Ji Wuxin’s corpse control techniques could be said to have reached the pinnacle of mastery.
He could be considered the supreme lord of the demonic path from five thousand years ago. The cultivation methods and secret manuals he left behind were certainly extremely powerful. But no matter how powerful, in that spiritually barren land of Changning Village, where one could only rely on eating tree roots to gain weak spiritual energy, Zhang Enning’s cultivation couldn’t make much progress within a year. His qualifications were considerably inferior to Qin Chuan’s—reaching the first level of Qi Refining would already be his good fortune.
And Zhang Enning at the first level of Qi Refining couldn’t escape, unless he happened not to be present.
Su Zhuyi thought for a moment, then asked, “What about that old tree at the village entrance? What did it look like when you saw it?”
Qin Chuan carefully recalled and honestly answered, “The old tree was gone too. That whole area had become a big pit, as if the ground had collapsed.”
Hearing these words, Su Zhuyi’s brows immediately furrowed tightly, creating a small crease between her eyebrows that made people’s hearts itch with affection and pity, wanting nothing more than to smooth away her anxiety for her. In his childhood, Qin Chuan had extremely admired his little master, believing that despite his young age, he possessed world-shaking abilities, was even more capable than the village chief, and had saved Changning Village. Even when the Feihong Sect disciples later said he had been manipulating things from the shadows, he didn’t believe it, because he remembered how his little master had been covered in blood at the time, limping and unable to stand straight, yet still fought against the living corpses and risked everything to save a child from the village.
At that time, the adults didn’t dare step forward and ignored even their children. It was his little master who led the living corpses away, allowing the child to be saved.
Later, when he was saved by him again in the seal, the image of him as a good person became irreversible in Qin Chuan’s heart. That good person had saved him and died in the process.
And now, he had become her.
The little master who had been good-looking since childhood had grown up to be stunningly beautiful. She was dressed very plainly and simply, her black hair like clouds without any ornaments, completely different from his fellow senior and junior sisters at the Yunxiao Sect. She wasn’t that kind of bright and dazzling beauty, but rather like mist over cold water and moonlight over sand—hazy and elegant, yet somehow making his heart beat wildly without reason.
Su Zhuyi had been a demoness before and quite enjoyed having men look at her with infatuated gazes. But now, when Qin Chuan was merely showing the first signs of admiration like a naive youth, she felt uncomfortable all over. Her face darkened, cold as frost, and she glanced at him with great intimidating power.
That one glance made Qin Chuan’s heart jump with alarm. The small ripples that had just risen in his heart were directly frozen into ice. He sensed her displeasure just now and immediately felt he had been presumptuous, silently lowering his head.
“The old tree collapsed into the ground, but it wasn’t burned into charcoal?”
“Was it the kind where it seemed like someone had uprooted it entirely?” Seeing him like this, Su Zhuyi continued asking.
Hearing Su Zhuyi’s description, Qin Chuan thought about it and realized that it was indeed the case. So he nodded and asked cautiously, “That’s exactly right. How did little master know? Could there be some key point that both my master’s and I overlooked?”
Su Zhuyi pursed her lips and sighed, “No, I just thought since it was a sacred tree, I hoped it could escape disaster.” Her eyes dimmed. “It would be great if it could grow legs and run away by itself.”
In her heart, she cursed herself for having a loose tongue and restless hands. She wanted to slap herself. She should have just honestly been a villain—why did she have to proudly say one more thing before leaving, and even carve her name on the tree, acting so ostentatiously?
That sacred tree had probably really run away!
It had grown legs and run!
But in such a short time, how could it possibly have grown legs and run? Plants had an even harder time cultivating than humans—without a hundred thousand years, it would be difficult to see much progress…
A sacred tree becoming sentient and growing legs to run away was impossible, yet it had happened.
Zhang Enning’s strength was so low that he clearly couldn’t have escaped, yet he seemed to have escaped, too.
