CH 71

Chapter 71 – Qing, Qing

TL: Sponsored chapter (1/3).  I’m on travel right now, so it might take me a little longer to get the other sponsored chapters out, but I’ll do my best. Thanks for your support!

A noiseless sound wave was emitted from its wide open mouth, reverberating throughout the entire hall. Fresh blood oozed out of the ears of Li Dan and the white-clothed girl, and they both fainted.

After the sound wave entered his ears, Yuan Qi managed to endure it for two breaths of time before also losing consciousness, collapsing on the floor of the main hall.

A translucent black barrier appeared around Xu Disheng’s body, and his expression turned grave.

Seeing that the sound wave was doing nothing to Xu Disheng, ‘Xi Jingshan’ slowly closed its mouth. For a moment, its face had a fit of irregular warping before reverting to the original appearance of Xi Jingshan. “How did you find out? My Soul Seizing Technique shouldn’t have given away any hints,” it asked.

Xu Disheng didn’t answer the question. He said casually, “You can’t do anything to me. Were you trying to transform into Xi Jingshan and return to the Sacred Sect? You aren’t scared of being found out?”

‘Xi Jingshan’ shook its head and said, “The Shangqing Sacred Sect has a long heritage, and there have been countless great powers who have participated in its creation. The Sacred Sect even plays a role in this place, the Shan Mountain in the Dong Territory of the Human Realm. A ghost like me wouldn’t even dare to step into the Sacred Sect.”

Seeing Xu Disheng pondering but not saying anything, ‘Xi Jingshan’ smiled and said, “I just want to use this body to escape from this body of water.”

… …

Bai Tong ruled as the deity of Jade Water Lake for several hundred years. As he had an innocent and utterly sincere character, he was all the more trusting of the turtle demon, who helped him to break away from his confused ignorance.

In the grotto of Qing Yao…

“Lord Qing, you’ve been with His Divine Excellency Bai Tong for so long, but why doesn’t he let you take advantage of the spirit vein? How could these few spirit stones that he gives you each day be enough for Lord Qing’s cultivation?!” A beautiful woman with the body of a serpent said, her expression full of resentment as she complained about the injustice to the man in front of her.

Qing Yao was that little water snake that used to always play with Bai Tong when he was born. After Bai Tong became a deity, he appointed him as a Demon General who was in charge of upholding the law, which allowed him to use the divine power of the seal to undergo a complete transformation.

Hearing the concubine’s words, Qing Yao shook his head and said, “Qing’er, don’t make absurd remarks about His Divine Excellency.”

Qing’er pouted, feeling wronged. “Aren’t I just thinking for your sake? With that turtle demon Gui Yao holding so much authority over the distribution of resources, just how many spirit stones do you think he embezzles every day? But you, on the other hand, aren’t even allowed into the spirit vein! You already promised me that you would get more spirit stones to help me finish my transformation sooner…”

Qing Yao looked down at Qing’er’s snake lower body, his heart twinging with pain. At that moment, he seemed to make up his mind. “Gui Yao really is bullying us too much! Today, I’m going to go find His Divine Excellency and try to reason with him!”

Qing’er hurriedly held him back and said, “No, no, I was just complaining a bit, nothing more. Don’t go. I’m worried about you. After all, His Divine Excellency trusts Gui Yao a lot. He has authority over the spirit vein, so his demonic power must be greater than yours by a good amount. I think that it might be better for you to just slowly cultivate.”

Wresting his hand free from her grasp, Qing Yao left the grotto, his words echoing behind him. “It’s whatever for me, but I’ve really wronged you too much in these years. From now on, I won’t endure it any longer.”

Qing’er watched his back as he went away, somewhat regretting having complained to him.

… …

At the center of the vast body of water was the sacred land of Jade Water Lake, where the majestic Divine Palace stood tall. It was heavily guarded by scores and scores of demon soldiers.

“Oh, if it isn’t Lord Qing? Having such meager demonic power despite being a Demon General, you’re really disgracing our identity as Demon Generals!”

Just as Qing Yao was slowly leaving the main hall of the Divine Palace, he ran into a young man with a delicate, pretty face. His words deeply pricked Qing Yao’s heart.

This young man was none other than the first son of Gui Yao. He had long since undergone his transformation, and he had already been appointed as a Demon General!

Qing Yao lowered his head as the words that Bai Tong just spoke rang in his ears. “Little Qing, don’t think too much about it. In my Jade Water Domain, no matter how strong or weak a demon is, everyone is equal. Although I am giving Elder Gui the most trust by leaving him in charge of the spirit vein and the distribution of resources, he definitely wouldn’t embezzle resources!”

A fire lit in his heart.

Bai Tong, oh Bai Tong. Just how childish can you be?! Naive! Ignorant!

All demons equal? Hah, what a joke.

After seeing the complete human form of Gui Yao’s first son, then thinking of the serpent lower body of Qing’er, Qing Yao’s heart turned ice cold.

Demonic power burst forth, and all kinds of demonic techniques clashed.

The moment before Qing Yao lost consciousness, he could only inwardly mock himself. Qing Yao, oh Qing Yao. You are really so useless.

