Qing Ying grabbed Bao Gu’s arm again just as she managed to pull free.
“That, uh… I just went back to my old lair.”
Bao Gu replied with a blank face.
“Mm.”
“You’ve been out for hundreds of years,” she said. “Why didn’t you stay a few more days once you were back at your old nest?”
Qing Ying instantly exploded.
“Stay, my ass! I don’t know which bastard flattened my lair into a bare patch of yellow sand. There’s nothing left, not even a shard of bone!”
She was shaking all over, baring her teeth in her rage. With so many people here, baring fangs like that was not a good look. She jumped, let go of Bao Gu’s arm, clapped a hand over her mouth, quickly retracting her fangs. Only then did she go on, muffled:
“And the cauldron my dad left me is gone too! I can’t sense it at all. Someone must have taken it and wiped away the soul imprint I left on it!”
Inwardly, Bao Gu thought, The bastard you’re cursing is your own grandmaster.
Her face stayed expressionless; she kept her mouth shut.
Qing Ying said again,
“Cheap Master, didn’t you say you’re amazing in the cultivation world? Help me find my dad’s cauldron! I was raising a dragon in there. After all these years, even if it hasn’t fully turned into a true dragon yet, it should at least be a flood dragon by now. If you help me get the cauldron back, I’ll give you the flood dragon inside as a mount!”
She smiled brightly at Bao Gu as she spoke, feeling that this offer had to be tempting enough.
Zi Yunshu quietly slipped behind Zi Tianjun to hide.
That “dragon” Qing Ying had been raising had entered Zi Yunshu’s belly when it was still just a mass of dragon qi—and had been refined by her.
Seeing Bao Gu still unmoved, Qing Ying’s expression turned pitiful.
“That’s the only thing my dad left me…”
“You still have Grandpa Tree, don’t you?” Bao Gu said.
Qing Ying’s eyes widened.
“Are you helping me find the cauldron or not?”
When Bao Gu saw Qing Ying bristling at her, her own expression turned cold. She shot Qing Ying a frosty glance.
She had spent a long time in high positions; the authority she’d accumulated, together with her cultivated sword intent, surged forth. Her aura suddenly turned razor-sharp, a killing chill spreading through the hall, a chill not of ice and snow but of blades and steel, a biting cold edged with slaughter.
Qing Ying had rarely seen her master release this kind of aura.
The last time had been when her master sliced that half-crippled banyan tree behemoth into chunks with a single sword.
The time before that had been outside the War King’s manor, when she butchered the barbarian tribes.
Her cheap master usually kept a low profile, but whenever she struck, it was always a decisive kill—a sword meant for slaughter.
Qing Ying wasn’t afraid of this little bit of her cheap master’s strength, but she was very much afraid of Bao Gu losing her temper.
Heaven knew what sort of nasty tricks this cheap master would come up with if she really got mad. And she still needed her master’s help to find the cauldron.
She hurriedly put on a fawning smile.
“Please, Master—” Her voice dragged out into a sugary whine.
Zi Tianjun, Zi Yunshu, and Feng Yi, who had just entered, all broke out in goosebumps from head to toe.
Bao Gu sighed inwardly. She drew back her aura and softened her voice.
“Be good. I’ll think of a way to help you get your cauldron back.”
Qing Ying’s eyes lit up. She stared at Bao Gu, eyes shining.
“You know where my cauldron is?”
Bao Gu nodded.
“Then take me there!” Qing Ying cried in delight.
She grabbed Bao Gu’s hand and started hauling her toward the outside.
Bao Gu cast a body-freezing spell, locking Qing Ying in place together with the space around her.
“I have things to deal with right now,” she said. “When I’m free, I’ll help you look for the cauldron. Don’t worry, your cauldron won’t run away. But if you keep pestering me and making a fuss, don’t expect me to help you get it back.”
Qing Ying grinned.
“Then just tell me who that bastard is that took my cauldron. I’ll go get it myself.”
Bao Gu smiled faintly.
“You know the War God Sword?”
Qing Ying threw her a look that clearly said: Are you spouting nonsense?
“The one who took your cauldron,” Bao Gu went on, “is the War God Sword’s original master’s first wife, the founding ancestor’s wife of Xuantian Sect. She also has another identity: princess of the upper realm’s Demon Emperor, with a complete-grade Demon Emperor Cauldron, the natal imperial cauldron with which she proved her Dao. If you’re not afraid she’ll throw you into her cauldron and seal you for another tens of thousands of years, go ahead.”
