The Young Lady Only Wants to Cultivate Immortality Chapter 68

“What are you doing?”
A’Ling’s startled cry caused Lan Fushang, who was crouching on the ground packing her medicine chest, to leap up, gazing warily in the direction A’Ling was staring.
Gu Jingyang, startled by the cry, also snapped out of her contemplation, her entire body tensing as she looked towards A’Ling.
The two had initially thought something had gone wrong in the secret chamber. But when they saw Shi Qingqian sitting up, their hearts, which had been raised high, simultaneously sank back into their chests.
Gu Jingyang’s reclining chair was right by the bed where Shi Qingqian and the others lay. She was facing the side of Shi Qingqian, who was now sitting up, and in the dim secret chamber, she clearly saw her abnormally pale complexion.
From Gu Jingyang’s angle, she even seemed to see faint blood vessels on the side of Qingqian’s neck.
Despite the insufficient light in the secret chamber, Shi Qingqian seemed to glow faintly, appearing almost transparent.
Gu Jingyang furrowed her brow. This appearance was more than just weakness from spiritual energy depletion; it was as if all the blood had been drained from her body.
What did Qingqian go through to end up like this, and why did she suddenly appear here?
Shi Qingqian had been unconscious since entering. Gu Jingyang hadn’t had a chance to ask, but now she felt an urge to. However, upon seeing Shi Qingqian’s actions, those questions were forcibly pushed back for now.
Lan Fushang also saw Shi Qingqian’s current appearance. Yet, her earlier examination only detected some internal injuries; there were no bleeding wounds on her body. How could she look so pale, as if her blood had been drained?
She didn’t even know what medicine to give Shi Qingqian. Her intuition told her that her own medicinal pills would be useless.
But no matter what, proper rest is always beneficial after spiritual energy depletion. She saw Shi Qingqian sit up after waking, and somewhat disapprovingly, wanted her to lie back down, when she suddenly saw her move.
Like Gu Jingyang, the words on her lips were caught by Shi Qingqian’s actions, and the earnestness in her expression as she performed them.
Lan Fushang watched as Shi Qingqian’s hand, as pale as a bone covered in cicada wings, slowly reached towards A’Ling.
Amidst A’Ling’s protests, she stubbornly took A’Ling’s hand.
Lan Fushang felt that the word ‘took’ might not be quite fitting, because Shi Qingqian’s cautious and careful manner was as if she were cradling a fragile treasure.
But the owner of that ‘treasure’ clearly didn’t want to be touched.
When Shi Qingqian leaned over, A’Ling gasped out loud. Unable to hide, she watched helplessly as Shi Qingqian pulled her hand out from behind her.
It was her freshly bandaged hand, wrapped like a peeled grapefruit. A’Ling herself had been startled at first sight, and due to Shi Qingqian turning around, she hadn’t had time to examine it closely.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her hand that it was wrapped like this. Was it perhaps too severely injured?
A’Ling didn’t want Shi Qingqian to touch her injured hand. She forcefully tried to pull her hand back.
But seeing that terribly wrapped hand, A’Ling didn’t dare to use too much force. She had a suspicion that her wrist might be broken, and dared not move recklessly and worsen the injury.
“Let go of me.”
A’Ling gave a gentle tug, finding that Shi Qingqian’s hand didn’t loosen its grip at all. She looked up to see Shi Qingqian with her head lowered, focusing only on her hand.
From A’Ling’s angle, she could only see Shi Qingqian’s tightly pressed lips, and her slightly trembling eyes.
Before A’Ling could ask what she was doing, Shi Qingqian started moving her hands without any warning.
A’Ling looked down and was greatly astonished. Shi Qingqian unceremoniously unwrapped layers of gauze from her hand.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me!”
A’Ling was alarmed in her heart. This person couldn’t be retaliating because of that punch just now, could she? It wasn’t intentional just now. She couldn’t possibly take one of her hands just for that punch, could she?!
A’Ling’s mind suddenly flashed back to the cruel expression she had seen on Shi Qingqian’s face in the demon cave outside the secret chamber earlier.
That expression truly made her scalp tingle just remembering it now.
A’Ling was so afraid that, disregarding the wounds on her hand, she tried to violently pull her hand back.
