The Immortal Lord of the Path of Ruthlessness Bends for Me - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Zhao Chi Forced Her Neck Up, Struggling to Speak

New flesh sprouted where the sword had pierced, severed vessels reconnected, and demon power surged violently through her meridians. She could clearly perceive every ice crystal in the snow, the breath of animals hiding beneath the drifts, and the direction of every stray breeze.

Her locked target Zhao Chi, fleeing for her life in the dark was flying low, using the canopy as cover.

Suddenly, Zhao Chi was struck by a wave of killing intent. She looked back, but saw no pursuer.

When she lunged forward again, snow fell from a tree ahead. She gripped her sword, sensing the source of the intent, yet she could not capture a single trace of an aura.

Ling Shu? Impossible. Every strike I landed was a fatal wound.

She continued her flight, but snow fell repeatedly to her left, right, and front.

Who was it? Who was hunting her?

A sudden flash of white light blinded her—lightning striking a tree.

Lightning!

Cold sweat broke out on Zhao Chi’s forehead. Ling Shu had old wounds and new fatal ones; only the immortal Zhuang Jinfu could save someone in that state. But Zhuang Jinfu had left for Dongli and couldn’t possibly return within the hour. No one could heal Ling Shu. She was as good as dead. It couldn’t be Ling Shu. It was impossible!

Zhao Chi didn’t dare stop. Ignoring concealment, she crashed through the forest, seeking a lifeline.

A dull thud sounded as a snowball hit near her feet. Then, a barrage of snowballs, propelled by pink-purple magic, flew at her. Zhao Chi swept them away with her power, but they were too many and too fast. They stung sharply but weren’t lethal—it was an agonizing, persistent harassment that lasted for fifteen minutes.

Exhausted, Zhao Chi let her guard down. Suddenly, a sword light cut through the dense flurry of snow. She saw the face of the swordswoman.

The face still held a hint of youth, yet it was hauntingly beautiful. A feral, manic grin hung on her lips, and her eyes were soul-snatching. Being stared at by those eyes invoked a bone-chilling dread.

“Zhao Chi, you lied to me.”

The sword pointed at her heart, without a hair’s breadth of deviation.

Their blades clashed with a metallic ring. Zhao Chi said, “If I die by your hand today, someone will surely come to settle the score tomorrow.”

Ling Shu let out a harsh laugh. “Is your life really that valuable? Someone seeking justice for you even after you’re dead?”

Pressed down by Ling Shu’s sword aura, Zhao Chi sank toward the ground, gritting her teeth. “Do you think just anyone can enter Upper Clarity Mountain? My identity is still that of an inner disciple under Elder Shan Ji of the Alchemy Branch. If I die, everyone on Qingxi Mountain can testify. I went to find you, you left with me, and then I died. Who do you think they’ll believe—a demon girl, or a cultivator recommended by a noble family?”

“What a poisonous calculation,” Ling Shu hissed. “Why kill me?”

Zhao Chi’s feet touched the ground as she leaned back to endure the overwhelming pressure of the thousand-year demon power. “Not everyone wants you alive like the Immortal does.”

Ling Shu used her magic to control the sword, letting go of the hilt and clapping her hands. “Good, very good. Those who want me dead, I will deal with personally, one by one. You’re lucky—you’re the first.”

“W-what are you going to do?” Zhao Chi’s legs gave out under the sudden surge of pressure. She collapsed into the snow, her sword slipping from her grasp.

Ling Shu directed the sword toward Zhao Chi’s ankles. “You wanted to hamstring me. I remember.”

The blade flashed out and back, a mere blur. Beneath Zhao Chi’s legs, the white snow was stained crimson.

Zhao Chi bit her lip, refusing to scream.

“Why aren’t you screaming, Zhao Chi?” Ling Shu retracted the sword and crouched beside her, pinching her cheek and snarling. “Was I too gentle? Or are you just that brave?”

Forced to tilt her neck back, Zhao Chi struggled to get the words out: “I bet… you don’t dare kill me.”

“If you kill me, you can never go back.”

Ling Shu’s grip tightened, her sharp fox claws piercing the skin. “What makes you think you can speculate about me?”

Zhao Chi’s chest heaved with laughter. “Ling Shu, your longing for your Master is written all over your face. Next time you love someone, hide your weaknesses better.”

