IVYSCP - Chapter 72
Chapter 72
"What! You! Your master is out there!"
Ling Qingyue instantly scrambled into a panic. She hurriedly climbed off Pei Yin's lap, then straightened her own clothes. Seeing Pei Yin's disheveled state, she reached out to smooth her hair and tidy her robes.
Pei Yin watched her fluster with amusement. "You're afraid of her?"
Ling Qingyue felt a little guilty. "No, it's just... it's just sudden."
She had learned of the events from a hundred years ago through Pei Yin's dream, and naturally she had also seen Chu Qianshan's attitude toward her, which could be described as gnashing teeth.
If Chu Qianshan saw her good disciple reduced to this state by her, she would draw her blade and hack at her without hesitation.
"What do we do about... this?" Ling Qingyue blushed and indicated her own neck.
Pei Yin smiled, rose, and came before her, lowering her voice. "You didn't know your own strength, and now you're asking me what to do?"
Ling Qingyue felt both shame and vexation. She raised her eyes and glared at her, but after stammering for a long while, she still couldn't get the words out.
Chu Qianshan had already boarded the skyship. Seeing that no one appeared after a long delay, she furrowed her brow and laughed coldly. "The Immortal Venerable certainly has grand airs. Still not coming out? Must I go in and invite you myself?"
She had been out for only a short time, yet she was already acting reckless and had forgotten all rules and etiquette!
After half an incense stick's time, her cold and aloof disciple finally deigned to show herself, except two others trailed behind her. One was bleary-eyed as though just waking, and the other hid behind her disciple with her head lowered, seeming extremely timid.
Chu Qianshan narrowed her eyes, trying to determine which one was the person her disciple intended to bond with this time. She had also said that the person was Ling Qingyue. In that case, the one who just woke up seemed more likely.
"Master." Pei Yin wore a calm expression as she raised her hand in salute.
Ling Qingyue followed closely behind. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Pei Xi still yawning and slapped a hand down on her head to press it lower.
Pei Xi: "?"
Pei Yin had performed her salute and was about to introduce them when a cold sidelong glare from Chu Qianshan made her swallow every word back down.
Chu Qianshan walked over and pulled her good disciple aside.
With the shielding figure before her suddenly gone, Ling Qingyue instinctively reached out to grab her. "Pei..."
Chu Qianshan narrowed her eyes.
Good. This was the one. Just how had this timid, shrinking behavior managed to ensnare her disciple so utterly?
"What's your name?"
Ling Qingyue raised her eyes to look at her and pulled a stiff, ugly smile onto her face. "Senior, my name is Ah... Ah Xi."
Pei Xi stuck her head out from beside her, beaming. "My name is Pei Xi."
Ling Qingyue: "..."
Chu Qianshan: "..."
Chu Qianshan stood stunned for a long moment, then her gaze drifted faintly to the side. With a smile of indecipherable meaning, she said, "Ah Xi? Pei Xi? I thought you were half-dead and calling me to collect your corpse. Instead, you have a wife and a daughter. The Immortal Venerable lives quite a carefree and happy life indeed."
Ling Qingyue reacted even faster than Pei Yin. She hurriedly rushed to explain. "No, no, no, Senior, you misunderstand. Pei Xi is not our daughter. She's... we picked her up!"
Chu Qianshan let out a cold laugh. "What's the difference? Taking her surname and your name, who wouldn't understand your relationship? Oh, from what you're saying, even if the child was picked up, you really are her wife."
Ling Qingyue had no way to refute this. After all, they had indeed married.
Ling Qingyue looked to Pei Yin for help, her eyes pitiful.
Pei Yin stepped forward, positioning herself between the two of them, and said evenly, "There is no harm in waiting until we return to Water Cloud Dwelling to continue this discussion."
Chu Qianshan let out a cold huff. "Since the Immortal Venerable says so, what else can I, as her master, say?"
The sarcasm was laid on thick. Ling Qingyue thought to herself that the Chu Qianshan she had seen in Pei Yin's dream had not been like this at all.
Pei Yin, as if long accustomed to this, ushered her guest into the main chamber and respectfully served tea and poured water.
