The Young Lady Only Wants to Cultivate Immortality Chapter 80

Gu Jingyang clutched the stone mirror in her hand, watching the image abruptly disappear. A’Ling’s unfinished words still echoed in her ears. Her brow twitched. She tried to contact A’Ling again, but the stone mirror remained unresponsive. Gu Jingyang’s eyes filled with worry; A’Ling was likely in danger.
She hadn’t avoided Heng Qingyi when transmitting images via the stone mirror to A’Ling earlier. Heng Qingyi, who was nearby, also heard A’Ling’s words and her heart sank. Venerable Cai Yun rarely managed sect matters. She likely didn’t even know who A’Ling was, so why would she suddenly send for A’Ling to go to Winter Snow Peak? Just now, A’Ling seemed to say she was with Shi Qingqian. Shi Qingqian was the Sword Cultivator Abode Master, so it was normal for her to go to Winter Snow Peak. But why was A’Ling with her? Could A’Ling have caused trouble again? Gu Jingyang felt it might be related to the sect judgment today.
However, Heng Qingyi believed Venerable Cai Yun wouldn’t send for A’Ling just because of this matter. There were many disciples in the sect; how could a mere dispute between two ordinary disciples alarm the Peak Master? Besides, today’s matter already had a conclusion, so why would Venerable Cai Yun go to such unnecessary lengths? After discussing, neither of them could figure out why A’Ling was summoned to Winter Snow Peak, but they were both certain it wasn’t a minor issue.
The other party was a Sword Cultivator Peak Master. Their status wasn’t enough to demand A’Ling’s presence from Venerable Cai Yun. They would have to report this to their Spiritual arts cultivator Peak Master. Heng Qingyi was already planning to take Gu Jingyang to Spring Water Peak; now, she was even more urgent. She wasn’t overly worried about A’Ling; rather, A’Ling was now her disciple, and she worried that if A’Ling caused trouble, she would be implicated. Heng Qingyi now deeply regretted agreeing to Gu Jingyang’s request and taking A’Ling, this troublemaker, as her disciple. This person truly was a handful.
A’Ling had no idea her master already regretted taking her as a disciple. After hearing Shi Qingqian’s words, her heart was also filled with regret. She shouldn’t have come to find Shi Qingqian; it seemed like every time she was with her, trouble always followed.
After hearing Shi Qingqian’s words, A’Ling didn’t feel at ease; instead, she grew more nervous. She pulled her wrist back from Shi Qingqian’s hand. “Don’t be impulsive. This is Winter Snow Peak, and the other party is a Soul Transformation realm cultivator!” A’Ling’s implication was that on the opponent’s territory, with their cultivation being higher than theirs, acting submissively was the correct approach.
Shi Qingqian was noncommittal. She neither agreed with A’Ling’s words nor refuted her. But she knew in her heart that since she could bring A’Ling here, she could naturally take her back. She looked up at the vast sky above Winter Snow Peak. In the entire Mystic Crane Mountain, the only place she couldn’t reach now was perhaps the Qiongdian Peak. A’Ling saw Shi Qingqian looking up at the sky in a speechless manner after she finished speaking, and felt a slight pique. Overconfidence led to arrogance.
They didn’t delay for too long. Soon, someone led them to the council hall on Winter Snow Peak. Inside the council hall, A’Ling not only saw Ye Bingfeng seated at the place of honor, but also Qiu Fanbo, the former master of Heavenly Peace Cave Abode, whom Shi Qingqian had replaced. A’Ling’s heart grew even more vigilant now; this clearly boded ill.
Upon reaching the center of the council hall, A’Ling and Shi Qingqian paid their respects as juniors to Ye Bingfeng, who was at the head. Ye Bingfeng lowered her brows, silently watching the two who had arrived together. She had just heard from a disciple that they hadn’t immediately come to see her upon reaching Winter Snow Peak, but instead had been pulling and tugging by the barrier. Her gaze critically swept over Shi Qingqian, who was clad in white and exceedingly aloof. Seeing that she seemed completely unfazed by the reason she was summoned, neither obsequious nor overbearing, calm and unhurried, neither curious nor nervous, she truly was a person not to be underestimated. As for the spiritual arts cultivator disciple A’Ling beside her, she was much simpler. At a glance, one could see her nervousness, curiosity, and a touch of apprehension, though there didn’t seem to be much fear. A person whose thoughts were written all over her face, and a person whose thoughts couldn’t be discerned, together, made for quite an interesting sight.