“A disciple falling for her Master… you’re truly bold. She made you kneel in the snow this time; will she kick you off the mountain next? Would a cold, aloof Immortal allow a creature like you to harbor such insolent desires? Hahahaha!”

Ling Shu roared, “My business is none of yours!”

Zhao Chi’s gaze was contemptuous. “The little creature is provoked. How interesting.”

Enraged, Ling Shu slammed Zhao Chi’s head into the ground, dragged her back up, and threw her over her shoulder. Zhao Chi’s legs were ruined; her path as a martial cultivator was over.

Yet Zhao Chi remained relaxed, mocking Ling Shu even as she crawled back up.

Ling Shu was at her wit’s end. She couldn’t kill her, but letting her go felt like a betrayal of her own rage.

Zhao Chi lay there like a pile of mud. “Any other tricks? Bring them on.”

Ling Shu remained silent.

Zhao Chi propped herself up on her elbows. Walking was out of the question, and the pressure Ling Shu was emitting—comparable to the Great Transcendence stage—was a clear warning. Ling Shu was now someone she could no longer touch.

“Since you have no grand plans, I won’t waste my time here.” Zhao Chi’s sword moved toward her feet.

Ling Shu suddenly said, “Stop.”

A sinister killing intent flared. Before Zhao Chi could react, she looked down to see a hand thrust into her lower abdomen.

“You humans want to dig out my demon core. Did you ever think that one day, I would dig out your golden core?”

Pfft—a fountain of blood erupted from Zhao Chi’s mouth.

Ling Shu held the glowing golden core in her hand. In an instant, she crushed it into powder.

“You said you’re a disciple of the Alchemy Branch, so you’re an alchemist. Without an inner core, how will you gather spirit power to refine pills? What a pity. A double-rooted cultivator spending the rest of her life refining low-grade pills. Tell me, will Elder Shan Ji keep a useless person in the sect? Will she kick you off the mountain?”

Zhao Chi froze, swept away by despair. Every cultivator starts forming their core during the Qi Condensation stage; the Golden Core is the heart of their journey. She had prided herself on her talent, refining high-grade pills at seventeen, earning a noble recommendation.

She never thought choosing to kill Ling Shu would be a path to self-destruction.

This demon girl… she actually dared!

“AAAAHHHHHH!!!” Zhao Chi broke down completely. She was finished. “I’ll kill you, Ling Shu! I’ll kill you!!”

Lacking magic, she swung her sword wildly. Ling Shu disarmed her and used her demon power to pin her down. “Tell me, who exactly wants me dead?”

Zhao Chi let Ling Shu hold her up. “No one! No one wants you dead! I wanted you dead! I was jealous that you caught the Immortal’s eye just because of your bloodline! You did nothing, while we ordinary people work day and night, fighting for a scrap of energy. We fail exams, struggle for recommendations, and in the end, we still can’t compare to people like you who get into sects based on blood! I hate it! I hate you!”

Ling Shu snarled, “Bloodline? Ha! That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year. If I could choose, I would never have been born a half-demon, even if my other half was royal! I was born alone, with no one behind me. My mother was hounded to death by you cultivators. And now I have to cultivate on this mountain full of you? You hate me? Don’t you think I hate too!”

Zhao Chi paused, her anger cooling into shock. “You’re… that miserable too?”

Ling Shu blinked. “…Obviously?”

Zhao Chi: “How about you let go? Miserable people shouldn’t make things hard for other miserable people.”

Ling Shu realized that holding her was useless. The girl wouldn’t talk, and having lost her core, she was too fragile for any “interrogation” methods Ling Shu could think of.

She let go. The moment she did, Zhao Chi lunged at her throat. “You dug out my core, I’ll choke you to death!” Ling Shu didn’t dare use her full strength for fear of killing her. She retracted her demon power and grabbed Zhao Chi’s neck in return. “You stabbed me, I’ll choke you!”

“Who is the Great Person?!” “No one! Just me!” “Die, you brat!” “I’ll kill you, you demon girl!”

The two rolled around in the snow, fighting like common brawlers, covered in filth, hair disheveled, neither willing to give in.

The next morning, two figures looking like beggars appeared at the foot of Upper Clarity Mountain.

“Monster! There’s a monster!!” The shrieks of the gate-guarding sisters echoed through the valley. They faced two unrecognizable beings: one in rags full of blood holes, the other with a gaping wound in her abdomen, covered in frost.

