"Qiu Qiu, you betrayed me again."
Again?
A breath of air violently caught in Qiu Qiu's throat.
In this life, she had never betrayed the Grandmistress.
She turned around to look at Grandmistress Qian, but found that her body was suddenly too tense to move. The Grandmistress put her palm on Qiu Qiu's back, then pushed forward — by the time Qiu Qiu could react, the enemy's attack was in front of her eyes.
In a split second, two tremendous forces collided against each other, causing a variety of colors to interweave together. Fortunately, Qiu Qiu was able to use her magic to shield herself at the last moment, preventing her from instant death.
Grandmistress Qian coldly watched Qiu Qiu's perilous situation. In the middle of Qiu Qiu's confrontation with the sect cultivators, she summoned her flying sword and flew off, leaving Qiu Qiu alone below.
Qiu Qiu naturally saw Grandmistress Qian's departure, and felt her chest hurt. However, she was already surrounded by the enemy. There was no escape.
She brandished the Blood Sword in the air, the demonic energy in her body becoming more and more intense. Her pupils became as red as cinnabar, and her body radiated with demonic allure.
She owed the Grandmistress a life. Then, today she would return this life to her. It was just, regarding the sect cultivators… she would all drag them to the funeral with her!
Cradling her determination to die, she held the Blood Sword tightly in her hands and channeled all of her magic into the blade.
The first wave: startling the heavens and shattering the earth.
What she possessed was the peak strength of the previous life's Grandmistress Qian before she had died. The people from the sect had long felt the oppressive force emanating from her and came together to resist it — however, with one wave of her sword, it was easily broken through, killing countless people.
The second wave: shattering the earth and quaking the hills.
Those who could not avoid this attack were immediately killed. This was the oppressive contempt of the strong.
The third wave: terrifying all the gods.
The water faction's border was soaked in rivers of blood. The lower cultivators had already been obliterated. Those who still lived were severely wounded. However, there had been some great powers who had used their disciples as shields, ensuring that they were only slightly injured.
Qiu Qiu was now completely formed of blood. She had exhausted all of her energy and was incapable of creating a fourth wave, nor could she even move. In her arms, the Blood Sword glowed with faint red light, as if conveying its master's unyielding unreconciliation.
Qiu Qiu's former master, seeing that Qiu Qiu had fallen into an unconscious state, took advantage of the moment to immediately summon his saber and — spear it through her heart!
"Evildoer!" His face was full of loathing, warping his features into grotesque malevolence.
Qiu Qiu seemed to hear something, but at the same time she was incapable of hearing anything. She felt her body suddenly felt heavy, and yet impossibly light… she could not see anything, and yet a lot of pictures suddenly appeared in her mind.
She had felt something like this before, when she had been killed by her master in her former life.
Qiu Qiu died.
Her former master pulled out his blade from her body. Immediately, she fell downwards like a broken kite.
However, just as the man celebrated her death, the Blood Sword suddenly burst forward and carved through his throat. An arc of blood flew into the air, bringing with it his life. Without stopping, it flew downwards to find its master, leaving behind only the afterimage of a streak of red.
This battle had cost the sect heavy losses.
-----
The Blood Sword carried Qiu Qiu's body for a long time, until the remaining demonic energy finally dissipated completely. Together, the sword and its master fell from the air…
…and happened to land in a tomb.
Qing Ruo successfully brought the medicine back to the Demonic Realm. Grandmistress Qian returned shortly after with her reinforcements.
When Qing Ruo asked about Qiu Qiu's whereabouts, the Grandmistress avoided the question.
Upon returning, Grandmistress Qian began to probe for the sect's spies. She weeded out many traitors, shocking the entire Demonic Realm.
After this, Grandmistress Qian became more cold and indifferent
Later, she deployed people to search for Qiu Qiu. But there was nothing.
Until one day, inside the tomb, someone opened their eyes.
Qiu Qiu's entire body was engulfed with the aura of death. Her body was covered with cuts and bruises, and her dantian only had weak traces of residual demonic energy. A sword was lying on her chest.
