IVYSCP - Chapter 90
Chapter 90
Ling Qingyue heard Lian Yange's words and could not regain her composure for a long time.
Shi Yanchun and her master???
It was false. It had to be false!
Ling Qingyue did not believe Lian Yange's account. She must have said it deliberately to provoke Shi Du.
"My master... she's not that kind of person." Ling Qingyue looked at Pei Yin, a helplessness she could not quite hide in her eyes. "There must be some misunderstanding in this. Master would never use Shi Yanchun to advance her own cultivation."
As she spoke, Ling Qingyue gave a firm nod. "That's right! Lian Yange must be talking nonsense. Besides, Master never even succeeded in cultivating the Emotionless Path."
But her voice grew quieter and quieter. She was no longer sure even to her own ears.
Before this, she had also been fully convinced that her senior sister would not do those things, that she must have had her reasons, yet in the end her senior sister had been the mastermind behind it all. Everything she had been before was an act.
Her hair was gently ruffled. Ling Qingyue lifted her reddening eyes and looked at Pei Yin.
Pei Yin's voice was soft. "I will stay with you and see them clearly with you."
Ling Qingyue blinked, then smiled at her and nodded.
Lian Yange did not keep Shi Du in the water prison for long. A few days later she ordered her disciples to bring the person to her rundown shack, iron chains shackled around her neck, hands, and feet, dragged along stumbling forward.
Shi Du's meridians were depleted, and she had been soaking in the cold, dank water prison for many days. Her mind and body collapsed, she was completely drained of life, walking forward numbly as she was pulled along. Her disheveled long hair covered her face, and only a pale, sharp chin was faintly visible as she moved.
"Yanchun..." Shi Du could not hear the mockery of the onlookers around her. Her eyes were painfully dry and she could not cry. She only murmured, "It is your sister's fault..."
Passing by the Ten-Thousand Names Stele, the person holding the chains suddenly yanked hard and threw Shi Du directly to the ground.
Her cheek scraped along the ground, leaving a trail of scattered bloodstains. Shi Du felt the pain and frowned.
She struggled to stand, but a crowd suddenly surrounded her.
"Tsk tsk tsk, isn't this the disciple the Sect Leader just took in a while ago? How come she's being led around like a dog now, hahahaha."
"How disgusting. She still wanted to be mentioned in the same breath as Young Sect Leader Wang. She should take a look at what she is. Young Sect Leader Wang comes from an immortal sect lineage. How could you possibly compare?"
"Usually she acted so high and mighty, looking down on everyone. Now she's worse than a dog. Ridiculous!"
"I told you, a lowly person like her will never get her name on the Ten-Thousand Names Stele in this lifetime."
...
Shi Du lifted her head and memorized every single one of them.
After returning to the rundown shack, people came by from time to time to mock and jeer. Some would even deliberately bring spoiled, stinking food and force Shi Du to eat it. If she refused, they would beat her fiercely.
Old wounds unhealed, new wounds added. Shi Du curled up in a corner, her filthy hair covering her entire face. She watched those who came before her, her eyes cold, yet the corners of her mouth lifted in what seemed to be a faint smile.
Half a month later, the Demon Race launched a large-scale assault on the major immortal sects. This time what came to the Liuyun Immortal Sect were two Blood Demons. The Liuyun Immortal Sect descended into chaos, and Shi Du escaped in the confusion.
The Ten-Thousand Names Stele did not record where she went afterward or what she did.
Only that two hundred years passed in the blink of an eye, and when Shi Du returned to the Liuyun Immortal Sect, she had utterly changed in appearance, fierce sword qi swirling around her, her bearing extraordinary.
Ling Qingyue knew that the annihilation of the Liuyun Immortal Sect was inseparable from her senior sister, but there must also have been demonic involvement, connected to the Blood Demons. After all, when the Liuyun Immortal Sect was annihilated, demonic qi surged skyward within its territory, all spiritual objects were demonized, and the nearby immortal sects that rushed to help had no choice but to seal the entire Liuyun Immortal Sect in desperation.
