The incident happened suddenly, leaving Murong Qingyan completely unprepared before being subdued. Even if she had been on guard, with her Core Refinement stage cultivation, how could she possibly resist Liu Guan, a True Immortal?
The sharp killing intent emanating from his fingertips pressed against her throat, the icy chill piercing directly into her Niwan Palace. Alongside this, a pressure as heavy as a mountain radiated from Liu Guan, overwhelming her until her body could no longer bear it. Bit by bit, she bent down, her legs giving way until she collapsed to her knees.
The disparity in height forced Murong Qingyan to raise her neck with all her strength to ease the discomfort.
At this moment, Liu Guan began to speak, his voice sharp and sinister: “Do you know what I most want to do to a w0man like you?”
Murong Qingyan, of course, couldn’t answer.
Liu Guan’s face remained hidden in the shadows, but the glimmer in his eyes revealed a sickly excitement. His other hand emerged from the darkness, grotesquely transformed with unnaturally long, claw-like fingers. As they flexed and extended like iron hooks, he traced them near the female cultivator’s lips and tongue. Occasionally, his sharp fingertips grazed her delicate cheek, threatening to pierce her skin at any moment.
“To w0men like you, I should first tear out your tongue, then dig straight through your mouth to pull out your heart and see what it looks like!”
As he spoke, Liu Guan mimicked the motion with his hand, his claws stretching and retracting to illustrate how he would “reach in and dig it out.” Finally, his fingertips pressed against her tongue, causing the female cultivator to tremble visibly.
Murong Qingyan was clearly stunned by this sudden threat of death. She instinctively struggled, but after two futile attempts, all her strength seemed to vanish. Her jade-like cheeks turned pale, and though she couldn’t speak, her eyes overflowed with terror and even a plea for mercy.
Her reaction momentarily gave Liu Guan pause. He suddenly noticed a difference between the w0man before him and the one he had been envisioning: “Too weak!”
At that moment, he wasn’t sure if he felt satisfaction or disappointment. With a cold sneer, he abruptly released her. Murong Qingyan let out a soft cry as she collapsed to the ground, coughing violently while her body continued to tremble.
“Smart little girl, but your courage… heh!”
Liu Guan laughed to himself, while Murong Qingyan, still coughing, began to think to herself: ‘He’s having an episode!’
Moments earlier, Liu Guan had undoubtedly been reminded of Lady Huang Quan.
Years ago, Liu Guan and Lady Huang Quan had been disciples of the same sect, both hailing from the superpower of this world—the Primordial Demon Sect. Within this sect, reputed as the “Ancestral Origin of Ten Thousand Demons,” Lady Huang Quan was the most dazzling of beauties. With her breathtaking looks and formidable skills, she had countless powerful admirers, Liu Guan among them. While he might not have been the most obsessed, he was certainly the one who suffered the most at her hands.
It was said that Liu Guan, who once held himself in high regard and acted with reckless arrogance, was thoroughly manipulated by Lady Huang Quan. She used him as a tool within the sect, exploiting his ambition to navigate the complex political landscape of the Primordial Demon Sect. Liu Guan offended almost everyone he could, all while believing he was on the brink of winning her favor.
But then, the winds shifted. Lady Huang Quan betrayed the sect and married Eastern King of Demons, Lu Chen, a supreme Earthly Immortal who had survived three sets of the Four-Nine Tribulations.
The scandal caused an uproar in the sect, but as for Liu Guan, he was discarded by Lady Huang Quan like an old shoe. His pride was deeply wounded, and his attempt at revenge ended with him being severely injured by the Demon Lord’s protective hand. He fled in disgrace, his spirit shattered. This led to his descent into madness, with his soul severely damaged, ultimately resulting in his expulsion from the sect by the Demon Sovereign.
Thus, Lady Huang Quan became the inner demon in Liu Guan’s heart and his greatest weakness. Until that shadow was eradicated, Liu Guan could never return to his peak.
