Entrusting His Daughter

An icy wind swept through, spreading poisonous miasma.

Moss covered the wasteland. Turbulence from the spiritual explosion had long since collapsed the cavern, and foul-smelling miasma flames burned everywhere the eye could see.

Luo Fanchen had shielded Ling Moxue with True Essence in time, but the girl had inhaled the green, poisonous smoke. Even after taking an antidote pill, she remained unconscious, pain written across her small face. He settled her somewhere safe, then shook his head and crawled forward.

He had no idea who had won the battle. What mattered now was undoing the Soul Banner and taking Ling Moxue out of the miasma.

As Luo Fanchen crawled, something warm flowed across his palm. A wet, sticky sensation engulfed his hand. It was a broad smear of blood.

Before him lay a mass of spilled intestines. Below them were two legs with rotting skin, extending upward only as far as the waist. The upper body was gone.

As he stared in confusion, a large hand suddenly clamped over his mouth and nose.

Luo Fanchen was about to dodge, but he sensed that the person behind him was weak and bore no ill intent, so he did not resist.

He slowly turned his head and found himself facing Ling Youdao's pale, ravaged, square face.

"Shh—"

Ling Youdao silently mouthed the word. Then the metallic rasp of scales rubbing together sounded near Luo Fanchen's ear.

The Demon Serpent's enormous body slithered through the green smoke. Had it not drawn so close, he would not have heard a thing.

Half the Demon Serpent's head had been blown into a bloody mess, exposing the brain within. Its scorched flesh had curled back, and its body was nearly severed at its vital point.

The Snake Demon had gained a slight edge over Ling Youdao, but it had still suffered a grievous wound. Only a Demon Beast's tenacious vitality had left it with any strength at all.

Its aura was so faint that ordinary means could scarcely detect it. Luo Fanchen had nearly been fooled.

Had Ling Youdao not covered his mouth and nose, the Demon Serpent would have ambushed him. Even if he survived, he would have been badly wounded.

"Fellow Daoist Cao... I dealt that serpent a grievous wound. Soul Poison has entered its body. It will surely die."

"I... I left a means of tracking it inside its body. Once it leaves, you can use the Soul Banner to find its corpse. It may be of some use to you."

"County Magistrate... Why go this far?"

Luo Fanchen's expression was complicated, but his eyes remained wary. He quietly pressed his spirit sword against Ling Youdao's dantian.

"I'm ashamed to ask, Fellow Daoist Cao... What is your relationship to Mo Xue?"

Only half of Ling Youdao's body remained. He had bled dry and should have died long ago, yet somehow he clung to a thread of life.

Luo Fanchen examined him briefly, then stared in shock. Ling Youdao had refined his ruined body into a living corpse and was burning his Three Souls and Seven Spirits for one last flash of life. Once his soul burned out, it would scatter completely, never to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

Ling Youdao had paid that price just to say a few words to him?

"We aren't related. Her father, Ling Leng, entrusted her to me on his deathbed and asked me to guide Mo Xue in cultivation. Naturally, I must keep my promise."

"Entrusted her to you? Fellow Daoist Cao, do you know she has the Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet Physique?"

"County Magistrate, surely you jest?"

Luo Fanchen raised an eyebrow. The Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet's infamy was known throughout the cultivation world. Even an ordinary cultivator at the Qi Refinement First Layer could recognize it with a simple examination of her Meridians.

"Heh... Don't take offense, Fellow Daoist Cao. I simply never expected a villain like Ling Leng, who committed every evil under the sun, to befriend someone as honorable as you."

"Do you recognize the Soul Banner?"

"I do."

Luo Fanchen nodded slightly, and some of the wariness left his eyes. Ling Youdao's True Essence was exhausted, and his soul was burning. Not even an immortal could save him; he could not so much as seize another body.

"Knowing what the Soul Banner is, you would still make an enemy of me for this girl?"

"I was entrusted with a task. I must see it through."

Luo Fanchen's voice was calm. Things had reached this point; even if regret was eating him alive, what was left to say?

"You value your word like a thousand pieces of gold, and your Dao heart is steadfast. One day, you'll surely reach Foundation Establishment, form a core, and accomplish great things!"

A little light returned to Ling Youdao's eyes, and he spared no praise.

Luo Fanchen was puzzled and more than a little guilty. Before he could think of a reply, Ling Youdao gripped his sleeve with his remaining left hand and spoke earnestly.

"I can see you lack a good cultivation method. I want to lend you a hand!"

"..."

Luo Fanchen pressed his lips together and thought it over. He did not agree at once.

A dying man's bequest was no easy thing to accept. Ling Leng's request had already landed him in a mire of trouble, and the prospect of teaching and guiding Ling Moxue from now on made his head ache.

