Dark Blue Frost - Chapter 11
Chapter 11: The Stone of Three Lives
Upon hearing Bai Lian’s sharp words about the long-blurred past, Qianse knew that even after so many years, his resentment and anger still hadn’t subsided.
She couldn’t help but shake her head and sigh, a hint of almost imperceptible bitterness hidden in her helpless voice: “Little Senior Brother, there are already those who constantly slander you as narrow-minded and sharp-tongued. Now, why must you bring up old matters again, only to give more fodder to those with ulterior motives?”
Bai Lian scoffed, devoid of any smile, after hearing Qianse’s almost admonishing words.
He pointed at Qing Xuan, his expression calm as he spoke in a low voice, every word, every glance, filled with disdain: “This little brat is your disciple now. For your sake, I don’t want to nitpick with him. However, that person is different.”
As he reached the latter half of his sentence, he began to gnash his teeth uncontrollably, as if he had an irreconcilable feud with the “that person” he implicitly referred to.
“I am a vengeful person by nature. Whether he wants to slander me, criticize me, or play dirty tricks behind my back, let him come! When have I ever been afraid of him!?”
Seeing his Little Senior Uncle point at his nose and unceremoniously call him a “little brat,” Qing Xuan looked at his master.
Seeing his master’s helpless expression, he could only lower his head and keep silent, trying his best to ignore what was said and heard.
Qianse knew that the past events now being stirred up had inadvertently ignited Bai Lian’s anger.
If she allowed it to continue, given his fiery temper, who knew what kind of trouble he would cause.
Helpless, she could only give a deliberate light cough, as if to remind him, and stiffly change the subject: “So, Little Senior Brother, about me wanting to borrow the Soul-Summoning Banner—”
Although the topic change was abrupt, it did manage to divert Bai Lian’s attention and alleviate the burning anger in his chest.
“I can give you the Soul-Summoning Banner, but—” He paused, as if pondering something.
Then, he stood up and walked to Qianse’s side.
His narrow, phoenix-like eyes seemed to have lost all their brilliance, dark and dull like the cold gleam of a blunt weapon, carrying an indescribable tenderness: “Qianse, every time you come to the Ninefold Purgatory, you’re always in such a hurry. In recent years, you’ve even been hiding in Yanshan, refusing to come out. When do you plan to have a drink with your Little Senior Brother again, just like we did on the Kunlun Mountain peak back then, drinking slowly until we’re thoroughly drunk?”
Seeing his rare emotional display, it seemed that the unpleasant memories had also brought back the happy days of their childhood sweethearts.
Bai Lian’s voice echoed in her ears, word by word, slowly entering Qianse’s mind, but she remained silent.
After a long while, she finally responded, a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips, deflecting his words with practiced ease: “There will always be a chance.”
Knowing that her distracted words held no possibility of being fulfilled, Bai Lian naturally wasn’t going to let it slide.
He immediately took advantage of the situation.
“Since there’s always a chance, why not today?”
He slowly handed her the Soul-Summoning Banner, the artifact that guarded the Netherworld Palace.
Then, as if intentionally emphasizing, he bit down hard on certain words, a faint smile appearing on his lips, and a dark, bluish shadow flickering deep within his eyes: “Your Little Senior Brother will be waiting for you before midnight.”
At first listen, these words seemed innocuous, but Qianse knew perfectly well that Gu Huiniang’s soul would be cast into the hellfire at midnight, incinerating her until her soul scattered.
If she couldn’t bring back Qi Ziru’s soul, which was sealed in the dyeing vat, with the Soul-Summoning Banner before midnight, then all her efforts would be in vain.
So, Bai Lian’s words were, undoubtedly, implicitly setting a deadline for her!
Qianse hadn’t even opened her mouth, but Qing Xuan beside her couldn’t hold back.
“Little Senior Uncle, isn’t that a bit too harsh?” he grumbled, momentarily disregarding matters of seniority and etiquette.
He simply felt that Bai Lian was deliberately making things difficult: “There’s only an hour at most until midnight. How can we possibly make it back in time? You’re clearly asking for the impossible!”
Qing Xuan wasn’t stupid and naturally understood the hidden meaning in Bai Lian’s words.
His displeasure was one thing, but he was more curious about other matters.
He could feel that his Little Senior Uncle’s gaze when he looked at him, and his words directed at him, were all barbed and laced with thorns.
Was it because of the ambiguous rumors between him and his master? If so—
“You little brat, what right do you have to interrupt in the dignified Netherworld Palace?!” Bai Lian’s anger hadn’t fully dissipated, and now seeing Qing Xuan openly express dissatisfaction, the fading flames of his rage flared up again.
He couldn’t help but snap, raising his sharp eyebrows and pressing his thin lips together, his eyes piercing and gleaming with a hidden edge: “This Lord Yama always means what he says. How can there be a reason to change my words overnight? Besides, do you think accumulating merit is such a simple matter that you can just drag your feet?”