Qiu Fanbo saw that Ye Bingfeng was only looking at the two and not speaking. She looked back, and after receiving Ye Bingfeng’s permission, she was the first to speak. “A’Ling, do you admit your guilt?”
Qiu Fanbo opened with this sentence, and A’Ling’s heart tightened; it was aimed at her. However, now that the other party had directly stated it, A’Ling actually breathed a sigh of relief and replied directly: “I do not.”
“You!” Qiu Fanbo hadn’t expected a mere spiritual arts cultivator disciple like A’Ling to dare disrespect her like this. In her eyes, this reply was a blatant provocation. If A’Ling knew she was thinking this, she would have protested her innocence; she truly didn’t know what crime she had committed. Hadn’t all her mistakes already been decided upon and punished by the Twelve Abodes?
As Qiu Fanbo spoke, she wanted to bring out a magic artifact to teach this novice spiritual arts cultivator, who was ignorant of her own limitations, a lesson. But before she could make any move, Shi Qingqian, standing beside A’Ling, acted first. To everyone’s surprise, she actually placed a barrier around A’Ling’s entire body right in front of everyone.
A’Ling looked at the sudden transparent barrier shimmering with a faint blue light before her, raising her brows. What was this for? What had happened that required a barrier? Ye Bingfeng, who had been sitting at the head with no particular emotion, showed a look of surprise on her usually calm face after seeing the barrier Shi Qingqian had placed around A’Ling. Qiu Fanbo, even more agitated, stood up directly, looking at Shi Qingqian, who seemed to have casually conjured a protective shield, with a horrified expression.
“You, what are you doing?!” Qiu Fanbo looked at the barrier, which was connected to one’s soul, her voice cracking.
A’Ling, after a delayed reaction, also realized what Shi Qingqian had done! This was actually a Life Soul Barrier!
She had set up this barrier once before, in the mutated sword dragon demon cave. The situation was critical then; the mutated sword dragon was about to attack Gu Jingyang and the others. The Life Soul Barrier was something she had placed outside the secret chamber to protect them. At that time, she was on the verge of death. She had no choice but to connect it to her soul and set up this Life Soul Barrier. It was her last glimmer of hope; unless she died, no one would be able to break the barrier.
The blue light suddenly seemed to prick A’Ling’s eye corner. She looked at Shi Qingqian in astonishment. Was this a life-or-death moment? Why didn’t she know? Who wanted to kill her? A’Ling looked at Qiu Fanbo, who was equally shocked, and Ye Bingfeng, whose expression had clearly changed, seated at the head. She could tell that their surprise was no less than hers. Shi Qingqian’s action instantly stunned all three people present.
A’Ling instantly recalled what Shi Qingqian had said to her outside earlier. She had said, “If I can bring you here, I can naturally take you away,” and “You don’t need anyone else to save you.” A’Ling looked at the barrier around her. She believed it now; since Shi Qingqian had even used a Life Soul Barrier, she naturally didn’t need anyone else. For this barrier around her to break, Shi Qingqian would have to die. A’Ling’s heart violently pounded, like a startled deer, not only running wildly in all directions but also utterly bewildered. Why would Shi Qingqian do this? Had some crisis occurred that she hadn’t sensed? It was just a dispute between disciples in the sect; surely Ye Bingfeng and the others wouldn’t be crazy enough to want Shi Qingqian to die.
Shi Qingqian seemed completely unconcerned that she had done something that had directly stunned everyone. Her gaze coldly swept towards Qiu Fanbo, who had excitedly stood up on the side. Shi Qingqian was much taller than her. Even though Qiu Fanbo was standing on a raised platform, Shi Qingqian’s gaze still looked down with lowered brows. The intimidating aura in her eyes sent a cold shiver down Qiu Fanbo’s spine.
