Translator: AnubisTL
Everyone turned their heads in astonishment toward the source of the voice.
In the dim moonlight, a tall, slender figure stood atop the courtyard wall of Qian Manor. The faint light illuminated an ordinary, unremarkable face.
The man exuded an ethereal, otherworldly aura, like an ancient, evergreen tree. He cradled a straight, ink-black sword in his arms, his demeanor carefree and unrestrained.
"What madman dares to interfere in this matter?" Emperor Fengwu, dressed in plain clothes, his expression darkening, his gaze as cold as frost.
It had been many years since he had heard such insolent words.
Eunuch Hua, ever vigilant, returned to the Emperor's side, carefully scanning the newcomer. He was certain he had never seen this person before.
While Maple Country's Jianghu boasted several Grandmaster-level martial arts experts, he knew them all personally. He was unaware of anyone so young having achieved Grandmaster status.
He can't possibly be a Grandmaster, Eunuch Hua thought, yet he remained wary, his eyes fixed on Li Qing atop the wall.
After repeated observation confirmed that Li Qing possessed no remarkable qualities, Eunuch Hua slowly shook his head at Emperor Fengwu beside him.
Meanwhile, the young woman who had just unleashed the immortal cultivation technique Earth Spike Technique stared at Li Qing with a mixture of shock and suspicion.
She dismissed his earlier wild ravings, but Li Qing's final words stirred a ripple in her heart.
The Qing Hong Sword... he forged it for my great-aunt?
But why does he look so young? How is that possible?!
As unease settled over the crowd, Li Qing chuckled softly and shook his head.
"Will you kill yourself, or shall I do the honors?"
Inside the Qian Manor, Emperor Fengwu finally erupted in fury. The madman's casual tone grated on his ears like a blade.
"Eunuch Hua, don't kill him! Capture him alive! I want him to taste every torture in the imperial arsenal."
Receiving the Holy Emperor's command, Eunuch Hua nodded slowly.
"As you command!"
"Protect His Majesty well. I'll go deal with this man myself!"
With these words, Eunuch Hua fully unleashed his Martial Dao cultivation.
Boom!
He was a Grandmaster-level expert of Internal Martial Arts, his Martial Dao Will honed to its peak. In the mortal realm, he was undoubtedly one of the most formidable fighters.
His speed was astonishing. In just a few strides, he had already darted forward, his Inner Strength lending his movements an almost ghostly quality.
Bang!
The next instant, Eunuch Hua's foot slammed down, sending a violent tremor through the ground.
Using this momentum, the old eunuch surged toward Li Qing's position with lightning speed.
But in that very instant, Eunuch Hua, who had been charging forward with such force, suddenly seemed to lose all strength mid-air, his body veering wildly out of control.
Bang!
In the blink of an eye, he crashed into the courtyard wall of Qian Manor like a kite with its string snapped, lying motionless against the stone.
The scene left everyone in Qian Manor dumbfounded.
What just happened?
How could a Grandmaster-level expert suddenly crash into the wall and lie there motionless?!
"Eunuch Hua, what are you doing?" Emperor Fengwu asked, momentarily stunned, unable to comprehend why Eunuch Hua would suddenly act this way.
But the Martial Dao Grandmaster eunuch was already beyond dead. Though no visible wounds marred his body, his divine soul had been utterly annihilated.
In that fleeting moment, Li Qing's divine sense had invaded the mortal's Sea of Consciousness, crushing his paper-thin divine soul into nothingness.
For an immortal cultivator, dealing with mortals was as effortless as breathing.
No matter how supremely powerful a mortal's Martial Dao cultivation might be, they could never pose a threat to a cultivator in the core formation realm.
Even a late qi refining realm cultivator, whose divine sense had only just begun to awaken, could effortlessly obliterate a mortal's Sea of Consciousness. This was the insurmountable gap between mortals and immortals.
No one knew what had happened to Eunuch Hua. To their eyes, the entire scene was utterly bizarre.
At that moment, Emperor Fengwu finally revealed his fear. He had no idea what demonic art this man had used to reduce the Imperial Palace's most skilled eunuch to such a state.
"Y-you're an immortal cultivator!"
Emperor Fengwu, his face as pale as death, stammered out the truth.
Li Qing didn't deny it. Instead, he leisurely hopped down from the courtyard wall, cradling the Qing Hong Sword in his arms, and began to stroll forward.
