The Third Year After the Immortal Venerable’s Death - Chapter 3

Immortal Venerable Qing Yi actually had a peerlessly beautiful face: phoenix eyes, sword-like brows, teeth as white as jade, and lips as red as cinnabar.

However, contemporary cultivators and even common mortals would often bow their heads and lower their eyes at the mere mention of the name “Qing Yi.” Who would dare to let their gaze linger, let alone openly inspect this  (transcendent and breathtaking) Venerable? The only exception was Wu Youqi. When he first entered the sect, he was young, energetic, and warm-hearted. While others viewed Immortal Venerable Qing Yi as an untouchable, high-and-mighty immortal, Wu Youqi simply saw him as his Master his only remaining family.

After the Wu family was wiped out in an attack, the old servant who had escorted him to Qingshuang Mountain also perished on the river. From then on, he had no family left. After passing the trials and entering their respective peaks, the friends he had made during the selection rarely saw him, as their paths of study diverged. On Qingxiao Peak, there were only the two of them, master and disciple. Wu Youqi naturally loved sharing everything with Immortal Venerable Qing Yi: a flower that had bloomed beautifully today, a squirrel stealing an offering, or anecdotes from his lessons and delicious snacks he had tasted down the mountain.

Qing Yi rarely responded, but he never interrupted him. He would patiently listen until the end, then rise to check his studies before teaching him new heart-cultivation techniques and sword moves.

Wu Youqi stared blankly at the person before him, watching the smile on his face. Though his reason told him this was not Qing Yi merely an empty shell bearing an 80-90% resemblance his chest, which had been aching with a dull pain just a moment ago, began to throb with a chaotic rhythm.

He had known since he was a child that his Master was beautiful. In those days on Qingxiao Peak, not a day went by that he didn’t fantasize about his Master’s smile, imagining that one day, upon returning from his inner sect lessons, the person waiting for him at the summit would offer a faint smile of satisfaction or approval. But after years of living together, as he grew older, he rarely indulged in such whimsy; his Master was too detached and emotionless to ever laugh in this life.

Moreover, after a cultivator builds their foundation, their lifespan becomes twice that of an ordinary person. Those at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages can live for hundreds of years. Someone like Qing Yi, at the Mahayana stage, was said to have a lifespan of over a thousand years. Wu Youqi did not know exactly how many winters and summers his Master had lived through, but he knew that Immortal Venerable Qing Yi came from the “Wushang Shou” (Supreme Head) sect, a disciple of the controversial Kongdi Jiuyin.

A thousand years ago, the number one sect on this continent was not Qingshuang Mountain, but a mysterious organization in the Western Regions called Wushang Shou. Their sect leader, Kongdi Jiuyin, was already at the late Mahayana stage at the time. He had an eccentric personality and was a recluse, rarely interacting with sects or families in the Central Plains. During his travels, he adopted ten orphans with peerless talent and superior spiritual roots as his successors, renaming them after the ten Earthly Branches. The name “Qing Yi” indicated he was the second disciple of Kongdi Jiuyin.

Wushang Shou had always stayed away from worldly strife, but after Kongdi Jiuyin’s failed attempt at ascension, his personality underwent a drastic change. He suddenly issued a “kill order,” commanding his ten disciples to go to the Central Plains to kill individuals on a list he provided. Those on the list were mostly cultivators above the Golden Core stage who lacked moral character or were considered the dregs of the cultivation world. At first, the Central Plains cultivators welcomed this, believing Wushang Shou was acting on behalf of Heaven to eliminate evildoers.

But a year or two later, as the number of deaths increased, Wushang Shou’s kill order was no longer confined to these so-called villains. As long as someone’s cultivation broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, Kongdi Jiuyin would send his disciples to claim their lives, regardless of whether they were good or bad. Wushang Shou had transformed from a righteous sect that punished evil and promoted good into a notorious assassin organization in the eyes of the Central Plains cultivators.

Later, several major sects in the Central Plains joined forces to besiege Wushang Shou in the Western Regions multiple times, but they were all repelled by Kongdi Jiuyin due to the overwhelming difference in cultivation levels. Kongdi Jiuyin never fell into the demonic path, but in reality, he was more terrifying than any demon lord or demonic cultivator. His kill orders seemed to depend entirely on personal whim, and he especially loved targeting the great powers of the era. Everyone hoped that someone would emerge to slay this evildoer.

Then, a few years later, a sudden fire broke out at Wushang Shou. Only Qing Yi survived among the ten disciples, and Kongdi Jiuyin perished. Although rumors persisted among the people that Qing Yi had killed his fellow disciples and his Master, the Sect Leader of Qingshuang Mountain defied public opinion and invited him to the mountain to serve as a guest elder. The following hundreds of years proved that Qingshuang Mountain had made the right choice. Immortal Venerable Qing Yi was above reproach; whether in sword technique, cultivation, character, or conduct, he was truly the foremost figure in the cultivation world.

In his youth, Wu Youqi had asked the Sect Leader about him. The Sect Leader stroked his beard and laughed, saying that in all their years together, he had never seen Qing Yi laugh; he feared that even if he were to ascend to immortality, he would never reveal a hint of a smile.

While Wu Youqi was lost in thought, the demonic envoys around him unsheathed their weapons and crowded around him, shielding him as they retreated from the sedan. The two higher-level envoys even formed demonic seals: “Your Majesty, watch out!” A Soulless Puppet has no intelligence and would never move suddenly. To be able to open its eyes and tilt its head to smile there must be a trap.

