After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 58

The two people on the stage fought viciously, each seemingly wishing to strike the other down with their sword immediately.

Below the stage, Qin Qingyi was so absorbed in listening to the story that she paid no attention to the spectacular fight.

Perhaps, even if she did notice, she didn’t want to dwell on it.

“Are you just going to let them fight?”

Perhaps unable to bear watching, a Venerable hidden in Qin Qingyi’s dantian couldn’t help but speak.

Qin Qingyi’s heart stirred, and she replied to her via telepathic transmission: “They are all fellow disciples; their attacks naturally have a sense of measure. It’s just a sparring match, not a fight to the death.”

Although she said this, Qin Qingyi still spared a glance for the two people on the stage.

The fight was in full swing, but the two quickly caught sight of Qin Qingyi’s attention. Zhou Zhixue immediately twisted her sword tip, no longer holding back, and lunged straight for Hu Yu’s throat.

She wanted to win the match quickly while her Eldest Sister was watching.

Seeing the change in the opponent’s momentum, Hu Yu’s pupils constricted. He quickly retreated and flung out several talismans.

A string of crackling explosions rang out, blocking Zhou Zhixue’s sword edge, and then smoke billowed up, obscuring Zhou Zhixue’s vision.

Zhou Zhixue frowned. With smoke all around, Hu Yu’s figure was completely concealed. She turned left and right, holding her sword horizontally in front of her, guarding against a cold sword that might stab over at any moment.

Having barely escaped the attack that could be called fatal, Hu Yu dared not relax. He held a thick stack of talismans in his hand, observing Zhou Zhixue’s movements from deep within the smoke.

His talent in the Way of the Sword was inferior to a few of his fellow disciples, but in the Way of the Talisman, he far surpassed them.

Even the rising star of the Sword Sect, the one currently before him, was far from being his equal.

“Junior Sister, in the Way of the Talisman, you still need practice.”

In the smoke, Hu Yu chuckled softly.

Watching Zhou Zhixue, who couldn’t find her direction, Hu Yu quietly moved behind her and stealthily threw out two Wind Blade Talismans.

He then quickly shifted his position, and after moving to another spot, he threw out a few more Lightning Guidance Talismans.

Zhou Zhixue listened to the sounds to determine Hu Yu’s location.

The moment the Wind Blade Talismans flew over, she raised her sword and chopped down. The sword tip pierced the Wind Blade Talismans, instantly causing a gust of wind to erupt from the ground, followed closely by the Lightning Guidance Talismans. She flipped over and leaped away, allowing the Lightning Guidance Talismans to land where she had been, where the lightning strikes left several large craters.

Zhou Zhixue defended the entire way, pursuing and chopping at Hu Yu’s location, but was always a step too slow. Where her sword edge reached, there was only empty space.

Seeing the smoke gradually dissipating, Hu Yu knew he would not fare well once the smoke cleared. So, he covered his natal sword with talismans, and then sprinkled a handful of talismans into the air, igniting them all with the spiritual energy at his sword tip, adding another layer to the surrounding smoke.

And Zhou Zhixue clearly understood Hu Yu’s intent.

The surrounding smoke was denser than before. Zhou Zhixue slightly furrowed her brow, and spiritual energy floated around her wrist, seemingly with the intention of guiding something.

She couldn’t find the person in the mist after a long search and couldn’t let it drag on like this. Zhou Zhixue suppressed the irritation in her heart, retracted her spiritual energy within the smoke, formed a layer of spiritual energy protection around her body, and then closed her eyes.

Since her eyes were of little use here, she would no longer rely on them.

Listening to the sounds to determine position—she was equally adept at that.

Zhou Zhixue removed her hair tie and quickly wrapped it around her eyes. The white hair tie was knotted at the back of her head, and her unbound hair fell down, her three thousand strands of jet-black hair reaching her waist, lifted by the mountain breeze. Standing with her sword, she had an air of transcendent grace.

