The Price of Treachery and a Terrifying Transformation

Beyond the secret realm, Qiu Ku watched Qiu Yue within, shaking his head involuntarily.

Even Qiu Jingwen harbored a hint of regret.

Within a single day, Qiu Yue had managed to assemble a provisional team, employing intimidation and coercion to gather a significant number of participants from the secret realm.

She had even furnished them with a meticulous plan and strategy to confront Lin Mo, complete with numerous predictions.

In this regard, Qiu Yue’s leadership, her cunning strategies, and her formidable intellect were unparalleled, filling Qiu Jingwen with immense pride.

Yet, when it came to understanding human nature, Qiu Yue proved utterly lacking.

“Old Ancestor, my duties have kept me preoccupied, leaving me little time for her guidance. Upon our return, I shall certainly…”

Qiu Jingwen, seated beside Old Ancestor Qiu Ku, lowered her head in a hurried, flustered manner.

Qiu Ku slowly turned his face, yet his expression betrayed no anger, nor even displeasure.

Instead, a satisfied smile graced his features.

“No one is perfect. To have achieved this much is already commendable. There is no need for further instruction; you have done exceedingly well.”

Upon hearing Qiu Ku’s praise, Qiu Jingwen’s face instantly paled.

She hastily interjected, “But Old Ancestor, Qiu Yue—”

“I said it,” Qiu Ku slowly turned his face back, his murky, chaotic pupils fixed intently on Qiu Jingwen’s cheek.

“It is enough.”

Qiu Jingwen shuddered, her breathing growing ragged.

The words poised on her lips were swallowed, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

After a long moment, as if finally regaining her composure, she slowly rose.

With a respectful bow towards Qiu Ku, she dared not let her gaze fall upon Qiu Yue’s face in the projection again.

Meanwhile, within the secret realm, Qiu Yue’s face was etched with profound confusion.

She couldn’t comprehend why these individuals were discarding the items she had bestowed upon them.

The items she had given were things they might not even possess at the Golden Core or even Nascent Soul stages in the future.

Were they attempting to leverage this critical moment to demand more from her?

Did they believe she had already given enough?

Or had they seen through her, realizing she was holding back even better treasures?

“Heh heh…” A faint chuckle escaped her lips, shattering the baffling silence that had settled around her.

Qiu Yue finally understood.

‘Their easy acceptance earlier had merely been a ploy, a façade designed to extort higher rewards at this crucial juncture.’

‘What shrewd calculations.’

‘These were nothing more than short-sighted bumpkins.’

She harbored no disdain for the greedy, nor for the contemptible.

‘Everyone else was like this; only her Lin Mo possessed pure, unblemished thoughts.’

‘Without these sordid individuals, how could her own virtues truly shine?’

“Speak,” she commanded, her voice calm, devoid of even a hint of anger. “What else do you desire?”

Her gaze slowly swept over the assembled disciples, yet every one of them who met her eyes instinctively recoiled half a step.

A few even shivered uncontrollably.

A profound silence permeated the crowd; the expected demands for “more” were not voiced.

Only the sound of heavy breathing and the occasional faint crackle from the unextinguished faint blue flames in the distance broke the stillness.

“It seems the words spoken by those people in the recording Lin Wan’er provided were indeed true,” a voice broke the silence.

Qiu Yue’s gaze flickered; it was the voice of the seventh participant from the Jia-Domain.

This was the same person who had once loudly extolled her virtues, proclaiming their unwavering loyalty.

Yet now, only disdain and revulsion were evident.

They had willingly pledged themselves as her dogs, so why were they now baring their fangs at her?

“I… I cannot believe… Senior Sister Qiu… that you are such a person…”

“I… I admire you, for you truly are gentle… You have taught me so much, and any progress I’ve made today is entirely thanks to you.”

More and more individuals stepped forward, their words eventually filled with gratitude, yet none of them approached her.

Instead, they retreated further and further away.

Gradually, the faint smile that had graced Qiu Yue’s face vanished.

Her vacant eyes, like swirling vortices, seemed to drain all emotion from her being.

