Chapter 22 Fairy Sister
Instantly, spiritual energy, imbued with rage against the earthquake, overflowed from around Qingjue. Jie Zhoujian wisely recited an incantation and hid behind the barrier.
Qingjue drew the Misty Green Sword from his Qiankun Bag in his sleeve, manipulated the sword with his mind, and instantly pierced through several thousand-year-old trees.
The green curtain blocking the sunlight was suddenly torn open, and Qingjue stood still. Wuliqing flew to the sky with his thoughts and slashed downwards.
During the day, Jie only saw a white light.
Then he felt himself being protected.
When I opened my eyes again, I saw that the slit through which the light shone through the tree had been split open, revealing a deep trench.
The rock wall split open, exposing caves that were unknown in depth.
He knew his master was very strong, so this wasn't surprising at all.
But to Jie Zhoujian's surprise, the slit he had made was trying to close up again.
Could it be that this entire mountain is controlled by this great demon?
Before it could fully close, Qingjue grabbed Jiezhou and jumped down, this time landing steadily.
As he fell, the mud wall above his head closed up.
Qingjue landed and put down the daytime, and to prevent being unexpectedly "spit out" again, he used his spiritual power to seal the entire floor.
Qingjue reached out and retrieved the illumination bead, handing it to Jiezhoujian.
Honestly, he doesn't want to keep destroying the ecological environment. What if his apprentices think he's some kind of violent maniac if he demolishes mountains all the time?
Can't we just follow the storyline properly?
This time, the thorns no longer hesitated and attacked Qingjue and Jiezhou during the day.
Jie wielded his sword incessantly throughout the day. A child wielding a weapon taller than himself didn't seem out of place; on the contrary, it exuded a powerful aura.
Qingjue manipulated Wuliqing to swirl around, but the thorns kept increasing in number. If this continued, not only would they be unable to move forward, but their stamina would also be depleted.
This demon can break through the Qingjue barrier, so its cultivation level must be quite high. If it wanted to attack, it could have used more extreme methods. How could it be so ineffective, like a mosquito scratch?
Is it just to exhaust their energy?
Or is it...?
Qingjue retrieved Wuliqing from his hand, swung his sword, and the sword energy was unstoppable, cutting down all the thorns in front of him.
It also created a deep crack, almost splitting the entire cave open.
"Master," Jie Zhoujian asked upon seeing this, "which way do we go now?"
“That leaf carried my spiritual power back to its original form,” Qingjue said, putting away the misty green leaf and flicking a flame with a spell. “Following this path will lead you to it.”
Then, he flicked his hand, tossing the flames aside, and the surrounding area instantly burst into flames.
Qingjue led Jie Zhoujian out of the fire and into the split path.
The walls inside the cave no longer healed.
"Sure enough, it was already very weak. It seems that the previous earthquake had consumed a lot of its energy."
Jie Zhoujian understood almost instantly: "So it's just stopping us from moving forward, not directly fighting us."
"Yes, it knows it can't win a head-on fight."
"...Even with things like this, why still attack Quanzhou and Zhangzhou?"
Qingjue tore off a withered vine from the wall: "There could be many reasons. Perhaps Quanzhang has enemies, or perhaps it wants to eat people to survive. In any case, it's hard to say. But what is certain is that it is about to die."
"Will even such a powerful demon have its limits one day?"
"Everything will have its own, and so will I."
"...I don't really like this principle during the day."
"Haha, you're still a child. You can only understand some things when you grow up."
Time heals many wounds.
Back then, Qingjue also faced death and separation amidst the ruins.
That was a compulsory course in life, and Qingjue didn't intend to hide it from them. He had always told them that he would leave one day.
They either return to the modern world to live an ordinary life, or die in a plot-driven death.
Death and separation are lessons that must be learned. Qingjue simply doesn't want them to be like him, caught off guard and overwhelmed in an instant when faced with them.
They are all the pride of this world, and they shouldn't be immersed in sadness when facing separation.
As they chatted, the two of them walked to the deepest part of the cave.
It's so dark here that even a light bulb can't completely illuminate it; you can only see a corner in front of you.
Jie Zhoujian tightened Qingjue's hand and said, "Master, be careful, there's an unpleasant smell here."
"Um."
The smell of underground cave was disgusting; no one had been here for a long time. It smelled of rotten groundwater.
As he walked, Qingjue sensed something moving around him.
Lighting a fire in the deep cave could easily cause an explosion. The great demon that destroyed our home several times before managed to repair it. The thorns haven't chased after us for a long time, probably because they don't want him to continue destroying this place. That great demon seems to care a lot about the environment here.
So what could be moving?
Qingjue stopped and took the illumination bead from Jie Zhoujian's body.
He moved the luminous bead to the side of the stone wall and observed it carefully, discovering that the wriggling thing was just a centipede.
Just as Qingjue was about to remove the bead and continue exploring, he noticed something carved on the stone wall from a subtle angle.
Qingjue lowered his head and exchanged a glance with Jiezhou, and the two walked towards that direction in tacit agreement.
