627 Jealousy and Hatred
Jiang Huai and Jiang Zhi exchanged glances.
They were both standing beside Ning Yuzhu at this moment. Jiang Huai didn’t even dare to look at the woman’s profile, always worried that looking too much would be disrespectful. However, to his surprise, Ning Yuzhu spoke calmly.
“The Punishment of Corrupt Thorns is one of the most brutal punishments in the Upper Realm. The recipient will be pierced through the body by corrupt thorns, and their soul and physique will endure boundless agony. After seven days, when both soul and physique completely collapse, turning into a pool of rotten pus and blood, they will finally be freed.”
Her words seemed to be addressed to Jiang Zhi and Jiang Huai, but she only said this one sentence. Not knowing what to say, Jiang Zhi and Jiang Huai could only silently watch.
At this moment, the crowd had dispersed, and Zhang Lan was still on the ground, tears streaming down his face as he pleaded. But it was too late. The three Star Soul Elders took out a transparent glass sphere containing the corrupt thorns. In Zhang Lan’s eyes, filled with fear, the three clusters of corrupt thorns wrapped around him, lifting him into the air. Thorns pierced into his acupoints, first damaging all his acupoints, making him realize that all his cultivation throughout his life had vanished. Then, the pain followed.
The pain from the corrupt thorns was a corrupting touch that directly fed back to the soul. The recipient would never be freed by the pain and fall unconscious. Instead, they would be keenly aware of everything. From Zhang Lan’s wailing cries, Jiang Huai had already sensed the horror of this punishment. Now, his heart-wrenching screams made anyone listening feel only dread and pity.
This punishment was to last for a full seven days and seven nights. Zhang Lan was now screaming hysterically, repeatedly calling out for his mother to save him, but no one responded.
The Star Soul Elders simply stood there with solemn expressions. The cultivators from the Star Soul Domain all had eyes full of reverence and fear. A chilling atmosphere seemed to pervade the air, making even breathing slow down.
Ning Yuzhu then turned to look at Jiang Zhi and said calmly, “You should come with me.”
“May I still ask for Senior’s name…?”
“Ning Yuzhu. If you plan to apprentice under Master in the future, you can call me Senior Disciple Sister,” Ning Yuzhu said indifferently, then added, “Let’s go, you two. We’re going to the Ancestral Dao Origin Realm together.”
Jiang Huai was slightly stunned for a moment, then asked softly, “Can I go too?”
Ning Yuzhu’s gaze fell on his face. She was looking at his cheeks intently. Although her eyes were cold, Jiang Huai vaguely glimpsed a more complex emotion, but he couldn’t quite place it because she hid it so well.
A moment later, she withdrew her gaze and replied calmly, “The Divine Emperor is all-knowing and foresaw that you would come to see her. She intends to take you as a disciple, so she asked me to bring you back together.”
Jiang Huai felt a little dizzy.
Why did it feel like he was constantly receiving good fortune out of the blue, like pie falling from the sky?
“Then I’ll trouble Senior.” Jiang Huai nodded gently and stood beside Ning Yuzhu. He watched as she gently took a jade bead from her wrist. Inside the bead was a miniature spirit boat, but in an instant, the spirit boat became immensely vast, hovering in the sky. Ning Yuzhu ascended, and Jiang Huai and Jiang Zhi naturally followed behind her, boarding the deck.
***
On the Spirit Boat.
Ning Yuzhu showed Jiang Huai and Jiang Zhi to their rooms, then said calmly, “From now on, I will be your guide in the Upper Realm. If you have any questions, you can ask me.”
Jiang Huai was somewhat flattered and didn’t know what to ask. It was Jiang Zhi who spoke first, “The Divine Emperor… is my Master, right?”
“Your Master is an external incarnation of the Divine Emperor from the lower realm. It’s not wrong to understand her as the Divine Emperor. Now that you’ve come to the Upper Realm, the Divine Emperor is still willing to take you as a disciple,” Ning Yuzhu replied calmly.
Jiang Huai, standing beside them, also asked curiously, “Then why is the Divine Emperor willing…”
Ning Yuzhu had already prepared her words and replied calmly, “Master knows that you possess a treasure that only you can use and believes that your future is limitless, so she also has the intention to take you as a disciple. As for whether you want to apprentice under Master, you can consider it yourself. Master is currently suppressing the invasion of the Void Dark Night and will likely return to the Ancestral Dao Origin Realm next year.”
“What is the Void Dark Night?”
“It is a primordial force that invades the entire Upper Realm. Only Master alone can suppress it. If Master hadn’t intervened, the entire Upper Realm would have already fallen into eternal night.”
Jiang Huai nodded. This meant that at this time next year, he would be able to see the Divine Emperor and ask her if he could see Jiang Ning again.
Everything had come too easily, and Jiang Huai felt a sense of lightness, an almost dreamlike unreality.
“What about that Zhang Lan earlier…” Jiang Zhi began, then stopped.
Ning Yuzhu replied calmly, “When you arrived in the Upper Realm, Master could already sense your presence, which is why she had me tear through space and rush from the Ancestral Dao Origin Realm to the Star Soul Domain to rescue you two from danger. Zhang Lan committed many evil deeds daily, relying on his status as the young master of the Star Soul Domain to slaughter many people from the lower realms. Now, he has brought this upon himself. His parents failed to raise him properly, and they will naturally come to the Ancestral Dao Origin Realm to receive their punishment in due time.”
