35: The Nine Heavens Mysterious Purity Formation!

Hall Master Pei Qingying's footsteps paused, and she turned her head sharply.

"What did you say?"

Zhao Qingyue's gaze fell upon Su Qingqiu, and she said coldly.

"You will pay the price for your actions."

A hint of confusion flickered in Su Qingqiu's clear, cold eyes.

"I don't understand."

"Don't understand?"

Zhao Qingyue descended step by step from the high platform, her voice filled with a hysterical accusation.

"You awakened your Immortal Spiritual Root and Immortal Body long ago. At the Su Family's birthday banquet, you had countless opportunities to tell us, but you deliberately kept silent!

You deliberately waited until today, until the Saintess Ceremony, until all the sects of the world gathered here!"

This was precisely what infuriated Zhao Qingyue the most. If Su Qingqiu had told her about awakening her Immortal Spiritual Root and Immortal Body at the Su Family, begging for her forgiveness, she could still have returned to the Shangqing Sect.

However, Su Qingqiu did not do so.

"You deliberately hid it, deliberately chose today to make this master look foolish in front of everyone, to turn Qingya's Saintess Ceremony into a huge joke.

This is your revenge, isn't it?

Because your Spiritual Root was crippled and you were expelled from the sect, you harbored resentment and wanted to humiliate the Shangqing Sect in this way!"

Upon hearing this, Su Qingqiu was completely stunned.

She looked at this master, whom she had once revered like a god, watching her face contorted with anger, and the last shred of hope in her heart completely shattered.

She had thought that the other party would at least offer a belated apology, or a hint of remorse.

But she never expected to receive such contemptible accusations.

"Wasn't it Su Qingya who invited me to the Saintess Ceremony?

Sect Leader Zhao was present at the time; wasn't that your tacit approval?"

She no longer cared to compete with Su Qingya. The reason she came to the Saintess Ceremony was simply to tell Su Qingya that she was no longer the Su Qingqiu of the past.

Receiving the Goddess's blessing was completely unexpected.

"Are all the mistakes made by Sect Leader Zhao to be blamed on me?"

At these words, everyone immediately began to discuss.

"I was at the Su Family's birthday banquet. Su Qingya wanted to regain face at the Saintess Ceremony, but she ended up making a huge mess."

"She lifted a rock only to drop it on her own foot, dragging Zhao Qingyue down with her to become a laughingstock of the world. How ridiculous."

"If I had a disciple like that, I would have expelled her from the sect long ago. She's simply a disgrace to the sect."

Listening to the surrounding discussions, Zhao Qingyue's face turned ashen.

This rebellious disciple not only refused to admit her mistake but even dared to talk back.

"Good, very good. Since expelling you from the sect was this master's mistake back then."

She paused, her gaze fixed intently on Su Qingqiu's dantian, where the Heaven-Burning Phoenix Immortal Spiritual Root, which drove everyone mad, was contained.

"Then now, this mistake should be remedied by this master."

As long as Su Qingqiu was crippled again, expelling her from the sect would no longer be her mistake.

Zhao Qingyue's voice was devoid of any warmth, and she commanded directly.

"Su Qingqiu, the sect cultivated you for several years. Now it's your turn to repay the sect.

Dig out the Immortal Spiritual Root within you, and I can allow you to return to the Shangqing Sect as a Utility Disciple."

At these words, everyone was thunderstruck!

Everyone thought they had misheard. Dig... dig it out?!

A dignified Sect Leader, in front of everyone, openly demanded a disciple who had been expelled from the sect to personally dig out her own Immortal Spiritual Root and hand it over?

This was no longer absurd; this was simply horrifying!

"She's crazy. Is Sect Leader Zhao crazy?"

"Digging out someone's Spiritual Root, and an Immortal Spiritual Root at that, how is this different from the actions of demonic cultivators?"

"The Shangqing Sect is utterly shameless!"

Su Qingqiu felt as if she had been struck by a heavy blow. Her delicate body trembled violently, and her face instantly turned ashen white like snow.

She widened her eyes, staring at Zhao Qingyue in disbelief, as if truly seeing this person for the first time.

Dig it out?

How could she say those three words so casually?

Su Qingqiu had expected an apology, but she never thought that what awaited her was a demand even more ruthless and greedy than when her Heavenly Spiritual Root was dug out!