Qing Ying’s eyes went round. She sucked in a breath, then let out a dry little laugh.
“Then… I’ll trouble Master to make a trip, I guess.”
She knew exactly who that was.
Back then she’d captured Yu Mi but hadn’t dared do anything to her because Yu Mi had a heavy treasure protecting her body. From that aura, she’d known there was someone in this realm who could match her, so she had obediently curled up in her lair to recover her strength.
She’d never expected that person would actually have a complete, flawless imperial artifact of enlightenment. Thinking about the force needed to smash her lair to that state, and to take away the cauldron her father left her—and that this person was War God Xuantian’s first wife—Bao Gu’s words rang one hundred percent true in her ears.
Bao Gu saw she’d managed to scare Qing Ying, and coaxed her gently,
“Good girl. Go play on your own. I still have work to do.”
Qing Ying made a small sound of acknowledgment.
Her eyes turned, and she said ingratiatingly,
“I just saw Yu Mi at the courtyard gate. I didn’t hit her. I even bowed and greeted her nicely.”
Bao Gu nodded lightly.
“Very good.”
She reached out and rubbed Qing Ying’s head.
She felt that if she didn’t find something for Qing Ying to do, with that girl’s temperament, she would cling to her endlessly until the cauldron was found.
“Oh, right,” Bao Gu added. “The army on the main battleship is relocating to Shadowghost City. They’re discussing how to settle them in. Go see how they’re doing. I just shut down the Qingzhou grand formation earlier so you wouldn’t go barging around. I’ll be turning it back on later. After that, don’t rush around all over the place. Go in and out properly through the domain teleportation gates. I set that formation up back then specifically to deal with you. Go to the side hall and find someone named Wang Ding. Have him give you the coordinates of a few domain gates that lead into Qingzhou.”
Qing Ying answered with another “oh,” then grinned again.
“Master, what are you busy with right now? I’ll help you!”
If she helped her master finish her work, her master could go reclaim the cauldron sooner.
“Great,” Bao Gu said. “Cut the Five Elements immortal stones to the specs for building a realm-breaking domain gate, engrave the corresponding runic patterns, link them into a formation, and assemble a realm-breaking gate.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Qing Ying vanished from beside her, bolting so fast she left no shadow.
Bao Gu: …
She sure can run.
From far away, Qing Ying’s voice drifted back.
“Cheap Master, I think this place is pretty good. Look, Yu Mi is here too. We don’t have to move anymore, right?”
The instant Bao Gu heard that, she knew Qing Ying had decided she didn’t want to leave.
Her heart skipped. She hurriedly activated the Qingzhou grand formation, afraid this girl would get handsy and smash the Five Elements immortal stones inside the formation to keep her from building a realm-breaking gate.
She’d only just reactivated the formation when a miserable shriek rang out from within it.
“Ah—!”
It was clearly Qing Ying’s voice.
Bao Gu jumped too. She hadn’t expected Ba to move that fast. Not knowing where Qing Ying had been struck by the formation, she immediately sent her voice through the air.
“Qing Ying, are you alright?”
A long time passed before a sulky voice came drifting from the distance.
“I’m fine.”
“Really fine?” Bao Gu asked, uncertain.
Did someone who was fine sound that aggrieved?
Qing Ying gave a hard, disgruntled snort and fell silent.
Bao Gu swept her divine sense over the side halls and didn’t see Qing Ying anywhere. Then she linked her consciousness to the Qingzhou grand formation and searched for Qing Ying’s trace within it. Only after quite a while did she finally find Qing Ying huddled in a crack in a remote gorge, blowing on her fingers.
Those pale, tender fingers—each nail was broken, and the tips were all bruised purple.
Ten fingers linked to the heart. That had to hurt like hell.
Bao Gu was speechless.
Si Ruo, still in the hall, asked in shock and puzzlement,
“Bao Gu, what exactly is your disciple’s background? Someone from the Demon Domain worth that senior personally making a move… the only cauldron she would’ve taken has to be Ba’s, right? This Qingzhou grand formation was originally built to deal with Ba, wasn’t it? How did it become your cheap disciple’s?”
