Chapter 164: Returning to Kunshan (Part 5)
Lu Pihan is right, he is indeed hypocritical.
He hurt Qiao Wan's heart with that vote, if he hadn't cast that vote, maybe things wouldn't have escalated to this point.
Zhou Yan's heart churns, feeling uneasy for a long time.
The man's eyebrows furrowed even tighter.
This time, he will never let go.
Running away is no longer an option.
Qiao Wan looked around and discreetly exerted some force with her hand.
Zhou Yan's eyebrows twitched anxiously. The experienced Yuqing Spiritual Master immediately noticed that the girl in front of him intended to dislocate his wrist.
Though he noticed, he did not stop her.
Qiao Wan hesitated for a second.
With a snap, she dislocated the man's wrist.
Zhou Yan didn't resist?!
Qiao Wan was stunned, her eyes slightly widened.
"Are you out of breath?" Zhou Yan whispered.
Then, taking advantage of the girl's momentary confusion, he freed his other hand and made a move towards Qiao Wan's neck.
Missed.
Feeling the pain in the back of her neck, Qiao Wan exclaimed inwardly, "This is not good."
Tricked! It's a trick!
"Wan'er." In the last second before losing consciousness, Qiao Wan heard the cold and deep voice of a man by her ear, "You must come back to Kunshan with me, forgive me."
With an unchanged expression on his face, Zhou Yan fixed Qiao Wan's dislocated wrist bone and then he picked her up in his arms. Just as he turned around, he saw his little disciple rushing towards them with her skirt in her hands.
"Master... Master." As the girl's gaze fell upon Qiao Wan in Zhou Yan's arms, her eyes widened in surprise, "Is this... truly Martial Sister Qiao Wan?"
However, Zhou Yan, who had always been gentle and caring towards her, looked a bit visibly tired when he looked at her.
Indeed, he did love Xiaoxiao dearly.
Zhou Yan felt exhausted both physically and mentally.
Perhaps...
Zhou Yan's throat felt dry, and his heart was restless. He truly made a mistake.
Meeting Qiao Wan here was a pleasant surprise.
"Let's go, back to Kunshan."
There was a slightly stiff expression on Mu Xiaoxiao's face.
Master... Was he blaming her?
The young girl clutched her dress tightly, her eyes were red and puffy.
In the long night of the desert, the stars twinkled brightly.
When she looked up, she could see the distant and high Milky Way.
The night wind in the wilderness blew sand and pebbles, creating an empty and lonesome atmosphere.
She turned her head and saw Song Qiyuan running towards her.
Mu Xiaoxiao's heart felt a little envious, although she couldn't quite explain why.
She wished she could be like Qiao Wan, with both ability and freedom.
Wearing a mask for too long made her forget her true self.
Just like a canary kept in a cage for too long, it even forgot how to fly.
Taking a deep breath, the young girl clutched her dress.
But... she was afraid.
She was afraid to face the long night alone.
"Miss Mu!" Song Qiyuan wiped the blood off his face and glanced at Qiao Wan in his arms, somewhat confused.
Is this... really Qiao Wan?
Although he had never met Yuqing Spiritual Master, Song Qiyuan had heard many rumors about him.
It is said that Yuqing Spiritual Master's two female disciples look very similar.
When he thought about the sword he had just used.
"Who do you think you are, daring to approach me?"
Song Qiyuan trembled and a drop of cold sweat fell from his forehead.
However...
Looking at the blood on his hand and feeling a throbbing pain in his head, Song Qiyuan pondered.
Miss Qiao... seems to be more exciting than Miss Mu.
Just as Zhou Yan took a few steps while carrying Qiao Wan, they were immediately stopped by a group of wandering cultivators.
The leader of the cultivators, cautious and polite, said, "Wait, may I ask if you are really Yuqing Spiritual Master?"
Zhou Yan said in a deep voice, "What's the matter with all of you blocking the way here?"
The leader's gaze fell on Qiao Wan and said, "Even if you are Yuqing Spiritual Master, what does it mean to take Miss Wan away directly?"
Zhou Yan calmly replied, "She is not Wan, she is Qiao Wan, my disciple."
Ignoring the puzzled looks of the others, he walked away.
Damn it! Is this really Qiao Wan?
What should we do now?!
In response to their bewildered gazes, the team leader let out a sigh.
What else can we do? Just let him go.
Can this small group of free practitioners really stand up against Zhou Yan?
*
Afraid that Qiao Wan might resist, Zhou Yan used all his strength with a single knife strike. Then, he took out a calming pill and fed it to her. As a result, Qiao Wan slept for three whole days.
No matter how shocked Kunshan was, Qiao Wan still lay unconscious in bed.
"Listen, my taoist friends! Qiao Wan has returned! That Qiao Wan!"
—I saw Yuqing Spiritual Master carrying Qiao Wan back.
Attached are some pictures. [Image] [Image] [Image]
The disciples of Kunshan who were still in the secret realm, practicing or slacking off during class, suddenly became restless.
Qiao Wan has returned?!!
—Wait, didn't Qiao Wan run away? How did she come back?!
—Qiao Wan? The Qiao Wan from Yuqing Peak? Is that true?
—Absolutely true, I saw it with my own eyes!
If we start with the topic revolving around various shocking aspects, as more and more people gather to watch, the direction of the conversation also starts to veer off track.
——I mean, Qiao Wan made such a resolute decision to leave the mountain, why did she come back?
The practice of protecting the school has always existed since ancient times.
Specifically, within one's own sect (school), it's okay to criticize each other, but if there is any scandal, others cannot criticize. If necessary, they might even turn around and blame the victim.
