Regarding Chen Xiaoyan.
Shen Qingqing discovered that whenever it came to her, she easily lost control of her emotions.
‘Why am I so angry when I hear about this girl being close to other disciples?’
‘Is it for the reputation of the Tianxiang Sect?’
‘Or is it because she is my disciple, and it will affect my own reputation?’
It was likely neither of these two options.
‘Then what is it?’
At this moment, a flash of panic crossed Shen Qingqing’s eyes. With a fearful expression, she glanced at the still-unconscious Chen Xiaoyan.
She turned away, pressing a hand to her forehead and shaking her head repeatedly.
‘Impossible, absolutely impossible.’
‘How could I, the Sect Leader, have feelings for a little girl?’
‘Based on age, calling me her grandmother would be an understatement. How could I develop feelings for a junior?’
‘Besides, we are both women.’
“Oh, are you still lying to yourself, Shen Qingqing?”
“Who is it?”
Shen Qingqing stood up, her gaze coldly sweeping across the room. There was no one?
Closing her eyes, she expanded her Divine Sense. In the vicinity of the Tianxin Pavilion, there was no one other than passing disciples of the Heavenly Fragrance.
‘Could it be a Thousand Mile Voice Transmission?’
No, the voice sounded as if it were right next to her ear; it didn’t seem like a Thousand Mile Voice Transmission.
A Thousand Mile Voice Transmission was delivered directly into the mind and wouldn’t sound in the surrounding air.
Furthermore, the voice felt very much like her own.
“Senior Sister Qingqing…”
Suddenly, a voice echoed in her mind. Shen Qingqing felt as if she had been struck by lightning, and she froze.
Her eyes were filled with utter shock.
“Jing… Jingxin?”
“Hurry and leave, Senior Sister Qingqing! You all are the future of the Tianxiang Sect. You cannot die here!”
“Senior Sister Qingqing, take Senior Sister Qifang and leave quickly! We will hold them back!”
“Qingqing!”
“Senior Sister Qingqing!!!”
In that instant, the voices of her fellow sect-mates and friends who had died tragic deaths in the Endless Demon Domain echoed in her mind.
Dazed and listless, she slumped down onto the bed.
At that moment, the voice that sounded like her own rang out in her mind again.
“Shen Qingqing, others might not know you, but do you think I don’t? You are just a weakling who abandoned her comrades to run away. Haha! The ‘Heavenly Fragrance Three Beauties’ is nothing more than a reputation earned by ignobly clinging to life.”
Shen Qingqing clenched her fists tightly. Her expression was gloomy, and she did not speak.
“I truly feel pity for those sect-mates who died for you. The hope of the Tianxiang Sect they gave their lives to protect ended up falling in love with her own disciple. Haha, it’s too funny. I really want to go down to the Nine Serenities and tell them this hilarious news so they can have a laugh too.”
Shen Qingqing’s clenched fists slowly relaxed as she took a deep breath.
She wore a faint smile, with no trace of anger on her face.
“Are you finished?”
“I was wondering what kind of holy being you were. So it was just you.”
“Oh, what do you mean by ‘just you’? That’s so hurtful.”
The Inner Demon Tribulation.
It was an existence that almost no cultivator could avoid.
Cultivation was also known as cultivating the heart.
This ‘heart’ also referred to the Inner Demon—a special existence composed of one’s own fear, resentment, anger, and darkness.
So many cultivators had fallen at the hands of their Inner Demons, resulting in their deaths and the dissipation of their paths.
Shen Qingqing’s Inner Demon had formed from her experiences in the Endless Demon Domain.
Back then, she had been a spirited and talented young woman.
Everything changed once she went to the Endless Demon Domain. Of the Heavenly Fragrance Three Beauties, one was unconscious and another was heavily injured. She could only watch with her own eyes as her junior sisters and other friends were beaten to death by a swarm of demons to cover their retreat, leaving not a single intact corpse behind.
