Atop the hill a thousand meters away, Lin Xinyi felt as if all the strength had been drained from her body.
Like a wisp of wind, she began to coalesce, then collapsed to the ground.
(Five Forms Penetration: Release)
‘I only used it for a moment, and already my body can’t hold out…’
The spiritual energy inside Lin Xinyi barely managed to reform her physical form.
Leaning against a nearby tree to steady herself, she hadn’t expected her body to be so weak.
“Du Mei Zhenren, is it? I’ll remember that bastard!”
Lin Xinyi clenched her fists, forcing herself upright.
She had only taken a few steps when a loud crash came from behind her—clearly Qin Huaiyin making a commotion to buy time.
The foot Lin Xinyi had just stepped forward slowly came to a halt.
Qin Huaiyin was already poisoned beyond cure, and fleeing to preserve herself would be a perfectly reasonable choice.
So why was her Dao heart beginning to crack?
“Master, just run away…”
Those entrusted words wrapped around her like coils of rope, suffocating Lin Xinyi as she fled.
She lifted her eyes to see the barrier right in front of her.
If she could just break through and spread the news, then even if Du Mei Zhenren tracked her down, she wouldn’t be able to do anything.
Everything she did was just to survive.
“As long as I get out, there’s always a way…”
Even as she spoke, Lin Xinyi pulled out a talisman for breaking formations, intending to use its power to shatter the barrier.
But the image of Qin Huaiyin lying in front of her without a moment’s hesitation still lingered in her heart.
‘I… I can’t leave.’
At that moment, Lin Xinyi jerked back as if shocked, withdrawing the fingers that were about to touch the barrier.
If she fled now, wouldn’t she be indebted to Qin Huaiyin?
Even if she later recovered her cultivation, her mind would be plagued by inner demons, hindering her progress every step of the way.
That life would be ruined.
“Hahaha!! Lin Xinyi, Lin Xinyi! What are you hesitating for? It’s not like I’m definitely going to die!”
Lin Xinyi suddenly seemed to realize something, standing there laughing wildly.
Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she turned and jogged back the way she came.
The escape technique she had used earlier had already depleted her energy.
“Qin Huaiyin! You unruly disciple, you’ve tormented me for so long—how could I let you die so easily?!”
At this point, Lin Xinyi would never admit she was going back to save Qin Huaiyin.
She casually made up an excuse, thinking to herself, ‘This life has already gone so badly; what does it matter if I live it over again?’
Although she didn’t know the trigger conditions for that kind of rebirth regression, and she hadn’t dared to try it lightly, right now what did she have to lose?
Besides, even if she died, it wouldn’t be as agonizing as this.
“Useless disciple… don’t you die too soon…”
At that moment, Qin Huaiyin was barely hanging on by the dragon-transformation body, but with only a Core Formation stage cultivation, how could she be a match for a Nascent Soul stage cultivator?
Du Mei Zhenren just smirked lightly as Qin Huaiyin charged at her, then casually slapped her into the ground with ease.
“An ant should know its place. Does that really need to be taught?”
Qin Huaiyin’s entire body was now trampled underfoot.
Du Mei Zhenren felt no pity for the weak.
Qin Huaiyin sank into the earth, the dragon-transformation body tough but already cracked deep.
“How strange. A physique cultivator like you actually chose to practice spellcraft. If you hadn’t, you might have lasted a bit longer.”
Du Mei Zhenren looked at this once-in-ten-thousand-years body, and for a moment, a hint of appreciation arose.
No one knew how the dragon-transformation physique appeared, nor how powerful it could become once fully developed.
But everyone shared one common belief: any physique cultivator with the dragon-transformation body would definitely reach the Martial God realm.
Yet despite countless attempts, no one had ever witnessed a dragon-transformation body reaching that level.
At that thought, Du Mei Zhenren’s appreciation grew more pronounced.
After all, there was a legendary dragon-transformation body right in front of her, and its master had already abandoned it.
If she took it under her wing, wouldn’t she get to witness the legendary physique?
“Listen, little one. Your master has already run off to save herself. Why not join my sect and become my disciple?”
The moment the idea crossed her mind, Du Mei Zhenren began persuading her, while also slowing the poison inside the girl, afraid she would die too quickly.
But Qin Huaiyin showed no sign of begging for mercy.
She merely chuckled softly.
“Even if my master abandoned me to flee, so what? Is that really such an unforgivable crime?”