Thud!
Emperor Fengwu knelt without hesitation.
The sight stunned everyone present. It was a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Under the night sky, the ruler of a nation had knelt so decisively, without the slightest hesitation or reservation.
This was the Emperor, a man of supreme dignity and authority!
"Immortal, spare me!"
All eyes strained to shift toward Li Qing, whose face still wore a gentle smile.
Yet his hand slowly settled on the hilt of the Qing Hong Sword, gradually drawing the world-renowned Divine Weapon from its sheath.
Forged from Ink Gold, the blade was pitch-black and utterly straight, its edge reflecting no light, lending it an air of profound mystery.
Holding the Qing Hong Sword, Li Qing spoke slowly:
"I've made some inquiries, both direct and indirect, and a few things have caught my attention."
"For the first half of your life, you were clearly a wise and benevolent ruler, devoted to your people. Why did you suddenly seek immortality through cultivation?"
"What exactly triggered this transformation?"
Emperor Fengwu kowtowed heavily, daring not to conceal anything. He confessed truthfully:
"Some time ago, a female immortal clad in animal skins passed through Shengtian. She lingered for several days, draining hundreds of the city's inhabitants into desiccated corpses before soaring away."
"This female immortal moved with supernatural speed and employed unfathomable methods, treating mortals as mere insects. It was this incident that convinced me beyond doubt of the existence of immortals."
Emperor Fengwu realized that Li Qing was the same type of person as the female immortal, so he no longer dared to refer to himself as "We" in Li Qing's presence.
After all, his life was now entirely in Li Qing's hands.
"Wearing animal skins, a female cultivator..." Li Qing murmured, finding the image strangely familiar.
Only cultivators from the Grasslands typically wore clothing made from demon beast hides. Li Qing immediately thought of the Grasslands female cultivator he had fought outside Fire Cliff Cave alongside True Lord Qingyang.
Could it be her? The timing aligns. She's even lingering in Shengtian for a while longer.
No need for further speculation. Soul-searching and soul-refining will reveal the truth.
Li Qing thought to himself, then chuckled self-deprecatingly.
He turned his gaze to the Maple Country monarch kneeling respectfully before him.
"Do you have any final questions? Or any last words you wish to convey? Speak now."
As he spoke, he ran his fingertip along the blade of the Qing Hong Sword.
At these words, Emperor Fengwu abruptly raised his head, his eyes burning with regret and resentment.
He desperately wanted to live, but now his fate was beyond his control.
"I want to know why I've never been able to grasp the Earth Origin Manual, despite all my efforts."
Hearing this, Li Qing couldn't help but chuckle. Even on the verge of death, he's still fixated on cultivation manuals?
"Not everyone can cultivate immortality. Without a Spiritual Root, you're destined to remain disconnected from the immortal dao."
"Cultivating immortality and achieving eternal life isn't as carefree as you imagine. Attaining enlightenment and longevity isn't easy."
"If cultivation were so simple, why hasn't the Qian Family, who possess this manual, led their entire clan down this path?"
These words resonated in Emperor Fengwu's heart like the tolling of a great bell.
So, his repeated failures to master the Qian Family's cultivation manual stemmed from his lack of a Spiritual Root.
"Then she..." Emperor Fengwu gestured toward the young woman who had suddenly fled from the Qian Family's courtyard moments ago.
"She naturally possesses a Spiritual Root, which allowed her to cultivate this incomplete fragment," Li Qing replied matter-of-factly.
So that's why...
Despondent, Emperor Fengwu murmured, "Immortal Elder, do it."
Swish!
Without hesitation, Li Qing swung his slender, jet-black Qing Hong Sword with ruthless precision.
A single strike severed the Emperor's head!
A flash of crimson light streaked across the night sky as the Emperor of Maple Country met his end.
After witnessing the entire spectacle, the Qian Family, including Old Master Qian, were utterly speechless. The series of shocks had completely numbed their minds.
Li Qing slowly sheathed the Qing Hong Sword and approached Old Master Qian, who was slumped on the ground.
Qian Linghui immediately tensed, her eyes darting nervously toward Li Qing.
"Y-you... you're the person my great-aunt mentioned?" she stammered, her voice trembling.
Seeing the Qian Family's disheveled state, Li Qing hesitated, unsure how to address these younger generation members.