“You, are you crazy? What kind of barrier are you setting up here? What do you think we’re going to do?!” After her initial shock, Qiu Fanbo raised her voice, speaking somewhat losing composure.
Shi Qingqian’s gaze merely swept over her casually before moving away. Her eyes, cold and aloof, looked towards the person at the head. Ye Bingfeng recovered from her shock. Her usually stern face stiffened for a moment. This person wasn’t crazy; she was blatantly telling them how important A’Ling beside her was. If they dared to touch A’Ling, she would risk her life and fight them to the end. The strong often feared the reckless; often, whoever dared to go all out would win.
Ye Bingfeng didn’t think her Soul Transformation realm cultivation would be no match for Shi Qingqian, but if Shi Qingqian risked her life to fight her, even if she won, she would likely suffer considerable damage. The key was that for such an insignificant matter in her eyes, and for an insignificant person who, in her view, could die without consequence, she absolutely didn’t need to suffer heavy losses even in victory. She had originally summoned them merely to give a minor punishment as a warning, to make a point. But now, Shi Qingqian had directly elevated the matter to a life-and-death struggle.
Ye Bingfeng’s face darkened as she carefully scrutinized the woman standing below, the one who caused Shi Qingqian to act so brazenly. Originally, in the mission to Zhuoling Mountain, Ye Bingfeng’s plan was for Zhao Shan to eliminate this person, lest she become Shi Qingqian’s aid in the future. Now she realized she was wrong, completely wrong. Whether this person would become an aid in the future was debatable, but the current fact was blatantly obvious. This A’Ling was Shi Qingqian’s reverse scale, or rather, her weakness.
As her thoughts turned, Ye Bingfeng immediately abandoned her original plan. This A’Ling, she could not be harmed. They hadn’t even done anything yet, just a single sentence, and Shi Qingqian could directly conjure a Life Soul Barrier in one swift move. If they really touched A’Ling, it would definitely not end well. Ye Bingfeng was grateful that Zhao Shan’s action had failed, otherwise, Winter Snow Peak might already be stained with blood. Ye Bingfeng’s wary gaze looked down at Shi Qingqian. She wasn’t sure if this action was a sign that the person before her had gone mad, or if it was her wisdom. With such an action, she would no longer think about harming A’Ling.
A’Ling watched as the entire council hall fell silent after Qiu Fanbo shouted that sentence. Shi Qingqian didn’t reply to her, only looking at Ye Bingfeng, who was at the very top, while Ye Bingfeng silently watched Shi Qingqian. Neither of them spoke, but faintly, A’Ling felt as though they were communicating, relying on their gazes. Ye Bingfeng’s unusual behavior made Qiu Fanbo, who was nearby, not dare to utter another sound. For a moment, the entire council hall was as if all sound had been devoured; there wasn’t a single noise. Inside Shi Qingqian’s barrier, A’Ling even began to wonder if Shi Qingqian had muted her.
Fortunately, this silence didn’t last too long. Ye Bingfeng, at the head, finally spoke. “Zhao Shan and Xing Yanchu, how long do you plan to keep them imprisoned?” Her words were directed at Shi Qingqian.
A’Ling let out a surprised ‘Ah.’ Zhao Shan and Xing Yanchu? What happened to them?
Shi Qingqian wasn’t surprised by Ye Bingfeng’s question. The fact that she asked indicated her stance: she had conceded. She didn’t ask why Shi Qingqian had imprisoned them, nor did she ask who was right or wrong in the matters between A’Ling and those two. She only wanted a result.
Shi Qingqian replied indifferently, “Before departing for Pi Lingyun Valley.” Since the sect had unanimously passed Shan Xinci’s resolution, requiring these two to also go to Pi Lingyun Valley, Shi Qingqian had no intention of going against the resolution agreed upon by everyone. However, before they departed, she had some matters to instruct them on.
“Good, I understand.” Ye Bingfeng nodded slightly. “You may leave.”
Now it was A’Ling’s turn to be surprised. It was over just like that? Was it worth summoning them for just one question? Shi Qingqian’s expression remained unchanged. Before leaving, she didn’t forget to pay her respects as a junior. There was nothing to fault in her etiquette, and no disrespect could be seen on her face.
