The Young Lady Only Wants to Cultivate Immortality Chapter 79

Inside the Winter Snow Peak’s Council Hall, Ye Bingfeng listened as a disciple reported on the events in Immortal Rainbow Platform. When she heard that it was Shan Xinci who ultimately resolved the matter, her heart was filled with immediate doubt.
She dismissed the reporting disciple and turned to Qiu Fanbo, who was waiting at her side.
“What do you think about this? Why did that Shan Xinci get involved in this matter?”
Qiu Fanbo also didn’t know why the Medical Cultivator Peak Master, who always acted as a peacemaker, would involve herself in a conflict so clearly between sword cultivators and spiritual arts cultivators.
Seeing Ye Bingfeng’s displeased expression, Qiu Fanbo found it awkward to directly say she knew nothing. She thought for a moment, then carefully suggested, “Perhaps it would be better to ask someone who was present for the specific details of what happened.”
She suggested that Ye Bingfeng send someone to find Xing Yanchu, who was present at the time, to inquire about the matter.
Ye Bingfeng nodded in agreement. Qiu Fanbo immediately ordered someone to take the Red Cloud Lotus Ring to find Xing Yanchu for questioning.
While waiting, the two of them discussed the matter further.
After Zhao Shan was sent back by Zeng Bilian, they immediately summoned Zhao Shan for questioning.
Qiu Fanbo had initially harbored immense fury over Zhao Shan’s disappearance, but seeing the miserable state he returned in, her anger dissipated by half.
She had truly not expected that Zhao Shan would be injured by A’Ling the day before they even set out.
Zhao Shan claimed he was too heavily wounded to respond to Qiu Fanbo’s Phoenix Feather message and had fallen unconscious. When he awoke, he saw Zeng Bilian and the others, and had no opportunity to send a message back.
This account largely matched what the medical cultivator disciple who returned Zhao Shan had said. The medical cultivator disciple stated that they found Zhao Shan unconscious halfway, and after treating him and waking him up, Zeng Bilian asked them to send Zhao Shan back first.
Qiu Fanbo provisionally believed his words.
Regarding Zhao Shan being beaten, she initially suspected that their plan for Zhao Shan had been exposed, which led A’Ling to strike first.
But Zhao Shan repeatedly guaranteed that A’Ling had not seen the Spirit Suppressing Incense he carried, nor did she know anything about their plan.
He hadn’t even started causing trouble when A’Ling preemptively beat him half to death.
After hearing everything, Ye Bingfeng didn’t know whether to believe A’Ling was truly so reckless, or if she was exceptionally intelligent but appeared foolish, hiding her true depths.
It was too much of a coincidence; they planned for Zhao Shan to harm Gu Jingyang and A’Ling, and then A’Ling preemptively beat him half to death.
Regardless, whether A’Ling knew Zhao Shan’s purpose or not, it was a fact that she injured a fellow disciple. Qiu Fanbo had demanded a judgment from the Twelve Cave Abodes.
Although she was no longer a Abode Master, she was now Ye Bingfeng’s disciple and an Elder-level figure, so she still had enough influence to demand the Cave Abodes conduct a judgment.
She hadn’t expected that Shan Xinci would ultimately step forward to settle the matter for A’Ling.
The punishment sounded impartial, but it actually protected A’Ling. Furthermore, it seemed they couldn’t continue to trouble her.
This was because A’Ling currently had an extraordinary mission, one that strictly speaking concerned the safety of Mystic Crane Mountain.
The two debated the matter without conclusion. The disciple sent to find someone had already returned, but she returned alone.
“Reporting to Peak Master, Xing Yanchu has been imprisoned by Shi Qingqian. Zhao Shan, who was recuperating, was also imprisoned along with him.”
Zhao Shan was even carried off his sickbed and locked in the Jiu Wei Water Prison by Shi Qingqian. No one knew what he had done to offend Shi Qingqian. His fellow disciples who were taking care of him said he didn’t even have time to cry for help before he was knocked unconscious and taken away.
“What?”
Qiu Fanbo looked astonished. “What is Shi Qingqian trying to do? Has she forgotten her identity? She’s a sword cultivator too! What is she doing now, siding with outsiders and opposing sword cultivators?”
Seeing Ye Bingfeng’s face turn grim after hearing the report, Qiu Fanbo immediately began to harshly reprimand Shi Qingqian.
