After Being Certified by the Immortal Lord on the Path of Ruthlessness - Chapter 6

Ye Qingge steadied her breathing and focused her mind once more.

Several days had passed since her fall, and the outcome of the battle with the demon realm remained unknown.

That battle had been particularly strange. This morning, bathing in the herb-infused waters had restored a significant portion of her spiritual energy.

The unresolved war weighed heavily on her.

A faint unease gnawed at Ye Qingge’s heart. She urgently wanted to return through the Mirror of Void to check on things.

The Mirror of Void was a relic left behind by her mother.

The mirror had two sides, each placed in a different location, accessible only to the soul.

One side was with Ye Qingge, while the other resided in her Qingyang Palace.

As her soul gradually detached, Ye Qingge followed the Mirror of Void back to the palace.

A day in the heavens was equivalent to a year on earth. The ten days Ye Qingge had spent on earth amounted to mere minutes in the celestial realm.

The palace maids continued sweeping and cleaning at the palace gates, their orderly movements no different from usual.

Returning to familiar surroundings eased the tension in Ye Qingge’s nerves.

She passed through Yangqing Palace and leisurely walked to the entrance of the Infinite Mystic Master’s abode.

The Infinite Mystic Master’s palace was adjacent to Qingyang Palace, deliberately chosen for its secluded yet exquisite location.

The moment she stepped inside, the rich aroma of wine greeted her. In the next instant, Ye Qingge saw her master.

The Infinite Mystic Master held a wine cup in his left hand, his right resting casually on his leg as he chatted merrily with his friend, the Water Mystic Master.

Ye Qingge’s gaze darkened as she noticed Frostblade pinned beneath a wine jar by the Infinite Mystic Master.

As if sensing Ye Qingge’s soul, the azure core of Frostblade flickered faintly.

The Infinite Mystic Master turned his head, slightly dazed as he stared at the empty doorway.

“Master,” Ye Qingge sighed and waved her hand, materializing her soul.

The Water Mystic Master froze, quickly setting down his cup and bowing in salute. “Your Highness, the Divine Maiden.”

With a wave of the Infinite Mystic Master’s hand, the palace maids who had been attending to them vanished instantly.

The Infinite Mystic Master narrowed his eyes, reacting belatedly. “Disciple! Weren’t you supposed to be undergoing your love tribulation? Why have you returned?”

Ye Qingge glanced at Frostblade, still pinned beneath the jar, and sighed. “Master, the havoc caused by the serpent-birds remains unresolved. This love tribulation.”

“Disciple! Compared to the serpent-birds, your unbroken love tribulation is the greater issue.” The Infinite Mystic Master straightened. “Your cultivation has already reached the ninth layer, but you’ve been stuck there because of this tribulation!”

The Water Mystic Master sat quietly beside them, listening with lowered eyes.

Ye Qingge remained unconvinced. “But the love tribulation isn’t something that appeared overnight. Can’t I first eliminate the serpent-birds and then sever the tribulation?”

“Absolutely not!” The Infinite Mystic Master sat up sternly. “Word has already spread about your trip to the Crow Python Sea. You were struck by your own spiritual backlash and fell from the peak of Mount Taibai, yet the serpent-birds mysteriously vanished. This is likely connected to your love tribulation.”

The Water Mystic Master interjected, “The love tribulation? Couldn’t the Matchmaker handle this? If the Divine Maiden doesn’t wish to linger, why not have the Matchmaker alter the threads of fate?”

His suggestion gave Ye Qingge an idea. With a wave of her hand, the Matchmaker came tumbling forward.

After the Water Mystic Master explained their request, the Matchmaker’s legs gave way, and he knelt trembling.

“Your Highness, I beg you to consider another method!” The Matchmaker stammered. “The threads of love are ordained by heaven and cannot be forcibly altered.”

The Water Mystic Master frowned. “Not even for the Divine Maiden?”

The Matchmaker shook his head in dismay. “This cannot be! Tampering with the red threads of fate invites divine retribution! Especially for a goddess like you. If you forcibly alter the threads of marriage, the punishment you’ll suffer will be a hundred, a thousand times worse than for an ordinary person!”

Terrified, the Matchmaker curled into a ball. One moment, he had been peacefully tying red threads on the tree, and the next, he found himself here.

The Water Diviner clicked his tongue. “Then what should be done about the Goddess’s trial of love?”

“Matchmaker, this is not just the Goddess’s trial alone,” the Infinite Diviner said, narrowing his eyes, his tone laced with displeasure.

The grand hall fell silent. The cheerful atmosphere of drinking and laughter moments ago turned heavy in an instant.

Ye Qingge frowned slightly as she looked at the Matchmaker kneeling on the ground. “You’ve overseen matters of marriage for ten thousand years. Is there a way to avoid defying the Heavenly Dao?”

The Matchmaker sighed. “At most, I can create opportunities for the Goddess and her trial of love, but I cannot directly connect their red threads.”

Ye Qingge gave a faint hum and waved her hand, sending the Matchmaker back where he came from.

The oppressive aura from the two high gods was too overwhelming. The Matchmaker had been scared speechless.

As for the trial of love, Ye Qingge paid it little mind.

She raised her hand and summoned the Eye of the Firmament, peering through it.

The sinister aura that had hung over the Crow Python Sea had vanished without a trace.

Indeed, neither the snake nor the bird was in the hall.

Could they have descended to the mortal realm as well?

After a moment of contemplation, Ye Qingge had already formed a plan.

“If the snake and bird have fled to the mortal world, then I suppose I’ll have to stay there a few extra days,” she said calmly, her tone more of an announcement than a discussion.