And judging from that girl Qing Ying’s vanishing footwork just now, her strength was unfathomable.
It wasn’t just Si Ruo. Many people in the hall were thinking the same thing.
Bao Gu knew Ba’s identity couldn’t be hidden, and she hadn’t planned to hide it.
“Qing Ying is Ba,” she said.
Jade Shura blurted,
“Ba? Qing Ying is Ba? Ba would acknowledge you as her master?”
Everyone in the hall had the same thought as Jade Shura.
From their conversation earlier, they’d already suspected Qing Ying’s identity might be Ba, but to actually believe Qing Ying was Ba was just too absurd.
If this hadn’t happened to her personally, Bao Gu wouldn’t have believed it either.
“She calls me ‘cheap master’ for a reason,” Bao Gu said. “Qing Ying picked up a cheap master, and I picked up a cheap disciple. I tricked her into the void. With the Xuantian Sword suppressing my body, she couldn’t do anything to me. The two of us were trapped in the endless void with no way out. To gain a sliver of life, we had to work together. After being together so long… she recognized me as her cheap master, and I accepted her as my cheap disciple.”
Jade Shura asked in disbelief,
“Ba’s strength is so much greater than yours. Why isn’t she your master instead?”
Bao Gu replied,
“Because I’ve been the one feeding her. All her rations were with me. Later, when memories of her past life awakened, she learned where the Xuantian Sword came from and wanted to cultivate the orthodox arts left by Ancestor Xuantian.”
Afraid they’d be scared of Qing Ying, she added,
“Don’t worry. She’s vegetarian now. She’s only interested in earth immortal meat. She looks down on Void Tearing stage cultivators.”
Silence fell over the hall.
Qu Yirou asked,
“Qing Ying really is Ba?”
The more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed.
Bao Gu nodded lightly and gestured for everyone to be seated.
Cultivators entering the hall later sensed something off about the atmosphere and quietly asked acquaintances for news through voice transmission. When they heard that the “Bao Gu’s disciple” they’d just seen outside was actually Ba, their first reaction was to dismiss it as impossible—and some even wanted Bao Gu to produce evidence.
Bao Gu didn’t want to waste time tangling over Qing Ying’s identity.
“There’s no need for everyone to fret,” she said. “Just treat Qing Ying as my disciple.”
The news was so shocking that for a long moment, no one knew how they were supposed to react.
The hall lapsed into silence.
Until Yu Mi respectfully led in someone no one had ever expected to see here.
When that figure, wearing a luxurious fox-fur cloak and looking like an immortal descended, appeared at the hall doors, Zi Tianjun, Bao Gu, and everyone within shot to their feet in shock.
Bao Gu hurried toward the entrance.
“Master’s wife, what brings you here?”
Xue Qing looked at Bao Gu with a faint smile.
“I sensed the Xuantian Sword’s aura appear in this realm. I knew you were back, so I came to have a look.”
Seeing representatives of all the major forces of the cultivation world gathered in the hall, she asked,
“I’ve come uninvited—am I disturbing you?”
Bao Gu quickly shook her head.
“No.”
Then she added, “Master’s wife, Qing Ying is back too. She’s looking for her cauldron right now.”
As she spoke, she moved to guide Xue Qing toward the seat of honor.
Xue Qing politely declined and sat at a seat near the head.
“What gains did you have on this trip?” she asked.
Bao Gu stood respectfully in front of her.
“Our luck was decent. After leaving this realm, we went to a stable great world. Then we jumped through the starry sky for five hundred years and finally found the Savage Wilderness Realm. I came back through the realm-breaking gate there.”
Xue Qing paused, then said,
“The Savage Wilderness Realm is the realm closest to the upper realm. With your current cultivation, and the power of the Xuantian Sword, you’re fully capable of breaking through the boundary and heading to the upper realm. Cultivating there is a thousand times faster than here. You didn’t go up?”
“I had something weighing on my heart,” Bao Gu said. “The Desolate Heaven Realm is where I most want to return.”
Xue Qing knew she meant Yu Mi.
Such a love-besotted child.
She couldn’t help thinking of Xuantian and sighing quietly inside.
“Seeing you back is enough to ease my mind,” she said.
“How are Linger and Senior Sister Xuanyue?” Bao Gu asked.