She tilted her head slightly, her thin lips pressed together, listening to every sound around her, with only spiritual energy enveloping her body.

Qin Qingyi’s attention was captivated by the two people fighting, and she no longer had the leisure to listen to Xie Su talk about Hu Yu’s embarrassing travel stories. Instead, she propped up her chin and watched the martial arts stage intently.

Xie Su was also sensible. Knowing that she no longer wished to listen, he quietly closed his mouth and watched the stage as well.

He was also waiting for the two to reach a conclusion.

Below the stage, apart from Qin Qingyi and the two, many other disciples were also attracted by this highly engaging match.

Seeing that the disciples were no longer focused on their lesson, a Senior Sister responsible for teaching the Way of the Talisman on stage simply stopped and watched with the crowd.

For a time, all the disciples were waiting for the next move from the competitors on the stage.

Who would win?

Many people quietly held their breath.

Zhou Zhixue kept her eyes tightly closed, her ears slightly twitching, capturing every minute sound on the stage.

The rustle of the wind passing through the bamboo forest, the sound of birds flapping their wings in the forest ravine and their chirping, the whispering of fellow disciples turning pages around them…

Not enough. There must be other sounds.

On the stage, the moment Hu Yu saw Zhou Zhixue close her eyes, his heart sank.

Although this Junior Sister of his lacked combat experience, her learning ability was far superior to that of ordinary people.

She realized so quickly that her eyes were a hindrance at this moment, which meant she would soon find a way to break the situation.

He had to act quickly.

Hu Yu’s eyes narrowed, and he no longer hesitated, raising his sword to strike at the back of Zhou Zhixue’s heart.

But he was still a step too slow.

In the next instant, Zhou Zhixue suddenly opened her eyes. The spiritual energy around her body surged, even forming a spiritual energy vortex that expanded rapidly outwards with her as the axis.

Closely following this was the layer of solid ice that stretched out inch by inch from under Zhou Zhixue’s feet. The icy aura froze the smoke, completely lowering the surrounding temperature.

At this moment, the frigid air enveloped the entire martial arts stage.

Hu Yu watched as his sword tip got closer and closer to his opponent, his heart starting to pound furiously.

He was going to win!

The figure in front of him remained motionless, seemingly completely unaware of his arrival.

Hu Yu clenched his back teeth, his eyes filled with the unwavering belief that he would win.

But when his sword blade pierced the figure, yet continued its momentum forward, Hu Yu’s mind finally belatedly realized something was wrong.

The figure in front of him suddenly began to blur, and then dissipated like smoke before his eyes, leaving only a burst of cold air that instantly scattered before him, finally melting into the air.

Fake?

Hu Yu’s breathing hitched.

How could it be fake?

He panicked for a moment, then suddenly realized one thing—

The figure he had just pierced was a phantom created by his opponent using the frigid air to confuse him.

So where was the real Zhou Zhixue?!

Before Hu Yu could figure it out, he heard gasps of shock from below the stage.

A chill suddenly shot up from his spine.

An internal voice frantically screamed at him to run, but a distinct sense of danger was behind him.

Hu Yu’s scalp exploded, and he slowly turned his body, stiff with fear.

In the next moment, his pupils violently constricted, and his breathing completely stopped.

The gleaming, cold sword edge was pointed directly at the back of his head. If it advanced even an inch more, it would directly slice through his skull.

“Senior Brother, you lose.”

Zhou Zhixue’s voice was clear, her back to the sun.

She had now removed the hair tie bound over her eyes, one hand gripping the sword, the other holding the hair tie fluttering in the wind.

Hu Yu was blinded by the sunlight and couldn’t clearly see Zhou Zhixue’s expression opposite him. The sun was perfect at the moment; it should have been warm on his body, but the icy chill that had shot up from his feet made him shiver all over.

