The Young Lady Only Wants to Cultivate Immortality Chapter 39

A’Ling wanted to escape.
She looked at the exquisite pastry in her hand, crescent white with a pinkish hue and a small apricot-yellow flower on top. She took a tiny, controlled bite from the flower-shaped pastry.
The faint aroma of almonds mixed with the subtle sweetness of peaches melted silently on her tongue. Just this small bite caused A’Ling’s recently established self-control to dissolve as silently as winter snow melting into spring.
A’Ling resisted the urge to devour it, instead savoring the beautiful, picturesque tea snack bite by bite with the freshly brewed Whispering Zen Tea.
After finishing one, A’Ling smacked her lips a few times. Delicious, truly too delicious.
It was so delicious that she almost abandoned her principles again, letting her resolve from that morning be eroded.
A’Ling sighed. Even if it was delicious, she couldn’t eat any more.
During these few days of recuperating in the apothecary, from three meals a day initially, to three meals plus a late-night snack on the second day, to five meals a day, escalating to seven meals a day now.
After breakfast, a small dessert was added. After lunch, tea was served, and then came this exquisite tea snack to accompany the tea.
She even suspected that Shi Qingqian didn’t need to do anything else all day; she could just stay in the kitchen, cooking one meal after another, making desserts, then tea snacks. Was there anything she couldn’t do?
A’Ling watched Apothecary Yang Xia eat with satisfaction, feeling that her life was truly blissful.
“Apothecary Yang Xia, does Shi Qingqian cook for you to pay for rent here? Do you also pay her extra wages?”
A’Ling felt that Shi Qingqian was probably like her; she was also working to offset medical fees. After Shi Qingqian moved out, Apothecary Yang Xia was willing to take her in, probably because Shi Qingqian was a good cook and stayed to cook in exchange for rent.
Apothecary Yang Xia ate even more restrainedly than A’Ling. She took a sip of tea, savored a bite of pastry. A’Ling had finished long ago, but she had just finished her small piece of pastry.
She heard A’Ling’s words and sighed in her heart. She turned to look at A’Ling, who seemed quite envious of her, her gaze filled with complicated emotions that were hard to express.
After A’Ling moved into the apothecary, she realized that Qingqian could cook, and make sweet soup, and make pastries!
As for A’Ling’s guess that Qingqian did all this to pay rent, Apothecary Yang Xia’s mood became even more complex. This apothecary belonged to Qingqian’s mother; it was more like she should be paying rent, but she couldn’t do any of these things.
A’Ling saw Apothecary Yang Xia eating the pastry without replying to her. She glanced at the last piece of pastry left on the tray beside her hand. Eating from someone’s hand made you soft-hearted. She didn’t want to eat it, but if she didn’t eat such a beautiful pastry, she must be sick in the head.
She picked up the last piece of pastry and put it in her mouth, savoring it carefully. Her heart wondered how Shi Qingqian made it. How was this pastry not dry at all, and truly had a juicy, peachy feel with one bite? It was just too delicious!
A’Ling couldn’t help but look at Apothecary Yang Xia, who was also indulging in the food, and exclaimed, “I truly owe my good fortune to Apothecary Yang Xia!” Otherwise, how could she have eaten such delicious things?
Apothecary Yang Xia’s forehead twitched at these words. She had it backwards, didn’t she?
She took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Then stay a few more days.” That way, she could also enjoy it a bit longer.
A’Ling quickly waved her hands in refusal. “No, no, that’s too much trouble.” She couldn’t stay any longer, mainly because she couldn’t eat any more.
She had been staying here for almost a week, and the feeling of discomfort grew stronger by the day.
Especially when she saw Shi Qingqian. It wasn’t like she saw her all day long.
Basically, she only appeared to bring food to Apothecary Yang Xia, and incidentally, her share. Each time, she would only exchange a few words with Apothecary Yang Xia, with not much interaction with A’Ling.
But even so, A’Ling felt more uncomfortable. She didn’t even get a chance to refuse.
And she wondered if it was just her imagination, but she always felt that ever since they came out of that great demon’s cave, Shi Qingqian’s gaze towards her had been strange.
That gaze made her a bit uncomfortable. Originally, she could have cursed at her for always looking at her so strangely, but now that she had eaten so many meals from her, her usual tone when speaking to Shi Qingqian seemed inappropriate.
