The Young Lady Only Wants to Cultivate Immortality Chapter 65

Within the main hall of Warm Tower Cave Abode on Mystic Crane Mountain, the masters of the four spiritual cultivation cave abodes discussed and approved the suggestion to send another team to Zhuoling Mountain.
After the other spiritual cultivation cave abode masters left, only Heng Qingyi, the master of Warm Tower Cave Abode, and Zeng Bilan, the master of Twin Fields Cave Abode, remained in the hall. After the earlier discussion among the four masters, Zeng Bilan had agreed to lead the team herself.
Heng Qingyi had something to discuss with her privately, but before she could speak, a disciple rushed in to report that someone had broken the barrier at the entrance of A’Ling’s cave abode.
Heng Qingyi was greatly alarmed. She believed no one under her jurisdiction would recklessly break a fellow disciple’s barrier.
“Is there anything unusual inside A’Ling’s cave abode?”
The disciple also found this strange: “No, apart from an ugly dog A’Ling had been raising recently, which is now missing, there’s nothing else amiss in the cave abode.”
The furnishings inside the cave abode were all intact, and it didn’t look like anyone had entered to cause trouble or destruction.
Heng Qingyi fell silent after hearing this. No one would specifically break a barrier just to steal an ugly dog, she thought. Moreover, the disciples within Warm Tower Cave Abode generally get along harmoniously, and no one has had a significant conflict with A’Ling.
Then this barrier…
Heng Qingyi’s heart sank. Something might have happened to A’Ling, and she broke the barrier herself.
She told Zeng Bilan her suspicion. After listening, Zeng Bilan stood up and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll depart now and definitely bring your beloved disciple back.”
Zeng Bilan and Heng Qingyi had entered Mystic Crane Mountain together. Their relationship back then was no less profound than that of Gu Jingyang and A’Ling now.
She knew Heng Qingyi was anxious because Gu Jingyang was on Zhuoling Mountain, and Gu Jingyang was Gu Jiangxue’s child. Her relationship with Gu Jiangxue was also quite good. Since Heng Qingyi was presiding over this incident, it was inconvenient for her to go, so Zeng Bilan volunteered.
Heng Qingyi was very grateful. As they walked out together, she shared all the information they knew with Zeng Bilan, urging her to be extremely careful.
Zeng Bilan agreed to everything and set off with her team for Zhuoling Mountain that very night.
Inside the Great Demon Cave on Zhuoling Mountain, A’Ling’s wide eyes were filled with horror, watching as some light gradually emerged within the utterly dark demon cave.
Her illumination talisman had completely failed, leaving the cave pitch black. She couldn’t even clearly see Shi Qingqian, who was right in front of her, only hearing her increasingly heavy breathing.
Fortunately, in the next instant, some faint light emerged from the ground. It was tiny specks of luminescence, like snowflakes. A’Ling looked closely and saw that they seemed to be dust on the ground burning, emitting small sparks.
Except for the ground immediately surrounding A’Ling, these strange sparkling dust particles did not appear. In all other areas, these suddenly emerging sparks floated up towards the ceiling of the demon cave.
They ascended all the way up, gathering at the ceiling of the demon cave.
Tens of thousands of countless sparkling dust particles gathered together. When they all flashed with starlight, the demon cave also brightened.
Each time the firelight flickered and the cave brightened, A’Ling could see a similar dark glow in Shi Qingqian’s eyes.
Their gazes, each time the cave lit up, were like two connecting currents, as if some indescribable substance was colliding, flickering just like the dust particles above.
Inside the demon cave, the light flickered on and off. Amidst the increasingly heavy breathing, A’Ling watched as Shi Qingqian became progressively darker with each flash of light.
Until finally, the person before her was completely enveloped in a black mist. Her usually pure white clothes turned utterly black, as if stained with ink, shimmering with a glowing black mist. This made Shi Qingqian appear as if she was standing in an abyss, at risk of sinking into the River of Eternal Night with a single misstep.
A’Ling felt that each breath she took now seemed to take twice as long as usual.
She knew this must be her illusion; time hadn’t actually stretched. All of this had, in fact, happened in an instant.
Her mind was a chaotic mess. From Shi Qingqian’s appearance to her current demonic transformation, everything utterly baffled her; she completely failed to understand why or how any of this was happening.
A’Ling watched helplessly as the person kneeling before her underwent a world-shattering transformation in an instant, from a white-robed figure to a mass of black mist.
