Chapter 62

Chapter 62 Ignoring the wounds on her body, Song Zhixia curled up and crawled to the entrance of the cave. Seeing the dark clouds that obscured the sky, a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Dreading the endless gnawing by those creatures, she found being struck by lightning a more preferable end. However, when she thought of Song Weizhi, the tears that had not flowed for a long time unexpectedly welled up in Song Zhixia's eyes, even if her flesh had been torn apart, not a single drop of tears would fall. With her inhuman appearance, she didn't want her senior sister to see her like this. Song Zhixia closed her eyes quietly, waiting for the thunder to strike. Before long, the dark clouds pressed lower, but Song Zhixia felt no fear. In fact, she considered this a kind of deliverance. The only thing she couldn't let go of was her senior sister. Her deepest regret was that her senior sister hadn’t cared for her. Tears trickled down Song Zhixia's cheeks, her once dry eyes now glistening with tears. She closed her eyes gently. At that moment, the thunderbolt from the sky continued to strike towards Song Zhixia, its power fluctuating. Yet, after countless nights of being gnawed by those unearthly creatures, she had become accustomed to such pain. Soon, she smelled the scent of her own flesh burning. Not only was she struck, but even the cave behind her collapsed from the thunder. Song Zhixia thought a few more strikes and everything would come to an end. She was covered in soot, and her blood and flesh scattered on the ground. Her consciousness began to blur, and she had already passed out. However, the thunder continued to strike, tearing some parts of her already charred body into pieces. After some time, the dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, and the Blood Demon Cliff returned to its usual state. Meanwhile, the place where Song Zhixia lay had been turned into a huge deep pit by the thunder. Although her body had been ravaged, her spiritual core and vital energy were still intact. Before long, the malevolent spirits that had been feeding on Song Zhixia's body floated over. "Wow, did the heavens make a mistake? I roughly counted, and there were as many as thirty strikes of lightning. How is that possible?" "Could it be that this little girl did something wrong? I’ve never seen thirty strikes of lightning before, not even when I was alive." "What should we do? The food we had our eyes on flew away. Let's check if there’s any vitality left. What if we feed her some elixirs and she comes back to life?" "That makes sense." Several incorporeal evil spirits approached Song Zhixia's body. Her face was already charred, yet there was still a faint sign of life. Several of the evil spirits stuffed elixirs into her mouth, which was already exposed with bare bones. Surprisingly, Song Zhixia's completely charred body gradually began to grow flesh and blood. "Phew, that was close. We almost missed our meal." "Yeah, luckily we took a look; it would have been a pity otherwise." In the cold, damp water dungeon of the Cold Mountain Sword Sect, Wei Zhao was still submerged in the freezing water. When she was thrown in, she was severely injured and unconscious, and was left soaking in the water, nearly suffocating to death. Her storage pouch had already been thoroughly searched, leaving her with no healing elixirs. She had to endure the chilling atmosphere of the water dungeon while enduring her injuries. Wei Zhao only knew that as long as she had not confirmed the safety of her master, she couldn't afford to die. Yao Xintong had indeed been imprisoned by Zhou Yeran for a month. During this month, Yao Xintong had questioned Zhou Yeran more than once about what he meant and what it meant to force the powerful to do something, as her father had done this more than once. Yet, Yao Xintong was always met with Yao Xintong's silence. Over the month, Zhou Chengwen had also become silent. In his impression, his father had always been gentle and kind to him and his sister. Till now, he still believed that his father was acting this way because of a misunderstanding between Song Weizhi and them. After a month had passed, Zhou Qingxue disregarded restraint and rushed to the main hall, urgently seeking answers from her father. "Dad, where are Song Weizhi and the others? What have you done to them?" Zhou Qingxue burst into the main hall, where Zhou Yeran was discussing matters with other elders, not caring about the interruption. Fearing that his younger sister might get into trouble, Zhou Chengwen had been following Zhou Qingxue all this time and also entered the main hall with her. Seeing Zhou Qingxue and Zhou Chengwen intrude, Zhou Yeran's expression darkened. "It seems that keeping you closed for a month hasn’t taught you anything. You want to see Song Weizhi, right? Fine, I will take you to see her." Despite agreeing to their request, a cold smile tugged at the corner of Zhou Yeran's lips. His children had been spoiled by Yao Xintong. After giving some instructions to the chief elder, Zhou Yeran took Zhou Qingxue and Zhou Chengwen, along with a dozen disciple guards, to the direction of the training hall. Zhou Qingxue rarely visited this area. When her Nascent Soul stage cultivation just started, she could still adapt here. But when Zhou Yeran had the staircase leading to the platform below opened, she began to feel uneasy. The further she went down, the more uncomfortable she felt. When she finally saw the endless lava below, Zhou Qingxue's heart sank. Throughout the journey, she hadn't seen any sign of Song Weizhi. She couldn't comprehend why her father had brought her here to witness boundless lava. So, where was Song Weizhi? Backtracking a few steps, with red eyes, she looked at Zhou Yeran and asked, "So, what about Song Weizhi?" With a derisive laugh, Zhou Yeran turned to look at the lava and said, "The traitor refused