Dongxuan Spiritual Realm

Chapter 83 Yunyang Xiao Lingyu

Yang Qisheng could tell that the other party was also a member of the orthodox Xuanmen sect, but he did not expect that the other party would be so familiar with his own sect, and even directly guess that he was a disciple of Mingyi Zhenren.

He stood up and exchanged names with the other person. It turned out that the girl was a disciple of the Yunyang Sect, named Xiao Lingyu.

“Fellow Daoist Lingyu…” Yang Qisheng remembered that Wang Huyue had mentioned meeting a Linglei Zhenren from the Yunyang Sect, so he casually brought it up.

Xiao Lingyu exclaimed in surprise, "You actually recognize Senior Brother Linglei?"

Yang Qisheng shook his head: "I once heard a fellow practitioner from another sect mention it."

"Senior Brother Ling Lei has been in seclusion refining pills for the past few years, aiming to condense his golden core in one go. He hasn't come out to walk around for a long time."

Xiao Lingyu has an older brother, Xiao Lingfeng, and together with Ling Lei Zhenren, the three of them share the same master, Qing Ai Zhenren.

Yang Qisheng asked her, "How did you end up here, fellow Daoist, and faint in the mountains outside the village?"

Mentioning this, Xiao Lingyu frowned, wanting to say something but holding back.

Yang Qisheng quickly said, "If it's inconvenient, I won't ask."

"We are all of the same lineage in the Xuanmen sect, sharing the same bloodline, but we all originate from the Three Caverns, so we're not exactly outsiders. Otherwise, I would never have told anyone about this family scandal." Xiao Lingyu sighed heavily. "Just a few years ago, a traitor appeared in our sect named Li Xunkong. A few years ago, when Master was traveling through our hometown, he was overcome with homesickness..."

Upon returning home and seeing such a promising talent among his nephews and grand-nephews, and considering that the grand ritual was about to fail and the world would soon be in chaos, the righteous sects of Taoism needed to open their gates wide and recruit disciples. Therefore, he brought Li Xunkong back to Yunyang Mountain and took him as a disciple. However, this was met with strong opposition from his second senior uncle. "You know my second senior uncle, right?"

Yang Qisheng smiled and said, "I haven't been a disciple for long. I've only met a few of my own family members, and I only know their names from the family genealogy."

Seeing that he didn't know, Xiao Lingyu patiently explained, "Our Yunyang Sect had three True Men in the previous generation: our eldest master, True Men Zifeng; our second master, True Men Baihong, who was also the sect leader; and my master, True Men Qing'ai. Normally, before accepting disciples, our orthodox Xuanmen sect would examine their character for at least three years..."

Because of this connection, my master directly accepted him into his sect, bestowing upon him the Daoist name "Lingkong," and imparted Daoist teachings to him with meticulous care. That Li Xunkong was truly intelligent and quick-witted; he learned the Daoist techniques my master taught him almost instantly, surpassing even my brother and me in intelligence. He was also diligent and hardworking, and my master often praised him in front of everyone.

"This shows that your teacher has a keen eye for talent and did not misjudge you."

"He did very well for the first few years, even surpassing me and reaching the Perfected Realm of Refining Evil around the same time. Just as we were discussing how to refine Qi, he encountered the demoness from the Three Peaks Sect during one of his outings..."

"Lady White Bone, Wen Jingluan!" Upon mentioning the Three Peaks Sect, Yang Qisheng blurted out the name of his enemy.

Xiao Lingyu looked at him with surprise: "It's not Wen Jingluan, it's another enchantress who is as famous as her, named 'Soul-Stealing Beauty' Xu Chaiyan."

"How does this Xu Chaiyan compare to Wen Jingluan?"

"How shameful are the swallows on the hairpins, how ashamed are the phoenixes in the mirror! The two have always been equally famous in the Three Peaks Sect, and they both live on Tianchi Peak. However, one lives in Lotus Cave and the other in Crow's Nest Cave. One is known as Lady White Bone, and the other is called Soul-Stealing Beauty. They are both lowly and shameless!" When Xiao Lingyu mentioned these two people, she felt an uncontrollable hatred and couldn't help but curse them.