Xue Qing’s expression shifted slightly. She shook her head gently, clearly unwilling to elaborate.
Yu Mi also gave Bao Gu a small shake of the head, signaling her not to press.
Bao Gu felt uneasy, but seeing their attitudes, she let it go.
“Where is Qing Ying now?” Xue Qing asked.
“She went to scratch at the Qingzhou grand formation just now,” Bao Gu said. “She got her fingertips blasted by the formation’s power and is hiding somewhere blowing on her fingers.”
Xue Qing couldn’t help it. A light laugh slipped out.
That single laugh bloomed with endless charm, making everything around her seem colorless by comparison.
She lifted her head to look at Bao Gu standing before her. In her gentle gaze, a faint, misty emotion flickered and vanished. The soft curve at the corner of her lips remained.
“If Qing Ying wants her cauldron back, just send her to me,” she said. “I have nothing else to do. I just came to see you.”
When she finished, she rose and walked toward the doors.
Bao Gu’s sensitivity told her that although Xue Qing was smiling gently, there was a faint thread of sorrow clinging to her like mist, something she couldn’t name, and it made her chest ache uncomfortably.
She stood up and followed right behind Xue Qing, simultaneously using her arts to isolate the surrounding space.
“Master’s wife,” she called.
Xue Qing turned back, still smiling.
“Go on back,” she said. “There’s a hall full of people waiting for you.”
Even as she spoke, her eyes never left Bao Gu’s, as if she wanted to see into the depths of her eyes, into the depths of her soul.
Then Xue Qing turned her head away quickly.
“I should be going,” she said, and stepped toward the envoy residence’s front gate.
In that instant when Xue Qing had turned back, Bao Gu clearly saw the deep, searing grief in her eyes, and the tears already brimming there.
Her heart lurched violently.
A strange emotion surged through her mind, rising like a wave—lancing pain, and a sorrow so deep it threatened to drown her.
She lost control of it.
For a moment, she felt that Xue Qing was her one true love unto death, a love etched into bone. The pain and desolation surging up from her very marrow drove her to her knees. Trembling, she collapsed to the ground, yet still reached out a hand toward Xue Qing, her voice hoarse and strained.
“Qing’er…”
She thought of Yu Mi, then of Xue Qing.
Xue Qing was her master’s wife, someone she’d always respected like an elder. Why, then, did she feel such emotions?
At the gate, Xue Qing suddenly stopped.
She didn’t turn around.
She closed her eyes and clenched her hands into tight fists.
She knew she should lift her foot and walk away, but found herself unable to take another step.
Bao Gu’s head throbbed, her heart even more so.
Kneeling there, she felt as if her soul were being split in two.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
In that instant, it felt like the one kneeling here was not Bao Gu at all.
It felt like… someone else, someone bound to Xue Qing by a love that transcended life and death.
Her vision blurred; she still forced out another call.
“Qing’er…”
At last, Xue Qing couldn’t hold back.
She turned and looked at Bao Gu, who was kneeling on the ground and reaching a hand toward her.
Tears poured down like rain.
She knew the person kneeling there was Bao Gu, the successor personally chosen by her husband. Yet the sword in that child’s body was her husband’s life-bound sword. Her husband’s residual blood and soul fragments were in that sword.
Once the child completely fused with the sword, once it truly became Bao Gu’s own natal blade, her husband would vanish from this world entirely, leaving no trace behind.
And she could only watch as her husband faded.
She couldn’t act.
She couldn’t rip the Xuantian Sword back out after it had already merged with Bao Gu.
She couldn’t tear her husband’s last strand of soul from Bao Gu’s flesh and spirit; that strand had already been fused into Bao Gu’s blood and soul. If she made a move, Bao Gu would suffer unimaginable, crippling damage.
But the dead were gone; they should have been allowed to rest.
Yet that familiar aura, that call of “Qing’er”, shattered her composure, sent her emotions crashing down like a broken dam.
How she longed to rush forward, throw herself into his arms, and weep until her voice broke.
How she longed to tell him how fiercely she missed him.
How she longed for him to know how bitter these years alone had been—that she would give up everything, anything, just to have him back.
But she knew he could never return.
That last remnant of soul had already scattered the moment Bao Gu obtained the Xuantian Sword, leaving only a wisp of fading consciousness inside—his final tether to this world, his last thread of attachment to her.
