The Immortal Lord of the Path of Ruthlessness Bends for Me - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Powerful Arm Wrapped Around Her Waist

The forest was silent. A cold wind whipped past, blowing loose hair against her ears. A white, slender neck was sliced by a sharp gust, and blood trickled down Ling Shu’s pale face.

“Come out!” Ling Shu shouted into the darkness.

The hidden shadow remained silent.

Suddenly, the rattling sound of a sidewinder vibrating its tail echoed from behind a nearby tree trunk. Ling Shu caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye but continued walking forward, silently counting: One, two, three… The wind shifted violently. A sword tip, reflecting the chilling moonlight, lunged straight for her heart.

Ling Shu spun on her heel, glancing back as the blade whistled past her chest. The assassin’s eyes widened in shock, but in the next second, Ling Shu’s right hand clamped onto their wrist with a death grip.

The sword fell. Ling Shu’s right hand moved like lightning, catching the hilt mid-air.

A flash of lightning illuminated the gloom. In the blink of an eye, Ling Shu counterattacked, pinning her would-be killer to the ground with the blade pressed firmly against their throat.

But the defeated man suddenly burst into a sneer. “Little Ling Shu, if you don’t release me, I’ll crush this Demon Core. Your mother will die with me. We’ll go to the afterlife as a pair of star-crossed fugitives. Won’t that be fun? Hahaha!”

Ling Shu reached out to grab it, but the man’s spiritual energy surged, encasing the golden Demon Core in a barrier far beyond her own power to break.

The man was wretched to the core. “Go on! Kill me!”

Ling Shu glared at him, teeth bared. “Give me back my mother’s Demon Core!”

The man tightened his grip. Cracks began to appear on the surface of the golden orb. White light flared from his palm as thunder rolled overhead. Ling Shu panicked. “Don’t!”

The man stopped just in time, raising a mocking eyebrow. “What? Afraid now?”

He spoke with cruel deliberation. “The core of the only Nine-Tailed Fox in the world… it would be such a waste to lose it. She raised you for years, but now she’s spent, nothing more than a dying husk. Why not give this core to me? I can use it to reach the Great Circle of Cultivation and become a Guardian of the Shangqing Realm alongside the Pure Breath Immortal Lord. It would be a great service to the common people. Come now, dear daughter, listen to your stepmother, won’t you?”

“Pah! Who is your daughter? You hypocrite, talking about ‘common people’! I have a mother and a mom! If you hadn’t deceived my mother’s feelings, she never would have fallen into your hands!”

“A mom? Hahaha!” the man laughed. “You mean the Sect Leader of the Shangqing Sect who abandoned you both for nineteen years to marry a new wife? Look at her status and then look at yours—you are nothing but her bastard child! A woman who refuses to recognize her own wife and daughter… and you call her ‘mom’? What a joke! If it weren’t for a demon hunter like me humbling myself to stay with you, do you think you could have hidden from the other cultivators?”

“Everyone knows that refining a Nine-Tailed Fox core allows one to ascend to the Mahayana stage in a single step. You think I’m the only one watching this prize?”

The earth trembled. Leaves rustled downward. A sudden chill of spiritual energy from behind made the hair on Ling Shu’s neck stand up.

Before she could turn, a splash of metallic, iron-scented liquid hit her face.

She whipped her head around. The man she had pinned was staring blankly, his pupils dilating. The spiritual barrier around the Demon Core dissolved instantly. The core floated out of his hand, and as Ling Shu lunged for it, the orb streaked past her.

Ling Shu chased it into the shadows of the trees, where the golden core landed softly in the hand of a white-robed cultivator.

The newcomer stood half-hidden in the shade. Cool moonlight hit the hem of a white dress that swept the ground, embroidered with delicate dark plum blossoms that shimmered like pearls.

It was a woman. Her spiritual aura radiated a bone-chilling cold.

An Ice Spiritual Root.

Her pressure was immense. Her cultivation was at least at the Mahayana stage—but in the Shangqing Realm, only the five Masters of the Sect held such power.

Who was she?

Regardless of who she was, Ling Shu was no match. Ling Shu was not a cultivator; she was a half-demon. In the Shangqing Realm, where demons were despised, half-demons were the lowest of the low.

Ling Shu’s gaze was resilient, even if she was a moth to a flame. When she spoke, her voice still carried a hint of childish innocence: “Give it back.”

The figure was silent.

Ling Shu gripped her sword, preparing to strike, but the golden core drifted from the woman’s palm and landed precisely in Ling Shu’s hand.

Ling Shu was stunned. “Who are you? Why did you help me?”

The white-robed woman remained silent.

As Ling Shu took a tentative step forward, the woman vanished into thin air.

Thunder faded as rain began to pour. Ling Shu couldn’t worry about the mystery any longer. She turned toward her home and sprinted through the rain.

The scent of blood grew thick, accompanied by the clashing of steel.

Ling Shu’s heart burned with anxiety. She cursed herself for being unable to fly on a sword. “Mom, you have to hold on until I get back.”

