“Xiaoyu, your Master didn’t lie to you. This move is truly effective. Look at your Master; before performing this move, I had the strength of a Semi-Saint. But look at me now—without this move, could your Master have reached where I am today?”
“What is your strength today…?”
“Semi-Venerable!”
Well, if her Master hadn’t practiced that Self-Severing Technique, Qian Yu might have had a Saint for a Master, and perhaps the woman wouldn’t have died later.
At that time, Qian Yu, who had been tricked into signing several more IOUs, was truly crying.
Her eyes were brimming with tears, and she couldn’t be comforted no matter what.
After putting in so much effort, instead of the cultivation method she wanted, she ended up with a technique that severed one’s own cultivation.
She didn’t even have a cultivation base yet. What was there to sever?
“Ahem, Xiaoyu, don’t be angry. Your Master’s move is very powerful. It doesn’t just sever cultivation; it can sever anything. Haven’t you heard the principle of ‘severing the Dao to clarify the self’? This of mine is a Great Dao. It’s not right for you to be so stingy after your Master only borrowed a few hundred Spirit Stones.”
After saying that, the woman, acting as the Master, was the first to behave like a rogue.
She leaned back and sat on the ground like a winnowing basket.
When she realized that Qian Yu still couldn’t be coaxed, she simply stopped trying.
She grabbed the girl, tousled her hair ruthlessly, and threatened with a wicked expression as Qian Yu looked even more aggrieved:
“I don’t care anyway. Your Master has already taught you the technique.
If you don’t learn it, your Master will pluck all your fur.”
That ‘vicious’ expression remained fresh in Qian Yu’s memory to this day; thinking about it still made her teeth itch with resentment.
At that time, her mind was full of complaints.
It was bad enough that her Master had brushed her off, but the woman had even forced her to learn it.
However, as time flowed to the present, this ‘tragedy’ from her childhood was like a ray of dawn breaking through the darkness.
If it could sever anything, could it even sever a Sacred Body?
As long as the Sacred Body was gone, or if its grade was lowered, Cloud-Weave Star Venerable would have no reason to act against her.
This was actually very difficult.
After anyone experienced the power of a Sacred Body, it was hard to give up a strength so great that even a Venerable would obsess over it.
Even knowing their life was at risk, it was hard to summon the courage to let it go.
And if one’s will was not firm enough, they would end up severing themselves along with the technique.
Fortunately, Qian Yu did not lack that courage.
Although she looked like a small, fragile thing, she could pick things up and put them down more easily than anyone else.
‘I had nothing to begin with anyway. Trading a Sacred Body for my life, and picking up some insights into the Time Dao Principles for free—I’m making a huge profit!’
Gritting her teeth, Qian Yu sat cross-legged on the bed.
Cloud-Weave Star Venerable was adept at schemes and intrigue, but precisely because of her suspicious nature, she trusted her own judgment.
Once she was certain that Qian Yu was truly a fool, she couldn’t be bothered to set up many surveillance measures.
This gave Qian Yu the time to operate.
Perhaps it was just as her Master had said: becoming a powerhouse wasn’t actually that great, and remaining weak wasn’t really that bad.
This strike, she would sever!
***
While Qian Yu was completely focusing her mind, Gu Qinghan took advantage of the time when the Venerables of the Human Race and the Demon Race were busy meeting and negotiating.
She broke through her cultivation level and accomplished a major feat, rescuing someone she had always wanted to save.
Her Master from her previous life—the Pseudo-Immortal, Yingning.
“That Great Dao Fissure can only be entered upon reaching the Venerable Realm. I didn’t expect that you, Qinghan, would be able to enter it with only a fourth realm cultivation. You truly are the disciple I would have favored in my past life.”
As the existence who once held the highest cultivation in this world, Yingning could even perceive Luck and the Heaven’s Mandate.
She naturally accepted the explanation that she had a disciple in a previous life who had come to rescue her ahead of time in this one.
“It is only because of a certain person’s existence that I perceived the divergence and intersection of fate ahead of time, gaining a few more insights into the Great Dao.”
Looking at the soul body floating in front of her, Gu Qinghan turned her head slightly.
Although she felt a bit of pride and joy in rescuing her teacher early, she chose to remain humble.
Yingning saw through her disciple’s mismatch of words and actions but did not expose her.
