The head master has a new female apprentice

Chapter 374 Brother Zhou, please save my sister, she's dying (6k)

Shen Hanyi's hand, which was holding a feather duster, froze in mid-air. Looking at the two lively characters, one big and one small, she finally sighed helplessly.

The duster in his hand turned into specks of golden light and disappeared.

"Kneel down, all of you!" she commanded sternly.

Without saying a word, Zhou Qing knelt down with a thud.

Lu Yaoyao obediently knelt beside him, and didn't forget to secretly tug at his sleeve.

Shen Hanyi looked at the two kneeling figures, a hint of a smile flashing in her eyes, but she quickly hardened her expression again: "Do you know what you did wrong?"

"Understood!" they both said in unison.

"Will you dare to do it again next time?"

"I don't dare anymore!"

Shen Hanyi finally couldn't hold back any longer. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and her features under the veil softened a bit: "Get up."

Lu Yaoyao cheered and jumped up in a somersault, not forgetting to pull up the kneeling "Zhou Qing".

Zhou Qing stood up sullenly and immediately fawned over Shen Hanyi, skillfully massaging her shoulders: "Calm down, calm down."

With her hands behind her back, Lu Yaoyao looked at the two people she had "successfully mediated" with satisfaction, her face full of a sense of accomplishment.

She breathed a sigh of relief and smugly headed to the next "battlefield," only to find that after exchanging a few words, the two suddenly turned their guns on her—

"Snapped!"

"Ouch!"

The feather duster and the ruler fell at the same time, making her run away with her head in her hands.

They immediately gave her a mixed doubles match.

Zhou Qing, standing outside the door, watched all of this quietly. At first, she found it amusing, but as she watched, a pang of sadness welled up in her heart.

It's obvious that Lu Yaoyao orchestrated all of this herself, using the atmosphere and imagery, and she even enjoyed participating in it.

He had already guessed seven or eight parts of what happened to her before she entered the Taiqing Sect, based on their years of getting to know each other.

At first, she thought it was just because she looked like her deceased brother, until she later noted that her profile had been labeled "Good Dad" several times.

Adding to the various experiences the two have gone through together in the past, including the theme of filial piety this time.

Only then did he truly understand how much cautious anticipation was hidden in those three simple words.

Afterwards, for the sake of her "father's" happiness, she went to great lengths to find him a Daoist partner.

From Fairy Xuanyou to Xuanyuan Muqian, and now to Shen Hanyi.
Thinking of this, he suddenly noticed that even in the illusion, all the "Shen Hanyi" wore that iconic veil.

"Can't you even imagine what it looks like?" Zhou Qing shook his head and sighed softly.

She must have been severely lacking in paternal and maternal love.

Zhou Qing slowly turned and left, without disturbing her, letting her immerse herself in her own world.

……

A day later, Zhou Qing quietly swept past the ruins and landed lightly in the courtyard of the [Jintian Palace].

The moonlight, like water, outlined the silhouette of the abandoned palace with exceptional clarity.

He stood still for a moment, but the figure did not appear.

"Strange." Zhou Qing frowned slightly. He hadn't deliberately hidden himself, and with the other party's spiritual sense at the Spirit Severing Realm, they should have been able to detect him immediately.

Was he injured while being chased by Xuanyuan Sha?

He then walked along the moss-covered stone steps, passing through several courtyards, but still couldn't see anyone.

The moment Zhou Qing stepped into the inner hall, he suddenly stopped.

A pale purple soul power mark slowly drifted down from the stone pillar, gleaming faintly in the moonlight.

"You've come!" Sikong Yan's voice came from the mark, tinged with weariness.

Zhou Qing did not respond, but stared at the drifting soul imprint.

“I thought Granny could at least hold on for a few more years.” He paused, as if sighing.

"But sometimes people are just hanging on by a thread. Once their wish is fulfilled, that thread of life dissipates."

"I was thinking that after this was over, I would take care of her in her old age and see her to her death, but now it has become a regret."

Sikong Yan's voice was low and somber, and Zhou Qing could clearly sense his sadness.

This made his heart tremble slightly.

He had only met Granny Su twice in total.

On one occasion, Gao Xianzong brought eunuchs to clean the house, and they brought up the taboo topic of the eldest prince being cut into skeletons and brought back.

