Chapter 35 The Scheming Disciple and the Charming Master 35

Chapter 35: The Scheming Disciple and His Beautiful Master 35

Qin Du didn't give his threatening words a second thought.

"And what if I don't?"

"Then we'll just have to see about that!"

The temple on Bitter Cold Peak only had four rooms. The disciples who'd gotten there first each grabbed a room, while the youngest disciple had to make do with a pile of dry grass in the corner of the main hall as a bed.

Qin Du, who'd arrived even later, didn't even have a bed to begin with. So he did the same, grabbing a pile of dry grass to sleep on.

He didn't even have a decent blanket.

When night came, things got even harder to bear. The cold wind cut to the bone, and even for a cultivator, it was bone-chilling.

In the middle of his sleep, Qin Du was woken up by a faint, muffled voice.

"You think this'll work? Is this poison even still good after all this time?"

"Of course it is! We'll slip it into his tea. Tomorrow, once he drinks it, we'll use the antidote as bait to get him to lead the way."

"Good plan! You still got the antidote?"

"Pfft! That's long gone! I don't buy that he'll be able to worry about anything else once he's poisoned. As long as we get off this mountain, who cares if he lives or dies!"

"Good point!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down, don't let him hear."

"Don't worry, he's out cold. I even heard him snoring earlier!"

In the dark, Qin Du could see as clearly as if it were daylight.

Those disciples thought their little scheme was foolproof, but he'd already caught every word.

These disciples were both dumb and nasty—no wonder they were stuck in this place.

It wasn't until the dead of night, once those disciples had dozed off, that Qin Du got up alone and headed to the back of Bitter Cold Peak.

A demon was already there, waiting for him.

"Xiao Sha, why'd you come back again?"

Seeing Xiao Sha again, Qin Du's mindset had shifted a lot.

Ever since Xiao Sha gave him that book, *Discourse on Immortals and Demons*, his demonic nature had been slowly waking up.

Now that he thought about it, that book was just Xiao Sha's way of luring him down the demonic path.

"Master! You've seen it with your own eyes—what kind of place are you staying in now?! If Lin Huaiqing really treated you as his disciple, he wouldn't have banished you to this cold, run-down dump!"

Qin Du looked down with a bitter smile. "This was my own choice. Lin Huaiqing had nothing to do with it."

"Master! What's the point of staying in a dump like this any longer?! Come back to the demon realm with me! It's still not too late!"

"I..."

"So if Lin Huaiqing doesn't give a damn about you, you're just gonna stay here for the rest of your life? For what?!"

Just as the two were talking, a faint sound of a shoe scraping against stone came from nearby.

They both turned at the same time and spotted the young disciple hiding behind a tree, eavesdropping on them.

Xiao Sha was a pure-blooded demon. In the dark, his pupils gave off a faint crimson glow—the mark of his kind.

The young disciple had gotten up to use the latrine when he noticed Qin Du was gone. So he'd gone out to look for him.

He followed the footprints all the way here and found Qin Du plotting with some stranger.

But when Xiao Sha turned his head, those two crimson points of light stared at him like ghosts, locking onto him with deadly focus.

The young disciple let out a startled "Ah!" before he could stop it.

The scream ripped through the quiet of the night. The young disciple, scared out of his wits, scrambled backward, desperate to find help.

"Something's wrong! A demon! A demon's gotten into the Xuantian Sect! It's a demon! A demon!"

Qin Du was about to act, but Xiao Sha, standing beside him, beat him to it.

Without moving an inch, he raised a hand and lifted the fleeing young disciple into the air from a distance.

It was as if an invisible giant hand was squeezing his throat, making it impossible to breathe.

His feet kicked wildly in the air with nothing to grab onto, his face turning blue and purple from lack of air.

Realizing what Xiao Sha was about to do, Qin Du quickly shouted to stop him.

"Stop!"

But at that same moment, a crisp "crack" echoed through the quiet night—the sound of a neck being cleanly snapped.

The young disciple's head lolled to the side, lifeless, and he dropped to the ground.

Qin Du roared, "I told you to stop! Didn't you hear me?!"

Xiao Sha knelt without any expression and said calmly, "Master, please calm down. This guy already found out who I am. If we let him live, it'd be bad for you."

Qin Du, furious, grabbed Xiao Sha by the collar and snapped:

"You killed him—what the hell am I supposed to do now?! How am I supposed to explain this to Lin Huaiqing?"

"If Master returns to the demon realm, why would you need to explain anything? Besides, if you've got feelings for Lin Huaiqing, once you rule the cultivation world, a mere Immortal Venerable would still have to kneel beneath your imperial robes."

The smile on Xiao Sha's lips widened even more.

Indeed, he was playing an open game—killing someone right in front of his master, cutting off all his escape routes.

Even if his master blamed him later, he'd have no regrets.

"Fine, fine." Qin Du looked dazed, finding his whole situation utterly absurd.

He couldn't manage to be a good person, and now, even wanting to be a full-blown villain, he doubted he could pull that off either.

"I never thought that in this life, I, Qin Du, would still be forced down this road of no return!"

"Your subordinate Xiao Sha humbly invites Master to return to the demon realm!"

Ever since Qin Du went to Bitter Cold Peak, Lin Huaiqing felt like he'd broken out in a rash all over—couldn't sit still, couldn't stand still.

His mind couldn't help but drift to Qin Du on the Bitter Cold Peak, shivering violently from the cold.

With no quilt to cover him in the dead of night, he could only curl up, hugging himself for warmth.

But he couldn't tell anyone about these ridiculous thoughts.

"Master... Qin Du, he..."

"What about Qin Du?" Lin Huaiqing overreacted at the mere mention of Qin Du's name, pressing him for an answer.

"This disciple is asking what to do with the things Qin Du left behind."

"Oh... just leave them there." What if he comes back to live here someday?

In truth, even Lin Huaiqing knew full well that things had gotten to this point, and Qin Du would likely never return.

"Then this disciple will return to his meditation." Mu Yunting bowed and withdrew.

Every day, Mu Yunting spent the whole day meditating. Even if he slipped away, he probably wouldn't be discovered.

He couldn't sit still any longer. He summoned his sword and secretly headed up the Bitter Cold Peak.

He wouldn't go in—if he could just hitch onto some animal and sneak a peek, it would put his mind at ease.

Fighting the biting wind the entire way, Lin Huaiqing flew his sword deep into the Bitter Cold Peak, feeling as if every bone in his body had frozen solid.

He never knew the Xuantian Sect had a place this cold.

Lin Huaiqing had always been sensitive to the cold, so he had to channel his spiritual energy through his body to keep warm.

Seeing the ruined temple just ahead, he didn't dare go any closer.

In the heavy snow, he searched with his senses for a long while before finally spotting a small squirrel hibernating in a tree hollow.

He transferred his spiritual consciousness into the squirrel and hopped toward the ruined temple.

He left a trail of tiny footprints on the snow-white ground.

Little did Lin Huaiqing know, there were other disciples on the Bitter Cold Peak.

At this moment, those disciples were gathered around a fire, each wearing an unusually grim expression.

"What do we do?! How are we supposed to contact anyone down the mountain! Old Fifth is already dead! Are we next?!"

"I told you not to mess with him! Now look what happened! He's gone too! We're all gonna die!"