The Storm Has Settled

After waiting for about half an hour, Bai Yan’s master arrived, treading on the wind with Bai Yan and Zhuang Yang.

It was another two hours before Shangguan Yunzhu’s master, Li Qinghong, Qingfeng’s master, Zhang Xingyi, and Zhuang Yang’s master finally arrived at the location.

“Yunzhu!”

The moment Li Qinghong’s gaze fell upon her beloved disciple, seeing her seated on the ground with her long skirt stained with blood, her heart felt as if it had been pierced by a sharp awl.

“Master.”

Upon seeing Li Qinghong, Shangguan Yunzhu immediately rose to bow, but with a gentle flick of her sleeve, Li Qinghong sent out a soft yet firm wave of energy that held her steady.

“Do not bow… Sit down, quickly!
Alas, I… your master was a fool!
To agree to that scoundrel Qingfeng’s request, letting you come here to seek some Crimson Phoenix Grass for training… it is all my fault.”

Li Qinghong’s face was filled with sorrow, her voice laced with an undisguised ache and guilt.

Witnessing this, Shangguan Yunzhu’s heart tightened slightly.

She took a soft breath to steady her emotions and said in a low voice, “It is this disciple whose skills were lacking, causing Master to worry…”

Zhang Xingyi, who had arrived with them, had already received news of Qingfeng’s death.

He took a deep breath, his voice tinged with a barely perceptible hoarseness, “What exactly happened here?”

During their separate search, they had captured one of the cultivators allied with Qingfeng and Qiong Gong.

By now, that cultivator had been interrogated and disposed of, allowing them to learn the general outline of events, which was why Zhang Xingyi had not immediately erupted in anger.

Xuan Ping said, “Junior Brother Xingyi, calm yourself.

This matter is of great importance, and the details are convoluted.

Let us have Yunzhu recount the events from beginning to end first.

Yunzhu, you must be as detailed as possible.

Do not conceal anything!”

Li Qinghong also chimed in hastily, “Yunzhu, just speak your mind.
No matter what, your master will stand by you.”

“This disciple obeys.”

Shangguan Yunzhu replied solemnly, her gaze subconsciously drifting towards Lu Qiancha at the edge of the group.

With just that one glance, the turmoil in her heart from facing her own master and the master of the deceased strangely calmed a great deal.

She began with a sigh, slowly recounting everything from the moment the five disciples had split up, leaving no detail, no matter how small, unsaid.

Her story began at noon and continued until the golden crow sank in the west, then carried on from the gathering dusk until the sky was filled with a canopy of stars.

Lu Qiancha, off to the side, looked at her dwindling supply of Spirit-Recovering Pills as a sense of resentment welled up inside her.

She stared forlornly at Shangguan Yunzhu and complained in her thoughts, ‘Why doesn’t this girl just start from when Pangu created the heavens and the earth?’

Helpless, Lu Qiancha had no choice but to maintain the Myriad Phantoms Mirage Art while also meditating to regulate her breath.

She also managed to absorb the gist of Shangguan Yunzhu’s long tale.

Multitasking three things at once… truly, you never know your own potential until you’re pushed to the limit…

And as Shangguan Yunzhu’s story unfolded, the perilous contours of the events gradually became clear.

After Xuan Mo had been trapped, Qingfeng hadn’t ambushed Shangguan Yunzhu directly.

Instead, he first summoned a group of villains to attack them both, hoping to stage a ‘hero saves the beauty’ scenario.

As it turned out, the ‘beauty,’ Shangguan Yunzhu, was significantly stronger than the ‘hero,’ Qingfeng, placing him in an exceptionally awkward position.

His first plan having failed, Qingfeng devised another.

He manipulated the situation, pressing them step by step into a near-death ‘desperate strait,’ then seized the moment to confess with tears in his eyes, attempting to move her with the sentiment of sharing a common fate.

However, even when facing this desperate situation, Shangguan Yunzhu flatly rejected Qingfeng’s confession of ‘sharing a final battle and entering the next life together…’

With his soft tactics failing repeatedly, Qingfeng finally flew into a rage from the humiliation, dropping all pretense and trying to use an aphrodisiac poison to control Shangguan Yunzhu.

But Shangguan Yunzhu found an opportunity to escape using a treasured teleportation talisman, coincidentally running into Lu Qiancha, who saved her for the first time…

After her injuries healed, Shangguan Yunzhu tried to take a detour back to the Juezhang Treasure Forest.

But fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of humor.

Within a few days, she had lost her way in the vast snowy plains and, to make matters worse, her location was exposed once again…

On the brink of life and death, a figure in green robes appeared—Lu Qiancha arrived like a timely rain.

A battle of tacit cooperation ensued, luring the enemy in and ultimately killing with a borrowed knife—leading the pursuers into a killing formation and annihilating them all.

As for Qingfeng, he met his end at Shangguan Yunzhu’s own hands, his soul scattered to the winds.

When her last word fell, the night hung low like a heavy curtain.

Silence.