But to speak to Shi Qingqian calmly and kindly, she felt that scene was something she simply couldn’t accept.
After all these days, A’Ling’s discomfort was like having lice in her heart, itching on and off. She couldn’t stand the feeling anymore.
A’Ling ran off after finishing her tea. Her leg injury had fully healed two days ago, and she had also finished weaving all the Four Seasons Flowing Light Vines Apothecary Yang Xia needed. She ran with a clear conscience.
Running all the way down the mountain back to her small cottage, A’Ling finally felt that familiar sense of ease.
Indeed, no matter how good the outside world was, nothing beat one’s own nest.
Sun Juhao was overjoyed to see A’Ling return. Although Shi Qingqian had sent her a message saying A’Ling was injured and recuperating with her, telling her not to worry, she still couldn’t feel at ease until she saw her. Seeing A’Ling was indeed fine, her heart finally settled, and she began making delicious food for A’Ling.
“Recovering from injuries must be very hard, A’Ling. What do you want to eat, Aunt Sun will make it for you.”
A’Ling quickly waved her hands. Her recovery this time, aside from feeling a bit uncomfortable because of Shi Qingqian, was otherwise quite pleasant. As for delicious food, she had eaten too much these past few days.
And honestly, Shi Qingqian’s cooking skills were much better than Aunt Sun’s.
“Aunt Sun, don’t bother. I just ate.” Saying this, A’Ling suddenly asked, “Aunt Sun, did you know Shi Qingqian can cook?”
Sun Juhao nodded. “Yes, I know. What’s wrong?”
A’Ling shook her head. “Nothing, I just find it strange that she can cook.” After all, Aunt Sun always cooked at home.
Sun Juhao sighed. “That’s because, back in the Huo family, I was assigned to cook for and take care of Qingqian only after she turned ten. Before that, the old women in Qingqian’s courtyard often neglected her. Qingqian, being as young as five or six years old, was forced to learn how to make a fire and cook, taking care of herself.”
A’Ling’s brow twitched violently. Her heart somehow felt even more irritated. She didn’t want to hear this, so she quickly waved her hand, saying she had something to do.
How annoying. A’Ling thought, Forget it, she’d curse Shi Qingqian less in the future. That dog’s past, if written into a book, would also be a tragedy.
Sun Juhao still wanted to say that when A’Ling was injured by Huo Zhen, she fell ill, and it was Qingqian who cooked for everyone then. But A’Ling wouldn’t let her continue.
A’Ling left quickly with a “I have things to do,” leaving Sun Juhao no time to ask if she’d be back for dinner that night.
A’Ling wasn’t making excuses; she genuinely had things to do. This kept her busy, early morning to late night, for several days.
Three days later, A’Ling was almost ready. She took the address Gu Jingyang gave her and found Qi Leshan.
Gu Jingyang had told her everything about the Kaiyao Mountain incident: Zhao Diqing impersonated Jin Siliu, Qi Leshan pretended to be an assassin, and together they put on a big show to trick her into a pre-arranged trap.
Zhao Diqing returned to the scene to look for Shi Qingqian but was caught red-handed by Gu Jingyang. She then fell into the tiger-headed spider’s demon cave with Gu Jingyang, touched the demon core it left behind, and was poisoned.
A’Ling heard from Gu Jingyang about the demon cave’s special nature, that it was a great demon’s sacrifice cave, and the demon core was self-extracted and sacrificed by the Spirit Mountain Tiger-Headed Spider to Qiongdian Peak.
Anyone else trying to take it would end up as miserable as Zhao Diqing. The poison had been examined by all the somewhat famous medical cultivators in town, even Apothecary Yang Xia, all of whom declared it incurable.
A’Ling didn’t know why she was unharmed when she took it, nor why Shi Qingqian was fine after touching it. Gu Jingyang couldn’t explain the specific reason either, only saying her mother suggested it was a form of destiny.
A’Ling never bothered with questions she couldn’t figure out. Such questions usually either resolved themselves naturally when the time was right, or remained unanswered her entire life without affecting her existence.
While recuperating in Tranquil Shade Herb Hut, she also received a message relayed by Gu Jingyang: Zhao Diqing, expelled from Hongjian Academy and knowing she was afflicted with incurable poison with an unknown remaining lifespan, asked Gu Jingyang to convey that she wished to see her.
