After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 75

Qin Qingyi welcomed the lightning strike, charging upwards. Between the dim heavens and earth, the corner of her white sleeve was dazzling, like a bright lamp in a dark room, illuminating Zhou Zhixue so brightly that she could see no one else. The next moment, thousands of lightning bolts descended, connecting the heavens and earth, tearing the world apart. The lightning illuminated Zhou Che (a likely variant name or typo), roaring with the savagery to annihilate everything within the electric currents. The power passed through Qin Qingyi’s body via the Liubai Sword, and the crackling electricity, after passing through, heavily struck the ground.

After about ten breaths, the lightning slowly dissipated. Qin Qingyi still stood firmly in the air. This first bolt of lightning did not cause her any harm; instead, it helped temper her meridians. Some old hidden injuries from past meridian damage were all dissolved in the electric current. She moved her limbs; fragmented lightning still coursed through her body, emitting crackling sounds. Lightning is inherently compatible with fire-type spiritual roots, and with the nourishment of the spiritual energy brought by this lightning, her dantian completely unleashed its plunder of the surrounding spiritual energy. For advancement, naturally, the more spiritual energy, the better. Qin Qingyi could clearly feel her dantian brimming with spiritual energy and had begun tentatively striking the “wall” between the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation realms.

After the first bolt of lightning had completely dissipated, Qin Qingyi tore off the sleeve of her right arm, carefully observing the demon seed parasitizing her body. “The tribulation lightning is indeed useful!” As far as she could see, the demon threads that had been approaching her heart were forced to retreat by the lightning, pulling back to her shoulder after just one strike. Thinking that a few more strikes might force the demon seed out of her body, Qin Qingyi was greatly encouraged.

Advancing from the Golden Core to the Nascent Soul realm involves 36 bolts of tribulation lightning (six times six), which are called Silver Lightning because they are all silver-white, and are jokingly referred to as Snake Lightning due to their weak power. The tribulation lightning for advancing from the Nascent Soul to the Soul Transformation realm, however, consists of 49 bolts (seven times seven), and each strike is as thick as a colossal python. They are terrifying just to look at, are black and purple, and are called Python Lightning. There is normally a quarter of an hour between each strike for the cultivator to catch their breath, but Qin Qingyi could not wait. She raised her sword and flew straight toward the thunder cloud. “Little snake, drop the lightning faster! Your power is too weak; it’s not even enough to scratch an itch.” This was incredibly rude to the thunder cloud, calling the powerful Python Lightning a “little snake,” a severe mockery. Consequently, before she could finish speaking, the thunder cloud churned, angrily dropped the second strike, and even the remaining tribulations followed one after another, no longer giving Qin Qingyi time to rest.

This reckless behavior made Zhou Zhixue, who was guarding her below, tremble with anxiety, yet she could not approach. Unauthorized interference with another person’s heavenly tribulation would only invite more lightning strikes, turning the intruder into ash and also causing the advancing cultivator to face a fiercer tribulation trial. This is both the protection granted by the Heavenly Dao to cultivators and a deterrent against those who interfere with a cultivator’s advancement.

Bolt after bolt of lightning tore across the sky until all forty-nine strikes had fallen, and the thunder cloud surrounding Hidden Snow Peak slowly dissipated, seemingly reluctantly. Qin Qingyi had already landed by this time. When the fortieth bolt struck her body, she could no longer hold on and fell from the air. The tribulation lightning had blasted scorch marks beside her, and the frozen soil at the cliff’s summit was split open by the lightning, forming a massive pit. It was from within this pit that Qin Qingyi slowly rose to her feet.

At this moment, her aura was entirely different from before; the spiritual energy of the Soul Transformation realm was exceptionally dense, lingering around her for a long time. Closing her eyes, she could directly sense everything within a thousand miles: raindrops falling, leaves swaying, spiritual birds chirping. This invigorating sensation left her mind clear and her spirit utterly refreshed. When the final bolt of lightning had just fallen, she felt the “wall” belonging to the Soul Transformation realm, which had been blocking her, softly shatter. Taking a step forward, she felt completely reborn, as if she had gained a new life.