Ling Shu held up her clean jade pendant. “The demon of Qingxi Mountain.” The other held up hers. “Zhao Chi of Danjing Peak.”

After verifying their identities, the senior sisters used communication talismans to call their respective elders. Soon, a white-haired woman in blue robes arrived. She looked at Zhao Chi with indifference. “Come back with me.” She turned and flew off on her sword without checking if Zhao Chi could keep up. Zhao Chi followed submissively.

Ling Shu wanted to leave on her own, but seeing the elder come for Zhao Chi, she found herself waiting.

Master said her disciple wasn’t a burden. She said she wouldn’t leave me.

But after that fight… would Zhuang Jinfu still come for her?

She waited anxiously.

She didn’t come.

Instead, Wang Lifu arrived in her purple robes. Her first word was, “Brat.”

Ling Shu spat at her. The gate guards were horrified. Wang Lifu wiped her face, looking displeased. “Get up here.”

Ling Shu refused the sword. She insisted on walking the stairs. As she passed Wang Lifu, she slammed her shoulder into her and began to climb, step by step.

Wang Lifu flew in front of her and used her power to lift Ling Shu onto the sword.

“Let me down.” “There are ten thousand steps. You want to climb?” “Better than sharing a sword with you!”

Ling Shu made a move to jump, but Wang Lifu gripped her tight. “Stay.” She rose hundreds of feet into the air.

Ling Shu stopped struggling. She thought of her—the woman who had been willing to walk ten thousand steps with her rather than force her onto a sword. What did she truly feel for her?

“Where is my Master? Why… didn’t she come?”

“You have the nerve to mention her?”

“I’m just asking! I didn’t kill or burn anything! Can’t I ask why my Master isn’t here?”

“You didn’t kill anyone, but in the Bitian Mountain array, you abused demon power to bully your peers and nearly trapped twenty-three people to their deaths. After such a mistake, you still mention her? She went against everyone to take you as a disciple. Is this how you repay her?”

“I never asked her to take me!”

Wang Lifu was so angry she wanted to kick her off the sword. “You… brat. Since she’s not on the mountain, I, as the Sect Leader, will discipline you in her stead.”

Wang Lifu turned sharply. “Where are you taking me?!” Ling Shu demanded.

“Shuijia Lake,” Wang Lifu said, hiding the pain in her arm from Ling Shu’s grip.

“The water prison?” Ling Shu gripped harder. “What kind of mother are you!”

“You still know I’m your mother? Learn some respect!”

Ling Shu rolled her eyes and let go. As they neared the lake, she tried to use Li Chang’s sword to fly away, but the spiritual energy on the mountain was thin because of her damage to the array. The sword wouldn’t unsheathe.

“Don’t bother,” Wang Lifu said coldly. “You broke the array. The energy is unbalanced, and it’ll take days to fix. You’ve earned the sect’s wrath. As Sect Leader, I have to punish you.”

Wang Lifu sighed. “When will you change that temper? They didn’t even try to take your life, and you tried to trap them in a killing array. Even if your Master speaks for you, you won’t escape punishment. Reflect in Shuijia Lake.”

“They insulted me. I fought back. I’m not wrong.”

“Killing isn’t the only way to fight back,” Wang Lifu said solemnly. “If you kill everyone who insults you, you’ll have to kill the whole world. Not every voice is worth your time. Focus on your cultivation. When you ascend, your strength will silence them all.”

Why is she suddenly being nice?

Ling Shu didn’t buy it. “I’m not wrong. They wanted me dead. And you’re the one who wants me dead most. I remember how you hoped I’d fail my tribulation. I bet you’re the one who sent Zhao Chi.”

Wang Lifu’s brow furrowed, her eyes deepening. “I never sent anyone to kill you.”

“Who would believe your lies?”

“Believe what you want.”

They fell into a hostile silence. Ling Shu tried to escape several times, but her new demon power was no match for a veteran of the Transformation Stage. She was eventually locked into Shuijia Lake.

“You dog! Let me out! I’m not wrong!” Ling Shu screamed as she was pushed into the water and blocked by a barrier.

On the shore, Wang Lifu looked down at a trace of pink-purple demon energy on her hand. She stared until it faded. When she looked up, Ling Shu’s face—twisted in anger—merged with a memory of a weeping woman in pink.

Ling Shu had her mother’s face, but none of her gentleness. Wen Ji had been like water, never a harsh word except for the day they parted.

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