A slender ankle, adorned with a small bell.
Li Wangyan had fastened it upon her after he left. Without his spell, it couldn’t be removed. This way, every step she took, indeed any movement, would be hindered.
Disaster.
She had never imagined that the day she returned to the sect would bring such an event. More importantly, her state of mind had been shattered.
She could no longer suppress the torrent of emotions surging from within.
Past painful memories, the grievance of being treated this way by Li Wangyan, even a sense of being betrayed by her master…
A teardrop gathered in the corner of her eye, tracing a path down her cheek.
She hadn’t cried in many years. The last time she cried was the day her family was destroyed.
She was afraid.
Now, transformed into this state, fastened with such a bell—
How was she to face what came next? Forget the issue of her identity… the Demonic Extermination Conference—how was she to battle disciples from other sects? Li Wangyan would show her no mercy. He would relish seeing her fallen, despised appearance.
After that, how could she participate in the extermination of the demonic sects?
How would her master, her fellow sect members, treat her?
And more importantly… what did Li Wangyan intend to do to her? Today’s events clearly weren’t the end… When the bell shook, the sensation emanating from the depths of her divine sense, from her hair tips to her toes, filled her with extreme fear.
This absolutely wasn’t all Li Wangyan planned to do. He would do more, even more excessive, even more maddening things!
The girl could not help but curl up her body. Even this motion was cautious and careful, fearful of touching the bell.
Tears fell like endless raindrops, continuously sliding from her eyes.
“Wuu… wuu…”
The girl’s sobs echoed only within the empty cave, reverberating for her alone.
…
True Master Dao Sword actually felt guilty. Although when she first accepted these disciples, she indeed had her own purposes, she had still nurtured them for many years.
Especially Lin Wushuang—she knew this was a pitiful child. Unlike the later disciples, chosen from the entrance competition for their talents, Lin Wushuang was properly rescued by her during her travels when she occasionally felt something, snatched from a demonic cultivator’s hands and directly brought back to the sect.
In some ways, she was different from the other disciples.
What Li Wangyan intended to do to Lin Wushuang, she knew very well. After all, many excessive things had been done to her. But she could be indifferent.
After all, she would soon enter the Self-Forgetting state.
Whether she could return from that was another matter—so, she didn’t need to be too concerned about present feelings. As for after returning… if she could return, she would have already achieved the Transformation stage. Perhaps she could counterattack Li Wangyan with Transformation-stage power. This wasn’t guaranteed to succeed, but there was a possibility.
After all, no matter how powerful a treasure, the results depend on the person driving it.
Moreover, reaching Transformation brought her one step closer to “immortality.” This realm’s transformation was different. Therefore, even suffering Li Wangyan’s various methods, she could temporarily endure.
She had to pretend not to care towards Lin Wushuang, because she knew the more she appeared concerned, the closer Lin Wushuang appeared to her, the more it would excite Li Wangyan.
These years of slaying demons and exterminating evil had taught True Master Dao Sword exactly how perverse these demonic sect cultivators could be.
For them, mere killing couldn’t satisfy. What they loved most was giving hope before delivering despair, or destroying what you held most dear.
The more you cherished your disciple, the more he would try to trample your master-disciple feelings. Although Li Wangyan wasn’t that kind of pure demonic sect cultivator, perhaps not even perverse… he was here for revenge.
Since it was revenge, no method, no matter how evil, was excessive—after all, while Li Wangyan might not be a pure demonic sect cultivator, he wasn’t a good person either.
All past causes, today’s results.
So she cooperated with Li Wangyan’s actions.
If even Sect Leader Senior Brother could discern her Dao, then the entity behind Li Wangyan must also know what path she walked. How would it instruct Li Wangyan to act?
Naturally, to destroy the Ruthless Dao.
Because the Ruthless Dao was one step in her return—Li Wangyan would definitely destroy the Dao cultivated by each of her disciples, and he would absolutely not allow her to truly achieve Self-Forgetting.
He wouldn’t interfere with her advancement, because her becoming stronger benefited him.
Destroying the Ruthless Dao wasn’t necessarily bad—True Master Dao Sword herself didn’t wish for Lin Wushuang to continue down the Ruthless Dao path. She wasn’t suited for it; she couldn’t truly walk it. Having Li Wangyan destroy her Ruthless Dao might not be a bad thing. Her own return could rely on Li Wangyan, though that might make her pay some very heavy price…
But perhaps, as Qi Xiao thought, or as Li Wangyan himself said—
Being in the Mystic Maiden Mirror might not necessarily be a bad thing.
The increased cultivation speed, the ability to preserve life via the Immortal Artifact’s power—aside from being controlled and enslaved by Li Wangyan, it truly might not be a bad thing.
If she achieved Transformation and still couldn’t break free, then she had nothing to say.
Regardless, what she needed to do was maintain the attitude of “Do whatever you want. I’ll cooperate. It’s all indifferent anyway.”
