Tang Li covered her mouth, hiding behind a massive rock in the bamboo forest, not daring to make a sound. Her eyes were wide open, terrified that her senior brothers and sisters would discover her.
[It’s fine, the cultivation world should be easier to explain. Just say your primordial spirit has been reincarnated,] 78 suggested. [It’s been a hundred years since you died blocking that strike for Ling Yuanyi. You can make up any story you want.]
In the distance, a man with graying hair, his eyes rimmed red, cried out in grief and fury, “It’s been over a hundred years! Little junior sister’s soul has scattered, her bones are damaged—must you torment her like this?”
Tang Li’s heart ached with sorrow. Just as she was about to step out, a sudden cold wind howled in the distance, like a procession of a hundred ghosts, with soul banners rustling.
[Oh no! Immortal Lord Zhe He is coming! Hide, hide quickly!] 78 shouted urgently. [Your master has never allowed them to sweep your tomb or hold memorials for you!]
Hearing this, Tang Li’s heart pounded so hard she thought it might leap out of her chest. “W-what should I do? Will Master kill my senior brothers?”
[Hard to say. Immortal Lord Zhe He grows more bewitched by the day. Let me conceal your aura first.] No sooner had 78 spoken than a figure emerged slowly from the bamboo grove.
Tang Li’s gaze was drawn involuntarily, her eyes widening in shock.
Once, her master had been as radiant as the moon, as splendid as blossoms. Every corner of the three thousand worlds spoke of Immortal Lord Zhe He’s elegance, calling him the true embodiment of celestial grace.
Born to enchant all living beings in this mortal realm, he had instead chosen the Path of Emotional Detachment, forcibly restraining what should have been a blooming, vibrant peony into a cold, aloof snow lotus.
Tang Li had once thought the same.
Her master was the most exquisitely beautiful person under heaven, his charm beyond compare.
He often wore plain-colored mermaid silk, his ink-black hair tied up in a jade crown, his sleeves wide and flowing. His practice of the Path of Emotional Detachment made him appear utterly transparent and icily aloof.
His features, like an ink-wash painting, were as profound as the starry river, his expression forever serene, unchanged no matter what occurred.
Throughout the three thousand worlds, it was said that Immortal Lord Zhe He, Yu Qinghe, was the cultivator with the greatest hope of ascending to immortality.
Because he was almost like an emotionless, desireless immortal!
Yet no one knew that such an emotionless, desireless man still had a forbidden weakness in his heart.
Unspeakable.
Untouchable.
The Immortal Lord Zhe He before her now was clad in black robes, his hair as white as snow. Where his tear mole had been, a cluster of fiery red demonic markings now spread.
Though his features remained the same, how could this be her transparent, aloof master?
His entire aura was turbid and chaotic, his eyes dark and sunken.
Like a pure, white snow lotus rotting from the roots, dense black ink crawling up its stem and stamen, gradually spreading to the tips of its petals.
Tragically beautiful and breathtaking, yet exuding an aura that chilled the heart and trembled the soul.
Tang Li stared blankly, her eyes gradually reddening.
Master… how could he have become like this?
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, seeing it in person still horrified and pained her.
Had the other three also ended up like this?
Her senior brothers and sisters instinctively assumed defensive stances upon seeing Zhe He.
They were truly afraid.
The person before them was no longer their master!
The man who had spoken earlier stepped in front of the others, his face filled with grief and fury, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Master! Turn back! Don’t persist in this delusion! How far must you go mad? Must you continue until the Heavenly Dao rejects you?”
Tang Li’s heart jolted.
Rejected by the Heavenly Dao… rejected by the Heavenly Dao!?
Cultivators who seek immortality emphasize cause and effect. If her master committed endless evil deeds, the Heavenly Dao would descend with divine punishment—and her master would surely die!
The girl couldn’t help but step forward, her gaze fixed intently on the distant confrontation.
Zhe He spoke softly.
His voice was hoarse, no longer clear and mellow as before.
“I’ve said it before—she’s not dead. Whoever holds a memorial for her, I’ll kill them.”