Chapter 87: The Malicious Calamity

Bai Zhileng remained as gentle and beautiful as ever. The calming soup in her hands still exuded a delicate fragrance.

“What’s wrong, Junior Sister Zhaoqing? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?” she asked, her voice laced with concern upon seeing Shen Zhaoqing’s pale face.

Shen Zhaoqing’s heart thrashed wildly in her chest, threatening to leap from her throat.

She finally understood.

She finally grasped why confronting this seemingly “normal” person instilled a deeper, more profound fear in her than facing Gu Chang’an’s sword, Ling Shuangjue’s saber, or Yuange’s arrows.

But she couldn’t panic.

Absolutely not.

Taking a deep breath, she forcibly suppressed the tumultuous terror churning within her. She compelled her already stiff face to contort into a weak, apologetic smile.

“N-nothing, it’s just… I suddenly felt a little dizzy just now.”

The excuse was perfectly plausible.

The concern in Bai Zhileng’s eyes deepened. She extended her other hand, lightly touching Shen Zhaoqing’s forehead with cool fingertips.

“It seems you still have a slight fever. Quickly drink this bowl of calming soup; a good night’s sleep will set everything right.”

Shen Zhaoqing lowered her gaze, her long eyelashes concealing the raging turmoil in her eyes. Only a docile shadow remained.

“…Thank you, Senior Sister.”

She obediently opened her mouth, accepting the spoon of soup Bai Zhileng brought to her lips.

The warm, lotus-scented broth slid down her throat. Shen Zhaoqing drank it all, spoonful by spoonful, until the bowl was completely empty.

“Such a good girl.”

Watching her finish, Bai Zhileng smiled with satisfaction. She reached out and gently wiped the corner of Shen Zhaoqing’s mouth with the cleanest part of her sleeve.

Under her touch, Shen Zhaoqing’s body involuntarily trembled slightly.

“Alright, I’ll help you back to your room to rest.” Bai Zhileng put away the jade bowl, stood up, and naturally extended her hand.

“No need,” Shen Zhaoqing said.

Bai Zhileng’s movements paused, and a flicker of almost imperceptible scrutiny crossed her gentle eyes.

Shen Zhaoqing’s heart leaped into her throat as her mind raced.

‘I want to sit a little longer,’ she thought. She lowered her head, her voice becoming very soft, tinged with a maidenly shyness. ‘The sun here is so warm; I want to breathe some fresh air outside.’

“Very well, then sit a little longer,” Bai Zhileng instructed. “But don’t stay out too long. Return to your room as soon as the wind picks up, understand?”

“Mm.” Shen Zhaoqing mumbled in assent, like a cat being stroked.

Bai Zhileng cast another deep glance at her before turning. She carried the empty bowl and departed with elegant steps.

It wasn’t until that moon-white figure completely vanished around the corner of the moon gate that Shen Zhaoqing suddenly collapsed back onto the lounge chair, as if all her strength had been drained.

Cold sweat had already drenched her back.

She spread open her palm. The Illusion-Shattering Demonic Eye still lay quietly there, its icy touch slightly calming her chaotic mind.

She looked at the demonic eye, then gazed up at the bright, dazzling sun overhead.

‘It turns out the most terrifying ghost in this world isn’t hidden in dark corners,’ she realized, ‘but rather cloaked in the warmest sunlight, smiling at you most gently.’

Shen Zhaoqing slowly closed her eyes.

The low fever hadn’t receded, and her head throbbed, making it almost impossible to think. Shen Zhaoqing felt as though she had forgotten something crucial.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, Shen Zhaoqing couldn’t recall it. Gradually, the terrifying cauldron formed from ten thousand vengeful souls and Bai Zhileng’s flawless, gentle smiling face overlapped in her mind.

‘Never mind.’

‘Now that I know the truth, this seemingly docile and harmless prey must find its fangs to strike back before being completely devoured.’

Ever since that day, when she glimpsed the phantom cauldron composed of myriad wronged souls behind Bai Zhileng, Shen Zhaoqing could no longer face this Immortal Bai as she had before.

Running was impossible. Should she try to spread the news that ‘she intends to use me for alchemy’?

But to whom should she convey it?

Junior Sister Wuxia was gravely injured. Although Shen Zhaoqing had received letters from her junior sister while in the Northern Territory, she couldn’t help but worry without seeing her with her own eyes.

She heard that Senior Sister Gu had been confined by the Sect Master and had suffered severe injuries from saving her earlier.