But one thing was certain…
A’Ling looked up, her expression solemn as she gazed at Shi Qingqian. The person before her had become a demon.
Her terrifying aura far surpassed that of the mutated sword dragon, which was charging madly towards them from behind and was now almost upon them.
Amidst her horror, A’Ling suddenly noticed something was amiss.
She stared intently at Shi Qingqian’s tall nose. Although Shi Qingqian’s breathing was rapid and suppressed, it wasn’t obstructed; instead, it was remarkably steady.
Shi Qingqian was actually breathing freely, just like her.
How could this be? How could this be?
A’Ling wore a look of shock, the horror in her eyes indescribable by any words found in this world.
This is impossible. How could this be possible?
Such smooth breathing was only possible for a demonic cultivator at the Immortal Demon Realm.
In her previous life, after reaching the Divine Demon Realm, A’Ling had long struggled to break through to the Immortal Demon Realm, simply because the Immortal Demon Realm was the pinnacle of demonic cultivation.
Over tens of thousands of years, very few demonic cultivators had been able to break through to the Immortal Demon Realm.
To reach the Immortal Demon Realm meant reaching the peak of the Demon Realm, becoming the Demon Lord.
Shi Qingqian, how could this be?!
She had just fallen to the demonic path, how could she have possibly skipped over the Loose Demon, Ghost Demoln, Heavenly Demon, Profound Demon, and even the Divine Demon Realms, to directly reach the Immortal Demon Realm, the pinnacle of the Demon Realm!
This was impossible. It was harder to believe than telling A’Ling her head contained no brain, only a pile of scrap metal.
A’Ling would rather believe her head was filled with rusty scrap metal than believe Shi Qingqian had reached the Immortal Demon Realm upon her initial demonic transformation.
That was truly more unbearable than killing her.
In her previous life, she had suffered breathing difficulties daily, unable to break through to the Immortal Demon Realm, which was why she impulsively thought of dual cultivating with Shi Qingqian.
Now someone stood before her, reaching the Immortal Demon Realm right after their initial demonic transformation. Could this world get any more absurd?!
A’Ling refused to believe it! She absolutely refused to believe it!
There had to be some hidden truth she didn’t know.
A’Ling couldn’t help herself, about to ask for clarification, when suddenly, a gigantic figure appeared behind Shi Qingqian. Oh no, in A’Ling’s moment of contemplation, the mutated sword dragon had already reached Shi Qingqian’s back.
“Watch out!”
A’Ling’s eyelids trembled, and her heart seized with alarm. Damn it, it’s too close! The mutated sword dragon’s tail was already viciously swinging towards the back of Shi Qingqian’s head.
If that hit, Shi Qingqian would likely perform a live show of her head exploding in front of A’Ling.
No, that wouldn’t do. She hadn’t clarified her doubts yet; Shi Qingqian couldn’t die.
A’Ling desperately tried to gather her last bit of spiritual energy into Little Wandering, but before she could make a move, Shi Qingqian, who was before her, seemed to sense something and raised her hand first.
In an instant, the sparkling dust particles on the ceiling of the demon cave seemed to be summoned, falling into her palm.
In the blink of an eye, the dust particles spontaneously condensed into a solid sphere in Shi Qingqian’s palm. A dark flame rapidly ignited from the center of the sphere outwards, startling A’Ling and making her eyes tremble.
A’Ling vaguely felt that time in the cave was amiss. No matter what Shi Qingqian did, it felt like she was watching a time-delayed slow motion.
And Shi Qingqian, as if under some demonic spell, seemed to have her gaze fixated, her eyes having rested solely on A’Ling since before.
She didn’t even turn to glance at the mutated sword dragon’s massive tail behind her, which was already a zhang above her head.
A’Ling instantly held her breath. At this distance, it was too late. Even if she used all her strength, it wouldn’t be enough.
Just as she was about to leap up and take Shi Qingqian to escape, Shi Qingqian gently waved her hand backward, tossing the fireball behind her.
Her movement was as effortless as handing a fruit to a companion standing a step away.
With a ‘boom,’ a tremendous crash, the cave wall A’Ling was leaning against violently shook.
In shock, A’Ling instinctively gripped Shi Qingqian’s hand, which was still resting on her knee. Her eyes flashed with a light even hotter than the dark flames trailing the fireball moments ago.
She watched the scene before her without blinking.
The fireball, casually tossed by Shi Qingqian, instantly gained the force of a flood rushing into the sea or a waterfall plummeting from the Ninth Heaven the moment it touched the mutated sword dragon. It pushed the colossal creature with the swiftness of a shooting star, sending the enormous mutated sword dragon straight from one end of the cave crashing back into the wall on the other side.