Gao Xianzong immediately killed all the eunuchs he had brought with him.

Another time, she came to find Sikong Yan herself, and she served him food with great enthusiasm.

"I plan to take Granny back to her hometown and observe three years of mourning." Sikong Yan's voice echoed in the empty hall, carrying a hint of desolation.

"She's complained about this place for most of her life."

At this point, the soul power imprint began to flicker.

"I won't be in the capital for the next few years."

Before he could finish speaking, the mark suddenly flashed violently, and Sikong Yan's voice abruptly turned serious: "Zhou Qing, here's some well-intentioned advice—"

"The capital is a den of dragons and tigers. If you can leave, then leave. The people here are always ruthless and heartless."

Then, with a "pop," the mark turned into tiny specks of light and disappeared into the night sky.

Zhou Qing stood there for a long time, then finally sighed softly and turned to leave.

……

Not long after, he flashed again and landed silently in the courtyard of Qinghe Garden.

The abandoned palace remains dilapidated and overgrown with weeds.

As soon as he released his divine sense, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up.

After passing through several dilapidated palaces, in the deepest, relatively intact hall, a familiar figure sat cross-legged.

The white crane wore an ordinary coarse cloth garment, showing no royal air whatsoever.

He had a square face and slightly rough skin.

But what's most striking are his thick, dark eyebrows, which look like two caterpillars crawling on his forehead, adding a touch of comicality to his originally honest and simple appearance.

At this moment, he was closing his eyes to regulate his breathing, his hands forming a strange hand seal, and his body was surrounded by a faint blue spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy sometimes took the form of a crane, and sometimes scattered like fireflies, casting dappled light and shadow on his coarse cloth clothes.

Above his head, a line of small golden characters floated: [The Respected Brother-in-Law].

Zhou Qing smiled silently, and was about to step forward when suddenly—

Bai He suddenly opened his eyes, his body flipped over swiftly, and a sharp cyan sword aura instantly condensed in his right hand.

His left hand was placed in front of his chest, in a defensive posture.

His thick, dark eyebrows were tightly furrowed together, his eyes flashed with cold light, and his spiritual energy fluctuated violently, shaking the dust on the ground into the air.

Upon seeing who it was, his tense body suddenly relaxed, and he let out a long sigh of relief.

The cyan sword energy dissipated as well.

He patted his chest and said gruffly, "That scared me to death!"

He then straightened his clothes and stood up to greet her.

"You're quite vigilant!" Zhou Qing said with a smile as he approached.

Bai He scratched his head and gave a simple, honest smile: "What brings you here?"

"I've come to thank you," Zhou Qing said earnestly.

"Thank me for what?" Baihe asked, looking bewildered.

"Old Mo has already told me about it."

The white crane was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized what was going on.

He revealed a simple smile: "So you've already cooperated with Elder Mo. It seems those Spirit Severing Realm cultivators from Azure Lake back then must be disappointed."

Zhou Qing gazed at him and bowed solemnly: "Thank you!"

"Oh dear, please don't!" Baihe rushed forward to help, his rough hands waving awkwardly. "I'm just doing what I can."

Zhou Qing looked at him, a slight smile playing on her lips.

This is far beyond our capabilities.

A cultivator at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, upon learning that the Nangong family had issued a warrant for the arrest of Ghost Mastiff, had neither the advantage of cultivation nor the resources of connections.

He relied solely on himself, spending over a year to reach the Nangong family in Yaoguang Prefecture and stake out the area to gather intelligence.

After discovering that the Seventh Prince, Xuan Yuan Yi Chen, had entered the Nangong family, she keenly sensed something was amiss.

He rushed back to the capital and sought help from Elder Mo of the Duobao Chamber of Commerce, asking him to go to Taiqing Gate as a precaution.

How could Zhou Qing not remember this friendship and this dedication?

"Congratulations, indeed," Bai He suddenly said with a smile, his eyes shining with sincerity.

"The first Level 4 Array Master in the history of the Holy Martial Dynasty, truly enviable!"

I remember when the five major sects of the Eastern Region of Lingyun Prefecture fought a great battle, the person in front of me was just a minor Golden Core cultivator.

