After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 31

Zhou Zhixue’s life on Hidden Snow Peak was very disciplined.

Every day, she woke up early to practice her sword for over a thousand strokes until she was exhausted before stopping. Then, she would wait for Qin Qingyi to wake up, have a meal together, and then go to listen to lectures with Xie Su, Hu Yu, and the others.

It’s worth mentioning that she no longer allowed Qin Qingyi to accompany her.

The reason was that no other disciples had a Senior Sister or Senior Brother accompanying them, making her the only exception. Furthermore, Qin Qingyi’s Flowing White Sword was too conspicuous, and the daily pick-up and drop-off was simply too eye-catching.

“Just because of these?”

Qin Qingyi was amused.

“Mm.” Zhou Zhixue nodded heavily.

She was being very serious, but Qin Qingyi’s heart softened as she listened.

“You are my Junior Sister, a disciple of Master, and it is right for you to be protected by Hidden Snow Peak.”

Qin Qingyi patiently explained the reasons to the little girl:

“The disciples of Hidden Snow Peak don’t need to care about others’ opinions. If the sky falls, Master and Senior Sister will bear it. You are still young, just be yourself.”

Though she said this, Zhou Zhixue still refused to let Qin Qingyi accompany her.

Qin Qingyi was helpless but could only concede.

“Then you must pay attention to safety.”

She didn’t force the issue, but she would quietly follow behind the little girl, watching her attend the lectures from the shadows. When it was time to return, she would get back to Hidden Snow Peak one step ahead, pretending that she had never left.

Zhou Zhixue, unaware of this, would still review what she had learned that day after returning to Hidden Snow Peak. Afterward, she would practice with a sword nearly as tall as herself in the courtyard.

As peach blossoms fell in profusion, Zhou Zhixue’s sword followed the trajectory of their descent, tracing their path. Day after day, her sword became faster and faster.

Starting from merely chasing the falling blossoms without any structure, she could now kiss the petals with the tip of her sword as they floated past her, and then send the scattered petals away with a shake of the blade.

At this time, Zhou Zhixue had been on Hidden Snow Peak for almost a year.

Today was slightly different from usual. In the evening, Zhou Zhixue took out the incomplete set of Great Void Sword Art that Shangguan Yu had given her previously, and pestered Qin Qingyi to practice with her.

She had never taken out this set of sword art until yesterday, when she finally mastered the basic sword art taught by the Sword Sect. Only then did she prepare to study this set of sword art.

She’s not too greedy, Qin Qingyi thought.

But…

“You’ve scheduled your time too tightly.”

Qin Qingyi chided her.

It was already night, and she wasn’t sleeping yet.

The little girl had too much energy.

“Please, Senior Sister, just accompany Junior Sister to practice for one more hour.”

She seemed to know that Qin Qingyi had a weakness for her acting cute and spoiled, always using this tactic. Just a few soft words, and her Senior Sister would compromise.

“Alright, alright, I’ll practice with you then.”

Qin Qingyi sighed.

When she first started, she hadn’t cultivated this diligently. Now, she was being forced to cultivate diligently.

Cultivation is difficult, the fox sighed.

The two stood facing each other under the bright moonlight. Qin Qingyi raised her hand, holding the first section of the Great Void Sword Art.

This first section was different from what the Sword Sect disciples learned. Qin Qingyi first read it through from beginning to end, and couldn’t help but exclaim that it was indeed a good technique.

She read it three times, ensuring she missed nothing, before starting to instruct Zhou Zhixue.

“Gather your mind, embrace the primal unity, and look inward to your Dantian.”

Zhou Zhixue followed her instructions, completely calming the disorderly spiritual energy around her. Then, the spiritual energy retracted inward, confined to the Dantian.

Qin Qingyi’s words, gentle like the moonlight, flowed through the small courtyard.

“Go find the Ice Spirit Root deep within your Dantian, awaken it, and make it respond to you.”

