Chapter 1128 - An Impending Calamity!
Su Yi fell silent.
He understood what Qing Tang was getting at.
Indeed, Su Yi's mentality changed the moment she killed Shang Tianqi and his subordinates.
The reason was simple: the swordsmanship Qing Tang had just used and the Temple Master’s shared a common origin!
How could Su Yi not understand after seeing that?
There was no doubt about it. Qing Tang really was from the stars beyond the Wilds, and she definitely had a deep connection with the Temple Master.
Eighteen thousand, nine hundred years ago, she’d most likely come to the Wilds to seek out the Temple Master’s whereabouts!
And she’d unquestionably hidden her origins and infiltrated the Grotto of Abstruse Force because she realized that he was the Temple Master’s reincarnation!
Su Yi finally understood how Qing Tang saw through the young mistress of the Studio of the Heart and kicked her out after she infiltrated the Grotto of Abstruse Force under the guise of “Song Chai.”
And he understood why Qing Tang watched over his coffin for seven days after his reincarnation, only to open it in search of the Sword of the Nine Hells, heedless of the populace’s curses.
She’d almost certainly already known that he wasn’t really dead, but rather, that he’d undergone reincarnation!
Now that he’d been reborn and returned to the Grotto of Abstruse Force, Qing Tang had to be certain that the Temple Master really was one of his past lives.
Thus, she laid everything out in the open and offered him numerous delightful gifts!
Heaven and earth stilled, and the onlookers sank into silence.
Everyone was watching to see how Su Yi responded.
But Qing Tang seemed to have sensed how his feelings had changed, and her lips curved into a smile. “Master, now, it’s time for me to give you your fifth delightful surprise.”
The crowd was flabbergasted, and they almost dared not believe their ears. There’s more!?
Just how many of these ‘delightful surprises’ has Empress Qing Tang prepared for the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force?
While everyone was bewildered, Qing Tang disappeared into thin air. A moment later, she reappeared directly in front of Xuan Ning!
“My apologies, Seventh Senior Apprentice Brother.”
Before Xuan Ning could react, she stretched out her slender, jade-like hands and pressed down on the crown of his head.
Jin Kui, Wang Que, and the others visibly reacted, and they attacked without hesitation.
Boom——!!
Terrifying, dazzling sword qi swept toward Qing Tang.
But she didn’t budge. No, she didn’t even pay it any heed. As their sword qi neared her body, it disappeared, like a clay ox melting into the ocean.
It didn’t hurt so much as a hair on her head!
Meanwhile, Qing Tang raised her hand from Xuan Ning’s skull. She now gripped a black thread she’d ripped out of his body!
It was fully three feet long, and it struggled relentlessly in Qing Tang’s grip, like a captured snake.
“What is that?” Countless startled cries arose.
When Qing Tang suddenly set her sights on Xuan Ning, the crowd broke out in cold sweats. For a moment there, they thought she was going to kill him!
But by the time they realized what was happening, they could tell that wasn’t the case at all.
Her fellow apprentices were dumbstruck, while the old-timers’ hearts shook and their hair stood on end.
They had the strongest divine senses among the onlookers, and they immediately sensed how strange and terrifying that wriggling black thread was. Its surface was covered in strange, contorted glyphs and Dao Markings, and it seemed almost alive. Even just looking at it sent chills down their spines.
Su Yi saw this too, and his eyebrows rose.
Earlier, Xuan Ning mentioned that there seemed to be problems with his memories of his time cultivating alongside Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart.
Later, after Su Yi investigated, he discovered that there really was a well-hidden seal within Xuan Ning’s body. It was shaped like the character “乂,” and ordinary methods had no hope of detecting it.
That was when Su Yi started to suspect that there was a problem with Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart, or perhaps with his disciple, Ji Yuan. He planned to take Xuan Ning to the Little Western Paradise to resolve this at some point down the line.
Who’d have thought that Qing Tang would strike out of nowhere and extract a strange black thread from Xuan Ning’s soul?
Furthermore, its aura was the exact same as that 乂-shaped glyph.
Xuan Ning’s face was racked with agony, and he trembled from head to toe. His forehead broke out in cold sweats.
But when he saw the black thread in Qing Tang’s grip, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “That’s...!?”
“The power of the Laws of the Stolen Heavens. It’s called a ‘Heaven-Stealing Thread,’” said Qing Tang.
As she spoke, she swept her pearly fingernails across the strange black thread, as if slashing with a sword. It instantly caught ablaze.
Boom!
Black firelight rose, and countless contorted Dao Markings wriggled like frenzied worms.
Everyone who saw this, from the old-timers to the ordinary cultivators, felt their scalps go numb. An indescribable chill arose within their hearts.
Those countless strange, contorted markings were like worms capable of swallowing the soul. The aura emanating from them was far too unsettling.
When Su Yi saw their strange power, even he was inwardly startled. They were so sinister that even gazing upon them from afar put a formless pressure on the heart and soul, leaving one feeling incomparably stifled!
It seems that these are the Laws of the Stolen Heavens Qing Tang spoke of, thought Su Yi, his expression shifting.