Qianse knew well that Bai Lian was right.
If Qing Xuan wanted to fulfill Rakshasa Gu Huiniang’s wish and accumulate merit for cultivating an immortal body, he would naturally have to pay a price.
Bai Lian’s hint already suggested he was being protective of her.
“Alright then,” she replied concisely, turning and heading out of the Netherworld Palace, unwilling to waste any more time.
Whether she could make it back before midnight, she wasn’t sure.
Now, she could only gamble.
Seeing his master’s hurried steps, Qing Xuan quickly trotted after her.
Unexpectedly, Bai Lian’s mocking voice came from behind them—
“You little brat, you’re a grown man, why are you following your master around all day like a little girl?”
With a hint of playful teasing, Bai Lian deliberately put on a stern face, his emotions unreadable as he glanced at Qing Xuan, his fickle thoughts elusive.
He simply pointed indifferently at the inkstone on the desk: “Come here and grind the ink for this Lord Yama!”
Qianse stopped and turned around, only to see Qing Xuan acting as if he hadn’t heard, his eyes wide and fixed on her.
Knowing that Bai Lian wanted to keep Qing Xuan behind, she comforted him, “Qing Xuan, time is short. You might as well stay here and grind ink for your Little Senior Uncle.”
“Master—”
Qing Xuan was utterly unwilling, lowering his head and looking at his toes with a somewhat awkward, deeply wronged expression.
To have him, a living person, stay in this Ninefold Purgatory of the Netherworld, accompanied by evil spirits and the King of Hell—what kind of situation was this? Moreover, this Little Senior Uncle clearly had a bad temper.
After his master left, who knew what chaotic methods he might devise to torture him.
For some reason, at the thought of the word “torture,” he couldn’t help but recall those dark days in the male brothel, witnessing firsthand the depraved and disgusting male clients tormenting the top courtesan.
He immediately shivered and instinctively pulled his neck in!
“What, you little brat, are you afraid this Lord Yama will eat you?” Bai Lian’s voice came again, laced with heavy sarcasm, as if he had seen through Qing Xuan’s worries.
Qianse looked at Qing Xuan’s reluctant expression and reached out to stroke his lowered head: “Don’t worry, even though your Little Senior Uncle has a bad temper, he’s not entirely unreasonable.”
In that instant, though her expression was calm, her usually indifferent eyes actually sparkled with grace as they moved, a faint smile blossoming slowly like a lotus emerging from water, offering warm and soft reassurance: “Once Master has done what needs to be done, I will definitely come back for you.”
Just like the day he awoke from a nightmare and opened his eyes to see the woman in red, who said with a trustworthy voice, “If you take me as your master, I will surely protect you completely.”
At that time, he believed her without hesitation, and today—
He naturally had no doubts!
After Qianse left, Qing Xuan stood by the desk, grinding ink listlessly.
Although Bai Lian held a wolf-hair brush, he didn’t make a single mark on the open official documents.
He simply watched Qing Xuan in silence, his gaze sinister as he constantly scrutinized him from head to toe.
Aware of the peculiar and unsettling gaze, Qing Xuan, adhering to the principle of “if the enemy doesn’t move, I don’t move,” remained completely calm, continuing to grind the ink as if sharpening a knife, making the inkstone squeak.
After a long while, Bai Lian’s eyes suddenly darkened, his expression tightening.
He abruptly threw the wolf-hair brush to the ground, not caring that the black ink stained the crimson brocade rug beneath.
“You little brat, you’ve only been with Qianse for six years, and yet Qianse actually transferred several hundred years of her cultivation to help you cultivate an immortal body…”
He mumbled vaguely, his words filled with obvious disdain and incomprehension, his dissatisfaction very clear.
Although Bai Lian’s voice was quite muffled, Qing Xuan stood close enough to hear most of it clearly.
“Little Senior Uncle, are you saying Master transferred many years of cultivation to me, just to help me achieve an immortal body?”
He found it somewhat unbelievable, yet it also felt like it could be true.
Thinking back, his master had indeed mentioned cultivating an immortal body, but not a word about transferring centuries of cultivation.
According to what the fox demon Hua Wuyan had said earlier, he, Qing Xuan, had only learned the superficial aspects of the Great Dao arts for at most six years, and just a few days ago, he couldn’t even handle a tree demon.
Yet, a few days later, he was able to capture Rakshasa.
Even he himself couldn’t understand his rapid progress, and now he finally realized that it was all because of his master.
Master was so good to him!
Earlier, he had even thought that his master was keeping him to use his body as nourishment.
Now, looking back, how could anyone like his master be willing to transfer centuries of cultivation to him, this “tonic,” just to help him achieve an immortal body?
