Tianque Sect, the familiar Qingluan Peak.
The night was hazy, and Lu Zhiyun’s small cottage was brightly lit.
She sat at her desk, smoothing out a piece of letter paper, and began to write slowly:
“Lord State Preceptor, I hope this letter finds you in good health. Zhiyun is here to report…”
Since entering the Tianque Sect to investigate the movements of the demonic cultivator Lin Shu, more than half a year had passed. Lu Zhiyun had already more or less figured out Lin Shu’s daily routine.
She pulled out a somewhat thick notebook from her bosom, preparing to transcribe the currently known “incriminating evidence” into the envelope to be delivered to Jiang Chenyin.
Looking at the notebook, which was almost completely filled, Lu Zhiyun let out a cold laugh. This demonic cultivator was truly deeply sinful!
He had actually done so many things without her even realizing it!
No matter!
She would transcribe it all!
“The fifth day of the fifth lunar month: The demonic cultivator Lin Shu was entrusted by Elder Pei of the neighboring Peiyun Peak to help guide the disciples in the peak on artifact refining. Unexpectedly, a senior sister made a mistake while mixing materials, causing the artifact-refining formation to explode. Fortunately, the demonic cultivator Lin Shu was present; he took action to repair the formation and ensured her safety…”
“The thirteenth day of the fifth lunar month: Some more ignorant junior brothers and sisters were swindled by Elder Chen Xin out of a total of twenty-five spirit stones. The demonic cultivator Lin Shu happened to be passing by and summoned Elder Chen Xin’s Dao companion to resolve the matter. The spirit stones have been returned in full, and Elder Chen Xin has been placed under house arrest again…”
“The first day of the sixth lunar month: Martial Aunt Lin Yingxue of Shuiyun Peak developed a new dish and invited all the disciples of Qingluan Peak to taste it, totaling over a hundred portions. In that moment between life and death, the demonic cultivator Lin Shu used his technique to swallow all the dishes. After giving a positive review and seeing Martial Aunt off, he fainted. The entirety of Qingluan Peak is infinitely grateful…”
…….
Wait, that’s not right!
Writing up to this point, Lu Zhiyun gave herself a slap.
What’s going on? Why has this turned into a “Record of Merits”?
Looking at these good deeds Lin Shu had done on the paper, and then comparing them to the words “demonic cultivator” between the lines, Lu Zhiyun only felt they were an eyesore.
As she wrote, her conscience suddenly began to ache!
She hurriedly flipped through the notebook, intending to find something to nitpick, but the results were still the same.
“Aaaaah! How did it turn out like this! If I send this over, the State Preceptor will think I’ve defected!!!” Lu Zhiyun covered her head in despair.
Just after shouting, she suddenly remembered something and nervously covered her mouth, glancing up at the person sleeping on the bed.
On the massive bed, the Sanqing Immortal was sleeping with her limbs spread out. The cool summer quilt had been kicked aside, revealing her long, fair, jade-like legs.
A pair of lotus-white arms hugged a pillow, glowing with a soft reflection under the light of the candle.
Whew!
Thank goodness she didn’t wake up!
How could she forget that the Immortal was currently living with her!
After returning to the sect a month ago, Lin Shu had handed the Sanqing Immortal over to her, instructing: “Don’t let her die from neglect…”
She had originally thought that what awaited her was the Sanqing Immortal’s strict special training, but instead, the woman spent all day wandering around with Lin Shu, only returning at night.
“Little Lu! You haven’t even reached Foundation Establishment; I’m afraid you won’t be able to learn my techniques!”
After leaving those words, the Sanqing Immortal was like a Border Collie off its leash, never to return to her duties.
“Honestly! It’s just Foundation Establishment!” Lu Zhiyun said piqued.
She knew her aptitude wasn’t great, but she also practiced diligently. She hadn’t missed a single one of the lessons Lin Shu assigned.