There are indeed things carved on the stone wall, like paintings.
To see more clearly, Qingjue channeled spiritual energy into the illumination bead, increasing its brightness slightly.
“This is…” Jie Zhoujian looked up: “Two people?”
The first painting depicts a long-haired Taoist priest dressed as if from a traditional family of cultivators. He and a beautiful fairy girl gaze at each other from afar. Although the portrait is expressionless, Qingjue can inexplicably sense the mutual appreciation between the two, and the tenderness flowing between them as they look at each other.
In the second painting, a long-haired Taoist priest and a fairy girl stand side by side, seemingly depicting their mutual understanding, tacit agreement, and trust. The long-haired Taoist priest holds a long sword, while the fairy girl's skirt flutters gracefully. The two appear to be a perfect match.
In the third painting, a long-haired Taoist priest takes the hand of a fairy girl, and the two look at each other. A swirling mist surrounds them, seemingly creating some kind of atmosphere. They still don't have faces, but you can feel their emotions, a mixture of shyness and joy.
The style of the fourth painting is completely different. The long-haired Taoist priest is holding a sword and stabbing at the indifferent fairy girl. Although there is only one action, judging from the way he holds the sword, it is definitely not a simple competition or joke.
Qingjue and Jie finished looking at the four paintings along the way during the day, and seemed to be deep in thought.
Could this be... a story of a heartless man betraying a girl? Just like the Menglan incident before.
Qingjue shook his head, sighing that the story was a bit cliché, wondering how there could be so many scumbags in the cultivation world.
Jie said during the day, "This Taoist's clothes look a bit like my master's."
Qingjue was taken aback.
He hadn't noticed it earlier, because the clothes of cultivators are all pretty much the same, and it's easier to distinguish them by color matching or special patterns, such as the cloud pattern of the Yun family or the green bamboo of the Qing family.
The carvings on the stone wall are relatively simple, and the colors are not visible.
But upon closer inspection, it's true that the way the belt is tied, the subtle details of the garment's design...
Indeed, only the robes of the Qing family match.
Qingjue confirmed that in his memory, including the previous Immortal Lord Wuqing, he had no experience of knowing this girl.
Could it be that the unfaithful man was a member of the Qing family? Is that why this girl attacked Quanzhou and Zhangzhou?
...Surely it's not like Immortal Lord Wuqing has forgotten about this.
It seems the two had a rather unpleasant falling out, even drawing their swords against each other. They were genuinely intimate when they were being affectionate. It's unlikely they wouldn't remember.
“It might be a senior member of the Qing family,” Qing Jue said. “This place has a history of at least a hundred years. We don’t know what happened before, but we came here to investigate and resolve the issue. It’s good to know the cause and effect.”
“Hmm,” Jie Zhoujian nodded and said, “Then, Master, after we find it, should we kill it?”
After pondering for a moment, Qingjue considered that there might be other hidden reasons behind this matter, and it was probably not the same as the matter with Menglan.
"...It has harmed people, so we can't just let it go. However, the specifics are still unknown. If it intends to repent, we will try our best not to kill it."
"I understood during the day."
Qingjue and Jie continued forward during the day, passing through a pool of stagnant water and breaking through two stone gates.
Finally reaching the deepest part of the underground cave, Qingjue felt that the stench had almost dissipated, replaced by a faint woody fragrance.
He speculated that the prototype of this great demon might be a tree or similar plant, and perhaps it was related to the fairy girl painted on the stone wall.
Here, a winding stream flows slowly ahead, indicating that there is an exit in front of us.
Qingjue felt his spiritual power getting closer and closer, and grabbed Jie Zhoujian, saying, "Be careful, it's almost here."
Sure enough, the next second, several vines thicker than brambles broke through the wall and rushed towards them. Qingjue pulled Jie Zhoujian up and jumped on, and with a forceful push, they blasted a hole in the wall.
Qingjue felt a gaze upon him again, this time closer, but not frightening.
It must have been very tired after those few kicks.
“We really don’t want to offend anyone,” Qingjue said again, “we just want an explanation, and if there are any problems, we can discuss and resolve them.”
otherwise……
The only option left was to kill him.
Taking advantage of the demon's misfortune is immoral, but effective.
The whispers started again, this time a little clearer.
But... I can't understand what they're saying at all.
Do demons have their own language? The ones I've encountered before either couldn't speak or spoke human language.
However, she seemed to understand Qingjue's words and actually took action to remove the vines blocking the road.
The next second, the place suddenly brightened up, and flames lit up on the stone walls on both sides of the road. They were blue, demonic flames.
Qingjue put away the illuminating pearl and led Jiezhou forward.
As they approached the deepest part, Qingjue finally saw that there was a real female demon embedded in the innermost stone wall.
Her face was cracked, but you could tell that she was once beautiful. Her hair blended into the surrounding branches. She had no expression and just sat there all alone without moving. If you didn't look closely, you would think she was a stone statue, much like a deity used for blessing and worship in a temple.
Qingjue found her increasingly familiar and said in the afternoon, "...It's the fairy sister painted on the stone wall."
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