But she had never imagined that the Liuyun Immortal Sect had been annihilated by Lou Wudu alone. Wherever her sword qi reached, not a single soul survived.
Those who had once tormented her knelt and begged for mercy, kowtowing until their heads split and bled. Lou Wudu's expression was cold. With a flick of her sword tip she silenced them for good, and even their fleeing souls were scattered with a single sword strike.
Lou Wudu placed a restriction over the territory of the Liuyun Immortal Sect. Without her permission, no one could enter or leave, and no distress messages could be sent out.
Lou Wudu cut her way straight to Lian Yange's sleeping chamber. One sword pierced her throat. When Lian Yange tried to self-detonate her soul in an all-or-nothing gambit, Lou Wudu branded a prepared seal onto Lian Yange's soul and forcibly took control of her.
Ling Qingyue and Pei Yin saw it clearly. That seal was identical to the one on Liu Qingtang's Spiritual Platform.
After fitting chains around Lian Yange's neck, hands, and feet, Lou Wudu commanded her from on high to crawl behind her.
Lian Yange's soul still had consciousness, but she could only watch helplessly as her body knelt prostrate on the ground and was dragged along by the chains as Lou Wudu pulled her.
Lou Wudu leisurely led Lian Yange before the Ten-Thousand Names Stele. She raised the sword in her hand, her wrist flipping swiftly. The two characters "Shi Du" were carved deep into it, pressing down above everyone else.
Having done this, Lou Wudu raised her eyes and gazed at the Ten-Thousand Names Stele for a long time. Suddenly she let out a short laugh.
After that, she released two Blood Demons.
These two Blood Demons were somewhat strange. They faintly had the shape of people and lacked the frenzied bloodlust of other demon heads. Instead, seeing the corpses all over the ground, they retreated in shock.
Lou Wudu held her sword and watched them, her eyes icy, as though looking at dead things.
The larger Blood Demon pulled the smaller Blood Demon behind her and looked at Lou Wudu, asking, "You killed all these people?"
Lou Wudu did not deny it. She lifted the sword in her hand, blood dripping from the blade.
The Blood Demon's voice was incredulous. "You want to kill us? You lied to me?! You don't keep your word!"
Lou Wudu curled her lips in a cold smile. "Why should I keep my word to demon heads? Eliminating demons and upholding the Dao is exactly what I ought to do."
The Blood Demon looked at the Liuyun Immortal Sect, rivers of blood flowing, and at Lou Wudu before her. In an instant she understood. "You killed people and want to pin the blame on the Demon Race!"
Lou Wudu stepped forward, sword qi swirling around her. At her will, blades formed from sword qi pointed straight at the Blood Demon.
"You're right."
The Blood Demon's eyes flared red. She violently shoved the little Blood Demon aside and lunged forward to grapple with Lou Wudu.
The Blood Demon shouted, "Ah Mu, run!"
The little Blood Demon looked even more human than her. The features on her face were distinct, tender pale skin already growing around her eyes, but her gaze was blank and simple.
She heard the Blood Demon's words but did not run. She even wanted to step forward, her voice thin and soft. "Immortal, want Immortal."
"Yes! Go find the Immortal! Ah—!"
The Blood Demon was slashed fiercely across the back. A silvery-white glow covered the wound on her back and then rapidly eroded her body.
"Bai Ze's Tear?!" the Blood Demon exclaimed in shock. She glared furiously at Lou Wudu, then suddenly lowered her head and knelt.
"Kill me, let Ah Mu go." A sob crept into the Blood Demon's voice. "Let Ah Mu go. I beg you."
Ah Mu ran over in small steps and tugged at her arm, trying to pull her up. "Don't kneel. The Immortal said not to kneel. Ah Gui, get up."