She had only finished studying the “Great Gan Cultivator Combat Management Regulations” last month. Supposedly, studying this course was to regulate compensation for damages caused during cultivator duels.
Now, Lu Zhiyun had mastered sword techniques on how to strike in a way that would inflict minor injuries without being fatal, yet would be incredibly painful.
She was confident that she could minimize personal property loss during a duel.
“Sigh~ It’s too hard~” Lu Zhiyun sighed.
Nearby, the Sanqing Immortal was disturbed by this sound. She murmured a few incoherent words in her sleep and turned over, tossing the pillow aside. This movement showcased a “heinous crime” that had been refined over three hundred thousand years.
Watching this scene, Lu Zhiyun glanced at herself…
She couldn’t compare at all…
“Could it be that after becoming an immortal, I can also become so… magnificent?”
“No, no! Lu Zhiyun, what are you thinking! How do you have time to worry about this? The demonic cultivator hasn’t been eliminated yet, how can I…”
“Speaking of which, it seems I haven’t drunk today’s milk yet…”
A young girl’s private thoughts were like crabapple blossoms in the middle of the night, quietly blooming in the deep dark…
…….
A few more days passed.
Still the Tianque Sect, still Qingluan Peak.
Inside the small pavilion where they first met, Lin Shu was brewing a pot of tea and chatting with the Sanqing Immortal…
Pah!
For matters involving immortal cultivators, it should be called “sitting and discussing the Dao”!
“In other words, regarding the details of that ‘War of Immortal Slaughter,’ you actually don’t remember much?”
Lin Shu handed the tea to the Sanqing Immortal and also passed her a shortbread biscuit produced by Shuiyun Peak.
“Yeah! As soon as they started fighting, I found a place to hide!” The Sanqing Immortal ate until the corners of her mouth were covered in crumbs, replying while smacking her lips: “Originally, my plan was to sleep for a few tens of thousands of years and then wake up. I figured they’d finish fighting within that time at most, but for some reason, I ended up sleeping for three hundred thousand years…”
An immortal’s lifespan was infinite. Tens of thousands of years were like the shifting of seas and mulberry fields to ordinary people, but to the Sanqing Immortal, it was just sleeping a bit longer.
“By the way, how did you come up with a cool name like the ‘War of Immortal Slaughter’ so quickly?” The Sanqing Immortal leaned her face closer, close enough for Lin Shu to see the fluttering of her eyelashes.
“Uh, I just thought of it randomly. You just need to read more books!” Lin Shu said solemnly.
The Sanqing Immortal’s eyes were full of admiration. Reading books really was useful. If it were her, she probably would have had to think for a very, very long time—maybe tens of thousands of years—to come up with such a name.
If she were forced to name it, the Sanqing Immortal could only have called that great war “The Grand Melee of Immortals: Kill Kill Kill!”
“Actually, you aren’t bad yourself, Immortal!” Lin Shu smiled. “The name you chose for the ‘Three Pure Ones One Qi Art’ is also wonderful!”
“Right? Hehehe!” The Sanqing Immortal said proudly. “Back then, I thought about the contents for a very, very long time!”
“Originally, it was all plain language, but for the sake of acting cool, I asked Little Sui to help me rewrite it!”
“Immortal, who is Little Sui?”
“Oh, oh! My good friend! She was the most well-read immortal among us! Very amazing!” The Sanqing Immortal fell into a beautiful memory, but she quickly switched back to a mournful expression. “But that girl just wouldn’t run away with me. I expect she’s already…”
Seeing that a “Void Memorial Service” was about to be held on the spot, Lin Shu decisively spoke up to interrupt.
“Ahem! That, Immortal! Could you talk about your clones?”
According to the Sanqing Immortal, the most powerful escape technique of the “Three Pure Ones One Qi Art” lay in the clones.
As long as she split a clone off, it became an independent individual. When the day came to reclaim them, she would gain all of their memories and skills.
