Chapter 21: Master, Qingyi, I miss you so much

The Xiao Prince Mansion was exterminated.

From top to bottom, not a single soul was left alive in the entire mansion.

Xiao Jing was the last to die.

He watched with his own eyes as his son, upon whom he had placed such high hopes, had his limbs severed and his eyeballs gouged out.

Xiao Jing watched with his own eyes as Jiang Qingyi crushed his son's pupils under her foot, before delivering the final blow with a sword that decapitated the boy.

He watched and heard with his own ears as Jiang Qingyi went on a killing spree within the Xiao estate, sparing no one, exactly as he had done to the Jiang estate back then.

When only Xiao Jing remained, Jiang Qingyi dragged him outside the mansion and suspended him in the sky above the Imperial Capital. Before the eyes of the entire city, she sliced away every piece of his flesh, piece by piece!

After Jiang Qingyi left, all that remained of Xiao Jing was a bloody skeleton.

Having achieved her revenge, the knot in Jiang Qingyi's heart that had tightened for years finally unraveled. With her mind cleared, she stepped into the Jade Purity Realm.

After obtaining the Sword Bone, Jiang Qingyi advanced from the Golden Core Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm, and then from the Nascent Soul Realm to the Jade Purity Realm, all within a single day.

She would not be surpassed.

This was an unprecedented miracle.

Returning to the Longquan Sword Sect, Jiang Qingyi continued her path of slaughter.

She had learned from Ye Sandao that the Longquan Sword Sect and the Xiao Prince Mansion had been in collusion, jointly controlling the entire Kingdom of Liang.

It was the Sect Master of the Longquan Sword Sect who had told Xiao Jing about the fact that Jiang Qingyi possessed the Innate Sword Bone.

However, Jiang Qingyi did not massacre the entire Longquan Sword Sect this time.

She merely left behind a single sentence: "Those who follow me live; those who defy me die."

Indeed, not a single one of the Longquan Sword Sect cultivators who defied her was left alive.

After killing the Sect Master, Jiang Qingyi set the sect ablaze.

Finally, she sat in the courtyard of Lingqian Peak, watching the entire Longquan Sword Sect engulfed in a sea of fire.

Once the flames died down, the Longquan Sword Sect ceased to exist entirely.

In the end, only five hundred cultivators remained to follow Jiang Qingyi.

"From this day forward, this place shall be called the Myriad Sword Sect," Jiang Qingyi spoke slowly to the five hundred disciples.

"Myriad Sword Sect..."

Xiao Mo recalled Yan Shan'ao mentioning previously that an Elder Huang from the Myriad Sword Sect would come to the Kingdom of Liang and that he would have to receive him personally.

But Xiao Mo only thought of it as a possibility.

In his view, the two sects could not be the same; they likely just shared the same name.

With a powerhouse of the Jade Purity Realm like Jiang Qingyi, the Myriad Sword Sect developed rapidly, soon becoming the greatest sect within the Kingdom of Liang.

Jiang Qingyi's cultivation level continued to rise.

She was revered by more and more people.

Furthermore, in the eyes of the Myriad Sword Sect disciples, their Sect Master was not only immensely powerful but also breathtakingly beautiful.

Her peerless beauty even earned her a place on the "Beauty List" of Heavenly Mystery City.

Though the Beauty List had no official ranking, in the hearts of many, their Sect Master deserved to be number one.

Yet, this woman who possessed the beauty of the heavens never once smiled.

Lingqian Peak, once an ordinary mountain within the Longquan Sect, had now become the main peak of the Myriad Sword Sect.

However, Lingqian Peak contained only two wooden houses.

A male elder, infatuated with Jiang Qingyi and seeking her favor, once proposed tearing down the wooden houses to build a grand palace.

As a result, that elder was executed by Jiang Qingyi's sword in front of everyone.

From then on, everyone knew that Lingqian Peak was untouchable; not a single blade of grass or tree could be disturbed.

Lingqian Peak had to remain exactly as it was.

One year, five years, ten years.

As an observer, Xiao Mo watched Qingyi cultivate day after day, searching day after day for a way to resurrect a soul.

But time and again, Jiang Qingyi returned in disappointment.

Aside from her cultivation and her search for soul-resurrection spells, the thing she did most was stare blankly in the courtyard at the summit of Lingqian Peak.

She read book after book and tried method after method, all for the sake of bringing one person back to life.

One day, she came across the "Heaven-Sustaining Art."

Finally, she understood everything.

It turned out her Master's injuries were because of her.

Her ability to cultivate was because her Master had damaged his own foundation and sacrificed his lifespan to forcibly "sustain" her so-called "Heaven."