It seemed Murong Qingyan’s demeanor earlier had struck a resemblance to Lady Huang Quan, triggering Liu Guan’s madness. Fortunately, she quickly realized this and adopted a fearful, weak demeanor to differentiate herself. Had she remained calm and collected, an enraged Liu Guan might have truly torn her heart out!
Liu Guan, in his madness, was known to be capable of anything.
As Liu Guan’s frenzy subsided, his laughter quieted.
Meanwhile, Murong Qingyan remained kneeling on the snow-covered mountaintop, half-bent and supporting herself on the ground. It seemed she still hadn’t recovered from the near-death experience.
She stayed silent, but Liu Guan clearly wanted her to speak. The dark aura emanating from him enveloped most of her body, making her acutely aware of his power and menace.
“Your analysis just now was quite good. I’d like to hear more. Go on!”
Murong Qingyan pressed a hand to her throat, her lips tightening. “Senior Liu, are you toying with me?”
“Con-tin-ue!” Liu Guan drew out the word, his tone like a tightening noose around her neck.
Murong Qingyan hesitated briefly, and the shadows completely engulfed her. Even at such close range, she couldn’t make out Liu Guan’s face. She could only sense him lowering himself to her level, his breath ominously close. His claw-like fingers, which had nearly pierced her throat earlier, now grazed her face, producing an audible scraping sound.
“Such fine skin and flesh… Little girl, you’re well-informed. Tell me, have you heard of a sacrificial technique from the Primordial Demon Sect known as the ‘Five Yin Frozen Soul-Slicing Curse’?”
“Senior, it seems you’ve already made up your mind,” Murong Qingyan responded immediately, cutting off Liu Guan’s trailing words. Though her eyes were now half-closed, ignoring the external threats, her voice remained steady. “The purpose is already clear. If you’ve resolved to oppose them, naturally, you should act contrary to their plans. Whatever they aim to accomplish, ensure they fail. Whatever they fear most, deliver it to them. Now that we know they thrive on chaos, is it still unclear what should be done?”
Liu Guan’s clawed fingers paused briefly before he chuckled. “Why don’t you tell me what I should do?”
He used the phrase “why don’t you,” but failure to answer would undoubtedly bring severe consequences.
Murong Qingyan took a deep breath to stabilize her emotions before saying, “Given your temperament in the past, Senior, you would probably have caused a complete ruckus here, seizing any opportunity to kill those two. As for the consequences afterward, you wouldn’t have cared in the slightest. But from your description of the past two months, it seems you’ve managed to hold your temper somewhat, which feels quite different from before.”
Of course, this “holding your temper” excluded the reckless use of techniques like the “Five Yin Frozen Soul-Slicing Curse,” something both of them understood without needing to elaborate.
“Go on, go on!” Liu Guan’s tone sounded relatively relaxed.
Murong Qingyan continued, “If Senior has decided to dissolve their conspiracy, the simplest way is to leave it all behind, letting the waters here settle. Once the clues are clear, the Rifting Earth Sect and Sunset Valley Sect will naturally deal with it. However, such an approach feels stifling and is a reactive move, something Senior is probably unwilling to accept.”
“To go further and uncover the root of the conspiracy, I don’t know enough about the situation to speak recklessly. I can only say that in such chaos, unraveling things thread by thread might not be the best idea. It would be better to step outside the situation, view the big picture, identify the critical point, and swiftly cut through the mess, which might be a more decisive approach.”
After finishing her speech in one breath, the female cultivator closed her eyes and pursed her lips, saying no more. In truth, she had said everything she needed to. At this moment, Liu Guan should have already reached his own conclusion.
After a moment of silence, she felt a slight sting on her face—it was Liu Guan flicking her cheek with his fingertip.
“View the big picture! The little girl has spoken well—view the big picture!”