“Peak Master, do you think Shan Xinci’s sudden appearance was due to Shi Qingqian? Also, Shi Qingqian explicitly said she was in secluded cultivation, so why did she go to Zhuoling Mountain? Should we summon her and demand a clear explanation for all of this?”
Ye Bingfeng’s face was gloomy, hesitating whether to rashly summon Shi Qingqian, when a disciple suddenly came to report an urgent matter.
“Reporting to Peak Master, multiple Elders and disciples from Heavenly Peace Cave Abode have jointly sent a letter, claiming Shi Qingqian inexplicably assaulted them and requesting Peak Master to uphold justice for them.”
Inside Shi Qingqian’s Cave Abode, A’Ling and Shi Qingqian had been standing face-to-face for quite some time. A’Ling still hadn’t recovered from the awkwardness of feeling like a fish.
Finally, Shi Qingqian was the first to break the awkward silence.
“What do you need me for?”
A’Ling finally snapped out of her chaotic imaginings. She hurriedly made a vague gesture towards the outside. “Is it alright to do this?”
Shi Qingqian raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly perplexed. “What is alright?”
“What? What do you mean ‘what’? You suddenly appeared just now, knocked all those people to the ground without a word, and then instantly vanished from the spot with me, without saying anything. Is none of that a problem?”
She stared at Shi Qingqian, who was barely a fist’s distance away, so close that she could clearly see her own reflection in Shi Qingqian’s eyes. After speaking all that in one breath, she felt Shi Qingqian’s hair stir slightly from her movements.
A’Ling felt a wave of embarrassment. They had actually stood there so awkwardly for so long, so close that they could feel each other’s breath.
She furrowed her brows and stepped back a bit.
Shi Qingqian remained silent after listening, as if deep in thought.
A’Ling no longer looked at her. She glanced around, searching for a dog while trying to find a suitable, less awkward place to talk.
But seeing the entire Cave Abode in one glance only made her more speechless.
Inside Shi Qingqian’s Cave Abode, there was nothing but a bed made of spirit-concealing vine.
Had the previous Abode Master moved out too thoroughly? At least leave a table and two chairs for the next person.
And Shi Qingqian, it’s been months, why can’t she get herself some basic furnishings?
This completely bare, four-walls-empty style, A’Ling thought, even a monkey’s cave isn’t this primitive. A monkey would probably know to store some bananas or fruits.
Shi Qingqian, after A’Ling mentioned the people outside, belatedly realized there had been people, and they had all been surrounding A’Ling. But just now, A’Ling had said she needed to find her, so she had forgotten about those people.
“What happened just now? Why were they surrounding you?”
A’Ling’s forehead twitched. She pouted. Now she finally thought to ask, why didn’t she ask before knocking them all down?
A’Ling thought, the revenge for those people being beaten would definitely be chalked up to her again.
But it didn’t matter. When debts pile up, one ceases to worry.
She just wanted to find a suitable place to talk. This empty Cave Abode with only a bed was truly awkward for her.
Shi Qingqian waited for a long time for A’Ling’s reply, only seeing A’Ling looking around her Cave Abode, her expression growing increasingly strange. Shi Qingqian followed her gaze and looked around.
At that moment, she suddenly remembered the house she had seen in A’Ling’s illusion before. Her heart stirred slightly. She hadn’t thought there was anything wrong with her Cave Abode before, but now, looking at it, it did indeed seem a bit unsightly.
Shi Qingqian saw A’Ling’s posture, as if she was looking for a seat. She thought for a moment, performed a spell, and activated a talisman.
Instantly, behind A’Ling, the talisman scattered with a golden light, transforming into a chair.
A’Ling turned her head and saw a glittering golden chair!
A’Ling looked at the chair right behind her, pressing against her knee pit, and her lips twitched uncontrollably.
This glittering golden chair seemed perfectly positioned for her to sit on with just a slight shift of her backside.
Then she could directly bathe in this dazzling explosion of golden light.
A’Ling stiffly turned her head back to Shi Qingqian. The golden light that had just entered her eyes didn’t seem to have faded, and Shi Qingqian’s eyes shimmered with a bright radiance.
If she sat on this chair, A’Ling felt she might just ascend. She thought about it carefully, it felt like she could become a Buddha with one sit.
She didn’t know whether to thank Shi Qingqian for her politeness or to pry open her brain and see what caused her to have such unique aesthetics!
The moment Shi Qingqian saw the chair emitting golden light, her hand, hanging at her side, suddenly clenched into a fist.
