CH 14

Following Qing Xuzi’s instructions, Qin Kaiyi bid Liu Ling’er farewell and left. He didn’t know what Qing Xuzi wanted to speak to him about, but he guessed that it was related to the sudden appearance of the sky secret realm. 

Arriving at Qing Xuzi’s dongfu, Qin Kaiyi stood outside and waited for a while before he saw Qing Xuzi arriving slowly. Qing Xuzi had a slightly unsightly expression, as if he had argued with someone.

“Shifu.” Qin Kaiyi respectfully saluted his shifu. He had a good impression of Qing Xuzi. Although this old man was a noble sect head, he never put on airs and he treated all his disciples equally. Qin Kaiyi remembered that Shen Feixiao became a disciple of Qing Xuzi after coming out of the secret realm. After that, Qing Xuzi’s teaching laid a good foundation for Shen Feixiao’s road to immortal cultivation. This old man apparently placed righteousness before all else.

“Qin’er, please sit down.” Qing Xuzi waved to Qin Kaiyi, let him sit down first, and then sighed heavily.

“Shifu, is there something wrong?” Qin Kaiyi looked at Qing Xuzi’s solemn expression and asked, pondering.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Qing Xuzi looked at Qin Kaiyi sitting in front of him and sighed involuntarily again. Qin Shi began to follow him when he was just six years old, and he even regarded this talented disciple as a son. As the sect head, he obtained many benefits for this disciple, so that this disciple entered the foundation period early.

But the unfortunate part of his love for Qin Shi was how he spoiled him. Because he protected Qin Shi so well, this disciple rarely had the opportunity to participate in actual combat. Qing Xuzi was extremely aware of the importance of actual combat to a cultivator. In other words, reading thousands of books was not as good as traveling thousands of miles yourself. If you only bitterly immersed yourself in cultivating and neglected actual combat, you might miserably fall into decline.

Moreover, Qin Shi was about to enter the stage of cultivating the heart, so Qing Xuzi was still uncertain about whether he should send his favorite disciple into the secret realm.

Qin Kaiyi of course didn’t know about Qing Xuzi’s deliberations. He thought Qing Xuzi was mulling over how to tell Qin Kaiyi that he couldn’t enter the secret realm. If only he knew–Qing Xuzi loved him so dearly that if Qin Kaiyi insisted on entering, Qing Xuzi would have to agree. 

“Shifu, I don’t know if you are worrying about the secret realm?” Qin Kaiyi noticed Qing Xuzi’s agitated expression and asked.

“Qin’er, are you in the middle of foundation building now?” Qing Xuzi looked at Qin Kaiyi.

“Yes.” Qin Kaiyi hesitated, but answered honestly.

“What do you think of the secret realm that appeared suddenly this time?” Qing Xuzi gazed at Qin Kaiyi and carefully observed his expression.

“The secret realm is closely related to the future of the Lingshan Sect. Qin Shi is only a disciple in the foundation building period, and really does not dare to recklessly speak.” Qin Kaiyi decided to be conservative: “As long as it is shifu deciding, this disciple is willing to give his full support.”

“Really.” A glint of satisfaction appeared in Qing Xuzi’s eyes. He paused for a moment and said: “Qin’er, do you want to enter the sky secret realm?”

Hey, why would Qing Xuzi ask him such a question? Qin Kaiyi felt a touch of apprehension in his heart when he heard this question, but he didn’t think too much. He said directly: “Shifu, although this disciple also wants to see the magic weapons in the secret realm, this disciple knows that with just his foundation building stage cultivation, he will definitely cause trouble to others who enter the secret realm, so… “

“Not bad, not bad.” After hearing Qin Kaiyi’s answer, Qing Xuzi nodded with satisfaction. He was very happy that the disciple in front of him finally got rid of his impetuousness. With this, he even more so wanted Qin Kaiyi to march with the rest of the troops into the secret realm. 

“Then do you want to go in? I’m only asking if you want to, you don’t have to worry about anything else,” Qing Xuzi said, looking at Qin Kaiyi.

“…” This development was not quite right. Hearing Qing Xuzi’s words, Qin Kaiyi’s heart started to drum at his chest. Why did he feel that Qing Xuzi’s question made him panic? But he already just said that he wanted to go in. At this time, it was not easy to change his stance, so he had to bite the bullet and say: “Naturally I want to go in.”

“Okay, then.” Qing Xuzi clapped and said: “After a month, you will follow the rest of the troops in. Qin’er, shifu has secretly let you in through the backdoor. For shifu’s sake, don’t fall short.”

… These words shocked Qin Kaiyi so much that blood gathered in the back of his throat. He couldn’t cough it out or swallow it. He almost had the impulse to roar at Qingxuzi—Laozi1 doesn’t want to go to that shit secret realm, Laozi still needs time to demonically cultivate, Laozi’s dog eyes will be blinded by Shen Feixiao’s protagonist halo aaahhhhhhhh!

But the little bit of reason he maintained stopped his roar. Qin Kaiyi smiled weakly, and softly said: “Thank you shifu for your generous affection…”

“But keep this matter a secret for now.” Qing Xuzi interpreted Qin Kaiyi’s twisted expression as happy. He got up and patted Qin Kaiyi’s shoulder: “You come with me.”