This was the most crucial step. Zhou Zhixue’s disadvantage was that her Spirit Root was too strong and domineering, and her own strength couldn’t suppress it, which always led to the Ice Spirit Root’s own spiritual power leaking out. This was the fundamental reason why she was always too cold to sleep before.

Zhou Zhixue obediently sank her mind completely into her Dantian, as if falling into a deep, dark sea, without light or shadows.

After a slight sensation of weightlessness, Zhou Zhixue stood firmly in the deepest part of her Dantian. She looked down at herself. This body, formed by the gathering of spiritual energy, looked exactly like her in the Dantian, only slightly more youthful.

Currently, she was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, so when looking inward at her Dantian, it could only be like this. If she reached the Nascent Soul stage later, it would naturally not be so troublesome, and her mind could naturally switch between her main body and the small Nascent Soul figure.

But thinking about these things now was still too far off. After all, there was a Golden Core stage between Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul. Future matters could wait.

When she looked up again, she saw a glowing object, resembling a six-petaled snowflake.

It was an extremely exquisite six-petaled snowflake, still hissing and emitting cold air outwards, silently suspended not far away in this dark Dantian. Looking at it, a feeling of closeness suddenly rose in Zhou Zhixue’s heart.

She knew this was likely her Spirit Root, so she quickly ran toward the snowflake.

However, this Spirit Root, transformed into a snowflake, seemed to have a mind of its own, deliberately circling away from her. No matter how she chased it, she couldn’t catch up.

Several times, it seemed that if she just moved a little further, she could touch it, but this Ice Spirit Root was extremely spiritual. Each time, it accelerated at the last moment, causing her to miss. After a few such instances, she became anxious.

Despite this, she still failed to catch the Spirit Root, and instead got further and further away from it. Seeing the six-petaled snowflake floating back and forth not far away, Zhou Zhixue became increasingly stubborn.

After a few more rounds, the spiritual body submerged in the Dantian began to become erratic, yet Zhou Zhixue herself paid no attention, still focused on grasping the Spirit Root in her hand.

“Focus!”

Like a drop of cold spring water falling onto her spiritual platform, Zhou Zhixue’s consciousness was recalled by this single sentence.

A pulling force completely yanked her out of her Dantian.

She suddenly opened her eyes, only to see Qin Qingyi’s strained expression.

“You’re too eager.”

Qin Qingyi frowned.

Zhou Zhixue was confused. She looked down at herself and was horrified to find that she was completely covered in ice. The ice layer started from her feet and extended upwards, already spreading to her heart!

If it were a moment later, it might have completely frozen her heart meridians!

Zhou Zhixue couldn’t help but gasp.

Half from shock, half from the cold.

“I told you to sense the Spirit Root, not to grab it.” Qin Qingyi explained to her, half helpless, half chiding: “Calm your mind and release your spiritual energy. When it senses that you are not a threat, it will naturally come close to you.”

“Senior Sister, I’m cold…”

Zhou Zhixue, who had finally fully recovered her senses, was frozen, her face pale. She hugged her arms, shivering.

When she was immersed in her Dantian just now, she didn’t feel it, but now that reason returned, she genuinely felt like she was freezing to death.

She couldn’t help but turn to Qin Qingyi for help, looking at her pitifully.

Qin Qingyi pursed her lips, ultimately giving in.

Several streaks of spiritual energy shot out, instantly melting the surrounding ice.

Qin Qingyi took off her cloak and draped it over the other party, “Go back? Practice tomorrow.”

Unexpectedly, Zhou Zhixue shook her head. Even though her lips were frozen purple, she still insisted, “No, I must take this step today.”

“Please, Senior Sister, protect me again.”

With that, she immediately sat cross-legged, held her breath, and delved into her Dantian again.

Qin Qingyi couldn’t argue with her and could only agree.

This time, Zhou Zhixue was noticeably calmer.

She didn’t chase the Spirit Root in the Dantian anymore. Instead, after entering the Dantian, she immediately sat down and closed her eyes to rest, slowly circulating the spiritual energy around her.

In the dark Dantian without light or shadows, she flickered with a faint glow. Zhou Zhixue forced herself not to pay attention to the Spirit Root’s movements, focusing wholeheartedly on silently reciting the essentials of the Great Void Sword Art.

