Chapter 135: Deep Master-Disciple Bond

Inside the Scripture Pavilion, the silence was as deep as an abyss.

The figure in the blue brocade robe slowly turned around. A faint, enigmatic smile hung on his youthful face, and his deep cyan eyes glowed in the dark like twin wisps of nether ghost fire.

Gu Qing's entire body went rigid, his pupils contracting violently.

"M-Master?!!"

His voice trembled, as if squeezed from the very depths of his throat.

Jiuyou tilted his head slightly and gave a faint laugh. "Heh, good disciple, so you still recognize your master."

Gu Qing's face instantly turned ghastly pale. A terror from the depths of his soul seized him—the lingering trauma of the day-and-night torment he suffered when the restriction was planted years ago, the instinct of submission carved into his very bones.

Gritting his teeth, he shot backward. His entire body transformed into a streak of cyan light, rushing toward the Scripture Pavilion's main doors like an arrow loosed from a bow.

"Good disciple, you think you can escape?"

Jiuyou did not chase him. He merely stood where he was, his face expressionless.

The instant the cyan light burst through the doors, a massive golden radiance suddenly flared above the Scripture Pavilion. A giant golden bowl descended from the sky, slamming down to envelop the entire building and a hundred-zhang radius around it. Golden light flowed across its thick walls, resembling an overturned mountain of gold.

Caught off guard, Gu Qing slammed heavily into the golden wall of light with a resounding thud, his cyan form stirring up ripples of spiritual energy. He was violently repelled, stumbling as he hit the ground.

"This is... a high-grade ancient treasure!"

He looked up at the giant golden bowl, horrified beyond measure. The oppressive aura radiating from the artifact was as heavy as a mountain, firmly locking him inside. Even with wings, he could not escape.

"Good disciple, aren't you happy to see your master?"

Jiuyou's voice drifted from the depths of the Scripture Pavilion, each word more hoarse and eerie than the last. It echoed within the golden bowl like the wail of a deadly ghost.

Gu Qing looked back in despair.

In the darkness, eerie streaks of cyan light flared. Plume after plume of ghostly cyan mist surged from the Scripture Pavilion, shattering the roof tiles and spreading out beneath the golden bowl's dome. The mist roiled, its chilling aura biting to the bone as it slowly closed in on him.

Gu Qing did not hesitate. Earthen light flashed at his fingertips, enveloping him in a yellow glow before he plunged into the ground. In an instant, he vanished without a trace.

The golden bowl only covered the surface; the earth below remained unsealed. Using an earth evasion art, Gu Qing traveled rapidly underground, escaping over a hundred li away in just a few breaths.

He probed backward with his senses and saw that Jiuyou had not pursued him.

He let out a long sigh of relief, his back already drenched in cold sweat.

"Old thing, just you wait," Gu Qing whispered through gritted teeth, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. "You stole my true fire, planted a soul restriction on me... As long as I make it out alive today, once my cultivation reaches grand completion, I will make you pay this blood debt in full!"

He was just about to manifest an escape light to fly away when an icy laugh suddenly drifted down from above.

"Heh, good disciple, who are you going to make pay a blood debt?"

Gu Qing's entire body went rigid, and he jerked his head up. That blue-robed figure was already standing in front of him, less than three zhang away. The youthful face and icy eyes were looking down at him.

"You..."

Gu Qing felt his soul and spirit scatter. With no time to think, he surged upward, attempting to transform into a streak of cyan light and shoot toward the sky.

But his escape light never formed.

A gray light flashed before his eyes, and an icy hand clamped around his throat like an iron vice. Frigid energy flooded madly into his meridians from that palm, freezing his dantian in the blink of an eye. His Nascent Soul was encased in ice, his magical power ground to a halt, and he could not move an inch.

Jiuyou wore a cold expression as his five fingers slowly tightened. Gu Qing struggled desperately in his grasp, his face turning from pale to red, and from red to purple, his throat issuing hoarse, choking gasps.

"Good disciple, are you that excited to see your master? Your face is completely red."

Jiuyou's tone was gentle, as if he were warmly exchanging pleasantries with a junior.

"If you are this excited, then why did you run? Did your master do something wrong?"

Gu Qing completely gave up struggling. Having followed Jiuyou for nearly twenty years, he understood this demonic overlord far too well—the gentler his demeanor, the more murderous his intent. Begging for mercy right now might offer a sliver of hope, just like at Tianyuan Mountain back then; resisting was a guaranteed dead end.

He spoke hoarsely, his voice broken and intermittent from the lack of oxygen.

"M-Master... this disciple is willing to follow you. I am willing to open my soul and let you plant a restriction, I only beg you to spare my life. I will work like a horse and toil like an ox for you..."

Jiuyou tilted his head and gave a faint grin. "Good disciple, I knew I didn't misjudge you. You are a good child who knows how to repay a debt of gratitude."

His voice was so gentle it made the hair on the back of one's neck stand up. "Since you've said so much, this master will reluctantly accept you. Heh... Rest assured, good disciple. Don't move. Today, this master will take you along to glimpse the immortal path, seek eternal life, and tread the Great Dao!"

Gu Qing's eyes widened, a terrible premonition seizing him.

A sudden, agonizing pain erupted from his dantian. A Cyan Chain had silently pierced into his core, locking his Nascent Soul in a death grip. The chill spread, and his Nascent Soul was instantly frozen solid.

Gu Qing opened his mouth to say something, but only let out a faint whimper.

Jiuyou casually stored the corpse away and tossed the Nascent Soul into the Nether Capital Gate.

The entire process took only a brief moment.

In the distance, two streaks of escape light—one white, one yellow—approached rapidly, soon arriving less than a hundred li away.

The light faded, revealing a white-haired old man and a middle-aged man. They were the last two surviving Nascent Soul cultivators of the Azure Sun Sect. Sensing the powerful fluctuations of the Golden Luo Bowl, they had rushed over.

Seeing the blue-robed figure place Gu Qing's corpse into a storage pouch from afar, the two men's expressions changed drastically.

"Who are you! To dare commit murder on the territory of my Azure Sun Sect!" the white-haired old man shouted furiously, the spiritual light around him surging wildly. The middle-aged man's face was livid as he covertly prepared his magical treasure.

But they did not attack rashly. Although Gu Qing was only at the Nascent Soul Early Stage, he was no ordinary figure. For this person to kill him in such a short amount of time, he had to be at least an expert at the Middle Nascent Soul Stage, if not stronger. As two veteran Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivators, they were not necessarily a match.

But just because they did not dare to attack did not mean Jiuyou would hesitate.

Jiuyou finished putting away Gu Qing's corpse and slowly turned around.

He swept a glance over the two men, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at two corpses.

"The Azure Sun Sect?" he said softly, his voice perfectly calm. "Perfect. That saves me the trouble of hunting you down one by one."

Before his voice had even faded, his entire body transformed into a streak of gray escape light, instantly arriving right in front of the two men.

They had absolutely no time to react. The gray light faded, cyan light flashed, and heaven and earth returned to a dead silence.

Nascent Soul corpses ×2.