The pain of her Spiritual Root being dug out, the despair of falling from the clouds to the dust, instantly surged back like a tide, engulfing her, making her body go cold and her fingertips tremble.

That was a nightmare she would never wish to experience again in this life!

And now, her master, whom she had loved and respected for many years, wanted her to personally endure it again?

"I am no longer a disciple of the Shangqing Sect, so how can I speak of repaying the sect?"

Zhao Qingyue sneered, then pointed at the Goddess statue and questioned.

"If you were not a disciple of the Shangqing Sect, how could you have received the Goddess's blessing?"

Chu Feng's face instantly turned ashen. He took a step forward, shielding Su Qingqiu.

"Such blatant robbery can be spoken of so righteously. Today, I've truly learned something new."

She gently pushed aside Chu Feng in front of her. Although her cultivation was far inferior to Zhao Qingyue's, her back was ramrod straight at this moment.

"My Immortal Body and Immortal Spiritual Root were both bestowed by my husband. If you want them, it will be over my dead body."

Without Chu Feng, she would have long been trampled underfoot, never to rise again.

Everything she had now was given to her by Chu Feng; how could she easily give it up?

Zhao Qingyue's face completely darkened, and the last shred of her feigned patience vanished.

"Stubborn fool! Since you refuse to do it yourself... then everything you have, this master will personally retrieve!"

Hall Master Pei Qingying flicked her long sword and said coldly.

"You can try."

A cold light burst from her eyes, and she shouted sternly.

"All Shangqing Sect elders, heed my command! Activate the Nine Heavens Profound Clarity Grand Formation!"

Rumble—

The entire Shangqing Sect mountain gate shook violently, and countless hidden ancient runes instantly lit up, erupting with dazzling cyan-white light.

Nine cyan-white light pillars, inscribed with countless demon-slaying and evil-purging talismans, shot up into the sky from nine directions around the plaza, piercing through the clouds and instantly connecting heaven and earth.

Between the light pillars, endless runes flowed and intertwined, forming a colossal cyan-white net that covered the entire sky.

Within the giant net, terrifying annihilation energy permeated, as if it could crush all existence.

A chilling and murderous pressure that made one's soul tremble swept over everyone in the plaza like a tide.

"The Nine Heavens Profound Clarity Grand Formation, the Shangqing Sect's ultimate protective formation!"

"Zhao Qingyue actually activated the sect's protective formation to deal with her former disciple!"

"This formation is not to be activated unless the sect is facing a life-or-death crisis. She's crazy, utterly crazy!"

"Retreat quickly! This formation is immensely powerful; even a Soul Transformation cultivator will be suppressed within it."

Everyone's faces turned pale, and they retreated frantically, fearing that this terrifying grand formation would target them.

Hall Master Pei Qingying, who was directly in its path, felt the sharp sword intent circulating around her body suddenly stagnate the moment the nine light pillars rose.

The omnipresent annihilation energy and the formation's pressure, like billions of invisible chains, wrapped around her from all directions, fiercely suppressing her sword domain and spiritual power.

The space around her felt like a quagmire, making every step difficult.

She tried to mobilize her sword qi to break free from this restraint, but the formation's power was inexhaustible, stemming from the entire Shangqing Sect's ley lines and millennia of accumulated heritage. How could she, with a single person and a single sword, instantly break through it?

"Zhao! Qing! Yue!"

Frost covered Hall Master Pei Qingying's beautiful face. She struggled to resist the formation's suppression. The Purple Spirit Sword hummed and vibrated before her, its purple glow constantly squeezed by the cyan-white light, unable to strike out as easily as before.

"If you dare to harm even a single hair on my disciple or Qingqiu, the Tiansheng Academy and the Shangqing Sect will be irreconcilable until death!"

The oath of a Soul Transformation Sword Immortal, invoking the laws of heaven and earth, echoed within the formation with a chilling killing intent.

However, Zhao Qingyue, empowered by the formation, merely let out a contemptuous sneer.

"Irreconcilable until death? Wait until you become the head of the Tiansheng Academy before you utter such grand words to this Seat!"

She didn't believe the Tiansheng Academy would go to full-scale war with the Shangqing Sect for Su Qingqiu. At this moment, her eyes only saw the Immortal Spiritual Root within Su Qingqiu.

"Now, no one can save you!"

Zhao Qingyue's terrifying Soul Transformation stage spiritual power, amplified by the protective grand formation, erupted completely without reservation.

"Firmament Cloud-Covering Hand!"