After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 115

The next day, the Sword Sect released news that an elder was missing.

Subsequently, his body was discovered in the demon territory, having met a tragic and brutal death; his corpse was not yet cold.

The Demon Clan refused to admit they had killed him, even casually abandoning his body on Cliff Mountain. The entire Sword Sect was enraged, swearing to seek justice for the unjustly killed elder.

Qin Qingyi personally led half of the Sword Sect’s fighting force to the summit of Cliff Mountain, pointing her sword at the Demon Den and declaring war.

The war between the immortals and demons officially commenced.

The Sword Sect mobilized all its forces, led by Sect Leader Qin Qingyi. Starting from Cliff Mountain, they drove straight into the heart of the Demon Clan’s lair, conquering a hundred li of territory in a single day and causing the demons to retreat in defeat.

However, after the initial chaos, the Demon Clan quickly regained its footing, constantly dispatching Demon Kings from various locations to guard Cliff Mountain, and gradually reclaiming all the lost territory.

The two sides reached a stalemate.

After another battle ended, Qin Qingyi returned to her tent set up on Cliff Mountain. She leaned the Liubai Sword against the simple bed, then lay down wearily.

Alone in the tent, where no one could see her, she no longer needed to maintain the Sect Leader’s demeanor.

Yan Li entered silently: “Young Master.”

Qin Qingyi remained lying down, not opening her eyes: “What is it?”

Yan Li seemed hesitant, and after a few moments, asked with difficulty: “When do you plan to return to the clan? The elders are urging you again.”

Qin Qingyi sighed heavily.

Urging, urging, urging! They’re urging again!

She never said she wouldn’t go back, so why are these people so anxious?

Isn’t it just that she’s been a little high-profile lately, letting the Demon Clan know that she’s transformed into the Sword Sect’s leader?

It’s not like she’s abandoning the Demon Clan.

Qin Qingyi felt a fire building in her chest. She held it back repeatedly, then abruptly sat up from the couch. She looked at Yan Li, who was clearly restless at the tent entrance, and said patiently: “Besides this, what else did they say?”

They couldn’t have come all this way just to bother her about this one thing, could they?

Yan Li didn’t speak, and Qin Qingyi immediately understood.

It really was just this one thing.

Annoyed, Qin Qingyi rubbed her temples, and after a long while, replied to Yan Li: “Tell them to rest assured for now. I’ll return in a while.”

Right now, the Sword Sect disciples are fighting the Demon Clan on Cliff Mountain. She must hold out through this period and boost the Sword Sect’s morale before she can leave.

Otherwise, if she were to just walk away like this, the Sword Sect would be leaderless, which could lead to a major disaster. What then?

Wouldn’t she become a sinner for all ages?!

This kind of thing absolutely must not happen.

Waving her hand to dismiss Yan Li, Qin Qingyi waited until she was alone in the tent before closing her eyes again in exhaustion.

For the past few days, she had been fighting on the front lines. As the new Sect Leader of the Sword Sect, she knew that although using blood had silenced the many elders that day, it was only a temporary measure. If she couldn’t completely win them over, new troubles would inevitably arise later.

Therefore, Qin Qingyi had been wholeheartedly focused on exterminating demons, and she consistently held the top spot on the Demon Extermination Contribution List created at the beginning of the Immortal-Demon War.

She then took out the communication jade slip that Shangguan Yu had left her before leaving. The item had never lit up since Shangguan Yu’s departure. Recalling the day when all the bamboo suddenly withered, Qin Qingyi injected spiritual power into the slip, trying to activate it.

A quarter of an hour passed, but the slip remained motionless and completely dim.

It was the same again.

Although she had expected this result, Qin Qingyi couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“Martial Aunt, what is your current situation?”

“You haven’t contacted me at all. Is the Upper Realm… as you and I imagined?”

She muttered to herself, weakly bowing her head. Her falling hair obscured her vision, and thus concealed her current vulnerability.

Since taking over as the Sword Sect Leader, an invisible pressure had settled on her shoulders. She was just a little fox; when had she ever suffered such hardship?

Yet, she could only grit her teeth and endure. The Sword Sect and the Demon Clan—both sides treated her like a lifeline, giving her no room for choice.

“Martial Aunt, you really have made things difficult for me…”

As she was softly complaining, she failed to notice the jade slip in her hand flickering a few times.

The next moment, Shangguan Yu’s voice suddenly sounded: “What is it? Have you run into some trouble?”

Qin Qingyi abruptly raised her head, looking left and right but seeing no one. While she was feeling suspicious, she noticed the jade slip in her hand had been lit up for some time.

She was immediately delighted: “Martial Aunt?!”

