Chapter 34: The Aftermath of Ten Thousand Beast Valley

Gu Chang’an’s gaze grew even colder.

Shen Zhaoqing felt the cold sweat on her back almost turn to ice. She quickly turned to Ling Shuangjue, lowering her voice.

“Demonic Venerable, Demonic Venerable, I’m begging you!” she pleaded. “You’re so heavily injured, don’t provoke them further. Go find a place to heal quickly. The green mountains remain, and the green waters flow on. Let’s meet another day… no, no, let’s never meet again!”

Ling Shuangjue watched her, her anxiety so profound it seemed she might burst into tears at any moment. A flicker of warmth and amusement, imperceptible to others, danced within her blood-red pupils.

She seemed to relish seeing Shen Zhaoqing so worried on her behalf.

“Very well,” Ling Shuangjue agreed.

To Shen Zhaoqing’s surprise, Ling Shuangjue’s agreement was exceptionally swift. She gently tossed the Gui Niang Hu back to Shen Zhaoqing.

Shen Zhaoqing instinctively caught it. The lingering warmth on the wine gourd, however, caused her to pause for a moment.

“Shen Zhaoqing.” Ling Shuangjue gazed deeply at her, her eyes burning with an intensity that threatened to sear Shen Zhaoqing’s very soul. “Remember this Venerable One’s words.”

Having spoken, she truly ignored Gu Chang’an. Turning, her form dissolved into a faint crimson phantom, vanishing into the night of the back mountains after a few blinks.

She had arrived with arrogance, and departed… with equal audacity.

****

With Ling Shuangjue’s departure, the suffocating pressure of Demonic Energy instantly dissipated.

Yet, the temperature in the air did not rise; instead, it plunged even further.

Clutching her precious gourd, Shen Zhaoqing slowly turned to face the cold, solitary figure bathed in moonlight.

“Senior… Senior Sister…”

Her voice was as parched as if she had wandered the desert for three days and three nights.

Gu Chang’an remained silent.

She simply withdrew her hand from the sword hilt, then advanced towards Shen Zhaoqing, step by deliberate step.

Her pace was steady and slow, each footfall seeming to echo Shen Zhaoqing’s racing heartbeat.

Shen Zhaoqing was so tense she forgot to breathe.

She watched Gu Chang’an approach her, watched as she raised a hand and extended it.

‘Was she going to… slap her?’

‘Or perhaps, simply end her with a sword strike to cleanse the sect?’

Shen Zhaoqing instinctively closed her eyes.

However, the anticipated pain never came.

Instead, a hand, trembling almost imperceptibly, gently clasped her wrist.

“Come back with me,” Gu Chang’an’s voice remained devoid of discernible emotion.

The journey back was silent.

Shen Zhaoqing was pulled along like a marionette, stumbling unevenly along the mountain path.

She dared not struggle, nor dared to speak. She felt that the Gu Chang’an of this moment was a hundred times more terrifying than the Gu Chang’an who had drawn her sword moments ago.

It was the dead calm preceding a storm.

A profound, bottomless disappointment.

****

The aftermath of the Ten Thousand Beast Valley incident unfolded more rapidly and thoroughly than Shen Zhaoqing had ever imagined.

After Gu Chang’an presented irrefutable evidence—the disciples tainted by Demonic Energy and the jade slips found on the Qinghe Li family steward, which detailed their contact with the Joyful Union Sect—True Monarch Xuanweizi erupted in thunderous fury.

Once activated, the Qingyun Sect, a seemingly aloof and reclusive war machine, demonstrated astonishing efficiency.

Chief Ning Jihe of the Enforcement Hall personally led a team. Overnight, they uprooted the Qinghe Li family, who had dominated Qingzhou for centuries.

The Li family patriarch and several core elders were instantly stripped of their cultivation and cast into the sect’s dungeon, condemned to eternal imprisonment for their crimes of colluding with demonic cultivators and harming fellow disciples.

The entire cultivation world of Qingzhou trembled at the news.

At the eye of this storm, Shen Zhaoqing’s name spread throughout the entire Qingyun Sect and even across Qingzhou, in a manner she had never anticipated.

