The Immortal Lord of the Path of Ruthlessness Bends for Me - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Usually Poised and Grave Immortal Lord Stumbles for the First Time

“Your mother is on the shore.” The person’s voice was clear and melodious, carrying a faint sense of detachment.

Ling Shu hurriedly looked toward the riverbank. There lay a woman in plain clothes, motionless.

The stranger moved with incredible speed; in an instant, Ling Shu was brought to the shore. She rushed straight toward the pale-faced Wen Ji. Embracing her, Ling Shu called out urgently, “Mother! Mother, please wake up!”

Wen Ji did not respond. Ling Shu quickly laid her flat on the ground to check her breathing and pulse. Fortunately, both were still present. Ling Shu turned around, joyfully intending to offer her thanks, but the mysterious figure had completely vanished.

She swiftly checked Wen Ji’s mouth and nose for obstructions and began transferring spiritual energy to sustain her life. As the blue spiritual energy entered her body, Wen Ji eventually woke up.

Her eyes, wet with maternal love, watched as she gently wiped the tears from beneath Ling Shu’s eyes. A trace of a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. “Why is my darling daughter crying?”

Ling Shu grasped her hand. “Mother, how do you feel?”

“I… feel fine… you…” Before she could finish, Wen Ji suddenly coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood. Her hand trembled as she gripped Ling Shu’s hand back. “Listen to Mother… you… go to Mount Shangqing. Find your mother, and claim your ancestry.”

“I’m not going! I’m not going anywhere! Mother, don’t talk, don’t waste your strength!” Ling Shu tightly held the hand that was rapidly losing its warmth.

“Be obedient! This world has no room for demons. My thousand-year demon core is inside your body… You cannot let those with ill intentions get their hands on it. If you don’t seek the protection of the greatest sect in the Shangqing Realm, you will be hunted to death… Darling daughter, promise me.”

Wen Ji coughed up more blood as a faint white light began to dissipate from her body. “Go… to Mount Shangqing and find Sect Leader Wang Lifu. After I die… she will be your only relative. Take this token… you must see her.”

A white light flashed in Wen Ji’s hand, and a red jade ring engraved with flame patterns appeared. She pulled Ling Shu’s hand and pressed the jade into her palm. Ling Shu clenched the jade, her tears falling incessantly.

Her mother’s demon soul had begun to scatter.

Ling Shu lunged to strike her own dantian, but Wen Ji used the last of her magical power to stop her. “Ling Shu! You are not allowed to force out the demon core! My foundation has been destroyed by them; I am beyond saving. This is the only thing I can leave to protect you.”

Ling Shu, whose cultivation was shallow, was no match for her. Wen Ji forcibly merged the demon core into her daughter’s body. The intense energy threatened to burst through Ling Shu’s physical constraints, and a scorching heat rose. Under the dazzling light of the spell, her mother’s smiling face gradually blurred.

Ling Shu couldn’t move. She wanted to hug her mother; the weight of the demon core was too heavy—she only wanted her mother. But her mother wanted her to live forever, and so the core had to stay with her.

As the power continued to flow, Wen Ji’s body transformed into more and more fragments of white light. Finally, the last thread of power lost its source, and Wen Ji vanished from the world forever.

Ling Shu stared at the empty riverbank and wept bitterly. Her mother’s voice still echoed in her ears: “Go to Mount Shangqing… find your mother, and claim your ancestry.”

At the foot of the ten thousand steps of Mount Shangqing, a thin young girl stood before the white jade stairs.

As Ling Shu lifted her leg to step up, her toe was blocked by a barrier. She reached out to touch it, and the barrier immediately rebounded with a golden light. Caught off guard, Ling Shu was knocked to the ground.

Behind the barrier, two figures in green sect uniforms appeared. They held sharp swords at the ready. The male cultivator on the left shouted, “Who dares trespass upon our sect!”

The female cultivator on the right, seeing it was just a young child, lowered her sword and stepped forward. “What are you doing at Mount Shangqing?”

The strike had hurt, but protected by the demon core, Ling Shu wasn’t injured. She climbed up and patted the dust off her clothes. “I’m here to find Wang Lifu.”

“Audacious! How dare you call our Sect Leader by her name!” the male cultivator roared.

The woman pressed down his sword. “Let’s hear what she has to say first.”

Ling Shu saw the woman’s better attitude and said, “I am here to find my mother.”

The man laughed as if he’d heard the world’s greatest joke. “You say Sect Leader Wang is your mother? Hahaha! Sect Leader Wang married a woman—where would a daughter come from?! I’ve seen plenty of people like you trying to climb the social ladder! Get down the mountain!”

Ling Shu suppressed her anger and took out the red jade pendant with the flame pattern. “Trouble you, Daoist, to deliver this token to your Sect Leader.”

The two cultivators were stunned. The Flame Red Jade was the token of a Grandmaster of the Shangqing Sect; seeing it was like seeing an Elder. The female cultivator took it, nodded, and pulled the male cultivator back through the gates.

The cold wind scraped by as fine snow began to flutter. Ling Shu waited in the freezing wind and snow for four hours. Finally, the female cultivator returned and handed the token back to her. “Our Sect Leader said she will not see you.”

With that, the cultivator vanished.

In the deep winter snow, Ling Shu’s body was kept warm by the thousand-year demon core, but her heart was chilled by the jade. She clenched her fist and punched the barrier. The power of the demon core tore a hole right through it.

With determined eyes, she looked at the endless stairs. She stepped up, one foot at a time. After a hundred steps, dozens of cultivators descended on swords, surrounding her.

“There is demonic energy in the torn barrier! You! A mere demon creature dares to barge into Mount Shangqing!”

