After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 132

However, before Qin Qingyi could think of an excuse to leave, Zhou Zhixue had already stood up again.

She looked toward the direction from which the demon core had just intensely pulsed, a direction that had made her soul feel a glimmer of hope.

“Could it be there?”

She continued to press her hand to her chest, asking softly. She was trying to get a response from the demon core.

But this time, the demon core made no further movement. Apart from quietly circulating within her body, there was no other fluctuation.

Zhou Zhixue was not disappointed. Having experienced this many times, she had long grown accustomed to the demon core not responding to her.

She quickly tidied herself up to shake off her previous disheveled state.

Qin Qingyi stood beside her, watching her silently.

She naturally saw her martial sister’s ecstasy when the demon core pulsed, and her dejection when she received no response.

For a moment, she suddenly felt a great sense of guilt.

If she had completely erased her martial sister’s feelings for her back then, would her martial sister not be so obsessed and fanatical now?

Truly, it was all her fault. She had been too self-assured back then, using her feigned death to leave the Sword Sect, yet forgetting the feelings her martial sister held for her. She hadn’t considered the heart-wrenching pain her martial sister would feel after her death.

Those people were right; the martial sister’s connection to her was not merely the bond of a fellow disciple. Because of the Heart-Linking Gu, their minds were interconnected. If it were any ordinary people, they would have long since become Dao companions under such circumstances…

Yet, her martial sister had never made such demands of her. She allowed Qin Qingyi to constantly evade and refuse, and the martial sister would always silently stand by her side.

Recalling the six months she served as the Sword Sect Master, her martial sister was always by her side. No matter when, if she turned her head, her martial sister’s shadow was always there.

Until that last day…

Thinking this way, Qin Qingyi’s resolve strengthened.

If this emotion had become her martial sister’s obsession, then she should sever this burden for her.

A Dao cultivator should not be burdened by external matters.

Immortal Venerable Wuwang told her that her martial sister’s Dao had gone astray because of her. The Emotionless Dao should initially cast off all emotions, but the martial sister had feelings for her. Although she was absent from the Sword Sect for ten years, her martial sister’s initial reverence, through a decade of longing, gradually twisted and mutated, ultimately developing into the current, uncontrollable situation.

But the Emotionless Dao is not about absolute desirelessness and emotionlessness, transcending the mortal realm.

One who cultivates the Emotionless Dao must first sever emotions to clear their mind and comprehend the great powers of the heavens and earth. After achieving great success, they must then scatter their cultivation and enter the mortal world, acting for the sake of countless people and experiencing all of the myriad emotions of the world—familial affection, friendship, romantic love… not one can be missing.

She should have parents, close friends, a lover. She must experience all the vicissitudes of the mortal world, and perceive all the myriad emotions, understanding why trees grow toward the sky, and why the wind blows east, south, west, and north. She must immerse herself in all beings and perceive all beings.

All beings are me, and I am all beings.

Only by fully comprehending the myriad emotions of the mortal world, and sensing the most precious sincere and pure emotions of humanity, and then having her spirit return to its true position, can the Emotionless Dao be considered truly perfected.

Knowing all beings without confusion; without confusion, there are no emotions.

Her heart is one with the heavens and earth; a single thought encompasses the vastness of the cosmos.

When that time comes, she will forget emotion because of having experienced emotion, feel love upon seeing all beings, and feel compassion upon seeing the vegetation. The true Emotionless Dao—

The Supreme Forgetfulness, Compassion for All Beings Dao—will then be completed.

Her martial sister should take this path.

Even if forgetting emotion means she will also forget her feelings for Qin Qingyi, this is the only way out for her martial sister.

She should not obstruct her martial sister’s future.

“Let’s go. We’ll explore that direction.”

Zhou Zhixue took the lead and walked forward. The direction she headed was precisely the one that had caused the demon core to pulse earlier.

The secret realm’s terrain was vast. Logically, given how long they had delayed, all the disciples from the various sects who entered the secret realm should also be inside by now.

Yet, along the way, apart from the three Sword Sect disciples they initially encountered, they hadn’t run into a single other cultivator.

