Master is Also Running Away from Marriage Today (Transmigration) - Chapter 9

“Master has passed away!”

The disciples of Peak Master Xu knelt in mourning, their faces filled with sorrow. The eldest disciple, tears streaming down her face, tugged at Mu Ling’s sleeve. “Peak Master Mu, our master possessed extraordinary abilities and hadn’t bestowed a name upon anyone in over a decade. Since she chose to name your disciple, there must be profound significance behind it.”

Mu Ling understood the implication: for the revered Peak Master Xu to name the child on her deathbed was an immense honor. To refuse it would be seen as ungrateful and disrespectful.

But…

How could the pitiful, bullied, and amnesiac girl she had taken in possibly be Lin Qingge, the future unrivaled leader of the immortal path, the most dazzling figure in the cultivation world?

If the child were merely an unnamed orphan under Mu Ling’s care, she had already planned a peaceful future for her. Nurturing her tenderly, making up for the suffering she had endured, and ensuring she lived a safe and happy life. But if the child were Lin Qingge, the most prodigious talent from the original story, a soaring eagle Mu Ling could never fully protect.

“Do you like this name?” Suppressing her shock, Mu Ling forced a smile and looked down at the child. “Peak Master Xu bestowed it upon you, and it’s customary not to refuse an elder’s gift. But a name is something you’ll carry for life.”

The child frowned slightly.

In recent years, Mu Ling had focused solely on cultivation, paying little attention to worldly affairs. She couldn’t even name all twelve peak masters of the sect and only knew that Peak Master Xu was renowned for her divination and physiognomy. However, the child had gathered more information from the whispers of animals:

Peak Master Xu was a mysterious figure within the Qingyi Sect.

Rumors said she spent years in seclusion, cultivating the path of heaven, even possessing the ability to foresee the future. Every person whose face she had read had gone on to become a figure of great renown!

Even Sect Leader Zhao Yunshi would bow and address her as a junior in her presence. For someone of such stature to treat Mu Ling with unexpected kindness was already remarkable.

The child didn’t care much about the name. After all, to her, it was just a label. What intrigued her more was the enigmatic gaze Peak Master Xu had fixed upon her before her death.

But…

The child glanced at Mu Ling, her eyes flickering over the grieving eldest disciple of Peak Master Xu, and pressed her lips together.

No doubt these disciples were already displeased. After all, others would beg in vain for Peak Master Xu to bestow a name.

What was wrong with this woman today?

Though she wasn’t particularly warm in her dealings with others, she had never been this socially inept.

Despite her inner doubts, the child obediently smiled and bowed respectfully to Peak Master Xu’s remains. “Qingge thanks Peak Master Xu for the name!”

Since this woman clearly had her best interests at heart, she might as well help clean up this mess for her.

Only then did the eldest disciple’s expression soften slightly, though the grief quickly returned as she remembered her master’s passing.

Naturally, outsiders weren’t meant to linger at such a time. After exchanging a few polite words with Mu Ling, the eldest disciple tactfully saw them out.

“Senior Sister,” the second disciple of Peak Master Xu frowned as she watched Mu Ling and the child depart, stepping closer to the eldest disciple. “Aside from her exceptional talent, Peak Master Mu doesn’t seem particularly remarkable, she’s even less socially adept than the child beside her! Why has our master privately favored her all these years?”

“Junior Sister, watch your words!”

“Master’s intentions, how could we ever fathom them?” the eldest disciple murmured softly. She had some inkling of what Peak Master Xu had been researching all these years, but now was not the time to reveal it. With a long sigh, she cautioned the surrounding disciples: “The world is about to undergo great changes. Let us follow our master’s final decree. Close our mountain gates to visitors under the pretext of his passing…”

Mu Ling was unaware of everything that had transpired on Qianji Peak after her departure.

Upon returning to Qingbo Peak, Mu Ling recalled her earlier discourtesy and sent Ding Xin to deliver gifts as an apology. However, she soon received news that Qianji Peak had already shut its gates.

“Master, has something happened?” Even Ding Xin could sense Mu Ling’s unease.

“Master, do you dislike the name ‘Lin Qingge’?” The child stood before Mu Ling. She had originally intended to remain a silent observer, but for some reason, the trace of confusion on Mu Ling’s face unsettled her deeply. Before she realized it, the question had already slipped out: “It’s just a name. If you dislike it, now that Qianji Peak has closed its gates, we can simply refrain from using it in private.”

“No.” Mu Ling took a deep breath, cutting the child off with a hastily fabricated excuse. “It’s just that this name reminds me of someone.”

“You two go out and train now!” Mu Ling forced a smile. “Your master has suddenly had an epiphany and wishes to enter seclusion today.”

Anyone could tell this was merely an excuse.

The child bowed her head respectfully and followed Ding Xin out of the room, but her hands clenched involuntarily at her sides.

This feeling of helplessness was infuriating: her fate lay in the hands of these almighty figures who could overturn the world with a flick of their wrists, yet she knew nothing of Mu Ling’s past, had no idea what had stolen the smile from Mu Ling’s face, and couldn’t even ask.

The figures of the child and Ding Xin disappeared behind the door.

Mu Ling lay back on the bed, overwhelmed by an intense longing for her grandparents.

As a child, Mu Ling had never excelled academically, but her grandparents had never pressured her about grades. In her grandfather’s eyes, a child’s integrity and happiness were far more important than academic achievements. Even without parents, her grandparents had given her an incredibly joyful childhood.

Mu Ling had inherited this philosophy from them. She only wanted the child to grow up happy and safe. Yet those who achieved greatness in the world rarely did so without enduring hardship, and Mu Ling couldn’t bear the thought of the child suffering through such trials.