“I’ve long heard there was a thousand-year Nine-Tailed Fox in the Shangqing Realm. Rumor has it she had a daughter, a half-demon bastard born from a union with a human. That bastard must be you!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Speak! Where did you steal this token from?”

Ling Shu cursed back, “You dogs, stop slandering me! This was given to me by my mother! My mother is Wang Lifu! Back then she abandoned us for a new lover; I haven’t even settled that score with her yet! It wasn’t my fault, so what right do you have to insult me?”

“Cease slandering the Sect Leader’s reputation!”

“Come, capture this demon and refine her into a spiritual tool!”

A cultivator rushed forward with a fierce sword strike. The spell was deflected by a light emanating from Ling Shu, knocking the cultivator to the ground. Ling Shu stepped on his back, snatched the sword from his hand, and stabbed it through the back of his hand. She glared sharply at the crowd.

“If you don’t let me see Wang Lifu,” Ling Shu threatened, “I will slaughter my way from the gates to the peak. I will make your entire sect join my mother in the grave.”

She pulled out the sword and pressed it against the neck of the cultivator beneath her foot.

Suddenly, a force knocked the sword out of Ling Shu’s hand. Following the source of the power, a figure slowly walked down the steps from behind the crowd.

She wore a white dress that trailed on the ground, embroidered with white plum blossoms. Her aura was cold and ethereal. As she walked down, the crowd instinctively parted for her and bowed. She nodded slightly, her expression indifferent. She lowered her head and said softly, “Go back.”

Ling Shu stood up, stubborn. “Who are you? Why should I listen to you?”

The woman’s cold eyes swept over her. “A half-demon should not come here.”

“Even you call me a bastard,” Ling Shu glared at her, full of unyielding resentment.

“…” The woman remained silent, cold as snow.

After a long silence, the ethereal Immortal Lord spoke: “How about this… you become my disciple.”

The surrounding cultivators were dumbfounded. Looks of jealousy and envy shot toward Ling Shu like knives. Someone immediately voiced their protest: “Immortal Lord Qingxi, she is a half-demon!”

“And what of it?”

The cultivators shut their mouths instantly. Even the man on the ground didn’t dare complain about his pain.

Before Ling Shu could react, the immortal said, “Follow me into the sect.”

“The rest of you, disperse.”

The cultivators flew away on their swords. Zhuang Jinfu turned to walk toward the summit. After two steps, hearing no footsteps behind her, she turned back to see Ling Shu staring at her with glowing eyes.

“Keep up.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“Do you no longer want to see your mother?”

“…I do.”

“Then keep up.”

“Hey!”

Ling Shu followed her closely up the ten thousand steps and into the gates at the summit. Amidst everyone’s astonishment, they entered the Qingxi Palace.

The main hall featured a majestic hip-and-gable roof with blue tiles and white walls. Inside, it was warm and fragrant with the scent of orchids. Several servants stopped their work as they saw their Immortal Lord leading a thin, common-looking girl inside.

A well-dressed female attendant in green approached with a smile. “The Immortal Lord has returned.”

Zhuang Jinfu said indifferently, “Hai Gu, open the Water-Moon Hot Spring.”

Ling Shu stood with her hands clasped, watching Zhuang Jinfu’s back.

Inside the hot spring, steam swirled. Hai Wen brought a change of clothes and left them on the shore before retreating. Ling Shu tugged at the corner of her clothes, looking at the woman who hadn’t left yet. She asked tentatively, “What… why did you bring me here? Aren’t you taking me to see my mother?”

Zhuang Jinfu replied, “Your mother is of noble status. Bathing and changing is a matter of etiquette before seeing her.”

Ling Shu’s palms were sweating. The thousand-year demonic power in her body made her run hot; being in the warm hot spring made it even more unbearable. “Oh… then why are you still here?”

Zhuang Jinfu’s expression remained flat. “The thousand-year demonic power in your body—are you certain you can resolve it yourself?”

Ling Shu stared at her warily, backing away toward the exit. “Don’t you dare try to take my demon core!”

Zhuang Jinfu watched her intently. “The demon core has merged with you. Unless you give it up voluntarily, no one can separate it from you.” She added, “I am concerned for your life, I do not want your core.”

“Your mother insisted you come here for two reasons: one, to seek protection; and two, to have your mother help you refine that power so it merges with you completely.”

“She was gambling. She bet your entire life on Sect Leader Wang.”

The grief of losing her mother and the anxiety over the core weighed heavily on Ling Shu’s heart. She frowned through her tears. “Did she never consider… that my mother might not want me?”

Zhuang Jinfu was silent for a while before saying, “That was the only way she could think of.”

“Tell me the truth,” Ling Shu gritted her teeth, holding back tears. “She doesn’t want to recognize me at all, does she!”

As she spoke, her hatred exploded. The demonic power within her erupted along with her roar. A gale of magical force swept across the surface of the hot spring, splashing water onto the bricks of the shore.

Only a few strands of Zhuang Jinfu’s hair were blown, but she remained calm.

Red fox ears pressed back, long claws grew, and a fluffy fox tail appeared behind Ling Shu. Violent red demonic energy leaked from the corners of her eyes, and her sharp fox shriek nearly pierced the eardrums.

Zhuang Jinfu stepped forward to approach her. Ling Shu resisted, her claws lashing out and scratching Zhuang Jinfu’s arm.

Zhuang Jinfu’s expression didn’t change. She grabbed Ling Shu’s arm and, with a forceful push, shoved her into the water.

Ling Shu was stunned by the splash. Seeing the woman right in front of her, she reached out, grabbed Zhuang Jinfu’s ankle, and dragged her into the water.

Zhuang Jinfu tumbled in.

The usually poised and grave Immortal Lord had stumbled for the first time, losing her dignity and ending up in a sorry, drenched state.

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