Falling into Demonic Ways

"First Soul Skill—Prison Suppressor!" A long golden staff appeared in her hand, and the aura around her shifted in an instant.

With a splat, Dugu Yan fell from the air, pinned firmly against the grass along with all her poison needles.

A breeze blew past, causing the flowers and plants around the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well to sway, yet she felt as if a thousand pounds were pressing down on her back, leaving her unable to move.

"Bastard! I'm going to kill you!!" She struggled violently, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

How could she allow anyone to act so wantonly in the place where her master rested in eternal sleep!

"Kill me?" Qingxi slammed the Universe Staff into the ground, burying it into the soil, then removed her hat to reveal a delicate, youthful face.

"It's only been a few years, and you're already showing signs of falling into demonic cultivation? Who did this to you?" She frowned slightly, withdrawing her divine ability as she stared at the dense demonic energy between the girl's brows.

So-called demonic energy was the accumulation of negative emotions born during the path of cultivation; if left to gather day by day, it would eventually form an inner demon.

Throughout the ages of immortality cultivation, countless practitioners had fallen into demonic ways or found their cultivation stagnated due to the birth of inner demons, eventually meeting their demise.

Inner demons and demonic cultivators were the existences that cultivators feared the most.

"Mas..." Dugu Yan looked at the delicate girl before her, her eyes suddenly brimming with tears as she lunged forward.

"Master!"

"What are you doing?" Qingxi was knocked back two steps, her face pressed into two mounds of softness.

"Let... let go!" Her face flushed bright red as she shoved Dugu Yan away with all her might.

"Master..." Dugu Yan sobbed, her eyes teary, still trying to move forward.

"Let's talk properly." The Universe Staff landed between them, and Qingxi gave a light cough, a suspicious blush lingering on her face.

She cast a sidelong glance at Dugu Yan...

Then she looked down at herself...

She had noticed that many people on this continent were already fully developed by the age of eight or nine, so why was she... so out of place...

The two fell into a momentary silence.

After a long while, Dugu Yan broke the quiet, "It's okay, Master, you're still young. You'll have them in a few years..."

A deathly silence followed.

"Back in your master's day..." Qingxi began with a hint of nostalgia, "I received quite a few love letters..."

"From men or women?" Dugu Yan asked curiously.

After all, if one didn't look closely, her master looked more like a handsome young boy.

Another bout of silence.

"Let's talk about you first! What's going on? Why do you have signs of falling into demonic cultivation? Didn't I tell you that the greatest taboo for a practitioner is to succumb to inner demons!" Qingxi said, annoyed.

"So, did women really write love letters to Master?" Dugu Yan asked softly.

"Pah! Do you want to fight?!"

"Is this staff your Martial Soul, Master? Did you awaken a Martial Soul too?" Dugu Yan reached out to touch the Universe Staff, but the next second, the little staff dove straight back into Qingxi's body.

"Oh? A bit of a temper, are we?"

Seeing Qingxi's increasingly cold and stern expression, Dugu Yan rubbed her fingers together, "Well... I thought you were dead, Master... I was quite sad..." And then she had nearly fallen into demonic cultivation.

"But where have you been these past few years? I heard from Grandfather that there was a massive heavenly tribulation in the Star Dou Great Forest six years ago. Ever since then, you never spoke to me again."

As the young girl spoke, she sounded somewhat aggrieved.

She had always believed her master was dead, guarding her master's physical form bitterly, waiting for the day they would meet again.

Qingxi softened her expression and stood on her tiptoes to pat Dugu Yan's head, "I went on a trip around the world. I left in a hurry at the time, but I remember leaving you a letter."

"..." Dugu Yan was silent; she truly hadn't seen the letter her master mentioned.

"Is it possible it was blown away by the wind?"

The two fell silent again.

What rotten luck.

"Never mind that, let's get rid of your demonic energy first."

"How?"

"What is your cultivation level?"

"Foundation Establishment, mid-stage."

"And what else?"

"Hm? Soul Power level forty-nine."

Qingxi nodded slightly; having such cultivation across two different systems was not bad at all.

However, to succumb to demonic energy over such a small matter—she was still young and needed more tempering.

She had intended to use her second soul skill to purge the demonic energy from Dugu Yan directly, but she felt that might be inappropriate.

She gestured for Dugu Yan to look at the Ice and Fire Spirit Pool nearby, "Jump in."

Such an extreme spirit pool was enough to evolve her current demonic energy.

Dugu Yan shook her head frantically; between the extreme ice and extreme fire, she would surely die.

"You have already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, so rest assured, you can handle it. Besides, this spirit pool is a treasure; the reason the spiritual energy gathers here and hundreds of flowers bloom is all thanks to this pool."

Watching the hesitant little girl, Qingxi sighed and stepped closer to her.

"Master, what are you doing!" Dugu Yan turned to run, only to be grabbed by the scruff of her neck.

