Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Now, I am about to leave for Immortal Ascension. I feel the difficulty to tame the murderous nature of demon kind, and am concerned of the enmity rising again between men and demons, making them drift away from the righteous path. I used the Origin-Returning Pearl as a pact and wish the fated one who receives it would leave this message for my descendants: always remember that life and death are all a result of karma. The Dao to Immortal Ascension lies in getting rid of the heart for killing and freeing yourselves from your original nature.”
After he finished speaking, his vague figure became even thinner. Some golden light from the surroundings fell on him. He spoke again in a more ethereal voice.
“I wish to meet Great Immortal again in my lifetime, to thank her for her guidance of my kind.”
In the next instant, the figure disappeared completely, and even the bright white array darkened, as if the lights had never been there.
Lily casually summoned a fireball which lit up the room again. Her expression was confused.
“The figure just now… what did he mean?” She couldn’t understand everything he said, but could vaguely figure out that this place once belonged to the demons. When the owner went for Immortal Ascension, the place was left behind.
Yi Qing shook his head. He wasn’t too sure as well. What the figure said was probably something from very long ago. He was a bit surprised that there was once a time when humans and demons lived in harmony. By right, demons liked eating humans best, and their nature was hard to tame. Cultivators were also humans once. Therefore, when the two kinds met, they always fight to death. The end was either the human gets eaten by the demon, or the demon gets killed by the human who took out their inner core afterwards. There was no other way. The only exception was that mountain-protecting demon monarch in Honesty Sect, who had to obey because of the blood pact.
“Aren’t we looking for a way out?” Jing Qi suddenly reminded them, interrupting the contemplation of the other two. “Let’s hurry up and find what else is in here?” A hint of nervousness showed on his face, as he started looking immediately, feeling scared that should the two continue thinking, they would ask about the Origin-Returning Pearl sooner or later. He subconsciously felt for the storage bag beside him. So this flying pearl that he saw before rushing in was actually a treasure left behind by the great! He felt a rush of excitement. So long as he got out, his cultivation was sure to improve another level. Perhaps there would even be a change for Core Formation.
The two’s thoughts returned to the matter at hand, and indeed started looking all around, without continuing to think about the figure just now. Suddenly, the ground started shaking violently, and rumbling sounds of something falling were heard. There were even clay and bricks collapsing from the ceiling.
“This place is collapsing, get out!” Yi Qing reminded them, as he flew up on his sword.
The other two followed suit on their swords. The surroundings were collapsing even faster. They were almost hit many times, before they finally flew out. Looking back, they realized that the whole mansion relic had already become ruins, and the ground continued to shake.
“Look, something is rising from underground.” Lily cried out in surprise, pointing to the middle of the ruins.
The two looked in the direction. Indeed, something was breaking out and slowly rising in the middle of the ruins. In a short while, the bricks around it fell and a giant stone statue rose from the middle.
That stone statue was very tall, and even wider than the relics that just collapsed. It rose slowly, pointing towards the pitch darkness above. Only then did the upper half of the statue appear in front of the three. That was a woman, holding a round fruit-shaped Dharma artifact in her hand. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and that face…
“Why do I find this a bit familiar?” Lily was slightly stunned.
Jing Qi was shocked too, “Isn’t this…”
He reactively turned to look at Yi Qing, and saw that he was already completely stunned. His widened eyes looked straight at the stone statue, and only after a long while did he say in a murmuring voice, “Master?”
Jing Qi’s face darkened. This stone statue was one of the woman whose surname was Shen, who once dined at Yi Qing’s house, and the Master who took him as a disciple later. But why was her stone statue appearing in this mystic realm, and in the mansion of the owner of the relic besides?
He had a bad presentiment in his heart, and he felt the person beside him even harder to understand. Looking at his blank stares, he couldn’t help but spoke ironically, “Hmph, that master of yours still has many secrets! It seems that your master-disciple relation was not that good after all!”
Yi Qing’s expression changed. He turned towards him, his look cold as ice. An extremely thick wave of Sword Qi rushed straight towards him.
Jing Qi’s eyes widened suddenly, and his heart tightened. He felt as if he had fallen through ice, and the meridians all over his body were getting frozen. It was as if he was dying from broken meridians the next instant.
“There’s an exit on top!” Lily suddenly cried out beside them. She pointed at the space above the stone statue. The rising stone statue directly broke through the black wind blades and lifelike swarms above it. There was an exit in the direction of the stone statue.
Yi Qing looked up, and said with a deep voice, “Let’s go!”
He flew up immediately, and Lily followed closely.
Jing Qi made a few gasps, pressed the position of his heart, and looked at Yi Qing not far away. That must have indeed been an illusion just now. Yi Qing was merely a cultivator of Foundation Establishment level, it wasn’t possible for him to possess such terrible Sword Qi.
His face darkened, and he felt a bit angry at himself for losing his focus just now. Only then did he go ahead following the other two.
As the statue directly pushed out the layer of the swarm, they managed to fly out without getting tangled any further.
“Young Uncle-Master!” Once he flew out, the disciples who had been waiting in the air for a day surrounded him instantly. There was even a younger disciple who couldn’t control himself for a moment and burst out crying.
“Young Uncle-Master, wow, you really got out. We got so scared.”
“Yeah, young Uncle-Master, you didn’t know that we have been burning incense. If you still haven’t returned after another quarter of an hour, we were going to rush in.”
“Young Uncle-Master. Wow… It’s so good, young Uncle-Master. Can I be dreaming? You are really alive.”
“Young Junior Brother, don’t cry anymore. Your snot is getting onto your clothes.”
He purred. “I’m just too happy.”
Yi Qing’s look remained cold and serious. He frowned, stepped back from the crying disciple and turned to look at the incense on the ground which was burning towards the end. He asked, “Everyone’s here?”
The disciples nodded, “All here, none is missing.”
“Hmm.”
There were a few disciples of Red and Green Sect too, and there were surrounding Lily and examining her wounds. They probably came because they saw the signal earlier.
At the moment, only Jing Qi was all alone. He looked at Jing Qi who was surrounded by all those disciples, and his expression turned even fiercer. He snorted, and without giving anyone a notice flew out.
The rest didn’t notice it at all. Maybe nobody cared!
From Lily’s side, a few of her Senior Sisters actually walked over, and thanked Yi Qing seriously.
Yi Qing nodded and didn’t say anything much. It was an easy task, and he could see it as returning Mother Wang’s favor for taking care of him in the early years. He calculated the time and started off with the other disciples towards the direction of the exit of the mystic realm.
But the frown in his brows had never been released. There seemed to be something new in his expression.
Master…