Shangguan Yu’s reply came from the slip: “Yes, it’s me.”

It was the familiar voice, definitely her Martial Aunt.

But there was a greater surprise for Qin Qingyi yet to come.

True Lord Wen Qing’s smiling voice also sounded from the slip: “Qingyi, what’s wrong? Has someone upset you?”

Qin Qingyi was so happy she wanted to shout, but remembering she was on Cliff Mountain with who knows how many people outside the tent, she quickly cast a sound-insulating barrier. Only then did she carefully hold the slip:

“Master, are you well?”

Her memories of her Master still rested on the day of her Master’s ascension, and she still remembered the words her Master left her: to take good care of the junior brothers and sisters of Hidden Snow Peak, and to be wary of everyone around her.

And that sentence…

Qin Qingyi’s throat was tight with a sour feeling. She wanted to ask her Master why it had to be her and her Junior Sister, and why she had to be left in the Sword Sect.

Was her meeting with her Master in the past, and her Junior Sister’s calamity in childhood, all… destined?

Was it all the arrangement of the so-called “Heavenly Dao”?

But these words were stuck in her throat, finally turning into a single, wronged sob: “Master, I miss you so much.”

True Lord Wen Qing, hearing her disciple’s distress from the other side of the jade slip, sighed softly: “Your Master misses you too.”

Qin Qingyi took the opportunity to act spoiled, choosing not to mention the questions she originally intended to ask, knowing that asking them would be meaningless anyway.

True Lord Wen Qing naturally comforted her for a good long while. Towards the end, she sighed:

“It is your Master’s fault for leaving you alone to guard the Sword Sect.”

If she had been fully prepared then and hadn’t left in such a hurry, she wouldn’t have subjected her disciple to such toil, having to shoulder the burden of the entire Sword Sect at such a young age.

True Lord Wen Qing’s slightly self-reproachful words made Qin Qingyi shake her head, but only after shaking her head did she realize her Master couldn’t see her, so she softly replied: “It’s not Master’s fault.”

It wasn’t anyone’s fault; it was the Demon Clan’s fault.

It was the Demon Clan that forced her Master to ascend, and also forced her mother to ascend.

It was all the Demon Clan’s fault.

“Alright, you two are about to completely drain the energy of my jade slip. We don’t have many of these slips left. Should we talk about the real business?”

Shangguan Yu’s voice sounded helplessly from the side.

The Master and disciple, still immersed in their emotions, snapped back to attention. True Lord Wen Qing lightly cleared her throat, then brought the topic back: “Alright, alright, Qingyi, your Martial Aunt has something she wants to ask you.”

Perhaps Shangguan Yu had taken the slip from True Lord Wen Qing’s hand, as Qin Qingyi clearly heard her voice become clearer.

“Qingyi, what is the current situation of the Profound Heaven Realm?”

Qin Qingyi sat up straight. Although no one could see her, she maintained a very proper posture, like a junior disciple being quizzed by a teaching elder. After a moment’s contemplation, she replied solemnly: “The Profound Heaven Realm is not in good shape right now. Not long ago, the Demon Clan attacked the hundred immortal sects. Apart from the Sword Sect, many other sects suffered heavy casualties, and the fighting strength of the immortal sects in the Profound Heaven Realm has been repeatedly diminished.”

She informed them in detail of everything that had happened in the Profound Heaven Realm since Shangguan Yu’s ascension, including her own insights.

In addition, she also told them about the Sword Sect’s situation, including killing an elder who had sided wrongly, dumping his body in the Demon Clan’s territory to frame them, and thereby legitimately starting a war against the Demon Clan.

After she finished speaking, Qin Qingyi could clearly sense a long silence from the other side of the slip.

“Is my method too cruel?”

Qin Qingyi was a little nervous. She knew that taking a life so easily was indeed contrary to the morals of human cultivators, but this was the most comprehensive solution she could think of.

For human cultivators to wage war, the most crucial thing was the reason for starting it. A reason that seemed cruel but was extremely effective, and could also mobilize the morale of the Sword Sect disciples, there was only this one way.

She believed she had considered everything thoroughly, thinking about these matters day after day, constantly pondering the true goal behind the Demon Clan’s actions, to the point where her fox head felt several sizes larger.

Shangguan Yu chuckled on the other end: “There’s no problem. You’ve considered everything very thoroughly.”

“It seems you are very suited for this position; you are more decisive than I was back then.”

Qin Qingyi finally let out a sigh of relief.

What she feared was her Master and Martial Aunt disapproving of her method.

But after all, she was not human. The Demon Clan only pursued methods that maximized their interests. No matter how much she was influenced, she couldn’t learn the kind of excessive consideration for benevolence and morality that humans had.

