After a thousand years together, there were naturally some feelings between them.
As always, it licked Gu Qingying's fair palm a few times. Then, to her surprise, it spoke in a hoarse, deep voice:
"Master—no, let me call you Sister. I'm sorry, Sister. I... have to leave..."
No Feast Lasts Forever
What?
At those words, Gu Qingying's delicate body trembled violently.
Doubt and disbelief surfaced in her beautiful eyes.
"Leave? Where are you going? Qinghan... where else could you possibly go?"
Her expression shifted as turmoil rose in her heart.
After a thousand years of companionship, regardless of whether it truly was the continuation of her younger brother Gu Qinghan in this world, she had long regarded it as family, not merely a spirit pet.
Caught off guard by its announcement that it was leaving, even with the state of mind of a Great Saint, she could not remain unmoved.
Moreover, she could hear the finality in the Cloud Leopard's tone. It did not sound fake in the slightest.
"I am not Gu Qinghan."
A trace of complexity flashed through the Cloud Leopard's eyes, but there was more relief than anything else.
"I was originally just an ordinary Cloud Leopard in the mountains, without the slightest extraordinary bloodline. The one who enlightened me, granted me intelligence, and allowed me to cultivate to my current Saint Realm was... Forget it. I can only reveal this much. Although They no longer care about such trivial matters, it would not be appropriate for me to tell you too much..."
As it spoke, it raised its head, its gaze seeming to pierce through the void toward a certain direction within the collapsing Drill Tower.
There was an irresistible pulling force there, tugging at the core of its soul.
As time passed, the primordial spirit radiance within its Immortal Platform quietly faded, and its aura grew weaker and weaker.
"The Drill Tower has been destroyed. They need to reclaim a certain substance from my soul... The foundation of my existence is about to vanish."
There was a hint of release in the Cloud Leopard's voice, along with a nearly imperceptible reluctance. It turned back to Gu Qingying, its emotions heartfelt.
"Thank you for taking care of me for a thousand years, Gu Qingying. You were a good 'sister,' but I... truly have to go... That place is where I truly belong."
It spoke each word slowly and clearly.
Before Gu Qingying could react, the primordial spirit within its Immortal Platform began turning transparent. Specks of primordial spirit radiance drifted out from its brow.
The aura of its fleshly body rapidly withered away as well, until it dissipated completely, leaving behind only an utterly lifeless shell.
"No! Don't..."
Everything happened in the span of a spark. Almost at the same instant, Gu Qingying's expression changed completely.
Divine radiance coiled around her fair hand as she reached out again and again, seemingly trying to catch the scattered specks of primordial spirit radiance.
Yet even as a Great Saint, despite possessing Heaven-Piercing abilities, she still could not reverse such a phenomenon.
After a thousand years of cultivation, there were few strange tales or extraordinary events she had not seen or heard of. Yet what happened today truly left her at a loss.
She could only watch helplessly as the Cloud Leopard she had raised for a thousand years, accompanied her for a thousand years, and carried her endless yearning for her younger brother, turned into specks of light rain invisible to the naked eye before her.
It vanished completely.
"Qinghan... Qinghan..."
Gu Qingying stood where she was, her beautiful eyes vacant as she called softly, as though her own soul had been stripped away.
Invisibly, a faint wisp of soul light darted out from that rain of light, then rapidly fled toward a certain location deep within the tower's foundation, as if drawn there.
This wisp of soul light differed from primordial spirit radiance. Even Gu Qingying could not see it.
Yet in the darkness, she still instinctively looked toward the direction in which it had disappeared.
All she saw was chaos and ruins.
Whoosh!
Whoosh... whoosh...
The Drill Tower continued to collapse as countless streaks of light fled outward.
Some tried to tear open the void and escape, only to discover that after this place began collapsing, its environment had become even stranger. Those who entered the void were destroyed along with the Drill Tower.
However, after putting away the Cloud Leopard's remains, Gu Qingying flew against the flow and headed upward.
She did not know why she was flying in that direction. There was clearly nothing there, yet a voice in her heart kept telling her—
Go... go quickly...
If she did not go, would she regret it for the rest of her life?
"Has Goddess Gu gone mad?!"
"The Drill Tower is already collapsing, and instead of fleeing for her life, she is actually rushing deeper inside? This place was once created by the Human Emperor. At the moment of its collapse, that annihilating aura is not something her Great Saint Tribulation can compare to..."
"Heh, perhaps she wants to take the opportunity to glimpse the mystery behind the Drill Tower's construction. Or perhaps she wants to see whether she can seize the Quasi-Emperor Array Diagram here?"
"She wants fortune but not her life..."
"Huh? Why does her spirit pet look dead?"
"..."
Whoosh!
As the greatest beauty in the Big Dipper, every movement Gu Qingying made naturally drew the attention of countless cultivators.
But amid the collapse, the cultivators could only fly outward, their gazes lingering briefly upon that immortal silhouette.
Until she grew farther and farther away from them, fading from sight.
Rumble...
Layer after layer of the tower collapsed. The Primordial Era Method within its inner small worlds no longer had any room to buffer against the contemporary methods of the outside Big Dipper.
Amid violent collisions and fusion, enormous ripples of laws swept in every direction, shattering the Soul-Killing Array that the Human Emperor Hall cultivators outside had secretly laid ten years ago.
Ever since the Dao Body of Venerable Xiaoyao had completely returned to the restricted zone, and the Human Emperor Hall Master had returned to the Central Plains, no one had guarded the array. It had long been abandoned. Under the impact of the vast, violent tide of laws, it too was gradually destroyed.