‘Had she truly… been betrayed?’

Qiu Yue could not comprehend it; the terms she had offered were so generous, why would they still revolt?

But then again, she didn’t care.

No, she truly didn’t care.

As these thoughts spun through her mind, Qiu Yue slowly raised her right hand.

Her fingers were slender, her skin as smooth as jade, and her small, delicate hand should have been soft.

Yet, the back of her hand was now crisscrossed with bulging veins, writhing and twitching like grotesque, repulsive green worms.

Her spiritual energy surged instantly, the azure light swirling around her hand growing increasingly dazzling and radiating an ever more terrifying power.

The abundant spiritual energy in the surroundings rapidly thinned, and Qiu Yue, at this moment, resembled a colossal vortex, siphoning all the ambient spiritual energy dry.

She didn’t care, she didn’t care at all.

She, truly, didn’t care in the slightest.

Qiu Yue attempted to force a smile, but her lips felt as though they were weighed down by a thousand catties, utterly refusing to curve upwards.

Her breathing grew shallow and rapid, her chest heaving erratically.

‘She truly didn’t care.’

“It’s fine, I don’t care at all,” Qiu Yue murmured, yet a chilling mist permeated the air around her, exuding an icy aura.

No one dared to approach; everyone felt a frantic alarm ringing in their minds.

Every single person instantly adopted a defensive stance, channeling their full power into it.

Meanwhile, Ji Xue had already secretly amassed her strength, a faint blue longbow coalescing in her hand, its arrow aimed squarely at Qiu Yue’s head.

The aura Qiu Yue now exuded made Ji Xue feel as if she were sitting on pins and needles, her hairs standing on end.

Despite her reluctance, she couldn’t quite imagine Qiu Yue being struck by her arrow.

Never before had she sensed such a profound threat, one that pressed down on her nerves, urging her to flee at once.

Even the spiritual energy she had gathered felt insufficient compared to Qiu Yue’s; Ji Xue had already grasped the disparity in their strengths through their battle.

‘But if she fled, what would become of Lin Mo?’

With an unknown amount of time remaining, how could she possibly escape?

Moreover, there were still so many lesser cultivators present!

A single person’s strength might be meager, but with so many united, surely they could inflict some damage on Qiu Yue?

The taut bowstring in her hand suddenly snapped with a “thwack,” and the air instantly ruptured!

The colossal arrow, forged from faint blue cold fire, transformed mid-flight into a howling fire phoenix, soaring with outstretched wings.

It crushed the ground beneath, sweeping up shattered stones and frozen moisture from the air, incinerating the path as it shot directly towards Qiu Yue’s chest!

Its aim was to pierce her heart!

Simultaneously, some of the renegade disciples, sensing impending danger, instinctively attempted to gather spiritual energy for defense or attack!

No matter how high Qiu Yue’s cultivation, she was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage!

With their combined efforts, even if they couldn’t kill Qiu Yue, they could at least gravely wound her!

However, Qiu Yue was accustomed to caution.

“Alas…”

“Waaah—!”

Almost simultaneously, every disciple who had once received Qiu Yue’s “blessings” found their bodies abruptly seizing up.

“Ugh… bleargh—!”

A female disciple closest to Qiu Yue was the first to feel the world spin violently.

Her legs gave out, sending her to her knees, and she desperately clutched her own throat, strange gurgling sounds escaping her.

Her face instantly shifted from ghastly pale to a horrifying bluish-purple!

“My meridians… my spiritual energy… what’s happening?!”

Another person discovered with terror that the spiritual energy they had painstakingly gathered had instantly dispersed, like drops of water thrown into boiling oil, searing and corroding their meridians with furious intensity!

The excruciating pain rendered her unable to stand, sending her tumbling to the ground, where she let out heart-wrenching screams.

“My organs… my organs are melting! Help me… Senior Sister Qiu… have mercy! I won’t dare again!”

Piercing wails instantly became the dominant sound.

Corrosive venom erupted from within their vital organs, inflicting agony intense enough to shatter anyone’s sanity.

Foul, putrid black blood began to seep from their skin, and veins beneath their flesh burst and bulged, resembling writhing black earthworms.

