Chapter 15: Life and Death

Pitter-patter.

Pitter-patter.

A misty light rain began to fall from the sky.

The marketplace, which had been crowded and bustling not long ago, now held only Chu Fan.

He walked through the streets like a living corpse.

Beady raindrops beat against his face, sliding down his cheeks.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of wet footsteps splashing behind him.

He instinctively turned around.

“Master! Wait for me!”

Looking at Chu Lingshuang as she ran toward him, the dull light in Chu Fan’s eyes gradually brightened.

The flicker of hope deep within his heart, which had almost been extinguished, showed signs of reigniting.

But in the next moment, his expression froze as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Behind Chu Lingshuang followed another person.

It was the girl Yun Dai had brought.

Somehow, she had managed to run up behind Chu Lingshuang without making a sound.

She drew a short dagger.

Purple liquid dripped from the blade, clearly coated in a lethal poison.

‘How could this be happening?’

Even if she had been deceived, the only person she should hate was him.

She shouldn’t have any killing intent toward Chu Lingshuang.

Then Chu Fan suddenly remembered something.

He looked left and right, eventually spotting something under a tree 100 meters away.

He saw Yun Dai smiling, locking eyes with him.

Turning his head back, Chu Fan saw the poisoned dagger about to strike Chu Lingshuang’s vital organs from behind.

He shot forward like a bolt.

“Master!?”

“Shuang’er! Get down!”

With her mind gone blank, Chu Lingshuang instinctively obeyed Chu Fan’s command.

She quickly crouched down.

Immediately after, she saw Chu Fan deliver a flying kick that sent the girl behind her flying, embedding her body into a nearby wall.

“Master, what are you doing!?”

Chu Lingshuang hurried to the girl’s side.

Chu Fan looked indifferent.

He was certain he had controlled his strength; at the moment the girl hit the wall, he had even coated her body with a thin film of energy, enough to cushion the impact.

“She… she’s dead! Master! You killed her! Why!?”

“What?”

Although he didn’t care about the girl’s death, Chu Fan walked over in confusion.

He looked down and saw a centipede that was becoming transparent next to the girl’s corpse.

‘A Thousand-Legged Prism?’

Chu Fan looked up again and saw the direction the centipede was crawling.

It was heading toward the tree where Yun Dai stood.

The Thousand-Legged Prism was a venomous beast that someone with Chu Lingshuang’s level of cultivation could not see.

The girl must have been killed by that Thousand-Legged Prism, but how could Chu Fan explain it?

Could he say a venomous insect she couldn’t see had killed her?

Even when her bones had mysteriously shattered?

As long as the dosage was controlled, the poison could make a human body as fragile as a cracker.

That was the terrifying power of the Thousand-Legged Prism’s toxicity.

“Master! Answer me! Why did you kill her!?”

Chu Lingshuang screamed at the top of her lungs.

Because of the girl’s clothing, she was reminded of her own most difficult times, causing her to feel an involuntary surge of sympathy.

Even if the girl held a deep grudge against Chu Fan, as long as she didn’t threaten his life, Chu Lingshuang wouldn’t have done anything to her.

During this year of studying immortal cultivation, Chu Lingshuang had even awakened a certain aspiration.

She wanted to be a rogue cultivator like Chu Fan, wandering the world and upholding justice.

She wanted to save more people like herself who were in trouble.

But now?

Someone so similar to her had died right in front of her, and the person who killed her was her most respected Master.

Chu Fan said nothing.

Chu Lingshuang continued to press him: “Is it… true… Master… do you really intend to kill everyone…?”

“What did you say?”

The flame in Chu Fan’s heart flickered weakly again, as if it would vanish the moment the wind blew.

“Then say it! Tell me why you killed her!”

“……”

“With Master’s cultivation, let alone ten, even 100 of her couldn’t have harmed you. What reason did you have to kill her!?”

“Master, say something! Speak to me!”

Chu Fan remained silent.

“Please, Master…” Chu Lingshuang’s voice became choked with sobs, raindrops sliding down her cheeks.

“If you just say… that you’re innocent… I’ll believe you… okay…?”

“Fine… since you won’t speak… I’ll see for myself… I’ll see if your heart… is truly black…”

Chu Lingshuang slowly drew the precious sword from her waist.

It was one of the apprenticeship gifts Chu Fan had given her.

“Shuang’er, what are you doing?”

“I am following my Master’s teachings — to act on behalf of Heaven!”

Chu Lingshuang took a stance, her aura erupting as she began to clash with Chu Fan.

The flame in the rain grew weaker and weaker until Chu Lingshuang gripped her sword with both hands and let out a great shout: “If Master wants my heart, then come and take it yourself!”

A misty white chill began to emanate from Chu Lingshuang’s body.

Chu Fan recognized it as the Bingxin Yingyue Sword Art he had taught her.

It had a total of nine realms.

Previously, she could only stagnate at the 1st Realm, but he hadn’t expected her to awaken the 2nd Realm under these circumstances.

