Master is Also Running Away from Marriage Today (Transmigration) - Chapter 6

Mu Ling had no intention of staying to watch Bai Junhao and Chisu’s sweet nothings.

Grabbing the unlucky Bai Fengqing, Mu Ling immediately channeled her spiritual power and fled far away. The suddenness of her escape caught Chisu and Bai Junhao completely off guard. They never expected this herb-gathering woman’s spiritual power to surpass theirs. By the time they thought to give chase, it was already too late.

Mu Ling ran deeper into the area, only stopping once she was certain no pursuers remained.

It was then that she realized Bai Fengqing had passed out at some point.

Saving Bai Fengqing had been nothing more than a whim for Mu Ling. After hastily pouring a bowl of spiritual spring water down his throat, she paid no further attention to the ill-fated character from the original story, turning instead to the child standing nearby. “Can you handle this?”

The child’s body was still recovering, and Mu Ling wasn’t sure if he could endure such a frantic escape.

The child’s gaze was strange, as if lost in thought as he stared at the cave ceiling, lost in contemplation.

Only when Mu Ling asked again did he seem to snap out of it, shaking his head lightly. “I’m fine.”

She had brought the child here herself. If his injuries worsened in the secret realm, the guilt would be unbearable!

Still uneasy, Mu Ling checked his pulse once more, sighing in relief only after confirming no harm had been done. Then, she began surveying their surroundings.

Unlike the barren wasteland of the outer region, the scenery before them had transformed entirely. Pearls adorned the ceiling, jade paved the ground, and an overwhelming surge of spiritual energy filled the air, invigorating the senses.

The novel The Tyrant Immortal’s Fierce Love had mentioned the origins of this secret realm. It was once the cultivation sanctuary of a mysterious and formidable figure, a genius rumored to be the most likely in nearly ten thousand years to transcend the mortal realm and ascend to immortality. Born from humble origins, this figure had single-handedly founded a sect. The precursor to today’s Four Great Sects, the Tianxing Sect.

Unfortunately, during cultivation, this great master had gone astray, falling into demonic ways. Maddened, they wreaked havoc, slaughtering countless. Only when the heavenly tribulation descended with eighty-one bolts of divine lightning did they meet their end within their own cave abode. With the master’s demise, the cave shattered into fragments, and the secret realm Mu Ling now stood in was one of those pieces.

Back then, the great master had amassed treasures from across the world, commanding the wind and rain at will. Their cave was filled with countless hidden artifacts. Mu Ling never imagined she would stumble into such a golden nest by sheer accident.

“Kid! We might be about to strike it rich.”

Thinking of the novel’s description of ancient treasures scattered throughout the secret realm, Mu Ling couldn’t help but grin. “Once we get out, I’ll buy you an entire building just for making candy, and another for tailoring clothes so you can dress up beautifully every day.”

She had only meant to tease the child, expecting his usual shyness to keep him silent. But perhaps all children loved sweets and new clothes, because he suddenly looked up, lips curving slightly. “I want the most expensive candy, and the finest fabrics.”

“Deal! I’ve heard of a legendary cloud candy from the northern kingdom of Cangyun. So soft it melts like a cloud on the tongue, the most delicious treat in the world. Its ingredients include a rare flower nectar that blooms only once every seventy years, so precious even emperors might not get a taste.” Mu Ling’s excitement grew as she recalled the travel guides she’d gathered while recruiting disciples.

“The fairy knows so much.”

“Of course!” Mu Ling’s smile widened. “I’ve also heard of a fabric from the Shu Sect. Qingyun Brocade, woven only once every thousand years.”

Over the years, Mu Ling had lived in constant fear and vigilance, so when someone she could truly get close to appeared by her side, she couldn’t help but reveal her true nature.

But then…

Mu Ling suddenly stopped mid-sentence, her smile fading as she looked thoughtfully at the child. “Actually, if you don’t like something, just say so. There’s no need to force yourself.”

The child’s smile seemed convincing at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was as rigid and mechanical as a painted puppet’s utterly devoid of sincerity.

The child’s brow twitched in surprise. She hadn’t expected this seemingly foolish woman to see through her act. She tugged at the corners of her lips, trying to make her smile appear more genuine, when suddenly a hand reached out and pinched her cheek. “Stop smiling!”

“I’ll treat you well,” Mu Ling sighed, crouching down awkwardly to meet the child’s eyes. “I know you were pretending to sleep last night you heard what I said. But since it’s my first time taking in a disciple, I was a little embarrassed too, so I didn’t call you out on it.”

So, she knew…

The child’s heart skipped a beat. For the first time, she realized this woman might not be as easy to fool as she’d thought.

“Anyway, when you’re with me, just be yourself. There’s no need to change who you are to please me.” Now that she’d started, Mu Ling no longer hesitated, seizing the moment to make her stance clear. “Maybe right now, you’re only following me because life’s been hard and you’re desperate for refuge. But since you’ve chosen to stay with me, I’ll take responsibility for you. I want you to be happy while you’re by my side, carefree and joyful, like any other little girl.”

