Chapter 409

Chapter 409: Immortal Qing Feng, Dead

Before their hands could meet, Yu Zhi Yi casually caught his sleeve and asked brightly: “A-Feng, were you serious? I can really cultivate?”

Then she added with a hint of doubt: “But… don’t you have to start cultivation from a young age? Can I still learn at my age?”

Immortal Qing Feng looked at his empty hand and felt a little disappointed.

But seeing her flower-bright smile, that faint loss vanished. He laughed and said: “With me here, it won’t be a problem.”

She cheered: “That’s great!”

Days slipped by.

In the blink of an eye, Immortal Qing Feng stayed by “You Bing Yue’s” side for three years.

During these three years, he gave her all his treasured manuals-techniques, formations, even alchemy books-to read.

Although “You Bing Yue’s” Spiritual Root wasn’t good, her talent was. She pushed cultivation as far as her limited roots allowed.

In only three years, she broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Immortal Qing Feng felt both gratified and worried.

He advised her gently: “Yue’er, your comprehension is excellent. If you return to the Grand Void Sect with me, you’ll definitely go even farther.”

“You want to take me back to the Grand Void Sect?” “You Bing Yue’s” expression turned a bit strange.

He tried to reassure her: “Don’t worry. My fellow disciples are good people. They won’t make things hard for you. With your natural talent, they’ll gladly welcome you into the Grand Void Sect.”

She answered with a soft smile: “All right, let me think about it.”

But going back was impossible.

This realm was called an “illusion” for a reason: it was a false world shaped by the array maker’s skill to confuse hearts.

Perhaps a grand master could pull out the intruder’s subconscious and craft something almost real.

But Yu Zhi Yi was only a beginner. All she could do was push the formations she knew to their limits.

Her abilities did not include drawing out and building from the intruder’s inner knowledge.

Put simply: she didn’t know what the Hidden Realm truly looked like, and she had no idea what the Grand Void Sect was actually like.

If Immortal Qing Feng set out for the Grand Void Sect, he would notice something wrong along the way and might realize he was inside an illusion.

Immortal Qing Feng waited and waited, one day after another.

Seven days later, he went to the Han Clan.

The unlucky, dying person whose soul he had ripped out had been the Han Clan’s young miss.

A field of stark white mourning hit his eyes.

He frowned and asked himself: “What’s going on?”

He tried to divine, but no matter how he calculated, he could not find Miss Han’s fate.

Just then, someone in the courtyard shouted: “The hour has come! Seal the coffin!”

Immortal Qing Feng flashed into the courtyard. A coffin sat there. As he arrived, the lid was slowly closing. The woman inside was pale as paper, lifeless.

His mind exploded like thunder.

His heart cracked.

He questioned the Han Clan in a frenzy. They said they didn’t know what had happened. All they knew was that three days earlier, they woke up and found Miss Han sitting cross-legged on the bed-stone dead.

Immortal Qing Feng’s mind collapsed further.

Sitting cross-legged meant she had been cultivating.

So… she had died from qi deviation?

Disbelief, guilt, and pain flooded him. He spat a mouthful of blood as red light flashed in his eyes.

Yu Zhi Yi watched the scene inside the array with cold detachment. Seeing Immortal Qing Feng, maddened by qi deviation, slaughter an entire city, she couldn’t help lifting a brow.

She murmured with dry irony: “Those feelings sure run deep.”

Luckily, it was only an illusion; everyone inside was fake.

The plot flowed naturally; she didn’t even need to guide it anymore.

A man who falls into madness for the sake of his beloved invites Heaven’s wrath, and the Dao sends Tribulation Lightning to destroy the demonic seed.

It made perfect sense.

Before long, lightning raged through the formation.

After a long time, the thunder eased and the light faded.

Only a pile of meat scraps remained inside the array-nothing else.

Yu Zhi Yi waited a little longer. A wisp of soul finally seeped up from the ground. She activated the Formation Core again and triggered the Formless Thunder-Kill Array.

When the lightning died, that soul was gone without a trace.

She had planned to wait a while more, but then she remembered: Immortal Qing Feng was an elder of the Grand Void Sect. His death would be a huge matter for them.

If they checked the Life-Testing Stone and saw the vision, they might rush here at once.

She didn’t know where the Hidden Realm actually was or how far it lay. If they could arrive in half a day, staying here would be asking for death.

Only… she stared, torn, at the storage rings and treasures scattered across the ground.

She had peeked inside his ring before. She knew how many treasures were there.

It felt like a waste to walk away.

But the Grand Void Sect was mysterious. She worried Immortal Qing Feng might have left some trap to expose her true identity.

She suddenly smacked her forehead and thought: [Why did I forget I can use paper cranes!]

At once she sent out a paper crane.

The crane carried a storage ring that held a thread of her Divine Sense. The instant it drew near the scattered loot, everything on the ground flowed into the ring.

She weighed the ring in her palm and grinned: “Got it!”

Without looking back, Yu Zhi Yi turned and hurried for the Capital City.

Earlier she hadn’t dared save the emperor-not because she feared Prince Xiao Yao, but because she feared Immortal Qing Feng.

Now that Immortal Qing Feng was dead, she no longer had anything to worry about.

With a few flashes she returned to the palace. She placed a Healing Talisman on the emperor, and he felt his fading strength return.

Moments before, his five organs had felt weak to the core; he had no strength anywhere in his body, not even enough to lift a finger.

Yu Zhi Yi sensed something off and said calmly: “Your Majesty, you’re poisoned.”

The emperor froze and asked in surprise: “Poisoned? Not Mystic Arts?”

He had thought his sudden loss of self-care came from some curse laid by Immortal Qing Feng.

Yu Zhi Yi shook her head and said: “Not Mystic Arts-poison. And… not ordinary poison. It’s from a spirit creature.”

She took out Five-Emperor Coins and cast a divination. After a moment, clarity showed on her face as she said: “It’s a Nightshade that has gained sentience. Its Cultivation Base isn’t high, so it can’t come and go freely from the Imperial Palace.”

The emperor stared and asked, unbelieving: “What do you mean, beloved minister?”

Yu Zhi Yi didn’t want to break families apart, but she would not lie. Besides, this matter touched the fate of a whole nation-she dared not be careless.

She met the emperor’s eyes and explained: “Your Majesty, you are the true dragon Son of Heaven. Though your body is mortal, you carry dragon qi. The Great Sheng Empire has flourished for nearly two hundred years. Through several emperors and many people of great fortune, the Imperial Palace has been nourished into a vast, mighty aura.”

She added simply: “Ordinary spirits cannot set foot here.”

If it weren’t so, there were countless spirits in the world-emperors and nobles of every dynasty would have been harmed many times over.

She held his gaze and concluded: “Only a person who also carries great destiny could bring such a spirit into the palace so it can come and go freely.”

The emperor had only just recovered from illness, and his face already looked poor; now it turned iron blue.