to hand over her spiritual core shard, so I had no choice but to throw her down there. By now, I’m afraid there's nothing left of her except a puddle of molten sludge." "How could you do that? Song Weizhi and the others are innocent. You are a murderer. You are a murderer." Tears streamed down Zhou Qingxue's eyes as she shouted at Zhou Yeran. Even Zhou Chengwen shook his head in disbelief. His father, whom he had regarded as a role model, suddenly acted so differently. "Dad, this isn't right. You can't do this." "Heh, in this world, we don't judge a person solely based on right or wrong. The survival of the fittest. If you want to blame someone, blame them for being too weak. If they die, they deserve it. You two are going to carry the entire sect in the future, yet you're still so naive, just like when you were kids? You've disappointed me greatly," Zhou Yeran shook his head. "No, it’s you who has disappointed us." Sometimes, Zhou Qingxue felt jealous of Song Weizhi. She felt that Wei Zhao always put Song Weizhi first, which made her uncomfortable, but it was only jealousy. She had never wanted anything bad to happen to Song Weizhi. At this thought, Zhou Qingxue quickly asked, "What about Wei Zhao? Did you also...?" As she spoke, Zhou Qingxue sank to the ground. She couldn't bear the thought of Wei Zhao turning into ash. What would she do then? "She's not dead yet. I have her locked in the water dungeon. She wants to be with you? Then, she must absolutely obey me. How can she turn against me for an outsider like Song Weizhi? I've put her in there to reflect." Zhou Yeran simply stated, but deep down, he still cared about his daughter and did not want to go to extremes against Wei Zhao. Zhou Qingxue breathed a sigh of relief but still felt despondent. "What about Song Zhixia? Has she really been taken away?" Zhou Yeran had no intention of concealing anything. He wanted his naive daughter to recognize the reality sooner. In this world, survival of the fittest was the natural order of things. "Song Zhixia has been taken away by the Third Prince. It's said that the Third Prince wants to engage in dual cultivation with her, but she refused. She has already been thrown off the Blood Demon Cliff. I reckon she has fallen into the demonic path, and her body has perished." Zhou Qingxue looked at Zhou Yeran in disbelief. She couldn't believe that these cruel words had come from her father. Falsely accusing someone when there's no shortage of accusations. Song Weizhi and the others were completely innocent. "You make me sick," Zhou Qingxue told Zhou Yeran before storming out. She left immediately and flew to the water dungeon. As the disciples saw Zhou Qingxue arrive, they let her pass without hesitation. Zhou Yeran had already instructed them about Wei Zhao’s situation. Zhou Qingxue could visit but under no circumstances could she let Wei Zhao out. She staggered to the lowest level of the water dungeon. It was dark and damp, and the water level in the dungeon reached the shoulders. Zhou Qingxue scanned the area but couldn't find any trace of Wei Zhao. Anxiously, she asked the guarding disciple, "Where is Wei Zhao?" The disciples were accustomed to this situation and seemed unaffected. One of them replied, "Senior Sister Zhou, Wei Zhao was seriously injured. Sometimes she faints while standing or when she coughs up water, but she still manages to stand up. She won't die." Zhou Qingxue, with red eyes, stared at the disciple and demanded, "Open the cell door. I want to go in and save her." "This, the sect leader has said that you can only visit but not take her out," the disciple stammered. "I said open the door. If you don't, don't blame me for taking action," Zhou Qingxue said, already grasping her sword. The guard disciples looked at each other and decided to open the water dungeon door for Zhou Qingxue. If she really took action, they would get hurt for nothing. Zhou Qingxue jumped into the water dungeon, where the water was bone-chilling. Even someone without injuries would feel uncomfortable when jumping in, not to mention Wei Zhao, who had been injured heavily that day. Zhou Qingxue quickly found Wei Zhao lying in a corner. Wei Zhao's body was icy cold; she didn't resemble a living person. Staying in this condition, she probably wouldn't last a few more days. Zhou Qingxue used her spiritual power to unclench Wei Zhao's teeth and fed her a few spirit pills. However, the medicine could not take effect so quickly; her injuries still needed time to heal. She lifted Wei Zhao and was about to leave the water dungeon, but Zhou Yeran had already arrived with his disciples before she reached the door. "Qingxue, what are you doing? Put her down," Zhou Yeran said coldly, eyeing his daughter. Zhou Qingxue shook her head. "Where she is, I am. I want to take her to get treatment." "Heh, do you think I would be afraid of your threats? You want to stay with her, right? Fine, I'll grant you your wish," Zhou Yeran's face turned grim as he set up a barrier outside the water dungeon. Only someone with the same level of cultivation as him could break through this barrier; otherwise, no one could step foot inside the water dungeon. "Dad, please, this is my sister. I beg you to let her go," Zhou Chengwen stood in front of Zhou Yeran, pleading. "She is too spoiled. It's time for her to understand who is responsible for where she is today. Isn't it all because of me? Let her reflect on it. When she recognizes her mistake, I will let her out," Zhou Yeran huffed and bypassed Zhou Chengwen, who was still rooted in place. Author's note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or provided nutrient solutions from 19:48:45 on 2021-06-08 to 19:59:09 on 2021-06-09. Thank you to the little angel who voted for me: Gu Gu Gu Gu Gu, and a few others. Thanks to the little angels for watering: Yunxi for 20 bottles; Little Biscuit Eater for 5 bottles; Mingyue for 1 bottle.