The Infinite Diviner nodded. “Remember, your primary purpose in descending is to sever the trial of love.”

In response, a wisp of smoke dissipated. Ye Qingge’s spirit had already quietly left the hall.

The Infinite Diviner sighed and turned his gaze back to his wine cup.

……

……

When her spirit returned to her body, Ye Qingge was momentarily dazed.

Staring at the bare banyan tree wall, she felt a flicker of disorientation.

On the table, Jiang Mianhao was still muttering to herself, chirping “Green Wine, Green Wine” incessantly.

Her thoughts lingered in the familiar Yangqing Hall—bright, pristine, a world apart from the grimy, dirt-covered surroundings before her.

Ye Qingge steadied her breath, exhaled slowly, and opened her eyes again.

Earlier, she had returned via the Mirror of Void and confirmed that nothing was amiss in the hall. Now reassured, she turned her attention to the matter at hand.

If she was to stay here for a while, her immediate task was to restore the little plant to health.

An hour later, Lily of the Valley came running back to the banyan cave, the plant pot balanced precariously on her head.

Just as she was about to enter, something tripped her.

“Oof!” Losing her balance, Lily stumbled forward, the pot flying off her head.

The pot traced a graceful arc through the air, but just as it was about to hit the ground, the door swung open from inside.

A pair of pale hands reached out and caught the pot securely.

Ye Qingge glanced down at the plant in her arms. The top layer of soil had loosened slightly.

“So dizzy, so dizzy.” Jiang Mianhao swayed from the sudden movement, her barely clear mind growing foggy again.

Regaining her footing, Lily instinctively turned to take the pot back from Ye Qingge, but her hands grasped at empty air.

Ye Qingge pulled the pot closer to her chest and fixed Lily with a cool stare.

Her gaze was like a blade of ice.

Flustered, Lily spun around angrily. “Something tripped me just now!”

Unable to direct her anger at Ye Qingge, Ling Lan redirected it toward the doorstep, where a blackened mimosa lay wilted.

“It’s you again!” Ling Lan glared at the thing that had tripped her, her fury boiling over. “What do you even want?!”

The mimosa, now the target of her rage, shrank back, trembling and not daring to make a sound.

“What is this?” Ye Qingge glanced at the plant debris on the ground.

Ling Lan gritted her teeth and spat, “It’s another annoying pest, just like you, who hurt Mianhao!”

The mimosa sprawled on the ground suddenly coughed weakly, its faint voice drifting up. “Immortal… Immortal Lord, please save me.”

“Are you seriously starting this again?!” Ling Lan bent down, yanked the mimosa up, and scolded, “If you hadn’t switched places with Mianhao, she wouldn’t have been hit by this damned thing!”

Hearing the commotion, Jiang Mianhao rustled her leaves and asked, “Lanlan, what’s wrong?”

“Mianhao…” As if grasping at a lifeline, Mi Xiu sobbed pitifully. “Save me, Mianhao, please…”

Her desperate pleas echoed one after another against the doorstep.

Jiang Mianhao couldn’t bear it any longer and spoke up, “Is that Mi Xiu? What happened to you?”

“At the time I was close to you, and I got hurt too… cough…” Mi Xiu’s voice grew fainter, as if she had exhausted all her strength.

Ling Lan, gripping Mi Xiu tightly, took two quick steps and raised her hand to toss her out. “Enough! After what you did to Mianhao, you still have the nerve to beg for her help?”

Seemingly drained of all energy, the mimosa’s once-clinging stems drooped limply, lifeless.

Jiang Mianhao grew anxious and called out, “Lanlan, don’t take it out on her. I agreed to switch places willingly.”

Ling Lan wouldn’t listen. With a stronger flick of her wrist, she hurled the mimosa away, then dusted off her hands in disgust.

Turning away, Ling Lan didn’t notice the discarded mimosa clinging tightly to the doorframe, its tendrils slowly stretching toward Granny Banyan’s room.

“She hurt you this badly, and you still defend her!” Ling Lan grumbled irritably.

Ye Qingge listened quietly to their argument without interjecting.

When Jiang Mianhao had been struck, Ye Qingge had sensed a surge of powerful spiritual energy nearby. But when she opened her eyes, Jiang Mianhao was the only plant in sight.

So how had this injured mimosa come to be?

And what significance lay in their switching places?

Noticing Ye Qingge lost in thought, Ling Lan explained, “Because this weed switched places with Mianhao, out of all the plants, she was the one you hit!”

Could the two of them be working together?

Ling Lan suddenly grew wary, her gaze shifting from the mimosa clinging to the doorframe to the silent Ye Qingge.

She still found this immortal lord suspicious and bizarre. On the night of the transformation, among countless plants, why had this mimosa alone switched places with Mianhao?

And out of thousands of transforming plants, why had only Jiang Mianhao been struck?

Even stranger, why had this immortal lord, after hitting Mianhao, expended her spiritual energy to heal her?

Too many questions tangled together, and Ling Lan couldn’t unravel them.

She shook her overloaded head and gave up thinking.

As long as this immortal lord could heal Jiang Mianhao, nothing else mattered.

Freshly bathed in the sweet dew and just regaining consciousness, Jiang Mianhao now felt dizzy again. The surrounding noise was too loud, making her head spin.

The little grass, already weakened by damaged roots, could only wilt listlessly, its leaves drooping as it curled up in the pot.

Meanwhile, the one called “Green Wine” remained lost in thought. The repeated appearances of the mimosa were truly puzzling.