Chapter 108.1 This Life and Past Life (Part 5)
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Yu Qinglian had an emotionless expression as she calmly said, “Indeed, Ji Wuyou’s intentions went beyond Yunxiao. But I never expected to encounter you here.”
The woman in the black dress’s face twisted into a grimace as she said, “Are you referring to Ziyang Zhenren? Stop struggling. You were never his match, and you were never qualified to rule over Yingzhou.”
Yu Qinglian sarcastically laughed. “I wasn’t qualified, but what about you?”
The woman in the black dress dropped the decapitated head she held in her hand and covered her face with blood-soaked hands, laughing. “You’re not qualified, and neither am I. Only she is qualified! Our ancestors of Yingzhou never died. It was your whole family—ordinary and unworthy mortals—who shamelessly pretended to be her descendants and occupied Yingzhou. However, she will soon be resurrected. Hahaha, she will be alive soon.”
“Three Immortal Mountains Beyond the Seas, Penglai of Yingzhou—these immortal mountains were never meant for a bunch of lowly mortals to inhabit! It’s all because of you! You turned Yingzhou into a place filled with chaos and corruption!”
The woman in the black dress laughed, her face smeared with blood, appearing even more insane.
“Yu Qinglian, how dare you call yourself Qinglian? I regret not being able to kill you back then. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have ended up in this wretched state—neither human nor ghost! It was your family who were the real criminals, so why was it me who was expelled from Yingzhou?”
Her face contorted with rage as she let out a loud scream. The flames of hatred burned in her eyes as she walked downward. “Luckily, I came across Ziyang Daoren. He understood my thoughts, supported my ideas, and helped me revive the Goddess of Yingzhou. He lent me a hand.”
She laughed fiercely. “And now, he will also help me kill you today!”
She stood in front of Yu Qinglian, her blood-stained hand reaching directly for Yu Qinglian’s neck. Her nails suddenly grew long, sharp as demons, carrying a chilling intent to kill.
Yu Qinglian countered by grabbing her wrist and wielding a whip. Crack, crack, the steps they stood on shattered into pieces.
Both of them ceased their actions and retreated to their respective positions.
The eyes of the woman in the black dress widened in disbelief. “Late-stage Nascent Soul… You have already reached the late-stage Nascent Soul.”
Yu Qinglian’s gaze turned ice-cold, “Back then, I spared you out of sentimentality. I only depleted your cultivation and expelled you from Yingzhou. Now it seems that I should have killed you then.”
The woman in the black dress sneered silently, “Sentimentality? It was just me luckily escaping.”
As she spoke, a reddish hue appeared in her eyes, “You depleted my cultivation. I will never forget the pain of that night. Do you know how I escaped from Yingzhou to Tianyan City?”
She exclaimed with a strained voice, “I became a furnace for a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators! I used to be a respected Nascent Soul Elder in Yingzhou, but I could only be treated like a dog and humiliated by them—Yu Qinglian! Do you know how much I hated you at that time?! I wanted nothing more than to tear your body into countless pieces. I swore in my heart that I would make you pay for each and every one of my past humiliations.”
She ground her teeth, “And today, my wish will finally come true.”
“The esteemed and untouchable Fushang Fairy, the unassailable Island Lord of Yingzhou? Hahaha! I will do to you what you did to me—break your bones and leave you crippled! I’ll strip you naked and sell you in the most disgraceful auction house! Hahaha!”
Yu Qinglian didn’t display even a hint of disgust in her eyes. It was as if she heard a joke. “I crippled your cultivation, but I didn’t ruin your spiritual roots or take away your treasures—can’t you even defeat a group of Foundation Establishment Stage weaklings?”
The woman in the black dress froze, then continued with unrelenting hatred, “It’s all because of you! It’s all because of you! It’s all because of you that I ended up in that state!”
“Ah! I’ll kill you!”
This Elder in the black dress had only managed to restore her cultivation to the early stage of Nascent Soul, even with Ji Wuyou’s assistance.