Qin Qingyi didn’t have a map of the secret realm, nor had she devised an excuse to separate from Zhou Zhixue, so she could only follow Zhou Zhixue for the time being.

The spiritual energy in the secret realm was terrifyingly rich, almost condensing into solid mist. Both of them began to release their Dantian to absorb and refine the energy immediately, taking in all of this rich spiritual energy to use for themselves.

Therefore, even as the two of them traveled at full speed, the spiritual energy in their bodies not only wasn’t depleted but was accumulating and compressing little by little, making the spiritual energy within their bodies even purer.

It wasn’t until they arrived at a marsh that the scenery within the secret realm gradually began to change.

The two of them slowly stopped at the edge of the marshland.

Looking out over the endless marsh, there were unevenly distributed gray-black duckweeds everywhere. Below were stinking, decaying muds. Occasionally, bubbles would surface, and when they burst, the unpleasant odor would intensify.

If that were all, it wouldn’t be a cause for alarm.

But—

Qin Qingyi looked at the thick, intertwined vines on the edge of the marsh, her eyes narrowing slightly. If she hadn’t been mistaken, that vine seemed to have moved just now.

Was it alive?

As if perceiving Qin Qingyi’s thought, the vine gently shook its leaves again, as if signaling a friendly greeting to Qin Qingyi.

Her eyelids twitched, and she pulled her gaze back.

This subtle activity was not noticed by Zhou Zhixue. She frowned as she looked at the marsh, which clearly gave off a dangerous aura, feeling a bit troubled.

Her intuition told her there was danger here, but if she didn’t cross it, how would she find the information she desired?

Qin Qingyi waited for her to think, but before she could wait for Zhou Zhixue to make a decision, she first heard from the awakened Immortal Venerable Wuwang. “I just slept a little longer, where are you now?”

Qin Qingyi paused. Just as she was about to respond mentally, Immortal Venerable Wuwang began talking to herself again: “Oh, isn’t this This Venerable One’s secret realm? How did you get in?”

Qin Qingyi: ?

She barely managed to control her emotions, narrowly stopping herself from shouting out loud, but she still felt it was unbelievable in her mind:

“This is your secret realm?!”

Could it be too much of a coincidence?

Could the secret realm that her Martial Uncles and Aunts fought tooth and nail to open in the Upper Realm actually have been left by Immortal Venerable Wuwang?!

Immortal Venerable Wuwang said, “Not exactly.”

Qin Qingyi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this was impossible. How could there be such a coincidence in the world? It couldn’t be that everywhere she went was Immortal Venerable Wuwang’s territory.

“To be precise, this is not a secret realm that I created, but one that I found by chance in the past—an ownerless secret realm. The original owner had long since perished. Later, when I entered, the secret realm recognized me as its master.”

“So, if you insist, this is indeed a secret realm I once owned.”

“Perhaps it still remembers me.”

As she spoke, Qin Qingyi felt that the Immortal Venerable Wuwang within her body seemed to project a trace of spiritual power. That trace of almost imperceptible spiritual power floated around her once, and then went straight down her ankle and drilled into the mud beneath her feet.

She was about to ask Immortal Venerable Wuwang why she suddenly acted, but the next moment, Qin Qingyi felt that something around her was different.

It seemed to have finally sensed the trace of spiritual power projected by Immortal Venerable Wuwang. Qin Qingyi felt an invisible energy field emanating outward from beneath her feet.

Round after round, this fluctuation stopped after about three breaths.

And then came a message from the entire secret realm.

It seemed to be an obscure and difficult-to-understand communication.

Qin Qingyi couldn’t understand it, she could only discern the emotion in the communication.

Respect, joy, a humble and fawning feeling.

It seemed to be expressing a welcome to her.

“Hmm, it’s saying, ‘Welcome back, Your Grace. After a thousand years, your splendor is still the same.'”

Immortal Venerable Wuwang translated for her, laughing playfully at the same time.

“What splendor is still the same? This old thing can’t even tell people apart. It’s just so subservient after sensing a wisp of my aura.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Qingyi was dumbfounded.