"Don't worry, I'm here!" She grabbed Dugu Yan by the back of her collar and tossed her directly into the pool.

"Help!" Dugu Yan cried out in alarm, feeling her entire body go cold as if her blood were freezing, only for the next second to feel as though she were being burned alive.

Qingxi raised her hand, and a gentle, warm power flowed into Dugu Yan's body.

"Relax, and absorb it well." She removed her black robe, peeled off her outer layers one by one, and stepped into the pool.

Dugu Yan also realized the miraculous benefits of this spirit pool; she slowly closed her eyes and began to circulate her cultivation technique, the spiritual energy in her dantian growing increasingly dense.

Qingxi had a comfortable soak.

She wandered around the medicinal garden, harvested quite a few immortal herbs needed for alchemy, and placed them into her Universe in Palm, keeping them in flowerpots made specifically from spirit stones.

As evening approached, seeing that her little disciple was still cultivating, she put on her clothes and went out to catch a few Soft-Bone Rabbits to roast.

I do not know how much time had passed when Dugu Yan slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils were exceptionally clear, her cultivation at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, and her soul power at level fifty.

As long as she absorbed her fifth soul ring, she would leap into becoming a Soul King.

She had not expected this Ice and Fire Spirit Pool to have such an effect, though such a breakthrough could only happen the first time.

She flew out of the spirit pool and saw someone by the campfire roasting rabbits with great delight, a row of Soft-Bone Rabbits sizzling with oil.

"Here! Taste your master's handiwork." Qingxi handed a roasted rabbit to Dugu Yan.

"Thank you, Master." Dugu Yan sat down beside her, smiled, and took a bite, but then her smile froze on her face.

For a moment, she could neither swallow nor spit it out.

"Master?"

"Yeah?" Qingxi's smile was clear and innocent.

"Um... how about we go to a restaurant instead?"

"No money." She was broke; after six years of wandering, she had long since run out of funds.

"Well, how about we go to the Star Dou Great Forest to find a soul ring? There's a restaurant on the way that makes delicious roasted rabbit, and I'll treat you?" No sooner had she finished speaking than she was grabbed by the back of her collar and sent flying into the wind.

An hour later, the two stood in front of a restaurant.

"Stop flying, this is it." Dugu Yan hugged a nearby pillar and vomited uncontrollably, her brain feeling like mush.

If she hadn't stopped her, she feared they would have already flown straight into the Star Dou Great Forest.

Her master flew without any regard for her life, and all the way there, she had only seen the surrounding scenery blur and change.

"Boss, a pot of plum wine. One of everything on the signature menu, and ten roasted rabbits with extra cumin and extra spice!" Seeing that Dugu Yan had finished vomiting, Qingxi walked into the shop and waved her hand, placing the order directly.

"Understood, guests, please wait a moment." The waiter beamed from ear to ear; this was a big order!

Dugu Yan twitched the corner of her mouth. "Can we even finish all this?"

Why did she get the feeling that her master was so happy to hear she was paying?

"I thought you would ask if it was enough to eat." Qingxi blinked her pitch-black eyes, looking incredibly pure and innocent.

"I'll get fat."

"You won't." The excess food would automatically convert into energy and be stored.

"I still need to find a soul ring." Eating this meal would waste quite a bit of time.

"I'll help you find it later; I'm already a Great Soul Master." She continued to blink her eyes, looking pitiful.

The two stared at each other in silence.

"...A Soul Master?" Dugu Yan spoke slowly, finding it hard to believe her master's cultivation level.

"That's right! A Great Soul Master." Qingxi scratched her head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

It was mainly because she had been sleeping in the open for the past six years and hadn't cultivated at all.

When she first awakened her martial soul, the appearance of the Universe in Palm had surprised her.

The divine artifact that had accompanied her throughout her previous life had come to her in this one as a soul tool.

Weighing 108,000 catties and possessing 3,782 variations, it was a supreme divine artifact forged by her master over eighty-one days, its value no less than that of the Golden Cudgel.

Besides... besides, being a Soul Master meant she could collect a subsistence allowance...

"Master, shall we spar after we eat? Only using soul power." Dugu Yan felt she had a chance again.

Although she might not compare to her master in cultivation, she was now a level fifty-one Soul King. A twenty-year-old Soul King—such talent was top-tier across the entire continent.

In just six years, her soul power had increased by sixteen levels, a feat that even her grandfather found astonishing.

And in these six years, her grandfather's soul power had even advanced to level 94, a full four-level increase.

One had to know that the further one progressed, the more talent mattered and the harder it was to increase soul power.

Before reaching level ninety, her grandfather had not broken through for ten years, until the bottle of spirit liquid her master gave her six years ago. Even though it was only a single drop, it had allowed her grandfather to experience a complete rebirth.

Because of this, Dugu Yan held the master who looked much younger than her in exceptionally high regard.