It all happened in an instant!

Although these individuals couldn’t help, at least—

Facing the arrow Ji Xue had fired, Qiu Yue merely shifted slightly, and Ji Xue’s arrow immediately “pierced” the back of Qiu Yue’s hand, sending blood splattering!

Qiu Yue cried out in pain, her previously expressionless face now contorted by the chilling sting and agony.

The faint blue cold fire instantly ignited, and the fierce flames swiftly engulfed Qiu Yue’s arm!

‘It hit!’

A surge of joy welled up in Ji Xue’s heart, clearly exceeding her expectations.

She had assumed Qiu Yue would evade this arrow, having already formulated her subsequent pursuit, planning attacks that would grant Qiu Yue no quarter.

Yet, unexpectedly, it had struck?

‘She only needed to wait for her “Moxue” to incinerate Qiu Yue—’

The icy ink-colored light dispersed—

But… an unforeseen turn of events occurred.

Qiu Yue, astonishingly, severed her own arm with a surgical knife!

Without a shred of hesitation!

From the severed limb, a torrent of blood sprayed into the air like a fountain.

Blood droplets merged with the moisture suspended in the air, instantly transforming into countless threads.

These threads crisscrossed, weaving into a colossal net of alternating crimson and faint blue, where blood-light intertwined with azure, and rapidly coiled around everyone present!

Had Ji Xue not been enveloped in cold fire, she would have barely managed to melt away the encroaching threads!

As astonishment still lingered in Ji Xue’s eyes, the scarlet-blue threads, resembling a spiderweb, that enveloped the entire scene suddenly contracted!

“Whoosh—Pffft!”

The fine threads instantly plunged into flesh with a teeth-grinding speed, the sounds of cutting and tearing flesh mingling into a gruesome symphony.

“Pfft————”

As a series of muffled thuds, like rapid drumbeats, exploded, Qiu Yue’s pupils abruptly constricted to pinpricks!

Reflected in those terrified, anxious eyes was only this: Everyone around her, their bodies dislocated and slipping apart like building blocks, silently disintegrated!

A rain of blood poured down like a deluge, soaking the charred black soil and staining it crimson.

At Qiu Yue’s severed arm, blood converged; whether her own or someone else’s, it now formed her arm.

Her body rapidly elongated, her slender frame stretching like a vine.

Her petite form swiftly transformed, her curves becoming full and voluptuous in their expansion.

All traces of youthful innocence faded, replaced by a coexistence of raw allure and seductive charm, taking on the form of a phantom!

Concurrently, her terrifying aura surged dramatically!

The shackles of the late Foundation Establishment stage were instantly shattered!

A suffocating, unfamiliar oppressive force descended with a resounding crash!

Yet, within her vacant eyes, that familiar madness still swirled.

“Your Highness, that arrow of yours… it truly hurt.”

At this moment, threads filled the sky, slowly coiling around Ji Xue’s waist.

It wasn’t that Ji Xue didn’t want to dodge; rather, in the very instant she allowed the threads to appear without fleeing, she had already lost the ability to resist.

Evil, cruel, tyrannical.

No matter how alluringly beautiful Qiu Yue’s face appeared at this moment, in Ji Xue’s eyes, she was nothing short of a fiend.

The threads permeated beneath her skin, countless filaments slithering like venomous snakes beneath her flesh.

“As a revered Princess, how could you steal what is mine?”

Qiu Yue smiled wickedly, her vacant pupils like bottomless abysses, seemingly poised to suck in and shred Ji Xue’s very soul.

“Your Highness, look~ time’s up, it’s time to return what’s mine!”

Qiu Yue placed her hand on Ji Xue’s head, and with horrifying, brute force, slowly began to pull Ji Xue’s head backward.

“Crack… crack…”

Horrifying sounds continuously emanated.

Despite Ji Xue’s clenched jaw, and no matter how her faint blue cold fire burned and corroded Qiu Yue’s hands in resistance, Qiu Yue showed no intention of stopping.

Ji Xue’s head was completely at her mercy.