Shrouding the Heavens: Those Years as the Female Emperor's Strictest Master

After a thousand years together, there were naturally some feelings involved.

As always, he licked Gu Qingying's fair palm a few times. Then, to her surprise, he spoke in a hoarse, deep voice:

"Master, no... let me call you Sister. I'm sorry, Sister, I... have to leave..."

No Banquet Lasts Forever

What?

Gu Qingying's delicate body trembled sharply at those words.

Doubt and disbelief surfaced in her beautiful eyes.

"Leave? Where are you going? Qinghan... where else could you possibly go?"

Her expression shifted as waves rose in her heart.

After a thousand years of companionship, regardless of whether he truly was the continuation of her younger brother Gu Qinghan in this world, she had long regarded him as family, not merely a spirit pet.

Hearing so suddenly that he intended to leave, even with the state of mind of a Great Saint, she could not remain calm.

Moreover, she could discern the finality in the Cloud Leopard's tone. It was not an act.

"I am not Gu Qinghan."

A trace of complexity flashed through the Cloud Leopard's eyes, though there was more relief than anything else.

"I was originally nothing more than an ordinary Cloud Leopard in the mountains, without even the slightest extraordinary bloodline. The one who enlightened me, bestowed spiritual intelligence upon me, 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 he spoke, he raised his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through the void toward a certain direction where the Drill Tower was collapsing.

There, an irresistible pulling force was dragging at the core of his soul.

As time passed, the glimmers of his Primordial Spirit within his Immortal Platform quietly faded away, and his aura grew increasingly weak.

"The Drill Tower has been destroyed. They need to reclaim a certain substance from within my soul... the foundation of my existence is about to vanish."

There was a trace of release in the Cloud Leopard's voice, along with a nearly imperceptible reluctance. He turned to Gu Qingying again and spoke from the bottom of his heart.

"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."

He spoke each word slowly and clearly.

Before Gu Qingying could react, the Primordial Spirit body within his Immortal Platform began turning transparent. Specks of Primordial Spirit light drifted out from his brow.

The aura of his physical body rapidly withered as well, until it vanished completely, leaving behind only a lifeless shell.

"No! Don't..."

Everything happened in a flash. At nearly the same moment, Gu Qingying's expression changed completely.

Divine radiance wound around her fair hand as she reached forward again and again, as if trying to seize those scattered glimmers of Primordial Spirit light.

Yet even as a Great Saint, even with heaven-reaching abilities, she 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 unfolded before her today left her utterly at a loss.

She could only watch helplessly as the Cloud Leopard she had raised for a thousand years, who had accompanied her for a thousand years and borne her endless longing for her younger brother, turned into specks of light rain invisible to the naked eye before her.

He 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.

Amid the invisible currents, a faint strand of soul light darted out from that rain of light, then sped toward a certain location deep beneath the tower's foundation as if drawn there.

This strand of soul light was different from the glimmers of Primordial Spirit light. Even Gu Qingying could not see it.

Yet somehow, she still instinctively looked in the direction where that soul light had disappeared.

All she saw was chaos and ruins.

Whoosh!

Whoosh... whoosh...

The Drill Tower continued to collapse as countless streaks of rainbow light fled outward.

Some attempted to tear through the void and escape, only to discover that after this place began crumbling, the environment had become even more peculiar. Those who entered the void all perished along with the Drill Tower.

Yet after putting away the Cloud Leopard's remains, Gu Qingying rose against the flow and flew inward.

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 there quickly...

If she did not go, perhaps she would regret it for the rest of her life?

"Has Goddess Gu gone mad?!"

"The Drill Tower is already collapsing, yet instead of fleeing for her life, she's rushing deeper inside? This place was once the work of the Human Emperor. When it collapses, that annihilating aura is not something her Great Saint Tribulation can compare to..."

"Hehe, perhaps she wants to take this chance to glimpse the secret behind the Drill Tower's construction. Or perhaps she wants to see whether she can obtain the Quasi-Emperor Array Diagram here?"

"She wants fortune but not her life..."

"Huh? Why does her spirit pet look like it's dead?"

"..."

Whoosh!

As the foremost beauty of the Big Dipper, Gu Qingying's every move was destined to draw the attention of cultivators.

But with this place collapsing, the cultivators merely flew outward, their gazes lingering only briefly on that immortal figure.

Until that figure drifted farther and farther away, fading from sight.

Rumble...

Layer after layer of the tower crumbled. The Primordial Era laws within its pocket worlds no longer had any buffer against the contemporary laws of the outside Big Dipper.

Amid violent collisions and fusion, enormous ripples of law swept in all directions, scattering the Soul-Killing Array that the cultivators of Human Emperor Hall had secretly laid outside ten years ago.

Since Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's Dao body had fully returned to the restricted zone, and the master of Human Emperor Hall had returned to the Central Plains, no one had guarded the array for a long time. It had long been abandoned, and under the impact of the vast, violent tide of laws, it too was gradually destroyed.

"Senior Sister, don't go farther in! It's too dangerous!!"

At that moment, a tall figure rushed out from the side. It was the rather handsome chief elder of the Heavenly Martial Holy Land. He had actually followed her here and called out to dissuade her.

