Dao Companion Crippled, Coveters Move

Chapter 71: The Business Saintess Wants to Make the Peng Sword Immortal Develop Feelings

"Yueqiu, the Sect tournament is almost here. With your current level of Dao Practice, not even the Elders' True Disciples are a match for you. So why are you always so gloomy?"

Pei Yuhang walked to the shore of the Hidden Immortal Sea. He looked at the silver-haired young woman sitting on a stone cliff not far away, gazing into the distance, and asked in confusion.

The damp sea breeze swept in, lifting the silver-haired young woman's flowing silver locks. Under the brilliant golden sun, her hair shimmered, as if a whole galaxy of stars were hidden within its strands.

As if waking from a distant memory, she looked at the man who was her master in this world.

But in all these decades, she had never once brought herself to call this Pei Yuhang "Master." She only ever addressed him respectfully as "Palace Master Pei."

For she was the True Disciple of another Pei Yuhang and would never bow to a second master in her life.

"Palace Master Pei, is there really no Divine Sword Pavilion in this Hidden Immortal Sea?"

Pei Yuhang let out a helpless smile.

"Yueqiu, you've asked me this so many times. You've even gone into the sea yourself to search on several occasions. But you know the outcome. The Hidden Immortal Sea is, and always has been, just an ordinary lake.

And as for the Divine Sword Pavilion, I've looked into it for you... Unfortunately, it has never appeared anywhere in the history of the Dao Sect, or even the entire Cultivation Realm."

Pei Yuhang walked toward the pensive, silver-haired young woman on the cliff as he spoke:

"Yueqiu, I don't know why you're so fixated on the Divine Sword Pavilion. Perhaps you're the reincarnation of some Great Power and have retained a few memories from a past life...

But all of that is in the past now, isn't it?

The Cold Palace Sword Mansion is thriving, I've inherited the title of Saint Son, and my path on the Great Dao is clear. A thousand years from now, I might even be the next Daoist Sect Leader.

And you've become famous throughout the realm. You're the undisputed number one of the Dao Sect's younger generation."

"Yueqiu, don't let yourself be tangled in the karma of the past. The reason you haven't been able to break through to the Nascent Soul realm is that your Dao Heart can never find peace. The Heartless Sword you cultivate has been dulled by these chaotic thoughts of a time gone by."

Pei Yuhang spoke with great earnestness, extending a hand to Qing Yueqiu. With his back to the sun, his face was cast in shadow, hiding his expression.

"Yueqiu, let's return to the Palace."

...…

"Oh, Xiaohan... you broke your vows after all."

"It seems you've forgotten. Once my Sacred Land's signature Charm Technique is unleashed, even the stones on the ground are moved to passion. An enlightened monk who encounters it will have his golden body sullied and will fall from his sacred lotus throne.

And you have the intensely passionate Giant Sun Saint Body. Why torture yourself by laying down all sorts of precepts like those foolish monks?"

Shang Miaoyan wiped her lips, her flushed face filled with a look of triumph.

After a hundred years, she had finally obtained this purest Primordial Yang Power once more. She could feel it now: in her Sea of Consciousness, the mystical Honglian seed—a fusion of the Yin Yang Dao and the Jade Maiden Dao—was beginning to take root and sprout. The shackles on her Dao Practice, stagnant for so long, were finally loosening!

Unfortunately...

Even as the Evil Yang Fire Qi seared him, drenching him in sweat and plastering his clothes to his skin, Pei Yuhang's expression remained serene. His eyes were closed in meditation as he silently chanted a calming scripture.

It was as if his soul had already escaped the confines of his mortal shell, leaving only a physical body behind for Shang Miaoyan's amusement.

In other words, Pei Yuhang hadn't lost. Not yet. Mentally, he hadn't been moved by "emotion"; he had only been stirred by physical "desire" thanks to Shang Miaoyan's despicable tactics.

