Chapter 0: 17. Exposing the Weakness
Qin Gou was stunned on the spot, a mixture of shock and bewilderment filling his heart.
This was truly bizarre.
At this very moment, Kong Ling, usually so gentle and refined, faced her own master with an attitude that made it seem as if she were the one in control, the elder who could not be questioned. The clear depths of her eyes held a tenderness that resembled a fond indulgence of a mischievous child.
It was as if their roles had been reversed, completely inverted.
Not to mention her words, which could only be described as “shocking enough to kill if not for the living.”
“Kong Ling, you just said you wanted to make this master… wait? What did you mean by that?” Qin Gou asked, his voice laced with disbelief.
“Naturally, the same as always,” Kong Ling replied, crossing her arms with an air of justification.
Qin Gou’s mouth twitched. “Don’t beat around the bush with me, just say it clearly,” he said in a deep tone.
Seeing this, Kong Ling slightly furrowed her dark eyebrows and looked Qin Gou up and down, a hint of confusion in her voice. “Master, why have you become so slow-witted today, like a little dummy?”
As soon as she finished speaking, a phantom image, identical in appearance and attire to the elder Qin, suddenly materialized beside him, growing more substantial by the moment.
Qin Gou glanced at the figure with a strange expression. “Wench, are you subconsciously thinking that I’m not as good as this guy? That this fellow is even better than the real master?”
“No, I’m not.” Kong Ling quickly shook her head and smiled brightly. “As long as it’s Master, this disciple will always revere you from the bottom of my heart! Of course, the one I love and respect the most is the real Master Qin Gou in reality, little Ling’er!”
“Then… take this!”
As she spoke, old Qin thrust out a palm, shattering the figure beside him into dust with the most ferocious method.
“Master?” Kong Ling exclaimed in surprise, then couldn’t help but chuckle. “Could it be that the good news today has made my emotions fluctuate too much, causing the master in my dream to become like a petty, jealous child?”
“You!” For a moment, Qin Gou felt as if he had been seen through. His old face turned red, and he quickly changed the subject. “Then look again, can the master in your dream do this!”
With that, a thunderous rumble echoed, and the earth cracked open. Before Kong Ling’s astonished eyes, a majestic peak instantly erupted from the ground, soaring into the heavens.
This was the Purple Ridge Arc-Moon Mountain, deeply familiar and holding countless memories for every disciple of the Celestial Master Pavilion!
In the next instant, snow began to fall, but upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the falling white specks were actually pure, noble sacred feathers. Within each minute plume, an immense, terrifying pressure, like a collapsing celestial river, was contained.
In this world, only one man could bring forth such a fantastical, astonishing, yet deadly spectacle to the mortal realm. Even here, within the dreamscape, he possessed his Natal Spirit Tool, conjured through Illusory Arts, at will.
In an instant, Kong Ling understood everything. Her eyes glazed over, her small mouth hung open, and her entire body froze like a stone statue, not daring to move an inch.
“Little Ling’er, can you tell me now what you wanted this master to wait for in that room?” old Qin asked through gritted teeth.
Kong Ling, who had been speaking so fluently moments before, began to stammer. “O-of course, it’s… for you to sit on the bed, and this disciple will personally knead and massage your legs to relieve the fatigue of your journey, just like Senior Sister’s specialty back then!”
“Is that so?” Qin Gou frowned.
“Absolutely, Master. Doesn’t this disciple always look up to Senior Sister Ye Qishuang as a role model in her life? This disciple will always learn and emulate her, striving to be like her one day, to serve Master well and take impeccable care of you…”
“Stop!” Qin Gou’s scalp tingled instantly.
“Huh?” Qin Gou let out an awkward dry laugh and quickly tried to counsel her. “Your Second Senior Sister Ye Qishuang is not without her flaws. You shouldn’t imitate her in everything.”
“Yes… By the way, Master, why did you suddenly appear in my dream with your dream soul Natal Spirit Tool? Is there some urgent matter in the outside world?” Kong Ling obediently nodded her little head and quickly asked.
Qin Gou was amused instead. His eyes narrowed. “You wench, you change subjects pretty fast! Alright, we’ll discuss this after everything is accomplished. Kong Ling, listen carefully to me…”
“You and Mo Ning have never truly separated. You are two sets of memories and consciousness born from the same soul, existing as one. What you did before was merely forcefully severing a part of your soul and spirit, infusing it into that Spirit Puppet, and then using the ‘Illusory Sea Tide’ technique to implant separate suggestions, deliberately deceiving yourself to temporarily maintain the independence of two personalities.”
“And this is also the reason why you have fallen so far behind Xinting and Qishuang, and remain a cultivator in the Dao Comprehension Realm to this day!”
As soon as these words were spoken, the weakness of the Illusory Sea Tide technique was instantly exposed. Kong Ling’s delicate body trembled, her eyes filled with emotion. “Yes, Master… Ling’er remembers everything. I actually did something so audacious. If anything had gone wrong then, this disciple would have already been Soul Scattered and Spirit Vanished.”
“We did it.” At this moment, Qin Gou’s eyes were filled with a smile. “You are still Kong Ling, right? Wench, you probably don’t know that once, I accidentally touched the forbidden aspect of your Illusory Arts, and you immediately fell into chaos, unable to tell who you were, utterly incapable of maintaining your clarity like you are now!”
“Simply put, Fellow Daoist Chu Xian’s method has indeed worked. After all, who in this world possesses the massive amount of pure primordial soul power accumulated over thousands of years like him, capable of helping others complete a fragmented soul!”
“Master, do you mean that soon, both Sister Ning and I will truly and freely possess our own Dao Bodies?” Kong Ling was almost in tears of joy.
“Precisely. You must now actively dispel the mental suggestion of the Illusory Sea Tide, and never use it again. That way, I can have Fellow Daoist Chu Xian continue to assist!”
After giving her some instructions, Qin Gou, with a sense of relief, withdrew from Kong Ling’s dream. He opened his eyes and awoke, only to be met immediately by Chu Xian’s peculiar gaze.
“Brother Qin, you didn’t do anything strange in that little girl’s dream, did you?” Chu Xian asked, his tone filled with suspicion.
“Why do you ask?” Qin Gou replied, puzzled.
“Not long after you entered her dream, I watched as this sweetly sleeping girl, as if she had seen some terrible evil ghost, became deathly pale with fright and trembled all over, muttering, ‘I’m dead, it’s all discovered now’… In all my life, I’ve never seen anyone become so terrified from a dream!”
Chu Xian sighed and couldn’t help but earnestly advise, “Brother Qin, no matter what, your disciple is still a girl. From her previous conversation, she is undoubtedly a well-educated, amiable, and respectful young lady who values her master. In the future, you should try not to be too harsh on her; leniency would be best!”
“Leniency?” Hearing this, Qin Gou’s smile in that instant was more terrifying than a funeral procession, and a wave of dread washed over him. “Then do you know that I was almost tricked by my virtuous and gentle disciple number three into her mysterious ‘Wonderful Little House’?”
