After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 93

Shangguan Yu saw her lack of enthusiasm and didn’t ask any more questions.

“Junior Niece, you should go back. Only you can hold the fort at Hidden Snow Peak now.”

Qin Qingyi naturally agreed.

After she left, Zhou Zhixue was waiting for her at the door.

“Senior Sister,” Zhou Zhixue called out to her.

Qin Qingyi had come alone. She hadn’t arrived early, and seeing Zhou Zhixue in meditation under the peach tree from afar, she hadn’t gone up to disturb her, instead going straight to see Shangguan Yu.

When she came out, she saw Zhou Zhixue waiting outside, unsure of when she had arrived.

“When did you get here?” Qin Qingyi asked her.

Zhou Zhixue answered flawlessly: “About less than half a quarter of an hour. I haven’t been waiting for long.”

Qin Qingyi glanced at her, not entirely sure if she believed her.

But with that one look, she discovered something else was amiss—

Zhou Zhixue’s aura was distinctly different from before.

Her aura was unusual, but her cultivation realm showed no change. Qin Qingyi pondered briefly and knew the crux of the matter.

“You… have cultivated to the Sixth Stage?”

The cultivation realm had not advanced, but her overall aura had strengthened considerably. That could only mean that her cultivation of the Heartless Dao had broken through.

Sure enough, the moment Qin Qingyi’s words fell, she saw Zhou Zhixue smile.

“Senior Sister is indeed sharp.”

She had indeed cultivated to the Sixth Stage, and her strength had grown quite a bit. Although it was certainly due to her absolute conviction, she hid the difficulties and only reported the good news to Qin Qingyi.

She didn’t mention the newly emerged heart demon that had troubled her last night.

“How did you progress so fast?” Qin Qingyi was surprised.

Does the Heartless Dao really have such astonishing cultivation speed?

Zhou Zhixue pursed her lips and chuckled, not refuting Qin Qingyi’s guess.

“At this speed of cultivation, I’m afraid you’ll advance soon. By then, you will be much stronger than your Senior Sister.”

Qin Qingyi sighed with emotion.

The first eight stages of the Heartless Dao are extremely fast in cultivation, a speed that many cultivators envy. There was once a cultivator who severed all ties and emotions after cultivating the Heartless Dao, breaking three realms in a single day and ascending in broad daylight.

But if one cultivates to the Ninth Stage…

Thinking of this, Qin Qingyi stopped talking.

The Ninth Stage of the Heartless Dao is the one that most tests a cultivator’s Dao heart—

The Trial of the Heart.

If one cannot adhere to the Heartless Dao’s state of mind, any slightest wavering during this trial will cause the cultivator’s Dao heart to shatter and their cultivation to regress.

Fortunately, her Junior Sister is only at the Sixth Stage now, so she shouldn’t have to worry about this yet.

“Alright, we have no business today, let’s go back.”

Qin Qingyi beckoned to Zhou Zhixue.

Upon hearing this, the latter quickly stepped forward and followed Qin Qingyi closely.

However, as she stood next to Qin Qingyi, Zhou Zhixue suddenly paused, her eyes scanning the space beside the two of them, her gaze subtly shifting.

It was as if… she had seen something strange.

“What’s wrong?” Qin Qingyi asked her.

She followed Zhou Zhixue’s gaze to the area beside her, but there was nothing.

Yet, her Junior Sister’s expression was very strange. Qin Qingyi’s doubts grew. She looked back and forth between them, even releasing spiritual power to check.

But she found nothing; there was nothing there.

“It’s nothing, let’s go, Senior Sister,” Zhou Zhixue replied. She smiled faintly and took Qin Qingyi’s hand that was resting by her side.

Seeing that there was indeed nothing unusual, Qin Qingyi slowly nodded. The two turned and headed toward Hidden Snow Peak.

Only Zhou Zhixue secretly glanced behind them, her look seeming to be a warning, a rising killing intent.

Qin Qingyi was completely unaware that in the place she couldn’t see, standing right beside her just now, was Zhou Zhixue’s Heart Demon.

And that Heart Demon bore a face exactly like hers.

When Zhou Zhixue had looked over, the Heart Demon was still grinning mischievously, mouthing words to Zhou Zhixue:

So. Much. Fun.

——————

After returning to Hidden Snow Peak, Zhou Zhixue found an excuse, saying that she had just advanced her realm and needed to meditate to consolidate her strength.

