After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 7

Two major things had happened recently at Cangxue Peak.

One was that the Peak Master had taken on another disciple, rumored to be another unfortunate soul “picked up from the outside.”

As for the second, it was that the senior disciple sister of Cangxue Peak seemed to have been confined, and rumor had it she was being severely punished by Venerable Wen Qing, who was usually so lenient.

The reason for this speculation was that many outer disciples passing Cangxue Peak had heard the miserable screams and pleading of the senior disciple sister, Qin Qingyi, echoing from the peak.

The sound was so utterly horrifying that people instinctively sped up and quickly fled the place of trouble.

“Master, I was wrong! No more! Please!!”

At the peak of Cangxue Peak, Qin Qingyi, teary-eyed, was huddled deep in the bed, tightly clutching her collar, as if she had been severely bullied, sobbing convulsively.

Venerable Wen Qing stood by the bed, holding a bottle of medicine, looking helplessly at her disciple who absolutely refused to come out, equally troubled.

“I’m only asking you to take a medicinal bath, why are you acting as if I’m trying to kill you?”

She had to deal with this drama every day, and it made the disciples from the outer peaks think she was abusing her student; now, every time they saw her, they’d bolt. Even her fellow elder sisters would look at her with an odd expression, always seeming to want to say something but stopping themselves.

She had finally gathered all the herbs needed to reconnect Qin Qingyi’s meridians and had even begged a favor from a friend at the Medicine King Valley to refine the potion. She had thought the hardest part was over, only to realize that was the simplest step—the most difficult one was still waiting for her.

The little fox had cooperated the first time, but when she discovered the medicinal properties in the bath were extremely potent and fierce, causing her pain that felt like she’d lost half her life, she refused to go back the next day, no matter what.

Yet, this medicine had to be soaked for forty-nine days to be effective, and the herbs were all extraordinary; any single stalk could not be bought even with a thousand pieces of gold.

Venerable Wen Qing looked at the stubborn, delicate-flower-like expression on Qin Qingyi’s face and felt a flicker of frustration for the first time.

She didn’t care about the cost; Cangxue Peak had a lot of things, and money was one of them—the treasures in her private vault would take three days and nights to count.

But this wasn’t about money! It was this stubborn girl who refused to cooperate with her recovery!

Once the medicine was started, it couldn’t be stopped. If there was an interruption for a few days, even if the meridians were eventually repaired, they would be as fragile as a reed in the wind, unable to withstand even slightly intense fighting. If that happened, what difference would she be from a cripple?

Recalling her friend’s warning, Venerable Wen Qing sternly composed her face and stopped indulging the girl. She directly scooped Qin Qingyi off the bed and carried her towards the medicinal bath pool.

“Master, please let me go! I don’t want to soak anymore! Let this disciple be a cripple!” Qin Qingyi twisted and turned on Venerable Wen Qing’s shoulder, trying to break free. Her voice was aggrieved and pitiful, enough to make anyone feel sorry for her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to soak, but the medicine was truly too potent. She had to stay submerged for three hours, but once inside, the pain started in her very bones, feeling like they were being broken and reassembled. How could she possibly endure that?

Venerable Wen Qing ignored her, taking not a single pause in her steps, heading straight for the medicinal bath pool.

She didn’t believe the little girl didn’t want to get better. What was the use of being a cripple? In the cultivation world, without the ability to cultivate, after a hundred years, her bones would turn to dust; after a thousand years, who would remember her? The little girl was just afraid of pain.

Seeing that they had reached the medicinal bath pool, Qin Qingyi stopped struggling. She knew her Master was doing this for her own good.

The lightning tribulation half a month ago, which was not meant for her, had nearly claimed her life. When she woke up from her coma, all her meridians were shattered, and the cold energy that had invaded her body had sealed her major acupoints, turning her into a cripple.

Her Master had gone to great lengths to save her life and now had gathered all sorts of heavenly treasures to reconnect her meridians. If she could just endure this ordeal, she would still be her Master’s most beloved disciple.

Although she would always cling to her Master and cause a fuss before the daily bath, once she was in the bath, despite the pain that felt like her bones were being crushed and rebuilt, Qin Qingyi desperately controlled her body’s desire to escape, gritting her teeth and enduring the three hours.