A’Ling didn’t go. Regardless of whether Zhao Diqing regretted it and wanted her forgiveness, or blamed everything on her, no matter what she wanted to say, A’Ling wasn’t interested.
She had long since moved on from Zhao Diqing in her heart. In her previous life, she had personally helped collect Zhao Diqing’s corpse and buried her in a good place, which she considered a fulfillment of their youthful friendship, even if that friendship was likely false.
But Zhao Diqing had indeed been A’Ling’s only friend for a long time.
She told her about the neglect she suffered in the Huo family.
She told her how much she hated Shi Qingqian.
She told her that she just wanted everyone to see her.
At that time, she truly regarded Zhao Diqing as her sole confidante, telling her everything in detail—good, bad, sad, happy. It was hard for Zhao Diqing to pretend for so long when she didn’t want to listen.
Thinking of this, A’Ling suddenly thought of Shi Qingqian. She wondered what Zhao Diqing liked about Shi Qingqian. In her opinion, besides being powerful, Shi Qingqian was basically useless in other aspects.
Oh, no, her cooking was decent.
Besides that, there was nothing else to admire about her.
That cold, ghostly face, those gloomy looks that barely spoke three sentences a day—yet some people still considered it aloofness or charisma.
If one wanted that kind of charisma, wouldn’t it be better to find a rock on Mount Senyu Snow? That would be even colder, with even more presence.
A’Ling cut off her thoughts. Zhao Diqing was poisoned by the demon core, and the demon core was now, technically, hers. With Zhao Diqing, she considered it settled.
As for Qi Leshan, that account still needed to be settled.
After Gu Jingyang and Elder Zeng reported her predicament on Kaiyao Mountain, Qi Leshan was punished with fifty strikes from the Hongjian Staff by the academy, stripped of his cultivation master position, and expelled from the academy. He now rented a room at Chuhua Inn in the south of the city.
A’Ling gave the innkeeper fifty spiritual stones, telling him not to disturb them, no matter what sounds he heard. The innkeeper happily opened the door for her, promising that no one would interrupt and he would pretend not to hear anything.
A’Ling closed the door again and slowly walked to the four-poster bed by the east window. She looked at Qi Leshan lying on the bed and spoke.
“Cultivation Master Qi, it’s been a while.”
Qi Leshan had just heard movement and awakened from his sleep. He opened his eyes and saw the culprit who had reduced him to his current state. He struggled to get up from the bed to grab A’Ling.
“It’s you, you little bastard! You dare to come here! I’ll kill you, kill you!”
Qi Leshan’s face was distorted, his eyes bloodshot, filled with an unresolvable hatred that enveloped his gaze like a bloody mist, making him look like a demon crawling out of hell.
A’Ling took a slight step back, frowning, almost getting splattered by the saliva Qi Leshan furiously spat while speaking.
Feeling that his saliva was out of range, A’Ling slowly spoke, unhurriedly. “What, you don’t want to see me? What makes you think I wouldn’t dare come? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Qi Leshan was so enraged by her leisurely, spectator-like demeanor that his chest heaved, and the taste of blood kept rising in his throat.
“You ruined me like this, and you dare say you haven’t done anything wrong?!”
A’Ling raised an eyebrow. “Are you out of your mind? You and Zhao Diqing conspired to trick me to Kaiyao Mountain, intending for me to be bitten to death by an Armored Beast. How did that become me harming you?”
Qi Leshan still gritted his teeth, showing no shame upon hearing this. Instead, he seemed even more agitated.
“You fell into the cave yourself; I didn’t push you. You had me expelled from Hongjian Academy, but why did you also have my cultivation completely crippled and my legs disabled?!”
A’Ling scratched her ear in confusion. Expelled from the academy and punished by Elder Zeng—those she knew. Gu Jingyang used the Cosmos Pearl to report the two, and the evidence was conclusive. But crippling his cultivation, what was that about?
“Who crippled your cultivation?” A’Ling asked.
Qi Leshan thought she was asking to deliberately humiliate him again. He angrily pointed at A’Ling’s nose and cursed, “Don’t think I don’t know! Shi Qingqian acted so ruthlessly because you instigated her!”
