Chapter 73: Ugly
Chapter 73: Ugly
She did not try to struggle, because she recognized this rope at a glance. It was the Heaven’s Gate Sect’s treasure that guarded the mountain—the Demon-Binding Rope!
Legend said this Demon-Binding Rope was a Dao-Entry Grade Magical Artifact personally refined by the second Sect Leader of the Heaven’s Gate Sect, boasting the ability to bind any and all under the heavens who had entered the Dao!
Yes, a single Dao-Entry Grade Magical Artifact could directly restrain a mighty figure of Dao Enlightenment!
Whether it could truly bind every Dao-Entry expert in the world was debatable, but most who had entered the Dao could hardly break free before this Demon-Binding Rope.
“Sect Leader, what are you doing? What did I do wrong, that you need to use the Demon-Binding Rope, a Magical Artifact meant for enemies?”
Qian Luoying was furious in her heart, but she quickly calmed herself and watched as Lian Ziqing, who was walking over from a distance step by step, drew near and asked.
Lian Ziqing came before her and raised his hand to slap her!
Smack!
Though he didn’t use Spiritual Energy, the slap was still extremely heavy.
Half of Qian Luoying’s smooth cheek immediately swelled and reddened. A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
“You ungrateful wretch!”
Lian Ziqing’s voice was icy cold. “Don’t you know in your own heart what you have done?”
Qian Luoying was somewhat dazed by that slap. She looked at Lian Ziqing, tears welling in her eyes, but she stubbornly held them back.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Fine, still being defiant, are you? Then let me speak for you.” Lian Ziqing said coldly, “Did you become that man’s woman?”
That man’s woman?
Qian Luoying paused for a moment before understanding. She looked at Lian Ziqing with shame and anger. “You are slandering me! I am completely innocent with him…”
“Haha, see? You’re already defending him?” Lian Ziqing chuckled, casually waving his hand. A chair appeared out of thin air in front of Qian Luoying. He sat down on it, squinted his eyes, and looked at Qian Luoying. “Well, it’s understandable. What woman wouldn’t like someone tall, handsome, and young? It’s normal that you would be enchanted.”
“I am not!” Qian Luoying glared angrily at Lian Ziqing. “Sect Leader, what do you really want? Even if something really happened between us, so what? First, I have not harmed the Sect’s interests. Second, I have not hurt anyone. Is it necessary for you to treat me like this?”
“Hahaha, so you admit it? I thought we might need to apply some torture.” A look of disdain spread across Lian Ziqing’s face as he sneered. “Since you admit it, then tell me, what benefits did you get from him? Also, a warning: stop lying to me, Luoying. You’re not suited for lying. That young man is named Ling Yi. His identity, I now know perfectly well.”
Qian Luoying looked at Lian Ziqing, her eyes filled with disappointment. Just today, she had told Ling Yi that good news. Also just today, in her own way, she had let the disciples of the Heaven’s Gate Sect witness the true situation inside that Grotto Abode.
She never expected that the Sect Leader she had known for so many years, whom she considered family, didn’t trust her at all.
“I gained no benefits at all,” Qian Luoying said, looking at Lian Ziqing, her heart almost completely broken.
“It seems you still haven’t realized your current situation,” Lian Ziqing sighed and shook his head, looking at Qian Luoying. “In the Sect’s logs, you have already been dispatched on a mission to the mortal world…”
“Do you understand what that means?”
Lian Ziqing said to her indifferently, “It means even if you die right here, others will think you went to the mortal world. If you never return, they will only think you either defected from the Sect… or died outside.”
Qian Luoying froze completely, unable to believe her ears as she stared at Lian Ziqing sitting there before her.
She could hardly believe the words she heard. That familiar face suddenly became extremely strange to her.
It was as if she was seeing Lian Ziqing for the first time in her life, scrutinizing him carefully, trying to find some flaw.
Was this distorted, detestable person really the most trustworthy Sect Leader in her mind?
Was this really that senior brother in terms of generation, who had actually taught her Cultivation Methods like a master, who had raised her since she was a child?
Although Lian Ziqing had raised many people this way, and although she, Qian Luoying, was not the only one.
This did not prevent Qian Luoying’s respect and admiration for him. Before this, she had even thought many times that when the Heaven’s Gate Sect’s relationship with Ling Yi truly reached the right level, she would invite Ling Yi to join the Heaven’s Gate Sect!
Then she could ask Ling Yi to leave the Cultivation Method he taught her within the Heaven’s Gate Sect!
If that happened, the overall strength of the Heaven’s Gate Sect would experience a qualitative leap.
What a glorious prospect that would be!
But Sect Leader… why had he become like this?
Even when the Sect Leader immediately bound her upon meeting, slapped her, and scolded her, she only felt heartbroken and sad. Yes, especially, especially heartbroken… the kind that is very difficult to soothe…
But now, was Lian Ziqing actually threatening… to kill her?
Qian Luoying’s heart suddenly sank to the bottom.
She could not accept this fact.
The tears she had just stubbornly held back finally burst forth like a flood breaking through a dam.
“What do you mean? You want to kill me?”
Lian Ziqing looked unmoved at Qian Luoying, the mocking expression on his face growing even more evident. He sneered, “When a woman gets a man, it’s really… capable of any kind of change. With this level of acting, you could go to the mortal world and win a best actress award.”
