Chapter 221 : Why Go There
After learning about Chu Yang's death, Peak Master Qingyu astutely realized that conflict was imminent. As a righteous cultivator and a high-ranking elder with hundreds of years of experience, she was never hesitant to assume the worst about the demonic path.
For instance, in the current situation, with Nine Abyss Sect having lost their Young Master, they might break some of the unspoken rules of the cultivation world—normally, senior cultivators with profound cultivation wouldn't target juniors unless there was a blood feud. Otherwise, sect conflicts wouldn't be fair contests between equals or battles between peers who accepted the outcome, but rather massacres of juniors by senior powerhouses.
This was a scenario no one wanted to see, because even the demonic path feared such treatment. But now the situation was different—Nine Abyss Sect might target Xuanqing Sect's junior disciples in retaliation!
Regardless of how likely this possibility was, even if the risk was just one in ten thousand, the Peak Masters of Xuanqing Sect were unwilling to take it.
Peak Master Qingxu was the first to make a decision: "Weren't we planning to send Junior Nephew Qingyue and Jianbing back to the sect? Let's simply send all the junior disciples back. The current situation is unpredictable, and their presence may not help, but might instead give others an opportunity to exploit. However, this time we must be more careful when sending them back, to ensure they aren't ambushed again along the way."
Peak Master Qingyuan nodded in profound agreement, his expression serious: "We need reliable people to escort them. Elder Yi Yun has profound cultivation... no, that's still not appropriate." He paused, then looked toward Peak Master Qingyu: "Perhaps we should trouble Junior Sister to make the journey?"
Among the Peak Masters of the same generation, Peak Master Qingyu was the youngest. The other Peak Masters and the Sect Leader were all over a thousand years old, while she hadn't even reached five hundred. Despite her single-minded cultivation, with several hundred fewer years of accumulation, her cultivation level was still a notch below her Senior Brothers. Now that the Nine Abyss Sect Leader might personally arrive, Qingxu and Qingyuan were showing their partiality, unwilling for her to stay and face danger.
Having been Senior and Junior for hundreds of years, how could Peak Master Qingyu not see through this? Warmth rose in her heart, but she couldn't help but smile: "With a formidable enemy before us, how could I withdraw? Senior Brother is joking. I'm no longer the little Junior Sister of years past."
Peak Master Qingyuan paused slightly, then also broke into a smile—indeed, even that little Junior Sister of years past had now been a Peak Master for over a hundred years. She was now like them, a towering tree, and like them, needed to shield their disciples from wind and rain. In the current situation, having one more Fusion realm cultivator would always be beneficial for stabilizing the situation.
Knocking his forehead with his fist, Peak Master Qingyuan completely cast aside those extraneous thoughts: "We still need to arrange an escort."
The other two didn't object to this. Previously, when they sent Yun Qingyue away, she was ambushed en route and captured by Nine Abyss Sect. Now they were sending all their disciples away, they couldn't risk even the slightest danger. So the three of them conferred and finally decided to have Elder Yi Yun and Elder Liu Feng escort everyone back together, while also asking if Tiandao Sect and Buddha Sect wanted to join them.
With these arrangements in place, before Tiandao Sect and Buddha Sect had even responded, Xuanqing Sect erupted in turmoil. The battle-hungry disciples like Bei Luo and Bei Chen had already been eager for combat, how could they willingly accept being sent away now?
So as soon as the news spread, these disciples sought out the three Peak Masters, resolutely requesting to fight.
Bei Luo stepped forward first, looking earnestly at Peak Master Qingxu: "Master, we understand your and the two Uncle Masters' concerns, but we weren't raised in a greenhouse and know our own capabilities. We may not be able to defeat demonic elders, but we can certainly face regular disciples and kill enemies. This is what you've always taught us, Master, so why have you suddenly changed your mind?!"
Almost all the disciples present were true disciples of the Peak Masters. Bei Luo and Bei Chen approached their Master Qingxu, Wen Jin approached his Master Qingyuan, Zhong Heng approached his Master Qingyu, and the rest joined in support, creating quite a lively scene.
Until the three Peak Masters grew impatient with their disciples' clamor, and Peak Master Qingyu was the first to release her pressure, causing the scene to suddenly freeze.
Peak Master Qingxu, whose head ached from his two disciples' arguments, no longer bothered to explain further. He put on a stern face and said directly: "When you're told to go back, you go back. What's with all these words? Are you trying to defy your Master's orders?!"
With this statement, no one dared speak further, and they watched as he swept his sleeves and departed.
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Yun Qingyue and the Little White Tiger had already prepared to return to the sect and escape the chaos, so they had no objections to Peak Master Qingyu's arrangements. While Zhong Heng and the others were trying to persuade their Master to reconsider, she and the Little White Tiger remained in their room to rest.
The Little White Tiger curled up on the couch, watching her Senior Sister sit cross-legged with closed eyes. On the surface, she appeared quiet and well-behaved, but privately she had been chatting with the system: "I was present for everything that happened these past two days, but I feel like I missed a billion details... System, do you think my imagination is too wild, or not wild enough? I just feel like there's some connection between the Crimson Blood Sect Leader and Senior Sister?"