But the child was Lin Qingge!

Lin Qingge bore the responsibility of safeguarding the three realms. She was the only one in the story capable of defeating the Demon King.

Yet now the plot had already changed. Was there truly no one else who could kill the Demon King?

…

Mu Ling finally understood the agony of her grandfather’s impossible choices. As she wrestled with her thoughts, night fell swiftly.

A figure clad entirely in white arrived under the cover of darkness at the rarely visited Qingbo Peak and knocked on Mu Ling’s door.

The eldest disciple of Peak Master Xu placed a jade tablet in Mu Ling’s hands and knelt before her. “My master instructed me to personally apologize to you before his passing. Henceforth, if Peak Master Mu has any need, our Qianji Peak will spare no effort, even at the cost of our lives.”

Mu Ling’s heart skipped a beat as the jade tablet activated on its own.

Within it lay a fragment of memory.

Time rewound to the year before Mu Ling transmigrated into the book. That year, Peak Master Xu received a divine revelation, foreseeing a future world in chaos, with lives devastated and the three realms on the brink of collapse.

To save the three realms, Peak Master Xu exhausted his cultivation and even defied the heavens to traverse time and space, summoning a soul from another world to this one.

Mu Ling was that summoned soul!

After Mu Ling arrived, the seemingly hopeless fate of the three realms suddenly revealed a glimmer of hope. But Peak Master Xu’s dwindling power was no longer enough for him to discern where that sliver of hope had landed. He could only cling to life, sustaining his failing body while waiting for heaven’s mercy.

From Mu Ling’s escape from the Mu Kingdom’s imperial palace to her successful entry into the Qingyi Sect, and even her ability to focus solely on cultivation without worldly distractions. All of it had been under Peak Master Xu’s unseen protection.

Now that she knew the truth, Mu Ling didn’t know how to react!

Logically, she should resent Peak Master Xu. After all, he was the one who had summoned her here. Yet, all these years, it was he who had silently shielded her.

And Mu Ling finally understood why Peak Master Xu had smiled through his tears in the end. It must have been tears of joy: just as Mu Ling had guessed, he must have seen in the child that long-awaited glimmer of hope. That was why he had named her ‘Lin Qingge’.

Mu Ling spent the entire night processing everything she had learned.

But she wasn’t the only one on Qingbo Peak who lay awake that night. The child living not far from her also didn’t sleep.

A crow took flight from the child’s windowsill, bringing news that a stranger had entered Mu Ling’s room.

Hidden in the shadows, the child watched as the head disciple of Qianji Peak lingered for a long time before finally leaving Mu Ling’s quarters.

Before today, Qianji Peak and Qingbo Peak had no connections at all. So why would the newly appointed Peak Master of Qianji Peak. Who had publicly claimed to be in seclusion, come looking for Mu Ling?

The child recalled the way Peak Master Xu had looked at her. What had he seen before his death? Could it be related to the “her” inside the child’s body?

And what had that disciple said to Mu Ling? Now that Mu Ling knew the child wasn’t as weak and harmless as she had assumed, what choice would she make?

…

Time passed slowly. The moonlight dimmed, the stars faded, and a thin crimson line emerged on the horizon, gradually expanding into a brilliant sunrise.

Mu Ling bit her lower lip and gently pushed open the child’s door.

The child was already awake, her eyes fixed on Mu Ling.

“Child!” Mu Ling bent down, gazing intently into the child’s eyes. “If a path were laid before you one that was treacherous and winding, but would lead you to the pinnacle of the immortal dao, where no one would dare bully you again, would you take it?”

Though anger had flared in her heart the moment she learned the truth of her transmigration, what was done was done. Now, Mu Ling only wanted to live well.

And as for the child, Mu Ling had come to a realization: whether or not she became the Lin Qingge from the book should be the child’s own choice. It was her life to decide!

The child pressed her lips together. This was the second time she had seen Mu Ling wear such a solemn expression. The first had been the night Mu Ling said she would take her as a disciple.

Though she didn’t know why Mu Ling was asking this question, the child instinctively felt it was of great importance.

The child recalled the images she had once seen in her mind. The centipede’s inquiry to “her” and Mu Ling’s words now seemed strikingly similar.

To rise above others?

That “she” must have embarked on that rugged path, only to end up confined within her own body, emerging only on nights of the full moon. If it were her instead…

The child heard herself whisper, “I’ll go!”

The road ahead would undoubtedly be arduous, even fatal. Yet even if Mu Ling hadn’t spoken, the child would have sought a way to walk it only by growing stronger could she truly conquer the unknown force within her and that ambiguous “her,” no longer forced to feign compliance or cling to life like a dog, perpetually fearing abandonment.

The child raised her head. This was the first time she had revealed her true feelings, but she didn’t see the disdain or contempt she had expected in Mu Ling’s eyes. Instead, Mu Ling smiled, her gaze still brimming with the vibrant warmth the child knew so well. She heard Mu Ling’s deliberately lighthearted voice beside her ear:

“Then I’ll walk that path to the heavens with you!”

“Qingge, your master will do everything to help you achieve your dreams and make your name resound far and wide!”

She wasn’t the same as “her,” was she?

In the centipede’s prophecy, “her” life had become a solitary, treacherous road; friendless, companionless, with no one to trust.

But now…

The child felt her heartbeat suddenly quicken, pounding so hard it seemed ready to burst from her chest. Bathed in the morning light, Mu Ling looked as though she was glowing from head to toe!

She had said it herself!

Unconsciously, the child’s lips curved into a smile: She would walk the same path as her, becoming her guide, her companion sharing in joy and weathering storms together.