Suddenly, her arm went numb, and her hand couldn’t move!
“You, what did you do?”
A’Ling turned pale with fright, her eyes trembling as she looked at her hand, which showed no movement at all no matter how much she tried to exert force. Was her hand immobilized?
The events unfolded very quickly. One moment Lan Fushang saw Shi Qingqian carefully holding A’Ling’s hand, the next she saw her unwrapping the gauze from A’Ling’s injured hand, which she had bandaged.
The thick layer of medicinal paste she had applied beneath the gauze was now exposed to the air, and a pungent odor assailed them.
This won’t do, Lan Fushang thought, somewhat anxiously. “No, quickly wrap it back up! Leaving it exposed will diminish some of its medicinal properties.”
Although she had many medicinal pastes, most were ordinary ones. Earlier, after applying medicine to Gu Jingyang, she had already used quite a bit. For A’Ling, she could only win by quantity, using generous amounts of common medicinal paste. That’s why A’Ling’s hand had been wrapped up like a ball.
No sooner had Lan Fushang spoken than all the thick medicinal paste she had wrapped around A’Ling’s hand was gently brushed away by Shi Qingqian and discarded on the ground.
Lan Fushang’s heart trembled. She looked incredulously at Shi Qingqian. What was she doing…?
Gu Jingyang’s expression was much calmer; she simply watched, neither speaking nor stopping her.
A’Ling looked at the discarded medicinal paste on the ground, furious. This person really wants revenge for that punch earlier, she won’t even let her apply medicinal paste!
A’Ling gasped sharply due to Shi Qingqian’s actions. Just now, immersed in Jin Zhuyue’s story, she had forgotten the pain of her shattered bones and lacerated flesh.
Now it was back. Seeing her wrist, which looked as if a circle of flesh had been cruelly gouged out, the pain she had ignored now returned.
A’Ling’s entire body quickly became sore and numb from the tearing pain.
“You let go—”
Before the word ‘me’ could even leave her lips, A’Ling suddenly felt a cool sensation on her wound. The pain instantly lessened by several degrees.
She looked down. The wound, which had just been exposed to the air, was now re-covered with a layer of green, gel-like substance.
A’Ling recognized this; it was Azure Bone Condensing Muscle Paste.
Lan Fushang also recognized it immediately. This was a top-grade medicinal paste, and her anxious heart finally settled.
She knew it, she thought. Shi Qingqian wouldn’t do anything to harm A’Ling.
So she just thought her medicine wasn’t good enough…
Lan Fushang wasn’t sad that her medicine was deemed inferior; on the contrary, she felt even more at ease knowing A’Ling could have such a good medicinal paste.
The next second, the relaxed expression on Lan Fushang’s face suddenly tensed up completely. She pointed at A’Ling’s wound with a trembling finger, her face full of disbelief.
A’Ling was startled by her erratic state, almost thinking that Shi Qingqian was poisoning her and Lan Fushang had discovered it.
“Wha—what’s wrong?”
A’Ling was genuinely a bit worried about this possibility. Although she recognized the medicinal paste Shi Qingqian was using on her—it was the same kind Shi Qingqian had used on her when she was injured by the Mengjia Beast on Kaiyao Mountain last time.
Lan Fushang looked in shock at A’Ling’s wrist, where there was something resembling gauze, but much, much thicker, shaped like tofu, yet clearly very flexible.
“This is… Wulou Bone Tendon Silk?”
When she asked, her astonished tone was as if she had seen something extraordinarily remarkable, filled not only with surprise but also a sense of wonder.
A’Ling couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows, not understanding her extreme reaction.
The last time Shi Qingqian used it on her, A’Ling had also seen it for the first time, but she hadn’t reacted so strongly.
What was wrong with Lan Fushang?
Shi Qingqian didn’t even lift her eyelids, and seemed not to hear Lan Fushang’s words. She kept her head down, earnestly wrapping the Wulou Bone Tendon Silk around A’Ling.
A’Ling turned to confirm Lan Fushang’s guess: “Yes, that’s the name.”
The last time she was injured on Kaiyao Mountain, Shi Qingqian had used this on her leg too.
After being wrapped in the Wulou Bone Tendon Silk, A’Ling immediately felt a cool sensation on her wrist; it was very comfortable, and she no longer felt pain.
