Stealing Immortal

Chapter 84: Chapter 83: Master

A cold night, a biting wind.

It seemed the very sky was about to change.

As Chen Qingyang made his way up the mountain, a fierce wind howled relentlessly, heralding an impending spring thunderstorm.

The burning Talisman meant Liu Tao needed him for something. ’But we just parted ways,’ he thought. ’What could have happened? And on the Golden Summit, of all places!’

He didn’t waste any time. He ascended the mountain on foot at a blistering pace. Before he even reached the Pill Institute, he saw a figure standing on the White Jade Steps.

A snow-white Daoist Robe, a slender figure, and long, ink-black hair cascading down her back. A pure white sword was slung across her shoulders.

Serene. The gale couldn’t stir even a corner of her Daoist Robe, exuding an incredibly powerful, oppressive aura.

Master Yun Ci!

Instantly, a terrible thought surfaced in Chen Qingyang’s mind. He silently tightened his grip on the token from Cyan Bamboo Peak.

He had seen her image in the Copper Mirror, so there was no point in feigning ignorance. Chen Qingyang bowed respectfully. ”Chen Qingyang, Outer Disciple of Cyan Bamboo Peak under Master Jing Yuan, pays his respects to Master Yun Ci!”

’Surely such a long title would make Master Yun Ci realize his status had changed.’

She didn’t answer, only turned around leisurely.

It was an exceptionally young face, as delicate as a girl of sixteen or seventeen. It was small and exquisitely featured, with a pointed chin.

Beneath a pair of Phoenix Eyes, her dark pupils held a subtle, sharp light. She was unsmiling, her expression as if eternally locked in an icy glint.

Majesty and delicacy, frigidity and dignity—this was the impression she gave Chen Qingyang.

As she sized him up, a chill ran through Chen Qingyang. It felt as if the very blood in his veins was about to freeze. Just as the pressure reached its peak, it vanished in an instant.

”You’re quite the schemer. I was wondering how Liu Tao could have come up with such a plan!”

The moment she spoke, Chen Qingyang knew he was in trouble. She knew about at least one of them: either Xu Baoling’s death or Qi Xiuyuan’s.

The Master, her white Daoist Robe whiter than snow, stood high on the White Jade Steps. She stared at him for a long moment before speaking. ”Will you tell me yourself, or must I force you?”

’Chen Qingyang’s mind raced. Where did I slip up? Could Master Yun Ci have been monitoring me this whole time? Even so, she would need a way to do it, right?’

’The Gold Coin Sword!’

’It’s a Master’s treasure. Since I’m holding it, could she be using it to spy on me?’

’Truly, even the wisest can have a blind spot. With my limited experience, how could I have possibly known the extent of a Master’s abilities?’

The only hopeful sign Chen Qingyang could see was that she had come to him personally, rather than sending Leng Yueru from the Law Enforcement Hall. This suggested there might still be room for negotiation.

”Master, please see the truth of the matter. Xu Baoling tried to kill me, so I had no choice but to kill her in self-defense. I don’t believe I was in the wrong. Besides, Senior Sister Xu’s Divine Soul is still intact, and I’ve been nurturing it with Elixirs. As far as I’m concerned, our grudge is settled.”

As he spoke, cold sweat slicked the palm holding the Jade Token, but his face remained a mask of perfect composure.

The Master said, ”You should count yourself lucky that she still has a sliver of life. Since you’ve already entered Cyan Bamboo Peak, I will not make things difficult for you. Go down the mountain. From now on, you must treat my disciple well. If she truly manages to cultivate a Yin Spirit, I will consider this matter between us settled.”

Her voice was like that of a Divine Spirit descending to the mortal world, seeming to drift down from the nine heavens. That the matter was resolved so easily gave Chen Qingyang a sense of unreality.

He didn’t move. Instead, he continued, ”Thank you, Master, for your extraordinary mercy. But I must ask, how will you deal with Senior Sister Liu Tao?”

’Of course. She hadn’t mentioned Liu Tao at all. She must have been waiting for me to bring her up.’

The Master’s expression betrayed no joy or sorrow, no hint of emotion. She simply said, ”So you do have some sense of loyalty. It wasn’t in vain, then, that Liu Tao was willing to die to take all the blame.”

”In this world, there are principles and there are rules. Xu Baoling trying to kill you meant it was perfectly justified for you to kill her. But Liu Tao harmed a fellow disciple. I can only punish her with the Nine Deaths Treasure Mirror... until her Divine Soul is utterly shattered!”

She said it so casually, but the words made Chen Qingyang’s heart plummet. A wave of anguish, emptiness, and dread washed over him.

After a moment, Chen Qingyang took another deep breath and began to carefully consider the situation. The only silver lining was that, apparently, Master Yun Ci hadn’t connected him to Qi Xiuyuan’s death.

’After all, since Qi Xiuyuan’s death, he had barely spoken a word about it to Xu Baoling. The Gold Coin Sword would have had nothing to overhear.’

”Then what must I do for you to spare Senior Sister Liu Tao?”

Yun Ci remained motionless, but this time, the wind was able to stir her snow-white Daoist Robe.

In the cold wind, her slender form took on a mixed air of poignant beauty and world-weary compassion.

”The affairs of the world are a balance of tension and release, of yin and yang. Xu Baoling’s skills were inferior, so her downfall was her own doing. Liu Tao’s ability to achieve a breakthrough with your help was her own fortuitous encounter. According to my own Daoist philosophy, I should not intervene.”

”However... I have lost a disciple for nothing. Even if Xu Baoling succeeds in her cultivation later, she will be close to you and distant from me. Therefore, this does not conform to the path of balance.”

She spoke of her disciple with a profound indifference. It was just as the other disciples had described: this master’s disposition was far from ordinary.