It must have been something A’Ling said that made Shi Qingqian refuse to listen to his explanation and immediately cripple his cultivation. He didn’t even get a chance to defend himself.
He looked at A’Ling with bloodshot eyes, wishing he could devour her alive.
A’Ling understood. Shi Qingqian had taught Qi Leshan a lesson, and Qi Leshan was blaming her for it.
What a joke. Did she need to use someone else to teach a lesson? Especially Shi Qingqian.
“Would you hire someone to relieve yourself?” A’Ling looked down at Qi Leshan, who was pounding the bed.
He paused, as if puzzled by why A’Ling mentioned this, and also a little disdainful of her vulgarity.
A’Ling continued, “Do you feel good when someone else relieves themselves for you?”
Qi Leshan frowned. “What are you trying to say?!”
A’Ling lightly patted the purple bracelet on her wrist. “I don’t have that habit. The person you mentioned wasn’t someone I found. What she does has nothing to do with me. As for me, I have to settle my own grudges with my own hands, otherwise, even if you die, I won’t be happy.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a purple-gold light, faintly tinged with green mist, erupted from her wrist. A formidable magic artifact whip appeared in A’Ling’s palm, crackling with electricity, as imposing as its owner.
Qi Leshan’s eyes flashed with fear. “Are you here to kill me?”
A’Ling’s thumb lightly brushed over the green mist on the whip, smiling brightly and intimidatingly. “That depends on your performance.”
As she spoke, A’Ling casually lashed the ground with the whip.
Crack! A whip mark appeared on the ground. With a burning smell, a purple-gold light spread outwards from the whip, and the entire room instantly became scorched black, as if struck by lightning.
Qi Leshan’s eyes were wide with shock, his expression horrified. What kind of master-level magic artifact was this? The power…
His lips trembled uncontrollably. In just that instant, his inner garments were soaked with cold sweat.
“You, what do you want to do? You, you can’t kill me! I was once your cultivation master!” Qi Leshan stammered, his dark pupils flickering with terror.
A’Ling smiled, retracted the whip, and wrapped it around her hand a few times. “I could spare your life, depending on your performance. Tell me, who is the mastermind?”
A’Ling thought afterward that this matter didn’t seem like something Qi Leshan and Zhao Diqing could have planned. Qi Leshan didn’t know her relationship with Jin Siliu, and Zhao Diqing always preferred insidious schemes, never actively striking first; she would only be the one to deliver the finishing blow.
Also, the Nine Revolutions Lotus Platform Net, such a rare item, they shouldn’t have had.
Qi Leshan hadn’t expected A’Ling to ask this question. His eyes darted away. He couldn’t reveal Madam Huo. She had promised him that as long as he didn’t expose her as the mastermind, she would give him a large sum of money later, ensuring he would be well-fed and clothed for the rest of his life.
He had now lost his cultivation and been expelled from Hongjian Academy. No other academy would take him in. If he ran out of money later, life would surely be miserable.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Qi Leshan took a deep breath and shouted furiously, “I’ve already admitted it was me! What else do you want?!”
A’Ling curved her lips. Stubborn, indeed. She suddenly lashed forward with the whip.
With a crackling sound, the four-poster bed Qi Leshan was sleeping on instantly collapsed, scattering into pieces. Qi Leshan was caught off guard and fell to the ground, his head ringing.
A’Ling looked down at Qi Leshan on the ground and smiled. “Why are you sleeping on the floor? It’s so cold. Little Wandering, think of something.”
Qi Leshan clutched his head, puzzled as to whom A’Ling was speaking. He saw her loosen her grip on the whip as she spoke.
The whip moved as agilely as a small snake. After A’Ling finished speaking, its cold body wrapped around his neck, scaring him. He tugged at it with force, but the current from the whip made him scream.
A’Ling smiled and walked a few steps away, dragging a lacquered wooden embroidered stool from under the east window. She placed it a bit further from Qi Leshan, lifted her skirt, and elegantly sat down, watching quietly from the side.
After one end of Little Wandering’s whip body tightly wrapped around Qi Leshan’s neck, the other end, the handle part, flew up to the beam. After several wraps, it pulled Qi Leshan off the ground and hung him from the beam, spinning him in circles.