It was her first time using a spell to conjure a chair. What was going on? Did she use too much spiritual energy? She felt a bit annoyed; she had never practiced these low-level spells before.
Perhaps she also hadn’t expected that one day, she would urgently need an ordinary chair.
She saw the complicated expression in A’Ling’s eyes, and her hesitant look, wondering whether to sit or not. Her hand, hanging at her side, clenched and unclenched, clenched and unclenched.
Shi Qingqian hesitated whether to use another spell to conjure a chair, but she worried that the new chair might have new problems.
While she hesitated, Shi Qingqian saw the bed not far behind A’Ling.
A flicker of light quickly passed through her eyes. She activated another spell, directly transforming the bed into the shape of a chair.
Modifying something that already existed was much easier to control than conjuring something new directly from a talisman.
Shi Qingqian saw the normal-looking chair and let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief.
Just as she was about to tell A’Ling to sit on that chair, she saw A’Ling quickly plop down onto the glittering golden chair she had just conjured.
A’Ling, upon seeing Shi Qingqian turn the bed into a chair, unhesitatingly chose the one under her backside in the two-choice situation.
That was Shi Qingqian’s bed; she didn’t want to sit on it, nor did she dare.
Between these two ‘extraordinary’ chairs, she chose the glittering golden one for ‘ascension’.
Looking at Shi Qingqian, who was still standing in front of her, A’Ling tilted her head back to look up.
Shi Qingqian stood before A’Ling, looking down at A’Ling, who was completely enveloped in golden light.
Now, not only did A’Ling’s eyes shimmer with light, her clothes also seemed to radiate golden light, and even her hair seemed to glow.
She looked up at Shi Qingqian in that way, and at this moment, she was like a sunflower spirit, bursting forth from Shi Qingqian’s heart with brilliant light.
Shi Qingqian lowered her head, gazing at A’Ling, as if she saw the clusters of flowers in her heart, their petals with tiny serrations, swaying left and right, scratching and tingling deep within her heart.
This chair is actually quite suitable, Shi Qingqian thought silently, her previous annoyance instantly swept away.
“What’s wrong with you?” A’Ling asked after sitting down, seeing Shi Qingqian staring at her in a dazed manner.
She knew this chair would make her ‘ascend’ like a Buddha; look how intimidating this golden ‘Buddha’s light’ was, it even shocked Shi Qingqian.
“You sit too. I actually have something to talk to you about.”
A’Ling cleared her throat, pulling Shi Qingqian’s wandering mind back.
Shi Qingqian returned to her senses, her face betraying no unusual emotion. Hearing A’Ling’s words, she nodded. “Mhm, go on.”
A’Ling waited for Shi Qingqian to sit on the opposite chair. She hesitated for a moment, carefully considering how to phrase the matter, and spoke with a slight detour.
“So, about a month ago, I found a dog. Before I left for Zhuoling Mountain, I confined it in my Cave Abode and even placed a barrier over it before I left. But while I was on Zhuoling Mountain, I sensed that the barrier I set up had been broken. Now the dog is gone.”
A’Ling paused here, looking at Shi Qingqian, and asked with some hope, “Did you see my dog?”
Shi Qingqian felt a little guilty the moment A’Ling mentioned the barrier. She thought A’Ling had found some clue and came to ask her about the barrier. She hadn’t expected A’Ling’s final question to be about this.
“Your… uh… it’s gone. Why are you asking me?”
Shi Qingqian’s eyes showed confusion, as if she didn’t understand why A’Ling would come to her.
A’Ling’s heart tightened. If it weren’t for what happened in her previous life, she naturally wouldn’t have thought of coming to Shi Qingqian.
Looking at the entire Mystic Crane Mountain, who would believe Shi Qingqian would steal an ugly dog?
A’Ling thought for a moment and fabricated an excuse: “I really couldn’t find it anywhere, so I thought I’d ask everyone I know.”
Shi Qingqian instinctively felt A’Ling was lying, and felt a little disappointed. She felt A’Ling coming to ask her meant a complete lack of trust, that A’Ling would still suspect her of such things.
“I don’t have… here…” Shi Qingqian looked into A’Ling’s eyes, paused, and then said seriously, “a dog…”
A’Ling’s heart suddenly quickened a beat. The person in front of her suddenly seemed to overlap with her previous life.
In her previous life, Shi Qingqian had also said this exact sentence, word for word, even with the same expression and pauses.
And the awkwardness when saying ‘dog’ was the same.
As if that word was difficult to utter.