After Shi Qingqian and A’Ling withdrew, Qiu Fanbo immediately asked, “Venerable, why? How could you let them go so easily?”
Ye Bingfeng furrowed her brows, looking displeased at the fool beside her. “What do you suggest? Punish A’Ling?”
“That A’Ling was so insolent, even injuring my Sword Cultivator Elder to that extent! Shouldn’t she be punished?” Qiu Fanbo said, clearly unconvinced.
Ye Bingfeng snorted coldly, “To punish her, are you willing to pay with your life?”
Qiu Fanbo’s furious expression stiffened, and she was speechless for a moment, but still somewhat indignant: “Perhaps Shi Qingqian was just trying to scare us. She might not necessarily risk her life for A’Ling.”
Ye Bingfeng glanced at her, saying coldly, “Then you can try. They haven’t gone far. Go try to injure A’Ling and see what Shi Qingqian’s attitude is.”
How could Qiu Fanbo dare to go? She couldn’t defeat Shi Qingqian. But Ye Bingfeng could; why didn’t she dare to confront Shi Qingqian? How could Ye Bingfeng not see the thoughts in her eyes? She snorted coldly. Was she crazy? That Shi Qingqian clearly didn’t take her seriously; her heart and eyes were completely filled with the woman beside her. Since that was the case, why would she provoke her? Shi Qingqian had no regard for her, nor for Winter Snow Peak. Ye Bingfeng could now completely rest assured; this person completely didn’t care about these things. What she cared about was A’Ling, who in Ye Bingfeng’s eyes was insignificant and unremarkable. What an infatuated one.
Only after leaving the Winter Snow Peak abode did Shi Qingqian withdraw the barrier from A’Ling’s body. A’Ling looked at the withdrawn barrier on her body, then glanced at Shi Qingqian with a very complex gaze, asking hesitantly, “You did that on purpose?”
On the way out, she had just figured it out. Shi Qingqian directly conjuring a Life Soul Barrier was tantamount to escalating the matter to a life-or-death situation. Simply put, Shi Qingqian was telling the other party that no matter how they intended to punish her, if they touched her, they would be touching her very soul, and she would certainly demand an explanation. This move was quite effective. Originally, A’Ling thought she would be entangled inside for a long time and still have to suffer some punishment. She had prepared herself to wait for Gu Jingyang to bring her master or the Spiritual arts cultivator Peak Master to rescue her. She hadn’t expected to come out completely unharmed after just a few sentences. However, this matter now likely had a negative impact. Even if A’Ling was slow-witted, she could still understand the deeper meaning behind Shi Qingqian’s actions just now. Shi Qingqian’s action was tantamount to telling Ye Bingfeng and Qiu Fanbo that A’Ling was Shi Qingqian’s life. This was truly deadly.
After leaving the Winter Snow Peak barrier, A’Ling couldn’t hold back any longer. She reached out and tugged on Shi Qingqian’s sleeve. Seeing Shi Qingqian turn around, A’Ling opened her mouth to ask, “Why did you do that just now?”
Shi Qingqian lowered her gaze, looking at A’Ling, who seemed somewhat displeased, and for a moment didn’t understand what she was saying. A’Ling asked more directly, “Do you know what it means to set up a Life Soul Barrier? Why did you do that?”
Shi Qingqian stopped her sword flight. Floating clouds passed by, and A’Ling’s voice also seemed a little ethereal.
“What does it mean?” Shi Qingqian didn’t answer, but instead countered with a question.
A’Ling was speechless for a moment.
Shi Qingqian immediately asked again, “Hm? What does it mean?”
A’Ling furrowed her brows tightly, unsure if Shi Qingqian genuinely didn’t know or was pretending not to know.
Seeing A’Ling’s silence, Shi Qingqian pressed her lips together and spoke of the doubt in her heart: “That day outside the demon cave’s secret chamber, I saw you also set up a Life Soul Barrier. What did that barrier mean?”
A’Ling raised her eyebrows high. Why did she feel Shi Qingqian’s tone was very strange, and even somewhat aggressive? What could it mean? She had no other choice then.
“The situation was critical at the time. I only had that one method.”