If this were a life-and-death battlefield right now, would he have died so silently?

Especially since he hadn’t noticed Zhou Zhixue when she was right behind him.

No murderous intent, but enough to instantly take his life.

Realizing this, Hu Yu let out a long sigh of relief.

He had lost.

Hu Yu was completely convinced. Clenching his fist, he responded softly: “Congratulations, Junior Sister.”

A loss was a loss, and he accepted it.

Hearing his admission of defeat, Zhou Zhixue immediately sheathed her sword.

Her original intention was only to win. Now that she had achieved that, she absolutely did not have the idea of relentlessly pursuing a fellow disciple just to make them lose face.

With the end of the two’s battle, many disciples around felt regretful that they hadn’t seen enough. After all, a match between prodigies like Zhou Zhixue and Hu Yu was rare.

Thus, it wasn’t long before the crowd below the stage shouted in unison.

“One more time.”

“One more time.”

Zhou Zhixue turned a deaf ear to the shouts, wiped the Chang Le Sword clean, and drifted down from the martial arts stage.

Allowing the regretful sighs to echo behind her.

Qin Qingyi smiled at her, unable to resist teasing:

“Did you hear that, Junior Sister? The Junior Brothers and Sisters are shouting that they want to see more.”

“Why don’t the two of you have another match?”

Before Zhou Zhixue could react, Hu Yu, who followed closely after her, had already shaken his head like a rattle drum: “No, no.”

He didn’t want to fight anymore.

Hu Yu glanced at Zhou Zhixue, and seeing that she didn’t object, he quietly sighed in relief.

He definitely didn’t want to continue humiliating himself.

Losing to his Junior Sister was enough with just one time.

Zhou Zhixue didn’t say anything, only held the hair tie and looked at Qin Qingyi with hesitation yet anticipation in her eyes.

“Eldest Sister…”

She wanted her Eldest Sister to tie her hair.

But she was also afraid of being rejected, so she dared not speak.

However, Qin Qingyi had clearly noticed her intention, gave a light chuckle, and took the hair tie from her hand.

Joy immediately appeared in Zhou Zhixue’s eyes.

“Squat down a little.”

Qin Qingyi patted Zhou Zhixue’s shoulder, signaling her to squat down slightly.

Zhou Zhixue was already taller than her. Unlike when she was a child, Qin Qingyi now had to stand on her toes to tie the child’s hair if Zhou Zhixue didn’t squat down.

Zhou Zhixue obediently squatted down as instructed. Her dark, soft hair fell from the sides of her ears onto her cheeks. The black hair, contrasting with the predominantly plain white disciple robes of the Hidden Snow Peak, made her look incredibly docile.

Qin Qingyi reached out and gathered her hair, her fingertips brushing against her scalp, collecting the strands one by one and holding them in her palm.

Zhou Zhixue felt the warm, soft fingertips lightly rubbing against her scalp. Her slightly narrowed eyes were full of longing. She gently lowered her head, concealing the emotion in her eyes, but her slightly red earlobes and tense body couldn’t hide the truth.

In the final step, Qin Qingyi used the hair tie to secure the hair. Looking from left to right, she always felt like something was missing.

Suddenly, her eyebrow lifted.

It was too plain.

Apart from this hair tie, Zhou Zhixue had almost no other adornments in her hair.

This was why her hair had immediately spilled down when she simply untied the hair tie just now.

Qin Qingyi thought for a moment, then took out a gold-inlaid, intertwined jade hairpin from her own hair. The tail of the hairpin was adorned with a red jade that had a slight curve, shaped like a fox tail.

She firmly inserted this hairpin into Zhou Zhixue’s hair.

With this single hairpin as a decoration, her appearance was less stark.

Qin Qingyi nodded with satisfaction, patted Zhou Zhixue’s shoulder, and motioned for her to stand up.

“Thank you, Eldest Sister.”

Zhou Zhixue stood up and thanked Qin Qingyi.