After a moment of trance, disappointment immediately washed over A’Ling.
Although she had already known this was most likely the answer, and her empty Cave Abode showed no signs of a dog living there.
A’Ling stood up in disappointment, forcing a smile. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. If you ever see it, please let me know. It’s quite easy to recognize, the particularly ugly one is it.”
Shi Qingqian’s brows, tightly furrowed, and her eyes trembled slightly.
After a long silence, A’Ling heard her reply, “Alright.”
Since the dog wasn’t found, A’Ling didn’t plan to stay longer. Just as she finished saying goodbye and turned to leave, she heard someone outside asking if Shi Qingqian was present.
Seeing that Shi Qingqian had company, A’Ling quickened her steps to leave and saw the person at the doorway.
She was about to go around the person and leave, but the person suddenly spoke, asking her to stay.
“Venerable Cai Yun has ordered Peak Master Shi and A’Ling to go to Winter Snow Peak immediately.”
“What, me?” A’Ling couldn’t help but exclaim in confusion. What would Ye Bingfeng want with her?
It didn’t feel like anything good. A’Ling felt resistant, but Ye Bingfeng was one of the three Peak Masters, and A’Ling couldn’t really defy her orders.
The disciple who delivered the message gently held out the Red Cloud Lotus Ring. The lotus-shaped red cloud ring wrapped around Shi Qingqian’s wrist.
Then, she said nothing more and turned to leave.
A’Ling sighed. Her troubles had a pattern: they never came one by one, but always in a string.
Resigned, she was about to pull out her sword, planning to go and return quickly.
“Come up, I’ll take you.” Shi Qingqian suddenly spoke.
A’Ling looked and saw Shi Qingqian had already taken out her sword before her, but A’Ling instinctively wanted to refuse.
“You can’t go alone.” Shi Qingqian extended her hand slightly forward.
A’Ling saw the Red Cloud Lotus Ring on her wrist and realized she had been foolish. Each of the three peaks had its own barrier; one could not enter without a Peak Master’s token.
This Red Cloud Lotus Ring was the pass token for Winter Snow Peak, where Ye Bingfeng resided.
A’Ling had no choice but to board Shi Qingqian’s sword.
Shi Qingqian’s sword flight was not fast, as if she wasn’t in a hurry to see Ye Bingfeng. Their leisurely ascent completely lacked the appearance of urgency, seeming more like they were enjoying the scenery.
A’Ling watched as they flew away from Heavenly Peace Mountain, gradually seeing all four sword cultivator mountains standing in succession along Goose Head River.
Winter Snow Peak was located about three hundred feet above the center point encircled by the four sword cultivator mountains. While named a ‘peak,’ Winter Snow Peak actually had no mountain base.
Similar to the sword cultivator Cave Abodes, the medical cultivators and spiritual arts cultivators also had their Summer Shadow Peak and Spring Water Peak located about three hundred feet above the center point of their respective four encircled mountains.
She wondered what Mystic Crane Mountain had experienced tens of thousands of years ago to have three mountains standing in mid-air like this.
A’Ling turned her head to look north. At the goose-head-shaped protrusion of Goose Head River were the four encircled mountains of the medical cultivators. Further west were the four towering mountains reaching into the clouds, where their spiritual arts cultivator Cave Abodes were located.
Darn it, I forgot to tell Gu Jingyang! She quickly took out the stone mirror Gu Jingyang had given her from her interspatial bag and twirled the rouge-colored beads on its handle.
At the same time, the beads on the stone mirror in Gu Jingyang’s hand began to flash with crimson light, one after another.
She had just finished telling Heng Qingyi about the bizarre events that occurred during her trip to Zhuoling Mountain.
The plants that mutated from body parts, the mutated sword dragons that seemed to be raised in a demon cave, and the eerie wall that could fully revive demonic beasts.
Except for the demon cave secret room, Gu Jingyang didn’t tell Heng Qingyi about it, but she relayed all other matters in meticulous detail to Heng Qingyi.
She wanted to know who would raise such two mutated demonic beasts on Zhuoling Mountain and what their intentions were.
Heng Qingyi listened, equally perplexed as Gu Jingyang. She couldn’t imagine who on Mystic Crane Mountain would do such a thing.
Nor did she know what purpose raising those Mutated Beasts served.
Hearing that A’Ling had obtained the Moonlight Ice Crystal in the demon cave and thus advanced her cultivation, Heng Qingyi was also very puzzled.
How could something like the Moonlight Ice Crystal appear in a mutated demonic beast’s demon cave?