“Yes.” Feeling deeply attacked, Qin Kaiyi hallucinated many many many many halos floating before his eyes… 

Qing Xuzi went into the depths of the dongfu, leaving Qin Kaiyi standing behind him. He directly pulled out several books from a bookshelf, and then the bookshelf moved silently a few feet to the right, revealing a deep cave.

“Come in,” Qing Xuzi glanced at Qin Kaiyi and said.

Qin Kaiyi made no reply and walked in with Qing Xuzi.

After taking Qin Kaiyi through a few small paths, Qing Xuzi arrived at a stone room. He took a few steps forward to a stone table in the middle of the room, and picked up an ebony box inlaid with gold. He handed it to Qin Kaiyi.

“Shifu, what is this?” Qin Kaiyi spoke cautiously–he didn’t think that Qing Xuzi would bring him to this place. 

“Open it.” Qing Xuzi looked at Qin Kaiyi kindly.

“Yes.” Qin Kaiyi opened the exquisite wooden box and found an emerald-green bracelet in it. The bracelet was both sparkling and translucent, and both pure and limpid. However, ink-like mist seemed to flow through the bracelet’s emerald coloring. Look carefully, the black mist actually appeared to be densely-packed runes. 

“This was left to me by my shifu.” Without waiting for Qin Kaiyi to ask, Qing Xuzi explained: “This bracelet will activate a formation when you are attacked by a cultivator, helping you resist most spells. This trip to the secret realm is bound to be extremely dangerous. I will definitely not be able to enter as the sect leader, so I have no power to protect you. Qin’er, you must remember that your purpose for entering the secret realm this time is not to obtain magic weapons, but to gain experience. When you encounter danger, saving your life is most important.”

“Thank you shifu.” Qin Kaiyi was both touched and pained. What touched him was Qing Xuzi’s concern for him. What pained him was that he didn’t want to go into the secret realm at all!!

“There are also two other sects entering with you this time, one is Chi Lei Pavilion and the other is the Ice and Fire Sect. These two sects will probably send over a hundred disciples. You must pay attention to them. In the secret realm, the most sinister creature is not a spirit beast, but human nature,” Qing Xuzi worriedly asserted.

“Yes, shifu, I will pay attention.” Now that reality had set in, Qin Kaiyi had to start planning his entry into the secret realm. He listened to Qing Xuzi’s advice and suddenly thought of something. He hurriedly said: “Shifu, may I bring a shidi with me?”

“Shidi?” Qing Xuzi looked at Qin Kaiyi in doubt: “Who?”

“It’s Shen Feixiao.” Qin Kaiyi spit out three words.

Qing Xuzi remained silent for a long time, probably trying to recall who this shidi was, but he didn’t seem to be able to in the end: “Why do you want to take him?”

“He… I promised him.” Qin Kaiyi lied without any psychological burden. “I hope shifu can agree.”

“Is that so. How is his cultivation?” In fact, Qing Xuzi didn’t care who Qin Kaiyi wanted to bring. However, what he feared was not that no one would want to go, but that there would be too many willing participants.

“He hasn’t started yet.” Qin Kaiyi continued: “It’s just that he begged me for a long time today and threatened his own life. My relationship with him is not bad. I don’t want to see him abandon himself to despair like this.”

…… Shen Feixiao would like to express that he had really just been unjustly ridiculed.

Qing Xuzi naturally didn’t know that his apprentice was randomly spinning tall tales. He thought about it, and concluded that if a disciple who hadn’t even begun cultivating bumped into trouble, it wouldn’t have any great consequences. He said: “That’s fine, but don’t promise any others. Even if your Ling’er shimei begs you, don’t agree. And the matter of this shidi following you in, you must keep it quiet.”

“Yes, shifu.” Qin Kaiyi had thought that he would be asked other questions. He didn’t expect Qing Xuzi to agree in such a refreshingly quick manner, so he immediately said: “Your disciple understands.”

“Go on, next month is when you enter the secret realm. You have to prepare well during this time.” Qing Xuzi added: “Qin’er, don’t be careless. The secret realm is extremely dangerous, and one moment of negligence could cost you your life. You absolutely have to be careful.” 

“Thank you shifu, your disciple will be careful.” Qin Kaiyi held the ebony box in his arms: “Shifu’s great grace, your disciple will never forget in his life and will repay in the future.”

“All right, go.” Qing Xuzi bitterly smiled and shook his head: “Shifu doesn’t need any repayment from you. As long as you remember that you are from the Lingshan Sect, shifu will already be very happy.”

“Your disciple follows these teachings.” Qin Kaiyi bowed his head and said: “Shifu, then I’ll go first.”

“Go, go.” Qing Xuzi waved his hand: “Remember to go back and prepare well, don’t mess around with Ling’er anymore.”

After hearing this sentence, Qin Kaiyi left, bringing the box with him. He put the box into the storage ring. He thought about going to greet Shen Feixiao first. He should prevent the possibility that Shen Feixiao could lose the sable or “Mountain Cloud Notes” in an excessively frenetic state (T/N: literal translation). 

So Qin Kaiyi formed a cloud hand seal2 and flew towards Shen Feixiao’s residence.

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Notes