Chapter 78: The Unyielding Sword and the Enigmatic Healer

No one knew what transpired behind that door.

They only knew that half an hour later, Gu Chang’an emerged from the room, carrying Shen Zhaoqing.

Gu Chang’an had changed out of her blood-soaked attire, now clad in a pristine, snow-patterned sword robe.

Yet, her eyes were so crimson they seemed to weep blood. A frigid aura enveloped her, more piercing than the coldest winds of the northern wastes. Any who dared approach were repelled by an invisible sword intent.

She remained silent, utterly disregarding True Monarch Xuanweizi, who had rushed over upon hearing the news. She ignored all the elders and fellow disciples. Clutching the person whose life hung in the balance, she walked, step by deliberate step, toward the forbidden grounds of the Qingyun Sect—the Sword Tomb.

It was her usual sanctuary for secluded cultivation.

“Chang’an, what are you doing?!” Xuanweizi exclaimed, a mix of shock and fury in his voice, as he attempted to block her path.

Gu Chang’an’s steps did not falter; she merely cast a cold glance at him.

“Master, if she perishes, I will make this entire Qingyun Sect her funerary offering.”

With these words, a declaration tantamount to abandoning her sect, her figure vanished at the end of the stone steps leading deep into the Sword Tomb.

Xuanweizi stood frozen, his face cycling through shades of green and white.

He watched the resolute retreating figure of his most cherished disciple, feeling the mad sword intent that intertwined grief and destruction. He began to doubt his ability to control the unfolding situation.

****

For several days thereafter, the entire Qingyun Sect was shrouded in a pall of sorrow and dread.

The sect’s most gifted disciple, the future successor to the sect leader, had openly defied her Master for an outer sect junior sister, locking herself away in the Sword Tomb.

As for that outer sect junior sister, she suffered from a rare and peculiar injury, her life hanging by a thread, a condition even the Chief of the Pill Hall found himself powerless to treat.

This news spread like wildfire across the seventy-two peaks of Qingyun.

Outside the Sword Tomb, the frigid aura intensified daily. Initially, only the stone steps were frosted. Three days later, the entire mountain peak was covered in a thin layer of ice, and all nearby vegetation withered and died.

Some disciples attempted to approach, but before they could even ascend the stone steps, the piercing cold sword intent caused their Divine Souls excruciating pain, forcing them to retreat in disarray.

It seemed Gu Chang’an intended to transform that mountain peak into an isolated island of ice and snow, cut off from the world, using her sword intent.

She believed her own sword had harmed Shen Zhaoqing, and so she had confined herself, repeatedly circulating the Supreme Forgetfulness Sword Art.

She had failed to protect her; instead, she had become the hand that pushed her into the abyss.

This realization shattered Gu Chang’an’s Dao Heart more profoundly than any demonic attack ever could.

True Monarch Xuanweizi made several attempts to reach the Sword Tomb, but each time he was repelled by the icy sword intent that rejected all intrusion.

He even used the Sect Leader’s token to try and forcibly break through the barrier, only to discover that Gu Chang’an’s sword intent had merged with the Sword Tomb’s grand array, rendering it utterly impregnable.

All the alchemists sighed despairingly over Shen Zhaoqing’s ‘case.’ They scoured ancient texts, yet found no similar instance.

The dual essences of immortal and demonic energy coexisted within her body, like opposing horns, mutually reinforcing and restraining each other, forming a perfect, deadly cycle. It was a condition that could neither be unraveled nor touched.

****

As dusk descended, the setting sun’s afterglow gilded the sea of clouds with a gentle, golden hue.

A magnificent immortal skiff, unlike anything of the mortal realm, silently pierced through the thick cloud layers and slowly docked outside the Qingyun Sect’s mountain gate.

The vessel was not large, yet it was exquisitely crafted. Its hull was fashioned from a translucent, seemingly breathing, glazed crystal, shimmering with a seven-colored halo under the twilight sun. Five-colored corals from the depths of the East Sea adorned its gunwales and mast. Its sails were made of incredibly light and thin mermaid silk, fluttering gracefully like skirt hems even without wind.

The entire skiff resembled a masterpiece of unparalleled artistry, hovering serenely, a stark contrast to the ancient, solemn jade mountain gate of the Qingyun Sect.

The mountain-guarding disciples stared in awe; they had never witnessed such a luxurious and beautiful immortal skiff.

The aura emanating from this ship was profoundly different from the Qingyun Sect’s aloofness, the Demonic Domain’s tyranny, or the Demon Kingdom’s wildness.

It was an essence of unblemished warmth and vitality.

At the bow of the ship, a woman in white stood quietly.