"I have a daughter."

Weariness filled Ling Youdao's eyes. He spoke before Luo Fanchen could respond, and those few words nearly made Luo Fanchen recoil.

An ominous feeling rose in his heart.

Sure enough, after catching his breath, Ling Youdao continued. "I have a daughter named Qiu Yun. She and Mo Xue are sisters."

"She was born with a defect in her Heart Meridian and has been sickly all her life. I studied the path of Demonic Cultivators to find a way to save her. But my Dao heart was not as steadfast as yours, and I fell to the demonic path."

"My soul's destruction is my own doing. But... the one person I cannot bear to leave behind is Qiu Yun."

"..."

Luo Fanchen's lips trembled. He had the urge to slap Ling Youdao to death.

Did I owe the Ling Household a debt in my last life or something?

"You keep your promises. You're someone I can entrust her to. Once I'm dead, my daughter will have no one to rely on, and she'll surely follow me to the grave."

"I want to entrust Qiu Yun to you. I beg you to find a remedy and cure her illness. In return, I'll give you everything I've acquired in my life."

"No—"

Luo Fanchen was about to refuse. I can kill you, question Ling Qiuyun, and your inheritance will still be mine.

With a bitter smile, Ling Youdao pulled a blood-soaked Storage Bag from inside his robe and cut him off.

"Wood is your primary Spirit Root, isn't it? As it happens, I have an upper-grade wood-attribute Mystic Method that would suit you."

"Besides that, I'll give you another opportunity and the Soul Banner."

"An extraordinary opportunity?"

"Yes. After I die, the Soul Banner will recognize Qiu Yun as its master. Once you form a contract with her, she'll hand both the opportunity and the Soul Banner over to you."

Luo Fanchen glanced at the Soul Banner out of the corner of his eye and swallowed silently, his heartbeat quickening.

A graded Soul Banner was extremely difficult to refine. It required sixteen kinds of First Tier demonic materials and the blood essence of nearly ten thousand living beings. Its value was no less than that of a Foundation Establishment Treasure.

Paired with its corresponding inheritance, the Soul Banner was far more powerful than an artifact of the same grade. It could trap enemies, kill, search souls, and fly through the air. It could even grow stronger. How could he not be tempted?

As for the supposed opportunity and cultivation method, Luo Fanchen paid them little mind. He assumed they were bait.

Ling Leng had deceived him too thoroughly.

"The cultivation method is in my Storage Bag. It's sealed, and only Qiu Yun can undo the restriction. You may examine it yourself."

Luo Fanchen froze for a moment. He took the Storage Bag, drew out a Jade Slip, and examined it closely. His expression changed, and even the hand holding the slip began to tremble.

The Jade Slip was a deep blue-green, with a gilded engraving of an ancient tree enduring a heavenly tribulation. The restriction kept him from seeing its contents clearly, but he could tell it was wood-aligned.

Was this the legendary Jade Slip used to pass on a cultivation method?

Such a slip had to be engraved with the divine sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. It could be used only once, and the method it contained would be an upper-grade Mystic Method at the very least.

"Well?"

"It is an upper-grade Mystic Method, and it's wood-aligned."

Luo Fanchen struggled to steady himself, but his voice still rang with excitement.

He had lacked a high-level cultivation method for far too long. If he obtained this one, his future cultivation and absorption of spiritual energy would become at least twenty percent faster.

"This is worth no less than a Foundation Establishment Treasure. The Soul Banner is worth just as much. Could you tell me your real name, brother?"

Ling Youdao tightened his grip on Luo Fanchen. He had intended to detonate the Soul Banner and take Cao Mengde down with him, ridding the people of a menace.

But if Cao Mengde was a man he could trust, he might as well entrust Qiu Yun to him. At least the girl would have someone to rely on.

Ling Youdao deserved to die ten thousand deaths, but Qiu Yun did not deserve to wither away. She... had never seen the world beyond Cloudmist City.

"Brother... please. Tell me your real name."

Luo Fanchen remained silent. Ling Youdao's voice grew more urgent, his eyes almost pleading.

"Please... Brother, I beg you."

Ling Youdao's words came faster and faster. After his death, if no cultivator tended to Qiu Yun's Meridians, she would die within seven days.

A few breaths later, the light in Ling Youdao's eyes began to fade. His grip on Luo Fanchen's sleeve weakened, and his hand drooped limply.

Before it hit the ground, Luo Fanchen turned his hand and clasped Ling Youdao's left hand, ignoring the sticky blood coating his palm.

"Luo Fanchen."

"Then... I leave Qiu Yun in your care, Fellow Daoist Luo."

At those words, Ling Youdao's dim eyes brightened slightly. With an effort, he managed a faint smile of relief.