Chapter 248

Chapter 248: He Is Qing Yan, the One Whose Word Is Law
A faint dimple appeared on Su Ming’s face as he spoke, but his tone was very serious as he corrected her form of address and even made her promise not to get it wrong again: “Junior Sister Ye, why are you also learning from Yu Xiao Zhao and calling me Third Senior Brother? From now on, just call me Senior Brother Su. I’m afraid Yu Xiao Zhao will get angry and stop playing with me.”

After she called out to him, Yu Zhao herself froze. [Su Ming is my Senior Brother. Why am I calling him so affectionately?]

Facing Su Ming’s seemingly cold reaction, she could completely understand.

After she sincerely apologized and promised she would never make the same mistake again, she went back to her own cave dwelling.

The place she lived in was the cave that had belonged to her father, Elder Sun, while he was still alive.

After her father passed away, the sect had assigned the cave to her, letting her have a natural, superior place to cultivate.

Yu Zhao sat down cross-legged. One hand propped up her chin, the other rested on her knee, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

Something was very wrong with her today!

Her memories told her that she was Ye Cong Xin, the real, genuine Ye Cong Xin, yet she herself did not feel that way at all.

[Am I sick? Or did I lose my memory?]

The more Yu Zhao thought about it, the more her head hurt, until her breathing turned rapid and she suddenly fell forward onto the floor.

Only then did she realize it was not a simple headache. She was having an attack.

She did not know why, but she did not feel panic. Instead, she felt it was only natural.

She felt unfamiliar with this body, so of course she was not familiar with its condition.

Right now, it felt as if someone was squeezing her throat and not letting her breathe. Her chest felt like it was about to explode from the pressure. Her face turned purple-blue, and her body shook in convulsions she could not control.

Judging from the memories in her mind, this attack was more serious than any she had had before.

She was very likely going to die.

Yu Zhao tried to relax her body as much as she could and quietly waited for death to come.

At that moment, a crackling sound like an electric current suddenly rang out in her Sea of Consciousness.

A voice said: “Ye Cong Xin, as long as you sign a contract with me and Plunder Fate for me, you will have a healthy body.”

Yu Zhao struggled to move her Soul Force and asked: “Then what will happen to the person whose fate I Plunder?”

The voice answered: “They might become an ordinary nobody, they might be terribly unlucky, or they might even die.”

Yu Zhao said: “Then I will not sign.”

The voice asked: “Why not?”

Yu Zhao replied: “My own life is already hard enough. Why should I drag an innocent person down with me?”

She was not even sure who she herself really was, so she had no energy left to care about other people.

The voice tried to tempt her again: “If you sign a contract with me, you will not die! From then on, everything will go smoothly for you. The people who used to look down on you will all crawl at your feet.”

Yu Zhao said calmly: “In the Five Elements Dao Sect, no one looks down on me.”

Even though her body was terrible, she had uncles and elders in the sect to support her. No one dared to bully her.

The voice changed the subject: “What about Yu Zhao? You and she are about the same age, but she has the top talent you dream of. She has a powerful Master and Senior Brothers who all dote on her. Do you really not hate her?”

Yu Zhao asked back: “What does Yu Zhao have to do with me? Her talent did not come from me. Why should I hate her?”

Yu Zhao only felt that this was completely baffling.

“You…” The voice in her Sea of Consciousness was so choked by Yu Zhao that it could not speak. It could only keep sighing and calling her a block of wood who did not know how to seize a chance.

He nagged on and on. Yu Zhao simply treated him as a way to adjust her mood, letting him talk as much as he wanted. From time to time she would answer with a word or two so he would not give up too soon.

However, as she listened, Yu Zhao suddenly sat up in shock even though she was supposed to be on the verge of death.

[Wait, wasn’t I about to die? Why am I still alive?]

She lowered her head and pulled at her robe.

The bruises and hidden injuries on her body had all disappeared.

“Fake?” she muttered to herself, as countless thoughts flashed through her mind.

Before she could figure out what was going on, the Heart Devil announced the result first: “Yu Zhao, you were lucky this round. Next time, you will not be so lucky.”

And so, right after Yu Zhao had just recovered her memories, in the blink of an eye she fell into a new Illusory Realm once again.

…

Su Ming kept his head down and followed behind Master Qing Yan, obedient and quiet like a gourd with its mouth cut off, not saying a single word.

Besides being nervous in front of Master Qing Yan, another important reason was that he really had no spare energy to talk.

He was using all his strength just to keep up with Master Qing Yan.

He did not understand. Master clearly could have brought him and Quan Ye along using Blink Step, yet he insisted on choosing the simplest and also the most boring way to travel.

This made things hard for Su Ming.

He had to abandon his own pace and tightly follow Master Qing Yan’s steps, making himself look especially ragged.

Su Ming had no idea that the one who had chosen this way of traveling was not his Master, but the Otherworldly Soul who was taking the chance to teach him a lesson.

The Otherworldly Soul complained inside: “Su Ming is not stupid, but he is too simple. He believes whatever people tell him, sitting on a mountain of treasure without even knowing it. He is foolish to the extreme. Someone like that needs to be tempered more so he will not be tricked and make us lose face.”

Master Qing Yan’s face was always covered in frost, so no one could tell that he was already angry at this moment.

The Otherworldly Soul did not fear him at all. You could say this soul knew him better than anyone in the whole Cultivation World.

After all, they had once been one and the same. Only after going through different experiences did they start to have clashing opinions.

Master Qing Yan said coldly: “There are many ways to teach a disciple. Why are you wasting my time?”

The soul argued with full confidence: “If a disciple is not taught, it is the teacher’s fault. I am doing this for your own good. You will understand in the future.”

Master Qing Yan said: “I do not need this kind of self-righteous kindness.”

The soul warned him: “Qing Yan, since you have become a Master, you should bear a Master’s duty. If you do not, you will regret it one day.”

Master Qing Yan sneered: “Regret? I never regret.”

The soul laughed softly: “Heh, I said the same thing back then, but I regretted it long ago. Sadly, there is no medicine for regret in this world.”

Master Qing Yan scoffed: “That was you. I definitely will not.”

The Otherworldly Soul fell silent, as if it had been convinced.

Yet Master Qing Yan felt even less at ease.

The soul’s words echoed in his mind like a curse.

Would he regret it?

Of course he would not.

He was Qing Yan.

He was Master Qing Yan, whose word was law.

“Shui Qing…” His eyes flashed as he was about to change the subject, when Su Ming behind him suddenly lost his footing and fell hard to the ground.

Master Qing Yan turned back, the coldness between his brows growing even stronger.

If even walking on the road was hard for him, he was clearly a burden.

It would be better to send him back than to keep him here as an eyesore.

The soul hurried to stop him: “Do not rush. Listen to what Su Ming has to say first.”

The soul truly was the part that understood Master Qing Yan best. Before he could let hurtful words slip out, it stopped him in advance.

Su Ming had fallen badly. Besides anger, he could not help feeling afraid.

He had made a fool of himself in front of his Master. His Master would surely like him even less.

Once again, he had failed to satisfy his Master.

The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. Still lying on the ground with his butt in the air, he used both hands to dig out the stone that had tripped him.

The stone was only the size of a fist, triangular in shape. Its edges were smooth and glossy, and under the sunlight it shone with a faint golden light.

Su Ming lifted the stone, ready to curse, when a force snatched it right out of his hand.

He was so angry that he bounced up from the ground and shouted: “Who dares snatch something from Young Master’s hand, you freaki… you really have good eyes! Master, I was wrong, I was not cursing you.”