The mutated sword dragon slammed heavily against the wall with its back. The fireball’s immense pushing force even caused its massive body to rebound slightly off the wall. Immediately afterward, before the mutated sword dragon could even wail, it spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with shredded flesh amidst the collapsing dust and debris of the wall.
A’Ling even heard the sound of its bone plates shattering as it collapsed.
That bone plate, which A’Ling had struggled immensely to extract even a single piece from, was now shattered by just one strike.
How powerful an impact must that have been to achieve such a feat?
A’Ling’s mouth was slightly agape, speechless for a long moment. The demon cave continued to tremble under the lingering force of the impact, as if a magnitude ten earthquake had struck.
A’Ling’s heart was also shaking as if from a magnitude ten earthquake.
“Roar—roar—roar—”
A furious roar echoed from the other side of the demon cave. A’Ling snapped her head up to look. From within the collapsed cave wall, the mutated sword dragon that had gone back to heal itself gradually emerged from the debris.
And the fallen mutated sword dragon, whose body had been covered by the collapsed wall, had its shattered bone plates instantly heal. The mutated sword dragon, which had moments ago seemed on the verge of death, stood up completely unharmed amidst its companion’s roars.
That wall definitely has a problem, she thought. Those wall fragments are probably some incredible healing medicine, or perhaps the wall itself is a magic artifact. She recalled an ancient legend: the ancient Crimson Radiance Divine Venerable possessed a Heavenly Lake Treasure Basket. No matter how grievous the injuries a divine beast from the Ninth Heaven suffered, as long as it remained inside for a moment, it would be completely healed.
Once, the Phoenix Goddess fought against the Hell Path for the sake of all living beings until only half her wings remained, her skull was shattered, and her internal organs were destroyed. After Crimson Radiance Divine Venerable rescued her, she placed her within the Heavenly Lake Treasure Basket. A quarter of an hour later, the Phoenix Goddess was fully revived.
A’Ling looked at the two mutated sword dragons before her. That wall of theirs is likely a top-tier divine artifact, she thought. These creatures clearly shouldn’t possess such an item. Gu Jingyang was right; someone must be deliberately raising them.
She didn’t know what that person’s purpose was, but A’Ling was in no mood to ponder that question now. The immediate priority was to resolve the trouble before her.
Shi Qingqian’s move just now was indeed powerful, but those two mutated sword dragons could revive indefinitely. A’Ling gripped Shi Qingqian’s arm tightly. What should we do? Can Shi Qingqian’s move also be used indefinitely?
Shi Qingqian looked at her arm, gripped by A’Ling. The black mist there gradually glowed with dark fire, as if about to ignite, much like the sparkling dust that had risen from the ground earlier.
A’Ling didn’t notice this, her gaze keenly fixed on the two mutated sword dragons opposite them, now fully in their peak state.
This wouldn’t do. Supporting herself on trembling, painful legs, she tried to pull Shi Qingqian up.
Perhaps running is the best strategy now, she thought. With Shi Qingqian here, I can temporarily hold back these two mutated sword dragons, allowing her to take Gu Jingyang and the others to escape first.
Although there were many more mutated demonic beasts outside, with Shi Qingqian, they would surely be able to carve a bloody path to freedom.
“Watch out, those two mutated sword dragons can revive indefinitely, let’s first—”
Shi Qingqian’s gaze had been solely fixed on A’Ling. The moment A’Ling gripped her with force, Shi Qingqian reciprocated, holding A’Ling’s hand.
A’Ling’s words halted abruptly. She withdrew her gaze from the two mutated sword dragons and turned to look at Shi Qingqian.
In her eyes…
A’Ling’s brow twitched violently. Shi Qingqian’s eyes held only her, with a gaze so persistent and earnest it sent shivers down A’Ling’s scalp.
Although she saw no malice in Shi Qingqian’s eyes, the gaze still made A’Ling’s heart pound, and a surge of unease rose within her.
In the instant A’Ling froze, the two mutated sword dragons opposite them were already roaring lowly, charging towards their side.
“Careful!”
The moment A’Ling’s cry escaped her lips, her entire body suddenly felt light. Shi Qingqian lightly leaped, carrying her into mid-air.
She looked down to see the colossal creature charge fiercely beneath their feet, unable to stop its momentum, crashing with a ‘bang’ into the wall A’Ling had just been leaning against.