“Congratulations, Senior Sister, on breaking through to the Soul Transformation realm.” Zhou Zhixue walked up to her with sincere congratulations.

“Not bad. To withstand the tribulation lightning and peel it out during the gap, you have some skill.” Immortal Venerable Wu Wang appeared out of thin air, commenting on Qin Qingyi. She had already arrived at the summit of Hidden Snow Peak at the start of the tribulation, but had simply not shown herself. She was waiting for Qin Qingyi to finish. Fortunately, the tribulation was dramatic but safe.

Qin Qingyi raised her hand; the lingering lightning arcs still flickered between her fingers. Her right hand was clenched into a fist, tightly gripping a demon seed that was constantly roaring and struggling. This was the demon seed that had been parasitizing her shoulder. The demon seed struggled relentlessly in her hand, trying desperately to escape. After the baptism of the lightning tribulation, this mass of demon energy was extremely weak, but no matter how Qin Qingyi tried to crush it, she could not make the demon seed completely die.

“Give up. You can’t kill this thing,” said Immortal Venerable Wu Wang. “It is not a creature of this realm, and it is only one of its avatars. How could you possibly truly kill it?”

“Is there really no way at all?” Qin Qingyi was unwilling to accept it.

Zhou Zhixue also wore a solemn expression. She already knew what this thing was and that if it possessed a body, it would lead to demonization. How could such a dangerous thing be impossible to destroy?

“Of course, there is a way: you just need to ascend,” Immortal Venerable Wu Wang said, waving her hand with unusual ease. But seeing the lack of joy on the two women’s faces, she subtly sensed that something was amiss. “What? Is ascension difficult?” She looked at the two Sword Sect prodigies before her, pondering, “Given your talents, that shouldn’t be the case, should it? Isn’t ascension only a matter of time?”

Seeing that the Immortal Venerable was truly unaware, Zhou Zhixue and Qin Qingyi exchanged a glance before Zhou Zhixue spoke: “Senior, you ascended early, so you probably don’t know the current situation of the Profound Sky Realm.” She spoke with difficulty: “In today’s Profound Sky Realm, no one has been able to ascend for the past thousand years.”

“What?!”

“A thousand years ago, the Demon God severed the Ascension Pathway, and humanity fell into decline, with no one capable of ascending anymore. Although the Demon God was sealed later, the Ascension Pathway could no longer be repaired.”

“No one can ascend to the upper realm anymore.”

After a long while, having heard the entire story, Immortal Venerable Wu Wang’s expression was grim. She was unaware that the Profound Sky Realm had fallen to such a state after her ascension.

“Senior, you truly didn’t know about this?” Zhou Zhixue asked tentatively.

Immortal Venerable Wu Wang shook her head. “I am only a remnant soul, remaining here just to keep my main body’s life-bound sword company. Furthermore, my main body has been in deep slumber, only awakened by your accidental intrusion.” When she ascended back then, the demon race had not yet rioted, and the Immortal-Demon War had not begun, so she naturally did not know about later events. Having fallen into slumber afterward and only now awakening, she was even more unaware of the severance of the Profound Sky Realm’s Ascension Pathway.

Qin Qingyi lowered her head, looking at the demon seed that was still struggling relentlessly. “Is there no other way?”

Immortal Venerable Wu Wang remained silent.

The joyous atmosphere from Qin Qingyi’s successful advancement gradually faded and lowered between the three, finally turning into an unspeakable repression. No one ascending meant that they had no way to kill this thing. But if they didn’t deal with it, the demon seed would sooner or later go and harm others.

Finally, Immortal Venerable Wu Wang took out her life-bound sword.

