14: Chapter 14 Mu Qinghan

Inside Tingxue Pavilion.

The faint blue light at Gu Han's fingertips did not diminish in the slightest.

Danqingzi's illusory face twitched twice. Floating in mid-air, he rubbed his hands together and gave a dry laugh. "Fellow Daoist Gu, let's talk this through. This old man only absorbed this girl's Spiritual Qi out of necessity. Without Spiritual Qi to sustain me, this remnant soul of mine would have dissipated long ago. Besides, aren't I compensating her right now?"

"Compensating?" Gu Han withdrew her finger and sat back on the red sandalwood chair. "With that scrap-metal Alchemy of yours, or with your mouth?"

Danqingzi's eyes widened, and his beard bristled.

"This old man is at least an Eighth-Rank Alchemy Grandmaster from the Central Continent! You girl have quite the nerve!"

Gu Sheng rolled his eyes in the distant Tianxuan Peak Hall.

Eighth-Rank.

In this backwater Beiming Land, he could indeed walk with his head held high, but in the System Mall, he wouldn't even meet the threshold for a lucky draw.

Gu Han raised her hand, and a Jade Slip appeared in her palm out of thin air. She tossed it casually; the Jade Slip traced an arc and hovered before Danqingzi.

"Take a look at what's inside."

Half-doubting, Danqingzi extended a wisp of Divine Sense to scan the Jade Slip.

After just a single breath, his translucent body fluctuated violently, nearly dissipating on the spot.

"A fragment of the 'Supreme Fortune Soul-Condensing Manual'? This... how is this possible! A soul-nourishing secret technique that points directly to the Origin of the Great Dao—even those Immortal Holy Lands in the Central Continent might not be able to produce such a thing! Who on earth are you?"

The look in Danqingzi's eyes as he watched Gu Han changed completely. Before, he was wary of her strength; now, he looked at her with the awe reserved for some unknown existence.

"Who I am doesn't matter," Gu Han said flatly. "What matters is that this secret technique can keep your remnant soul from perishing and might even allow you to reshape your Physical Body one day."

Danqingzi's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed a mouthful of non-existent saliva.

"The conditions."

"Smart." Gu Han pointed at the dazed Su Qianxue standing to the side. "Within three years, act as her Dao Protector. Teach her Alchemy and help her find resources. If she loses even a single hair, I will obliterate your True Spirit along with everything else."

Danqingzi breathed a sigh of relief. This condition was nothing to him; he had already planned to raise Su Qianxue as his true successor.

"Deal." Danqingzi cupped his fists, then turned into a streak of light and dove back into the black ring.

Su Qianxue looked down at the ring on her chest, then back up at Gu Han, her eyes reddening.

Her knees buckled as she prepared to kneel again.

Gu Han used a wisp of Spiritual Qi to support her.

"I don't like people kneeling to me." Gu Han stood up. "Practice the Cultivation Technique in the Jade Slip well. I will come to see you again in three days."

Before her voice had even faded, Gu Han's figure blurred and dissolved into specks of ice crystals in the air.

Su Qianxue bowed deeply toward the void.

[Ding.]

[The Destined Daughter, Su Qianxue, has developed a sense of unwavering loyalty and devotion toward the host.]

[destiny points +800.]

[Current Destiny Point balance: 2600 points.]

[System Notification: Host, that was a masterfully played gambit. Using the cheapest fragmented Cultivation Technique from the System Mall to trick a free Seventh-Rank Alchemist into working for you... even a capitalist would weep at such efficiency.]

Inside Tianxuan Peak Hall.

Gu Sheng severed the Divine Soul link and rubbed his aching temples.

"This is called optimal resource allocation." Gu Sheng picked up the cold Enlightenment Tea from the table and took a sip. "With a 'grandpa' assisting her, Su Qianxue's growth rate will definitely be maxed out. I just need to go over periodically to harvest destiny points."

[Host, don't get ahead of yourself. You chopped off an arm from someone of the Ice Spirit Sect. Given the typical behavior of those so-called righteous Sects, they are probably calling for backup right now.]

"Let them call." Gu Sheng was indifferent. "If one comes, I'll cut down one; if two come, I'll cut down a pair. It's a perfect chance to test the Great Lightning Array covering Tianxuan Peak."

...

At the same time, Beiming Land, Ice Spirit Sect.

Main Peak Hall.

Qi Shan knelt in the center of the hall, his face pale. His right shoulder was empty, and the ice crystals at the wound had not yet fully melted, emitting a bone-chilling cold.

Over a dozen Ice Spirit Sect Elders sat on both sides of the hall, their expressions as heavy as water.

On the main seat, Han Wuji, the Sect Master of the Ice Spirit Sect, smashed the jade table beside him with a single palm.

"Impudent!" Han Wuji roared. "A third-rate cultivation Family from Xueluo City actually dares to sever the arm of my Sect's Elder! Just what is that female demon's cultivation level?"

Qi Shan trembled and said in a shaky voice, "Sect Master, please see clearly! On the surface, that enchantress only has a Great Perfection Qi Refining cultivation, but with a casual point of her finger, she broke through my Golden Core Protective Aura. I suspect she is very likely a Nascent Soul Stage old monster hiding her cultivation, intentionally playing the pig to eat the tiger!"

"Nascent Soul Stage?" A red-robed Elder sneered. "In the Beiming Land, Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators from our factions can be counted on two hands. Which one of them do we not know? I think you, Qi Shan, simply failed in your duty and are looking for excuses!"

"Every word I say is true!" Qi Shan said anxiously. "The technique that enchantress used is extremely sinister; the purity of the cold Qi far exceeds our Ice Spirit Sect's 'Ice Heart Mantra'. She also said..."

"Said what else?" Han Wuji asked in a low voice.

"She said that people from our Ice Spirit Sect are not worthy of touching her people."

The hall instantly erupted in a furor.

"Arrogant!"

"Sect Master, please give the order! This old man is willing to lead the team personally to raze Xueluo City to the ground and grind that enchantress's bones to ashes!"

"Correct! Our Ice Spirit Sect has been established in Beiming for a thousand years; when have we ever suffered such humiliation!"

Han Wuji raised his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.

He stared at the wound on Qi Shan's shoulder, his brows furrowed. The residual cold Qi made even him, a Half-Step Nascent Soul Cultivator, feel a trace of trepidation.

"Qi Shan, tell me in detail about the specific circumstances when she acted. Do not leave out any details."

Qi Shan recalled, speaking with lingering fear, "That enchantress wore a plain white dress and was barefoot, floating in mid-air. She didn't use any hand seals when she acted; she just made a stroke in the void with two fingers. I felt the surrounding Spiritual Qi being sucked dry instantly, and then my arm was severed. Her Sword Qi... was silent."

Deep in the hall, an ice-carved door that had been closed for years suddenly made a crisp sound.

A voice, cold to the extreme, drifted out from behind the door, drowning out all the noise in the hall.

"You said she wore a white dress and was barefoot."

Everyone turned their heads in unison to look at the ice door.

Han Wuji immediately stood up, his manner respectful. "Saintess, we have disturbed your seclusion."

The ice door slowly opened.

Bone-chilling cold mist poured out from within, and the bluestone tiles on the hall floor were instantly covered with a layer of frost.

A tall woman stepped out from the cold mist. She wore an ice-blue palace dress, her long hair flowing like a waterfall, with a snowflake mark on her forehead. Her face was exquisitely beautiful, yet it bore an indifference that kept people thousands of miles away.

The Saintess of the Ice Spirit Sect, Mu Qinghan.