“Cough—cough—” Bai Fengqing, lying nearby, suddenly erupted into a fit of coughing, his eyelashes fluttering as if he were about to wake.

“Of course, sword cultivators are impossible to kill. Their resilience is just unfair…”

Mu Ling muttered under her breath, dropping the previous topic. Pressing a finger to the child’s lips in a “shh” gesture, she scooped the girl up and darted swiftly deeper into the ruins.

Mu Ling had no intention of teaming up with Bai Fengqing. She’d only saved him because she couldn’t bear to watch someone die in front of her. Now that he seemed out of danger, she wanted nothing to do with these plot-relevant characters.

More importantly, Mu Ling didn’t want to share the treasures from the secret realm with Bai Fengqing.

And there were so many treasures here!

Before long, Mu Ling stumbled upon a room filled with luminous pearls. She rushed in, sweeping her sleeve across them, and the pearls tumbled into her qiankun pouch with a series of clinks. Her eyes gleamed with greed, and she lamented not bringing more pouches.

The child stood silently to the side, lips pressed together.

The warmth of the woman’s fingertips still lingered on her cheek. The child lowered her gaze slightly, a memory surfacing something she’d witnessed while trapped in that underground passage.

The male cultivator who practiced dark arts had a stunningly beautiful concubine. He doted on her endlessly, showering her with sweet nothings. But when he was short one woman’s blood for a life-extending ritual and the child’s own blood was unusable due to its unique properties. His gaze had fallen on that very concubine.

That concubine never imagined, even in her dying moments, that the man who had repeatedly vowed, “Once I succeed in extending my life, I will form a Daoist partnership with you,” would plunge a knife into her heart.

The child had always thought that concubine was foolish beyond measure to have trusted a demonic cultivator. But now, the child suddenly began to understand her a little. Sweet words sounded so incredibly delightful that even when you knew they were lies, you couldn’t help but want to believe them.

Mu Ling had no idea that the child hadn’t believed a single word of her heartfelt speech. She was already immersed in the joy of amassing wealth, emptying every treasury she came across. Mu Ling stuffed several qiankun bags to the brim, but since qiankun bags couldn’t be taken into the spiritual realm, she eventually ran out of places to store them. In the end, she had to bundle the bulging qiankun bags into a cloth pack and tie it to her back. Even the child’s snack-filled qiankun bag was crammed with magical artifacts.

“Can’t we just come back for the rest later?”

Watching Mu Ling’s fervor, the child held the now-heavy qiankun bag that had been shoved back into their hands and couldn’t help but ask.

“We won’t get another chance like this!”

Mu Ling pulled out a piece of dried meat from a bag, took a bite, and reluctantly stuffed the half-filled qiankun bag back into the child’s hands.

If not for fear that the child wouldn’t be able to carry it, Mu Ling would have filled this qiankun bag too. Because if they didn’t take it now, they’d never have another opportunity to enter this secret realm again!

In the original story, Bai Junhao and Chisu had entered primarily to secretly search for a medicinal herb. Bai Junhao’s previous severe injuries had damaged his spiritual roots, and only a specific herb from this secret realm could heal him. However, that herb was guarded by a colossal serpent, whose cultivation had reached the Divine Transformation stage after years of nourishing on the realm’s treasures. Bai Junhao and Chisu had expended tremendous effort to slay the serpent and obtain the herb, but in the process, they damaged the secret realm’s spiritual veins. By the time they escaped, the entire realm had collapsed.

The original host had also been flung into a room by the serpent’s tail during the battle, where they accidentally discovered the Heavenly Spirit Sword Art.

“It might get dangerous soon,” Mu Ling crouched down and earnestly warned the child. “If I end up fighting something in the secret realm, you run far away. Don’t come anywhere near me.”

Thanks to her knowledge of the plot, Mu Ling had avoided many obstacles along the way, advancing smoothly to the latter sections. But it was clear that the Heavenly Spirit Sword Art was near that colossal serpent. If Mu Ling wanted to obtain it, she would inevitably alert the beast.

The child nodded, their fingers twitching at their sides before curling back into a tight fist.

Once again, images flooded their mind uncontrollably: a massive serpentine dragon charging toward them, an endless sea of blood stretching behind it, the corpses of countless souls lost within. The dragon’s fangs loomed terrifyingly close, its foul, rancid breath washing over them…

In truth, ever since entering this secret realm, the child’s mind had been plagued by such visions as if they had been here before. The deeper they went, the more familiar the surroundings became. At the same time, a strange sensation grew within the child: they could somehow sense the lesser creatures around them. The snake resting in the corner, the centipede in the crevice, the venomous wasps in a hidden trap.

She could even sense the hostility emanating from the giant serpent ahead, it had already detected the presence of intruders in the cave and was now in an extremely agitated state.

Not far behind, a bewitching bird within a certain mechanism was seething with rage. A white-robed disciple from an immortal sect had smashed its eggs, and soon after, a group from the Demon Palace had destroyed the labyrinth it had spent a thousand years building.

The child knew everything, yet the child said nothing.

This woman’s cultivation was so high she might not die.

The child pursed their lips slightly: Even if she did die, what did it have to do with them?