Only then could she prevent Li Wangyan from truly destroying her disciples.
She knew very clearly that Li Wangyan’s hatred for Lin Wushuang and Chu Jiao was minor; the hatred directed at her was the main force. What he wanted to see was her collapse—
Therefore, as long as she appeared not to care… the harm Lin Wushuang and Chu Jiao suffered would be limited. At worst… they would lose their bodies.
But that still might not be a bad thing.
Someone like Li Wangyan—once you became his possession, as long as he didn’t die, no one could touch you. And he himself, acknowledged by an Immortal Artifact, was a person of great fortune, perhaps the protagonist of this era, likely to truly become immortal. In that case, becoming his possession could also be considered a step on the great Dao.
“Alas! Shuang’er! You must endure!”
She could only sigh quietly this way.
…
Li Wangyan now arrived at Qi Xiao’s cave abode—well, theoretically, “Qi Huan’s” cave abode.
Upon entering, he immediately felt the densely deployed thunder laws and thunder spiritual energy.
His hair instantly stood on end.
Looking, he saw his Senior Sister Qi Xiao was the same.
“Senior Sister, what is this?”
“I’m refining a magical artifact. If it succeeds, I should be able to reach mid-Golden Core before the Demonic Extermination Conference.”
“A magical artifact for… breakthrough?”
Li Wangyan looked puzzled.
“Senior Sister, you aren’t an Artifact Cultivator, are you? How is cultivation related to a magical artifact? It can’t be that this artifact helps people break through, can it?”
“Actually, not exactly. It involves many theories. Senior Sister is merely in the process of verifying. If successful later, I can share it with you, Junior Brother.”
Qi Xiao didn’t mind sharing her ideas with Li Wangyan. After all, if this person became stronger, perhaps the Mystic Maiden Mirror could be further “unlocked,” possessing other abilities.
Speaking of which, she hadn’t properly discussed this with Li Wangyan.
“By the way, Junior Brother, regarding your Mystic Maiden Mirror, Senior Sister has some questions. Would you be willing to answer?”
Li Wangyan’s expression immediately became somewhat cautious.
“What does Senior Sister wish to ask?”
“I already know the Mystic Maiden Mirror can increase our cultivation speed. But aside from that, are there other uses? Of course, this ability is already very strong. But what I mean is, if you, Junior Brother, become stronger, can we who are recorded in the Mystic Maiden Mirror profit from it?”
She thought she’d ask about changing back or something, but it’s actually this aspect? Should I say, very much Senior Sister’s style.
“There are, indeed.” Li Wangyan said at once.
“If I break through to the Golden Core stage, then for me it’s one thing—but for Senior Sister, you could temporarily borrow another person’s ‘Dao.’ For example, if there exists an Alchemy Dao cultivator on record, and Senior Sister herself doesn’t know alchemy… you could temporarily borrow that alchemist’s Dao and gain alchemical abilities. How much you can borrow is hard to say—after all, I haven’t tested it yet. Many of the Mystic Maiden Mirror’s functions are still things I’m exploring.”
“That’s an extremely useful ability. As expected of an Immortal Artifact…” Qi Xiao felt that the Mystic Maiden Mirror was truly an excellent treasure.
“Speaking of which, you’ve already turned Eldest Senior Brother into a woman, haven’t you?”
“I came precisely to inform Senior Sister of this. Eldest Senior Brother’s looks can be described as bringing ruin to a nation, a true calamity of beauty.”
“Hm?”
Qi Xiao knew Li Wangyan wasn’t talking about sheer beauty, but rather the type of beauty.
“That’s rather unexpected… Junior Brother, how do you plan to take revenge on Eldest Senior Brother?”
“Eh, Senior Sister, that sounds unpleasant. Eldest Senior Brother cultivates the Ruthless Dao—her cultivation itself has gone astray. I naturally want to help Eldest Senior Brother cultivate diligently and ascend to an even higher level. How is that revenge? Would I, your junior brother, be that kind of person?”
Li Wangyan said with a smiling face.
“The Ruthless Sword Dao already walks a dangerous, extreme path. Besides, Eldest Senior Brother’s mental state isn’t particularly stable. I merely applied a bit of technique, and her state of mind shattered. She might even drop in cultivation—this isn’t a stable Dao foundation at all… But then again, this also lets Eldest Senior Brother experience the feeling I had back then. I imagine that afterwards, she’ll understand me?”
“You… Eldest Senior Brother still has to participate in the Demonic Extermination Conference afterward. How do you expect her to manage?”
“Isn’t there my Jade Lotus Senior Sister? This junior brother has recently been planning to help Jade Lotus Senior Sister properly. When the time comes, she can sweep through the geniuses of the other sects. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”
Jade Lotus True Dharma? She’s not really up to it, is she?
Qi Xiao wasn’t optimistic. Personally, she felt Jade Lotus True Dharma didn’t have the bearing to be invincible among Golden Core cultivators.
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