Instead, with a slight curve of her lips, she said, “Speaking of which, you mentioned that fox who, due to awakening the Heavenly Fox Bloodline, acted completely differently from her past life. You said she also awakened a Sacred Body. That is not a good thing. If I were her Master, I would absolutely not let her keep that Sacred Body.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Too much is as bad as too little,” Yingning said succinctly.
The Heavenly Fox Bloodline was already one of the strongest Opportunities in the world.
If it were her, having obtained such a bloodline, she would surely focus on continuously purifying it rather than letting a Sacred Body ‘pollute’ her path of the Dao.
Unfortunately, most beings, after obtaining a Sacred Body, find it impossible to be so ruthless.
That Little Fox likely wouldn’t be an exception.
“That is a goal only someone at your level, Master, should pursue. I don’t think the current Qian Yu has reached that point yet,” Gu Qinghan said.
“If she only plans to be an ordinary Venerable in this life, then that is true.”
Yingning raised her eyebrows indifferently before suddenly asking, “By the way, didn’t you say that Qian Yu was taken away by the Sect Master of your Sect? Aren’t you worried she’s in danger?”
“Why would she be in danger?” Gu Qinghan was puzzled.
After her Rebirth, she knew clearly that the Cloud-Weave Star Venerable at this time was merely a ‘puppet’ specifically set up to fulfill the duties of a Sect Master.
Even if Qian Yu truly had explosive luck and manifested one of those Sacred Bodies that could be seized and transplanted, the puppet wouldn’t be able to react to a situation outside of its settings.
“It’s the real body.”
Yingning gave Gu Qinghan a deep, meaningful look.
“So, are you going to save her? I can allow you to exert strength roughly equivalent to a Venerable right now. If you go, it will be ninety percent certain death. That Sect Master of yours is already a Semi-Saint.”
“…”
The massive amount of information caused Gu Qinghan’s mind to stall for a moment.
Cloud-Weave Star Venerable was the real body?
How could that be?
And listening to her Master’s tone, it seemed Qian Yu really did have the luck to manifest one of those specific constitutions.
But if that were the case…
Gu Qinghan instantly understood the danger her teacher was referring to.
But with her and her Master’s current strength, it was impossible to save someone from Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s hands.
“Then I understand your choice.”
Yingning suddenly gave a rather improper smile.
Then, while Gu Qinghan’s expression was still frozen, she spoke.
“Then let someone else go save her~”
“I just hope you don’t regret it in the future.”
“After all, didn’t you say you’ve already started treating her as a friend?”
Gu Qinghan was even more bewildered.
What was her teacher saying?
Why would she regret it?
She did indeed consider Qian Yu her friend, but even without mentioning what the other had done in their previous life, it was only normal to hesitate slightly before dragging her Master into a confrontation with a Semi-Saint, right?
Why did her teacher immediately say to let someone else handle the rescue?
And who would go?
Yingning smiled without a word, merely pointing playfully at her ear, signaling Gu Qinghan to listen carefully.
The next moment.
*Boom—*
A deafening explosion rang out, and the entire Luoxia Immortal Sect shook violently as if struck by an earthquake.
“Cloud-Weave! This lady only said she wanted to go in and check on her subordinate. Why won’t you let me? I see you’ve got a guilty conscience!”
Vaguely, Gu Qinghan heard a somewhat familiar scolding voice.
That was… Nalan Yunyan?
Did that girl go straight to the door?
Did she just use a Venerable-level protective Dharma treasure for that strike?
But why? Weren’t they…
“See? Isn’t your friend about to have a new friend?”
Gu Qinghan’s face, which was constantly changing like melting snow, made Yingning laugh even harder.
Despite her ancient age, she appeared as bright as a young girl who had just watched a good play.
She clapped and giggled, not feeling that there was anything wrong with enjoying her disciple’s predicament.
After all…
For beings like them who rarely viewed others as friends, once they truly accepted someone, that person surely possessed many unique traits.
And those unique traits would naturally attract many people.
In such a situation, if one were hesitant, they could only watch as the other person gained more ‘friends’~
Yingning had always hoped her disciple would be a decisive person.
But Gu Qinghan, perhaps because she had died once, was always lacking resolution, constantly asking ‘why this’ and ‘why that.’
It wasn’t cool at all.
She decided to give her disciple a push.
For example, by adding more fuel to the fire between Nalan Yunyan and Qian Yu… Heh heh…
For some reason, Gu Qinghan saw a ‘vicious’ smile on her Master that looked very similar to Qian Yu’s.
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