She was simply no match for Yu Qinglian as she was now.
However, Yu Qinglian furrowed her brow slightly, sensing something suspicious.
As expected, after the wild outburst from the woman in black, her face contorted into a cold smile, filled with disdain. “Do you really think you’re my equal? In Tianyan City, I inherited the power of the Jade Lotus ancestor, and she will awaken within me.” Slowly, she opened her mouth, and on her crimson tongue, a pure white lotus flower bloomed.
The Elder in the black dress surged with energy, her hair and robes billowing, resembling a vengeful female ghost approaching to claim lives.
“Today will be your time of death!”
Yu Qinglian closed her eyes briefly and then smiled softly. “I knew there had to be more to your motives than simply reviving the Transient Jade Lotus. I was too naive back then, thinking your crime was merely allowing demonic cultivators into Yingzhou. Hmph, awakening the Goddess within you,” she raised her gaze, her eyes icy, “or rather, it’s you who seeks to devour her power!”
The woman in the black dress no longer wished to pretend. She burst into laughter. “So what if that’s the case?! Hahaha! Today, you are destined to die! No, I won’t let you die. I will leave you helpless and abandoned in the mortal realm, to be humiliated by those filthy, repulsive people!”
Her eyes filled with resentment as a vivid bluish-green power merged into her skin, the immense power of chaos causing the surrounding vegetation to tremble.
Yu Qinglian was clearly no match against the ancient power. After several exchanges, in their final clash, she was gravely wounded by the woman in the black dress and tumbled down the steps, rolling down to a snowy plateau at the mountain’s peak.
White snow, red garments—Yu Qinglian propped herself up with her five fingers, her gaze fixed ahead.
The woman in the black dress made her move, each palm strike aimed to shatter Yu Qinglian’s meridians.
Her throat now icy cold, saturated with blood.
Watching that woman advancing.
The deranged Elder said, “Did you ever imagine this would be your fate? Hahahaahaha! You too have your day!”
Her five fingers curled, ready to penetrate Yu Qinglian’s forehead, shattering her sea of consciousness and obliterating her spiritual roots.
Yu Qinglian’s breathing became shallow and uneven, her internal organs throbbing in agony, devoid of any trace of spiritual energy. Her fingers curled up on the snowy ground.
Through the swirling snowflakes, she watched as the hand approached.
The Elder in the black dress grew increasingly filled with malice and a gratifying sense of revenge. A smug smile crept onto her face, as if she could already envision Yu Qinglian being trampled upon. The pent-up resentment that had been festering for years was finally unleashed.
But at the critical moment, it was a hairbreadth away.
Her eyes suddenly widened!
Her fingers were inexplicably halted by a mysterious force, freezing just a hair’s breadth away from Yu Qinglian.
“What is this…” Her face filled with terror.
The vivid bluish-green light grew more intense upon her, and the former Elder of Yingzhou suddenly clutched her head and emitted a piercing scream of agony.
The dazzling green light burst forth, her skin cracking open, blood and flesh dripping, her agonized screams reverberating through the quiet and distant snowy landscape of Yunxiao.
Yu Qinglian smiled, opening her mouth, revealing a redness.
She covered her chest, slowly standing up. Her voice was soft, barely audible: “Transient Jade Lotus, did you really think you could devour her? How would you know if I’m not her descendant, if I’m not of the divine lineage… Hah…”
She spoke intermittently, “With the Buddha’s eye and the lotus seed as my heart, how could I not be her descendant?… Haha… It’s truly the biggest joke I’ve heard throughout my life… I have a connection with our Ancestor… The lotus on your body has already withered…” Her eyes turned desolate as she whispered, “She merely fell into a deep slumber back then, but now she is completely and utterly dead. Was it your doing, or Ji Wuyou’s… But it doesn’t matter anymore.”
She forcefully pried open the black-clad woman’s mouth with her fingers.
The Elder, transformed into a bloodied figure, eyes crimson and on the verge of tears, harbored an overwhelming abyss of resentment.