In the end, after all of the contorting markings had been incinerated into nothingness, Qing Tang said softly, “Everything’s okay now, Seventh Senior Apprentice Brother.”
Then, she disappeared into thin air and reappeared in her former position.
Xuan Ning stood there in a daze, his face deathly pale. For a while, he felt incomparably bewildered. Did Qing Tang just... help me remove a latent threat from my soul?
It wasn’t just Xuan Ning, either. Everyone present was bewildered.
Qing Tang had executed thirteen traitors, returned her master’s unparalleled treasures, offered up Pi Mo’s head, cut down the experts of the Church of the River of Stars, and removed the Heaven-Stealing Thread from Xuan Ning’s body!
All five of the delightful surprises she’d offered her master were astonishing, and all of them sent waves throughout the crowd.
Now, even those who’d been completely convinced that Qing Tang was a traitor were starting to waver.
“I said earlier that there was no way Empress Qing Tang was a traitor!”
“It’s true. These five gifts weren’t simple, and it’s obvious she’s been preparing them for years. They must have taken an enormous amount of effort, too.”
“Who’d have thought that Pi Mo, who everyone thought was loyal, was a traitor, and Empress Qing Tang, who we reviled as a traitor, was actually loyal to His Excellency Su all along?”
...Discussion mixed with rueful sighs broke out throughout the surrounding area.
Even the oldest among them, like Ancestor Peng and the Border Mountain Yao Ancestor, couldn’t help but look at each other.
They too would never have guessed that the situation would develop like this. It was far beyond their expectations.
“Senior Apprentice Sister, don’t tell me that Qing Tang really isn’t a traitor?” Wang Que couldn’t help but transmit.
“I’m afraid only Master can answer that,” she whispered back. She was confused and uncertain too.
In stark contrast, Su Yi felt as if a massive weight had lifted from his shoulders.
In his past life, Qing Tang was his last disciple, and the one he doted on the most. Learning of her suspicious behavior and origins had left him melancholy and despondent.
To the point that even when he returned to the Grotto of Abstruse Force, he wasn’t at all eager or joyful.
They were once master and apprentice. Without clear proof of wrongdoing, how could Su Yi bear to hurt her?
That was true for Huo Yao and Pi Mo too.
Fortunately, everything that had transpired revealed a different answer entirely, and he felt relieved, as if he’d sloughed off the massive boulder he’d been carrying all this time. This brought about an unprecedented sense of relaxation.
In the distance, Qing Tang keenly detected Su Yi’s mellowing expression, and she couldn’t help but look delighted and excited.
A moment later, she lowered her head. “Master, your disciple trusts that you’ve already pieced together some of the truth. However, today’s matter has only just begun.”
It’s only just begun?
The crowd was bewildered. What’s that supposed to mean?
Qing Tang continued, “Master, I chose to give you these surprises outside the sect’s gates, but I in no way intend to stop you from returning. I just don’t want the aftershock of our impending calamity to reach the Grotto of Abstruse Force.”
Here, her gaze and voice turned gentle. “I’m well aware that in your heart, the Grotto of Abstruse Force is your home. You’ve poured yourself into every tree and blade of grass. I naturally won’t let anyone ruin it!”
She spoke this last sentence with staunch determination.
A calamity? The crowd’s hearts shook. Don’t tell me yet another disaster is about to befall the Grotto of Abstruse Force?
Su Yi’s gaze silently focused. “Is Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart of the Little Western Paradise involved?”
Qing Tang nodded. “Yes, but Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart hasn’t been himself for a long time. Rather, he’s an old codger from the stars beyond!
“He excels most at hiding himself and plotting behind the scenes. He spends his days walking amongst the shadows, and his cultivation base is deep and unfathomable. In the starry skies, they see him as one of the most dangerous characters around.”
As her voice echoed throughout heaven and earth, the atmosphere gradually turned oppressive. Everyone’s hearts quivered with fright, and they looked at each other in astonishment.
Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart of the Little Western Paradise has actually been replaced by a terrifying expert from outer space!?
This secret came as a shocking revelation, and it left the onlookers dumbstruck. Even the old-timers in attendance were visibly stunned, and they found this difficult to believe.
A tiny handful of Imperial Apex cultivators stood at the pinnacle of the Wilds. Even within this elite group, Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart was one of the strongest.
His position and prestige were so great that aside from the former Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, the current Su Yi, and Ancestor Peng of the Nine Extremes Profound Capital, no one else compared.
Yet now, Qing Tang was telling them that such a serious problem had arisen with him. Who wouldn’t have been astonished?
Even Su Yi, who’d long suspected that something was amiss, couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.
Heaven and earth were deathly silent.
Only Qing Tang’s voice echoed throughout the surrounding area. “He came to the Wilds a long time ago, and he’s been lying low and arranging his trap ever since. He’s seeking an opportunity to take you down, Master. And this opportunity is connected to me.
“Master, simply put, after seeing your disciple’s attitude and response toward you today, the old man has likely guessed a truth he’s been waiting for for a long, long time.” Qing Tang looked up at the distant Su Yi. “And now... He likely already knows.”
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