Chapter 87: Sword Slave

For half a month in those desolate mountains, Murong Qingyi had slept directly on the ground at night. When hunger gnawed at her belly, she would hunt wild game in the hills to eat.

She felt that if this went on, she would sooner or later become a wild woman of the mountains.

Yet she also feared that if she rashly went down the mountain, the demon spirit sword beyond her control would suddenly turn murderous and begin to kill.

The reason for her misgivings was that several days earlier, a sixth-level demonic beast, the Infernal Hound, had suddenly appeared in the barren peaks.

With Murong Qingyi’s current cultivation at the ninth level of the Profound Realm, she had no chance at all against a sixth-level beast.

Just when Murong Qingyi thought she would become food for this Infernal Hound, the collar around her neck suddenly turned back into a black longsword, and on its own it unleashed a Bloodflame Sword Art, killing the beast on the spot.

After slaying the Infernal Hound, the demon spirit sword named Sanghe immediately reverted into a collar once more and hurriedly clamped itself back around her neck, as if terrified she might use the opening to flee.

Having witnessed with her own eyes this sword, Sanghe, slay a sixth-level demonic beast by itself, a dreadful intuition rose in Murong Qingyi’s heart:

Could it be that this demon spirit sword was the true body of the Blood Sword Demon Sovereign, and that Gu Yunyang was nothing more than a sword servant in its service?

And she, Murong Qingyi, had been forced into becoming a second sword servant. So from the very beginning, it had not been Gu Yunyang who had taken a fancy to her, but this sword.

Besides, a woman’s intuition was always frighteningly accurate.

That was why Murong Qingyi worried that once she went down the mountain, this demonic sword, which seemed to possess a will of its own, might suddenly kill and run amok. By then, the crime of murder would naturally be laid at her feet.

When that happened, everyone would believe she truly had dealings with the Blood Sword Demon Sovereign, and then she would be utterly unable to clear her name.

At night, when Murong Qingyi was about to use the Fire-Cultivation Art to make a fire, she suddenly discovered several wisps of black demonic qi drifting out from within her body, startling her into a shiver.

This meant that without her noticing, she had already begun to possess demonic cultivation within her body.

But she had never cultivated with any demonic technique. Why would demonic qi appear within her?

Soon, however, she understood. It must have been Sanghe’s doing. The sword’s transformation into a collar was not merely a matter of clinging to her body; it was gradually changing her very being.

At the thought of this, Murong Qingyi felt as though a cold blade had been pressed against her back, and her whole body turned icy and trembled.

At this rate, could she truly become a second Blood Sword Demon Sovereign?

...

One month later, in Yanjing.

That day, Qin Xuanxi was as usual in the courtyard, playing the qin, while Song Yan sat nearby, her face lit with intoxication as she sank into the exquisite melody.

Song Ye had already returned to the yamen to resume his duties. Since Qin Xuanxi was here, he simply left Song Yan in her care.

Suddenly, Qin Xuanxi received a telepathic message from her trusted disciple: “Master!”

Qin Xuanxi frowned slightly and answered through the same channel, “Did I not tell you that during this period, no matter what happens, you are not to contact me through telepathic transmission?”

After all, this time Qin Xuanxi’s opponent was the Flute Immortal. Not only was he profoundly cultivated, he was also extremely cautious. Even transmitting messages by telepathy could risk being discovered by him.

“Master, our people discovered traces of the fifteenth-level fierce beast, the Primordial Golden Ape, in the Nine Yi Forbidden Domain. This disciple knew that Master had long been searching for this beast, and so I disobeyed your order to inform you at once. Please punish me,” the disciple replied.

“So be it. You rushed to pass this news to me for my sake, and I will not punish you,” Qin Xuanxi said.

It was true that Qin Xuanxi had widely dispatched her followers to search for the whereabouts of the Primordial Golden Ape.

Because the ape’s core was one of the materials needed to refine the Primordial Upper Profound Pill.

And the Primordial Upper Profound Pill might allow her to break through the ninth level of the Emperor-Respecting Primordial Demon Realm, bringing her cultivation infinitely close to the so-called Peak Three Realms.

However, for Qin Xuanxi, capturing the Flute Immortal remained her highest priority.

After all, all her bitter cultivation was merely so she could gather enough power to uncover the truth behind the Wine Immortal’s death.

And if she could capture the Flute Immortal, then perhaps she could learn the truth directly from his own mouth.

But at present, Song Ye still had not agreed to marry her, so the plan to lure the Flute Immortal out had been put on hold.

And Qin Xuanxi was unwilling to force Song Ye into marriage by violence. Besides, given Song Ye’s stubborn nature, if she truly used force, he might very well resist to the death.

Of course, apart from violence, she could also resort to other underhanded means.

Yet in the deepest part of her heart, she still very much wished to hold a wedding with Song Ye that would delight them both. That was the only thing she could give him at present.

Since the marriage was temporarily postponed, she thought it would be best to leave Yanjing for a while and first hurry to the Nine Yi Forbidden Domain to kill the Primordial Golden Ape. After obtaining the ape’s core, she could return to Yanjing.

Moreover, there was a saying among the common people: absence makes the heart grow fonder. If she left for a time, perhaps when she returned, Song Ye would simply agree to marry her.

Having made up her mind, Qin Xuanxi first returned to the prince’s residence to speak with Qi Shuyi and the others.

After all, she was now playing the role of a princess. She could not simply leave on a whim as she had when departing Qiuyu Village, without leaving a single word behind.

She told Qi Shuyi that she would be leaving Yanjing for a period of time, as short as two or three months, and as long as perhaps half a year.

Because the Nine Yi Forbidden Domain, like the Netherworld Interstitial Domain, contained three thousand minor worlds within it. Finding the exact location of the Primordial Golden Ape there would take no little time.

And the reason she gave Qi Shuyi for leaving Yanjing was that before marriage, she wished to go to the immortal mountain grotto-manor to find her mother and tell her that her daughter had found someone she liked and would soon be married. That was only natural.

Qi Shuyi naturally pleaded with her again and again to stay, for he feared that once Qin Xuanxi left, if no one used puppet arts to control the Prince of Xiang, the fact that the prince was unconscious might be discovered.

But Qi Shuyi’s persuasion could not keep Qin Xuanxi there.

The only one who could keep her was Song Ye.

If Song Ye immediately agreed to marry her, then all talk of finding some Primordial Golden Ape would have to be pushed aside for the moment. Marrying Song Ye was the most important matter—no, it should be said that luring the Flute Immortal to reveal himself was the most important matter.

...

At that moment, Song Ye was still patrolling the streets of the eastern market. He did not yet know that Qin Xuanxi was about to leave Yanjing that very day.

Just then, the voice of the game system suddenly rang in his mind.

“Ding! Special encounter mission triggered!”

“Ding! Special encounter mission: Company”

“Company: Accompany Qin Xuanxi to watch the sunrise at Mao hour tomorrow!”

“Mission reward: Secret realm challenge ticket!”

Seeing this special encounter mission, Song Ye smiled with ease.

This mission was far too simple. Qin Xuanxi lived right next door to him. Wanting to watch the sunrise with her was easy enough—he could just knock on her courtyard gate before Mao hour tomorrow morning, pull her up onto the roof, and wait together for the sun to rise.

He could not help but mock the game system: could it not be a little more ambitious and give him a special encounter mission with some real difficulty, something he could actually challenge himself with?