And she, Shen Qingqing, could only carry the unconscious Senior Sister Qifang and flee the Endless Demon Domain in a pathetic state alongside Fufeng and the other wounded survivors from various sects.
Her former naive self had truly thought that the expedition was nothing more than a bit of hardship and some minor injuries.
She never expected…
Not long after returning to the sect, this Inner Demon had appeared once, but she had sealed it in the depths of her heart.
The second time was when she was breaking through to the Supernatural Realm. She was almost backstabbed by this evil version of herself. Had she not prepared an extra defensive Magic Artifact back then, she would have likely been turned into a pile of dust under the majestic Purple Thunder of the heavens.
And now, this was the third time.
A seal?
The seal had been for nothing.
Under normal circumstances, an Inner Demon could not break through a seal unless the host lost control of their emotions, giving the demon the strength to break free.
Therefore, Shen Qingqing suppressed her emotions, choosing to chat with it calmly and with a smile.
She simply ignored the Inner Demon’s taunts.
The more you acknowledged it, the more energized it became, trying every possible way to make you angry so it could escape.
Having experienced it two times, Shen Qingqing had seen through its tricks.
“Shen Qingqing, you always maintain this unruffled posture. One day, I will see the moment you collapse.”
“Then let us wait and see,” Shen Qingqing said with a slight smile.
“Humph.” The Inner Demon gave a cold snort and fell silent.
She sat on the wooden bed with her legs crossed in a meditative posture, quickly reinforcing the seal.
Then, she let out a sigh of relief.
She lay down beside Chen Xiaoyan.
Looking at the girl’s charming and delicate profile, she reached out and gently stroked her face, letting out a helpless laugh.
‘You little girl, you almost caused trouble for your sister. What should I do with you?’
Chen Xiaoyan did not answer, nor could she.
Shen Qingqing closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as well.
At her level of cultivation, going for one month or even several months without sleep was no problem.
However, at this moment, she wanted to have a good sleep and stop thinking about those painful memories of the past.
***
Xiaoyan’s Happy Courtyard.
Chong Chong sat on the roof beams, quietly gazing toward the Tianxin Pavilion up on the mountain.
She held a handful of foxtail grass in her hand, constantly tearing at it.
Her lips were pouted in a dissatisfied scowl.
‘Stupid Big Sister Xiaoyan, stinky Big Sister Xiaoyan. What time is it already, and you’re still not back? You don’t even reply to private messages. You might as well just die in that NPC’s room.’
“Sister Chong Chong, is Big Sister Xiaoyan back yet?” A Curtain of Dreams shouted toward the roof while lying on the wooden bed.
“Don’t you know how to ask her yourself?” Chong Chong barked back in an unfriendly tone.
A Curtain of Dreams curled her lip. “I’ll ask her myself then. What’s with the attitude?”
Sitting nearby and cultivating, Xianyun opened her eyes upon hearing this and shook her head with a smile.
“You brought that on yourself.”
“Can’t you see she’s about to explode because she’s been waiting so long for the Big Sister to return? And yet you still went to provoke her.”
“What do you mean? How did I provoke her? I just asked a question,” A Curtain of Dreams said, feeling somewhat indignant.
Xianyun remained silent, eventually shaking her head and closing her eyes to continue her cultivation.
In the past, Chen Xiaoyan would go to the Tianxin Pavilion once a day, but she would return very quickly.
In the last 2 days, it seemed to take 3 hours for her to return. No one knew what was happening.
‘Yeah, what exactly is going happened?’
Chong Chong was also lost in thought.
Going over to sign in and pay respects was normal.
But who takes 3 hours to sign in?
There was clearly something fishy going on.
However, there was a Barrier in the backyard, making it impossible to enter.
‘Wait, a Barrier?’
Chong Chong suddenly had a moment of realization.
‘Exactly! If there’s nothing shameful going on, why set up a Barrier?’
There hadn’t been one before.
Thinking of this, Chong Chong grew even more curious about what was happening in the backyard.
So the question was: how could she break this Barrier?