On Shi Qingqian’s aloof face, even the temperature in her eyes dropped a few degrees: “Mutual destruction is your method? Is Gu Jingyang more important than your life to you, or is it Lan Fushang?”
When Shi Qingqian mentioned Lan Fushang, A’Ling felt as though she could hear a hint of gritting teeth. A’Ling couldn’t help but raise her voice too: “They are my friends, of course they are important.”
Shi Qingqian’s brows tightly knit: “More important than your life?”
A’Ling replied without hesitation: “Gu Jingyang risked her life to save me, so I would naturally risk my life to protect her.”
Shi Qingqian’s heart instantly relaxed: “It’s Gu Jingyang.”
A’Ling was puzzled: “What?”
Shi Qingqian said softly, “Nothing.” It’s good as long as it’s not for Lan Fushang.
A’Ling felt that Shi Qingqian was acting a bit strange today. She had said so much, yet she still hadn’t answered A’Ling’s question from earlier.
Shi Qingqian seemed to have seen through her thoughts: “What your Life Soul Barrier means, my Life Soul Barrier naturally means the same.”
A’Ling gritted her teeth. Shi Qingqian knew after all.
“Then do you know that by doing this, you’ve already caused a misunderstanding!”
“What misunderstanding?”
“What do you think?!”
“A misunderstanding that you are my life?”
“As long as you know. If in the future—” A’Ling wanted to say that if Shi Qingqian had any enemies in the future, they shouldn’t come looking for trouble with her because of this misunderstanding. But before the words could leave her mouth, Shi Qingqian interrupted her.
“It’s not a misunderstanding.”
“Huh?”
Shi Qingqian looked into A’Ling’s eyes, repeating her previous words, word by word: “It’s not a misunderstanding.”
A’Ling’s eyelashes suddenly trembled, and her pupils were trembling slightly. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.
A gentle breeze swept by, and something suddenly touched A’Ling’s face. In her stunned state, she reached out and touched it, and a small snowflake melted between her fingertips. It was snowing? She looked up at the sky. Under the dim sky, a flurry of snowflakes appeared abruptly from nowhere. By the time she noticed, they were already dense and heavy.
It was snowing.
Amidst the snowflakes falling around her head, A’Ling saw Shi Qingqian’s slightly lowered eyelashes gently trembling, and a tiny snowflake landed perfectly on them. Beneath those gently trembling dark lashes, those eyes were still gazing at her, the light in them seeming to merge with the glistening snowflakes. The flurry of snowflakes instantly transformed from fine, fragmented snow into fluffy, large snow. The person before her, her dark hair instantly turned white, and A’Ling watched everything before her in a daze. She had an illusion that as the stars changed their positions and all things in the world passed by in time, the gaze of the person before her would forever be fixed on her. That fiery gaze seemed capable of melting the swirling ice and snow, and A’Ling felt a little flustered under her gaze.
Watching the person before her, who seemed about to speak, A’Ling wanted to flee. Her intuition told her she needed to escape immediately. She didn’t know what she was flustered about. In her panic, she wanted to summon her sword and flee on it, but before she could act, the person before her seemed to sense something and grabbed her wrist. A’Ling looked up in alarm. The moment her gaze met Shi Qingqian’s, her wrist was suddenly squeezed for a moment by Shi Qingqian’s fingers, then quickly released. A’Ling’s heart also felt as if it had been suddenly squeezed and then released. She looked at Shi Qingqian’s increasingly trembling gaze, and her face, which, despite the gradually darkening sky, had abnormally flushed crimson.
“I—”
“Stop!” A’Ling abruptly raised her voice.
Shi Qingqian didn’t know where to begin, but she desperately wanted to tell A’Ling her current state of mind. She had so many words she wanted to say to A’Ling. The moment she opened her mouth, A’Ling interrupted her, and a hint of confusion flashed in her eyes. A’Ling’s hand, hanging by her side, clenched tightly into a fist. Looking at her wrist, which Shi Qingqian was still holding, A’Ling’s heart pounded wildly.