As expected, in less than a quarter of an hour, the six-petaled snowflake, which had quite a bit of intelligence and she deliberately ignored, couldn’t sit still and slowly began to move toward her.

In a short while, it was within Zhou Zhixue’s reach.

She slightly opened her eyes, aware of its presence, but didn’t reach out because she mostly knew that reaching out now would likely still result in missing.

Then I simply won’t think about it.

She closed her eyes, continued to silently recite the sword art wholeheartedly, concentrating on guiding the spiritual energy to outline the sword intent.

Perhaps sensing the spiritual energy coming from the same source, the six-petaled snowflake circled Zhou Zhixue a few times, gradually becoming docile.

It shrunk significantly, and the large six-petaled snowflake gradually split into many small snowflakes, surrounding Zhou Zhixue and forming a ring.

It showed immense intimacy.

When Zhou Zhixue reached out to grab it again, she steadily grasped the Ice Spirit Root in her hand. This time, the Ice Spirit Root not only didn’t struggle but also very obediently shrunk itself, turning into a white bracelet encircling Zhou Zhixue’s wrist.

A trace of coolness emanated from the bracelet, carrying a pleasant sense of comfort.

“Success!”

Zhou Zhixue opened her eyes, eager to show Qin Qingyi.

“Senior Sister, look!”

She stretched out her hand, pulling up her wide sleeve to reveal a circle of white marks on her wrist.

Unlike when she was in her Dantian, where she was a figure gathered by spiritual energy, the Spirit Root could manifest on her wrist. Now that she had left the Dantian and returned to her true self, the Spirit Root would no longer appear, only residing under the skin of her wrist, emitting a faint white glow outwards.

Seeing that she had subdued the Spirit Root after only two attempts, Qin Qingyi’s eyes softened with satisfaction:

“You did very well.”

But the next second, she suddenly composed herself, silently chiding herself: Satisfied with what? How can she be the one to instruct a disciple taken by Master?!

Damn it!

Why isn’t Master teaching her?!

She hasn’t been seen for ten days to half a month. What is Master busy with?!

However, her feeling of indignation was interrupted by Zhou Zhixue, who had rushed over.

“Senior Sister, sleepy…”

Zhou Zhixue yawned, leaning against Qin Qingyi’s body, completely drained of energy.

Qin Qingyi looked up at the sky. It was already past midnight.

Practicing like this for over two hours—how could she not be sleepy?

She sighed, helplessly wrapping the child in her arms with the large cloak.

“Senior Sister will carry you back to sleep.”

Thus, every night after dinner, Qin Qingyi had one more essential task—

Accompanying Zhou Zhixue to study the Great Void Sword Art.

The sun and moon rotated, and days passed one by one. When everyone suddenly realized it, only two months were left until the Inner Gate Disciple Assessment.

And Zhou Zhixue had finally touched the threshold of the Golden Core stage, needing only a catalyst to successfully enter the Golden Core stage in one fell swoop.

“Are you nervous?”

Qin Qingyi asked her.

Today happened to be another gathering down the mountain. In the past two years, Zhou Zhixue had barely left Hidden Snow Peak for cultivation. Today, Qin Qingyi had insisted on dragging her out.

Two years had passed, and Zhou Zhixue had visibly become much calmer. The daily cultivation had tempered her temperament, and although she was only eight years old, her features had already opened up considerably.

Hearing Qin Qingyi’s question, she pursed her lips.

How could she not be nervous?

“Senior Sister, you’re asking the obvious.”

Qin Qingyi immediately smiled.

She reached out and pinched the baby fat that was about to disappear from Zhou Zhixue’s cheek, winking, “Don’t be afraid, Senior Sister believes in you.”

“This is not something that can be achieved just by believing,”

The little girl mumbled.

She didn’t even dare to directly say that she could take the top spot, only hoping that she wouldn’t bring shame to Hidden Snow Peak.

She turned her head, unusually wanting to avoid the topic.