Without waiting for Qian Luoying to speak, Lian Ziqing impatiently said, “Enough, less talk. Do you remember the sparring match a few days ago? Although you tried hard to hide it, I could tell. You have broken through from Three Flowers into Five Qi. You are already at the fourth level of Dao Enlightenment.”
So that was it!
Tears streaming down her face, Qian Luoying finally understood the source of the problem. But now, she did not want to say a word, not a single word… did not want to explain.
“You know, your talent was clear to me when you were very young, even clearer than your master, my martial uncle! Yes, your talent is indeed very good. Among your generation… no, even counting several generations above and below, perhaps no one can surpass you. But at your age, to surpass Three Flowers and enter Five Qi was simply impossible!”
“Based on my past estimates, you would need at least three to five more years, meaning when you were nearly forty, to enter the Five Qi realm.”
“But you just went out once, and in such a short time, you broke through…”
Lian Ziqing looked coldly at Qian Luoying. “And you still say you have nothing hidden from me? If you had come back and told me the truth, why would I need to use such methods?”
Saying this, he stood up, walked over to Qian Luoying, and looked at her, whose eyes were quickly swelling and reddening. There was not a trace of pity in his gaze as he said indifferently, “Speak. Was it a top-tier Cultivation Method? Or a peerless spirit medicine? Don’t try to fool me with that empty Grotto Abode! He’s been living there for half a month! Coming and going freely, what couldn’t he have moved away? Do you really take me for a fool?”
Qian Luoying looked at Lian Ziqing’s cold, severe face, took a deep breath, and said, “It was a Cultivation Method. The reason I didn’t speak of this matter naturally had my own concerns and considerations…”
“Enough nonsense. Hand it over. Then you can still be an Elder. I can pretend this never happened. Let bygones be bygones.”
A hint of greed flashed in Lian Ziqing’s eyes. Letting bygones be bygones was impossible.
Handing over the Cultivation Method… was only the first step!
As long as they controlled Qian Luoying, they weren’t afraid that young man wouldn’t comply!
Qian Luoying was exceptionally beautiful. Although she was more than ten years older than Ling Yi, a woman in her thirties was at her most mature and charming age. For someone like Ling Yi, who lacked maternal love since childhood, she was practically a fairy bestowed by heaven!
The facts also proved it; for Qian Luoying, he had directly followed her back to the Heaven’s Gate Sect.
A young man tasting intimacy for the first time, having savored its flavor, he wouldn’t be able to escape!
Sooner or later, I’ll make you hand over everything!
Qian Luoying looked at Lian Ziqing and said softly, “Sect Leader, we address each other as siblings…”
“Less nonsense!” Lian Ziqing shouted. “Do you think I’d believe you?”
“It’s true he gave me a Cultivation Method,” Qian Luoying ignored Lian Ziqing’s shout and continued speaking softly. “Although I never swore a heavy oath, methods should not pass to a third pair of ears. Without permission, Luoying dare not spread it recklessly.”
“Have you forgotten your identity? You are an Elder of the Heaven’s Gate Sect! Understand? The Heaven’s Gate Sect raised you! The Heaven’s Gate Sect didn’t cultivate you just so you could bite the hand that feeds you!” Lian Ziqing angrily reprimanded.
Then, he addressed the surroundings coldly, “You all saw that, right?”
Immediately, several Elders emerged from the sides. Their gazes towards Qian Luoying carried a faint trace of disgust.
“An ungrateful wretch!”
“She really let an outsider sleep with her. How disgraceful!”
“As a member of the Sect, yet her heart leans towards an outsider. They say a woman’s heart turns outward upon marriage. Seems true enough.”
An onslaught of vile insults and mockery washed over her like a tide.
Qian Luoying looked disbelievingly at this group of fellow Sect members, at these Elders who usually laughed and joked, all friendly with each other. She suddenly felt all these faces had become extremely unfamiliar.
Ferocious, distorted, ugly.
She knew how powerful the Cultivation Method she obtained was, but they didn’t!
For a Cultivation Method they weren’t even sure about, how could they all become like this?
She understood human selfishness, but she still hadn’t expected it to reach this extent.
Even now, she hadn’t realized that what these people wanted wasn’t just a Cultivation Method, but everything inside that Grotto Abode!
It was that ability of a mere second or third-rank little warrior to heavily injure someone who had entered the Dao across two or three levels!
She had never even thought in that direction!
But others had.
These several Elders were all ones who usually supported Lian Ziqing, his true confidants.
Naturally, among them, there was no figure of Feng Bubian.
That was a rebellious one. There were other reasons for not suppressing him yet, not because they didn’t want to.
Qian Luoying looked at Lian Ziqing, then at these detestable-looking Elders, and said softly, “Luoying’s conscience is clear, and I will absolutely not hand over that Cultivation Method. If you want to kill me, just do it.”
“Someone who refuses to yield until faced with their coffin!” one Elder said coldly. “Later, we’ll catch that little brat and let you be a pair of doomed lovebirds!”
Qian Luoying immediately cried out angrily, “What does this have to do with him? Also, have you all lost your minds?”
“Hahaha, indeed, one shouldn’t speak ill of a lover.” another Elder mocked. “Please rest assured, Elder Qian, we won’t take action within the Sect. Just you wait and see!”
Lian Ziqing’s face was dark as he looked at Qian Luoying. “You truly will not hand over that Cultivation Method?”
Qian Luoying looked directly at Lian Ziqing, her expression serious. “No.”