A deathly silence enveloped the entire area.

After hearing all this, Can Xin sneered from within Lu Qiancha’s body, “He was given so many opportunities, yet that junior martial brother of yours was utterly useless.”

The corner of Lu Qiancha’s mouth twitched as well.

She had originally thought Qingfeng was a man of deep cunning, a difficult character to deal with.

But it turned out he was nothing but a hopeless fool…

Judging by how Shangguan Yunzhu had thoroughly dominated him in their fight, his Spirit Transformation cultivation was likely just a bubble inflated by medicinal pills…

Gazes filled with various emotions eventually settled on the silent Lu Qiancha and the breathtakingly beautiful Xun Xue beside her.

Li Qinghong personally led Shangguan Yunzhu over.

The master and disciple pair first bowed deeply to Xun Xue, saying, “Venerable One, for the great kindness your daughter has shown in saving my disciple’s life, I, Qinghong, thank you on behalf of my young apprentice, Yunzhu!”

Straightening up, she turned to Lu Qiancha, her gaze sincere, “Martial Nephew Qiancha, for your righteous assistance in protecting my disciple, you will be handsomely rewarded upon our return to the mountain!”

Seeing her own disciple pushed into the limelight again, Xuan Ya, fearing she might misspeak, quickly stepped forward, beaming as she accepted all the thanks on her behalf.

At this moment, the most awkward person present was undoubtedly Zhang Xingyi.

He let out a long, long sigh of turbid air, as if trying to expel all the pent-up frustration from his chest.

His face was etched with an inconsolable grief and despair.

“Alas… it was I… this humble Daoist… who was blind and failed to judge character, accepting such a villainous disciple who brought disaster upon the sect…
Upon returning to the mountain… I will go to the Disciplinary Hall myself… to receive my punishment!”

Xuan Ping quickly clapped him on the shoulder, offering gentle words of comfort, “Junior Brother, do not blame yourself so harshly.
That beast Qingfeng’s wickedness was already deeply rooted.
He deceived everyone when he first joined the sect; it was not a failure of your judgment.
Besides, you chose him hastily during the last sect-opening ceremony.
How could you have possibly discerned his true nature?
No one in the sect will blame you for this.”

Zhang Xingyi nodded grimly and fell silent, his back looking utterly desolate under the starlight.

On the journey home.

Li Qinghong and Shangguan Yunzhu departed first.

She took Shangguan Yunzhu with her, transforming into a streak of crimson light that tore through the night sky, speeding away at full power.

Although the matter in Beiju Luzhou had come to a close, Shangguan Yunzhu had, after all, killed Qingfeng.

Upon returning to the sect, she would still have to accept punishment according to the rules.

But there was no way Li Qinghong would tolerate her disciple suffering such an injustice.

She let out a cold snort and sent a message to her Daoist partner, telling them to speak with the sect’s Enforcement Hall in advance.

As for herself, she changed direction and, wrapped in a heaven-shaking killing intent, shot like a meteor straight towards the capital of the Aolai Nation.

She wanted to personally see to it that the faction behind Qingfeng was torn out, root and stem!

The rest of the group flew through the silent night sky.

The journey seemed peaceful, yet it concealed a certain… peculiar ‘little annoyance.’

Lu Qiancha could be seen occasionally giving a slight, subtle twist of her hips, her brow furrowing and relaxing in quick succession, as if she were rather uncomfortable.

Her large, concealed wolf tail would, from time to time, be unexpectedly caught by a pair of slender, jade-like hands and given a gentle squeeze.

A vein pulsed on Lu Qiancha’s temple as she complained furiously in her mind, ‘What kind of technique is this Xun Xue using?!
How can she still grab my tail when I’ve already hidden it?!’

Night on Tianquan Peak was quiet and still.

A wisp of cloud drifted down to land lightly on the familiar shore of the lake.

Lu Qiancha and Xun Xue floated down from above, while Xuan Ya, beaming with delight and moving with a spring in her step as she rode her cloud, had just accepted an invitation from Xuan Mo and was preparing to attend a banquet.

Passing through the isolation formation and stepping onto the familiar grass, Lu Qiancha let out a breath of pure comfort.

Compared to Beiju Luzhou, her own little home felt so much safer.

“Little Qiancha, this place you live in is even more rustic than mine.”

Xun Xue looked around curiously, her clear blue eyes reflecting the lake and the thatched cottage, and she raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.

“There’s nothing to be done about it.
Tianquan Peak has no resident immortal to preside over it, so it’s always been one of the poorer peaks.
It’s hard enough just to find a place that offers shelter from the wind and rain.
Where would we find the resources for fancy pavilions and towers?”

Lu Qiancha sounded truly helpless as she spoke of this.

When she had first transmigrated and been taken in by her master on this immortal mountain, she had dreamed of sprawling mansions and endless wealth.

The reality, however, was a single thatched cottage and a life of utter poverty.

But after living here for several decades, she no longer minded.

It was, at least, better than dining on the wind and sipping the dew.