She wore a plain white immortal gown, overlaid with a transparent medicinal robe embroidered with subtle patterns of a hundred herbs. Her long, silver-blue hair cascaded like a moonlit waterfall to her waist. Her skin, almost transparent in the sunset, was flawlessly pale. Her gentle eyes, like autumn waters, seemed to hold the world’s most poignant benevolence.

At her waist, a string of silver bells chimed with a crisp, melodious sound on one side, while on the other hung a palm-sized, exquisitely crafted white jade mini-furnace. A faint glow flickered within the furnace, emitting waves of refreshing herbal fragrance.

She simply stood there, a perfectly poised smile gracing her lips.

“I am Bai Zhileng of the Penglai Immortal Palace, dispatched by our Palace Lord, Holy Master Yaoguang, to pay my respects to True Monarch Xuanweizi, the Sect Leader of the Qingyun Sect.”

Penglai Immortal Palace!

At the mention of that name, the hearts of all the disciples shook violently.

That was a legendary ancient sect, said to be secluded above the East Sea. It was rumored they wielded the most mysterious legacies of alchemy and medicine, their disciples rarely setting foot on the mainland. Their status was transcendent, even surpassing the Three Pure Dao Alliance.

The mountain-guarding disciples dared not be negligent. One swiftly ran up the mountain to report, while the other respectfully bowed and saluted: “So it is Holy Maiden Bai Zhileng. Please forgive our ignorance. However, our sect’s mountain gate array is currently closed. We ask the Holy Maiden to kindly wait.”

Bai Zhileng maintained her gentle smile, a warmth that made one feel as if bathed in a spring breeze. “It is no matter; it is as it should be.”

The news quickly reached the Yuqing Hall.

Xuanweizi, who had been brooding over Gu Chang’an’s situation, shot up from his seat when he heard the words “Penglai Immortal Palace.”

When he, accompanied by several core elders, hurried to the mountain gate and personally witnessed the glazed immortal skiff and the ethereal woman in white at its bow, his suspicion deepened.

“I, Xuanweizi, am truly sorry for not welcoming the Holy Maiden from afar. I hope you will forgive my oversight.” Xuanweizi bowed in greeting, his demeanor polite, yet his eyes filled with caution.

The Penglai Immortal Palace had been isolated from the world for ten thousand years. Why would they suddenly send a Holy Maiden today?

Bai Zhileng curtsied gracefully. “Sect Leader True Monarch, you are too kind. Zhileng has come to deliver a message from my Master, Holy Master Yaoguang.”

With a flick of her delicate hand, a letter sealed within a jade slip and a warm, verdant jade token flew steadily towards Xuanweizi.

Xuanweizi accepted them, his Divine Sense sweeping over the jade token. His pupils abruptly contracted.

‘It’s a Longevity Jade!’

The token of the Penglai Palace Lord, genuine and authentic.

He suppressed the shock in his heart, unrolled the jade slip, and immersed his Divine Sense within it.

Moments later, he raised his head, his expression becoming incredibly complex.

The letter’s content was simple: Holy Master Yaoguang stated that she had observed the celestial phenomena at night and sensed an anomaly in the heart of the continent, fearing the rampant spread of a peculiar ailment that ordinary medicine could not cure.

Upholding the ancient healers’ spirit of healing the world, she specifically dispatched her personal disciple, Bai Zhileng, to enter the mortal realm and travel the world. Should an incurable disease be encountered, she was willing to offer aid, fulfilling the Dao of medicine.

This explanation was grand, proper, and utterly watertight.

Xuanweizi’s mind involuntarily conjured Shen Zhaoqing’s ashen face, as well as Dan Chenzi’s definitive pronouncement: “Even immortals cannot save her.”

He glanced at Dan Chenzi beside him, whose face was equally solemn. Dan Chenzi was staring intently at the small Longevity Furnace hanging from Bai Zhileng’s waist, his eyes filled with shock and yearning. As an alchemist, he understood better than anyone what that signified.

It represented the pinnacle of contemporary alchemical heritage.

“I have read the Holy Maiden’s letter.” Xuanweizi pondered for a moment before slowly speaking, “But I wonder, what precisely does the ‘peculiar ailment of the world’ that the Holy Maiden refers to mean?”

He was probing.

Bai Zhileng maintained her gentle, harmless smile, as if she hadn’t detected the wariness in Xuanweizi’s words.

Her gaze drifted, seemingly inadvertently sweeping over the distant Sword Tomb mountain peak, shrouded in cold air. She spoke softly, “For instance… the coexistence of immortal and demonic energies, like water and fire, forming a deadly stalemate within a cultivator’s body. Does the Qingyun Sect’s alchemy have a solution for such an ailment?”

At that instant, Xuanweizi’s and Dan Chenzi’s expressions changed drastically.