IVYSCP - Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Chopping cabbage. Only Ling Qingyue could think of saying something like that to provoke someone.

Pei Si helplessly pressed down the corner of her mouth, thinking that if anyone tried to use the Jiuge Sword to chop cabbage, Ling Qingyue would probably fight them to the death.

But the cabbage-chopping threat actually seemed to work. Liu Qingtang was frowning hard, deeply unhappy, the murderous ferocity in her eyes turning into fury when she looked at the blade in Ling Qingyue's hand. She wanted to snatch her blade back.

But she could not move.

Seeing that it was effective, Ling Qingyue raised an eyebrow, and the blade in her hand lifted as well, as if she really intended to chop cabbage with it, even though there was no cabbage in front of her.

"Don't...!" Liu Qingtang spoke.

Almost in the next instant, Ling Qingyue called her name.

"Liu Qingtang!"

Liu Qingtang paused a moment, slowly lifting her eyes, her gaze once again surging with anguished struggle. Frowning, she made out the person before her, a face so young and tender. She did not recognize her.

"Who... are you?" Liu Qingtang's voice trembled.

Ling Qingyue hesitated, did not answer the question, and asked instead: "How did you end up here?"

What happened to you? How did you become like this? How did you come to be here?

Liu Qingtang blinked, tear tracks appearing on both cheeks. She was nearly unable to speak through her weeping, and said those words again: "Kill me, I beg you, kill me. I failed them. I should pay with my life."

"Liu Qingtang." Ling Qingyue half-crouched down to look at her. "You said that you and your blade would grow stronger day by day; you said that you would exchange moves with every master in the world and earn their recognition."

The clear, moist voice reached Liu Qingtang's ears. She was dazed for a moment, then looked in confusion at the unfamiliar face before her: "You..."

How would she know these things? These were words she had only ever said to one person.

"You are..."

Just as Liu Qingtang was about to say her name, Ling Qingyue nodded.

"Ling... Qing... Yue." Liu Qingtang said it anyway, merely moving her lips, making no sound.

Ling Qingyue was not sure whether Pei Si had seen or not.

She quietly lifted her eyes toward Pei Si and found Pei Si already looking at her, expression composed, as if she had not noticed Liu Qingtang mouth her name at all.

"She won't stay lucid for long. Don't stare at me." Pei Si offered the mild reminder, carrying a hint of teasing amusement.

Ling Qingyue blinked and snapped back, shifting her gaze away, her ear tips starting to heat.

Liu Qingtang was somewhat agitated. She looked at Ling Qingyue and wept even harder.

Before she could open her mouth, Ling Qingyue sighed: "Stop telling me to kill you. First tell me what happened. Who harmed you to this degree? If you truly wish to die, you should at least avenge yourself first, right?"

Pei Si arched an eyebrow at these words.

Such a persuasive speaker, was she?

Liu Qingtang seemed to truly take the words in. The shattered, despairing eyes she looked at Ling Qingyue with gained a little more light.

"...Alright."

Pei Si shifted her posture. Her hand rested at her elbow, fingertips tapping lightly, the tip of her tongue tracing a somewhat sharp canine tooth.

"Not long after the Ranking Tournament, I met someone. She was very formidable, more formidable than you..."

Ling Qingyue frowned in displeasure but did not interrupt.

Liu Qingtang went on: "I exchanged blows with her for an entire month and never once won. She said my blade techniques were quite good, and I was very pleased. She recognized me and my blade. I asked her if I could seek her out for sparring again in the future, and she said I could, but that she would decide the place. I agreed, of course. The sparring locations were always inside Secret Realms. After several matches, I kept feeling that she was honing me, like sharpening a blade. My senior sister always said I was single-minded and knew nothing but blade training, but that time I felt it was right. She truly was 'honing the blade.' The 'blade' has to be honed before it can be used..."

Liu Qingtang's expression suddenly twisted in agony. Ling Qingyue asked urgently: "Who is she!?"

"Don't... don't know." Liu Qingtang's head sagged down after she spoke.

Ling Qingyue frowned and started to reach out a hand. Liu Qingtang suddenly went wild, opening her mouth wide and lunging to bite her.