It was just that every time her Master used the Heaven-Sustaining Art on her, he used a spell to mask his expression.

The reason her Master only sought out Chen Yun for medical treatment was because he did not want anyone else to know about this.

And to repay her Master's life-saving kindness, Chen Yun could never speak of it.

On that day, the young girl tore the Heaven-Sustaining Art to shreds. With a single sword stroke, she cleaved a mountain peak in two.

The disciples of the Myriad Sword Sect were terrified. They knew who had done it, but none dared to make a sound.

They all knew that the Sect Master's temper had worsened again.

At that moment, a woman arrived at Lingqian Peak.

She was the only person permitted to ascend to the summit.

She had once been a deacon in the medical hall of the Longquan Sword Sect.

Now, she was an elder in the medical hall of the Myriad Sword Sect.

"What are you here for?" Jiang Qingyi sat on a stone stool, tilting her head back to take a sip of wine.

She hadn't liked alcohol before, but now she loved it.

Her favorite was the osmanthus wine made by Auntie Wang in Myriad Sword Town.

Chen Yun walked into the courtyard. Looking at this woman who was stubbornly, almost crazily, persistent, she said calmly, "I am here to take some of his clothes."

Jiang Qingyi raised her head, her eyes sharp as swords, as if they might pierce through Chen Yun. "What do you want his clothes for?"

"To make a cenotaph," Chen Yun replied candidly.

The moment Chen Yun's words fell, the longsword *Xuanshuang* in Jiang Qingyi's hand was already pressed against Chen Yun's throat.

Jiang Qingyi's eyes were bloodshot. "He is not dead!"

Chen Yun was not afraid in the slightest. "He is already dead."

"Shut up! I said he is not dead!" Jiang Qingyi was nearly frantic. Her sword moved forward an inch, and just like last time, blood slid down the blade.

"It has been fifteen years since you exterminated the Xiao family. He has been dead for fifteen years. Let him rest in peace, even if it is only through his clothes."

Jiang Qingyi's eyes narrowed. "Do you truly think I wouldn't dare kill you? Do you know that you are the person I hate most?"

"I know," Chen Yun nodded. "Actually, I hate you too. But the one he loved most was you."

Chen Yun said no more and took a step forward. Jiang Qingyi's sword retracted.

Chen Yun continued forward, and Jiang Qingyi's sword continued to retract.

Finally, Jiang Qingyi's hand holding the sword dropped to the ground, and Chen Yun brushed past her.

Chen Yun entered Xiao Mo's room and took several pieces of clothing.

Before leaving, Chen Yun left a letter. "This letter was given to me by a girl named Xia Chan to hand to you. She said it was written fifteen years ago."

Chen Yun left.

In the empty courtyard, only Jiang Qingyi remained, her head bowed and her sword hanging low, her dim eyes lost in thought.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Qingyi looked up at the letter on the table.

Like a walking corpse, Jiang Qingyi walked over and opened the envelope.

The moment she saw the contents, her eyes wavered.

It was her Master's handwriting...

[My foolish disciple, by the time you see this letter, Master will be gone, and your Sword Bone should have been returned to you.

After I leave, I suspect you will do something foolish.

You might even think of resurrecting me.

But you silly girl, the dead are dead. The dead cannot be brought back to life, let alone a shattered soul.

Qingyi, let me tell you something.

Actually, when the meteor fell last time, the wish Master made was not for you to become a powerful sword immortal.

Master only hoped that no matter what you encounter, you could live happily.

You said you would make Master's wish come true.

Don't lie to Master.]

"Master... Master..."

Jiang Qingyi knelt on the ground clutching the letter, wailing loudly, like the fourteen-year-old girl who had just ascended the mountain.

【Ten seconds remaining. The system is about to complete the settlement. The host is about to exit the Book of a Hundred Lifetimes. 19... 8... 3...】

As the countdown echoed in Xiao Mo's mind, he knew he could not intervene in everything. Yet, he still stepped forward, knelt before her, and reached out to stroke her hair, just as he had on that night of the meteor when she was fourteen.

"Qingyi, Master is gone."

【0】

The moment Xiao Mo dissipated into the wind, the voice of her Master rang in Jiang Qingyi's ears. She snapped her head up.

"Master! Is it you?"

"Master!"

"Answer me!"

"Are you still here?!"

"Xiao Mo!"

"Come out!"

The girl ran and screamed across the mountain peak, but no one answered.

"Master... please come out..."

Until dusk, until the stars hung in the sky.

The girl, her tears long since dried, crouched down and hugged herself tightly.

A meteor streaked across the sky.

"Master...

Qingyi...

Misses you so much."

(End of Chapter)