Qin Qingyi naturally did not suspect anything and waved her hand, telling her to go back.

However, even though she agreed readily, Zhou Zhixue was clingy.

“Senior Sister.”

Zhou Zhixue called her softly.

Qin Qingyi lazily responded.

After returning, she wanted to be lazy, so she lay down on a reclining chair in the courtyard, covered her face with a book, and planned to sleep in the sun.

Foxes, they need to sleep when they have nothing else to do.

Hidden Snow Peak is situated high up, and with the formation left by Venerable Wen Qing at the peak, the temperature in other areas of Hidden Snow Peak, except for that small patch on the very top, is very comfortable. Even the fiercest sun weakens a bit by the time it shines on the peak.

It had been a long time since she had sunbathed.

Qin Qingyi stretched, letting her fox ears and tail out.

Letting them all breathe.

Before, she was always running around to eliminate demons, not even having a proper place to sleep at night. She couldn’t reveal her true form in front of the disciples of the immortal sects; it was stifling her.

Now that she was finally back from the front line, there was no one else on Hidden Snow Peak, only her and her Junior Sister.

The two Junior Brothers had taken their place and were still guarding Cliff Mountain. There were only two people on Hidden Snow Peak, and the protective mountain formation was now linked to her senses. She would know immediately if anyone came.

It would be a pity not to enjoy such a good time off.

Just as she was falling into a daze, Zhou Zhixue’s smiling voice rang in her ear: “Senior Sister, your Junior Sister might need two or three days to come out of seclusion. Won’t Senior Sister miss your Junior Sister?”

Miss what?

Hasn’t the fifteenth passed only a few days ago?

She doesn’t need her now, so she should just go into seclusion.

Qin Qingyi mumbled vaguely, her sleepiness deepening, so naturally, she didn’t hear Zhou Zhixue’s quiet muttering.

“Senior Sister, what will it take for your eyes to have a place for me…”

Seeing Qin Qingyi fall asleep like that, Zhou Zhixue, who failed to get the answer she wanted, lowered her eyelashes, clearly disappointed.

She held onto the rocking chair, looking at Qin Qingyi’s sleeping face and sighing softly.

The disappointment only lasted for a short while. Zhou Zhixue stood up and turned to walk towards her own courtyard.

But as soon as she returned to her residence and had just closed the door, Zhou Zhixue turned around and saw something pressed up close to her.

“I look just like her, why can’t you be a little gentle to me, just like you are to her?”

The newcomer was practically plastered to Zhou Zhixue, nose to nose, eyes to eyes, saying this teasingly.

“Get lost,” Zhou Zhixue spat out a cold rebuke, her voice icy.

She looked at the suddenly appearing Heart Demon with extreme disgust, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

“Don’t be so angry. Isn’t my suggestion good? What she can’t give you, I can. What she can’t do, I can all do. Why not choose me?”

Wearing a face identical to Qin Qingyi’s, the Heart Demon was extremely unrestrained. It separated itself from Zhou Zhixue’s body and naturally knew that this face was a conditional pass for Zhou Zhixue, so it became even more reckless.

Seeing Zhou Zhixue draw her sword, the Heart Demon was utterly fearless.

“Why bother? You know you can’t kill me. Even if you kill me now, I will still appear a month later.”

The Heart Demon advised. Compared to Zhou Zhixue, the Heart Demon was extremely relaxed.

Zhou Zhixue closed her eyes. She knew the Heart Demon was speaking the truth. Her chest rose and fell sharply, but eventually, she slowly closed her eyes and suppressed all her emotions.

Since she began cultivating the Heartless Dao, starting from the Third Stage, a Heart Demon would emerge every month. At first, she couldn’t cope and was often wounded when it found an opening. But later on, although the Heart Demon grew stronger, Zhou Zhixue’s strength also increased, and her mind became more determined and stable, so the Heart Demon could no longer harm her, usually being crushed into ashes by Zhou Zhixue shortly after appearing.

However, this Heart Demon was much more troublesome than the previous ones.

Perhaps because her Heartless Dao realm had advanced another stage, the Heart Demon’s strength had also grown exponentially. This time, she couldn’t defeat the Heart Demon.

After battling all night, she still couldn’t slay the Heart Demon. Of course, the Heart Demon couldn’t harm her either.