It was contempt. Utter and absolute contempt.

Shang Miaoyan felt utterly humiliated.

She, the revered Saintess of the Yin Yang Sacred Land, born with a Natural Charm—with a single glance, she could make ninety percent of the world's men line up to die for her.

She, the woman who once had the young Pei Yuhang wrapped around her little finger...

And now, she couldn't even make him open his eyes and truly look at her!

Frustrated, Shang Miaoyan reached out and violently tore open the front of Pei Yuhang's robes, revealing a Jade Pendant hanging from his neck. Its interior was now completely filled with a black and red, cotton-like substance.

"Damn it! The Nameless Daoist's Meditation Cold Jade should have been completely corrupted by your Evil Yang Fire Qi and lost all its power by now! Why are you still able to maintain the state of Entering Meditation?!"

She couldn't accept it. She couldn't accept being ignored by the man she loved most.

For her, failing to stir Pei Yuhang's passion was a fate more terrifying than death itself!

Shang Miaoyan pressed her lips to Pei Yuhang's ear. As they moved, a bewitching, demonic whisper slithered into his ear canal like countless tiny hands, trying to drag his attention back to her.

"Xiaohan, open your eyes and look at me..."

"The most beautiful woman in all the world is right here before you, yours for the taking."

"Open your eyes... Isn't your pitch-black world of meditation lonely and cold? Miaoyan can show you a paradise of vibrant, gentle pleasures."

Shang Miaoyan employed various Spiritual Sense Secret Techniques—hypnosis, Illusion Techniques, one after another—but she couldn't cause even the slightest flicker in Pei Yuhang's tightly shut eyelids.

Gradually, being ignored by the man she loved most sparked a true rage within Shang Miaoyan.

She was starting to lose patience. She was even tempted to cheat. She didn't care what despicable method she had to use; she would make Pei Yuhang break his vows here.

'So... should I use the Demon-Planting Mark?'

'Once I activate the Demon-Planting Mark, this ice-cold White-clothed Sword Immortal will become a toy in the palm of my hand, completely subservient to my will.'

'It would be so easy to make him conscious and then do whatever I want to him.'

'But—'

'It would be meaningless. It would just lead to the same outcome as a hundred years ago.'

'Pei Yuhang might pretend to obey, but his heart would never yield.'

'He would constantly be thinking of how to escape, how to get away from me.'

'The Demon-Planting Mark isn't foolproof. Given enough time, Pei Yuhang would surely find a way to break it.'

'And then, like a wild horse that has slipped its bridle, he would run off with Ye Liyuan to a place where I could never find them.'

Shang Miaoyan couldn't bear to imagine such an outcome. To never see Xiaohan's face again, never hear his voice, never smell his scent, never feel his warmth...

That fate would be more agonizing than death itself!!

The tenderness in Shang Miaoyan's eyes vanished. If she couldn't beguile him with sweet nothings, then she would threaten him with death!

'Either way, I will make Pei Yuhang submit of his own accord today. Only then can I leave a crack in his Dao Heart. Only then will I have a real chance to possess him, body and soul!'

Shang Miaoyan rose to her feet. The Jiezhi Storage Ring on her finger flashed, and a dagger appeared in her hand. It was a deep, spectral purple, and a gray ash of black particles drifted from its tip.

This dagger was named "Gloom." It was once the ultimate treasure of the world's greatest assassin, branded with inscriptions of numerous fatal laws: DEATH, WITHERING, ANNIHILATION. Once stabbed, not even a Daluo Golden Immortal could be saved.

As Gloom was unsheathed, the temperature in the room plummeted. The air filled with the deathly gray particles drifting from the blade's tip.

Shang Miaoyan mercilessly kicked Pei Yuhang to the ground. She planted her foot on his chest, looking down at him as she spoke in a voice as cold as ice:

"Pei Yuhang, if you don't open your eyes and look at me right now, I will kill you!"