie Qingzheng was carrying Mu Qingdai on her back, and the heavy body slowed her down. She hesitated for a moment but did not choose to put her down. She continued to run forward with the person on her back. After running for some distance, she was a little out of breath. And having seen a familiar person, her emotions were in a turmoil. In her panic, her knees went weak, and she fell to the ground.

She had eaten another mouthful of sand!

“Pah, pah! Pah!” She haphazardly spat out the sand in her mouth, quickly got up, and when she looked closely again, her whole body froze.

That extremely familiar figure had disappeared.

Just like the mirages that appeared and disappeared, it had appeared strangely and had disappeared strangely. In her line of sight, there was only the vast yellow sand.

Her heart full of joy was extinguished in an instant. Xie Qingzheng licked her dry lower lip, and her nose tingled. She only felt her vision go black for a moment, and a sweet, fishy taste spread in her chest and throat, like rusty iron.

She raised her hand to rub her red eyes and, with the person on her back, continued to walk forward, step by step.

Her master was right. Her reliance was really too heavy…

They had only been separated for ten days, and she was already on the verge of tears.

Ten days ago, she had followed Elder Jin out to exorcise evil spirits. Besides fulfilling her sect’s duty, she had also had a bit of an avoidant thought in her heart. She thought, I can’t always be so reliant on my master. If one day, the evil curse on my master is broken, and I still haven’t let go of these feelings, then I can only leave my master, leave far away, and never disturb her again.

She wanted to get used to the days without her master by her side in advance. Who would have thought that they would be separated for so long…

Xie Qingzheng sighed heavily.

The sky gradually darkened. As usual, she found a small, sheltered sand dune, put down Elder Mu, fed her pills and water, and then lit a fire talisman for light and warmth.

She had no spiritual energy to heal Elder Mu’s external and internal injuries and could only rely on pills to sustain her life.

Mu Qingdai’s cultivation was profound. With those spirit pills and elixirs, her consciousness also became clearer day by day. She was not a very pleasant person to talk to, and she did not like Xie Qingzheng, so even when she was awake, she did not say much to her. She just struggled to get off Xie Qingzheng’s back and limped forward on her own.

Xie Qingzheng let her walk slowly. When she fainted from the scorching sun, she would put her on her back again and even learn her tone, saying sarcastically, “Elder Mu, why are you still trying to be strong?”

To be sarcastic and mock others was against Xie Qingzheng’s nature, but seeing Elder Mu in a difficult position, seeing her like a cat with its claws removed, her expression annoyed, yet without a trace of the ability to fight back, a bit of a secret joy arose in her heart. Who was it that had bullied her as a child?

For a proud and self-respecting person like her, to be saved by the person she hated most, this feeling was really more uncomfortable than eating a fly.

This night, after Mu Qingdai had taken the pill, her consciousness gradually cleared.

She looked at the stars in the night sky, rolled her eyes, sat up, and asked coldly, “How many days have you been walking?”

Xie Qingzheng said, “Seven days.” She had been walking for seven days and still hadn’t gotten out of this ghost place.

Mu Qingdai’s tone was not good, and she said sternly, “Haven’t you noticed that you’ve been to this place before!”

Xie Qingzheng looked around and said in surprise, “H-have I? The sand dunes here all look the same…”

Mu Qingdai’s face showed a look of anger. She closed her eyes and said nothing, as if she were holding back her anger.

Xie Qingzheng: “Then have we encountered a ghost wall?”

Mu Qingdai still said nothing.

Xie Qingzheng thought to herself: This Elder Mu is really easy to get angry. She’s not like my master at all…

However, they both had one thing in common: they didn’t like to talk to people when they were angry.

Sigh, it seemed that no one liked to talk to people when they were angry. Thinking of this, Xie Qingzheng smiled faintly.

The moment Mu Qingdai opened her eyes, she saw Xie Qingzheng smiling there, as if she were not afraid of death. She glared at her and said in a cold voice, “What time is it, and you can still laugh?”

Xie Qingzheng said softly, “Then not laughing won’t solve the problem either.”

Besides, she had thought of her own master. What was wrong with smiling a little?

Mu Qingdai’s face was not good. She held it in and held it in. At this moment, a whimpering sound suddenly came from behind the sand dune.

Hearing the sound, the two of them both held the weapons at their waists at the same time.

In this vast desert, although there were no people, there were many snakes, scorpions, and yin spirits, such as passersby who had starved or died of thirst, merchants who had been murdered for their money, and soldiers who had died on the border…

Xie Qingzheng drew her personal sword, held the sword in one hand, and a ghost-immobilizing talisman in the other. She leaned out and slowly approached the whimpering sound.

“Don’t kill me, don’t kill me… sir… spare my life… my child is only one year old and can’t be without his mother…” The female ghost suddenly turned her head and, seeing the weapon in her hand, she actually shrank back in fear.

Another ghost who thought she was still alive.

Hearing her mention her child, Xie Qingzheng felt a sense of pity, sheathed her sword, slapped the immobilization talisman on her, immobilized her, and asked, “Where are you from?”

“The Wumo Kingdom, I am from the Wumo Kingdom…”

Wumo Kingdom… she had never heard of this name. It was probably some ancient kingdom that had been destroyed by the Central Plains dynasty…

“Why don’t you go home?”