Someone yanked hard at the back of her collar. Ling Qingyue was pulled into a soft, fragrant embrace.

"She's lost awareness again. Keep your distance. She'll bite you."

Warm breath fell against her ear, ticklish. Ling Qingyue resisted reaching up to rub her ear. Her cheek brushed against the woman's shoulder and now felt rather hot.

"Alright, alright."

Ling Qingyue answered, but took no initiative to put distance between them. She found that she really liked pressing close to Pei Si like this, smelling her scent, being surrounded by her presence.

The two stood shoulder to shoulder, Pei Si's hand still resting lightly against the back of Ling Qingyue's neck.

The not-too-close, not-too-far distance was finally broken apart by a rush of urgent footsteps.

Ling Qingyue turned her head toward the other side. She heard Pei Si's soft laugh and felt the woman's gaze on her.

She felt a moment of embarrassed irritation.

What are you laughing at! You didn't move either, and even reached out to touch me!

The footsteps stopped at the door. Lu Yao's voice carried surprise: "Seniors, the barrier is open! People from the Immortal Alliance have arrived!"

Ling Qingyue was rather startled. So fast.

She opened the door: "You got the message out?"

Lu Yao shook her head: "No."

She thought for a moment, her expression turning a bit awkward: "Could it have been Senior Sister Yu Ting?"

Though she had been furious earlier, now that she saw how quickly the Immortal Alliance had arrived, the anger toward Yu Ting in her heart subsided somewhat.

"Since the Immortal Alliance is here, let's go down and take a look together."

The rotting corpses down the mountain were not only from Piaomiao Sect cultivators. The Immortal Alliance stepping in to investigate was inevitable.

By the time the three of them brought Liu Qingtang down the mountain, many people in the small town had poked their heads out to watch. More immortals from the Immortal Realm had arrived at the foot of the mountain, more imposing and dignified than the Piaomiao Sect immortals, looking at the town with that untouchable, superior air.

It was within such a crowd that Lin Zhao spotted Ah Xi. Ah Xi and Pei Si walked toward the Immortal Realm crowd, without the slightest tension or curiosity, as if they were long accustomed to such people and such matters.

People beside her were also whispering among themselves, asking how Ah Xi and Pei Si could be together with immortals, what relationship they had with the immortals. Someone came to ask her, but Lin Zhao only shook her head and then turned and left.

One part of the Immortal Alliance contingent was dealing with the rotting corpses. They had brought artifacts that could preserve the bodies. Another part was gathering information from the Piaomiao Sect cultivators.

Ling Qingyue moved closer to Pei Si and said in a low voice: "What do we do? We won't be able to keep this under wraps."

The Piaomiao Sect cultivators would certainly tell about them taking action.

"Mm." Pei Si nodded.

Ling Qingyue: "Then... we'll probably be brought back to the Immortal Alliance for questioning."

What she really meant to ask was: if Pei Si was a wanderer, would she return to the Immortal Realm?

A trace of amusement flickered through Pei Si's eyes. She pretended not to understand and asked back: "You don't want to go back to the Immortal Realm?"

Throwing the question right back at her again.

Ling Qingyue raised a hand to rub at her ear. She stopped beating around the bush: "When we get to the Immortal Realm, can you come back to Shangtianqiong with me?"

She had already thought it through. Once they returned to Shangtianqiong and saw her master and senior sister, she and Pei Si needed to have a formal Bonding Ceremony, the kind everyone would witness and know about.

Pei Si tilted her head to look at her, gaze sweeping over the faintly reddened corners of her eyes, then her completely reddened ears, then lower, to the small red mole that was growing more vivid by the day...

Pei Si pressed her lips together. A sharp pain traveled through her palm.

After a long moment with no response, Ling Qingyue felt her heart lurch. Hesitantly, she asked: "You... don't want to?"

After saying this, she added in a small murmur: "But we're already married."

It sounded like an accusation against someone shirking responsibility.

Pei Si seemed to sigh softly. She reached out, her fingers hooking around Ling Qingyue's, then held them.

"I am willing."

Unable to forget, unwilling to part, and incapable of letting go anymore.

Ling Qingyue pressed her lips together and finally could not hold back a smile.