She knew killing that elder was somewhat wrong, but—

“Disciple, did you kill that bastard who used to oppose your Master?”

True Lord Wen Qing suddenly interjected from the jade slip.

Qin Qingyi was stunned, then nodded heavily: “Yes, that’s right, it was him.”

“Good kill!”

True Lord Wen Qing’s extremely hearty laughter came from the slip.

“Your Master has long found that bastard disagreeable. It’s a pity that I ascended in a hurry and didn’t have time to deal with him. Qingyi, you’ve practically helped your Master eliminate a major concern!”

On the other end, True Lord Wen Qing was not only laughing heartily herself but also dragged Shangguan Yu into nodding along.

“Exactly. This Venerable also had strong opinions about him.”

Qin Qingyi blinked, knowing her Master and Martial Aunt were comforting her.

The uncertainty she had felt suddenly cleared up a lot, and much of her previous confusion dispersed.

Then she thought of a question and immediately asked it: “Master, Martial Aunt, have you perhaps seen my mother in the Upper Realm?”

Shangguan Yu replied: “We haven’t found her yet.”

A hint of disappointment appeared between Qin Qingyi’s brows. She had missed her mother for a long time.

When she was young, she was playful and spent little time with her mother. After joining the Sword Sect with her Master, her time with her mother became even scarcer.

Now that her mother had ascended to the Upper Realm, she suddenly realized how much she missed her.

“Your Master and I will look for her as soon as possible. You just wait a little longer. In fact, I will make sure the two of you get in touch.”

Shangguan Yu comforted her.

She still had a few of the jade slips she had left behind. Once they found the Demon Empress, it wouldn’t be too late to have her contact Qingyi.

Qin Qingyi forced herself to cheer up and agreed.

Seeing the jade slip begin to flicker, its energy almost completely depleted, Shangguan Yu seized the time to carefully caution Qin Qingyi with a few words.

“You must remember, while others may allow the demonic seed to parasitize them, you and Zhou Zhixue absolutely must not.”

Qin Qingyi frowned, wanting to ask why.

But Shangguan Yu didn’t give her time to ask. Her speech was extremely fast, as if she was afraid of running out of time to speak.

“The two of you must be extremely careful when fighting the Demon Clan. Once your Master and I have dealt with the matters in the Upper Realm, we will naturally inform you of the key details. Before then, you only need to ensure your own safety.”

Qin Qingyi agreed to everything.

Just before ending, Shangguan Yu seemed to hesitate over whether to speak. With the jade slip about to go dark, Qin Qingyi only heard a long sigh:

“Qingyi, you and she are the final key to this war.”

Qin Qingyi was about to press for more details, but the jade slip had already gone dark. No matter how she called out, there was no longer any response.

Instantly, thunder suddenly rumbled outside the tent, making Qin Qingyi’s heart skip a beat.

“Why is the lightning so black?!”

“It looks like a heavenly punishment. Has something happened?”

Exclamations and cries of surprise were constant outside the tent, all expressing bewilderment and confusion over the sudden lightning strike.

Qin Qingyi looked outside in terror. She suddenly understood why her Martial Aunt could not explain things clearly.

It wasn’t that she was unwilling to speak; she was unable to.

The “Heavenly Dao” would not permit her to speak those words.

Qin Qingyi calmed her mind, hid the faded jade slip in her hand, and then hastily lifted the curtain to look outside.

Outside the tent, just a few steps away from her camp, the ground was already scorched earth.

The lightning strike had fallen right there.

So close to her.

Qin Qingyi looked up at the still-tumbling thunderclouds, where lightning faintly flashed. She knew this was the “Heavenly Dao’s” warning to her.

Qin Qingyi stood beside the scorched earth for a long time without speaking.

Besides her, someone else had rushed out right as the lightning fell.

Zhou Zhixue stood nearby. Seeing that Qin Qingyi was unharmed, she took a few steps back, increasing the distance between them.

Qin Qingyi looked at her, her lips moving a few times, but in the end, she couldn’t say a word.

Her feelings for her Junior Sister were ultimately complex.

Since that night, her Junior Sister had refused to speak to her.

Although she still guarded her every day, she no longer spoke.

Even when Qin Qingyi proactively spoke to try and break the ice, her Junior Sister would only listen, giving no response.

She was like a voiceless doll.

Qin Qingyi was at a loss facing this attitude. Many times, she also thought that perhaps that day, she should have given a definite answer.

Yes, or no.

But she had given an ambiguous reply instead.

It was no wonder the other person was ignoring her.

Qin Qingyi suddenly felt a bit of resentment towards herself. If she had known this would happen, perhaps she shouldn’t have provoked her in the first place.

But now, there was no medicine for regret.