"So Li Xunkong was turned into a clay furnace by Xu Chaiyan?" Yang Qisheng recalled that Wen Jingluan wanted to capture him back then so that he could be turned into a clay furnace.

"It wasn't made into a cauldron, but Li Xunkong did miss the Pure Yang Pill Cauldron that he had painstakingly cultivated for many years, and the pill energy leaked out... Anyway, it wouldn't be a big deal if it were an ordinary woman, but she was a lowly maid who was available to anyone! I don't really understand how that mud-water pill method was cultivated, but my master said that in the future he would not only be unable to cultivate the sect's top-grade Pure Yang Golden Pill, but even the establishment of the cauldron and the refining of qi would be flawed. He would have to go back and re-refine it for at least three years to have even a one percent chance of making up for it."

"And then what happened? He betrayed his master?"

"At first, we all sympathized with him, thinking he was under the influence of Xu Chaiyan's evil spell, and that he had lost his mind, even melting through the alchemy furnace. We all tried to comfort him and help him regain his faith. Who knew that he would become addicted to it, secretly going down the mountain to brothels to drown his sorrows, and doing many shameful things! When Master punished him, he actually ran away down the mountain, and before leaving, he even stole Master's treasured Pure Yang Mirror. Fearing that our sect would send someone to capture him and cripple his magic, he actually joined the ranks of Cui Wushe, one of the Eight Ghost Immortals, and became the Ghost Prince..."

“Young Master Kongxu!” Yang Qisheng remembered what the three evil spirits on the altar had said: Young Master Kongxu was a traitor to the Yunyang Sect, whose real name was Li Xunkong, and who was also Xiao Lingyu’s junior brother! “That’s him. Have you heard of his name, Fellow Daoist Yang?”

Yang Qisheng chuckled and sighed, "I've not only heard of him, I just had a fight with him!"

He recounted how he discovered the workers were cursed at the Ancient Vine Temple, how he investigated, how he set up an ambush, and the ensuing magical battle.

Xiao Lingyu checked the accounts with him and realized, "Those three demons fought with me first, then two left, and finally Li Xunkong left too. So they went to fight you?!"

It turns out that after Li Xunkong betrayed the sect, Master Qing'ai originally intended to personally go down the mountain to capture Li Xunkong, but due to his shame and anger, he went into a state of demonic possession in his haste.

He had already completed the process of refining his core and was preparing to nurture his nascent soul. However, at this crucial juncture in his cultivation, a single mishap could result in a stillborn or even an evil nascent soul! Hundreds of years of cultivation could very well be destroyed in an instant!
He could only suppress his desires, retreat into seclusion to cultivate his inner self and properly nurture the baby.

Master Qing'ai had a total of four disciples. His eldest disciple, Jiang Linglei, had been in seclusion for several years, refining his Golden Core. His second disciple, Xiao Lingfeng, had also been in seclusion forging the Pure Yang Cauldron for quite some time. His fourth disciple, Li Xunkong, had betrayed the sect and rebelled. Only his third disciple, Xiao Lingyu, was left to take on the responsibility of cleaning up the sect.

Originally, Master Baihong wanted to send his disciple, but Xiao Lingyu refused.

As a girl, Xiao Lingyu's apprenticeship under Qing'ai Zhenren was against the rules. In fact, Wen Jingluan and Xu Chaiyan openly mocked Qing'ai Zhenren, saying that Xiao Lingyu was his favorite concubine and that his taking female disciples was no different from their taking male disciples. They even wanted Qing'ai Zhenren to bring his disciples to the Puyang Sect to marry into the sect, so that their master and disciples would be paired together, and the three families would meet and cultivate together, achieving the Nascent Soul, the Maiden, Yin Yang, and the Golden Core.