"What is your relationship to Qian Hong?" he asked, striving to keep his tone gentle.
Hearing the question, Qian Wang finally snapped out of his daze. He quickly replied, "She's my paternal aunt. After pacifying the Grasslands court, she resigned from all her positions in the Maple Guard and Wu Li Army, remaining confined to the Qian Manor for the rest of her life, never stepping outside again."
"Even on her deathbed, she never interfered in family affairs. Her only concern was discovering that my unworthy granddaughter, Linghui, seemed capable of cultivating that peculiar cultivation manual."
Confined to the Qian Manor for life...
Li Qing's expression slowly darkened, as if something had clenched his heart.
Scenes from his past memories flashed through his mind, one after another.
In the end, he had been too naive, too ignorant of the cruel realities of the immortal realm.
When he resolutely embarked on his cultivation journey, he had imagined immortals as ethereal beings, untouched by worldly concerns, their lives devoted to seeking enlightenment and living in carefree ease.
If that were the case, he had thought, I'd surely have opportunities to return home occasionally.
But the immortal realm he encountered was nothing like his expectations—far from being detached and serene, it was a place of deceit, betrayal, and endless conflict.
During his time there, he had been too preoccupied to spare a thought for anything else, let alone return to the mortal world for even a brief visit.
Even now, he worried that his actions might bring some insurmountable calamity upon these mortals.
"Could you take me to see her former residence and burial site?" Li Qing asked, his voice slightly subdued.
"Of course," Old Master Qian urged. "Linghui, quickly show this immortal the way."
Qian Linghui nodded, then curiously sized up the young man before her, who appeared only a few years older than herself.
Could this person really be from Ancestor Qian Hong's generation? He doesn't look anything like it!
Li Qing, oblivious to the old man's inner turmoil, turned to Old Master Qian and said, "I'll be staying in Maple Country for the next few days. If you encounter any insurmountable problems, feel free to come to me."
Insurmountable problems?
Old Master Qian finally grasped the gravity of the situation. He glanced at the severed head of Emperor Fengwu, his face instantly darkening with despair.
Your Majesty, dead in the Qian Family's manor... This is a disaster of epic proportions.
Such was the way of mortals. Immortals could kill with impunity, free from consequences, but he, as a mortal, faced a mountain of complications.
Yet as the Clan Head of the Qian Family, even after losing power, he still wielded considerable influence in the court.
There must be a way to resolve this.
Guided by Qian Linghui, Li Qing arrived at a secluded courtyard within the Qian Manor.
The courtyard was impeccably clean and refined, devoid of extravagant or ornate furnishings. Simplicity permeated every corner, both inside and out.
Several stalks of green bamboo stood near the entrance, their slender leaves swaying gently in the breeze, a testament to meticulous care.
Apart from this, the courtyard offered nothing else of note.
"Great-Aunt lived in this courtyard during her lifetime," Qian Linghui explained. "I trained in the Earth Origin Manual with her here since childhood."
Gazing at the serene courtyard, Li Qing felt a pang of melancholy deepen within him.
The young woman beside him was indeed an immortal cultivator, having reached the third level of the qi refining realm.
Achieving such progress in cultivation within the mortal realm was no easy feat. Even with the increased spiritual energy in the world today, reaching this stage still required considerable time and effort.
Only then did Li Qing turn his gaze to Qian Linghui.
The young woman possessed delicate features and an elegant, captivating aura. Having entered the path of immortal cultivation at a young age, she had spent years cultivating within her estate, rarely interacting with outsiders. As a result, a faint trace of youthful innocence still lingered between her brows.
"Do you have any portraits of your great-aunt?" Li Qing asked.
Qian Linghui shook her head. "Great-Aunt said she didn't want her aged appearance to remain in the world."
"She also said that if I ever entered the immortal realm or met Senior Li, I should tell you this: In her heart, the Limitless Grandmaster would never feel guilt or remorse over such trivial matters of love and affection. Therefore, Senior Li, you shouldn't feel saddened by this."
At that moment, the emotions within Li Qing's heart surged forth like a dam bursting.
Without him realizing it, a thin veil had appeared in his hand.
It still carried a faint fragrance, just as it had when he first obtained it.
(End of the Chapter)
⚡ 𝟏𝟒 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 | 𝟖.𝟔𝐤 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 | 𝟏𝟒.𝟓𝐌 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 [𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦]