After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 44

Late at night.

The person beside her had long been asleep, but Zhou Zhixue couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.

She slightly turned her head to look over.

Senior Sister was sleeping on her side, facing the inner side of the bed.

The light inside the bed curtains was dim, and Zhou Zhixue couldn’t see clearly.

Looking at Qin Qingyi’s side, Zhou Zhixue felt a stirring of intention.

After a while, she began to move, little by little, like a snail moving its heavy shell, carefully approaching and sticking close.

But as soon as she got close, the person beside her let out a muffled grunt in their sleep.

Zhou Zhixue immediately dared not move.

Her body froze, maintaining a posture with one elbow propped on the bed and her upper body suspended in the air.

Lightening her breathing, Zhou Zhixue stared intently at the movement of the person beside her.

It wasn’t until she realized that the person beside her hadn’t been startled awake that she lowered her gaze and gently let out a breath.

Then, she slowly lay down, pressing tightly against Qin Qingyi’s back.

A warm sensation instantly passed through her clothes, Zhou Zhixue’s breathing softened, and the greed in her eyes finally showed a hint.

She stretched out a hand and lightly placed it on Qin Qingyi’s waist.

Zhou Zhixue gently pressed her forehead against the shoulder of the person in front of her, her slightly lowered eyes filled with longing.

Senior Sister…

You’ve finally returned.

If only it could always be like this.

Thinking this, drowsiness also crept up a bit, and Zhou Zhixue obediently closed her eyes, letting the sleepiness wash over her.

But before she could completely fall asleep, fragmented noises drilled into her ears.

“Cold…”

Qin Qingyi murmured softly in a daze.

She gradually curled up into a ball.

“So cold…”

Zhou Zhixue heard it clearly.

But how could she be cold?

The weather right now shouldn’t be considered cold.

Zhou Zhixue was a little confused, but the person beside her was indeed still saying she was cold, and seeing Qin Qingyi’s brows furrowing tighter and tighter, her face even gradually turning pale, and her body starting to tremble slightly.

She was clearly very cold.

Zhou Zhixue also started to panic.

How could this be?

Zhou Zhixue remembered when she was little; at that time, it was because she couldn’t control her spiritual power, and her Ice Spiritual Root leaked out, causing her whole body to feel cold.

But now, she could control herself very well.

Zhou Zhixue suspiciously looked at her fingertips, only to discover with astonishment that her palm was uncontrollably emitting cold air outwards.

Tracing the source upwards, it was the silver little snake coiled around her wrist.

It was her Ice Spiritual Root.

How could this be?!

So, she had been unknowingly releasing cold air towards Senior Sister, making Senior Sister feel cold?

As soon as this thought emerged, Zhou Zhixue suddenly retreated a little.

She created a distance of about one person’s width and stared intently at the Spiritual Root on her palm and wrist.

It wasn’t until this moment that the Spiritual Root gradually calmed down and stopped releasing cold air.

And Qin Qingyi finally stopped crying out “cold.”

“Why is this happening?”

Zhou Zhixue was in disbelief, but she didn’t dare to wake up the person next to her.

However, tonight she was destined not to sleep.

Zhou Zhixue’s mind was a mess, confused and tangled.

Why did her Spiritual Root automatically awaken and release cold air when it touched Senior Sister?

But this had never happened before.

Zhou Zhixue’s breathing was slightly rapid. She looked at the person still deep in sleep, but she dared not approach again.

The greed in her heart was at work, urging her to get closer, but if she got closer, she would hurt her.

Zhou Zhixue struggled internally. She stared closely at the silver snake swimming on her palm and wrist, asking herself in a low voice: “Why?”

But the Spiritual Root was destined to not be able to answer her.

When Qin Qingyi woke up from her sleep, the person beside her was long gone.

She didn’t care much either.

Now, Junior Sister was immersed in cultivation every day, and her cultivation level was rising steadily, long surpassing hers.

Given her personality, she naturally wouldn’t allow herself to be lazy.

At this moment, she was probably practicing her swordplay?

Thinking this, Qin Qingyi dressed and walked out the door.

Sure enough, Zhou Zhixue was practicing her sword in the courtyard.

Qin Qingyi recognized it as the Supreme Void Sword Art that Shangguan Yu had once gifted to her Junior Sister.

Observing her movements, she should have studied it quite deeply.

If any other sword enthusiast saw this, they would probably be eager to step forward and spar with her.

But Qin Qingyi was not an ordinary sword cultivator; she was lazy.