The sword was heavily rusted, looking as though a light bend would snap it. “Temporarily seal it within this Venerable One’s sword. That way, I can buy some time for you all,” Immortal Venerable Wu Wang said. “Once you find a way to deal with it in the future, summon me again.”

She lovingly stroked the rusted sword; where her palm passed, red rust fell away, and the sword’s brilliance reappeared. It was an extremely beautiful sword, with a silver-white body flashing with a faint red glow, its lethal intent sharp even after a thousand years.

Since there was truly no other option right now, Qin Qingyi considered it carefully and decided to follow her advice. “Then after that, you will…”

Immortal Venerable Wu Wang understood her unspoken words and sighed softly: “This Venerable One naturally needs to preserve my strength. Locking this demon seed within the sword means that my time for conversation with you will likely be very limited afterward.”

“However, if you need to find me for something, you can inject spiritual energy into this sword, and if I am awake, I will naturally speak with you.”

After saying this, she transformed into a wisp of white light and entered the sword. The sword light flared brightly, and Qin Qingyi sent the demon seed into the seal within the sword body. Watching the demon seed gradually dissipate into the sword body, Qin Qingyi’s mind finally eased. She held Immortal Venerable Wu Wang’s life-bound sword in her hands. Before long, the seal was complete, and the sword returned to its rusted appearance. The matter of the demon seed was, for the time being, concluded.

Zhou Zhixue stepped forward and said to Qin Qingyi: “Senior Sister, Master sent a message. She has returned to the peak and asked the two of us to go see her.” When Qin Qingyi was undergoing her tribulation earlier, Zhou Zhixue had received a communication from True Person Wen Qing. Learning that both of them were safe and that Qin Qingyi was advancing to the Soul Transformation realm, True Person Wen Qing was overjoyed. She only instructed Zhou Zhixue to guard her well and told them to seek her out after the tribulation was over before cutting off the communication. Now that everything was settled, Zhou Zhixue recounted True Person Wen Qing’s instructions. Qin Qingyi nodded slightly, agreeing to the matter. Now that she had returned, she naturally needed to go pay respects to her Master and report her safety.

However… she looked at Zhou Zhixue beside her, whose gaze was practically dripping with affection, and her footsteps halted. One matter needed to be clarified now. Observing her Junior Sister’s actions, it seemed she genuinely regarded her as a Dao Companion. Although Qin Qingyi had warned her repeatedly before the incident, her mind had been somewhat hazy at the time, certainly not as composed as usual, meaning her words were likely not firm enough. The girl was already indecisive, and with Qin Qingyi, she had even less restraint. Qin Qingyi must have given her hope, which led to them becoming entangled. She had always thought this was wrong, always wanting to push the girl away—what would it look like for a Senior and Junior Sister to be involved? Even now, she still thought the same.

“Junior Sister.” She looked up at the intense dependency and lingering affection in Zhou Zhixue’s eyes and forced herself to speak ruthlessly: “What happened today, forget it after we leave the mountain.”

These words were like a bolt from the blue, instantly draining the color from Zhou Zhixue’s face. “Senior Sister… what do you mean?” She couldn’t believe it, yet she still asked, trembling.

Qin Qingyi remained silent. Two moments later, her expression was calm as she spoke again: “What happened today will only be a burden to you. You cultivate the Ruthless Dao, and you should not be moved. I was the one who lured you into this depth today, and now we should stop the loss in time.” As she spoke, she moved forward, about to place her hand near Zhou Zhixue’s forehead: “Forgetting what happened today is a good thing for you.”

But Zhou Zhixue reacted sharply, quickly batting her hand away, then seizing it, looking at Qin Qingyi with disbelief: “Senior Sister, do you want to erase my memory and make me forget again?”

Qin Qingyi’s silence was an undeniable admission.

Zhou Zhixue tightly gripped her hand, her face pale, but her eyes held their ground. She spoke every word distinctly: “What if I don’t agree?”