novelraw Chapter 57 : Red Luan Calamity Body
Chapter 57 : Red Luan Calamity Body
Chapter 57: Red Luan Calamity Body
The drizzling rain fell upon the mountain.
Unlike the rain of summer, the rain of autumn was generally more restrained, yet continuous. Soaked for too long, one could easily catch a chill.
A young girl slowly walked up from the foot of the mountain.
The rain did not touch her body.
The girl softly said: “Hm?”
Before her lay a scene of wreckage, fragments of shattered wood scattered everywhere, the entire Palace destroyed into ruins.
This was a Cihang Palace, also the place where Lu Changyuan had picked up Qiu Yuehan.
“Who would actually destroy the Palace.”
No one could discern any emotion within the girl’s words. She was merely stating the fact in a calm tone.
Strangely enough, though the girl was blindfolded, she could still see everything clearly.
Su Youwan stretched out her hand, and the shattered wood that had been smashed by Xian Qingqiu separated and drifted aside.
She stepped into the Palace, folded up her umbrella, placed it at the corner of the wall, and carrying her black-cloth birdcage, saw that white-jade Guanyin.
The statue had not been destroyed. Instead, it sat perfectly intact within the Palace, only dusted with a thin layer of ash.
At first glance, it still seemed like a Bodhisattva lowering her gaze, transcendent and merciless.
The girl waved her hand, and all the dust upon the statue dispersed, revealing the true form of the idol, resembling a spider with many legs. Yet compared to this white-jade Bodhisattva, the girl herself seemed to carry more pity for all living beings.
She said:
“Master, I did not retrieve the sword. Someone used that sword to unleash One Sword from the West.”
The statue actually responded.
The white-jade Guanyin seemed to come alive, radiant jade glowing with a soft light.
After a long silence, the girl said: “Yes.”
Su Youwan thought to herself that this outcome was about what she expected.
That young man was strange no matter how one looked at him—most likely Master had become interested in this person.
The radiance upon the white-jade Guanyin faded away.
In truth, she too was interested in that youth.
Not because he was handsome or that his swordsmanship was divine, but because of his scent.
Su Youwan very much liked the young man’s scent—it was like the aroma of delicious mung bean cake, able to stir her appetite.
“Right now… most likely he is at the Jade Palace.”
Troublesome.
How was she supposed to find the way to the Jade Palace?
Su Youwan had no choice but to return to the Glazed Dynasty, ask the still-living National Preceptor for directions, and then once more set out toward the Jade Palace.
When she arrived, it was yet another rainy day.
Su Youwan actually disliked the rain.
Rain meant she had to use an umbrella, and when she carried the umbrella both of her hands ended up occupied.
But when heaven wished for rain, and an immortal fairy must marry, such things could not be helped.
Something drew the girl’s attention.
It was the rain.
Unlike ordinary rain, and even more unlike the black rain that fell upon the Glazed Dynasty, the rain over the Jade Palace was more like ink.
Su Youwan could even smell the fragrance of ink within the rainwater.
Holding her birdcage and oil-paper umbrella, she rose into the air.
Suddenly, she felt a bit hungry, so she removed the white cloth covering her eyes. Beneath it was a pair of eyes so beautiful they seemed otherworldly, yet what drew the most attention was that they were blood-red.
White hair, crimson pupils—the signs of ill omen manifested completely upon this young girl.
Su Youwan softly murmured: “Ink?”
She extended her hand to catch a droplet of the inky rain.
The black liquid dyed her jade-like fingers dark, looking unbearably filthy.
Boom!
In the distance, a dazzling sword-light split apart the rainy night for an instant, though it was only for a brief moment.
It was not only Han Ze who had fallen into demonic corruption.
Beneath the Blood Moon, Xian Qingqiu too succumbed to demonization.
After Han Yi severed the chains, Xian Qingqiu felt something was wrong with herself.
It was a bewildering sensation, as if heaven and earth were retreating, and she too was retreating with them.
Her consciousness seemed on the verge of being devoured by something, her memories growing increasingly blurred.
She stumbled through the Jade Palace until she finally leaned against a tree.
Was she going to die?
A strange thought appeared in her mind.