Thinking this, and recalling his previous misunderstanding of her, Qing Xuan couldn’t help but feel immense guilt and shame.
“Nonsense! How else do you think your mortal body managed to reach the Netherworld Palace so smoothly?”
Bai Lian impatiently glanced at Qing Xuan, pointing at the wolf-hair brush on the ground, signaling him to pick it up.
Qing Xuan took a few steps, picked up the wolf-hair brush, and held it in his hand.
As he presented it to Bai Lian, he suddenly spoke without warning: “Is Little Senior Uncle jealous because Master treats me too well?”
He smiled broadly, unabashedly asking what he was already almost certain of in his heart: “Little Senior Uncle wouldn’t happen to have always liked my master, would he?!”
“Cough, cough!” Although he was also a straightforward person, Bai Lian never expected that someone would dare to speak to him so unreservedly, hitting him right where it hurt.
His handsome face immediately turned beet red, and he could only clear his throat to cover it up.
After coughing for a while, he stopped, narrowed his eyes, and gnashed his teeth, glaring at the smiling Qing Xuan, cursing bitterly, “You little brat!”
Seeing him like a mute eating bitter herbs, unable to express his suffering, Qing Xuan smiled even more triumphantly.
In truth, this Little Senior Uncle was much easier to read than his master.
Though his words were sharp, he always just cursed “little brat,” making his vocabulary quite limited.
His master, on the other hand, was always silent and spoke very little, making it impossible to fathom her thoughts.
In contrast to Qing Xuan’s smile, Bai Lian’s handsome face gradually flushed red, then turned livid, and then miraculously softened, not flaring up in anger as usual.
“Actually, I’ve long known that those rumors about you and her are false. She didn’t even fancy me back then, so how could she fancy a little brat like you?”
Looking at Qing Xuan with disdain, he firmly asserted himself verbally, deciding to use this method to deflate Qing Xuan’s smug smile and, incidentally, vent the long-held emotions in his heart: “Even if I liked her, so what? If she had loved me earlier, why would things be like this now?”
Qing Xuan indeed stopped smiling.
He had planned to inquire about his master’s past from the other senior uncles after returning to Yanshan, but now, with such a good opportunity, how could he not take advantage of it?
With a hint of probing, he carefully weighed his words: “Little Senior Uncle, I once heard some idle talk that my master was publicly rejected by someone—”
He hadn’t even finished his sentence when Bai Lian suddenly smiled slyly and interrupted him: “You little brat, you’re trying to trick me into talking, aren’t you?!”
As he spoke, he let out his usual scoff.
“Little Senior Uncle, although Qing Xuan is foolish and dull, and lacks spiritual aptitude, Master treats me like her own son.”
Deliberately emphasizing the phrase “own son,” Qing Xuan watched as Bai Lian’s expression slowly softened.
Only then did he continue with some indignation: “I just feel that person was too much for my master! If I ever find out who that person is, I will definitely find a way to avenge my master and clear her name!”
“Forget about it!”
He was not unaware that Qing Xuan was deliberately using this attitude to extract information, but Bai Lian narrowed his eyes, a fleeting, elusive glint crossing his mind.
After a while, the corner of his mouth curved into a strange, half-smile, and he spoke sarcastically, his tone deliberately aloof: “That person is the senior disciple under Venerable Changsheng, and now he holds the esteemed position of Sect Master of the Shenxiao Sect. If you, little brat, want to defeat him, you’ll need another hundred thousand years!”
“What if he’s powerful?”
Qing Xuan was enraged by the sarcastic and contemptuous tone in Bai Lian’s voice.
Even though he vaguely sensed that the person had an important background, Qing Xuan inexplicably found the courage of a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger: “Why did he have to publicly reject and humiliate my master, making her the laughingstock of the Six Realms?”
His words carried a torrent of indignation, like vast ocean waves crashing forward.
“Do you really want to know why?”
Bai Lian maintained a distracted expression, merely glancing at him with one eye, a strange, meaningful glint flashing within.
“Strictly speaking, this matter actually concerns you.”
“Concerns me?”
Qing Xuan mumbled in confusion, as if something like a tide was desperately trying to spread out from the depths of his mind.
But when he tried to grasp it, he found nothing.
“When you came to the Netherworld Palace, you saw the Stone of Three Lives by the River of Oblivion, didn’t you?”
Bai Lian stood up, looking down at Qing Xuan.
Seeing Qing Xuan nod, he then pulled out a smile, his sharp eyebrows raised high, making his piercing eyes seem unfathomably deep: “The Stone of Three Lives entwines the causes of past lives with the effects of this life, revealing a person’s past and present. Originally, anyone who saw their past and present on the Stone of Three Lives had to drink Meng Po’s soup before leaving the Ninefold Purgatory. However, this Lord Yama will make an exception for you, you little brat, today!”
