Chapter 0: Esteemed Master, Like a Father (Bonus Chapter)
Luo Xian Mountain, Mystic Maiden Raksha Palace.
With her floral skirt swaying, the little chair, whose every frown and smile was like a lively little beast, arrived at a fresh and elegant courtyard.
Outside the courtyard, two guard female disciples bowed deeply to her and said, “Greetings, Sister Yi Chengying.” In the Mystic Maiden Raksha Palace, ordinary disciples addressed the nine Saintesses by calling them “sister,” not by the honored title “Saintess” as outsiders did.
The little chair, whose true name was Yi Chengying, waved her small hand and said, “Hurry up and get lost, I need to see the Palace Lord.”
“Yes.” The two disciples moved aside.
Yi Chengying skipped joyfully into the courtyard and, from afar, exclaimed with a sweet voice, “Palace Lord, Sister Caihe is back! She also brought many male disciples with rather high potential. All the young girls in the sect are treating them like rare animals now.”
However, Ye Qishuang didn’t even glance at her. She stood gracefully and elegantly. The back of the Mystic Maiden Palace Lord, who was renowned for her influence throughout the land, appeared somewhat frail and lonely, evoking pity. Her jade hand stroked a crimson pendant on her long, snow-white neck, lost in thought.
Her pair of eyes, resembling the first snow of a cold winter, unforgettable, held a turmoil of memories and a thousand shifts of tender feelings.
Yi Chengying waited patiently for a long time, her small hands nervously clenching her skirt.
Ye Qishuang continued to stare at the red pendant in her hand and asked, “Little chair, do you know what this is?”
“Little chair doesn’t know,” Yi Chengying replied timidly.
“That year, when heavy snow sealed the mountain, it was my sixteenth birthday. My Master personally crafted this pendant as a gift for me. Although my Master could always obtain all sorts of treasures through unimaginable means, his own artifact refining skills were not that profound. Therefore, the only function of this pendant was to automatically absorb the essence of heaven and earth, and it could automatically defend against an attack from a Hidden Weapon Realm cultivator once every ten days. Still, I cherished it dearly because every inch of it was shaped by my Master’s own hands.”
As she spoke, Ye Qishuang looked directly at Yi Chengying, and a hint of ferocity flashed in her cold eyes, “But the first time I left Arc-Moon Mountain for training, due to my immaturity and ignorance of the world, this pendant was stolen by a villain. That was the first time in my life I shed tears of sorrow and pain. It made me realize that not everyone in this world was as considerate and attentive to me as my Master, who treated me like a father… Later, Master said he would craft another identical one for me, but I refused. During my second departure from the mountain, after much effort and with the help of many cultivators who possessed Special spiritual tools, I found that thief. Fortunately, he hadn’t resold the pendant, so I didn’t torture him. Instead, I pierced his throat with a sword. That was also the first time I killed someone, and I never even told Master about it.”
“That damned thief was truly lucky to have encountered the merciful Palace Lord! If it were little chair, I would have imprisoned that guy’s soul for eternity beneath my shoe soles, subjecting him to endless trampling and the agony of wishing for death but being unable to die!” Yi Chengying said with a frown, her voice filled with indignation.
Ye Qishuang chuckled like a silver bell and said, “However, all those things are in the past. What’s most important now is that this pendant is entirely made of extremely precious Cold Bone Blood Jade. Although its true power couldn’t be unleashed due to Master’s unskilled crafting techniques, this rare material has an interesting characteristic: as long as the creator of this Magic Tool appears within a hundred-mile radius, the originally pure silver pendant will automatically turn a crimson red!”
Upon hearing this, Yi Chengying’s face turned ashen with fright. Her fair legs beneath the floral skirt trembled slightly, and she stammered with difficulty, “W-what? Palace Lord, you mean… Demon Master, is currently inside our Mystic Maiden Raksha Palace?!”
Ye Qishuang immediately glared at Yi Chengying and said, “Little chair, out of our years of affection, I’ll warn you. If you don’t want to die a terrible death, from now on, never, anywhere, or at any time within the Mystic Maiden Palace, utter the words ‘Demon Master.’ Otherwise, you might find yourself being squeezed tightly in the palm of Master’s Divine Feather Dharma Image at any moment.”
Yi Chengying quickly shook her head and looked around in a panic, her little face pale. “Little chair will definitely keep it in mind. Palace Lord, you said ‘Celestial Master,’ why did he suddenly visit our Mystic Maiden Palace? He won’t… he won’t flatten our Mystic Maiden Palace, will he?”
“Probably not. Because what’s coming this time is likely just an External Incarnation of Master! After all, Master was already a Dharma Aspect True Person when I was still young. By the time I became an adult, his cultivation had reached the limit of the Dharma Aspect Realm. He just hasn’t undergone the Mortal transformation stage to enter the mortal world for some reason. I once saw a cultivator in the Dharma Aspect Realm causing trouble on Arc-Moon Mountain, and Master didn’t even unleash his Divine Feather Dharma Image. He simply used his Natal Spirit Tool, the Kunpeng Fan, to knock that person down by one realm! This shows how terrifying Master’s true strength is. And with such formidable cultivation, it’s impossible for him to suppress it to the point that even I cannot sense it!”
“What is the Celestial Master’s purpose in suddenly visiting our Mystic Maiden Palace? Little chair is so scared,” Yi Chengying said shyly.
Ye Qishuang shook her head helplessly. “How can I be qualified to guess his thoughts? Perhaps, he just came to see me.” As she spoke, a hint of sweetness, something Yi Chengying had never seen before, appeared in Ye Qishuang’s eyes.
“Qualified?” Yi Chengying asked with a hint of surprise. “Palace Lord, little chair feels that when you talk about the Celestial Master, you are being too self-deprecating and appear too humble. You are now…”
Yi Chengying’s words were cut short by a chillingly cold shout.
“Slap yourself.”
“Slap.”
Yi Chengying delivered a merciless slap to her own cheek, and a trickle of crimson blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
Ye Qishuang said with blazing eyes, “Little chair, remember this. I wasn’t born to him, but he raised me. He is like a father to me, the only man I will ever bow down to in this life.”
Yi Chengying’s little face turned pale as she said, “Little chair understands and will not dare to forget.”
“Now, let’s discuss my idea. I suddenly have a bold plan…” Ye Qishuang’s bright eyes gleamed with excitement and seriousness. “That is, to make Master my Cauldron! Even if it’s just an External Incarnation of him!”
Upon hearing this, Yi Chengying was so distressed she almost burst into tears. How she wished she could yell, “Is this something you do to your own father?!” but she really didn’t want to be slapped again.