”Then what does the Master propose?”

”If you wish to save Liu Tao, then for the next hundred years, you must refine at least two hundred Tier Four Yang Replacement Powders for me annually. This will be Liu Tao’s atonement. As long as you meet the quota, I will naturally spare her life. But if you fall short in any given year, the balance will be broken. What say you?”

’She keeps talking about the path of balance, but it’s all just her own scheming—just like how she plotted against Master Xuan Gui and brought about his death.’

’Master Yun Ci has a considerable number of Outer Disciples now, and she’ll probably recruit even more after becoming a Peak Master. She’s just planning to work me like a mule.’

’If she truly abided by her path of balance, she should have acknowledged the service I had rendered to her faction, at least in the matter of Master Xuan Gui.’

”I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking you’ve done my faction a service. But... haven’t I also protected you several times?”

This left Chen Qingyang with no room to retreat. He could only say, ”Thank you for your grace, Master. I accept.”

At this point, Master Yun Ci had won completely. She had gained a disciple, harvested an Earth Deity, and now had someone to perform Alchemy for her and help cultivate her other disciples.

Chen Qingyang, standing opposite her, kept thinking. ’If I only perform Alchemy for her, I’ll be trapped in a passive role in this relationship forever.’

’Elixirs are just a matter of time and raw materials. But what do I get out of it?’

’No. No matter what, I can’t just be a pack mule for her.’

”Excellent!”

She gave a slight nod and was about to depart when she heard Chen Qingyang speak up. ”Master, if I may, I have one more request.”

Yun Ci paused, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. ”Speak.”

”I can provide the Master with two hundred and fifty Elixirs per year. However, if I run into any particularly thorny trouble, I would ask that the Master lend her assistance. If so, perhaps I would be willing to refine Elixirs for you for much longer than a hundred years. You’ve been willing to show mercy beyond the law, which is a wonderful thing. It’s only right that I should be grateful to you, isn’t it?”

’Besides the deterrent of her being the strongest combatant on the Four Golden Peaks, Master Yun Ci also possessed the all-important Tai Xu Star Pivot Ziwei Scripture.’

The Master chuckled, and for an instant, her small face blossomed like a snowflake. ”Agreed. But I won’t help you with just anything.”

With that, her figure gradually faded, vanishing completely.

Making a concession to advance his position—it was the best move Chen Qingyang could have made. Her reaction also made him realize something: Yun Ci was driven by profit. Perhaps that could be her weakness.

Two hundred and fifty Elixirs. To an ordinary person, it was an astronomical figure, because Alchemy always involved a success rate. But Master Yun Ci would never have guessed that for Chen Qingyang, there was only success.

’Right now, I get three pills per cauldron. What if I can produce four in the future? Or even five?’

’The process would undoubtedly be much faster.’

After standing and pondering for a moment, Chen Qingyang executed the Void Step Introduction and rushed toward the Golden Summit.

He pushed the door open and entered. Liu Tao was there, her face etched with worry. ”You... Master didn’t do anything to you, did she?”

Chen Qingyang said, ”I’m standing right here, aren’t I? What did she say to you?”

Liu Tao looked dazed, still gripped by a lingering fear. ”I remember now... why Master was talking about things like fate and destiny a few days ago. It turns out she knew all along.”

”She said... even though you’re from Cyan Bamboo Peak, she still had cause to kill you. If you proved disloyal, you would die for certain, and I would die for certain...”

Chen Qingyang comforted her, ”Don’t worry, it’s all over now. Your master made a deal with me. I have to give her two hundred and fifty Tier Four Yang Replacement Powders every year. I almost won the top prize with just one of those Elixirs. She’s really demanding an exorbitant price!”

Liu Tao knew how skilled Chen Qingyang was at Alchemy. It wasn’t an impossible task, just a tricky one. ”So you agreed?”

”Yes, I agreed.”

’It seemed Liu Tao had no idea that Master Yun Ci had used her life as a bargaining chip, or that the talk of torture with the Nine Deaths Treasure Mirror was a complete fabrication. It was all part of Yun Ci’s scheme.’

”But... making all those Elixirs is going to delay your own cultivation!”

Chen Qingyang’s gaze shifted to the window. ”It’s fine. After this, no one will ever be able to threaten us again!”

...

「Meanwhile, thousands of miles away.」

On a barren mountain, inside an Ancient Temple, a single lamp flickered to life.

A young woman in green robes sat cross-legged before the lamp, her eyes closed in meditation. Her expression shifted erratically—now cloudy, now clear, now ferocious, now gleeful—as if her mind were in utter turmoil.

Countless points of starlight from the vast sky converged, pouring into the young woman’s body. Her aura grew progressively stronger.

The two consciousnesses within her body had reached the point of trying to devour one another.

An old voice spoke, ”’I miscalculated... I never thought you could use this broken piece of jade to push me this far while I was weakened these past few days. But my Magical Power has returned now. You can stop struggling!’”

Lin Qingxuan’s voice was resolute, sounding as if it were forced through gritted teeth. ”You high-and-mighty Immortals... didn’t you call me a Profound Nether Storage Body? Today, I’ll let you have a taste of its power...”

The clash was like steel against steel, growing ever more intense. By the time all the starlight had poured into her body, after a full day and night had passed, the dust finally settled.

A sense of brokenness, a fragility that belonged to Lin Qingxuan, now occupied the body. She murmured to herself, ”Old man Xuan Gui... I’ll go to the Nine Nether Mechanic Divine Palace for you...”

She opened her palm, revealing the Warm Jade Scroll, now cracked in two. As she walked out of the ruined temple, she was already able to use the Wind Control Skill, vanishing over the horizon at an incredible speed.