It was such a good time in the morning, why waste it on practicing a sword?

She yawned faintly and leaned against the door, watching.

Zhou Zhixue saw her and immediately lost the mood to continue practicing. She hastily ended the session and walked towards her.

Upon reaching her, she took a handkerchief from her bosom: “Returning it to Senior Sister.”

This was the handkerchief Qin Qingyi had used to wipe away her sweat last night. This morning, she had washed it clean with soapberry and even used spiritual power to dry it.

Zhou Zhixue held the handkerchief with her hand and pursed her lips lightly.

Just then, the morning sun shone directly upon her. Zhou Zhixue lowered her head slightly, her dark eyelashes casting a small shadow, making her skin fair and lips red. The cinnabar mark between her brows, combined with her lowered gaze, made her look like the compassionate Guanyin, extremely beautiful.

Qin Qingyi observed her, unable to discern anything from the other’s eyes, so she had no choice but to take the handkerchief back.

“I’m going to see Master in another half a quarter of an hour. Are you coming?”

Qin Qingyi asked her.

Zhou Zhixue hesitated for a few moments, then shook her head: “Senior Sister, please go on your own.”

After saying that, as if feeling her words were too brief, she added: “Master should be on the Sword-Wielding Peak these days. The Sect Leader and the elders are worried about the loosening of the Demon Race seal.”

Qin Qingyi nodded, indicating she knew.

“It must be that calling the disciples back is also preparation for this.”

She hadn’t cut off communication with Venerable Wen Qing while she was in the Demon Race, so she knew most of what was happening in the Sword Sect and the Xuan Tian Realm.

Zhou Zhixue, however, lowered her eyes, her expression looking quite downcast: “It is Junior Sister’s incompetence; I am only at the middle stage of Nascent Soul to this day, having failed the expectations of the Sword Sect and Master.”

These self-effacing words sounded like subtle humble-bragging to Qin Qingyi’s ears.

A stab through the heart · Only entered the early stage of Nascent Soul from Golden Core after ten years · Doesn’t like to cultivate · Qin Qingyi.

After trying for a long time but failing to smile, Qin Qingyi let out a cold snort, very unreservedly: “You are incompetent, so incompetent that you’re number one on the genius rankings.”

When she returned, she passed by the Central Continent’s Genius Rankings. On those few sky-high stone pillars, she personally saw Junior Sister’s name engraved at the very top of the Nascent Soul pillar, glittering with brilliant golden light.

Those stone pillars have existed since the beginning of the world, and no one knows their origin, but later, people gradually understood the wonderful use of the stone pillars—

They automatically record the names of the strongest people of the current generation.

From Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment to Soul Transformation and Ascension, the names of the strongest people of the current era will be recorded on them.

However, only the top one hundred names are recorded.

Those outside the top one hundred are not included by the stone pillars, unless someone defeats a person on the ranking, in which case they will immediately replace that person’s rank.

Many elders of the Sword Sect are on the list, which is one of the reasons why the Sword Sect ranks among the foremost of all Immortal Sects.

Now, the top ranker in the Nascent Soul stage is pretending to be foolish in front of her. Would she believe it?

Qin Qingyi poked Zhou Zhixue’s shoulder angrily, snorted twice, then ignored Zhou Zhixue and walked straight out of the courtyard towards her own courtyard.

She did need to go and see Master, but since Master was on the Sword-Wielding Peak, she would take her time.

The most important thing right now should be to quickly take Yan Li to register in the outer sect disciple roster.

Otherwise, she would be unregistered in the Sword Sect.

She wouldn’t have the welfare benefits of a disciple.

Zhou Zhixue watched her retreating figure, emotions surging in her eyes, but she pressed them all back down when she lowered her gaze.

She lowered her eyes to look at the flexibly swimming silver little snake on her wrist bone, and finally put her hand down, letting her sleeve cover it.

“I absolutely cannot hurt Senior Sister…”

A soft whisper scattered in the wind.

“You must carefully conceal your true identity, understand?”

After collecting the disciple token and a few sets of outer sect disciple robes, Qin Qingyi instructed again.

It happened that the disciple on duty today, responsible for recording the information of newly admitted disciples, was acquainted with Qin Qingyi. Thus, she didn’t need to queue, taking advantage of a loophole. She simply explained Yan Li’s background, and the other party, trusting Qin Qingyi, didn’t ask too many questions and placed Yan Li’s identity in the outer sect disciple roster.

Thus, this matter was also resolved.

