126: Chapter 126 Both the Sect Master and the Holy Maiden Submit

"Silence!" Sect Master Luo Shuixin snapped, her voice trembling slightly.

"Why be silent?" The young man smiled, a smile that seemed incredibly harsh to her.

"Let me guess what you're thinking right now. You're thinking that as long as you can save Gu Qingcheng's life, you're willing to pay any price. You're even thinking of exchanging yourself for her freedom."

Sect Master Luo Shuixin's mind reeled, and for the first time, a look of horror appeared on her face.

The young man didn't give her a chance to breathe.

"What a great Revered Master-Disciple bond. Unfortunately, I don't need such sentiment. I just need both of you to serve me."

With a thought, his Soul Imprint activated.

Sect Master Luo Shuixin's Divine Soul, being in the Late Golden Core Stage, was far stronger than Gu Qingcheng's. She let out a muffled groan, resisting with all her might.

But in front of that strange Soul Imprint, her resistance seemed pale and powerless.

All her thoughts, all her secrets, were exposed to his prying eyes.

"You see, your resistance is meaningless," the young man's voice echoed in her mind.

"I can turn you into a Puppet that only obeys orders right now, but I don't want to do that. I want my companions to have their own thoughts."

Companions?

Amidst the severe pain in her Divine Soul, Sect Master Luo Shuixin latched onto this word.

"Obey me, Sect Master Luo Shuixin," the young man's voice carried a seductive quality. "I can not only ensure your precious Disciple's safety but also help her break through her shackles and reach the Golden Core Stage. And for you, the Nascent Soul Dao you dream of, I can also show you the way."

Nascent Soul!

These two words, like a curse, exploded in her chaotic mind.

As a Cultivator, the pursuit of eternal life was an instinct.

She had been trapped in the Late Golden Core Stage for too long; the despair of her Lifespan approaching and the Dao being hopeless tormented her day and night.

Now, an opportunity, possibly a deception but also potentially her only hope, lay before her.

The price was freedom and dignity.

But to a person about to drown, how could freedom and dignity compare to a life-saving straw?

Moreover, her beloved Disciple and her Sect were both in this man's hands.

Did she have a choice?

If she resisted, both she and Gu Qingcheng would become thoughtless playthings, and the Sect would be destroyed.

If she complied, both she and Gu Qingcheng could survive and become stronger, and she might even have a chance to touch that legendary Realm.

After a long while, Sect Master Luo Shuixin stopped resisting.

She was drenched in sweat, as if she had just fought a great battle.

She raised her head, the anger and struggle in her Phoenix eyes having faded, leaving only a deep calm.

"How can I trust you?" she asked.

"You don't need to trust me," the young man said lightly. "You just need to choose. Now, tell me your answer."

Sect Master Luo Shuixin closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, her gaze was filled with resignation.

"I understand."

On the other side, Gu Qingcheng also made her decision.

When she saw her Revered Master's resigned expression in the vision, her last line of defense collapsed.

"I... I am willing," she said in a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum.

The young men in both stone chambers simultaneously showed satisfied smiles.

They were different Incarnations, yet they shared the same will.

The two most crucial links in the plan to conquer the Hehuan Sect had been forged.

...

Qingyun Sect, deep within the Profound Ice Palace.

Inside the palace forged from ten-thousand-year-old Profound Ice, the chill was as biting as ever, enough to freeze the minds of Cultivators below the Golden Core Stage.

Su Muxue sat cross-legged on the ice bed, her aura merging with the entire ice palace, as if she had existed there since ancient times, without emotion, desire, thought, or idea.

However, today, this millennia-long stillness was gently broken by a message from outside the mountain.

Su Muxue emerged from her Quiet Room of seclusion, lifting the outer Restriction.

At this moment, an ice crystal Talisman pierced through layers of space, hovering before her. It silently shattered, transforming into a line of elegant script.

"Reporting to Ice Sword Elder, Junior Martial Uncle Luo Hongchen, the Peak Revered Master of Hongchen Peak, officially joined Yifei Peak last night, becoming... Senior Brother Li Yifei of Yifei Peak's Dao Companion."

The last few words of the message seemed to carry the unbelievable tremor of the Disciple who wrote it.

On the ice bed, the exquisite figure, like an ice sculpture, had her long eyelashes subtly tremble.

After a long while, an extremely soft scoff, like the sound of ice cracking, echoed in the vast, silent hall, sounding incredibly abrupt.

Su Muxue slowly opened her eyes.

In those Phoenix eyes, which had been frozen for ten thousand years, there was no anger, no surprise. Instead, for the first time, an extremely rare trace of absurd and mocking amusement appeared.

Luo Hongchen...

That woman.

That enchantress who, ever since joining the Sect, had constantly opposed her, loved to use her Seduction Technique to tease her, and tried to see her icy demeanor melt and her Dao Heart falter.

That Succubus Fairy who had 'seduction' carved into her bones, viewed all men in the world as playthings, and had played in the Mortal World for hundreds of years.

She actually...

She actually became the woman of her wicked Disciple?

This news was truly... too amusing.

Su Muxue could even imagine that enchantress, before Li Yifei, retracting all her claws, wagging her tail, and exhausting all her means to please and flatter him.

Her Dao Heart, which had long been frozen, was at this moment genuinely amused by this absurd affair.

A former rival, now the Dao Companion of her Disciple's generation. The Karma of this world was truly wonderfully amusing.

The smile flashed and then vanished, replaced by deeper contemplation.

Luo Hongchen is a Mid-stage Golden Core Cultivator, deeply cunning, and by no means an easy opponent.

What heaven-defying means did that wicked Disciple Li Yifei use to make her willingly submit? And what irresistible benefits did he promise her?

Merely helping Jade Purity Cold achieve Core Formation was not enough to make that old fox Luo Hongchen stake everything.

"It seems I still underestimated you..." Su Muxue murmured to herself.

Her curiosity, like a surging undercurrent beneath the ice, could no longer be suppressed.

She truly wanted to see with her own eyes what kind of "miserable" state that enchantress, who always liked to provoke her, was in now.

She also wanted to see what kind of scene Yifei Peak had become, belonging to that wicked Disciple who constantly exceeded her expectations.

With this thought, Su Muxue no longer hesitated.

She slowly rose from the ice bed, her plain white dress moving without a breeze.

In the next step, her figure had already disappeared within the ice palace, without causing the slightest ripple of cold Qi.

...

Above Yifei Peak.

A stream of extremely cold white light, like an aurora streaking across the sky, appeared silently.

The light receded, revealing Su Muxue's clear, peerless, and untainted immortal face.

She hovered high in the sky, her cold Phoenix eyes overlooking the peak below, which was enveloped in dense spiritual mist. In the depths of her eyes, a hint of unconcealed surprise flashed for the first time.

Formation!

Yifei Peak's Mountain-protecting Formation had changed!