“Heh, interesting. I’m starting to not want to kill you. Fine, I’ll let you live a little longer. The poison is already inside you; without begging me, you won’t survive.”
Du Mei Zhenren slowly took two steps forward.
The dagger in her hand was not intended to finish the girl off immediately.
She glanced in the direction Lin Xinyi had fled.
Knowing that Lin Xinyi’s cultivation was a hollow shell, her wariness faded, and she no longer felt rushed.
Like a hunter stalking its prey, she sauntered in that direction.
Once the woman touched the barrier, she would sense it immediately.
At her speed, she could capture her before the barrier broke.
‘The thought of torturing a cultivator of the same realm is so exciting just to think about…’
Du Mei Zhenren couldn’t wait to see the terror on that woman’s face when she caught up, how she would beg for mercy.
The idea of tormenting a peer who had no means to resist made her blood boil.
“But your master is running a bit slowly. She hasn’t reached the barrier after all this time…”
Watching the direction Lin Xinyi had gone, Du Mei Zhenren’s eyes showed a flicker of doubt.
She had deliberately paused here for so long; that Lin Elder should have reached the barrier by now.
Though puzzled, Du Mei Zhenren didn’t care at the moment, assuming the woman was simply slow.
She gently rotated her wrist, withdrawing her life-bound artifact from behind her back.
There was no need for it against Lin Xinyi now.
Crushing her would be like stepping on an ant.
“Do… don’t go…”
Du Mei Zhenren had only taken a few steps when someone tugged at the hem of her robe from below.
She looked down to find Qin Huaiyin, who had been crushed into the pit, still stubbornly clutching her clothes, even now.
“Your master abandoned you and ran. What is worth doing this for?”
Qin Huaiyin didn’t speak.
The light in her eyes faded as the poison invaded her lungs; she could no longer see.
Yet in that near-death state, a person often remembers things they had forgotten.
…
“Daughter, I’m sorry. I have no choice…”
“You’re still young. When you grow up, you’ll understand your mother, right…”
Ever since awakening the dragon-transformation body, Qin Huaiyin had been recalling memories she never knew she had.
As those memories grew clearer, she realized they had always existed, just forgotten.
“Go with the immortal. He’ll take good care of you. Be good and listen to him.”
In her memory, Qin Huaiyin felt a gentle hand stroking her head.
She could barely make out two blurry figures—her parents.
She gradually remembered: she was never taken from home by Lin Xinyi, nor sold by bandits.
She was given away by the people she missed most—her own family.
“Have you thought this through? I’m not taking this child as a disciple. I’m raising her as a cauldron.”
Qin Huaiyin recalled hiding behind the screen, listening to her parents talk with that so-called immortal.
Perhaps from that moment on, she understood that the ones who abandoned her were the very family she yearned for.
“I know. But I have no choice. His Majesty wants to prolong his life, and only the elixir you have can do that…”
“Is that so? You really would give up anything for your career. But your choice is none of my concern.”
Qin Huaiyin heard that haughty voice for the first time—the voice that made her father, a high-ranking court official, bow and beg.
She was young, and they thought she understood nothing.
But when her father pushed open the door, Qin Huaiyin understood everything.
That so-called home was colder than ever.
When she saw from behind the screen her father’s ecstatic smile upon receiving the elixir, She knew she was the one discarded.
Perhaps she had never wanted to admit that truth, so she chose to forget, leaving herself a false memory of being kidnapped.
“I am Lin Xinyi, the Eternal Verdant True Person. From now on, I am your master. Train hard, my little cauldron.”
It was then that her parents led her before the white-robed figure with a sword at her waist—the one who would control her whole life from now on.
Qin Huaiyin had never forgotten that first sight: a faint smile under the tree that she could never put into words.
Perhaps that was when she was already captivated.
“Disciple pays respects to Master.”
Qin Huaiyin gradually buried that memory, even began to feel fear whenever she saw her master.
She was terrified that Lin Xinyi would one day make her a cauldron, take everything, and discard her like an object.
When that drop of dragon blood essence was fed into her mouth, she watched her master’s retreating figure, wishing only that she would stay a little longer.
‘Still not satisfied…’
…
Qin Huaiyin felt her vision darken, her body going numb.
She thought that at least, in her last moment, she had done something.
“Qin Huaiyin!!”
Her breathing grew weaker.
She could feel her life slipping away, yet that familiar call still reached her ears.
She thought she had paid her debts—that she could still hear her master’s voice before she died.
“You idiot, don’t die!!!”
‘It seems… not an auditory hallucination…’