"This has nothing to do with you."

Gu Qingying did not even spare him a glance. Her voice, like a breeze stirring a flute, carried an aloof indifference that kept others at a distance.

Rumble...

Suddenly, another tide of law fragments swept out wildly.

"Ah..."

Ten years had passed, and the chief elder of Heavenly Martial was still lingering in the Saint realm. This time, he was not so fortunate. Though he had cautiously followed behind Gu Qingying, he was still caught by the violent reverse current of laws and died on the spot.

Both his physical body and Primordial Spirit were annihilated within the reverse current of laws. His shrill scream did not even have time to fully escape his throat.

Ahead, Gu Qingying's graceful figure paused. In the end, she let out a faint sigh.

She raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of her lips, then continued flying forward.

Even she had suffered no light injuries in that eruption of reverse-flowing laws.

Splash...

Soon, she arrived at the location. Her eyes swept over the area, but even after probing with divine sense and secret arts, she still found nothing.

Rumble!!

The Drill Tower collapsed completely. Fragments of its ruined structure either fell into nothingness, broke into the chaotic currents of the void, or were erased without a trace beneath the tide of law fragments. Only a small amount of debris remained piled upon the ground around the tower's foundation, becoming ruins.

Buzz...

The largest wave of violent turbulence surged toward her, and a warning blared within Gu Qingying's heart.

Seeing this, she gritted her silver teeth. With no other choice, she withdrew and retreated.

But in truth, she had long harbored a suspicion over these years.

This place had once been the Human Emperor's Drill Ground...

Crimson-gray mist surged.

The [All Causes Barrier] dissipated.

The scene in a corner of the ruins appeared.

Deep amid countless shattered fragments glowing with divine light and broken formation patterns from the tower's foundation, an almost half-solidified phantom of a remnant soul appeared.

Though the remnant soul was illusory, that intangible aura of grandeur would still have deeply shocked anyone who saw it.

Beside the remnant soul stood a slender, graceful figure.

More than ten years had passed, yet Li Qingjue still wore that Bronze Mask.

Though the mask concealed the peerlessly beautiful face that would now leave even Gu Qingying faintly amazed, Li Qingjue's figure had fully matured.

Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall, her skin like ice and her bones like jade. Her figure was exquisite and well-proportioned, like a precious vase of the Great Dao.

A simple black dress alone outlined curves breathtaking enough to stir the soul.

Over the past ten years, her cultivation had risen from the Peak Other Shore all the way to the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm!

Now, she was only one step away from entering the Immortal Platform like a dragon!

Yet alongside the growth of her cultivation came the chilling demonic aura around her body. Unless she deliberately restrained her aura, it was nearly visible to the naked eye!

Strands of black demonic light coiled and rose around her like black flames, condensing into all manner of savage, terrifying phantoms of gods and demons, as though they constantly let out piercing, invisible shrieks.

Where she stood, even though she was merely standing still, the light within several yards around her seemed to be silently devoured.

Twelve years of bloodshed had accumulated.

Thanks to the Drill Tower, a place of trial that drew prodigious cultivators from the outside world, she had devoured an unknown number of geniuses from within and beyond the Big Dipper.

After her Mortal Body had transformed several times and she had ascended to the higher pocket worlds, she obtained countless sources of King Bodies and Divine Bodies in battle after battle.

She refined these sources with the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art, then used the Quieting Spirit Mantra to transform all the baleful and foreign malignant energies within them into pure demonic qi to temper herself.

If she walked outside as she normally did now, without deliberately restraining herself and allowing the aura of demonic qi tempering her body to spill forth, she would be a genuine peerless demoness.

Demonic balefulness surged into the heavens, inspiring fear at a glance.

But if someone's gaze could pass through the Bronze Mask on Li Qingjue's face, they would discover that, despite being reflected by demonic qi, her eyes remained clear no matter how many other sources she had devoured over the years.

Deep in her heart remained an unchanging persistence and resilience.

The demonic qi tempering her body had never eroded her true heart.

Whoosh...

"Master, that person's perception is incredibly strong..."

Li Qingjue watched Gu Qingying investigate the area, find nothing, and leave. Then she suddenly spoke.

She recognized Gu Qingying.

More than ten years ago, at the lowest level of the Drill Tower, Gu Qingying had once intended to take her in as a disciple, but Li Qingjue had refused.

"It is not divine-sense perception, only an intangible instinctive spiritual awareness. Though those who possess it are one in ten thousand, it is far too useless and serves little purpose..."

The remnant soul of Tan Lin beside her suddenly opened his eyes. His figure condensed a little further as he spoke calmly.

The damage caused by the strand 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 firefly-like glow.

Taking advantage of the tower's collapse, he had gathered nearly all the soul fragments scattered outside and merged them into himself, bringing his condition to the peak he could currently attain.

"The ten-year term has ended, and the tower has collapsed. We should not remain here for long."

Tan Lin's remnant soul floated upward. Looking at his disciple, now fully grown, his voice remained as calm as ever.

"Your master must leave immediately. Before long, I will head to Human Emperor Hall in the Central Plains for one final attempt..."

The moment those words fell, Li Qingjue's body visibly trembled.