She reached the courtyard of her home and nearly collapsed. The grain they hadn’t brought in before sunset was soaked in blood and mud, trampled into filth. Dried peppers, corn, and garlic hanging under the eaves were splattered with red. She rushed inside, but the house was empty, leaving only the wreckage of a battle.

Following her scent, Ling Shu tracked them to a river valley. The flowing water was streaked with crimson.

Four cultivators had cornered a Nine-Tailed Fox in the middle of the river. Every strike they made drew blood.

“Hand over the core, and we’ll let you live,” the cultivator to the East demanded.

The one to the West was chanting, strengthening a sealing formation.

The one to the South pointed a sword at the fox. “You stupid fox, we only want the core, not your lives. Hand it over, and both you and your brat can live.”

The fox spoke, her voice weak but firm. “You ungrateful fools. If the core falls into your hands, the Shangqing Realm will fall into chaos. I will not let you commit such evil.”

The cultivator to the North mocked her. “Don’t get angry. You can’t even save yourself; why worry about others? Is it worth it?” With a cruel laugh, he swung his sword and sliced off one of the fox’s tails. “Idiot.”

Ling Shu clutched the Demon Core in her robes. Seeing him move to strike again, she screamed, “Get away from her! Don’t you dare hurt my mother!” and lunged at the cultivators with her sword.

“Shu’er! Don’t come here! Run!”

The Western cultivator spotted the aura of the core in her robes. “The core is on the girl!”

The Northern cultivator sneered. “So that’s why we couldn’t force it out of the fox. It wasn’t in her body at all.” He stepped across the water, charging toward Ling Shu.

With the North position vacant, the formation broke. The fox lunged forward, shielding Ling Shu behind her body. The Northern cultivator’s blade struck the fox’s barrier. She held her ground, but when the other three joined the attack, she began to buckle under the combined weight of their power.

Ling Shu cried out, “Mom! The core! I brought it back! Eat it!”

The fox’s remaining three tails wrapped around Ling Shu and threw her far away. “Shu’er, go! Run!”

Ling Shu hit the ground hard but scrambled up. “I’m not leaving without you!”

The fox suddenly snarled with forced hatred, “Shut up and get out of here, you bastard child!”

Ling Shu gritted her teeth. “You have your choices, and I have mine. You raised me; I can never repay your love. I’m giving the core back. You have to live!”

Ling Shu leaped back into the water, stubbornly trying to return the core. The golden orb flew from her hand toward the fox. The four cultivators, blinded by greed at the sight of the core, struck with all their might. The fox’s defense shattered.

Suddenly, her remaining three tails snapped.

The spiritual power from the severed tails exploded outward, knocking the core back toward Ling Shu. A powerful force forced Ling Shu’s mouth open, and the core flew inside. In the next instant, the backlash of the spiritual explosion sent Ling Shu flying into the water.

The Nine-Tailed Fox had sacrificed her last tails to blow the cultivators back and save her daughter.

The fox lost all strength and sank into the water like a dying flame. The four cultivators also fell into the river.

The rain slowed to a drizzle. The water surface began to calm.

Under the water, the four cultivators followed the aura of the Demon Core toward Ling Shu.

The thousand-year core raged inside her. The immense spiritual energy surged through her veins, threatening to tear her nineteen-year-old body apart. Yet she ignored the pain, searching frantically for her mother.

Mom, Mom, Mom…

She felt her mother sinking deeper into the dark.

Ling Shu dove down, but after a few meters, her right arm was grabbed and yanked upward. She felt the embroidery on the sleeve—it was a cultivator!

The wild nature of the demon core triggered her half-demon instincts. Her ears shifted, and her fingers grew into claws. She slashed the hand holding her, drawing a cloud of thick blood into the water.

The grip loosened.

Ling Shu dove deeper. Her mother didn’t have much time left.

The connection grew stronger. Her mother was right there! She reached out and touched a piece of fabric—her mother had enough strength left to maintain her human form!

Ling Shu tried to pull her up, but her legs were suddenly seized by three men dragging her toward the surface. She fought with everything she had, but the cultivators were too strong.

Her claws gashed their skin as they struggled in the freezing water. Eventually, the lack of air took its toll, and Ling Shu’s strength faded.

She was dragged to the surface, gasping for air as the metallic scent of the river filled her lungs. Before she could recover, the cultivators lifted her into the air, flying away from the water.

“Who is there?” a cultivator suddenly shouted, stopping mid-air.

Ling Shu looked up. A woman in white stood in the wind, her long hair flowing to her waist. She looked like a cold orchid in a deserted valley—elegant, frigid, and ethereal. She held a cold iron sword, her presence heavy with authority.

Ling Shu didn’t know her name, but she saw the plum blossoms embroidered on the hem of her dress.

It was her. The one who had helped her recover the core.

In a flash, the woman’s sword swept through the air. The three cultivators were struck down. The hands holding Ling Shu vanished, and she began to plummet toward the river.

The wind whistled past her. The river rushed up to meet her.

“Mom… I’m coming…”

Suddenly, a powerful arm wrapped around her waist, and she was pulled into a cold, fragrant embrace.

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