“Truly, trivial matters are exhausting,” Qin Qingyi sighed with emotion.

In just this short while, the sun had reached the very center of the sky, making her fox head dizzy from the heat.

She wanted to sleep.

“Young Master, then I—” Yan Li had just opened her mouth when Qin Qingyi covered it.

“Say it again, you must call me Senior Sister,” Qin Qingyi’s eyes held a threat. After looking left and right to make sure no one was looking their way, she quietly warned Yan Li again: “Don’t you dare call me wrong again!”

Yan Li couldn’t speak, so she could only nod repeatedly.

Seeing her obedience, Qin Qingyi finally released her hand.

“Be cautious with your words and actions, and be careful as a demon.”

Qin Qingyi narrowed her eyes, frightening Yan Li: “This is not our Demon Race. The surroundings are all human cultivators. You must remember not to miss the time to take that shapeshifting pill. Don’t let your ears and tail come out again.”

Yan Li nodded repeatedly.

“Alright, then go find your room.”

Qin Qingyi had said enough. She straightened up, stretched a big lazy stretch, and waved her hand, telling Yan Li to leave.

“I need to go find Master, so I won’t go with you.”

Seeing Yan Li’s teary eyes, looking as if she couldn’t bear to leave her, Qin Qingyi’s heart was made of stone, and she pretended not to see.

But Yan Li didn’t listen to her and leave; instead, she followed closely behind Qin Qingyi.

“I can’t take you today. The Sword-Wielding Peak has many powerful elders. If you go, you will be discovered.” Seeing that persuasion wasn’t working, Qin Qingyi sighed and could only patiently reason with Yan Li.

“You can come and find me tomorrow, and I certainly won’t refuse to see you.”

The 16-year-old cat had already grown to Qin Qingyi’s shoulder height, but she was still a minor. Although her strength was slightly stronger than Qin Qingyi’s when they were in the Demon Race, now in the Xuan Tian Realm, no demon would expose themselves, so they all used the uniform spiritual power of Xuan Tian Realm cultivators.

A demon who has to learn to use spiritual power and follow the methods of human cultivators will inevitably find it much more obscure and difficult to master than using demonic power.

Just like Yan Li now, when she uses spiritual power, she only has less than Golden Core stage strength.

A Nascent Soul Middle Stage demon only reaches the Peak Foundation Establishment stage when using spiritual power. This is already the result of Qin Qingyi’s emergency instruction over the past few days.

During this time, because of unstable spiritual power control, she almost injured herself.

What exactly was her mother thinking? Qin Qingyi couldn’t figure it out.

Fortunately, Yan Li finally listened this time. Hearing that she could still find her tomorrow, she became happy and stopped pestering her. She obediently hugged her clothes and went to look for a place to stay.

The accommodation for outer sect disciples is mostly at the foot of the Sword Sect’s eighteen peaks. Yan Li, having listened to Qin Qingyi’s directions just now, went straight towards the foot of the Hidden Snow Peak.

This way, when she goes to find Young Master tomorrow, she can spend less time on the road and more time by Young Master’s side.

As for Qin Qingyi, she turned and flew on her sword, heading straight for the Sword-Wielding Peak.

“Now that the seal is precarious, we can no longer sit and wait for death.”

Seated high above, Shangguan Yu’s voice was heavy.

Three days ago, she issued the signal to recall all disciples of the Sword Sect, which was in itself a kind of ominous warning.

She opened a memory stone, and what was recorded on it was precisely the Cliff Mountain Seal, which already had a huge crack.

Seeing this, the expressions of the elders immediately became solemn.

The Sword Sect, the Sword Sect—a chasm spanning a short distance.

The reason the sect is called the Sword Sect is that the person who founded the sect here stood to guard the last barrier between the Xuan Tian Realm and the Demon Race.

The Sword Sect is the most famous and most powerful sect in the Xuan Tian Realm.

But at the same time, the Sword Sect is also the Immortal Sect closest to the Cliff Mountain barrier.

Guarding the barrier has become the mission of the Sword Sect’s Sect Leaders and Elders throughout the generations.

And now, it seemed they were about to fail to guard it.

“If we do not intervene, the cracks on the seal will continue to grow, eventually shattering like a spiderweb, and you and I—”

Shangguan Yu paused, glanced over everyone present, and then slowly spoke: “Will be just like the great war a thousand years ago, where life in the three realms was devastated, and the glory of the Immortal Sects no longer existed.”

“The Sword Sect is in danger.”