Yue Liuqin finally could not take it anymore and spat out a mouthful of blood.
[Wow, people really can get so angry they cough up blood.]
Before the water mirror, everyone from Ethereal Peak finally let out a breath. This was what they called one villain getting their comeuppance at another villain's hands!
No, what were they thinking...
This was what they called evil getting its just deserts!
Yue Su's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He stared at Qiaoqiao in the water mirror, his gaze utterly sinister.
"Peak Master Yue, the Seven Stars Compass is an Earth Grade Law Treasure, isn't it?" Bai Fu gave him a cool glance, his eyes like thin ice, sending a chill through the body.
Yue Su's expression instantly turned extremely ugly.
Ning Shuang said, "Peak Master Yue certainly dotes on his daughter, to be willing to bring out even a Law Treasure like that. Yue Liuqin openly cheated during the trial. Under sect rules, she should be disqualified-"
Peak Master Yue's face was livid. Just as he was about to speak, a shrill scream came from the water mirror.
The cliff beneath Yue Liuqin suddenly collapsed, rocks tumbling down. She screamed and flung herself forward with all her strength, both hands clinging desperately to the cliff face. By the narrowest margin, she was left dangling from the cliff.
Mountain winds howled. The cliff dropped a full hundred zhang; a fall like that would leave her crippled, if not dead.
Worse still, she was badly injured, and the Spiritual Qi in her Dantian was exhausted. She did not even have the strength to climb back up.
Even now, Yue Liuqin did not want to give up on this trial.
She could not bear that humiliation.
As for the Law Treasure, she believed her father would surely find a way to cover it up for her.
She clung to the cliff face with difficulty, knowing that only one person could save her now, and that he would certainly not refuse her.
Yue Liuqin shouted, "Yue Tingxi! Save me!"
The white-haired boy stood at the edge of the cliff, his hands clenched into fists and his lips pressed tight, without a word.
"Yue Tingxi!"
"I'm your own older sister! Are you refusing to acknowledge me as your sister? Are you going to watch me die without lifting a finger?"
Hearing her call for Yue Tingxi made Qiaoqiao angry.
[Ah, I'm so angry I could die!]
[Weren't you the one who disowned him first? Back then, you provoked the Nether Demon yourself and got badly injured, only to turn around and pin the blame on Yue Tingxi. You got Yue Su to give him a hundred lashes with the disciplinary whip, then take his heart's blood to heal your injuries, leaving him weak to this day. You even egged your father on to throw him out of the household. How do you have the nerve to ask him to save you?!]
Yue Tingxi frowned deeply, wavering, as though struggling with himself.
He turned back and looked at Qiaoqiao.
Chapter 16: Sword Immortal Liuyun
At the cliff's edge, Yue Tingxi wavered. Qiaoqiao took a deep breath, her blood pressure rising a little.
[Aah, you're not really going to save Yue Liuqin, are you?]
[Are you stupid?! If you save her, she'll turn right around and push you down!!]
In her dream, this was where Yue Tingxi had saved Yue Liuqin, only for her to secretly exert force and send him falling off the cliff. Yue Tingxi had not managed to crush his wooden token in time and had been severely injured in the fall, nearly dying.
What Yue Liuqin had not expected was that Yue Tingxi would encounter his own fortuitous opportunity at the bottom of the cliff, undergoing a complete transformation and emerging reborn from his ordeal. Meanwhile, although she had climbed back up, the dying Startled Owl Bird had dealt her a fatal blow, damaging her Spirit Root and leaving her a cripple.
This cliff was the turning point in both their destinies.
Even though Qiaoqiao knew there was a fortuitous opportunity waiting for Yue Tingxi below the cliff, she still did not want to see him schemed against and sent plummeting down. How would that feel any different from dying once?
What if her dream was wrong, and he really fell to his death this time?
She could not help calling out, "Yue Tingxi!"
The white-haired boy looked at her.
The wind stirred her apricot-yellow dress. Her dark eyes were round and bright, as clear as a mountain stream. There was no contempt, hatred, or disdain in the way she looked at him, only sincere concern.
In all his life, Yue Tingxi had never been cared about.
From birth, he had endured nothing but cold looks. His older sister was his father's pride, while he was the Yue Household's disgrace. With his inferior aptitude, he did not deserve to live in this world.
Sometimes, even he wished he could simply disappear.
He was a weed anyone could trample underfoot. Countless people had trodden over him, and only this girl, like a winter jasmine blossom, had paused beside him, allowing him a glimpse of gentle spring sunlight.
"Have you really thought this through? Is saving her worth it?" Qiaoqiao asked.
Scenes from his past flashed through his mind: his father's cold looks, Yue Liuqin's abuse, the countless times he had been punished in her stead, those hundred merciless lashes that had fallen upon his body...
His steps came to a halt.
"That little beast!" Before the water mirror, Yue Su could not help bursting into curses. "He actually dares not to save his sister!"
Everyone from Ethereal Peak watched coldly as he lost his composure, feeling a surge of satisfaction.
He ought to take a look at what he had done himself. Yue Liuqin had brought her present fate entirely upon herself.
"Bai Fu, what a fine disciple you've taught!" Yue Su's fury spread to Qiaoqiao. "If anything happens to Liuqin, I certainly won't let her off!"
Immortal Venerable Wanghan gave him an icy glance. In an instant, killing intent congealed.
Peak Master Yue's breath caught, and his bluster vanished.
In that moment of distraction, a scream rang out. Yue Liuqin finally could hold on no longer and fell from the clifftop!
At the same time, the remaining Startled Owl Bird spread its wings and took flight, dragging its battered body toward Yue Liuqin. With the last of its strength, it spat out a mouthful of
vengeful
fire!
The instant Yue Liuqin crushed her wooden token, demonic fire scorched her entire body. She let out a series of screams like a pig being slaughtered and vanished from the secret realm.
"Liuqin!"
Peak Master Yue was just about to rush out when a red-robed figure blocked his path. "Peak Master Yue, the sect's medical cultivators are stationed at the secret realm's exit. There's no need to be anxious."
"Sect Master?!"
"Peak Master Yue, where did the Earth Grade Law Treasure on Yue Liuqin come from?" Mu Liuyun asked.
"I..."
"Sect Master." The Communication Jade Slip on Mu Liuyun lit up, and the voice that came from it belonged to a medical cultivator. "Peak Master Yue's daughter is severely injured. In particular, her Dantian was burned by demonic fire. I'm afraid her Spirit Root cannot be saved..."
At those words, all color drained from Peak Master Yue's face, leaving it ashen. His tall frame swayed twice. "Qin'er, Qin'er..."
His daughter, with her supreme-grade Heaven Spirit Root, had been ruined just like that!