That was close. A’Ling exhaled heavily.
However, upon seeing their current situation, her breath only half-escaped before she sucked it back in. There was nothing beneath their feet, and Shi Qingqian’s sword was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s your sword?” A’Ling exclaimed. Falling from this height was no joke; they didn’t have wings and couldn’t fly.
After A’Ling spoke, she realized something was wrong. They weren’t falling; they were simply standing in mid-air, as if on solid ground.
She hurriedly lowered her head to look closely and then discovered a layer of black mist beneath their feet.
A’Ling’s pupils trembled. Shi Qingqian had actually reached the Immortal Demon Realm; demonic energy could solidify from emptiness.
Since before, Shi Qingqian had only been looking at their clasped hands.
She saw the tattered cloth deeply embedded in A’Ling’s wrist, and the faint white bone visible through the torn fabric.
With A’Ling’s recent movements, the fresh blood from her wrist flowed down their clasped hands and into Shi Qingqian’s palm.
It also seemed to flow into Shi Qingqian’s eyes.
Shi Qingqian’s pitch-black eyes slowly turned dark crimson.
In the instant that void appeared, upon realizing A’Ling was trying to perish with this low-level creature that had appeared from who-knew-where, Shi Qingqian’s sanity completely vanished amidst wave after wave of lingering fear.
If she had arrived a moment later, would A’Ling have died?
Shi Qingqian’s heart was pierced by a fierce pang of pain. She didn’t know where this pain came from, nor how to make it disappear.
She looked at the person before her. The strong scent of blood on A’Ling’s body was unbearable. She wanted so badly to devour her…
If I devour her, she won’t bleed anymore, and my heart won’t ache anymore, will it?
No, that wouldn’t do. The moment the thought emerged, Shi Qingqian’s dwindling sanity gained the upper hand, frantically screaming, No!
It said, “No, no, you’ll regret it!”
Regret?
Shi Qingqian nodded. Yes, she would regret it. She had already regretted it once, allowing this person before her to get injured.
Since that was the case, Shi Qingqian’s gaze finally shifted slightly away from A’Ling.
A’Ling had suddenly noticed a very dangerous aura emanating from Shi Qingqian. She felt that this danger was directed at her, and she was too shocked to make a sound.
Fortunately, this dangerous aura only lasted for a breath.
But then, in the next second, an even more terrifying aura overflowed from their clasped palms.
A’Ling watched with wide eyes as thread-like bloodlines emerged from their clasped palms.
They were like fuses, igniting the black mist swirling around Shi Qingqian.
In the next instant, Shi Qingqian raised the hand that had been hanging by her side. The ignited black mist loosely enveloped her palm, and the fierce black flames surged higher and higher.
Finally, they even ignited the cave ceiling, which was covered in sparkling dust particles.
The entire cave ceiling then burst into black flames.
Gusts of strong winds howled through the cave, making the black flames seem like hellish devils, all striving to escape from an endless ruin.
A’Ling, with her free hand, quickly covered their clasped hands and frantically asked, “What are you doing? Don’t seek death! If you want to die, die alone; I certainly don’t want to die!”
Shi Qingqian tilted her head to glance at A’Ling. Her pale lips curved slightly; it wasn’t quite a smile, but A’Ling seemed to see amusement in her eyes.
What is she laughing at? Is she laughing at me for being afraid of death?
Shi Qingqian was indeed smiling. It was enough that A’Ling wanted to live.
As for those things that tried to hurt her and wouldn’t let her live—
Shi Qingqian lowered her head to glance briefly, then tossed the fireball in her hand. These things all deserve to die.
As the two mutated sword dragons were reduced to dust, A’Ling tightly hugged Shi Qingqian’s arm. The dust particles on the ground, amidst the scattered blood mist, looked like rolling lava, bubbling with heat.
Even in mid-air, A’Ling could feel the continuous surge of heat rising from beneath their feet.
This eerie heat seemed like a silence spell; A’Ling instantly couldn’t hear any sounds. The world seemed to have stilled.
At the same time, Apothecary Mu Ling, far away in the Zhenpu Medicine Pavilion in Panyan Mountain Town, suddenly knelt to the ground.
The cultivator whose broken leg she had just mended was so startled that he also knelt, hastily asking, “Apothecary, Apothecary, what’s wrong? Are you overly exhausted from healing my injury? Do you need me to transfer some true energy to you?”
Apothecary Mu Ling propped herself up with one hand on the ground, while with the other, she vigorously waved, indicating that she was fine.