Zhou Zhixue decided to ignore it to avoid annoyance and sat down cross-legged in meditation, beginning to delve into the new insights brought by the Sixth Stage of the Heartless Dao.

The Heart Demon, bored, messed around beside her, flipping through books one moment, and smashing teacups the next.

It was the other side of Zhou Zhixue, her other half, and naturally understood her current thoughts, so it wandered freely around Zhou Zhixue’s room without any burden.

But no matter how much noise the Heart Demon made, Zhou Zhixue acted as if she hadn’t heard anything.

Seeing that she completely ignored it, the Heart Demon was almost infuriated, becoming even more disruptive by Zhou Zhixue’s ear.

“She is truly delicious. Don’t you want her to stay by your side forever?”

“You crave her, but you’re not brave enough.”

“%&….￥%#@&….%….”

The whispers of the Heart Demon, full of temptation and magic, were almost enough to completely consume Zhou Zhixue. Not only that, the Heart Demon knew it had no physical form to others, so it harassed Zhou Zhixue even more wantonly.

It kept changing its appearance beside Zhou Zhixue, sometimes turning into a mass of eerie black mist, or sometimes morphing into Zhou Zhixue’s own image, standing beside her like a mirror image.

However, even so, Zhou Zhixue didn’t care, because all the Heart Demon could do was harass her; it couldn’t harm her in the slightest.

Thus, although she was somewhat annoyed by the Heart Demon’s voice, Zhou Zhixue was able to completely ignore it.

In this regard, the Heart Demon was basically putting on a one-man show.

Zhou Zhixue remained in seclusion for five consecutive days. Qin Qingyi came to check on her twice during this time and, seeing that she was indeed at a crucial stage, did not disturb her.

Qin Qingyi, who had been quite leisurely and bored, received bad news on the afternoon of the fifth day:

The Demon Empress was severely injured.

Her mother was injured.

The injury had occurred three days ago, but the Demon Realm was far from the Sword Sect. By the time the news reached Qin Qingyi, the situation was already so serious that she had no choice but to return.

“Young Mistress, are you still not planning to return?”

Yan Li pleaded desperately.

Qin Qingyi did not believe her mother was injured when she first heard it. But looking at the news brought back by Yan Li, and the other Great Demon who was her mother’s personal guard accompanying her, she had no choice but to believe it.

“When Her Majesty the Demon Empress was inspecting the barrier a few days ago, for some unknown reason, a demonic aura was hidden in the shadows along Her Majesty’s inevitable route and launched a sneak attack. By the time the demons reacted, Her Majesty had already been injured. The wound was right in the center of her Demon Core. Currently, Her Majesty the Demon Empress is unconscious. Young Mistress, the Demon Race is about to fall into chaos!”

The Demon Empress’s personal guard cried out mournfully, only begging Qin Qingyi to return and take charge of the situation.

Qin Qingyi gritted her teeth, her brows furrowed in anger. Pacing back and forth couldn’t dispel her rage, and in the end, she could only gasp and question the two of them.

“How could Mother be injured?!”

“She is so powerful, only half a step away from ascension. How is it possible?!”

The incident was sudden. She wasn’t sure how Yan Li and the other demon had managed to sneak into the Sword Sect, or how they had evaded patrols all the way to Hidden Snow Peak, but in this urgent situation, she had to go back.

“Young Mistress, please come back with us!”

The two demons knelt and kowtowed, begging Qin Qingyi to make a decision.

“I will go back with you.”

Qin Qingyi’s face was grim, but she finally agreed to go back for a trip.

However, she needed to return to her room to pack.

She walked into her room, looking at the furnishings. Looking around, there seemed to be nothing she needed to pack.

She was always casual and never extensively decorated her room. Now, it still maintained the appearance her Junior Sister had tidied up for her previously.

A bunch of flowers, the somewhat rare pear blossoms of Hidden Snow Peak, were placed by the window, kept from wilting by spiritual power. A reclining chair was placed beneath the window, with a tea table beside it and an unfinished book.

There was truly nothing to pack.

Qin Qingyi sighed.

But… she didn’t know how many days it would be before she could return this time.

If she left like this without leaving any message, when her Junior Sister emerged from seclusion and found her gone, she would surely panic and search everywhere again.

Qin Qingyi frowned and sighed softly. She took out paper and a brush from her Qiankun Bracelet, unfolded the paper, and began to write a letter for Zhou Zhixue.