When the red mist surged, she realized she was fading away. Her delicate arm sprouted black fur, her long legs twisted and deformed.
“I… have been tainted by the Desire Demon?”
Xian Qingqiu looked at herself in disbelief.
Impossible… impossible.
She had killed countless people, struggled with everything she had to painstakingly rebuild her cultivation to its current level—how could she be tainted by the Desire Demon!?
Suddenly, the scene before her turned into an ink painting.
A black-and-white spear appeared before her.
“Dominating Spear… my… spear?”
Xian Qingqiu remembered.
At the beginning, she had not been a disciple of the Canglan Sect, but of a small sect in the Black Domain—the Dominating Spear Sect.
She had once been the most beautiful immortal fairy of the Dominating Spear Sect.
Thus, the Dominating Spear Sect had sent her as a gift to an elder of the Canglan Sect.
Xian Qingqiu had chosen death over submission, and so that elder crippled her cultivation.
She was tormented by that elder for three years.
Later, when the elder fell from power and the Canglan Sect changed leadership, she finally escaped from the pitch-black dungeon.
Hatred. Endless, boundless hatred.
Why had she been subjected to such torment? Why had her hard-earned cultivation been stripped away?
Hatred spread, and from it the Desire Demon was born.
She understood then—cultivation was nothing more than people devouring one another.
Xian Qingqiu willingly chose depravity.
From a mere menial servant to a true disciple, she climbed step by step, seducing disciples of the Canglan Sect, consuming human blood, persecuting her peers, all to obtain spiritual herbs and techniques, eventually rebuilding herself to the Fourth Realm.
This time, if she could swallow the Jade Palace, she could ascend to become a true disciple of the Canglan Sect.
How could she allow herself to be tainted by the Desire Demon here!?
Xian Qingqiu thought of Xia Lianxue.
In her eyes, Xia Lianxue was just as cheap as she was, seducing men for the sake of rebuilding her cultivation.
But why had Xia Lianxue been so lucky, meeting a man who was not only handsome but also gentle, who helped her escape from the sea of suffering?
Xian Qingqiu pushed herself up and staggered forward.
She did not know how long she wandered in confusion, when suddenly her mind cleared.
Looking up, she found herself standing beside the Jade Palace’s Scripture Pavilion.
The landscape painting upon the Scripture Pavilion wavered before her eyes.
In the blink of an eye.
Everything around her turned to ink-wash hues, and a long staircase formed before her.
“A painting?”
She did not know when it had happened, but she was already holding the landscape painting.
With force, she tore it down.
Everything around her enveloped her like ink, and she once more became the pure and beautiful immortal fairy she had once been.
The sword she had learned from the Canglan Sect broke in her hands, replaced instead by a long spear of ink and wash.
Xian Qingqiu did not know what was happening.
She only knew that there was a voice speaking within her mind.
It was a voice that could not be identified as male or female, human or otherwise.
The voice said: “Go find Xia Lianxue.”
When the curtain of time opened, Jiang Jiayi had originally planned to leave.
Since the Palace Mistress of the Jade Palace had not perished, the affairs of the Jade Palace were no longer for her to meddle in. But just as she prepared to leave with Qiu Yuehan, a sudden change occurred.
The sky began to rain ink.
Boom.
For some reason, the tribulation lightning had not yet dissipated.
Golden thunder continued crushing down upon the world.
Out of the curtain of rain, a figure of ink holding a long spear walked forth. Immediately, the entire Jade Palace began to lose color, as if it were a painting fading away, everything reverting into white paper.
Before Jiang Jiayi could think too much, the ink figure raised the spear and charged at her.
When had the Jade Palace hidden a Jade Radiance realm ink figure!?
Beside Jiang Jiayi, Qiu Yuehan said in disbelief: “Xian Qingqiu.”
Jiang Jiayi frowned and asked: “Who is Xian Qingqiu?”
“She is a disciple of the Canglan Sect.”
If she was a disciple of the Canglan Sect, then why did she possess the strength of Jade Radiance?
Very soon, Jiang Jiayi had no need to wonder further, because the face of that ink figure faded like dissolving pigment, finally becoming a face she had once seen in a portrait.
“Ancestor Red Luan!?”