Chapter 94

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Chapter 94- Cultivation (5)

“Ha…” Gu Anran yawned lazily.

Time passes fast and both Gu Anran and Hong Qingyi have been in the secret realm for a long time now. Both of them had already reached the late stage of the Core Formation. They’ve been completing missions given by the system every day (ten per day), and the missions themselves were quite fulfilling to complete while relieving their boredom.

“Hu, finally finished.” Hong Qingyi wiped the sweat from her forehead and then used a cleaning technique to instantly clean the dirt and grime on her body.

“Are you okay?” Gu Anran asked.

“I’m fine, the monsters here can’t defeat me.” Hong Qingyi said proudly with her hands on her hips. After saying that, she took out two beautiful sky-blue flowers with a golden bud in the middle. This was their final mission for today, to harvest some Tiandian flowers, a very precious medicinal material. This plant can allow one to break the bottleneck into the Nascent Soul rank.

And because of these side missions, the two of them now had all kinds of never-seen-before treasures in their storage rings, one could say they were wealthy women now!

“Is your body okay?” Hong Qingyi asked and patted Gu Anran on the shoulder.

“It’s all right-cough, cough….cough….” Gu Anran waved her hand but couldn’t help getting into another coughing fit.

Even though Gu Anran had applied medicine on her injuries when she arrived in the secret realm, she had sustained four days worth of untreated internal injuries. Then add on the severe external injuries, she had essentially damaged the foundation of her body and weakened it considerably.

Now, although Gu Anran can be said to be healthier than before, she still looks like she will be blown down if the wind is too strong. According to Hong Qingyi’s words, she was a skinny bag of bones. There were still some scars on her body, but were much better now as they used to be deep scars that penetrated all the way to the bone. Now they were only unnaturally long scars. There were also a few scars on her face, but they should disappear soon with all the treatment she’s been getting.

Suddenly a big snow-white tiger the size of a bus ran over. If anyone else was here, they would exclaim in amazement because the tiger was actually the long extinct rank 6 beast, the Yun Zhong Tiger.

Beasts are divided into ten ranks, from 1 to 10, with 1 being the weakest and 10 being the strongest. After rank 10 are beasts with the ‘holy beast’ title and are said to be creatures who have reached the highest rank a beast can attain. However, nowadays, except in secret realms, rank 5 beasts are considered rare with rank 6 beasts almost extinct and rank 7 beasts virtually non-existent save for some hidden in a few special areas. As for rank 8 and above, they were basically stuff of fairytales and have long disappeared from this world. However, this is only the case for land beasts and not the sea beasts. After all, in this world of immortals and demons, the sea is seen as a very mysterious place.

In the center of this secret realm, it is said that there are three rank 8 beasts with strength comparable to cultivators at the Synthesis stage*. This was the reason why the secret realm restricts it so only those at the below Spirit-Severing rank can enter. Otherwise the beasts would have long been eliminated by the higher-ranked cultivators. Furthermore, the amount of spiritual energy in this realm was several times higher than the outside world. If it were not for the time limit, more people would stay in this realm if they could. (*T/N: Synthesis rank is two ranks above Spirit Severing)

However, the number of beasts in this realm was just too overwhelming, even experts at the Nascent Soul Stage must be careful here! Fortunately, Gu Anran and Hong Qingyi had slowly made their way towards the center of the realm instead of rushing in like idiots. If they had rushed in, they would have died a few times over.

While the two of them were currently relaxing in the secret realm, they were completely unaware of the chaos erupting in the Demonic Sect.

“Chu-er, answer me, why did you do this? When have I treated you wrongly?” Mu Qingli pointed her sword at the bloodied and bruised youth on the ground, her face as cold as ever but there was no hiding the pain in her eyes.

“Why….? Because you are a woman…for what reason are you better than me! Not only in talent, but in everything! From when I was child till now, you have kept me down! Everyone compares me to you and I’ve always lived under your wings! A true man must have ability, and so the title of head of the Demonic Sect is naturally mine! As long as I got rid of you, I would become the young master of the Demonic Sect and the number one of the demonic cultivators! That’s where I should stand, at the top, not being protected behind you like some stupid and obdient little brother.” With his misdeeds exposed, Mu Qing Chu no longer wore his sunny and cheerful mask. Now only viciousness and hatred remained on his face as he gazed at Mu Qingli.

Mu Qingli stared at Mu Qing Chu. She had never expected that Mu Qing Chu, her brother that was less than 20-years-old, would have such a scheming and ambitious heart. Not to mention, his plans were meticulous. No matter what he did, he always had an escape route at the ready. No, that wasn’t exactly correct either. It is more accurate to say that he is always the one who benefits the most while doing nothing and even if his deeds are revealed, the fire of the consequences will never burn him. The miserable ones are the people he used as a shield. It can be said that almost 80% of the entire Demonic Sect are chess pieces he can use at will.