At that time, due to his special status, he could not participate in the sect wars and could only protect Luo Lingling in secret.

Who could have imagined that, in just a few short years, at the Tai Chu Dojo, the opponent would be able to easily kill multiple Nascent Soul Realm Great Perfection cultivators?

What's even more poignant is that after arriving in the capital, he went from being a bandit to joining the Nangong family, and now he's become a level four formation master.

Along the way, he still underestimated Zhou Qing's terrifying potential and talent.

[Heart Judgment Points +9]

Just then, the note above the white crane's head, "[Respectful Brother-in-Law]", suddenly distorted.

In the blink of an eye, he became a "monstrous brother-in-law".

Seeing this, Zhou Qing's smile deepened.

"After you left the Taichu Dojo, you rushed back to the capital. There must have been something important, right?"

Zhou Qing asked with concern, "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask!"

"It's all taken care of, thank you for your kindness." Bai He waved his hand, then scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly, "Your senior sister, she..."

Seeing his flustered appearance, Zhou Qing couldn't help but tease him, "You know perfectly well that she's in the capital, so why don't you come and find her?"

"I can't find you!" Baihe looked aggrieved, his thick, dark eyebrows drooping. "I have no idea where you are."

Zhou Qing: "..."

I almost forgot that they always wore masks and changed their residence every few days.

Bai He has no connections, so finding them is indeed not easy.

“In two years, we’ll be going back to Taiqing Sect,” Zhou Qing said with a smile. “Want to come along?”

Bai He's eyes lit up immediately, and he tentatively asked, "Is it alright?"

“Why not?” Zhou Qing said readily. “My Xiaoling Peak has many places, which are much better than this shabby place you live in.”

Upon hearing this, Baihe burst into laughter, but a hint of sadness flickered in his smile.

He straightened his coarse cloth clothes and bowed solemnly to Zhou Qing. "Fifth and Seventh Brother are dead," he said in a low voice, "To be honest, all of this was within my expectations."

"Next, there may be other brothers who follow in their footsteps. As members of the royal family, this is a fate that no one can escape."

He raised his head, his gaze fixed intently on Zhou Qing: "So, I really want to escape!"

Zhou Qing gave him a deep look, nodded slightly, and extended his hand, saying, "I understand. Taiqing Sect welcomes you at any time."

However, the white crane did not reach out to shake hands.

He shook his head with a wry smile, and in the moonlight, a complex expression, quite different from his usual one, appeared on his honest face.

"Actually, after Lao Qi died this time, I suddenly realized something." Bai He's voice was soft, but every word was clear.

"As long as I live with the surname Xuanyuan, I will never be able to escape this game of power."

He turned to look at the brightly lit imperial city in the distance, his thick, dark eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"Now I only have my second and third brothers left, and the forces behind them have long regarded me as a thorn in their side."

"My younger brothers also felt that I, the 'unambitious' fourth brother, was just biding my time."

Bai He turned his head and looked at Zhou Qing quietly: "Now you've become a level four array master."

“If I really go to Taiqing Sect, the fact that ‘Xuanyuanhe is on good terms with Zhou Qing’ alone will be enough to make Taiqing Sect the target of everyone’s criticism, including my father and the others.”

As Bai He spoke, he carefully took out a treasured handkerchief from his bosom, which still had traces of blood on it.

This was the lint that Luo Lingling gave him to wipe when he was injured at the Taichu Dojo, and he secretly hid it afterward.

“I do like Lingling,” Baihe’s voice suddenly softened, “but precisely because of that, I am even more aware of the danger I might bring to her.”

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

"Back then, it was because of the gift I gave her that helped her advance to the Nascent Soul stage that she was trapped in the secret realm for so many years."

Zhou Qing stared at him in silence, her feelings a complex mix of emotions.

In fact, even now, their master and senior master do not want their disciples of the Taiqing Sect to have any contact with the royal family whatsoever.

“So,” Bai He suddenly grinned, reverting to his憨厚 (honest and simple) demeanor, “thank you for your kindness, Brother Zhou. But I already have a plan.”

"Once I've stolen my own soul lamp, I'll arrange an 'accidental death.' Then, I'll come looking for Lingling with a completely new identity."

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

I used to think that everyone in the Xuanyuan family had their own agenda.