A’Ling’s face showed approval, and she smiled very happily. Her Little Wandering was truly smart now. That thousand-year-old great demon’s demon core, it seemed, could not only boost a spiritual beast’s cultivation but also enhance the abilities of a magic artifact with awakened spiritual consciousness.
She had discovered in Tranquil Shade Herb Hut that Little Wandering’s power had increased significantly, and it had become more sentient. She believed that given time, once it fully absorbed the demon core’s power, it would become even stronger.
She looked at the green mist shrouding Little Wandering, which must be the demon core’s power that it hadn’t yet fully absorbed.
A’Ling saw that Qi Leshan was about to be spun dizzy and called for a stop.
As soon as Qi Leshan was let down, he vomited uncontrollably, almost throwing up his gall.
“You, just kill me.” Qi Leshan looked terrified, as if he was about to vomit his insides out. He was about to break; it was too painful.
A’Ling smiled. “What are you talking about? I’m not some demon who enjoys killing. I’m a reasonable good person, actually. Seeing that your mind still isn’t clear, Little Wandering, think of another way.”
Little Wandering had been standing by, looking ready to show off its skills again. Hearing this, it immediately wrapped around Qi Leshan’s neck.
With the instantaneous pressure on his neck, the air in his lungs seemed to be squeezed dry. Qi Leshan’s face turned livid with discomfort, and his hands desperately clawed at the purple-gold whip.
“I’ll talk, I’ll talk! It’s, it’s Madam Huo.”
A’Ling’s smile froze on her face. Her heart was subtly, almost imperceptibly, lashed, too. Although she had already suspected it, hearing the answer truly made it impossible not to feel some sadness.
“What evidence do you have?” A’Ling asked with a sullen face, and Little Wandering tightened its grip further.
Qi Leshan frantically cried out, “Yes, I do!”
Little Wandering didn’t tighten further, loosening slightly. Qi Leshan quickly handed the money pouch Madam Huo gave him, which he had secretly hidden, to A’Ling.
A’Ling glanced at it. While the money pouch was in the usual Huo family style, it was rather thin as evidence.
“This doesn’t prove anything.”
A’Ling’s face darkened, and Little Wandering tightened its grip a little more.
Qi Leshan frantically cried out, “Inside there’s a sound-recording pearl! It recorded my conversation with Young Master Huo!” He was afraid A’Ling wouldn’t believe him, so he quickly pulled out the pearl from the money pouch, recited an incantation, and the clear conversation between Huo Changsheng and Qi Leshan played from the pearl.
“As long as you find a way to trick that little bastard into the trap we set, you’ll be well rewarded.”
“That girl A’Ling’s cultivation has improved quite a bit now. A hole like that won’t trap her, will it?”
“Don’t worry, my mother specially found a good item for you two. Here, guard it well. Once she falls in, cover the Nine Revolutions Lotus Platform Net over it. I guarantee she won’t be able to get out.”
“This, will A’Ling die?”
“What, if she doesn’t die, are you planning to walk backward whenever you see her later?!”
“Alright, alright.”
“Hurry up. My mother and I don’t want that annoying little bastard to live one more day. The sooner she dies, the sooner you can get your reward. That stinky girl really curses the Huo family. Even dead, she still makes the Huo family lose money. I’m leaving now. I have to win back the money the Huo family lost.”
A’Ling listened with a cold face, then slowly rose from the embroidered stool, violently kicking it away. The stool smashed against the wall, shattering into pieces of wood.
“Huo Changsheng!”
Qi Leshan shivered in fear, wanting to say that he had been momentarily misguided and initially hadn’t intended for A’Ling to die. But before he could even open his mouth, he was knocked unconscious by a palm strike.
A’Ling rubbed her numb hand, picked up the unconscious man, and left Chuhua Inn. Before leaving, she gave the innkeeper fifty more spiritual stones as compensation for the damaged furniture.
She carried the man straight to the Xing family casino. Finding Huo Changsheng was too easy; she just had to wait at the entrance of the Xing family casino.
After waiting for less than half an hour, she saw Huo Changsheng emerge with a dark face, as if a dark cloud hung over him, looking like he had lost a lot.
A’Ling stuck half of her body out of the carriage and called out to the person not far away.
When Huo Changsheng looked up and saw her, A’Ling smiled and waved.
“What a coincidence.”