“I know what you’re going to say, but stop.” A’Ling took a deep breath. She might have been obtuse before, not seeing through Shi Qingqian’s thoughts, but after Gu Jingyang’s reminder, and with Shi Qingqian just now saying that what happened on Winter Snow Peak was not a misunderstanding… It had already come to this point; what more could she not know? Especially the person before her, with ear tips that were crimson as if bleeding; she couldn’t possibly think this was from the cold, could she?
But A’Ling didn’t know what to say. How could this be? Why Shi Qingqian? Why would she… like her? Shi Qingqian clearly had many misunderstandings about her, and there was a lot of unpleasant past between them. Although in this life she had learned of many past misunderstandings and no longer single-mindedly targeted Shi Qingqian… Even so, at most, they could only put aside their grievances. How could Shi Qingqian like her? No matter the reason, there was no possibility between them.
“Shi Qingqian, I know what you want to say, but between us, it’s not suitable.” A’Ling looked up at Shi Qingqian: “I don’t even know who owes whom more in this complicated score between us.” Although in this life, A’Ling hadn’t committed all those wrongdoings against Shi Qingqian, she still had memories of her previous life. It was hard for her to convince herself that those things were done by her past self and were irrelevant to her current self. “Speaking of which, I still have scars on my body because of you.” Due to Shi Qingqian’s false accusation, she was injured by Huo Zhen’s Red Lotus Infernal Flame, and the red marks still remain. The relationship between them was like this scar; even if the wound healed, the scar would still remain. When A’Ling saw Shi Qingqian, she would recall all the past events. Wouldn’t Shi Qingqian, seeing her, also recall the Huo family’s troublesome matters?
When Shi Qingqian heard A’Ling mention the scars on her body, her heart felt as if it had been fiercely seized by a pair of hands. That was her most painful nightmare. Every time she saw A’Ling lying wounded and barely clinging to life in her dreams, she wished to return to the past and undo it all.
“I’m sorry, I—” Her words were interrupted by A’Ling: “I don’t blame you anymore. Let’s put an end to the past here.” A’Ling paused, forcing a smile, and with sincere eyes, she said to Shi Qingqian, “Let’s call it even. From now on, no one will owe anyone anything.”
Shi Qingqian looked at the curve of A’Ling’s lips that wasn’t quite a smile, and the flickering glimmer of hope in her eyes. Snow fell everywhere. Neither of them thought to conjure a protective barrier, and the wind and snow falling on their hair seemed to turn it white. A fleeting shadow of dimness passed through Shi Qingqian’s eyes. Her grip on A’Ling’s wrist gradually tightened, as if she had made some kind of decision, her eyes filled with resolve.
“Good.”
A’Ling hadn’t expected Shi Qingqian to agree so quickly. Her heart eased slightly; it was time for them to truly let go of everything between them. “Yes, in the future, you in the east, I in the west. Within Mystic Crane Mountain, if we meet again, we’ll still be friends.” Friends who could nod a greeting and exchange a few pleasantries; that would be good enough. A’Ling felt that restarting her life and being able to let go of her deepest fixation brought her a sense of relief. That’s great. From now on, she could focus solely on cultivation. She still felt that Lan Fushang was the most suitable for her. If Lan Fushang was willing, they could become dao companions in the future, cultivate together, and ascend to immortality together, so these long years wouldn’t be lonely.
“No.”
Suddenly, Shi Qingqian’s aloof voice interrupted A’Ling’s perfect plans for the future.
“Hm?” A’Ling was puzzled. Hadn’t they called it even? Did Shi Qingqian not want to be friends with her? Did she want to be strangers in the future? That’s also fine. She could just pretend not to know Shi Qingqian if she saw her in the future.
“If you don’t wish to be mere nodding acquaintances, then—” Before the word ‘fine’ could leave her mouth, A’Ling’s words were interrupted by Shi Qingqian.
“No. Nodding acquaintances or strangers, fellow sect members or friends—none of that will do.” Shi Qingqian paused, the turmoil in her eyes raging more fiercely than the wind and snow. Amidst the wind and snow, her voice seemed somewhat unreal and ethereal, yet her words, spoken word by word, carried such force that they seemed to be carving themselves into A’Ling’s soul.
She said, “I only wish to form a contract with you as dao companions.”