But at this moment, Qin Qingyi looked at the pitch-black medicinal bath pool that was bubbling with a strange black foam and hesitantly asked the same question she asked every day:

“Master, did you really not sneak in any private goods and put poison in there?”

Why does this medicine look even blacker than the past few days? Qin Qingyi thought to herself, Maybe Master couldn’t stand my daily whining anymore and decided to poison me once and for all.

Venerable Wen Qing’s temple pulsed with a visible vein. She could tolerate it no longer and simply kicked Qin Qingyi straight into the pool.

Watching the person fall into the medicinal bath pool with a shocked “Wah!” Venerable Wen Qing sneered, “That’s right, your Master put Nine-Turn Intestine-Severing Grass in there. You just wait to dissolve in the pool.”

The disciples squatting outside to listen to the commotion couldn’t help but look sympathetic. The Senior Disciple Sister was truly too miserable, so miserable.

“So… what exactly did the Senior Disciple Sister do to make Master turn into this ‘Extinction Mistress’ kind of person?”

“…Could it be because Senior Sister failed her promotion again?”

“That shouldn’t be it. It’s not the first time Senior Sister has failed a promotion, and Master wasn’t like this before.”

The other two disciples of Cangxue Peak scratched their heads, unable to figure it out. Truly baffling.

“What are you two doing gathered here?” A chilling voice came from above their heads. The two disciples, who had been chatting excitedly, instantly froze, even holding their breath.

They exchanged a look, seeing sheer terror in each other’s eyes.

When did Master arrive?!

Wasn’t she just inside a moment ago?!!

Master didn’t hear us badmouthing her, did she? We’re going to die, aren’t we?

Despair filled their eyes. It’s over!

“Lift your heads and look at your Master.” The voice was extremely gentle, which only made the two people stiffen even more.

“M-Master…” Knowing they couldn’t hide, the slightly older boy swallowed and spoke in a whisper thin as a mosquito, but after stammering for a long time, he still couldn’t say anything coherent.

The younger boy was even more like a quail, hiding behind the older one and secretly peeking at her with an expression he thought wouldn’t be noticed.

Just then, another ear-piercing scream came from inside the room behind Venerable Wen Qing, making the two little ones shiver in unison.

Venerable Wen Qing looked at the two little shivering runts huddled together, her expression becoming even more amiable, “Tell me, you two, gathered here, what are you planning to do?”

These words, which were gentler than a spring breeze, sounded like the call of a death-bringing fiend to them.

“Have you practiced your swordplay today?”

“Have you finished your homework?”

“In another quarter of an hour is Elder Cui’s Talisman class. You are still standing here—do you intend to skip class?”

The two little ones stood up in alarm, shaking their heads in unison.

“Then what are you still doing here?! Waiting for Elder Cui’s cane to hit you?!”

Venerable Wen Qing raised her voice and asked again. The two little runts instantly scattered like birds, disappearing in a flash.

Watching these two thoughtless disciples stumble and run off to class, Venerable Wen Qing softly snorted, no longer maintaining the appearance of a fierce ogress. She smoothed her luxurious robe and turned to push the door back into the medicinal bath chamber.

“Master just now sounded like a tigress.”

Qin Qingyi was soaking in the medicinal bath, only her head and half her shoulders exposed. In a short while, her face had turned ashen white, and fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead. Even so, she still had to tease Venerable Wen Qing.

Venerable Wen Qing didn’t respond. She just crouched down, picked up a pill, and motioned to Qin Qingyi, “Open your mouth.”

Qin Qingyi obediently opened her mouth.

Venerable Wen Qing seized the opportunity to place the pill under Qin Qingyi’s tongue.

“Hold this pill; it’s a painkiller. It’ll numb the pain for about two hours.”

She still felt pity, unable to bear seeing her beloved disciple suffer such torment, so she had begged a few more pain-relieving pills from her friend.

Qin Qingyi nodded obediently, her voice a little muffled with the pill in her mouth, “Thank you, Master.”

