Qiao Wanmian 2 (Revised)

Having done this, Qiao Wanmian no longer went to watch Li Xiangyi's spectacle. Instead, she returned to her room, sat cross-legged in meditation, and began to examine her Divine Sense and soul.

As it turned out, the problem was that she had transmigrated too hastily.

The Heavenly Devil Instruction was a Cultivation Method that led straight to the Great Dao, and its cultivation requirements were exceptionally stringent. Although the Cultivation Method could improve the body and soul and was immensely powerful, its Devil Qi was extremely invasive. Even people who had severed the roots of their emotions would be affected by it.

In particular, Qiao Wanmian was not cultivating in her original body. Her soul had grown increasingly refined and strong through several rounds of cultivation, while a physical body that had not been improved by the first two levels of the Heavenly Devil Instruction would be weaker than her soul. If her karma with the original owner remained unresolved, her soul and body would be especially prone to falling out of sync.

Previously, although the Chaos Pearl, a spiritual treasure already bound to her soul, was battered and worn, its inherent quality was still at the Great Dao level. It could help its master suppress the mismatch between body and soul. In her previous two lives, she had also cultivated the Heavenly Devil Instruction immediately after transmigrating to improve her body.

After becoming Qiao Wanmian, however, Li Xiangyi had already stirred up feelings from her past. The Chaos Pearl's power had been exhausted again, leaving it unable to help suppress the mismatch, and Qiao Wanmian herself had felt no urgency to cultivate the Heavenly Devil Instruction and improve her body because her life was not under threat.

With all these causes at work, the hidden dangers of cultivating a Devil Cultivation Method erupted at once.

Not only were her emotions extremely susceptible to outside influences, but the feelings left behind by the original owner could also contaminate her soul.

Knowing the cause, Qiao Wanmian resolved to wait until the Chaos Pearl had enough power before transmigrating to a new world again. After all, she was still far too weak to afford to be willful.

Having discovered the problem, Qiao Wanmian was no longer in a hurry to go laugh at Li Xiangyi's misfortune. Instead, she began meditating and circulating the Heavenly Devil Instruction, using the Cultivation Method to cleanse the marrow of her body.

Just like that, a night passed. Early the next morning, Qiao Wanmian opened her eyes and curled her lip. The results of circulating the Cultivation Method were less than ideal. This Qiao Wanmian's physical aptitude was average, and she had been born with a weakness and suffered from a respiratory illness. In short, her foundation was very poor. Breaking through the first two levels of the Heavenly Devil Instruction would probably take quite some time.

She had planned to wash up and continue meditating and cultivating, but she heard a great commotion outside her door. Qiao Wanmian quickly tidied herself up and stepped out of her room.

When she reached the main entrance of the Sigu Sect, she heard Xiao Zijin blabbering on about disbanding the sect and saying that the heavy losses it had suffered were all Li Xiangyi's fault.

Qiao Wanmian's knockout drug had worked very well. The people who had originally been going to attack the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance were still unconscious.

Seeing that Li Xiangyi had disappeared and his trusted followers were nowhere to be found either, Xiao Zijin had naturally grown brazen. He openly declared that he wanted to disband the Sigu Sect and went on to list Li Xiangyi's faults.

The others merely offered a few token objections, but took no action.

In Qiao Wanmian's eyes, the Sigu Sect had become the Kunlun Sect of those days. She lay on the ground in a sorry state, her collarbones shackled, while the junior sister she had once saved smugly enumerated her past "mistakes" and shouted for her to be beaten and killed.

All around them, the fellow disciples she had helped and guided stood to one side, watching coldly.

"Wanmian, didn't you once say that you wanted to leave the Sigu Sect too?"

Having worked himself up, Xiao Zijin spotted Qiao Wanmian and sought her agreement.

Qiao Wanmian looked around in bewilderment and suddenly saw Li Xiangyi hiding at the entrance to the Sigu Sect, looking disheveled. A nameless anger rose in her heart. The bedraggled figure standing at the entrance seemed to be not Li Xiangyi, but the Wen Qiushui of the past.

"You're asking me?"

Qiao Wanmian came to her senses and looked gently at Xiao Zijin, walking over to him with a smile on her lips.

Xiao Zijin gazed at Qiao Wanmian with deep affection, as though she were already a prize in his pocket.

Under the astonished gazes of everyone, including Li Xiangyi, who was hiding by the entrance, Qiao Wanmian struck like lightning. With a crack, she snapped Xiao Zijin's neck.

"I want you dead!"

Qiao Wanmian still wore the same gentle expression.

She turned to look at Ji Hanfo and the others, who were watching her warily, and slowly drew her sword. "All who break faith and betray their loyalties deserve to die!"

Just as Qiao Wanmian was about to strike, Li Xiangyi finally could not hold back and stepped forward. "A Mian, stop!"

"Sect master!" The others cried out in surprise when they saw Li Xiangyi.

Qiao Wanmian looked at Li Xiangyi with a cold smile. "Li Xiangyi, look at yourself now. Do you still not believe what I told you back then? If not for Yun Biqiu and Shan Gudao, why would you have fallen into such a sorry state?"

Even in his present circumstances, Li Xiangyi could not help arguing, "All of this happened because I, Li Xiangyi, insisted on having my own way. Senior brother is already gone. A Mian, don't tarnish his name after his death."

Qiao Wanmian smiled. Li Xiangyi was stubbornly obtuse, and she could not be bothered wasting words on him.

She was well versed in medicine and could tell from a glance at Li Xiangyi's face that he had been gravely poisoned. She thought for a moment and, in the end, softened toward her past self.

When she had trusted the wrong people, the one at fault was not she who had trusted others, but those who had failed her deep affection.

Qiao Wanmian shifted her feet and flashed to Li Xiangyi's side. Before he could react, she stuffed a detoxification pill into his mouth.

"Xiao Zijin abandoned the sect master and his fellow members when the sect was in crisis. He deserved to die. If any of you object, I'll be waiting for you to come find me.

"Li Xiangyi, I disdain working with these hypocritical, useless people. I, Qiao Wanmian, will stay in the Sigu Sect no longer. Until we meet again."

With that, Qiao Wanmian gave the people before her no further glance. Sword in hand, she left the Sigu Sect with carefree ease.

The people around them were stunned both by Qiao Wanmian killing Xiao Zijin in an instant and by Li Xiangyi's disheveled appearance. Not a single one of them stepped forward to stop Qiao Wanmian.

Li Xiangyi watched Qiao Wanmian leave so freely and felt that she was a stranger to him.

The detoxification pill Qiao Wanmian had just stuffed into his mouth was remarkable. In mere moments, it had already neutralized seventy percent of the poison in his body, and the remaining medicinal power was still moving through his meridians. It would likely remove ninety percent of the poison in the end, and once his injuries had healed, he could naturally use Yangzhou Man to slowly clear away the rest.

He had thought his life would soon end, but one pill from A Mian had given him a way out of certain death.

He looked around and sighed helplessly, then began cleaning up the mess. Orders came rapidly from his mouth, and the members of the Sigu Sect, now that they had someone to rally around, quickly sprang into action.