Xiao Lingyu became a disciple mainly because her older brother, Xiao Lingfeng, recommended her, which is why Qing'ai Zhenren made an exception and accepted her as a disciple.

When she became a disciple, Master Baihong opposed it, which damaged the reputation of the Yunyang Sect and Master Qing'ai. When Li Xunkong became a disciple, Master Baihong opposed it, resulting in Li Xunkong betraying the sect.

She felt she had to take responsibility at this time, so she made a vow before Master Baihong: she would personally kill the traitor Li Xunkong and retrieve the Yunyang Sect's treasure, the Pure Yang Mirror, until death do them part!

For the past two years, she had been tracking Li Xunkong. The first time she made a move near Shaoyin Mountain, she almost succeeded in killing Li Xunkong. At the most critical moment, Cui Wushe's Yin Gong sounded three times in a row, which not only shattered her Pure Yang Sword Qi, but also made her vomit blood. If she hadn't escaped in time, she would have been captured by the other party.

When they met again, Li Xunkong had already mastered the Nine Swords of Emptiness. The two fought for a long time, ending in a draw.

This was the third time. Li Xunkong actually colluded with the Black Heart Prince and the Heartbroken Prince to set up an ambush, deliberately showing himself to lure her into the trap and trapping her in the ghost array. If Yang Qisheng hadn't performed a ritual on the other side to lure the three away one by one, Xiao Lingyu would have been killed in the array. She would have suffered humiliation in life, and her soul would have been taken away to be refined into a magic weapon after death!
She deliberately feigned weakness, appearing to be on the verge of death. The Black-Hearted Young Master and the Heartbroken Young Master thought that the Empty Young Master alone could easily take care of her, so they left.

The Empty Prince cast a demonic curse on her, making her as fragile as a candle in the wind, teetering on the brink of collapse. Suddenly sensing that her two junior brothers were in trouble, she rushed over to rescue them. At that moment, Xiao Lingyu suddenly burst out and took the opportunity to escape. However, the demonic curse was too powerful, and she barely managed to fly to this place before falling from the sky. Just then, Jing Han, who was watching from the village entrance, saw her and called his father to bring her back.

"That Void Prince's flying sword is indeed powerful, but it has its limits. I was able to deal with it with a magic weapon bestowed upon me by my senior uncle, but the silver light he unleashed at the end was too powerful. Was it your sect's Pure Yang Mirror?"

Xiao Lingyu nodded: "That is my master's treasure for guarding the cave. It was left behind by my grandmaster. Not only can it generate pure yang true fire, but it also contains two divine dragons that have been nurtured for thousands of years. It can destroy all demons and evil spirits in the world!"

“It is indeed powerful. Even if I were not a demon or evil spirit, I would have to run away as fast as I could if I encountered it,” Yang Qisheng said. “That treasure is extremely powerful. Not to mention our cultivation levels, even a master at the Qi Refining stage would not be able to withstand it.”

Xiao Lingyu laughed and said, "This fellow Daoist is overthinking it. That is my master's magic weapon. I have my own method to retrieve it. He never dares to use it when he fights with me, otherwise he would be taken away by me once he uses it."

"I see, that's good!" Yang Qisheng said happily. "Then you should recover from your injuries as soon as possible, and then we'll deal with him together. As long as he doesn't use the Pure Yang Mirror, I'm not afraid of him."

"My injury is not serious. Fellow Daoist's elixir is miraculous, and the wound has already healed. However, since it was our first meeting, you not only saved my life but also troubled us to help clean up the mess for our sect. I feel a little guilty."

"It's nothing." Yang Qisheng was still somewhat resentful about his defeat at the hands of Young Master Kongxu, but now that he had an ally and could take away the opponent's Pure Yang Mirror, he was overjoyed. "As you said before, we are all disciples of the Three Caves of the Xuanmen, of the same lineage, and this is our own business. Besides, the Taiyin Sect and our sect are sworn enemies; if we encounter them, we will kill them all!"

(End of this chapter)