She didn’t ask her Master, The bath takes three hours, and the medicine only stops the pain for one hour, so what should I do for the remaining two hours?

Her Master hadn’t mentioned it, so there must be a reason. If she took too much, she might become addicted, or it might affect the medicinal bath’s effectiveness. All in all, it was best to listen to her Master.

With the pill’s effect, Qin Qingyi no longer felt pain, and her mind finally became active again.

“Master, how is that Zhou Zhixue doing now?”

Qin Qingyi asked cautiously.

That day, she was struck by the sudden lightning and her meridians were shattered. The entire fox was unconscious. She had to thank her Senior Martial Brother, Shangguan Yu, who noticed something was wrong and rushed over, bringing her, a scorched fox, along with her Master and Zhou Zhixue, who were also unconscious, back.

Luckily, Shangguan Yu had arrived in time. According to his description, the Innate Ice Spirit Root in Zhou Zhixue’s body was extremely dominant. After the last few bolts of the lightning tribulation shattered the barrier her Master had set up, her Ice Spirit Root, in order to protect its owner, actually swept up all the surrounding spiritual energy and forcefully withstood the last few bolts of lightning.

She had either been unconscious or soaking in the medicinal bath these past few days and hadn’t had a chance to check on the child.

When Qin Qingyi brought this up, Venerable Wen Qing recalled the scene she had witnessed these past few days and couldn’t help but hold her forehead in a headache.

“You don’t need to worry about her. She’s doing great.”

Doing great?

Qin Qingyi was puzzled.

Did Zhou Zhixue emerge completely unharmed from a lightning tribulation that nearly cost me my life?

At the same time, in the small kitchen of Cangxue Peak.

A child who was clearly not very old was eating with her head down, while the young man in charge of the cooking looked utterly despairing.

He looked at the towering stack of unwashed dishes next to the stove, then at the ingredients rack that was originally full but was now completely empty, and couldn’t help but squat on the ground and weep, holding his head: “Ancestor, are you not full yet?!”

Half a month later, Qin Qingyi finally climbed out of the medicinal bath pool. Her meridians were about seventy to eighty percent repaired. Although she still needed to continue soaking in the medicinal bath, she was finally able to move around outside.

When she saw the child named Zhou Zhixue eat ten bowls of rice and then still complain of being hungry, Qin Qingyi couldn’t help but twitch her mouth.

“Has she been like this all these days?”

Qin Qingyi asked incredulously, turning to the disciple in charge of cooking at Cangxue Peak. The disciple, who had been suffering for half a month, burst into tears with a “wah.”

“Senior Disciple Sister, please take her away! We really can’t afford to feed her anymore!!!”

The young disciple cried while clinging to Qin Qingyi’s thigh: “She comes to the kitchen every day and makes me cook for her! The ingredients that were bought for the entire peak for a month were eaten up by her in one week! The other disciples have no food left!!!”

Qin Qingyi mechanically turned her head to look at Zhou Zhixue, who had finally let out a satisfied burp, then looked at the dozen clean bowls and plates next to her, and couldn’t help but gasp.

By the Ancestor! I’ve truly never seen a child who can eat so much!

But seeing the child still smacking her lips with an unsatisfied look, the young disciple in charge of the cooking couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed a broom and shooed both of them out.

“There’s no more food!! Go eat at another peak!!”

“Bang—!!”

The kitchen door was mercilessly slammed shut in front of them. Qin Qingyi touched her nose, which was almost clipped by the door, and thought that she’d better ask her Master to allocate a bit more money to the small kitchen, or the cook’s resentment wouldn’t be quelled.

She turned to look at Zhou Zhixue, who only reached her waist. Zhou Zhixue also tilted her head, blinking her dark, bright eyes at her.

The child did look well-fed at Cangxue Peak. In just half a month, her originally sallow and skinny face had become plump and fair, and she was no longer just skin and bones.

Qin Qingyi couldn’t help but pinch Zhou Zhixue’s cheek. It was soft like a ball of cotton.

“Hungry!”

Zhou Zhixue spoke, saying only one word.

Qin Qingyi’s vision went dark.

“Ancestor, you’re not full yet?!”

She let out the same mournful cry as the cook.