The system thought for a moment and replied: "Host, I definitely think your imagination isn't wild enough. They say reality is more melodramatic than fiction. Didn't you notice that Master's attitude was also strange? Perhaps Master and the Crimson Blood Sect Leader also have some connection."
The Little White Tiger thought this made sense, but after trying to imagine it, she couldn't picture how her cultivation-obsessed Master could be related to the Crimson Blood Sect Leader—they didn't look alike at all and had completely different temperaments. Since they couldn't be relatives, they couldn't possibly be lovers, right? Although she herself had feelings for her Senior Sister, she hadn't imagined everyone liked the same gender, especially not across the righteous and demonic paths.
Thinking it impossible, the Little White Tiger snorted lightly and casually said: "Is the system's imagination this wild too? Saying Master and the Crimson Blood Sect Leader are connected—don't tell me they're a couple and Senior Sister is their daughter."
The system hadn't thought that far, but hearing this, found it quite intriguing: "Host, maybe it really is like that?"
The Little White Tiger lazily rolled over, rolling her eyes at the same time, and reminded: "The Crimson Blood Sect Leader is female, and Master is female."
Well, although the cultivation world was full of marvels, the system had never heard of such a peculiar tale. So it simply stopped talking, but the Little White Tiger grew more animated, pulling the system into wild speculations, getting so excited that she couldn't help rolling around on the bed. Before she knew it, the entire tiger had rolled from the head of the bed to the foot, and back again, more than twice.
Just as the Little White Tiger was happily rolling on the bed, she suddenly heard two light "knock knock" sounds, as if someone was knocking at the door. Jianbing, concerned about her image, immediately stopped rolling and shook her fur, afraid someone would notice what she had been doing.
However, when the Little White Tiger turned her head toward the door, she quickly realized something was wrong—the direction was off. Those two light knocks hadn't come from the door, but from the window!
Currently, the human and tiger were staying in a room on the spirit ship. The door faced inward, opening to a corridor and rooms opposite. But the windows were different—because enough rooms had been created, there was no space outside the window; it opened directly to the void. While void was no issue for cultivators, there were cultivators patrolling outside the spirit ship at this time.
In an instant, the Little White Tiger became alert. She glanced at her Senior Sister, who was still sitting cross-legged in meditation, and slowly stood up, silently approaching the window: "System, help me scan who's outside the window?"
Xuanqing Sect's spirit ship didn't have many blocking materials, so the system's scan was effective: "Host, there's no one outside the window."
Hearing this, the Little White Tiger immediately rushed forward to the window, raised her paw to open it, and saw that indeed there was no one outside... Well, that's not entirely true. Just as the Little White Tiger opened the window to check, a patrol of cultivators happened to pass by, turning back alertly at the sound. Only after confirming it was Jianbing making the noise did they salute her with clasped hands before continuing on their way.
So who had knocked on the window earlier?
The Little White Tiger was completely puzzled, suspecting either she had misheard or someone was playing a prank—which wasn't impossible, like that mischievous child Zhong Heng, who despite his age was still quite childish.
Compared to others, the Little White Tiger clearly trusted herself more, so she believed she hadn't misheard. So someone was playing a prank? The Little White Tiger stuck her head out to look around but didn't see any suspects. She was about to close the window while inwardly cursing when she noticed a slip of paper had somehow been tucked into the window crack.
The Little White Tiger's curiosity was piqued. She raised her paw to pull out the paper and opened it to find words written inside: "Tonight at midnight, southwestern cold pond."
Just as she made out the words on the note, it was snatched away by a slender white hand. She instinctively turned her head to see that her Senior Sister had awakened from her meditation and was now looking down at the note.
Just eight characters, clearly an invitation to meet.
After reading it, Yun Qingyue raised her head to look at the Little White Tiger and asked: "Jianbing, where did this note come from?"
The Little White Tiger knew that her Senior Sister had been meditating and her perception of the outside world was weakened, so she recounted what had just happened. Finally, she looked at the note in her Senior Sister's hand and hesitantly asked: "Senior Sister, are you going?"
Much had happened these past few days, and the Little White Tiger guessed that this note must have been sent by someone from the demonic path, perhaps intending to use Senior Sister's background against her. Or maybe it was a trap to ensnare her.
Yun Qingyue had naturally thought of the same things the Little White Tiger had, but compared to the Little White Tiger's obvious concern, her face revealed no emotion. Then she closed her hand around the note, and with a slight exertion of force, not only was the original note completely crushed, but not even a speck of white powder remained in her palm—truly destroying all evidence.
At the same time, Yun Qingyue's cold voice gave her response, though she asked in return: "Why would I go?"
Regardless of who sent the note or their purpose, voluntarily walking into someone else's trap would be foolish. Yun Qingyue had a cold temperament and wasn't particularly curious, having no intention of seeking trouble.
Hearing this, the Little White Tiger also breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against her: "It's better not to go."