Yu Qinglian’s middle and index fingers formed scissors, her expression devoid of emotion. With a snap, she cut off the lotus flower from the tip of the Elder’s tongue.
A mass of bloody red rolled onto the snowy ground, splattering the dirty bluish-gray blood onto her face.
The Elder trembled all over, her voiceless throat straining as she let out a soundless scream towards the sky. Her body convulsed, succumbing to the snow-covered ground in a pitiful state.
Yu Qinglian spoke softly, “I destroy my lotus heart to counter the backlash of the Jade Lotus. Even in death, I won’t allow our ancestor to be disgraced in your hands, nor will I let you continue to live… slaughtering the innocent disciples of Yunxiao.”
The black-clad Elder continued to struggle, dragging Yu Qinglian down with her. Now, Yu Qinglian was equally powerless, stumbling and tumbling together into the filthy pool of blood, rolling into the tainted snow.
The Elder, reduced to a grotesque fleshy body, summoned her last ounce of strength and lunged forward, seizing Yu Qinglian by the throat.
“Ahhhh! You wretch! Ahhhhh! Die!!”
Yu Qinglian’s face turned pale, suffocating agony robbing her of her senses. Her gaze grew increasingly hazy, accompanied by the sound of falling snow and the piercing screams of a woman’s breakdown, a cacophony of disturbing noise.
However, her gaze wandered aimlessly to the dark indigo mountains and the vast gray sky behind her.
In the blink of an eye, it felt like centuries of fleeting time.
The long whip cracked across Yingzhuo, “Blooming Green Flowers in a Pool of Blood”… so many years of laughter, recklessness, pride, anger, all culminated in this moment, scattered as a lone snowflake on her brow. Cold.
She had traversed thousands of mountains, making the world bow before her.
She had passed through the mortal realm, slaying countless ghosts and demons.
The faint jingle of a bell resonated.
Like the lazy afternoon at the Institute of Celestial Ascension, the light caressed her fingertips, whispering in the language of radiance.
Golden maple leaves would drift by the window, landing in her palm, becoming ornaments in her tresses. Pei Yuzhi might be engaged in a verbal spat with Feng Jin, while Chen Xu and Ji Wuduan would say some cool remarks, and Wu Sheng would reluctantly intervene.
Chaos would ensue, followed by serene beauty.
In her most carefree maiden days.
Yu Qinglian sarcastically tugged at the corner of her lips, but in the end, she couldn’t muster a laugh.
She closed her eyes, feeling emptiness, and made a wish.
The young man in blue couldn’t bear to watch any longer. “Master, please help him cross over. I’ve had enough of him.”
Liquid trickled from the corner of Yu Qinglian’s eyes as she smiled softly and said, “Pei Yuzhi, I’ve always been beautiful since I was little. It’s just that you, you blind fool…”
Like wisps of air, dissipating into the vastness of the world.
The wintry sky showered delicate snowflakes, covering the two lifeless bodies.
She had loved vibrancy throughout her life, beauty, precious gems in the mortal realm, and exquisite flowers in the mountains. Little did she expect the fickleness of fate, as cold as a razor’s edge. In the end, she died in the mud. Died in the dirt.
“No…”
Pei Jing’s eyes turned bloodshot, and amidst the turmoil in his heart, a desperate and helpless whisper escaped his lips.
The suppressed grief and sorrow that had burdened his master’s heart when he died now overflowed with Yu Qinglian’s demise, collapsing upon him.
In his ethereal state, his subconscious led him to walk over, his fingers passing through the ethereal snow and piercing through Yu Qinglian’s lifeless body.
Overwhelming sadness and despair surged within him, causing the young man to kneel half-heartedly, tears streaming like rain as he choked out, “You… have always been beautiful… always…”
Beautiful throughout her life.
Pei Jing felt as if his chest had been stabbed with two bloody holes, the pain making it difficult for him to stand steady.
Confusion and fear were now overshadowed by hatred and grief.
But the cruel memories had not ceased.
Like this snowfall that persisted.
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