Seeing her so docile, Chu Qianshan reluctantly smoothed down the knot of anger in her chest. Then, when she raised her eyes and caught sight of the two huddled together off to the side, her eyes began to ache fiercely.
Pei Yin opened her mouth to ask, "Master's arrival, is it that you have gathered all the items I require?"
Chu Qianshan replied unpleasantly, "No. Didn't you tell me to come collect your corpse?"
Ling Qingyue, listening beside them, unconsciously furrowed her brows and muttered under her breath, "What a nasty thing to say."
Collect a corpse this, collect a corpse that. What kind of master spoke of her own disciple this way? And seeing Pei Yin's submissive, obedient manner with her head lowered, she could not help wanting to speak up for her.
Chu Qianshan turned her head to look over and let out another cold laugh. "I speak nastily? Why don't you ask your Immortal Venerable how she spoke to me?"
Ling Qingyue's eyes shifted toward Pei Yin. Pei Yin lowered her gaze and took a sip of tea.
Chu Qianshan's gaze circled the two of them, and she said offhandedly, "This disciple of mine grew up on Cangshan. She had few playmates. The first time she descended the mountain a hundred years ago, a girl sweet-talked her and she told me she wanted to form a bond with that person. Who would have guessed the girl had no such intention at all? She was miserable and heartbroken for half a month, and later nearly succumbed to Cultivation Deviation. Now, the second time she descends the mountain, not long after, she tells me to collect her corpse. Then two days later she tells me she's going to bond with someone again. Then, a while later, she asks me for a pile of materials to reforge her meridians. Tell me, isn't she hateful?"
She fixed her gaze on the person across from her, the smile not reaching her eyes. Pei Yin acted with discretion, and if she said this person was Ling Qingyue, then she had a basis for it.
What she had just said was both a probe and a warning. If this person really was Ling Qingyue, then her good disciple had, twice now, for the same person, ended up covered head to toe in injuries. If she, as her master, did not step forward now to assert her authority, Pei Yin would simply be bullied to death. Furthermore, she also wanted to tell this person exactly how far Pei Yin had gone for her. Knowing Pei Yin's temperament, these were matters she might not necessarily speak of, even if asked.
A cold sweat broke out on Ling Qingyue's back. She felt that Chu Qianshan's words were directed not at Pei Yin, but at her.
"Tell me, isn't she hateful?"
"Tell me, aren't you hateful?"
Chu Qianshan's eyes were long and narrow. When she looked over with a smile, Ling Qingyue felt as if countless swords were surrounding her. If a gaze could kill, she would likely have been riddled with holes all over her body by now.
"Master." Pei Yin's tone carried a hint of displeasure.
Chu Qianshan turned her eyes to glare at her with bitter disappointment.
"In the past, Qingyue did not know, so she cannot be blamed. It was my choice. The Emotion Transference was also my own decision. She cannot be held responsible for that."
Chu Qianshan instantly flared with anger and reached out as if to smack her on the head.
"Senior!" Ling Qingyue stepped forward anxiously.
Chu Qianshan caught the motion from the corner of her eye and barely stopped her hand. Her tone was rigid. "What? You want to interfere even when I'm disciplining my disciple?"
Ling Qingyue took a deep breath and said with firm resolve, "I won't be like that person... that person from before. I like her, I like her very much. I'm the one who wants to form a Dao Bond with her. If you want to discipline someone, discipline me! Beat me, scold me, it's all fine. Don't blame her."
Chu Qianshan let out an intrigued "oh." Her gaze swept over her from head to toe, then she beckoned with a hand, her expression a smile that was not quite a smile. "Then come here."
Pei Yin panicked for a moment. "Master!"
Ling Qingyue took two steps forward and stopped before Chu Qianshan. Feeling that looking down at an elder was improper, she bent one knee and knelt down.
With a wave of her hand, Chu Qianshan trapped Pei Yin in an array. She placed a palm on the crown of Ling Qingyue's head.
The moment spiritual energy probed inward, it sensed familiar spiritual energy traces within the other's meridians. Chu Qianshan's face instantly darkened.
Following the acupoints to the Spiritual Platform, she encountered resistance. Chu Qianshan curved her lips faintly and spoke in a flat, indifferent tone. "You should understand that with the difference in our cultivation levels, entering your Spiritual Platform is no difficult matter for me, nor can you harm me. Yet if spiritual energies clash inside the Spiritual Platform, your fate will be nothing short of death or grave injury."