However, the oppressive aura in her chest made it impossible for her to stand upright. Unable to explain, she could only let the cultivator beside her misunderstand.
At the Outer Sect Hongjian Academy, at the same moment, Elder Zeng’s black chess piece clattered to the ground. His trembling body collapsed beside the black piece, and a white piece, a step behind, also fell with a crisp sound to the side.
Apothecary Yang Xia, who had been playing chess with Elder Zeng, knelt beside him. Both were facing the direction of Mystic Crane Mountain.
The oppressive aura in their chests also made it impossible for them to stand. The two exchanged a difficult glance, both seeing panic and astonishment in the other’s eyes.
As their chess pieces fell, far away in the Demon Realm, Jin Siliu cried out excitedly, collapsing to the ground and muttering, “It’s master, master is back! Oh, no, not master, master is dead. It’s the young mistress, it’s the young mistress!”
At this moment, all demons listed in the Demon Lord’s Eternal Covenant Tome simultaneously felt an oppressive aura in their chests.
After recovering from this heart-palpitating pressure that prevented them from standing, Apothecary Yang Xia, still kneeling, looked worriedly at Elder Zeng. “Is it Qingqian?”
Elder Zeng nodded.
“How could this be? Isn’t she on Mystic Crane Mountain?” Apothecary Yang Xia was greatly startled.
Elder Zeng gazed towards Mystic Crane Mountain, his brow furrowed. “It’s the Demon soul Crimson Phoenix Art.”
Apothecary Yang Xia nodded. She knew they could sense this oppressive aura because Qingqian had used the Demon soul Crimson Phoenix Art. This was a spell only a Demon Lord could use, requiring the Demon Lord’s essence blood. However, a Demon Lord in an illusory demonic state has no blood, so the blood used for this spell belonged to someone she cared deeply about.
Besides annihilating enemies, the greatest purpose of a Demon Lord using this spell was to blatantly and publicly declare to all demons that this person was as cherished as the Demon Lord’s essence blood. Should anyone dare to harm this person in the future, their soul would be shattered, and they would suffer the eternal, soul-gnawing pain caused by demonic energy.
Apothecary Yang Xia immediately thought of A’Ling, worried if something had happened to the two of them within Mystic Crane Mountain, and why Qingqian would act so conspicuously.
Although this oppressive aura could only be felt by demons and there were no demonic creatures within Mystic Crane Mountain, once outside Mystic Crane Mountain, all demons on the Demon Lord’s Eternal Covenant Tome would immediately sense anyone near the person for whom Qingqian had used her blood to cast the Demon soul Crimson Phoenix Art.
That person would also be equivalent to half their master.
By using this move, Qingqian had also signed her name onto the Demon Lord’s Eternal Covenant, effectively becoming the new Demon Lord of the Demon Realm.
And with the Demon Lord’s fury, the Demon Realm was bound to be filled with blood and littered with corpses for a thousand miles.
In the Demon Realm, all demons who had signed the Demon Lord’s Eternal Covenant felt their new master’s rage at this moment. While trembling, they were also eager to prove themselves. They desired to become the strongest demons under the Demon Lord, to flatten the Six Realms for her, and make all Six Realms submit to the Demon Lord.
The previous Demon Lord was elusive, like a divine dragon whose head is seen but not its tail. Some demons had only seen the Demon Lord once, in her ethereal black mist form, when signing the Demon Lord’s Eternal Covenant.
Furthermore, the previous Demon Lord was a peace-lover. Under her rule, no riots occurred in the Demon Realm, let alone wars instigated against the outside world.
These demons, confined to the Demon Realm, had long harbored resentment. However, the Demon Lord was too powerful; any slight ill intention would result in the soul-gnawing pain caused by demonic energy.
Now, feeling the new Demon Lord’s fury, it was as if the demonic energy in their blood had all come alive.
At this moment, even some lower-ranking demons in the Demon Realm were affected, their minds collectively stirred. Riots broke out across the Demon Realm.
The Demon Realm descended into chaos, truly fulfilling the saying: With the Demon Lord’s fury, rivers of blood flow!
On Zhuoling Mountain, inside the Great Demon Cave, A’Ling watched as the two mutated sword dragons were reduced to dust, falling onto the scorching ground, evaporating into a black mist that merged into the dark mist enveloping the demon cave.
Those two infinitely reviving, seemingly invincible mutated demonic beasts thus vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed in this world, not even leaving behind a single bone.