She sat up, and the sword clattered to the ground. Qiu Qiu picked it up, only to realize that it was the spiritually-diminished remains of what had once been the Blood Sword. It turned out that the Blood Sword had continuously used its spiritual energy to replenish Qiu Qiu's life, until it was reduced to a mere ordinary sword.
But though Qiu Qiu was now awake, only a trace of cultivation remained within her body, and her internal organs had been damaged to the point of no repair. There was no chance she would ever be able to cultivate again. It seemed she did not have long to live, either.
She smiled bitterly as she picked up the Blood Sword, then stepped out of the tomb. Her first order of business was to wash up and find a new pair of clothes; then, with great exertion, she gathered the last of her magic to fly herself back to the Demonic Realm.
She still remembered the Grandmistress's last words to her.
The other had said… that Qiu Qiu had betrayed her.
Qiu Qiu had only betrayed the Grandmistress from the previous life. It was only the Grandmistress from the previous life, as well, who would look at her with such hatred, such complicated emotions.
She wanted to ask, who exactly had been that Grandmistress Qian?
She travelled for a long time. In her current state, the entire experience was full of suffering. Because her magic was too weak, she was unable to fully control the flying sword; her entire body was covered with wounds that she was now unable to heal.
However, she still persevered, walking here and stopping there. At first, she had wanted to directly fly to find the Grandmistress; even if the other wanted to kill her, she did not fear her. The Qiu Qiu from the previous life had arrogantly demanded to be pampered, and the current Qiu Qiu could too. However, her body was far too weak. She had no choice but to continuously take breaks in between to recuperate her stamina.
The Demonic Realm had many sects and borders, though Qiu Qiu had not researched them carefully enough. She found a spot under a demonic tree to rest for a while before continuing her journey. While she sat, she began to examine her body.
Her internal organs had all suffered severe damage, and her meridians were blocked. The ability to circulate magic was solely from the leftover spiritual energy the Blood Sword had given her. However, it was was becoming weaker and weaker by the day. Sooner or later, there would be a day when this spiritual energy would be consumed entirely. After that, the demonic energy in her body would scatter as well, and Qiu Qiu would die… again.
At this moment, Qiu Qiu suddenly felt a burst of killing intent!
She opened her eyes violently. At this moment, a strong palm of wind hit her. She had wanted to dodge, but found her body incapable of dodging. The attack knocked her onto her back, throwing her a few meters away.
Qiu Qiu spit out a mouthful of blood. She finally saw her enemy: a mid-level demon, who was currently looking at her greedily.
"Your magic is intermixed with the spiritual energy of a demonic sword. It's too wasteful for a low-level person like you to have. It's better for me to take you back and refine the spiritual energy out of you," the man laughed. His greedy expression warped his features into something ten times crueler. Slowly, he walked towards Qiu Qiu.
Qiu Qiu spit out another mouthful of blood. She tried to mobilize her magic, but found that her body was unable to move. Seeing this, she had the urge to laugh. She had died and resurrected many times already — but to think she would die at the hands of a man like this!
She ferociously gnashed her teeth, and desperately tried to summon her magic reserves again. She would not hand over the blood sword's spiritual energy to anyone!
However, the man, seeing her resistance, immediately summoned his magic as well. He was certain that Qiu Qiu was not his opponent.
He gathered magic in the center of his palm, aiming it at her.
Qiu Qiu was powerless to resist. She could only watch his attack come closer and closer.
Suddenly, a person in black robes landed by Qiu Qiu's side. With one hand, she dissipated the man's attack, and with the other, she pulled Qiu Qiu to her side.
This person's face was frosty, her gaze frigid, and her lips formed a cold line.
This person looked at Qiu Qiu. Qiu Qiu also watched her.
Tears bubbled in Qiu Qiu's eyes. However, her eyes narrowed, stifling them, and she managed to only look at the other person with watery eyes.
She had been entangled with this person for too long. As she stared into the other person's eyes, which were filled with both hatred and pity, she could finally confirm that this was her Grandmistress Qian.
The Grandmistress Qian from her previous life!
Only a Grandmistress Qian with memories from the past could cause Qiu Qiu's emotions to pour out like this. She choked with sobs, unsure whether to laugh or cry. In the end, she settled with pulling at the Grandmistress's sleeve as she often had before, whispering:
"Grandmistress…"