Chapter 102
Only upon entering the path of immortality did she truly understand what despair meant.
Above the cultivators lies the Inner Sect, above the Inner Sect are the direct disciples, and above them are the Elders, the Sect Leader, and the Sect itself. Beyond the Sect is the Holy Land, and beyond the Holy Land lies the Return to Ruins, and above that is Ascension. Each step is a chasm, and between these chasms lie countless corpses, rivers of blood flowing freely.
The Heavenly Dao is resplendent; she is but an ant!
But…
She gazed at the figure standing with hands clasped behind his back.
With her Master by her side, even if the path ahead is a mountain of blades and a sea of flames, she still has the courage to climb higher. The vengeance for her parents will eventually be avenged.
The light and shadow shifted, the wild wind swept across the ground, and snow fell from the sky.
“Li Qingran, my time is short. In the end, I could not wait for your antidote…”
“I do not blame you; I only blame the heartless Heavenly Dao and the ferocity of the demon beasts.”
“Disciple, I truly cannot bear to part…”
That figure in white lay in a pool of blood, surrounded by countless demon beasts feasting, flesh and blood flying everywhere.
Amidst the chilling sounds of their gnawing, the light in that person’s eyes gradually faded, their breath following suit into silence.
Li Qingran stared at the figure in the blood pool, her heart suddenly constricting, a sharp pain piercing through her as if struck by a blade.
“No, Master, don’t…”
“Get away! Get away! You’re not allowed to eat my Master!”
“Ah! Get away! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill—!”
With red-rimmed eyes, she clutched her sword and stumbled forward.
She fell to the ground, scrambling to crawl ahead.
But no matter what she did, she could not reach that figure.
She could only watch helplessly as the demon beasts devoured that person.
Watching as their soul dissipated into the heavens and the earth.
She knelt there, staring blankly.
The demon beasts gradually left, and the broken bodies lay before her.
Finally, she could touch it.
But that hand, which had once transmitted power and healed her wounds, was now cold to the bone.
“Master…”
“Master, look at Qingran, Qingran has come to save you…”
In a frenzied, neurotic state, she carefully rubbed that hand, pressing it against the warm cheek, as if that would bring warmth back to it.
But it remained cold, colder than her own heart.
She rubbed for a long time, until her body was covered in blood.
It was already impossible to warm it again.
So many words she wanted to say.
So many words left unspoken.
So many words that could no longer be said.
Her entire life had been spent in the snow.
Her Master had held up an umbrella for her, beneath which was the sunrise, the starlight, the ocean, and the beauty of the world.
“But in the end…”
“Are you going to take away everything I have left?”
She no longer had a Master.
Never again…
The wind cut like a knife, and the falling snow felt like needles.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… Father, Mother… I’m sorry, Master, I…”
“It’s my fault for being too weak, I’m useless…”
“It’s all because I’m too weak… Ha ha ha, so Father and Mother will die, and Master will die, and everyone who loves me will die! If only I could become stronger… only… strong enough!”
Amidst her wild laughter, hot tears streamed down.
They shattered the snow, causing the sword’s blade to tremble.
Li Qingran looked up at the sky.
Her cold gaze seemed to pierce through the dark heavens, reaching for a higher place, her fingers gripping the hilt of the Su Xian sword turning pale.
She slowly stood up.
A surge of killing intent shot into the sky!
…
Above Lingxi Valley, dark clouds swirled, and thunder roared.
Yun Suxin, sipping tea in the pavilion, suddenly changed color, her heart racing as she gazed at the brewing might of the thunderclouds.
“Who dares to challenge the Heavenly Dao amidst this fury?”
“If you want to go against the heavens, just don’t involve my Lingxi Valley…”
Yun Suxin dared not linger in the pavilion any longer and hurried back to her room, fearing she might be struck by lightning.
In the illusion.
Li Qingran drew her sword and pointed it at the sky.
“I, Li Qingran, will use this sword to sever all…”
Just as the last word was about to escape her lips.
A majestic voice thundered in her mind.
【Wake up!!!】
Boom—!