"Senior Sister, don't go any farther in! It's too dangerous!!"
At that moment, a tall figure darted out from the side. It was the Heavenly Martial Holy Land's elegant chief elder. He had actually followed her here and now tried to persuade her.
"This has nothing to do with you."
Gu Qingying did not even spare him a glance. Her voice, like a breeze stirring the reeds, carried an aloof indifference that kept others at a distance.
Rumble...
Suddenly, another tide of law fragments surged forth.
"Ah..."
Ten years had passed, yet the Heavenly Martial chief elder had remained in the Saint Realm. This time, he was not so lucky. Though he had cautiously followed behind Gu Qingying, he was still caught in the violent reverse flow of laws and died on the spot.
Both his fleshly body and primordial spirit were annihilated in the reverse flow of laws. His miserable scream did not even have time to fully leave his throat.
Ahead, Gu Qingying's advancing figure paused. In the end, she let out a quiet sigh.
She raised a hand to wipe away the blood from the corner of her lips, then continued forward.
Even she had suffered considerable injuries in the previous surge of reverse-flowing laws.
Whoosh...
Before long, she arrived at the location. Her gaze swept around, and even after probing with divine sense and secret techniques, she still found nothing.
Rumble!!
The Drill Tower collapsed completely. Pieces of its ruined structure either fell into nothingness, broke into chaotic void currents, or were annihilated without a trace by tides of law fragments. Only a small amount of debris piled up over the tower foundation, becoming ruins.
Buzz...
The largest violent tide came crashing in, and warning bells blared in Gu Qingying's heart.
Seeing this, she clenched her silver teeth. With no other choice, she could only withdraw and retreat.
But in truth, she had long harbored a suspicion over the years.
This place had once been the Human Emperor's Drill Ground...
Crimson-gray mist surged.
The [All Causes Barrier] dispersed.
The scene within a corner of the ruins was revealed.
Deep among countless shattered divine-light fragments and broken array patterns in the tower foundation, a nearly half-solid phantom of a remnant soul emerged.
Though the remnant soul was illusory, the formless majesty of its bearing would still have shocked anyone if it were revealed before them.
Beside the remnant soul stood a slender figure.
More than ten years had passed, yet Li Qingjue still wore that Bronze Mask.
Although the mask concealed her peerlessly beautiful face—a face that would now leave even Gu Qingying slightly stunned—her figure had fully matured as well.
Her black hair flowed like a waterfall, her skin was like ice and her bones like jade, and her graceful curves resembled a Great Dao Treasure Bottle.
A simple black dress alone was enough to outline her breathtaking figure.
Over these ten years, her cultivation had risen from the Peak Other Shore all the way to the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm!
Now, she needed only one final step before a dragon could enter the Immortal Platform!
Yet accompanying the rise in her cultivation was the chilling demonic aura around her body. If she did not deliberately restrain it, it was now almost visible to the naked eye!
Threads of dark demonic light swirled and rose around her like black flames, condensing into all manner of ferocious, terrifying phantoms of gods and demons, as if they were constantly emitting piercing shrieks from the unseen.
Where she stood, even though she was merely standing there quietly, the light within several yards of her seemed to be silently devoured.
Twelve years of bloodshed had accumulated.
Thanks to the Drill Tower, a cultivation ground that drew in talented cultivators from the outside world, she had devoured an unknown number of gifted geniuses from within and beyond the Big Dipper Domain.
After her Mortal Body had undergone several transformations and she had ascended to the upper small worlds, she encountered all kinds of King Body and Divine Body origins in battle after battle, harvesting them in abundance.
She refined these origins with the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art, then used the Quieting Spirit Mantra to transform all their violent and foreign baleful auras into pure demonic qi to temper herself.
If she walked outside without deliberately concealing herself, allowing the aura of her demonic qi refining her body to spill forth, she would be a true peerless demoness.
Her demonic baleful aura would pierce the heavens, inspiring fear in all who saw her.
Yet if someone could see through the Bronze Mask on Li Qingjue's face, they would discover that despite all these years and despite devouring so many others' origins, her eyes remained clear beneath the reflection of her demonic qi.
Deep within her gaze lay the same unwavering persistence and resolve.
The demonic qi tempering her body had never eroded her true heart.
Whoosh...
"Master, that person's senses are remarkably sharp..."
Li Qingjue watched Gu Qingying investigate this place, fail to find anything, and leave. Then she suddenly spoke.
She recognized her.
More than ten years ago, at the bottom level of the Drill Tower, the woman had once considered taking her as a disciple, but Li Qingjue had refused.
"It was not divine sense. It was merely an instinctive spiritual perception in the unseen. Although fewer than one in ten thousand possess it, it is far too useless and has no great purpose..."
Beside her, Tan Lin's remnant soul abruptly opened his eyes. His figure became slightly more solid, and his voice remained calm.
The damage caused by the fragment of consciousness his remnant soul had lost in Undying Mountain more than ten years ago had already fully recovered under the nourishment of the Soul Pearl's Fireflies-like glow.
Using the opportunity of the tower's collapse, he had gathered nearly all the drifting fragments of soul debris into himself, bringing his condition to the peak currently possible.
"The ten-year period has ended. The tower has collapsed, and this is no place to remain."
Tan Lin's remnant soul floated upward. Looking at the disciple who had grown up before him, his voice was as calm as ever.
"Your master must depart at once. Before long, I will head to the Human Emperor Hall in the Central Plains for one final attempt..."
At these words, Li Qingjue's body visibly trembled.
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