When she looked up, her eyes were bright, conveying a sense of profound sincerity.

Yan Li muttered quietly nearby: “Putting on an act.”

She was then glared at by Qin Qingyi and silenced.

“We are fellow disciples; there is no need to thank me.”

Qin Qingyi replied warmly.

Zhou Zhixue, however, still had slightly red ear tips and whispered to Qin Qingyi: “Eldest Sister is still as caring for me as before.”

Even a small matter like tying her hair, she was willing to do for her.

“Then, Eldest Sister, are you still willing to spar with me?”

Hu Yu, who had already composed himself, suddenly came over, interrupting the warm and inexplicably ambiguous atmosphere between the two.

He hadn’t forgotten his objective. This time, he was here to have a spirited match with his Eldest Sister.

Thinking of how his Eldest Sister used to pin him down in fights, and now that his strength had finally surpassed hers, Hu Yu’s fighting spirit was once again ignited.

His earlier defeat by his Junior Sister hadn’t dealt him too much of a blow, after all, his Junior Sister was the acknowledged cultivation genius of the Sword Sect.

“Reincarnation of the Wu Wang Immortal Venerable,” “Successor of the Chang Le Sword,” “Innate Sword Bone Holder,” “Future Sword Dao Supreme”—so many titles were attributed to her alone. She had never been complacent or arrogant all these years, possessed exceptional talent, and cultivated non-stop.

His Hu Yu’s talent was merely a little stronger than others. He couldn’t be compared with a true genius like his Junior Sister, so it was normal that he couldn’t beat her.

Ignoring Zhou Zhixue’s murderous glare, Hu Yu blinked his eyes, looking at Qin Qingyi, awaiting her response.

“You still want to fight?” Qin Qingyi asked unexpectedly. “But didn’t you just lose?”

“Why do you still want to fight me? If anyone should fight me, shouldn’t it be your Junior Sister first?”

“After all, your Junior Sister offered to fight me earlier than you did, and she also won against you.”

She blinked slyly, her eyes full of teasing for Hu Yu.

In short, she wasn’t going to accept the challenge.

Hu Yu immediately let out a howl of lament.

If his Eldest Sister wouldn’t fight him, then why did he bother fighting Zhou Zhixue earlier?

Ignoring Hu Yu’s dramatic performance, Qin Qingyi squeezed Zhou Zhixue’s wrist beside her and looked at Zhou Zhixue with a different kind of emotion in her eyes: “Junior Sister, do you still want to spar with your Eldest Sister?”

As if sensing the reluctance in Qin Qingyi’s eyes, Zhou Zhixue readily replied: “Today’s match has already consumed most of Junior Sister’s spiritual energy. I’m afraid I won’t be able to accompany Eldest Sister in a spar anymore.”

Zhou Zhixue’s consideration made Qin Qingyi extremely satisfied.

She really didn’t want to get up on the stage and fight. She’d rather sleep longer with that time.

Thinking about the comfort of sleeping, Qin Qingyi couldn’t help but yawn.

For some reason, she had been much sleepier lately than before. Could it be because she had given away half of her demon core?

Qin Qingyi subtly glanced at Zhou Zhixue.

Hopefully, it wasn’t for that reason.

“Congratulations, you guessed correctly.”

The Venerable’s faint voice sounded within Qin Qingyi’s dantian.

“Your guess is right; that is indeed the case.”

The smile that was on Qin Qingyi’s lips froze. She slowly narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

She asked with uncertainty.

The Venerable opened her mouth and posed another question: “If this Venerable is not mistaken, you haven’t reached adulthood yet, have you?”

The little person in Qin Qingyi’s dantian nodded slightly, replying: “I haven’t reached adulthood yet.”

The demon race and the human race are different. Adulthood is not determined by age but by whether one has successfully passed the emotional tribulation and undergone a complete transformation.

