Chapter 57
Chapter 57: Torment
These past days, everyone in Zhaohua Sect who knew the truth had their hearts lodged in their throats.
Yu Liu Ya clenched his teeth and overruled everyone, refusing to go search for Hu Qing. Of course, the real problem was simple: there was nowhere to search. Still, the decision left a lot of people baffled—and furious.
More than once, Qin Yang stormed up to him, eyes blazing, wanting to say, bring her back alive or bring back her corpse. Finding the words too unlucky, he just glared hard enough to burn holes through stone.
Even Yu Liu Ya’s five disciples couldn’t understand.
Wen Chuan said, “I know Little Martial Uncle is capable. Searching might be useless. But going out to look is still better than sitting here worrying ourselves sick.”
Yin Ning couldn’t hold it in. “Why can’t we tell Grandmaster Chan Ming?”
She understood not telling Hu Nuan. But why keep it from Little Martial Uncle’s father?
Yu Liu Ya’s own heart felt like it had been split into seven or eight pieces, hollow and shaking. Yet the more panicked he was inside, the steadier his face became.
He barked at his disciples, “Spiritual energy is growing denser by the day. You’re about to break through. Stop wasting time.”
“Even your master couldn’t protect Little Martial Uncle. Do you think your little bit of skill can? I’m counting on you to protect the disciples below you.”
With that burden dropped on their shoulders, the five of them had nothing left to say. They could only return to their cultivation.
Yu Liu Ya even told the sect’s Great Expert ancestors, as if saying it aloud could make it true, “Hu Qing is definitely fine.”
No one believed him.
Yu Liu Ya coughed awkwardly. “Ahem. After that day, Immortal Venerable Wu Yue and Immortal Venerable Wen Yuan both came to see me.”
“They didn’t say much, but their attitude toward me was noticeably better.”
The ancestors’ eyes sharpened. “You mean…”
Yu Liu Ya gave a self-mocking smile. “Twelve Immortal Venerables returned. Zhe Liu was the most arrogant of them.”
He didn’t even bother with honorifics. In Yu Liu Ya’s mind, Zhaohua Sect and Zhe Liu were already beyond reconciliation—and the ancestors, tellingly, didn’t object.
That day, when Hu Qing shouted his name to the heavens, the last thin layer of politeness between both sides had been ripped away.
“Immortal Venerable Jie Shan was the only one who let us stand on our own feet,” Yu Liu Ya continued.
“But his temperament is stubborn. Aside from giving resources, he doesn’t interfere with Zhaohua Sect at all. He doesn’t associate with the other Immortal Venerables either.”
The ancestors nodded. That was true. Immortal Venerable Jie Shan never spoke nicely, but everyone agreed he was the one with the least malice—maybe the only one who still carried even a trace of genuine concern for Zhaohua Sect.
“As for the others… some gave gifts and severed the relationship. Some wanted to ‘support’ our disciples.”
“But their stance is obvious. First, they want to cut off karma with Zhaohua Sect. Second, they want to plant good karma for the future.”
In the end, it was all for themselves.
Yu Liu Ya shrugged. “So of course they don’t take a Nascent Soul Stage sect master like me seriously.”
A few faces darkened. Nascent Soul Stage or not, he was still their sect master.
“Right after that incident—only three to five days later—Immortal Venerable Wu Yue and Immortal Venerable Wen Yuan appeared one after the other,” Yu Liu Ya said. “They were only asking about my plans, but I could hear the politeness.”
“Other than Zhe Liu hitting a wall, I can’t think of another explanation.”
It made sense. Only if an immortal of their level—perhaps even a stronger one among them—had stumbled would the others rein in their arrogance.
So someone turned and stared at Qin Yang. “You’ve been casting divinations every day. You didn’t get anything?”
Another voice said quietly, “If something really happened to Hu Qing, once Chan Ming comes back, none of us will have peace.”
Silence swallowed the hall.
The truth, however, wasn’t far from Yu Liu Ya’s guess.
Those immortals weren’t living inside the sect, but Little Li Realm was tiny to them. With the ability to tear open space, anywhere was only a step away.