Kunshan is the leader among the Four Sects, and Qingyang Academy, Great Compassion Cliff, and Cloud Mist Fairy Mansion are all eyeing for this position.
After this incident involving Qiao Wan , they were even more thrust into the spotlight.
Qingyang Academy's reaction is that the number one sect in the cultivation world can't even handle a Foundation Building period disciple.
According to Great Compassion Cliff, we should not judge things based on surface appearances. Qiao Wan would rather give up her own cultivation and sever ties with Zhou Yan and Kunshan. It makes one wonder how Zhou Yan treats his disciples.
As for Cloud Mist Fairy Mansion, they responded in a noble and cold manner, launching verbal attacks at Kunshan as a whole.
As a result, the entire Kunshan community became a bit unsettled.
"If you have the ability, then don't come back," they said. "You left so decisively back then, and now you come back in such a dejected manner. It seems that you couldn't make it outside after all."
"But we can't say that," someone countered. "Didn't Qiao Wan meet Demon Emperor Jia Yin after leaving the mountain?"
"And do you trust this Taoist friend's rumors?" someone else questioned. "Who is this Demon Emperor? How does he relate to Qiao Wan? From what I gather, perhaps Qiao Wan had the fortune of meeting Demon Emperor once after leaving the mountain, and the information spread as though they had some sort of relationship."
No matter how fierce the fighting on this jade pendant, it has nothing to do with Qiao Wan who is currently locked in Yuqing Hall.
As she opened her eyes, she saw familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings.
This is Yuqing Peak.
She felt a sudden pain in the back of her neck.
Qiao Wan rubbed her neck and looked down, accepting her fate.
She had been deceived, and this time it was her own carelessness.
While she was silently calculating, she suddenly heard footsteps outside the hall. Qiao Wan looked up in the direction of the sound.
After removing his disguise.changed into a common outfit worn on Yuqing Peak. He kept his hair untied and had a cool and captivating appearance.
"Are you awake?"
"I'm sorry for what happened in Shuofeng Town."
"But you must come back with me. Those companions of yours are just wandering cultivators with low cultivation levels, and most of them hold grudges."
Thinking of the wandering cultivators she had seen before, Zhou Yan pressed his lips together, filled with regret and remorse.
After coming down the mountain, Qiao Wan could only hang out with this group of outlaws and travel around to earn some spirit stones. It seemed that she wasn't having a great time during this period...
After a moment's pause, Zhou Yan continued, "Don't worry, I have already removed your name from the Killer List. I will take care of the Xiao family, so you can stay on the mountain without any worries."
Seeing that Qiao Wan remained silent, Zhou Yan raised his hand and said, "I will examine your injuries now."
The spiritual energy seeped into her skin and wandered inch by inch along her muscles and bones.
After coming down the mountain, Qiao Wan seemed to have strengthened her body. Her physical muscles and bones were noticeably stronger than before.
But her bone age...
Zhou Yan was slightly startled.
More than thirty years ago, he had brought back Qiao Wan. At that time, Qiao Wan's bone age was fourteen. Since cultivators' appearances often didn't match their actual age, people usually judged age based on bone age. However, Qiao Wan's bone age didn't seem to be forty years now, but rather resembled a newborn.
Bone age doesn't match appearance, but through cultivation or elixirs, according to Zhou Yan, there is a method called "Bone Refinement" in this world that can reverse bone age.
Different from other secret techniques like sword cultivation or magic cultivation, the path of body cultivation is straightforward. The method of "Bone Refinement" is so brutal that it is openly practiced without any hidden intentions.
Even if it is openly practiced, very few people can actually accomplish it.
This is Bone Refinement.
Bone Refinement involves shattering every bone in the body and then painstakingly piecing them back together.
Thinking about this, Zhou Yan feels a heavy blow, he trembles and withdraws his hand in a daze.
After half a second, without hesitation, he decisively probes into Qiao Wan's sea of consciousness and gradually pulls out the memories of her past.
Qiao Wan's scalp tingles, instinctively not wanting to reveal the experiences she had after leaving the mountain. She quickly blocks Zhou Yan's spiritual awareness.
Although her spiritual awareness is close to the Nascent Soul stage, it still takes some effort to resist Zhou Yan, who is in the Divine Transformation stage.
Zhou Yan easily accessed her remaining spiritual power and quickly located this memory. However, despite his efforts, he only managed to retrieve a blurry image when pulling and tugging.
He wore a dark robe with silver and white magical patterns.
The girl, as limp as a dead dog, lay on the ground with shattered bones beneath the man's feet.
In the final scene, the girl raised her fierce, blood-red eyes filled with anger, her mouth and nose bleeding profusely.
Suddenly, the grand Yuqing Hall became frighteningly quiet.
Outside the hallway, the peach blossoms swayed gently in the spring breeze. But inside the hall.in front remained silent for a long time, as if he had aged a hundred years.
At the pinnacle of swordsmanship in Kunshan, he looked terrified, almost losing his balance.
What had he done exactly?
In his entire life, he only accepted three disciples. The first disciple, Lu Pihan, had spent many years searching for a cure for him.
The second disciple, Xiaoxiao, was someone he...
And as for the third disciple, Qiao Wan.
White hair slid down his cheeks as the man stared blankly with cold eyes.
Zhou Yan's hands clenched tightly, and he was amazed.
What did he do back in Kunshan?
Yuqing Spiritual Master slowly closed his eyes, with a hoarse voice, every word squeezed out from his throat. "You... down the mountain..."