The Fox Clan is especially so. Many beauties emerge from the Fox Clan, and most will choose a suitable mate around the time they approach adulthood, relying on them to overcome the love tribulation before officially entering the adult stage.

And Qin Qingyi clearly did not have a mate yet.

It was unfortunate to say. She was born with six tails, inherently much more powerful than other foxes, but she was stuck at the hurdle of adulthood.

According to Qin Banruo, she was missing a screw in her brain and was naturally incapable of understanding matters of the heart.

Qin Banruo worried herself sick over this. She had originally urged her to find a mate, but coincidentally, every time she urged her, something would happen, either minor scrapes and bumps or incidents that drew blood. The most serious one was when this little fox ran out of the demon realm and nearly lost her life.

After that, Qin Banruo didn’t dare to urge her anymore, afraid that something else might happen.

And so it had been delayed until now.

Qin Qingyi herself didn’t care much. Whether she reached adulthood or not didn’t affect her much, at most, it just meant she loved to sleep, and her cultivation was a bit slower, getting stuck without progressing. Apart from that, there weren’t any other issues.

“Since you haven’t reached adulthood, and now you’re missing half of your demon core, it will naturally have some impact on your body.”

The Venerable spoke to her slowly.

“For example, you’ll be more lethargic than before, and that Co-Heart Gu will induce your estrous cycle.”

The estrous cycle of the Fox Clan is the sign of adulthood.

But the Fox Clan is not as promiscuous and emotional as depicted in stories. Fox demons are much more loyal than many people imagine. Only when they find a suitable mate will a fox demon allow their estrous cycle to commence, intertwining with their mate.

And now you’re telling her that her estrous cycle is going to be forcibly brought forward?

Hearing this, Qin Qingyi’s expression immediately darkened. Her words were even laced with a hint of gritted teeth. “Being lethargic is one thing, but about the Co-Heart Gu, why didn’t you tell me before?”

The voice was unhurried and completely unaffected: “This Venerable originally wanted to tell you, but you had passed out at the time.”

“Later, when this Venerable wanted to tell you, you were busy with one thing or another and completely ignored this Venerable. Who was this Venerable supposed to tell?”

Therefore, it wasn’t her fault.

It could only be blamed on Qin Qingyi for passing out and not hearing it.

Qin Qingyi’s eyelid twitched, knowing that she was in the wrong on this matter.

After all, anyone who heard the other person claim to be the Wu Wang Immortal Venerable would think they were a liar.

And whose words would anyone believe from a liar?

Qin Qingyi forcefully closed her eyes.

It was her mistake.

She should have asked earlier.

Zhou Zhixue beside her seemed to sense her sudden gloominess and leaned over with concern: “Eldest Sister, what’s wrong?”

Qin Qingyi smiled: “I’m fine.”

Zhou Zhixue seemed to believe her and sat back down.

Taking advantage of this interval, Qin Qingyi inwardly inspected her dantian and quickly asked again: “Please tell me in detail, what exactly is going on?”

She really couldn’t accept this. Induced estrous cycle… it wouldn’t cause her to lose face, would it?

Seeing her so eager, the other party no longer kept her in suspense and explained everything clearly to her.

By the time the other party finished speaking, Qin Qingyi’s face was already extremely grim.

“She is my Junior Sister. Are you now telling me that she will be my mate in the future?”

Qin Qingyi gnashed her teeth, almost collapsing.

Yes, she knew that Zhou Zhixue had some unusual thoughts about her. She wasn’t unaware of the way the child occasionally looked at her, and the light garment, originally hers, that was desperately hidden and concealed when they slept in the same bed that day…

But they were fellow disciples!

Zhou Zhixue might just have some unhealthy emotions due to her childhood dependence on her, some overly abnormal attachment, but even if the other party wasn’t thinking clearly, she couldn’t afford not to be.

How could she lay hands on the Junior Sister she watched grow up?!