Having said his piece, he lowered his hands to his sides and adopted a subservient posture. “This lowly one asks for nothing else, only that the Eldest Young Lady spare my worthless life. Henceforth, I will serve you faithfully, with no second thoughts.”
“Are you worthy?”
Shen Qingci tilted her head, her tone light and airy. “My Northern Region Shen Family has not fallen so low as to gather every piece of rotten fish and foul shrimp into our home.”
The smile plastered on Blood-Robed Patriarch's face froze for half an instant before quickly returning to normal, his words tumbling out even faster: “Eldest Young Lady, to do dirty work, you must use someone like this lowly one.”
“Keep me alive! I still have value... The underground powers of the Southern Region are intricate and deeply rooted, and this lowly one knows them like the back of my hand.”
“For a Northern Region great family to gain a firm foothold in the Southern Region, you cannot do without a local snake like me. Eldest Young Lady, please reconsider...”
“If a righteous cultivator had come today, perhaps I might have weighed the option for a moment,” Shen Qingci cut in. “The righteous faction also hides plenty of people with vile intentions whose methods cannot see the light of day.”
She took a step forward.
Chi Yuan wanted to stop her, raising her hand halfway, but was soothed by a glance from her junior sister.
“Anything else could be discussed,” Shen Qingci said. “Except for one thing.”
She raised her hand, and Jinglei unsheathed itself, its tip pointing straight at Blood-Robed Patriarch's heart while the lightning patterns across its blade crackled and popped.
“You should not have used those kinds of methods against cultivators.”
The smile on Blood-Robed Patriarch's face finally collapsed.
He understood now: from the very beginning, this Eldest Young Lady never intended to let him live. Patiently listening to his pleas earlier was merely to stoke his desire for survival bit by bit, only to crush it with her own hands.
This was to kill the person and destroy their spirit.
“I am well aware of the cultivation world's law of the jungle, but the insidious tricks you habitually employ genuinely nauseate me.”
The lightning glare of Jinglei illuminated the entire karst cave.
Shen Qingci thrust the sword straight in.
The sword tip sank three cun into flesh. Lightning spiritual force poured through the wound, causing Blood-Robed Patriarch's entire body to spasm, yet suppressed by the Shadow Kill Array, he could not utter half a shriek of agony.
Shen Qingci knew that cultivation at the Qi Refining stage could not kill a Nascent Soul monster.
Even so, gripping the hilt, she gave it a few vicious twists.
【So satisfying!】
After twisting it, she pulled the sword out and stabbed twice more, only stopping once she had punctured his chest like a sieve.
Were it not for Chi Yuan being at her side, making her fear her senior sister might find her methods too extreme, she would have long since ordered the secret guards to drag him away and slowly "entertain" him.
Lowering her gaze to the bloodstains on the blade, she raised her hand to form the gesture for a cleansing spell.
The grime on the blade was washed clean by spiritual energy, and the lightning patterns lit up once more, letting out several aggrieved hums.
Shen Qingci caressed the spine of the blade and coaxed it, “Be good. Today you were tainted by filth; you've suffered. Once we return to the sect, I will find a Mystic-grade Thunder Qilin Crystal to nourish your blade.”
Jinglei hummed twice more, this time in delight.
Chi Yuan watched from the side, the corners of her lips curling upward.
Her junior sister coaxed her sword just like a spirit pet. Coincidentally, Frostchill at her waist vibrated restlessly twice, but Chi Yuan turned a blind eye to it.
Shen Qingci sheathed her sword and turned around, taking the initiative to hold Chi Yuan's hand. Slipping her fingers between her senior sister's, their ten fingers intertwined.
“Senior Sister, let's head back the way we came.”
“All right.”
Chi Yuan's heart was packed full of doubts.
Why was her junior sister so familiar with that evil cultivator's methods? Why did she grit her teeth when saying “used those kinds of methods against cultivators” earlier, as if she had witnessed it with her own eyes?
In the end, she chose to remain silent and not ask.
If her junior sister did not speak of it, she naturally had her reasons. When the day came that her junior sister wanted to talk, perhaps Chi Yuan would no longer care to hear it either.