“This secret realm can talk?”

Immortal Venerable Wuwang replied, “More or less? It’s just that I used to be its master, so it remembers my existence, and I just happen to be able to understand it.”

Qin Qingyi was somewhat distraught:

“How many more things haven’t you told me, Your Grace?”

Immortal Venerable Wuwang was nonchalant.

“You’ve been here before. Didn’t This Venerable One pull you over here that one time? Could you have forgotten already?”

Qin Qingyi pondered: “That happened?”

Immortal Venerable Wuwang nodded in her Dantian: “Yes, it did. Last time, when you were pulled by the Demon God’s head into that gurgling, bloody pool, didn’t I bring you here?”

“It’s just that the place we landed was not here at that time. Time was urgent then, and the secret realm is so big, I couldn’t control the landing spot. Don’t blame me for leaving you without water for several days.”

At this point, Qin Qingyi finally remembered.

That was right, that did happen. At the time, she was almost killed at the bottom of the blood pool. Immortal Venerable Wuwang took over her body and fought the Demon God’s head, finally bringing her to the secret realm to save her life.

Now that she remembered, Qin Qingyi naturally didn’t have such a strong footing to question Immortal Venerable Wuwang.

After all, her life was saved by her, and the Path of Killing she was cultivating was also taught by her. She hadn’t even asked her to call her Master, and had been completely devoted to her with anything she had.

Qin Qingyi felt that she would truly be inhuman if she continued to quibble.

She chuckled, trying to gloss over it.

“Ah, it’s my fault, it’s my fault. Senior, you are magnanimous, please forgive your junior this time.”

Immortal Venerable Wuwang snorted, but she didn’t forget her previous question.

“Tell me, why did you suddenly come in again? This Venerable One remembers that the entrance here was sealed long ago. How did you find it?”

Qin Qingyi pursed her lips. She glanced at Zhou Zhixue, seeing that Zhou Zhixue was still frowning, considering how to cross the marshland, and hadn’t noticed her yet. Only then did she continue to communicate with Immortal Venerable Wuwang telepathically.

“During the days you were asleep, news came from the Upper Realm that my Martial Aunts and Uncles somehow managed to open the entrance to this secret realm near Cliff Mountain.”

“As for the reason for entering, the disciples of the other Hundred Immortal Sects are just here for some experience and to casually gather some good items to take back.”

Immortal Venerable Wuwang noticed that she only mentioned others in her speech and not herself, so she followed up on her words and asked, “And you? Do you have some kind of mission?”

When this was brought up, Qin Qingyi put on a sad face: “You’re right, I actually have a mission.”

“My Martial Aunts and Uncles said that the Demon God’s remains are sealed in this secret realm and asked me to quickly find the remains and nail them down completely. They also said that once this secret realm opens, the Demon Race will certainly smell the scent and follow us in. If I don’t move quickly, when the Demon God’s head and body merge, the Xuan Tian Realm will likely face its true doomsday.”

She poured out everything at once, but for a long while, she received no response from Immortal Venerable Wuwang.

Qin Qingyi was puzzled: “Senior?”

It was then that Immortal Venerable Wuwang finally spoke: “A bunch of idiots!”

This voice was mixed with obvious anger, which startled Qin Qingyi. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so angry.

But after hearing Immortal Venerable Wuwang’s next words, Qin Qingyi fell silent.

“One after another, they are all useless fools! They press all the burdens onto two young children, not even considering that they themselves can’t defeat the Demon God, yet they dared to open the secret realm and send their disciples to face an enemy hundreds of times stronger. Sending good children here to court death—what are they if not fools!”

Qin Qingyi generally understood that this was a reprimand directed at her Martial Aunts and Masters.

She was no longer the child who knew nothing. She knew that she and her martial sister were the ones on whom great hopes were placed—the Chosen Ones prophesied to end the Demon Race.

Therefore, when her Martial Aunt said she needed to enter and search for the Demon God’s remains, she agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Since fate said it was her, then she would do it.

She just hadn’t expected Immortal Venerable Wuwang to be this angry.

She thought that since fate had chosen her, these were things she ought to do.