Like the sound of a thousand bells ringing!
Li Qingran’s mind went blank, her gaze clearing.
…
…
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Chapter 108: What a Coincidence (Qingguan Manman +1)
“What the heck! I just wanted to sleep normally, and I almost got wiped out?”
The alarm clock by the bed was still ringing, having not been turned off in time.
Chen Huai'an looked at the game screen, still shaken.
The first thing he did upon waking was log into the game, only to be greeted by a blood-red warning box stating that Li Qingran was provoking the Heavenly Dao and was about to be punished? This was unacceptable! He immediately selected an option to stop Li Qingran, not even having time to organize his thoughts.
As he watched that blood-red warning disappear, Chen Huai'an let out a sigh of relief.
“Damn it, this suffocating feeling is like a constrictor snake wrapping around me! I need to see what’s going on!”
He had no idea what had happened while he was asleep, but he could infer a thing or two from the states of Li Qingran and Yue Qianchi.
【Status: Trapped in an illusion, consciousness hazy】
【Cultivation Progress: 12/1000 (Foundation Establishment Stage)】
【Favorability: 99】
This was Li Qingran’s status bar.
He couldn’t see Yue Qianchi’s favorability or cultivation progress, but her status had an additional entry:
Yue Qianchi was running around frantically, her face filled with fear and panic, as if she were trying to escape from something.
Chen Huai'an silently turned the volume up to the max, finally able to hear clearly.
“Fire! So much fire! Get away…”
“It's burning! Someone come help put it out, ahhh!”
She tripped over something and fell into a muddy pit, rolling and crawling into a corner, curling up into a ball, her chin resting on her knees, her head buried in her arms, her body trembling uncontrollably, sobs escaping from beneath her arms.
【Your teammate ‘Yue Qianchi’ is being eroded by the nightmare, please help her escape the predicament in time!】
“Well, it didn’t say how to help her escape!”
Chen Huai'an was at a loss, and there wasn’t even a button to call out to Yue Qianchi.
“Right, I still have a silly disciple, don’t I?”
He slapped his forehead and quickly sent a message to Li Qingran: “Qingran, your senior sister is in a daze! Quickly give her a slap or splash some cold water on her, anything to wake her up!”
【Qingran, your senior sister is being consumed by her inner demons, hurry and help her escape!】
Li Qingran had been staring blankly at a corner.
Hearing Chen Huai'an’s voice, she instantly snapped back to reality.
She froze for a moment, her eyes immediately turning red, tears streaming down her face, falling like raindrops, but despite crying, the corners of her lips curled up in a smile of joy after the heart-stopping moment.
“Master! Master, you’re not dead!”
【I’m alive and well! What do you mean dead? I told you I wouldn’t die! Hurry and save your senior sister!】
Hearing Chen Huai'an’s voice again, Li Qingran fully regained her senses.
Seeing Yue Qianchi in pain, she rushed over to help, secretly pinching her own waist along the way.
Hmm, the pain felt real.
It was clearly real.
Her Master was truly not dead.
Everything she had just experienced was fake.
Li Qingran had thought that extreme sadness would feel suffocating.
But she didn’t expect that the joy of this moment would also make it hard for her to breathe, difficult to calm down.
“Senior sister, wake up!” She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and waved her hand in front of Yue Qianchi’s face.
The next second, her hand was pushed away by Yue Qianchi.
“Fire! Such a huge fire!”
“Put it out! Qingran, hurry and put it out! Can’t you see the fire?”
“Senior sister, there’s no fire, it’s an illusion.” Li Qingran hugged Yue Qianchi tightly. It was the first time she had seen such deep fear on Yue Qianchi’s face, as if her head were being pressed into a pitch-black abyss, where opening her eyes revealed an endless void, and her throat was filled with suffocating cold.
It was a kind of ultimate despair.
As if abandoned by the entire world.
“Fire, how can there be no fire? The burning fire!”
“Qingran, hurry and extinguish the fire! It’s too late! The fire will burn us all alive!”
Yue Qianchi stared at Li Qingran, tears and mud mixing together, smudging her delicate face.
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