Shen Zhaoqing recalled the retreating figures of Yuange and Ling Shuangjue. The Demonic Venerable and the little princess… the Demonic Domain and the Demonic Realm were swamped with problems; it was better not to bother them.

‘Sigh…’ Shen Zhaoqing sighed in despair.

Just as she was wallowing in her solitary distress, a hurried, almost running footsteps, accompanied by heavy panting, broke the tranquility of Tingxue Residence, approaching from afar.

“This is bad, this is bad! Something terrible has happened!!!”

A young boy’s voice, tinged with a cry, pierced the leisurely afternoon.

Shen Zhaoqing’s eyes snapped open. She saw a boy, seemingly no older than fifteen or sixteen, dressed in Qingyun Sect outer disciple robes, scrambling into the courtyard. His face was bloodless, his lips trembled, and his eyes were filled with an almost overflowing terror.

Tingxue Residence was Bai Zhileng’s abode, and the sect had decreed that no one was to trespass or disturb her. This young disciple’s extreme discomposure clearly indicated an event of immense gravity.

Almost simultaneously, Bai Zhileng’s figure quietly appeared from behind the moon gate. She furrowed her beautiful brows, a hint of displeasure at being disturbed on her face, yet her tone remained gentle: “What causes such alarm?”

The moment the outer disciple saw Bai Zhileng, it was as if he had found his anchor, or perhaps a lifeline. He dropped to his knees with a thud, his voice trembling uncontrollably:

“Senior, Senior Sister Bai, down… down the mountain, something has happened! So many senior and junior brothers have collapsed! It’s like… like their souls have been sucked out by a ghost!”

Shen Zhaoqing’s heart sank, and an ominous premonition surged within her.

Bai Zhileng’s expression instantly became solemn. She quickly stepped forward to help the disciple up, her words quick yet composed: “Don’t rush, speak slowly. What exactly is going on?”

As the outer disciple incoherently recounted the events, a terrifying scene slowly unfolded in Shen Zhaoqing’s mind.

The trouble had begun three days prior.

Within the Qing Realm, in several mortal towns near the Black Wind Mountain Range, strange occurrences first appeared. Some mortals who regularly dealt with spirit stone mines, or families with low-level cultivators, began to become inexplicably dazed and disoriented.

Initially, everyone assumed it was either an evil curse or simple overwork. However, the situation quickly spiraled out of control.

Similar symptoms emerged and spread to the Qingyun Sect’s stationed outer disciples. These Qi Induction Realm and Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators first felt their spiritual energy inexplicably dissipate, unable to condense no matter how they meditated. Following this, their minds also began to blur, their memories became confused, and they would sometimes burst into laughter, sometimes into tears, as if they had gone mad.

The most terrifying stage was the final one.

These patients would completely lose all their faculties within a few days. Their eyes would become hollow and lifeless, showing no reaction to anything in the outside world. They would neither eat nor drink, neither speak nor move, sitting or lying quietly like living corpses still breathing, until their bodily functions completely failed and they died.

Throughout this entire process, their bodies bore no injuries, and their meridians remained perfectly intact.

What vanished was their ‘soul.’

Upon receiving the news, the Qingyun Sect immediately dispatched a medical team composed of inner disciples to provide treatment. The Sect Master even personally ordered the opening of the pill repository, sending down various spirit pills and miraculous medicines for calming the mind and stabilizing the soul in a continuous flow.

However, everything proved futile.

All the pills consumed were like stones sinking into the sea, eliciting no reaction whatsoever. Various Heart-Cleansing Incantations and Soul-Stabilizing Arts, when cast, were like playing a zither to an ox, failing to stir even a ripple.

Even more despairing was the fact that some disciples who went to provide aid began to show early symptoms of mental disorientation after coming into contact with the patients.

That bizarre ‘illness’ was contagious.

Panic, like a wildfire across the plains, instantly swept through the entire Qingzhou. This was no longer a simple ‘evil curse’; it was an incurable plague targeting cultivators.

Innumerable anxious mortals and low-level cultivators, dragging their families, frantically rushed towards Qingyun Mountain. In their hearts, this immortal mountain, standing for ten thousand years, was their last refuge, and the Qingyun Sect’s mountain-protecting array was a barrier against all calamities.

For a time, the foot of Qingyun Mountain was overflowing with people, their cries and pleas shaking heaven and earth.

Listening to the outer disciple’s tearful account, Shen Zhaoqing felt a chill rise from the depths of her heart.

A plague that targeted only cultivators, specifically attacked the divine soul, and was also contagious…

This sounded less like a natural disaster and more like a man-made catastrophe. Furthermore, it was a long-premeditated and utterly malicious human calamity.