Su Zhuyi was so shocked that she suddenly raised her head. Could it be that the sacred tree had sensed danger and, to grow legs and run away, had acknowledged Zhang Enning—the only person in Changning Village who had embarked on the cultivation path and gnawed on tree roots daily—as its master?
She suddenly wanted to curse. No, she had to go back and ask whether the destruction of the Feihong Sect was done by Qinghe.
“Little master, little master?” Seeing Su Zhuyi’s expression was wrong, Qin Chuan asked with some concern.
Su Zhuyi shook her head, “I’m fine. There’s still the sword competition tomorrow, so I’ll go back first. We’ll continue another day.”
“Alright, I’ll escort you.”
Su Zhuyi left the Crane Garden and returned to the room the Yunxiao Sect had arranged for the Gujian Sect. As soon as she entered, she discovered someone sitting inside.
“Oh, senior brother, you’re in my room. What are you planning to do?” If Su Zhuyi had to put on an act in front of others, in front of Qinghe, she showed her true colors completely. After all, they were similar types—there was no need to put on airs in front of someone of the same kind.
“Tomorrow’s competition—if you face Qin Chuan, don’t think about accidentally killing him.” Qinghe stared at Su Zhuyi and said coldly. He knew about Qin Jianglan’s stone tablet and had once asked who that person was. He also remembered Su Zhuyi’s answer. This person with the same name at the Yunxiao Sect was not the one carved on her tablet, carved in her heart.
The corner of Su Zhuyi’s mouth twitched. Qinghe saw things clearly and understood well.
She had restrained herself from acting today precisely because she had considered whether she could escape, but the martial arts platform was different. In sword fights, anything could happen. If she accidentally killed someone, or at the very least crippled his cultivation, even if the Yunxiao Sect was furious enough to jump up and down and wanted to dismember her, as a righteous famous sect, what could they do to her? She was a demonic cultivator who had spent her entire life struggling on the demonic path. Even though she had spent the last six hundred years at the Yunxiao Sect, she hadn’t gone anywhere, only staying on the Wangtian Tree. She felt that having an accident during martial arts competitions was all too easy. In Xueluo Sect disciple competitions, only one could survive. Finding a way to kill Qin Chuan, whose cultivation was inferior to hers, would not be difficult.
“There are barriers on the arena that won’t allow you to accidentally kill anyone.”
“Qin Chuan was born with Triple Yang Convergence, rare in a thousand years, with excellent qualifications and an upright character—he’s a natural-born sword cultivator. If nothing unexpected happens, in a few hundred years, his sword dao cultivation will surpass mine.” Qinghe said coldly, “I can see it, and the Yunxiao Sect cultivators have long since seen it. They naturally treasure him like a precious gem, hoping he’ll surpass Master in the future. They absolutely won’t let you have any accidents.”
These words made Su Zhuyi frown deeply and fall silent.
“Taking ten thousand steps back, even if you succeeded, you could only atone with your death.”
“In sword dao competitions, those who accidentally kill shall have their cultivation destroyed at minimum, or pay with their lives at worst. Is your life important, or is a person’s name important?”
“Then, when do you think I should make my move, senior brother?”
“If it’s simply because of the name, you can challenge him to a duel. On the martial arts platform, if you win, make him change his courtesy name.”
Qinghe, worthy of being someone who had merged with an evil sword, didn’t feel there was anything improper about Su Zhuyi wanting to kill someone. He even reasonably offered suggestions: “If you find him displeasing and must kill him, you could try in the Sword Tomb, but it’s best to wait until you’re in a secret realm, especially the kind that can isolate you from the outside world.” Qin Chuan had a special status and was so valued by the Yunxiao Sect that they might have already lit his soul lamp. The scene of his death would tell the sect elders through the soul lamp, so killing him required careful caution.
After Qinghe finished speaking, he stood up to leave. Su Zhuyi quickly stopped him, “Senior brother, senior brother, don’t go. Rarely, you spoken so much to me today. Let’s have a good chat.”
