Blackening Value

Her gaze shifted to the utterly unremarkable Qiaoqiao standing to one side. This disciple had not even reached Foundation Establishment. She was a Qi Refining Stage noob, the weakest of them all.

Heaven truly was helping her!

Her figure flickered, turning into a pitch-black demonic shadow that abruptly appeared behind Qiaoqiao!

Only a pool of blood remained at the center of the formation. Ziling held a pitch-black dagger against her youngest junior sister's throat. "Undo the formation and let me go."

She could not escape the trapping formation, but she could move within it using the Shape-Shifting Technique. Though she had paid a small price, she had still easily taken this weak little disciple into her grasp.

She held the dagger against Qiaoqiao's tender, pale neck. "Little girl, don't move. If I accidentally make a little cut, you won't survive."

"Qiaoqiao!" Seeing her held hostage, Shen Ji was frantic.

Qiaoqiao blinked, signaling with her eyes that she would not move. Her expression was sweet and docile.

Ziling was quite pleased with her cooperation. With this hostage in hand, why would she fear these people refusing to obey?

"Well? Undo the formation!"

Xiao Tingyu looked nervously toward Elder Ning beside her.

Elder Ning said, "Devil woman, do not hurt her."

Ziling gave a light snort. "Let me go, and naturally, I won't touch her."

Elder Ning gave Xiao Tingyu a look. Second Senior Sister gathered in the threads shimmering with spiritual light in her hands, and the formation's glow slowly faded.

Feeling the formation's restraints weaken, Ziling let out a wildly arrogant laugh. "You righteous-path fools actually believed a Devil Cultivator's words?"

As she spoke, she thrust the dagger emanating Devil Qi straight at Qiaoqiao's throat!

"Qiaoqiao!"

"Little Junior Sister!"

Elder Ning and Shen Ji lunged forward to save her at the same time, only to see Sword Qi suddenly erupt from Qiaoqiao's body. Dozens of silvery-white sword shadows circled her, their light dazzling and their Sword Qi piercingly fierce.

Caught off guard, Ziling was wounded by the Sword Qi coming from her body and spat out a mouthful of black blood!

Horror filled her heart. How could this Qi Refining disciple possess such terrifying Sword Qi?

"You-you actually hid your strength! How despicable!" The Purple Baleful Intent Devil Woman clutched her chest. Her bun had come undone, and sword wounds covered her body. She was a sorry sight.

Purple light bloomed around her. Relying on her bonded Law Treasure's protection, she fled out of sight in the blink of an eye.

Qiaoqiao: ?

[Could I have mastered a divine technique and become a supreme expert without even realizing it?!]

Everyone: ???

Elder Ning's lips moved. Looking at Qiaoqiao's delighted face, as though a pie had fallen from the sky into her lap, she could not bear to tell her the truth.

Beside her, Shen Ji sheathed her sword. Her complicated gaze rested on Qiaoqiao for a long while before she finally looked away.

Little Junior Sister, she...

Qiaoqiao's head was full of question marks. [Huh? Why are they all looking at me? Were they so awed by my Sword Qi that they forgot to chase the devil woman?]

Chapter 4: Blackening Value

Their little junior sister's reminder brought them back to their senses.

Elder Ning said, "She has a bonded Law Treasure protecting her. If I'm not mistaken, that was the Purple Baleful Intent Devil Woman's Body-Protecting Purple Lotus. That Law Treasure can conceal her completely for an hour. Searching for her now would be futile. We can only look for her later."

Xiao Tingyu nodded.

What had just happened still left her shaken. Fortunately, her little junior sister had a sword formation protecting her. If she was not mistaken, that was a powerful protective sword intent...

"You're all tired tonight. Go back and rest," Ning Shuang said. "I'll have people keep watch for that devil woman's whereabouts."

The personal disciples of Ethereal Peak all had their own residences. Qiaoqiao's little courtyard was named Breaking Pear. It had a graceful pear tree with a canopy like a parasol. When the pear blossoms bloomed in early spring, white flowers covered the tree like fallen snow, and immortal cranes often rested beneath it.

Exhausted after the day, Qiaoqiao fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, only to be caught in one dream after another.

Her dreams were a sea of blood. She saw Second Senior Sister's gloomy, cold face, her sword dripping with fresh blood, as though she had become slaughter incarnate. She saw Third Senior Sister leap into a blaze, her retreating figure steeped in world-weary despair, before tongues of flame swallowed her in an instant...

Scene after scene unfolded, the intense despair almost drowning her.

"Waaah, so tragic..."

"Second Senior Sister..."

"Third Senior Sister..."

"So tragic!" Daylight blazed outside. Qiaoqiao sat up hugging her quilt, her face full of resentment. Why did everyone in her dreams suffer so terribly? Why?!

A tapping sounded at the window. It was pried open a crack from outside, and an immortal crane poked its head in. "Qiaoqiao, the dining hall has lamb buns today-why are you crying?!"

The immortal crane's expression cracked. Who had bullied Qiaoqiao?!

"Who did it? I'll peck him to death!"

Hugging her quilt, Qiaoqiao whimpered, "A Xue, I had a dream..."

The immortal crane rested its slender head on the windowsill and squawked. "Oh, it was a dream."

It had only just breathed a sigh of relief when Qiaoqiao suddenly cried, "I understand!"

"Squawk, what is it?"

"The Heavenly Dao is revealing heaven's secrets to me!"

"What?" The immortal crane was utterly bewildered.

Qiaoqiao clenched her fist. "A Xue, I'm actually an emissary of justice chosen by the Heavenly Dao. My mission is to stop everyone from blackening and save Ethereal Peak!"

In her chaotic dreams, her senior brothers and sisters on Ethereal Peak had gone down the path of blackening, never to return. They were practically the standard villains from storybooks, and each met an end more tragic than the last...

And as the only good person on the entire peak, these dreams she had received must be a revelation from the Heavenly Dao!

The Heavenly Dao wanted her to stop everyone from blackening and change her senior brothers' and sisters' fates. A powerful sense of mission welled up in her heart. She had to save them!

A Xue: ?

What went through her head all day long?

The immortal crane turned its slender neck the other way. "If you don't go eat the buns now, everyone else will snatch them all up."

Qiaoqiao scrambled out of bed. "I'm not eating. I'm going to practice my sword!"

A Xue: ???

What?

It wasn't dreaming, was it? Qiaoqiao was going to practice her sword?

On the sword practice grounds, disciples dressed in blue-and-white Daoist robes were practicing their swordsmanship.