This truly is a good item, A’Ling thought with a glance. Compared to her bulky hand wrapped like a grapefruit just now, this wound, which now looked like it had a thin layer of gauze pasted over it, pleased her much more.
Her fingers could even move freely.
When Lan Fushang heard that what Shi Qingqian used was the sacred healing item, Wulou Bone Tendon Silk, she gasped in astonishment, covering her mouth.
In Mystic Crane Mountain, the number of people who could possess this item was very few. It was a peerless treasure, one less with each use.
It was made from the tail feathers of the ancient Wulou Divine Bird. The Wulou Divine Bird is said to be the origin of ancient shamanic healers, and its entire body is a treasure. Its tail feathers, in particular, have the miraculous effect of regenerating flesh and healing bones.
However, this divine bird had already ascended to godhood in ancient times due to significant meritorious deeds, and was no longer found in the mortal world. These Wulou Bone Tendon Silks had been passed down to this day only because previous cultivators obtained them by chance and were reluctant to use them.
It was a top-grade, extremely rare medicinal item, one less with each use.
As far as Lan Fushang knew, the Medical Cultivation Peak Master, Shan Xinci, had one piece, given to her by Saint Venerable Dao Rong long ago.
She had cherished it to this day, and wouldn’t bear to use it no matter how severe the injury.
Lan Fushang told all this to A’Ling, leaving A’Ling utterly stunned.
A’Ling recalled that the last time on Kaiyao Mountain, when her leg was injured, Shi Qingqian had used two pieces on her. She suddenly remembered Apothecary Yang Xia’s distressed expression back then.
So this item is actually that rare!!!
A’Ling looked at the piece of Wulou Bone Tendon Silk just wrapped around her hand, a complex expression in her eyes. After a long moment, she looked up at Shi Qingqian: “If I take this off, can it be used again next time?”
Shi Qingqian was still tending to the wounds on her other hand. When Lan Fushang spoke earlier, she hadn’t stopped her, but hearing A’Ling’s words, she slightly raised her head.
“No.”
A’Ling felt a pang of heartache, and her gaze towards Shi Qingqian was tinged with irritation, filled with extreme frustration.
“You truly are extravagant! You used such a valuable item on this kind of injury, it’s far too wasteful!”
Her injury should have been fine with that pile of medicinal paste on the ground. Such a good item should be reserved for when it’s most needed!
Shi Qingqian didn’t even lift her head, merely saying lightly, “It’s not wasteful.”
Gu Jingyang quietly watched all of this. She also hadn’t expected that what Shi Qingqian gave was such a rare item, but then she smiled, feeling that this was just like Shi Qingqian.
From the moment Qingqian started moving, she had not worried that Qingqian would do anything harmful to A’Ling. She was probably the one who understood Qingqian’s feelings for A’Ling the most here.
Perhaps even clearer than Qingqian herself.
Gu Jingyang sighed softly. She pondered inwardly, if I had such an item in my possession, would I take it out to use on A’Ling at this moment?
She thought carefully, and likely wouldn’t. It’s not that ordinary medicinal pastes couldn’t heal A’Ling’s wrist injury, it would just take longer to recover.
Gu Jingyang thought to herself, she too would find it a bit wasteful…
Qingqian really is… Gu Jingyang let out a bitter laugh, unable to find words to describe it. She sighed as she tightened her grip on the Cosmos Pearl.
Suddenly, the next moment, the scene frozen on the cave wall abruptly went black, then just as suddenly lit up again.
Gu Jingyang looked down. The Cosmos Pearl in her hand, after all this time, not only hadn’t extinguished, but began to glow again.
There was more than one scene recorded in this Cosmos Pearl.
Gu Jingyang thought, this might not be the Cosmos Pearl that originally recorded the scenes. No wonder the previous scene had been frozen for so long without extinguishing. It turns out this is a Cosmos Pearl pieced together from several scenes.
A’Ling was astonished by Shi Qingqian’s words, ‘It’s not wasteful,’ her mouth half-open, unable to utter a single word for a long time.
What astonished her wasn’t those four words, but the tone Shi Qingqian used when she said them. How did she say it? A’Ling felt that if she wasn’t hallucinating due to her severe injuries, then Shi Qingqian was hallucinating.