The resistance at the Spiritual Platform slowly weakened. Chu Qianshan successfully entered and saw the soul being nurtured within. The soul was watching her with restless unease.
"It really is you, Ling Qingyue."
Chu Qianshan withdrew her hand and, as an afterthought, placed a protective array outside her Spiritual Platform.
At that moment, Pei Yin also broke free of the array. She rose and pulled Ling Qingyue up into her arms, anger already rising in her eyes. "Master, how could you do that!"
Ling Qingyue pressed down on her hand and said quickly, "It's nothing, it's fine."
She could not let the master and disciple fight again because of her. What if her master ended up opposing Pei Yin bonding with her?
Chu Qianshan was long accustomed to the way Pei Yin lost all clarity of mind whenever Ling Qingyue was involved. She took a placid sip of tea. "Didn't you tell me yourself that she was Ling Qingyue? What's the problem with me confirming it?"
Pei Yin turned her head away and said coldly, "I would never mistake her. What is there to confirm?"
Chu Qianshan gave a dry laugh. "How impressive our Immortal Venerable is, to stumble upon the same person twice. The nice way to put it is deep devotion. The less nice way is that you're hanging yourself on a single tree."
The skyship gradually slowed to a halt. They had arrived at Water Cloud Dwelling.
Pei Yin put away the skyship. The group arrived before the courtyard. Nie Wenxiao raised her hand in salute. "Senior Chu, Immortal Venerable."
Then Nie Wenxiao's gaze fell on the sleeping figure cradled in Ling Qingyue's arms, and a look of puzzlement appeared in her eyes.
This is?
During the earlier quarrel on the skyship, Pei Xi had watched for a while, grown bored, yawned, and fallen asleep in a corner by herself.
"Her name is Pei Xi."
As soon as Ling Qingyue finished speaking, she saw Nie Wenxiao's gaze travel a circuit between her and Pei Yin. Then a smile of deep meaning rose on her face. She nodded and asked no further questions.
Ling Qingyue: "..."
The name Pei Xi was indeed well chosen. Whoever heard it, their first reaction was to glance around at the two of them.
The group headed toward the West Courtyard. Nie Wenxiao's face was tinged with joy. "Just earlier, Qingtang began to show some response. Many thanks to Senior Chu!"
Pei Yin asked, "Master has already examined Liu Qingtang?"
She had indeed mentioned to her master earlier the strange mark on Liu Qingtang's Spiritual Platform.
Chu Qianshan gave her a sharp look and ignored her.
It's over. Her opinion is probably even worse now.
Ling Qingyue, watching from behind, felt her heart pound with dread.
When Ling Qingyue had carried Pei Xi back to her room and returned, the three were already seated together, and Pei Yin was telling them about the Torch Dragon's Heart Crystal.
It was Nie Wenxiao's first time hearing of an object that could reassemble the scattered soul of someone whose very spirit had been extinguished. She was momentarily astonished.
The ancient text in question had originated from Cangshan, and Chu Qianshan had also flipped through it before. She remembered a record to that effect, but she did not wish to dwell on such messy matters. Thinking about them made her head ache, and they had nothing to do with her, except that they had dragged her disciple into it...
Seeing Ling Qingyue walk over, not even daring to meet her eyes, Chu Qianshan's hand, which had been propping up her chin, twitched slightly. Her fingertip tapped against her cheek, and she suddenly asked, "Ling Qingyue, are you truly in love with Pei Yin? Or is it that you see her high cultivation and her status as an Immortal Venerable, know that she once held feelings for you, and therefore wish to use her to restore your cultivation and deal with all these troublesome matters?"
Hearing this, Ling Qingyue had not even sat down before she hurriedly stood up again.
As if sensing what was coming, Chu Qianshan glanced to the side and said in a stern, sharp tone, "You are not allowed to speak for her."
Pei Yin tightened her hands. Despite the pressure from her master, she still spoke a displeased sentence. "Master, you cannot think of her this way."
Nie Wenxiao sat stiff as a wooden statue, her eyes darting left and right. In the end, she silently lifted the teacup before her.
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