That item was formed by Moonlight Pure Marrow condensing spiritual energy, and Moonlight Pure Marrow could only be found on the Layered Waterfall Cliff between East Firmament Cave Abode and North Firmament Cave Abode.
Thousands of years ago, the two Cave Abodes had many minor and major disputes over this item. In the most severe instance, countless disciples from both Cave Abodes died, dyeing the passing Goose Head River red.
Since then, Saint Venerable Dao Rong had decreed the Layered Waterfall Cliff a forbidden area for Mystic Crane Mountain. He even personally set up a barrier, prohibiting all disciples within Mystic Crane Mountain from entering.
Because of this barrier, the Moonlight Ice Crystal had become a rare item.
Now, it was surprisingly found in a demonic beast’s lair. Who placed it there?
Anyone capable of having such an item must not be an ordinary disciple.
But Heng Qingyi couldn’t analyze who it was.
After much thought, these events combined were truly bizarre. Moreover, the initial cause of the events was outside Mystic Crane Mountain, where Gu Jiangxue also discovered demonic beast mutations. Heng Qingyi vaguely felt that this matter was not simple.
Worried about greater future calamities, she decided to take Gu Jingyang to Spring Water Peak to report the matter to Venerable Huanzhou, Jiang Qiuchun.
The two had just left the Cave Abode when Gu Jingyang stopped in her tracks.
“What’s wrong?” Heng Qingyi asked.
Gu Jingyang looked at the lit-up stone mirror and explained to Heng Qingyi, “It’s A’Ling looking for me. She might have something important. Senior Master, please wait for me a moment while I ask what happened.”
Gu Jingyang didn’t wait for Heng Qingyi to nod. A’Ling wasn’t like her; she wouldn’t seek her out for no reason.
She directly placed her hand on the flashing light and twirled the beads on top.
With just that, the stone mirror in her hand shimmered with a layer of silver mist. In an instant, after the mist dispersed, A’Ling’s face appeared in the stone mirror.
“A’Ling, where are you?” Gu Jingyang asked, looking at the cloud-like objects passing behind A’Ling. “Why does it look like you’re in the sky?”
A’Ling opened her mouth and immediately swallowed a mouthful of wind, confirming Gu Jingyang’s guess. “I’m indeed in the sky.”
“Ah?” Gu Jingyang exclaimed in surprise.
A’Ling didn’t wait for her to speak, quickly relaying the situation. She could see they were almost at Winter Snow Peak.
“Gu Jingyang, I’m with Shi Qingqian. I might be in trouble. Ye Bingfeng wants Shi Qingqian and me to go to Winter Snow Peak to report, she didn’t say what for, but I know it’s definitely not good news.”
“If I don’t return tonight, remember to call Senior Master to rescue me.”
Gu Jingyang’s brows twitched. Ye Bingfeng? She’s a Sword Cultivator Peak Master, what would she want with A’Ling?
And why was A’Ling with Shi Qingqian?
But before she could ask, she heard A’Ling anxiously say, “No time, I’m about to enter the barrier. I don’t know—”
Just as A’Ling was about to say, ‘I don’t know if this stone mirror can still be used,’ the stone mirror in her hand reverted to its stone form, and Gu Jingyang’s face vanished without a trace.
Indeed, her worry was correct. The barrier on Winter Snow Peak didn’t allow her to use this communication artifact supported by spiritual energy.
Fortunately, she had thought of it beforehand and informed Gu Jingyang. If anything happened to her today, Gu Jingyang would surely come to save her.
A’Ling was about to put away the stone mirror when she saw they had arrived. Shi Qingqian had already stepped off her sword and was waiting for her.
She put away her things and was about to step down when her wrist was suddenly gripped. Before she could react, she was already steadily helped off the sword by Shi Qingqian.
A’Ling looked up at Shi Qingqian. Shi Qingqian was also looking down at her.
“Hm?” A’Ling asked in confusion. What was she doing? Why was she looking at her like that? Was there something on her face?
She instinctively wanted to touch her face.
Only then did she realize her hand was still being held, and the person in front of her didn’t seem to intend to let go. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Shi Qingqian looked down at A’Ling. “Since I brought you here, I can naturally take you away.”
“Ah?” A’Ling exclaimed in confusion. What was that? Why was she suddenly saying that?
Shi Qingqian looked at the bewildered A’Ling, tightening her grip slightly on A’Ling’s wrist.
“No one else needs to rescue you.”