“From now on, with me by your side, no one will be able to harm you in the slightest.”
Jiang Zhi glanced at Jiang Huai and finally understood.
Zhang Lan was thoroughly unlucky. He never would have imagined that he had angered the Divine Emperor’s only inverse scale. Jiang Ning was likely furious and wished she could dismember his entire clan.
“Do you have any other questions?” Ning Yuzhu asked calmly.
Although her voice was cold, her tone was actually quite gentle. Jiang Huai and Jiang Ning exchanged a glance and both shook their heads slightly. Ning Yuzhu flipped her wrist, and a green pill instantly appeared in her hand.
She raised her hand, her slender fingers like green onions holding the pill. She brought it to Jiang Huai’s lips and said, “Open your mouth.”
Jiang Huai instinctively opened his mouth obediently. Ning Yuzhu then pushed the pill into his throat. Instantly, a warmth spread through his limbs, bringing an unspeakable sense of ease and comfort. The previous exhaustion and weakness from the Dragon Blood surge vanished in an instant.
However, being fed like this by someone suddenly made Jiang Huai feel a little strange, but he didn’t want to say too much.
Ning Yuzhu’s fingertips retracted quickly, and she said calmly, “This pill will heal your injuries. The Star Soul Domain and the Ancestral Dao Origin Realm are far apart, about a two-day journey. You can rest on the spirit boat for these two days. If you need anything, you can come to my room and knock.”
With that, she stood up and walked into a room on the spirit boat. Jiang Huai glanced at her retreating figure, looking at her snow-white, slender calves, then quickly averted his gaze, not daring to look any further.
Instead, Jiang Zhi suddenly transmitted a message to him, “You’re usually so fond of hooking up with women, and now you’ve seen a beautiful fairy, but you’re afraid to even look her in the eye?”
“…” Jiang Huai felt like crying and laughing.
Jiang Zhi’s gaze was calmly fixed on Ning Yuzhu’s retreating back. She watched as she closed the door and disappeared from sight, her heart inevitably filled with speculation.
She knew Jiang Ning’s wild and pathological nature, and it was hard not to suspect that this second disciple of hers, Ning Yuzhu, might very well be a dual cultivation vessel prepared for Jiang Huai.
***
Ning Yuzhu returned to her private room.
She sat on a chair, bent over, and untied the laces of her shoes, neatly placing the apricot-colored high heels to the side. She then sat cross-legged on the bed, her calm, dark eyes gazing out the window.
Outside the window, clouds rolled by. The spirit boat was traveling at an extremely high speed. She closed her eyes and activated the strand of soul imprint left by her Master in her mind, transmitting a message to that soul imprint.
“Master, I have brought the two of them onto the spirit boat.”
“Take good care of them.”
Master’s response was always so cold.
Ning Yuzhu had apprenticed herself to the Divine Emperor for a thousand years. In her memory, her Master had always been like this. A thousand years ago, her family had been engaged in a conflict with another family in the Moon Soul Domain, resulting in a river of blood and near annihilation.
Her Master happened to intervene, saving her and taking her as a disciple. When her cultivation broke through to Divine King, she avenged her enemies and has since willingly remained by her Master’s side, becoming her proxy.
From her childhood, Ning Yuzhu remembered her Master’s perpetually cold expression, rarely showing a hint of a smile. Only when she looked at that painting would her expression subtly change. And now, Ning Yuzhu had actually seen the man in that painting with her own eyes.
Master had told her that the man in the painting would be her future husband. She had not complained and had been prepared in her heart long ago. But a few days ago, she heard Master change her mind. She said that from now on, when she truly saw him again, she should treat him as Master’s distinguished guest and take good care of him. Her previous words were canceled, and she should not mention them to him.
Ning Yuzhu didn’t overthink anything. From beginning to end, she had simply carried out her duty as the Master’s second disciple, acting as Master’s sword, cutting down everything for her and conveying her words.
She had always thought she would serve by her Master’s side forever, until her Master told her that perhaps soon, she would leave the Upper Realm and no longer be the Divine Emperor of the Ancestral Dao Origin Realm. At that time, she would bestow upon her all the Heavenly Way Authority she had acquired over the years.
Ning Yuzhu dared not refuse.
She had always been obedient to her Master, but only that one time did she gather the courage to ask her Master where she wanted to go. But Master smiled without answering, only saying that it was not her place to ask. Her courage vanished at that moment, and she no longer dared to ask… if Master could take her with her?
Master had lived on White Dew Mountain with her for so many years, and she had long grown accustomed to everything by her side. If one day Master left… she wouldn’t know where she would go.
It was all because of that man, the man her Master had cared for for ten thousand years. What kind of magic did he possess? Ning Yuzhu didn’t understand. She didn’t think that man was any different from the men she had seen before, their gazes towards her filled with admiration mixed with a hint of reverence. Yet, he was able to win Master’s favor.
Why?
Ning Yuzhu snapped back to reality, bit her lip, and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. At that moment, she suddenly realized that her dark pupils seemed to be revealing an unconscious trace of jealous hatred.