“You Gu clan member, such audacity! How dare you attempt to assassinate our Master with a trick?!” The head envoy shouted loudly, but the Gu family head showed an equally incredulous expression. He rubbed his eyes, closed and opened them several times, and then stammered, trembling like chaff in the wind: “No, no, we didn’t…”

The envoys’ actions pulled Wu Youqi back to reality, and he raised an eyebrow, shifting his scrutinizing gaze to the old man. Under his gaze, the old man, who had been able to stand tall and speak eloquently a moment ago, now knelt on the ground. He kowtowed and explained that the Gu family had no such intention, nor would they dare to use a face resembling Immortal Venerable Qing Yi to carry out an assassination.

“My son was eroded by the Dark Surge and is in critical condition. The honor of our entire family rests on him. I am waiting for Your Majesty’s mercy; how could I do such an unwise thing?!” The family head was truly terrified, fearing that if Wu Youqi were angered, he would extinguish the Gu family’s hope of a comeback. He poured out all his explanations: “This child is truly from a branch of our Gu family, and his father and mother’s lineage is clean and verifiable. His surname is Gu, and his name is Qingyi.”

“Qing Yi?” The head envoy repeated, glaring. “And you say you don’t harbor malicious intent?!”

“It is the ‘Qing’ for clear water!” the old man shouted urgently. “‘Yi’ as in to rely upon!”

“Born in the second year of Chenhe in Snow Weir Town, Jinling. He is sixteen this year. After being eroded by the Dark Surge, he was kept at home, and the elders of the town can bear witness! Later, his father fell ill and the family fell into ruin, so he was sent to Chenghui Manor. We found him and brought him here, without doing anything underhanded on the way. The manor manager can also testify!”

“This old man pledges his life and the rise and fall of our family that there is not a single word of falsehood. I beg you to examine the facts!”

Wu Youqi narrowed his eyes. Liuren City was full of noble clans, and when he was young, he had visited once with Immortal Venerable Qing Yi. If the noble clans could not escape the struggles for inheritance, the profligate nature of their descendants, and the hierarchy between the primary and secondary branches, then the divide between the Inner and Outer Cities of Liuren City only served to escalate and expand all of this.

If Wu Youqi remembered correctly, the person currently sitting firmly in Liuren City was a cultivator surnamed Ye, and the Ye family was connected by marriage to the Xiao clan in the city. Aside from them, other families like Shen, Jiang, and Bai had members who were famous throughout the world, whether as outstanding sword cultivators, artifact cultivators, or spiritual cultivators. Only the Gu clan had never made a name for themselves, and the Gu family head, at over fifty years old, was only at the late Golden Core stage. One must know that Wu Youqi had already broken through to the Golden Core stage at sixteen. From this perspective, it was true that the family was declining and lacked talent.

But…

“Your Majesty, cultivators are the most cunning and sly. You must not listen to one side of the story; it is better to investigate thoroughly,” the envoys chimed in one after another.

“Exactly! It would be better to just kill him!” “Killing him would be a waste. I think it would be better to lock him in a cage and contribute him to the Holy Fire!”

Before Wu Youqi could say anything, the person who had been sitting suddenly stood up, blinked his eyes, looked around, and walked straight toward Wu Youqi. The demon soldiers and envoys did not know whether he was friend or foe, and seeing that face, they dared not act rashly, only turning their blades toward him. The demon race was unlike humans; their weapons were strange and varied not just the swords, spears, and halberds common in the human world, but also animal horns, bone whips, skeleton swords, and other terrifying things.

But this young gentleman, this so-called little master of the Gu branch, seemed not to see them at all, walking toward Wu Youqi with a face full of smiles. His pace was steady, and he nearly walked into the cold, gleaming blades several times, leaving the demon soldiers with no choice but to retreat step by step.

It was only a few steps from the sedan, not very far. Upon reaching Wu Youqi’s side, Gu Qingyi first looked up at him and chuckled, then suddenly bowed his head and reached out to hold his hand. Wu Youqi did not struggle; instead, he looked at the little fellow with a lazy expression, allowing him to stroke his palm.

He quietly released a wisp of demonic aura, which flowed along the pulse in the other’s wrist into his body to investigate unlike other Soulless Puppets, this person still possessed some residual intelligence. To put it positively, the person was not dead yet, only deficient from birth, with damaged souls and incomplete spirits. But to put it bluntly, he was a fool. Though not a living corpse, he was no better, and he might even truly die if his souls and spirits dispersed.

Yet Wu Youqi looked at the little fool, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

The Dark Surge had been present in the world for twenty-one years. Throughout the entire cultivation continent, only one person had been able to escape it unscathed and even control this supernatural power. Moreover, that person had been a baby less than a month old at the time. It was because of this encounter that later, when the dark moon mark appeared on Wu Youqi’s forehead, he was viewed as a bad omen by the sect and forced onto the Heart-Testing Platform. Even though the Heart-Testing Platform proved he was not of the demon race, many whispered behind his back that he was a demon star, claiming it was Wu Youqi who had invited the Dark Surge into the world. After that murder case, he had been unable to clear his name even with reason.

This little thing had damaged souls and spirits, yet was able to survive in the Dark Surge? It seemed the Gu family’s words were not false, but they were not the whole truth either. Wu Youqi had the intention to uncover the truth behind the appearance of the Dark Surge, and he also wanted to know why he could control it. So, with a sneer, he raised his hand and signaled the demon soldiers to put down their weapons he wanted to see exactly what the cultivation world could do.

“Fine, I accept. Let them go.” “But, Your Majesty…”

Wu Youqi turned his head, raised an eyebrow, and made a sound of acknowledgment, and the demon soldiers had no more objections, only putting away their weapons one by one and retreating to the corners of the plaza.

The Gu family members breathed a sigh of relief. On the contrary, Gu Qingyi, who had been holding Wu Youqi’s hand the entire time, suddenly raised Wu Youqi’s hand and rubbed his cheek against it.

“Pretty brother, don’t be angry, don’t be angry.”