Did she mistake her for someone else, or what? How did she suddenly become so gentle when talking to her? That soft, gentle tone even carried a hint of a smile, and how to describe it, it seemed to have a touch of indulgence.
If Lan Fushang had said this, A’Ling would immediately understand that she was coaxing her, putting her mind at ease, letting her know that this item was willingly given to her, and that she was more important than the item.
It would be the same if it were Gu Jingyang.
But for these words to come from Shi Qingqian’s mouth, it was simply too strange.
Their relationship wasn’t one of mutual poisoning; that was already a sign of their good character.
Was Shi Qingqian mad? Or possessed? Or did she fall into demon cultivation and hadn’t fully recovered her senses?
As A’Ling was pondering, there was a sudden loud bang on the wall scene. A’Ling and Lan Fushang both looked up in unison. In the scene, amidst swirling black mist, golden light exploded, mountains collapsed, and the earth split.
Jin Zhuyue and the Demon Lord fought fiercely above the three peaks, beneath the Qiongdian Peak, turning the sky dark and the earth dim.
The Demon Lord hadn’t expected a mere Golden Core-Nascent Soul stage cultivator to actually be able to prevent her from ascending to the Qiongdian Peak. Her initial disdain gradually faded.
What a pity, she thought. Her cultivation was still a bit lacking.
The Demon Lord summoned the Black Dragon Bone-Piercing Bow, forged from ten thousand ghost wraiths, from the void. She nocked three Dragon Subduing Bone Arrows and fired them simultaneously towards Jin Zhuyue.
These three arrows seemed to have locked onto their target, bypassing various obstacles and single-mindedly charging towards the red figure.
This is bad, Jin Zhuyue thought. After using all her strength to sever one arrow, she still had her shoulder pierced by another arrow, firmly pinning her to the Cloud Forest Rock of Winter Snow Peak.
Seeing the third arrow flying straight towards her chest, Jin Zhuyue knew she couldn’t evade it. She looked up at the Qiongdian Peak, only thinking what a pity I couldn’t bid a proper farewell.
A’Ling, watching the arrow about to strike Jin Zhuyue’s chest, nervously gripped Shi Qingqian’s hand.
Shi Qingqian’s movements paused. After seeing A’Ling’s anxious expression, she turned back to look at the situation in the scene, just in time to see a winding bolt of lightning, seemingly splitting the entire scene in half.
Saint Venerable Dao Rong arrived just as the last arrow was about to hit Jin Zhuyue’s chest, saving her.
A’Ling’s grip on Shi Qingqian’s arm suddenly loosened.
Shi Qingqian’s expression became unreadable. After seeing this scene, she no longer looked at the people in the scene. She took A’Ling’s hand from her arm.
Again, she lowered her head, carefully applying a layer of medicinal paste to even A’Ling’s tiny finger joint wounds.
Lan Fushang watched this scene, feeling even more ashamed.
Earlier, she had only attended to A’Ling’s main severe wounds; she hadn’t paid attention to these smaller injuries.
Watching Shi Qingqian’s focused and patient manner, Lan Fushang felt her medical ethics still needed more cultivation.
A’Ling’s attention was focused on the scene on the cave wall and she didn’t notice that Shi Qingqian had even applied medicinal paste to wounds as thin as hair strands on her fingers.
In the scene, as soon as Saint Venerable Dao Rong appeared, the disadvantage gradually reversed.
His life-or-death battle with the Demon Lord was truly earth-shattering. In the scene, lightning flashed and thunder roared, as if the heavens themselves were lending support to this duel.
In the end, the righteous path ultimately triumphed. Saint Venerable Dao Rong won.
However, he seemed to have suffered extremely severe injuries. After the Demon Lord was pierced by his sword qi, he also collapsed in a pool of blood. He was ultimately carried away by Jin Zhuyue.
Jin Zhuyue knelt beside Saint Venerable Dao Rong, her eyes reddened as she looked at him, who was barely holding onto his last breath. Tears welled up in her eyes, gradually blurring her vision.
“Master… you shouldn’t have come to save me… you just underwent your lightning tribulation, you are at your weakest right now…”
The opponent was an Immortal-Devil realm demon cultivator. Master had spared no effort and fought with all his might to kill her just now, even his golden core shattered.