Many of these chess pieces wouldn’t even know being calculated against and many of those who had died tragically would never know they were actually just another’s shield.

All of this planning had started long ago. From the careful investigations of Mu Qingli’s subordinates, this plan to overthrow her as the current young head of the sect had started when he was only ten years old. In fact, it might have been when he was even less than 10. His terrifying yet brilliant mind made one shiver in fear.

He had relied on his sunny and cheerful disguise to capture people’s hearts while secretly removing the obstacles blocking his path one by one.

Mu Qingli herself had only discovered this side of her because of Anran’s words, and her strange determination of repeating the same answer despite Mu Qingli not believing in her. She never would have had any defenses against Mu Qing Chu and perhaps today it would be her on the ground in such a bruised state if it weren’t for Gu Anran.

“This is your reason?” Mu Qingli trembled slightly, the pain in her eyes deepening, “Tell me, the person who had drugged me with a love potion back then….was her master you!”

“Hah, so what if it was me? As long as you had slept with someone, and then I killed that person afterward, I could use dual cultivation myself to surpass you who had lost your only partner!” Mu Qing Chu’s eyes were full of a thirst for power, a deep yearning for more and more power. He laughed crazily, and looked very much like a lunatic with his current bloodied state.

“Such a stupid method, it would’ve completely useless.” The hand holding her sword shook slightly.

“You’re wrong! The speed of dual cultivation is almost three times the speed of regular cultivation. Although it would’ve been impossible to beat you within a short period of time, if I had just gotten one year’s worth of time, just one year, I would’ve definitely surpassed you and become the number one of the Demonic Sect!” Mu Qing Chu said hysterically. Then he titled his head and let out a strange smile,

“Ah, that’s right, I remember that your dual cultivation partner was a certain young disciple of the sect. Someone called…Gu Anran right? Tsk, tsk, tsk, although I wanted to get rid of her immediately, she was brought back by you. I didn’t expect you to have such an unusual attitude towards her, to actually bring her into your precious bedroom. I had one of my subordinates listen in from the outside, and unexpectedly she really revealed that I was the mastermind! Yet you didn’t believe it! You were too stupid and naive, your eyes blinded by false affection. You have forgotten that in this sect, there is no place for emotions and relationships. Strength is everything! You have destroyed your dual cultivation partner with your own two hands and only now you realize what she said was all true! How do you feel??? Pretty great, right? Hahahahahah!” The mocking laughter rang out into the silent space around them.

“Take him out and put him into the innermost cell.” Mu Qingli could only squeeze out these words, her voice trembling and hoarse. As she watched Mu Qing Chu laugh wildly while being dragged off, she only felt a sense of powerlessness in her entire body.

She returned to her room and stared at her bed, the sword in her hand having fallen to the ground. She needed to think, a place to be quiet.

She sat on the bed and hugged her legs as the wall of the bed. She nestled herself against the corner of the bed as a handkerchief stained with some blood appeared in her hand.This was the blood that Gu Anran had spit out when she had slapped her in the beginning. She never expected that the thing that should’ve been thrown away a long time ago would now become her only token to remember the other by.

She had believed in Mu Qing Chu too much and never would have thought she would be chained down by family affection. If it was anybody else, she would have calmly found someone to investigate the truth instead of losing her cool.

Mu Qing Chu was just too good at hiding or perhaps it was because she was just too desperate for someone she could trust by her side. Originally, the only person she could trust was Mu Qing Chu, but then when the person she could actually entrust appeared she had pushed her away and even hurt the other party.

The other party was only in the middle stages of Foundation Establishment and was slapped by someone like her who was at the Nascent Soul rank. Although she didn’t use much force, it didn’t even reach one-tenth of her strength, the difference in ranks had caused the other party to be seriously injured. Then the person wasn’t treated before they were tortured. Whenever she thought back to the big pool of blood she had seen in that cold cell, her heart felt like it was being stabbed by a knife. The pain never stopped, was it simply self-blame? Or the feeling of having her heart broken? Mu Qingli could not understand these feelings…

She only wished she could rewind time and returned to the time when she still had a good impression towards the other. She wanted to hold the other person in her arms and say sorry over and over again.

However, that person had disappeared into thin air. She did not believe that Gu Anran was dead, that she must still be in this world and alive, but she did not know where she was.

Mu Qingli remained in the same position before she slowly fell back onto her bed, holding that blood-stained handkerchief tightly. Her face was full of bitterness and ridicule towards herself while eyes were full of longing and self-blame.

Where are you now? Why can’t I find you after all these years? Can I still beg you for a chance to apologize….

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