As long as her junior sister was safe and well, all was fine.
The two walked to the cave entrance.
Outside the karst cave, the night was as thick as ink. The stars overhead were completely obscured by the miasma, with only the cold dark-red light of blood-thorn vines in the distance casting mottled shadows upon the ground.
Shen Qingci halted her steps and cast a glance toward the shadows.
Several dark figures flashed past, heading toward the depths of the karst cave.
She stood for a moment longer before turning her head to say to Chi Yuan, “Senior Sister, in the days just after I entered Wanjian Peak, I was once very lost.”
Chi Yuan turned her gaze toward her.
Waiting for a certain someone to keep setting the mood.
“I couldn't see where the road ahead led. Mother believed I was the heir to the Shen family, Father pinned the entire future of the Shen family on me, and the clan elders all praised me as a top-tier seedling of extraordinary talent among my generation.”
“Everyone decided what I should become, but no one ever told me what I could possess once I reached that point.”
Pausing briefly, she looked down and gazed at their intertwined hands. “Yet today, I have completely thought it through.”
“I want to make the Shen family the number one great family in the Four Regions, and have the rules of this cultivation world set by the Shen family.”
“When that time comes, no one will ever be able to force Senior Sister to yield or compromise... including myself.”
Chi Yuan stood stunned for a long while.
The girl who had been sharp and decisive in killing inside the cave just a moment ago now possessed eyes clear and solemn, these words delivered as though establishing an unchangeable Dao Heart oath for this lifetime.
Stepping closer, she leaned down slightly to Shen Qingci's ear. “A-Ci, you can always rely on me.”
Warm breath brushed over her earlobe. Chi Yuan tilted her head, her soft lips lightly grazing the corner of the young girl's mouth...
The touch lasted merely a fleeting instant before quickly pulling apart.
In Shen Qingci's mind, fireworks instantly exploded across the sky.
【Ahhhhhhhh!】
【Senior Sister kissed me! Senior Sister took the initiative to kiss me!】
【She's not drunk, she wasn't forced—she did it on her own!】
On the surface, however, only a perfectly measured bashfulness surfaced. Her fingers subconsciously tightened around her senior sister's cuff, and she said softly, “Senior Sister... I...”
Chi Yuan took half a step back, looking at her junior sister's docile appearance, a faint glint of teasing flashing through her eyes.
How could she fail to see through it? Her junior sister's speech about being lost was entirely a deliberate show of vulnerability.
As the heir to a hidden great family who had witnessed countless power struggles from a young age, she could not easily fall into helplessness.
It was nothing more than an excuse to beg for a bit of “warmth” exclusive to herself.
Indulging her a bit more could not only soothe the young girl, but also cut off any entanglements from the flirtatious suitors in the outside world.
Both harbored their own secret thoughts, and each felt they had gotten the better deal.
In the surrounding night, dozens of secret guards lowered their heads in unison, eyes glued to the tips of their toes.
In their seas of consciousness, the communication channel dedicated to secret guards fell silent for three breaths before being blown wide open by a message.
“They kissed.”
“Saw the whole thing crystal clear.”
“Eldest Young Lady was kissed on Fairy Chi's own initiative.”
“So touching, but why is it so cringe ¯꒳¯.”
“Quiet. The Commander explicitly forbade discussing our masters in private.”
“I'm not gossiping, just purely offering blessings to our master.”
“Talk any more, and all your monthly allowances will be docked.”
The channel returned to silence.
Everyone continued staring at the tips of their toes, as if the gravel on the ground were the most worthy object of study they had ever encountered in their lives.
Shadow One stood on the other side of the cave entrance, expressionlessly shifting her gaze away. In her heart, she listed the update of “Fairy Chi upgraded from prospective Dao companion to official Dao companion” onto her to-do list, then silently crossed it off.
The Family Head had not been informed yet, nor had the elders; it was better to wait until Eldest Young Lady spoke up herself.
As for Blood-Robed Patriarch in the karst cave who still had half a life left—
Rate on N.U.