Saint Venerable Dao Rong still had his gentle demeanor, but he had no strength to speak, his voice hoarse: “Don’t cry… this was originally my tribulation… Mystic Crane Mountain will be entrusted to you from now on…”
Jin Zhuyue finally couldn’t hold back. Looking at the person in her arms who was gradually losing consciousness, tears poured from her eyes like a bursting dam.
“Dao Rong—don’t die—”
A piercingly mournful cry lingered for a long time above Mystic Crane Mountain.
This mournful cry also echoed in the secret chamber. A’Ling’s heart trembled. As if feeling the same emotions, a heart-wrenching pain swept through her entire body.
Her eyes burning, she looked at the face in the scene, contorted with grief. In a trance, she even felt as if she had seen such a face, overwhelmed with extreme sorrow, before.
A’Ling vaguely lowered her head and looked at Shi Qingqian, who was still tending to her wounds. Doubt suddenly arose in her heart. Who exactly was Jin Zhuyue? Who was Shi Qingqian? And what was going on with these events?
After a moment of trance, A’Ling suddenly realized something was wrong.
Wasn’t Saint Venerable Dao Rong still perfectly fine on Qiongdian Peak now?
The next moment, she found the answer in the scene.
Jin Zhuyue, she had actually cut open her own golden core and sacrificed it to Saint Venerable Dao Rong.
A’Ling gasped in astonishment, her lips trembling: “Mad…”
She was truly mad. Without a golden core, she would become an ordinary person.
No, worse than an ordinary person…
She would die, and die very painfully!
And cultivators have no reincarnation; she would watch herself slowly die and then completely dissipate from this world!
Thinking this, A’Ling suddenly realized something: this Jin Zhuyue was not Shi Qingqian’s mother.
Although she didn’t know which specific year the events in the scene took place, at the beginning of the scene, Saint Venerable Dao Rong was not yet on the Qiongdian Peak, and had not even become a Saint Venerable, merely a Venerable.
This meant the time was at least several thousand years ago, and it was impossible to live for several thousand years without a golden core.
As if to confirm A’Ling’s guess, the scene on the cave wall had already switched from Jin Zhuyue sacrificing her golden core by cutting it open herself, to the next scene.
“This is?” A’Ling widened her eyes, turning to look around.
The silent Gu Jingyang suddenly spoke: “It’s, it’s this secret chamber.”
In the scene, Jin Zhuyue’s once black hair had long turned snow-white, her face was covered with wrinkles, and her eyes were completely clouded.
She sat hunched on a chair, gazing fixedly ahead, as if she were looking at A’Ling and the others in the secret chamber.
What was going on?
A’Ling was confused. The next moment, a weak voice came from the scene.
“Master… forgive my unannounced departure… If there’s a next life, I don’t want to be your disciple anymore…”
“Qiongdian Peak is lonely. May your wishes be granted, and may heaven grant your desires…”
As her words fell, the next moment, the scene turned completely dark. The recorded scenes in the Cosmos Pearl had all played out.
The Cosmos Pearl in Gu Jingyang’s hand also lost its luster, gradually dimming.
Inside the secret chamber, apart from Shi Qingqian who was still bending down to tend to A’Ling’s wounds, everyone else simultaneously looked at the white bones on the throne in the secret chamber.
A’Ling looked at the white bones and called out Gu Jingyang’s name. When Gu Jingyang turned to look at her, she asked in confusion, “Are those white bones the Venerable Lan Huang, Jin Zhuyue from the scene?”
Gu Jingyang had just confirmed that the scenes in the Cosmos Pearl had finished playing. She heard A’Ling’s question, pondered for a moment, and said: “If no one had entered this secret chamber to take away Venerable Lan Huang, and then placed another corpse on the throne, then it should be her.”
Lan Fushang suddenly thought of something. She quickly stepped forward and examined the right shoulder blade of the white bones. Indeed, she detected a healed injury where the bone had been pierced by a sharp arrow.
She informed everyone of this discovery. Just as she was about to put down the white bones, suddenly, a series of ‘click-clack’ sounds echoed from her arms, startling Lan Fushang, who quickly dropped the white bones.
“Watch out!”
A’Ling cried out, her heart suddenly leaping into her throat.