… …

Bai Tong handed down his punishment. The first son of Gui Yao was locked up for a year for disrespecting his elders. On the other hand, he sent Qing Yao a bunch of spirit fruits and rare treasures.

But everyone knew that Qing Yao had lost influence.

In the past, no one dared to be disrespectful to someone who was ranked as a Demon General, even if they had doubts about their strength. Because of the elder figure at Bai Tong’s side, no one would dare to go so far as to criticize the appointment of ranks.

Gui Yao’s first son was also a Demon General. He was an example of an up-and-coming youngster outstripping the older generation, and with this fight, he showed an impressive performance. He also told all of the demons of Jade Water Lake that Qing Yao was no longer the same Qing Yao of the past.

Give them an inch, and they’ll want a mile… once one’s bottom line was violated, things would only worsen.

… …

Finally, there was a day where Qing Yao returned to his grotto in a drunk stupor.

He found Qing’er lying on the bed, breathless. Her upper body was bare, and her lower body was a mess.

Qing Yao looked on in a daze, standing there frozen like a sculpture.

Although fresh blood was flowing out of Qing’er’s bright red lips, she had a smile upon her face when she saw him. She spoke intermittently as she struggled to get her words out. “I… had no way to resist. The only reason I fought to live a few more moments in this sullied body was… so I could see you one more time. Qing, please… live well.”

The beautiful gleam that was once contained in her lovely, afflicted eyes dwindled and faded as she closed her eyes for the last time.

This was the only time she didn’t call him Lord Qing; the only time that she called him by his own name.

Lord Qing, look at the clothes I embroidered for you. Isn’t it pretty? Come on, try it on.

Lord Qing, I planted some coral grass behind the grotto. Next year, I’ll be able to weave a pair of shoes for you. It’ll definitely be nice and durable. But you know, I really want to be able to wear shoes too.

Lord Qing, do you still remember? When you sought to have me join your grotto, you even had a fight with my father!

Tears of blood flowed from Qing Yao’s eyes. The memories of every frown and smile of the beautiful woman flooded through his mind, almost seeming real before his eyes.

Lord Qing, my name was given by you, you know? ‘You’ll be the fish, and I’ll be your water…’

Lord Qing…

His complexion became demented with sorrow as he reached out a finger and caressed Qing’er’s fair cheek.

“Qing’er…” He murmured her name incessantly.

“Qing’er, wake up… please…”

… …

With trembling hands, he buried Qing’er beneath the coral grass behind the grotto.

His hands stained with blood, he tore open his own belly and removed his own Transformed Demon Core.

Qing Yao seemed unaware of the terrible agony as he silently transformed back into a water snake. Taking his Demon Core into his mouth, he swam out of the Jade Water Domain.

… …

‘Xi Jingshan’ seemed puzzled. “So why do you keep these people around? From the way I saw you handling things, you bear a remarkable resemblance to one of those heavenly geniuses from the Shangqing Sacred Sect several tens of thousands of years ago. You are just as indifferent and unmoved by sentiment as they were. You seem too intelligent to leave food behind. If anything, to avoid any future backlash, you should be tying up such loose ends.”

Xu Disheng shook his head and said, “You don’t understand how complex and treacherous the human heart is. If I returned to the sect alone, it would actually be even more suspicious. These few people aren’t food to be left behind as you say, but rather witnesses to absolve me of suspicion.”

‘Xi Jingshan’ seemed to disdain such behavior, but after thinking for a while, it couldn’t come up with any way to refute it.

Xu Disheng glanced at ‘Xi Jingshan’ and continued, “They won’t say anything because they already chose to embezzle spirit stones with me, so they’re forced to be on my side now. Would they risk punishment to expose the fact that I killed fellow disciples of the sect? Hah, not even an idiot would do something like that.”

‘Xi Jingshan’ remained unconvinced, but seemed to remember something. It carefully examined Xu Disheng and said, “At the time, the reputation of that heavenly genius of the Shangqing Sacred Sect shook not only throughout Shan Mountain, but even the entirety of the Dong Territory of the Human Realm. His temperament was very similar to yours in a lot of ways.”

Xu Disheng casually asked, “So what cultivation realm was he at?”

A look of longing appeared in the eyes of ‘Xi Jingshan’ as it spoke. “It was rumored that he reached the stage where he could split and divide his primordial spirit into many clones, proliferating them to know all under heaven. He received a little bit of attention from the heavens, but it wasn’t much,” it said. When it spoke to this point, it worriedly scratched its head, its tone becoming more careful as it continued, “Just by moving his divine sense, he could wordlessly unleash techniques, and he could transform illusion into reality. He suppressed the entirety of Shan Mountain, and countless sects paid respects to him. In the last several tens of thousands of years, this was also the time when your Shangqing Sacred Sect was the most thriving.”

(TL Note: The title name is actually “青，清” which are both characters that read ‘Qing’. The first character corresponds to the character used in the name of Qing Yao, and the second character corresponds to the character used in the name Qing’er. But it doesn’t translate over to English well, so I decided to include an explanation here..)