“My home is full of soldiers from the Central Plains, killing people… don’t kill me… sir…”

Xie Qingzheng carefully observed the female ghost and saw a saber wound on her neck, as if she had been killed with one blow. It seemed this person had been dead for at least ten years.

Xie Qingzheng said with a pleasant expression, “Which direction is your home? If it’s on the way, I’ll take you back. With me here, those soldiers won’t dare to kill you.”

Take her home, and by the way, send her back to the cycle of reincarnation.

The female ghost pointed to the east.

Xie Qingzheng: “Just right. I also have to go east, but I can’t seem to get out.”

The female ghost said, “You have to go from the Wumo Kingdom to get back to the east…”

Xie Qingzheng turned to look at Mu Qingdai. “Elder, what do you think?”

When it was time to be respectful, she would still respect her senior.

Mu Qingdai brought the flute to her lips, and a sharp sound of the flute cut through the night sky, soaring into the clouds. The Rebirth tune could actually be played with such a murderous aura…

This was truly the most murderous rebirth tune Xie Qingzheng had ever heard in her life, a world of difference from her master’s peaceful and indifferent qin sound.

The female ghost’s figure slowly faded and finally disappeared completely in the desert. Mu Qingdai put away her flute and snorted coldly. “Just send her directly into the cycle of reincarnation. Why waste so much time with an evil spirit!”

Xie Qingzheng: “She looked like a timid ghost. I just wanted to take her with me and chat a little, to ask about the situation in that Wumo Kingdom.”

Mu Qingdai stood with her hands behind her back. “No need to ask her. I know those things. I don’t like to have these evil spirits around me!”

She had fought with the Ten Directions Domain for many years and naturally knew everything about the wildlands.

Xie Qingzheng: “Alright, alright. I’ll listen to you.”

The two Mu sisters were both masters who acted according to their personal preferences. It was useless to say more. Xie Qingzheng turned and went back to the bonfire, but Mu Qingdai still stood where she was.

Xie Qingzheng sensed that she had not followed and turned back to ask, “Elder, what’s wrong now?”

Mu Qingdai said nothing, her gaze fixed on a person standing on a distant sand dune.

Xie Qingzheng followed her gaze and saw that the person’s straight figure was cast in a long shadow by the moonlight.

The night wind blew, carrying a chill and sand, and it blew against her cheeks. Her whole body froze, and she stared at the figure, afraid that in the next moment, the figure would disappear like a mirage.

Someone beside her asked coldly, “Aren’t you going to go over?”

Xie Qingzheng said in a hoarse voice, “I saw it yesterday too, but it was a mirage, not a real person. It disappeared when I got close.”

Mu Qingdai said, “That thing only appears during the day, not at night.”

As her words fell, Xie Qingzheng, like an arrow from a bow, broke into a run towards the sand dune.

The person on the sand dune also walked towards her with light steps. When she reached her, a step away, she stopped, and through her veil, she looked at her, waiting for her to pounce.

As expected, she was pounced on, and was even pushed back a step.

Mo Jiangxue steadied herself and immediately stood firm, reaching out to hug Xie Qingzheng in return.

Xie Qingzheng’s hands were tightly wrapped around Mo Jiangxue’s neck, and she kept murmuring, “Master, Master…”

Her master was wearing a veil, and she couldn’t see her face, but her embrace was cool and soft, and her breath was full of the cool scent of plum blossoms. She was so happy she couldn’t say it, and she didn’t know how to express it. She really wished she could grow a tail and wag it at her, so that she would know how happy she was at this moment.

Mu Qingdai watched from afar. Under the moonlight, the master and disciple were hugging each other tightly and did not let go for a long time. She suddenly thought of the Sword Discussion Arena, where this master and disciple had been looking at each other, their gazes so sticky. She immediately got goosebumps again.

The wind and sand grew stronger. Mo Jiangxue heard the sound of the howling wind in the distance, gently pushed Xie Qingzheng away, and carefully tucked in her collar to prevent the wind and sand from getting in. She said indifferently, “Don’t avoid me anymore.”

There was not much time left. They had to cherish the time they had together.

Because of this sentence, a stormy sea was stirred in Xie Qingzheng’s heart. But before she could ask, the wind roared in her ears, and the wind, carrying the yellow sand, came from all directions, hitting her in the face, and her body ached slightly.

She opened her mouth, but she could not say a word, only eating a mouthful of sand.

Mo Jiangxue took off the white veiled hat from her own head and put it on Xie Qingzheng’s, tying it for her.

In the vast yellow sand, her master’s expression was calm, her dark hair and white clothes dancing in the wind, still a picture of cool and otherworldly grace. Xie Qingzheng wanted to give the white veiled hat back to her master, but her master held her down, shook her head to signal her not to take it off, and then transmitted her voice to her, “I can still use some spiritual energy.”

Her cultivation was higher than hers, and she was less restricted. She could still circulate the spiritual energy in her body to resist the wind and sand.

Xie Qingzheng adjusted the veiled hat and did not refuse. Mo Jiangxue took her hand and walked towards Mu Qingdai.

Author’s Note:

We’re going to go on another adventure together.

Xie: I pounce.

Mo: I hug.

Mu: Ugh, get away.