Lu Yao, walking at the front, glanced back, then turned around again, her face flushed.

So loving. Blessings.

As they drew near, the person leading the Immortal Alliance was in conversation with Senior Sister Feng. The woman spoke, and Senior Sister Feng nodded along without objection.

Seventy percent of the Immortal Realm's Immortal Sects had joined the Immortal Alliance, with the Seventy-Two Sects all among them without exception. Only a few remote minor sects that had little contact with the Central Lands found it pointless to join the Alliance, and the Immortal Alliance likewise did not concern itself with their affairs. But within the Immortal Alliance's jurisdiction, its word carried significant weight.

Ling Qingyue was still wondering whether the Immortal Alliance people would take Liu Qingtang back as well. Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly felt a gaze that seemed nearly tangible sweep over her.

Ling Qingyue and Pei Si looked up at the same moment, only to find that no one was looking in their direction.

The two exchanged a sidelong glance.

Pei Si had sensed it too, so there was no mistake. Someone had just been watching them a moment ago.

The person who had been speaking with Senior Sister Feng walked two steps in this direction. She looked at Liu Qingtang beside Lu Yao: "This is Piaomiao Sect's Elder Liu?"

Lu Yao raised her hand in salute and answered: "Yes."

"Mm." The person nodded, lifted her gaze, and spoke with casual ease, "Take her back to the Immortal Alliance as well. The Immortal Alliance will investigate this matter thoroughly and provide an explanation to Piaomiao Sect and all the Immortal Sects."

Ling Qingyue furrowed her brow without any visible sign. Since when were Immortal Alliance people so arrogant?

Coming to question people, not only letting Lu Yao salute first, but not even returning the courtesy.

Immediately after, the woman gestured with a wave, and two Immortal Alliance members came over to take Liu Qingtang away.

Ling Qingyue's hand at her side twitched.

An Immortal Alliance investigation was only proper, but she also had a private wish to know who had harmed Liu Qingtang and these Immortal Sect cultivators.

She clenched her hand, then finally let it go.

What was the rush? Once she returned to Shangtianqiong, she could ask too. Her master was the leader of the Immortal Alliance; what could she not ask about?

The Immortal Alliance members brought Liu Qingtang to one side and placed a barrier around her.

Only then did the woman direct her gaze toward Ling Qingyue and Pei Si, pressing her lips into a faint, ambiguous smile: "I hear from the Piaomiao Sect people that the two of you are also from the Immortal Realm?"

Ling Qingyue gave a cold snort, her attitude even more arrogant than the woman's. She merely glanced at the other party and said casually: "And you are?"

Lu Yao's eyes widened from the side, her admiration deepening further.

She looked at Pei Si, who seemed to be playing along with her wife perfectly, her expression still cold, yet carrying a faint trace of contempt when she cast her eyes down.

Lu Yao shrieked in her heart.

What masters! What seniors!

To dare to treat the Immortal Alliance's people with such an attitude!

"The Heavenly Gate has no record of you two entering the Mortal Realm. This matter involves numerous Immortal Sects, so it may be necessary to invite you both to be guests of the Immortal Alliance for a few days." After the woman finished speaking, she extended her hand in a gesture of invitation.

Ling Qingyue crossed her arms over her chest and did not move. Pei Si paid her not even a glance, her gaze shifting toward the distant high sky.

Meeting the woman's eyes, Ling Qingyue felt a tightening in her chest. For no reason at all, she sensed an uncanny familiarity in those eyes.

Had they met before?

Ling Qingyue had no impression. Probably not. After all, someone so arrogant and so lacking in courtesy would have been remembered if she had ever encountered her.

The woman narrowed her eyes and pursed her thin lips: "I urge you two not to refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit."

"A forfeit?" Ling Qingyue raised an eyebrow. "I truly have never tasted a forfeit."

Amid the rising tension, an angry shout resounded from a hundred li away—

"Let's see who dares to lay a hand on Qingtang!"

In an instant, several Immortal Alliance members beside Liu Qingtang were blasted back dozens of meters by a surge of Spiritual Energy.

Lu Yao was overjoyed: "The Sect Leader is here!"

Get instant access to all chapters now.

Previous Table of Contents Next