On the day Zhe Liu attacked, two Immortal Venerables happened to be nearby. At first, they didn’t take it seriously. They simply extended their divine senses to observe.
Later, when Hu Qing and Shui Xin provoked Zhe Liu into chasing them, their interest sharpened. Two little disciples, daring to curse an immortal? That took nerve.
Curiosity turned into amusement. They slipped back toward Zhaohua Sect in secret.
And unlike everyone else, they could actually track Zhe Liu’s movements.
They were certain that, given Zhe Liu’s temperament, the moment he left Zhaohua Sect’s territory, he would strike with lethal intent.
He did. But not as they expected.
Those two disciples dared to counter-kill him. They even escaped once. And somehow, Zhe Liu seemed to have taken a loss.
That was… interesting.
So the two Immortal Venerables drifted over in the dark, calm and unhurried. Even then, they still didn’t believe the two disciples had any real chance of surviving.
Then their divine sense went dead without warning.
A moment earlier, they’d still been watching the male disciple face Zhe Liu alone. What happened next?
They rushed to go—and discovered they couldn’t tear open space at all.
What?
They abandoned teleportation and flew at full speed instead. With immortal power, they’d only lose a little time.
But that little delay was enough.
They couldn’t get close. Even from far away, they found themselves unable to advance an inch. The pressure of heaven and earth pressed down like a mountain, and an unmistakable warning hung in the air:
Step closer, and die.
The two Immortal Venerables were stunned. For the first time in a long time, they felt fear.
The heavenly pressure lingered, lingering far too long, even though the sky ahead looked clear, as if the clouds had parted and the rain had stopped.
In the end, after weighing it again and again, they turned back—grim and a little disheveled.
Zhe Liu was finished. That much was certain.
Honestly, he deserved it just for choosing that Dao name. Zhe Liu, Zhe Liu—“broken,” indeed.
Come to think of it, what had his original Dao name even been? Before his ascension, they hadn’t known him. After his ascension, they weren’t close. Time had washed it away.
Broken was broken. Yet a strange unease still sat in their chests.
Little Li Realm was not a place for “outsiders” to run wild. This world had not fully aligned itself with Immortal Realm’s order yet, but its authority had already begun to show.
Neither of them blamed Hu Qing and Shui Xin.
In their minds, Zhe Liu must have crossed a boundary and triggered heaven’s punishment… or perhaps he’d been killed by an immortal stronger than himself.
Either possibility was a warning. Zhaohua Sect could not be treated lightly.
So they returned and gave Yu Liu Ya a much better attitude.
Yu Liu Ya took their unspoken fear and turned it into a story to calm everyone—and to calm himself. Inside, he was still panicking.
Only when the Shi family came to visit, delivering Hu Qing back in person, did the knot in his chest finally loosen.
In front of everyone, Yu Liu Ya forced out two old tears. “Little Junior Sister, you’re finally back.”
If you didn’t come back, your Senior Brother’s hair would have turned white.
Hu Qing still carried that sluggish, lazy haze in her body, though at least her face had healed. She sat in a soft chair and smiled brightly. “Senior Brother, I almost never got to see you again.”
Yu Liu Ya grabbed the chance and rushed her along. “Come inside. Let’s talk inside.”
Then he turned to Shi Bai Zhou, his expression turning warm and welcoming. “Young Master Shi, thank you. Please, everyone, come into the inner sect—”
But Shi Bai Zhou was already anxious to leave.
In his mind, he and Lin Shu were destined to be husband and wife. Hu Nuan was Lin Shu’s good friend. That made Zhaohua Sect practically his in-laws.
Family didn’t need to be polite.
“Sect Master,” he said bluntly, “the kids and Jin Xin and Hu Nuan made plans with me. I’m supposed to pick them up and take them to Changji Gate. We’re on a tight schedule.”
“I brought Aunt back first, and I’m leaving right away. I’ll come pay a proper visit another day.”
Yu Liu Ya froze.
Changji Gate? Wasn’t that… diplomacy between sects? How did he, the sect master, not know about it?
And more importantly—
Hu Nuan and the others weren’t supposed to be going out right now.