I never expected that the white crane before me would possess such a sense of responsibility and determination.

Zhou Qing's lips unconsciously curled up slightly.

"Alright then, once you have a new identity, remember to trim your eyebrows, they're too noticeable," Zhou Qing teased.

The white crane was taken aback, then burst into laughter.

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

……

As dawn broke, Zhou Qing had just returned to the front of the inn when a figure suddenly darted out from behind him.

"What are you doing? You scared me." Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Qing noticed that Shen Yunzhou's expression was extremely strange.

His face was deathly pale, his lips trembled uncontrollably, and his shirt was covered in shocking bloodstains.

Zhou Qing's heart tightened, and she quickly supported the swaying Shen Yunzhou: "What happened?"

Shen Yunzhou was trembling violently, his fingers gripping Zhou Qing's sleeve tightly.

Zhou Qing tried to infuse his spiritual energy into him to alleviate the situation, but was forced back by a bone-chilling cold.

"Save, save my sister." Shen Yunzhou's voice was broken beyond recognition.

"Your sister is back?" Zhou Qing frowned.

Shen Yunzhou grasped at this last straw, his voice trembling with tears: "Brother Zhou, I really don't know who else to turn to. You're the person I trust most."

"Don't rush, speak slowly." Zhou Qing pressed down on his trembling shoulders.

"It's too late!" Shen Yunzhou suddenly pulled out the iconic yellowish-brown flying boat from his storage bag, grabbed Zhou Qing, and jumped on. "We'll talk on the way!"

……

The flying boat cut through the morning mist and sped towards the outskirts of the city.

On the deck, listening to Shen Yunzhou's disoriented and incoherent ramblings, Zhou Qing finally pieced together the whole story:
Shen Hanyi returned five days ago, but she was seriously injured.

Shen Yunzhou possessed four-colored communication jade slips that she had crafted, capable of transmitting messages over extremely long distances.

The jade slip strictly ordered Shen Yunzhou not to inform anyone and to come to see him immediately.

When Shen Yunzhou followed the jade slip to find a cave in the outer city, the entire cave was already covered by thick black ice, and the outer perimeter was hastily set up with four-colored restrictions for protection.

Fortunately, the hidden runes in the jade slip allowed him to enter.

Inside the cave, the cold air condensed into frost, and the four walls were covered with glistening ice crystals.

Shen Hanyi lay quietly on the icy ground, a shocking wound on her chest that was still bleeding.

His body was also covered with lacerations.

No matter how Shen Yunzhou called out to her, poured in spiritual energy, or fed her pills, she did not respond at all, and her breath became weaker and weaker.

At that moment, he truly panicked.

That familiar, suffocating sense of fear surged from the depths of my memory once more, and I was transported back to that rainy night—

His mother's body grew 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, what a disaster!"

From then on, although their father was a respected elder of the Shen family, he never showed the two siblings a smile again.

His older sister raised him single-handedly, tucking him in on countless cold nights and protecting him whenever he encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation.

He still remembers the day his sister became a first-level array master. She went to her father excitedly to prove herself, only to be dismissed with the words "a trivial skill".

From then on, my sister spoke less and less, and her personality became increasingly cold.

After he advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, strange phenomena appeared in the sky, with filth falling like rain, making the entire Shen family a laughing stock among the eight great families of Nanhuang Prefecture.

From then on, his father's eyes grew even colder, and every time they met, he looked at them as if they were something filthy, even deliberately avoiding them with his sleeves.

So at this moment, he was truly afraid.

Although the siblings often bickered and complained about each other, in this vast world, he only had his sister as his family.

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

Zhou Qing frowned as he listened to Shen Yunzhou's intermittent account.

As a powerful expert in the late stage of the Spirit Severing Realm, who could have injured Shen Hanyi so badly?

Zhao Muye?
Yama?

Even these two shouldn't be able to silently and severely injure a peerless prodigy.

Battles between Spirit Severing Realm cultivators are often earth-shattering, let alone a formation master like Shen Hanyi. How could there not be a single whisper of it?

Moreover, Shen Hanyi only completely disappeared after she went to the border.

Did something happen on the border?

Kunpeng Secret Realm?