Repeating the phrase, Liu Guan stepped back, yet his voice lingered in her ears. “Back then, that venomous w0man probably acted in this way. She seemed to yield, but in truth, she gained the upper hand step by step. It took me a hundred years of reflection in the Blood Demon Restricted Realm to understand this principle. Yet after returning to this realm, I nearly forgot it. Heh, this time, I might as well ‘view’ things from the big picture—yes, let’s view it from the big picture!”
The last sentence was murmured indistinctly, followed by a sudden question: “Where is Gui Lingzi?”
Murong Qingyan’s heart skipped a beat, but she still answered with her eyes closed, “In the Northern Sea, at the Celestial Palace.”
Liu Guan burst out laughing, and the oppressive aura that had enveloped the mountain peak vanished in an instant.
Murong Qingyan opened her eyes, but there was no trace of the madman left on the mountain.
Looking to the sky, the overcast clouds and heavy snow continued to swirl, but the deeper cold and turbid Qi had completely disappeared.
The residents of Cliff City remained oblivious, unaware that a disaster had silently passed over their heads, dissipating without a sound.
*****
Murong Qingyan descended the mountain and strolled forward through the wind and snow. After walking just over a mile, the towering mountains behind her were completely obscured by the blizzard. The vast plains stretched endlessly in all directions, indistinguishable from one another.
However, she spotted a figure standing ahead on the plain, cloaked in a hooded cape. The dark garment stood out sharply against the white expanse of snow.
Without hesitation, Murong Qingyan approached. When she was several yards away, the figure lifted their hood. Long black hair, tied simply, flowed down their back, with no stray strands interrupting the neatness. The hairline was meticulously groomed, revealing a porcelain-white forehead, and her sharp, slender eyebrows accentuated her fierce demeanor, resembling twin blades pointing toward her temples.
Beneath those striking brows, her long, almond-shaped eyes gleamed darkly, half-lidded in a perpetual expression of arrogance. This was none other than Immortal Chi Yin!
Chi Yin narrowed her eyes as Murong Qingyan approached, raising a hand in salute. “Thank you!”
“It was merely luck,” Murong Qingyan sighed, her tone carrying a trace of weariness.
Seeing her state, Chi Yin stepped forward and hooked her arm around Murong Qingyan’s, walking alongside her. Such a gesture was her way of showing closeness, as Chi Yin held Murong Qingyan in higher regard than most. This female cultivator possessed many skills that earned her, Chi Yin’s respect.
“The sect leader’s decision to send you here and start with Liu Guan was truly a masterstroke. With that madman present, the situation was complex enough, giving Yixin and the others ample excuses to act up. Now that you’ve persuaded Liu Guan to leave, we just need to leak some information and nudge things along. That should be enough to make them quiet down a bit. Life in Cliff City will be much easier for me!”
Murong Qingyan smiled faintly but said nothing.
Chi Yin continued, “More importantly, this opportunity allows us to send a message to that venerable figure and open dialogue between them and our divine master. With proper negotiations, we can avoid damaging the harmony. In all this, little sister, your contributions are invaluable.”
“Sister Chi Yin.”
“Hmm?”
“Please refrain from saying such things to me in the future.”
Murong Qingyan gazed at the snow-laden sky and said softly, “When immortals clash, mortals suffer. My visit to Cliff City this time was merely to deliver a message, visit some old friends, and explore the mountains and rivers. As for anything else, I neither know nor care.”
Chi Yin glanced at her and chuckled. “The so-called first ‘Spirit Medium’ of this era—how can you speak such disheartening words? As I understand it, of the six divine masters under heaven, aside from the Buddha and Dao Lord who are truly ‘unseen by those born after,’ the remaining four have all been more or less connected to you…”
“Sister, watch your words!”
Murong Qingyan placed a finger to her lips, her expression serious.
Seeing Chi Yin’s indifference, she paused and then said, “Do you know why, among the hundreds and thousands of ‘Spirit Mediums’ under heaven, it had to be me who became the so-called first? It’s precisely because I know absolutely…Nothing.”
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