It must have been the influence of extreme emotions that allowed her to achieve this.

While marveling at Chu Lingshuang’s talent, the last flicker of flame in Chu Fan’s heart went out.

He watched Chu Lingshuang charge toward him with her sword and stood still, not moving an inch.

Squelch

The sensation of the sword hilt piercing through flesh traveled up the blade.

Chu Lingshuang’s eyes widened in shock.

“Ma… Master!”

“Heh…”

Chu Fan let out a weak, bitter laugh.

“Master! Why… why didn’t you defend yourself!? Why!?”

Though Chu Lingshuang was furious, Chu Fan could see that there was no killing intent in her eyes.

He realized that she was just looking for an excuse to let him kill her.

She likely couldn’t handle this changing world anymore.

She didn’t want her most respected Master to be a villain.

Rather than discovering that truth, she would rather die herself.

Hearing Chu Lingshuang’s questioning, Chu Fan didn’t answer.

Instead, he reached out toward her face.

Chu Lingshuang’s body retreated uncontrollably until she hit the wall, with nowhere left to go.

She watched his hand get closer and closer, closing her eyes in fear.

But that hand only landed gently on Chu Lingshuang’s head, stroking it softly.

Just like on the day she had become his disciple.

“Shuang… er……”

Chu Fan’s chin rested weakly on Chu Lingshuang’s shoulder as he whispered into her ear.

“You… have graduated……”

Thud

Chu Fan’s body fell to the ground.

His breathing grew faint, and his pupils gradually dulled.

Chu Lingshuang stared blankly.

It wasn’t until Chu Fan’s life force had completely vanished that her body tensed up, and she pulled the sword from his chest.

Then, Chu Lingshuang took off the necklace around her neck — the very thing Chu Fan had warned her never to let leave her side.

She placed the necklace next to Chu Fan, pursed her lips tightly, and turned to walk away.

….

Chu Lingshuang was undoubtedly brought back to the Tianxuan Sect by Yun Dai.

One day, because she had some questions for the Sect Master, who also possessed an extreme cold constitution, she went to the main hall without a word.

But outside the hall, she overheard something else.

“Yun Dai, how did you get that child into the sect? I see she has a good foundation; she must have had her own master,” Jun Lin asked majestically from her seat as the Sect Master.

“The Sect Master is correct. That girl did have her own master.”

“Speaking of her and her master, they were a pair with a very good relationship. Unfortunately…”

“Unfortunately what?”

“With a little trickery from this old man… heh, you understand.”

“How did you do it? I’d like to hear.”

“Actually, I didn’t do much. The main issue was that master of hers; he didn’t seem to like defending himself, and that disciple was pathetically stupid.”

“I simply picked up a little beggar on the road, used a Thousand-Legged Prism to plant a non-existent memory in her, and tricked her by saying that if she killed Chu Lingshuang, her non-existent parents could be resurrected. She rushed in with a head full of passion.”

“And guess what? That stupid disciple actually killed her own master.”

“That master was at least at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage and an expert in artifact refining. If we had truly fought, I would definitely be no match for him. But that master was also a fool, actually letting his disciple kill him without any defense. It’s truly laughable, hahahahaha!”

“But how did you know he had the Heaven Pivot Cauldron?”

“Since the Sect Master also knows of the Heaven Pivot Cauldron, you must know there is only one in this world — a divine cauldron born of heaven and earth. But does the Sect Master know that this divine cauldron born of heaven and earth actually comes in a pair of Yin and Yang?”

“A pair?”

Under Jun Lin’s questioning gaze, Yun Dai slowly summoned a massive cauldron from his storage ring, which was entwined by a nine-headed black snake.

“This is the Earth Fiend Cauldron I obtained by chance. Perhaps that kid just had bad luck.”

“The holder of the Earth Fiend Cauldron can see the Imperial Dragon Qi residing within the holder of the Heaven Pivot Cauldron. However, because the nature of the Heaven Pivot Cauldron is upright and open, while the Earth Fiend is sinister and cunning, the holder of the Heaven Pivot Cauldron cannot detect the Serpent Venom Qi on the Earth Fiend’s holder.”

Suddenly, Yun Dai pulled a pendant from his robe.

“Sect Master, look again. What is this?”

“Hmm? This is…”

“This is the accessory that foolish boy gave to Chu Lingshuang. Don’t be fooled by its ordinary stone appearance. If you pry it open, inside is…”

Yun Dai cracked the stone open, revealing an ice-blue, gem-like object.

The moment she saw it, Jun Lin’s eyes widened.

“This… this is!?”

“This is precisely what is recorded in ancient texts — the Sky-tier gem that can allow the Ice Phoenix Heart to completely merge with its host: the Water-Sky One Heart.”

“Heaven knows how much effort that fool put into that girl, but the result was… pfft, hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!”

Boom!

The doors of the main hall were blown open.

Chu Lingshuang appeared at the entrance, her eyes bloodshot and her teeth bleeding from being clenched so hard.

“Yun Dai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”