But the most pressing issue right now is that he doesn't have any miraculous medicines that can cure injuries sustained at the Spirit Severing Realm.

How can I save myself?
……

One day later, at Wuxiang Mountain outside the imperial capital.

In the dark, cloud-shrouded mountains, the lingering obsessions left behind by the fallen Spirit Severing Realm experts transformed into a tangible black mist of emotions.

From time to time, the roars of the tomb keeper and the sporadic sounds of explorers fighting could be heard from inside.

Shen Yunzhou piloted the flying boat, silently taking Zhou Qing deep into the heart of the mountains, and finally stopped in front of a collapsed main peak.

"This is it." Shen Yunzhou put away the flying boat, quickly formed hand seals, and a ripple-like passage slowly unfolded in the void.

Zhou Qing really didn't expect that Shen Hanyi would choose this place. Wasn't she afraid that after falling into a coma, her mental strength would be weakened and she would become a tomb keeper?
Without giving it much thought, he quickly followed Shen Yunzhou toward the heart of the mountain.

Soon, a barrier shimmering with four colors of light appeared before them.

Shen Yunzhou quickly took out the communication jade slip. The jade slip resonated with the restriction, emitting a faint blue light.

Open a gap in the four-color barrier, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

An unprecedented chill swept over him instantly, and Zhou Qing shivered unprepared, his breath condensing into tiny ice crystals in the air.

The two quickly slipped inside, and the barrier behind them immediately closed.

Inside the cave, the walls were made of crystal-clear black ice, and the floor was covered with a thick layer of frost.

Several vibrant green wood-attribute spirit stones were scattered in the corner, radiating a faint vitality and barely resisting the biting cold.

Shen Hanyi lay quietly in the center of the ice cave, her blood-stained white clothes almost blending into the ice surface.

The veil still covered her face, but her brows were furrowed, and the skin exposed outside the veil was deathly pale.

Her long, slender eyelashes were covered in frost, and her chest barely rose and fell.

"sister--"

Shen Yunzhou staggered to her sister's side, her voice choked with sobs, her trembling fingers hovering above her nose, yet she could barely feel the warmth of her breath.

He looked up at Zhou Qing in a panic, his eyes filled with fear and helplessness.

Zhou Qing stepped forward and observed Shen Hanyi at such close range for the first time.

You can even smell a faint, elegant fragrance emanating from her, like plum blossoms in early winter or pine forests after a snowfall.

He had intended to use the "Daily Appraisal" to check on her situation, but this ability could only appraise objects, not people.

"Can your sister's storage bag be opened?" Zhou Qing asked, looking at the scattered storage bags to the side.

Shen Yunzhou shook his head: "It can't be opened. There's a soul imprint inside. Forcibly breaking it will only backfire on her soul."

He paused, then pointed to several scattered bottles and jars not far away, "And look over there—"

Zhou Qing followed his gaze and saw several empty medicine bottles and some pill residue scattered on the ground.

“My sister took all these pills before she lost consciousness,” Shen Yunzhou said in a low voice. “She knew better than anyone what medicine she should take, but it still didn’t work…”

Zhou Qing was at a loss for what to do.

He was not an alchemist, nor did he possess any top-grade pills capable of healing injuries sustained at the Spirit Severing Realm.

"Senior Shen, Senior Shen, can you hear me?" Zhou Qing called softly.

Shen Yunzhou quickly bent down, his voice trembling with tears: "Sister, your destined one has arrived, open your eyes and look at him..."

However, Shen Hanyi remained unresponsive, and her breath grew weaker and weaker.

Zhou Qing's gaze fell on the wound on her chest, where blood was still seeping out, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible, putrid smell.

Strangely, the blood did not change color and remained bright red, but the ice crystals at the wound could not freeze the blood.

It's like being tetanus-infected, causing the wound to fail to heal.

“I can—” Zhou Qing was about to speak.

"Tear it all up, look all you want! What are you doing caring about these empty formalities at a time like this!"

Shen Yunzhou suddenly interrupted excitedly, his voice choked with barely suppressed sobs, "My sister wants them all...she wants them all!"

Zhou Qing remained silent for a moment, then finally sighed softly: "I just wanted to say that I didn't take advantage of someone in distress..."

(End of this chapter)