And even if the original body died, as long as one clone survived, it could one day evolve into a new original body and be resurrected.
Of course, the most important thing was that at a critical moment, she could self-detonate to split and escape.
“If you want to talk about this, I’m not sleepy anymore!”
Her sorrow for “Little Sui” instantly dissipated by seventy or eighty percent, and the Sanqing Immortal was once again full of energy.
“Little Shu! Why do you think the ‘Three Pure Ones One Qi Art’ is called the ‘Three Pure Ones One Qi Art’?”
Regarding the title “Little Shu,” Lin Shu didn’t think much of it. Being natural was fine, so as to avoid being suspected by others.
“Hmm—since it isn’t a cultivation method for multiple spiritual roots, and it’s a clone technique…” Lin Shu pondered. “Is it ‘One Qi transforming into the Three Pure Ones,’ where one original body transforms into three clones?”
This was the literal interpretation, but considering the Immortal’s level of education, Lin Shu only dared to guess in this direction.
“Wrong!” The Sanqing Immortal waved her hand with a playful “You’re so shallow” look.
“The ‘Three Pure Ones One Qi Art’ actually has five clones!”
“Five?” Lin Shu was shocked.
How could there be so many? Had he misunderstood?
“Of course! They are the Three-Clone, the Pure-Clone, the One-Clone, the Qi-Clone, and the Art-Clone! Five of them!” The Sanqing Immortal held up her hand, exactly five fingers.
“Uh… may I ask the Immortal, why use such names?” Lin Shu asked, perplexed.
“Ahem! This dates back to the background of the Primordial Era!” The Sanqing Immortal said seriously. “Back then, five-character cultivation methods were all the rage. For example, things like ‘I Want Your Life Gong,’ ‘Curse You No Period,’ ‘You Feng Takeoff Art,’ and so on…”
Lin Shu could only feel lucky that these cultivation methods hadn’t been passed down and had been lost in the Primordial Era…
“At that time, I had just achieved my immortal body. I thought to myself, I definitely can’t have a cultivation method with such a vulgar name!”
Lin Shu nodded, agreeing completely. “So you put in the effort to check a dictionary?”
“Something like that. I found a dictionary, flipped through it randomly, and picked whichever characters looked pleasing to the eye…”
Lin Shu really wanted to complain: Could you be any more shallow?
“Later, facts proved that choosing this name was right. When I ran into those cultivators whose families had sent them to school, they all thought I only had three clones, little knowing that I actually had five.”
Hmm—it was hard to evaluate. In the end, the cultivators who fought her still suffered from being too educated!
Speaking of this, the Sanqing Immortal seemed to think of something.
“Right! Little Shu! Do you want to take me to find that Sanqing Daoist? I want to reclaim that clone!”
The Sanqing Daoist was a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator of the Tianque Sect from several thousand years ago. After dying in a duel outside, his remains were recovered by the sect elders and buried in the Tianque Sect’s forbidden grounds.
“This… could it be that the Immortal…” Lin Shu found it a bit difficult to say those two words. After all, it was too disrespectful to a senior.
“Yes! Let’s go grave robbing!” The Sanqing Immortal was full of desire for adventure.
“Ahem! This matter will be discussed later!” Lin Shu changed the subject. “We’ll wait until the Junior Sister reaches Foundation Establishment!”
Just as he finished speaking, an unusual fluctuation of spiritual qi came from the square at the summit of Qingluan Peak.
Like bamboo shoots popping up after rain, spiritual qi continuously surged out from an individual at the center of the square.
A moment later, Lu Zhiyun excitedly pushed open the door to the tea room, saying joyfully: “Senior Brother! Immortal! I’ve broken through to Foundation Establishment!”
Lin Shu rubbed his forehead, clearly somewhat helpless; the Sanqing Immortal leapt up.
“Great! Let’s go! We’re going grave robbing tonight!”