The Sect Leader Has Taken in a New Female Disciple

Chapter 1249 - 373: Zhou, Please Save My Sister—She’s Dying (6k)_3

"If I really went to the Taiqing Sect, just the fact that ’Xuanyuan Crane is on good terms with Zhou Qing’ would be enough to make Taiqing Sect the target of everyone’s arrows—my imperial father included."As White Crane spoke, he carefully took out a treasured handkerchief from his chest, on which there were still faint traces of blood.

This was the one Luo Lingling had given him to wipe his wounds at Taichu Dojo back then; afterward, he had quietly hidden it away.

"I do like Ling Ling," White Crane’s voice suddenly softened, "but precisely because of that, I know all the more clearly what kind of danger I would bring to her."

"I actually already figured this out back at Taichu Dojo." He shook his head with a bitter smile.

"At that time, it was because of the gift I gave her for advancing to Divinity Transformation that she got trapped in that Secret Realm for so many years."

Zhou Qing looked at him in silence, his feelings incomparably complicated for a moment.

In truth, even now, his Martial Uncle and Master did not wish for their Taiqing Sect disciples to have even the slightest contact with the Royal Family.

"So," White Crane suddenly grinned, returning to that honest, simple expression, "thank you for your kindness, Zhou. But I already have a plan."

"I’ll wait until I find a chance to steal my own Soul Lamp, then arrange an ’accidental death.’ When the time comes, I’ll go to Ling Ling under a brand-new identity."

Looking at his utterly serious expression, Zhou Qing suddenly realized that he seemed to have never truly known this Fourth Prince.

He had always thought that every member of the Xuanyuan Family carried their own careful schemes in their hearts.

He really hadn’t expected that beneath White Crane’s exterior there would be such a sense of responsibility and resolve.

The corners of Zhou Qing’s mouth couldn’t help but lift slightly.

"All right then. When you get that brand-new identity, remember to fix those eyebrows of yours—they’re way too conspicuous." Zhou Qing teased.

White Crane froze, then burst into loud laughter.

Those thick black eyebrows bounced up and down with his laughter, really looking like two happy little caterpillars.

...

At first light, just as Zhou Qing returned to the inn entrance, a figure suddenly darted out from behind him.

"What are you doing, you scared me—" Before he could finish, Zhou Qing saw that Shen Yunzhou’s face looked extremely wrong.

His face was deathly pale, his lips trembling nonstop, and the front of his robe was covered in shocking bloodstains.

Zhou Qing’s heart tightened. He hurriedly supported the tottering Shen Yunzhou. "What on earth happened?"

Shen Yunzhou was shaking violently all over, his fingers clenching Zhou Qing’s sleeve in a death grip.

Zhou Qing tried to channel Spiritual Power into his body to stabilize him, but was forced back by a biting chill.

"S-save... save my sister..." Shen Yunzhou’s voice was so broken it barely sounded human.

"Your sister came back?" Zhou Qing’s brows furrowed.

Shen Yunzhou seemed to have grabbed onto the last life-saving straw, his voice tinged with sobs. "Zhou, I really didn’t know who else to go to... you’re the one I trust most..."

"Don’t panic, speak slowly." Zhou Qing pressed down on his trembling shoulders.

"There’s no time!" Shen Yunzhou suddenly yanked out that notoriously shit-yellow Flying Ship from his Storage Bag, dragged Zhou Qing onto it, and said, "I’ll tell you on the way!"

...

The Flying Ship sliced through the morning mist, speeding toward the outskirts of the city.

And on the deck, listening to Shen Yunzhou’s scattered, panicked words, Zhou Qing finally pieced together the whole story:

Shen Hanyi had returned five days ago, but she was gravely injured.

On Shen Yunzhou’s person, there was a four-color Communication Jade Scroll refined by her, capable of transmitting across an extremely long distance.

The Jade Scroll strictly ordered Shen Yunzhou not to inform anyone, and to come see her immediately.

Following the guidance of the Jade Scroll, when Shen Yunzhou found a certain Cave Mansion in the outer city, the entire Cave Mansion had already been covered in thick Profound Ice, with a Four-Color Restriction hastily set up on the outside for protection.

Fortunately, runes hidden within the Jade Scroll allowed him to enter.

Inside the Cave Mansion, the chill had condensed into frost, and the four walls were covered in crystal-clear ice.

Shen Hanyi was lying quietly on the icy floor, with a ghastly wound on her chest that was still slowly seeping blood.

Her entire body was likewise covered in torn gashes.

No matter how Shen Yunzhou called her, poured Spiritual Power into her, or fed her Elixirs, she showed no response at all, and her aura grew weaker and weaker.

In that moment, he truly panicked.

That familiar, suffocating terror once again surged up from the depths of his memory, and in a daze he was back on that rainy night—

His mother’s body had grown colder and colder in his arms, while his father stood in the shadows, his eyes colder than ever before. "It’s all because of you two disasters..."

From then on, although his father, as an Elder of the Shen Family, was of noble status, he never again showed the slightest smile to the siblings.

It was his elder sister who single-handedly raised him, tucking him in through countless cold nights, guarding him every time he hit a bottleneck in Cultivation.

He still remembered the day his sister became a first-rank Array Master; she had excitedly gone to prove herself to their father, only to be dismissed with a single "parlor trick."

After that, his sister spoke less and less, and her temperament grew colder and colder.

And after he advanced to Divinity Transformation, a bizarre phenomenon descended from the heavens, filth rained down, and the entire Shen Family became the laughingstock of the eight great families of Nanhuang State.

His father’s gaze had grown even colder since then; every time they crossed paths it was as if he were looking at some foul thing, even going out of his way to avoid brushing sleeves.

So at this moment, he was truly terrified.

Although the siblings often bickered and complained about each other, in this vast human world, his elder sister was his only remaining family.

With no other choice, he could only stumble back to find Zhou Qing.

After listening to Shen Yunzhou’s halting account, Zhou Qing’s brows knitted tightly together.

As a Late-stage Spirit Severing Realm expert, who could have injured Shen Hanyi to such an extent?

Zhao Muye?

Yama?

Yet even the two of them shouldn’t have been able to grievously wound a peerless talent of the same realm without a sound.