X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the Server“Pfft—!”
Another mouthful of heartblood sprayed out. Yao Guang’s aura completely withered. Her eyes rolled back, and she was directly fainted from rage.
A mighty Dao Integration realm cultivator, the master of Penglai Immortal Palace, withdrew from the stage in such a humiliating manner.
This was no longer mere cultivation.
This was… a Law!
An absolute suppression that overrode all rules…
Shen Zhaoqing toyed with the small tripod in her hand, smooth as jade. She flicked the tripod’s body, producing a crisp “ding”.
“Good quality, nice feel.” She nodded with mock seriousness, then looked up at Ling Shuangjue and the others, grinning. “I just wonder if it’s sturdy enough, if it can withstand a fall.”
Her gaze slowly swept across the entire battlefield, taking in the collapsed altar, the cracked earth, the “Welcoming Guest” pine that had revived, and Bai Zhiling kneeling on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
Finally, her vision seemed to pierce through the endless void, looking towards some unknown corner beyond the Eastern Sea.
There, she could feel a pair of eyes calmly watching everything happening here.
Yan Wusheng.
An unprecedented, bone-chilling fury burned once again from the depths of her soul.
Why?
Why did you high-and-mighty ones treat others’ fates like chess pieces, moving them at will? Why did your so-called grand plans and heavenly secrets have to use my life as a stepping stone?
The path to ascension was severed, the Heavenly Dao collapsed—what did that have to do with me?
Fine.
Since you all don’t want me to have it easy, then no one will have it easy!
Shen Zhaoqing withdrew her gaze. She took a deep breath, as if inhaling all the resentment and anger from heaven and earth into her chest.
Then she moved.
Step by step, she walked in front of Bai Zhiling.
Bai Zhiling’s entire body stiffened. She could feel an indescribable, terrifying pressure locking onto her. It wasn’t a suppression of spiritual power, but…
it was as if she was facing not a person, but a sky, a Dao.
And she was just an insignificant speck of dust in this world.
“Sh… Senior Sister…”
Bai Zhiling raised her head with difficulty. Her face, always adorned with a gentle smile, was now pale and terrified. She wanted to say something, but her throat seemed gripped by an invisible hand, unable to utter a single word.
Shen Zhaoqing looked down at her, as if looking at a stranger utterly unrelated to herself.
“Saintess Bai,” she said slowly, her voice flat.
“I heard your medical skills are unparalleled in the world, able to revive the dead and regrow flesh and bone?”
Bai Zhiling trembled even more violently, not understanding why Shen Zhaoqing suddenly asked this.
But Shen Zhaoqing didn’t wait for an answer; she continued on her own: “You saved my life, that’s true.”
“Then you sealed my memories, locked my emotions, dragged me back to this island like an animal, and prepared to have your master refine me into a pill.”
“You saved me so you could kill me better.”
She leaned in close to Bai Zhiling’s ear, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear:
“Bai Zhiling, tell me…”
“Is this the benevolent heart of a healer from Penglai Immortal Palace?”
“I… I didn’t…”
Bai Zhiling’s tears burst forth. She shook her head frantically, trying to defend herself, but found all words futile.
Yes. No matter how many hardships or helplessness she had, she had personally pushed this person into an abyss of eternal damnation.
That was an indisputable fact.
Shen Zhaoqing straightened up, her face resuming that lazy expression.
“Never mind. It’s useless talking to a hypocritical saint like you whose head is stuck in the clouds.” She curled her lip, as if losing all interest. “What you owe me, I’ll collect bit by bit, with interest, in the future.”
“Now…”
She paused, turning back to look at the three women with similarly complex expressions.
“Let’s settle… your accounts.”
Gu Chang’an, Ling Shuangjue, and Luan Ge’s hearts tightened simultaneously.
What was coming had finally arrived.
They could face Yao Guang, the Dao Integration realm master, could face the siege of the entire Penglai Immortal Palace, could even face the tribulation of the Heavenly Dao.
But this…
“Zhaoqing, I…” Gu Chang’an spoke first.
In truth, she knew very well that she had also played a significant role in driving Shen Zhaoqing to this point.
If not for her imprisonment under the guise of protection, if not for her damned “Severing Heaven’s Heart Seal”…
“You what?” Shen Zhaoqing interrupted her rudely, arms crossed. “Senior Sister Gu, look at yourself now. Where is the style of the number one sword immortal of Qingyun Sect? Anyone would think our sect has turned to begging.”
Gu Chang’an’s face instantly flushed crimson.
“And you.” Shen Zhaoqing’s gaze shifted to Ling Shuangjue. “Demon Lord, weren’t you saying before that you wanted to tie me up and lock me in your rear garden of the Ten Thousand Blood Palace? How is it now that you can’t even break free from a few measly vines, and got yourself beaten until you coughed blood?”
Ling Shuangjue’s face, always bearing a hint of sinister smile, was now ashen.
Finally, Luan Ge.
Before Shen Zhaoqing could speak, Luan Ge gritted her teeth and said fiercely: “Shen Zhaoqing! Don’t go too far! Who did we become like this for?”
“For whom?”
Shen Zhaoqing laughed as if hearing the greatest joke. She stepped forward, staring into Luan Ge’s eyes. Her heterochromatic pupils gleamed with a cold, sharp light.
“For me?”
“Did you ask my opinion?”
“Gu Chang’an, you talk about protecting me, but instead you locked me and everything of yours under your sword domain. Is that your protection?”
“Ling Shuangjue, you said I was your medicine, wanted to take me away, but you treated me as a rare treasure to satisfy your twisted collection addiction! Is that your affection?”
“And you! A senseless hunting game dragged me into your beast clan’s mess, almost got me killed in the Northern Territories! Is that your gratitude?”
With each accusation, she took a step forward.
“Every single one of you, under the banner of loving me and doing what’s best for me, did nothing but impose your own pathetic, selfish, distorted desires onto me!”
“Has any of you ever truly asked me…”
“What do I want?”
The last sentence was almost shouted. The voice contained endless grievance, anger, and… exhaustion.
Gu Chang’an, Ling Shuangjue, and Luan Ge all turned pale.
Yes.
It seemed they had truly never asked.
Seeing their despondent expressions, Shen Zhaoqing felt the anger in her chest ease slightly. She let out a long breath, feeling the whole world become clearer.
She rubbed her aching brow and resumed her lazy, dead-fish-eyed expression.
“Alright.” She waved her hand.
“We have plenty of time to settle the accounts later.”
“Now…”
Her gaze fell again on the fainted Yao Guang and the trembling Penglai disciples behind her who could barely stand.
A slowly spreading smile curled at the corner of her mouth, a smile that made everyone’s hair stand on end.
“Now, it’s time to collect interest.”
“Penglai Immortal Palace, right?”
“You’ve been refining me as a medicine ingredient for so long. You should at least pay some… mental damages and energy consumption fees, right?”
The excitement doesn't stop here! If you enjoyed this, you’ll adore This Card Cannot Be Removed. Start reading now!
Read : This Card Cannot Be Removed
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