Leng Yanqiu's furious roar was truly formidable.
It shook the people at the foot of the mountain until their heads spun and their vision blurred; those with weaker cultivation were even knocked paralyzed to the ground. It also made the entire Bingxuan Sect on the mountain tremble.
Soon, an old woman, supported by a young girl, hurried down the mountain. Everyone looked over—the old woman was none other than the Ancestral Patriarch of Bingxuan Sect, Zhu Xia.
She looked even more frail than before, her face paler, her expression hurried and panicked. Within that panic was mixed boundless disappointment, and within that disappointment also shone a kind of worry.
"What a fine Ancestral Patriarch of Bingxuan Sect!"
Leng Yanqiu stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her cold, arrogant face covered in frost, her expression furious, brimming with shame-turned-rage.
"I heard you performed the rites of a venerable for that trash named Gu?"
"And you personally said that I, Leng Yanqiu, am not worthy of him? That I don't even have the qualifications to be his maid?"
Leng Yanqiu's words were filled with disdain and contempt, but more than anything, anger. When Zhu Xia reached the foot of the mountain, her imposing manner grew even more intense. She shouted, "I'm asking you—did you or didn't you!"
"Shut up! Shut up! Yanqiu, shut up now!"
Although Leng Yanqiu's actions had disappointed Zhu Xia—disappointed her to the core—and her current words showed great disrespect to her, this Ancestral Patriarch...
Right now, Zhu Xia couldn't spare a thought for any of that. She just wanted Leng Yanqiu to shut up, to stop talking. Otherwise, it would lead to consequences she did not wish to see.
While telling Leng Yanqiu to shut up, she kept looking around anxiously.
She didn't know where Gu Qingfeng had gone. She had searched for a long time but hadn't found him.
"Yanqiu, shut up! This old woman tells you, the venerable... no! Young Master Gu has already agreed to help! Young Master Gu said that even without Dual Cultivation, he can help you perfectly fuse with the Bingxuan Heart!"
"I'll regret it? Hehehe..." Leng Yanqiu laughed heartily, a laugh especially arrogant and filled with utter disdain. "Him? A piece of trash dares to claim he can help me perfectly fuse with the Bingxuan Heart? Hehehe..."
Listening to Leng Yanqiu call him trash over and over, Zhu Xia felt her heart tremble with fear. She shook with anger, shouting furiously, "Shut up! You wretch! Shut up!"
"Enough!"
Leng Yanqiu waved her hand. As a cold, misty radiance flashed, she instantly appeared before Zhu Xia and roared, "You old, undying thing! Even now you still want to deceive me? Do you really think I'm an idiot who understands nothing?"
"Yanqiu... how can you be like this? This old woman did all this for your own good! There are many things you don't understand, you just don't!"
"Old, undying thing, I've had enough! Don't say I don't understand—I understand far more than you! Didn't you say that trash named Gu is amazing? That I'm not even qualified to be his maid? Where is he? Tell him to get out here and face me!"
"Yanqiu! You're courting death! Courting death!" Perhaps from excessive fury and disappointment, Zhu Xia couldn't even stand steadily. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath in great heaves. Even the arm she pointed at Leng Yanqiu was trembling.
"Old, undying thing!" Leng Yanqiu grabbed Zhu Xia by the collar, lifting her up, and sneered, "Tell me, where is he?"
"Yanqiu! This old woman begs you! Don't provoke him, don't... Even if it's for the sake of the years I've raised you, don't provoke him!"
Faced with Zhu Xia's pleas, Leng Yanqiu paid no heed whatsoever. She enunciated each word clearly, her voice icy and sharp: "I! Said! Where! Is! He!"
"You'll regret it... regret it..." Perhaps seeing that persuasion was useless, Zhu Xia was utterly disappointed. Shaking her head, she cried out hoarsely, "Regret it... You'll regret it..."
"Sect Head, that little bastard named Gu followed this old, undying Zhu Xia into the Bingxuan Sect earlier." True Person Yuhua stepped forward, leaning on her dragon-head cane, looking at Zhu Xia with great disdain. She scoffed, "That little bastard must have heard you've arrived, Sect Head. He's probably hiding in fear inside the Bingxuan Sect, not daring to come out."
"Hmph!" Leng Yanqiu threw Zhu Xia back onto the ground and flew straight towards the Bingxuan Sect. However, after searching every corner of the sect, she found no trace of Gu Qingfeng. Soon, she flashed back to the foot of the mountain and questioned Zhu Xia again.
Zhu Xia lay slumped on the ground, shaking her head, indicating she didn't know.
She truly didn't know.
She only remembered that in the stone chamber, Gu Qingfeng had suddenly vanished, disappearing without a trace.
Where he went, she didn't know.
And at this moment, she didn't want to know.
She only wanted to persuade Leng Yanqiu to repent. Unfortunately, her persuasion was completely useless, a mere joke in Leng Yanqiu's eyes.
Suddenly.
A spirit beast-drawn Grand Carriage was approaching from mid-air.
It was a luxurious Grand Carriage pulled by white elephants. Every disciple of the Bingxuan Sect knew this was the Grand Carriage exclusive for the Sect Head of Bingxuan Sect. When the white elephant Grand Carriage landed at the foot of Bingxuan Mountain, three people emerged. Two were the two Ancestral Patriarchs of Bingxuan Sect, Withered Leaf and Jin Ling. The other was someone many recognized—Elder Huode of Yunxia Sect.
The moment Withered Leaf and Jin Ling saw Zhu Xia slumped on the ground, they rushed towards her. But before they could reach her, Leng Yanqiu blocked their path.
"You two Ancestral Patriarchs have truly broadened my horizons! The White Elephant Grand Carriage is exclusive for the Sect Head of my Bingxuan Sect. I, the new Sect Head, haven't even ridden it once, and you actually used it to welcome a piece of trash worse than pigs and dogs from Yunxia Sect!"
"Yanqiu? You... you!" Withered Leaf and Jin Ling had no idea what had happened. When they looked at Zhu Xia, she shook her head in disappointment and said, "She stole my Source of Bingxuan and escaped. She has no idea what she's doing. You two should leave... just leave..."
"Leng Yanqiu, how could you do such a thing? After Ancestral Patriarch Zhu Xia raised you all these years, even willing to end herself to help you achieve great fortune! Not only are you ungrateful, you even stole her Source of Bingxuan! This is... this is betraying your master and ancestors!"
"Hmph! The only reason I, Leng Yanqiu, didn't kill her today is out of consideration for the years of upbringing kindness. Otherwise, what you'd see now would be her corpse."
Leng Yanqiu, dressed in magnificent feather-white robes and splendid attire, looked at Withered Leaf and Jin Ling opposite her, a scornful sneer hanging at the corner of her mouth. She didn't regard the two Ancestral Patriarchs in the slightest. Then her gaze fell on Huode in the distance. She asked, "I heard that trash named Gu was brought here by you?"
Huode was bewildered.
He had no idea what was happening here.
Wasn't today supposed to be the Bingxuan Sect's celebration?
Why were so many people gathered at the foot of the mountain?
And why did Ancestral Patriarch Zhu Xia look like she was about to die?
What the hell had happened here?
Just as he was puzzling over this, Leng Yanqiu's furious roar sounded again.
"Old thing! I'm asking you a question! Answer me! Was that trash named Gu brought here by you?"
Such a fierce shout shook Huode until his head spun and his vision blurred. He nearly lost his footing. He grimaced, widened his eyes, looking this way and that, finally settling on the aggressively imposing Leng Yanqiu. He said, "Big sister, what's this all about? Did that kid Gu offend you?"