Ah Gui's eyes were filled with nothing but regret. Two trails of bloody tears slowly slid down her reddened eyes. She begged Lou Wudu without stopping. "I beg you, I beg you, please let Ah Mu go. She has done nothing wrong. She has never killed anyone."
Lou Wudu looked at her in astonishment. "So demon heads can shed tears as well?"
Lou Wudu killed Ah Gui and did not spare Ah Mu either. After exterminating the two demon heads, she scattered their blood throughout the territory of the Liuyun Immortal Sect, causing every corpse and spiritual object there to become demonized.
The Liuyun Immortal Sect became another demonic domain. Lou Wudu did not leave. She continuously slaughtered the demonized corpses inside to dissolve the hatred in her heart. At first the demonic creatures scrambled and lunged toward her, but later, wherever Lou Wudu's presence lingered they dared not draw near.
Finally, Lou Wudu lifted the restriction and sent out word that the Liuyun Immortal Sect had been annihilated.
At this point, everything before her eyes dissolved into smoke and scattered. Ling Qingyue blinked and saw the Liuyun Immortal Sect in its state of utter devastation.
It felt as though a breath were trapped in her chest, unable to escape. Ling Qingyue's expression was heavy with gloom.
Pei Yin sat with her on the jade steps of the Ten-Thousand Names Stele.
Ling Qingyue looked at the jade beneath her feet and once again saw the unchecked greed that had bred in the disciples of the Liuyun Immortal Sect back then.
"Damned Lian Yange!" Ling Qingyue cursed aloud and stomped hard on the jade beneath her feet.
Had she not been devious in heart, using the entire Liuyun Immortal Sect to cultivate the Six Desires Path, how could things have developed this way!
"Hm, she indeed deserved to die," Pei Yin echoed.
Ling Qingyue drew a deep breath and slowly calmed down, then began to think about another matter.
"That Immortal-Demon battle in the Cangshan Northern Region, the sword strike I missed... it was to protect her."
That missed move gave the Formless Demon Lord an opening, and a palm strike drove straight for her heart.
Pei Yin's eyelashes trembled. Her fingers curled on her knee. "Are you suspecting..."
Ling Qingyue buried her head against her chest and shook it. "When she killed Lian Yange, her cultivation was very high. She may have been hiding her cultivation all along. I don't know whether her confrontation with the Formless Demon Lord that time was intentional or unintentional."
The situation had been chaotic then. From the corner of her eye she had glimpsed her senior sister's dharma sword slip from her hand, and the Formless Demon Lord was already right in front of her senior sister. There had been no time to think. She could only abandon the coordinated sword array and divert that sword qi of hers to protect her senior sister.
And then, she died.
Ling Qingyue let out a breath, the rims of her eyes red.
A hand reached over and covered her face, tilting her head back.
Meeting Pei Yin's gaze, even the bridge of Ling Qingyue's nose stung. She did not know why either, but looking at Pei Yin, she could no longer hide a single bit of the grievance in her heart.
Pei Yin gently wiped away the tears seeping from the corners of her eyes and leaned in to kiss her reddened eyes. "What she went through has nothing to do with you. If it was unintentional, then so be it. If it was intentional, I will not let her go."
Ling Qingyue said sullenly, "Neither will I. With the Liuyun Immortal Sect, they reaped what they sowed. But Liu Qingtang and Linshui Town were innocent. She shouldn't have dragged them into it."
Pei Yin said, "Mm."
Once her tears stopped, Ling Qingyue pressed close to Pei Yin. Smelling the clear fragrance on her, her heart quieted considerably. Then she asked, "And what was the deal with those two demon heads at the end?"
Generally, demon heads had no names. Even for the Formless Demon Lord they did not know what name she went by, only settling on a title based on her Formless Deceptive Face.
Ah Gui, Ah Mu...
It was rather as though someone had deliberately given them names.
Once given a name, a bond formed.
What kind of person would give names to demon heads?
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