An outer disciple in the Qi Condensation Realm, a mere menial, had not only survived the perilous Ten Thousand Beast Valley. They had also, through their own efforts, exposed the Qinghe Li family’s conspiracy, protected their fellow disciples, and even… become entangled with the legendary Demonic Venerable, Ling Shuangjue.

Various versions of rumors circulated wildly among the disciples.

Some claimed she was an ancient mighty figure reincarnated, playing the pig to eat the tiger.

Others whispered that she possessed a rare treasure capable of captivating even the grand figures of both righteous and demonic paths.

Even more outlandish tales suggested she was actually the sect master’s illegitimate daughter, descending to the mortal realm for a trial.

In short, Shen Zhaoqing had become a sensation.

She had definitively bid farewell to the obscure, ‘salted fish’ life she had once yearned for.

When she returned from the Danxin Pavilion, having seen Li Wuxia’s injuries finally stabilize, and was granted special permission to go back to her small courtyard—which had been rebuilt after its destruction—she found that everything had changed.

The courtyard was still the same, even cleaner and tidier than before. The crooked old locust tree in front of the gate had been nourished with spiritual energy, sprouting several tender green shoots.

Yet, the feeling was entirely different.

As Shen Zhaoqing pushed open the courtyard gate, an invisible chill, sharp and pervasive, assailed her from all directions.

She looked up; the sky above the courtyard was clear and boundless. However, in her spiritual perception, a vast net—a net of heaven and earth—was intricately woven there.

It was a grand web, spun from countless threads of fine, pure sword intent.

This net enveloped her small courtyard, along with a ten-zhang radius around it, completely and securely.

It did no harm; in fact, it carried a protective aura. Any malicious prying would be instantly crushed by this sword intent.

At the same time, however, it isolated everything.

Like a transparent dome, it firmly trapped Shen Zhaoqing within.

Shen Zhaoqing knew, without a doubt, whose masterpiece this was.

Gu Chang’an.

Ever since that night, when she had dragged Shen Zhaoqing back from the rear mountain, Gu Chang’an had not spoken another word to her.

She hadn’t reprimanded her, nor had she punished her. She hadn’t even given her another glance.

She had merely… in this manner, declared her dominion.

A control more absolute than her previous forceful, commanding methods.

She no longer cared where Shen Zhaoqing went or whom she met. Because now, Shen Zhaoqing could go nowhere, and meet no one.

Shen Zhaoqing walked to the stone stool in the courtyard and sat down. ‘What was this supposed to be?’

Shen Zhaoqing rubbed her temples, a headache beginning to throb. With a soft creak, the courtyard gate was gently pushed open.

A young girl, clad in the robes of a Qingyun Sect outer disciple, hesitantly stepped in, carrying a covered soup bowl.

The girl’s face was still as pale as paper, her figure so delicate it seemed a gust of wind could topple her. Yet, her ink-blue eyes, upon seeing Shen Zhaoqing, lit up with astonishing brilliance.

Li Wuxia’s injuries had mostly healed under the full care of the Danxin Pavilion. Due to her “meritorious service in protecting the Qingyun Sect” during the incident, and being a victim of the Qinghe Li family’s conspiracy herself, True Monarch Xuanweizi granted her special leniency.

She was pardoned and allowed to remain within the sect for observation, assigned to the outer sect under Shen Zhaoqing’s “supervision.”

“Senior… Senior Sister.”

Li Wuxia’s voice, still weak from her illness, was soft and sweet, like a startled kitten.

She carefully placed the soup bowl on the stone table and opened the lid. A rich medicinal aroma, mingled with the fresh scent of spiritual herbs, instantly permeated the air.

“This is… this is soup I begged the Senior Brothers at Danxin Pavilion to brew for you, using spirit herbs to strengthen your foundation and nourish your essence. You… you must have been utterly exhausted recently.”

As she spoke, her large, dewy eyes fixed on Shen Zhaoqing.

“Thank you,” Shen Zhaoqing said dryly, picking up the bowl and taking a symbolic sip.

The soup was delicious, warm and smooth on her tongue. It transformed into a comforting warmth that considerably eased her tense body from the past few days.

Seeing her drink, Li Wuxia’s face broke into a contented smile. She naturally sat down beside Shen Zhaoqing, the distance between them shrinking instantly until they were almost touching.

“Senior Sister,” she whispered softly. “From now on, let me take care of you. I… I can do anything.”