“Why would I kill Qin Chuan? Senior brother, you’re overthinking.” Seeing Qinghe ignore her and stride toward the door with his long legs, she added, “I’ll just ask one question—did you destroy the Feihong Sect?”
Qinghe hadn’t been at Luoxue Peak for the previous ten years. If he had taken his anger out on the Feihong Sect because of Luo Ying’s matter, it wouldn’t be impossible. It was just that he had to suppress the evil sword—if he had destroyed the entire Feihong Sect, the murderous aura on him probably couldn’t be eliminated.
“No,” Qinghe answered coldly.
He had worked so hard to barely suppress the evil sword. Thinking of the situation when suppressing the Longquan Sword, Qinghe’s expression became somewhat subtle.
Currently, he and the Longquan Sword maintained a delicate balance. If he made one careless mistake, he would trigger the Longquan Sword again, and then Master would suffer again. Why had she used herself as a sacrifice to the sword, so that now, unless the Longquan Sword was destroyed, her body could hardly recover?
But if the Longquan Sword was destroyed, he would never see Master again.
In the end, he was also selfish. Thinking of this, coldness flashed in Qinghe’s eyes. He strode out of the room, then heard Su Zhuyi ask from behind, “When you rushed to the seal back then, did you kill those Feihong Sect cultivators?”
His figure paused. “Yes!”
After they came out, they ran outside without hesitation. Not one person, not one person looked back. Master had saved those heartless, ungrateful things.
“Did you dispose of the bodies?”
“No!” At that time, he was worried about Master and burning with rage, completely losing his rationality. How could he remember to clean up after killing people?
After answering, Qinghe left.
Su Zhuyi began thinking again. Qinghe hadn’t cleaned up after killing people at all. His reputation was great, and his sword intent was quite recognizable. A knowledgeable high-level sword cultivator would recognize it. If he hadn’t disguised himself when killing and hadn’t disposed of the bodies afterward, then someone to investigate could see who had done it.
With so many Feihong Sect disciples missing, it was impossible they wouldn’t go look. There was someone called Liu Zhen in that group, and everyone gathered around her. Judging by her attire, which wasn’t ordinary, her status in the Feihong Sect wasn’t low, so the Feihong Sect would investigate. But since no news of Qinghe killing people had spread, it meant the Feihong Sect hadn’t found out.
Organizing the timeline, in this life, the Feihong Sect’s destruction occurred two or three years after the Changning Village massacre…
Didn’t this suggest that after Qinghe killed people, someone had moved those corpses, taking the cultivators’ bodies to practice corpse control techniques?
This could explain why Qinghe’s killings weren’t exposed, why Qin Chuan and the others saw no remains when they returned, but instead found traces of demonic cultivators using corpse control techniques.
If this hypothesis were true…
Su Zhuyi quickly organized a thread in her mind.
Little Xiao Sanyang Qin Chuan had, through fortunate circumstances, joined the Yunxiao Sect and become Qin Jianglan.
Zhang Enning had taken the old tree as a spirit pet, greatly increased in strength, and become a demon lord, replacing Qinghe, who no longer killed.
As for which of the boys and girls abducted by the Xueluo Sect would win, could it be Su Qingxun?
And she, Su Zhuyi, had instead become Luo Ying’s disciple at the Gujian Sect.
Didn’t this mean that Luo Ying and Qinghe would die before long, too?
Including Little Skull, who would also perish?
Thinking this way, Su Zhuyi suddenly felt a chill.
It was as if an invisible hand was playing a chess game that toyed with human hearts.
It wouldn’t directly decree who should live or die, but would arrange various opportunities and coincidences, guiding them onto their destined trajectories.
Making them believe they were the masters of their fate.
What did it matter if the Liuguang Mirror had made subtle errors? There would always be suitable chess pieces to take suitable positions.
Su Zhuyi’s heart pounded rapidly. She suddenly felt severe pain in her chest that nearly made her faint.