Chapter 46: Who Else Can Come to Save You?

That was when they were young, the first time they met at Lingxu Peak.

At that time, Jing Yueqin was still a quiet little girl, with a head of waist-length black hair that was enviably beautiful.

Although her face was extremely beautiful and she possessed a temperament that made people feel pity for her, Duan Hong did not like her.

She was too quiet, and also too shy.

Not interesting at all!

All she knew was to hide in Luoyue Peak all day, bringing a younger junior brother along to cultivate with their master.

Boring!

"Then I'll call you A-Qin, you can call me Sister Hong, from now on I'll look after you in the sect!"

"... D-Duan, Master told me to call you that."

"Tsk, what is Senior Uncle doing again! Forget it, just don't listen to her, remember! From now on, call me Sister Hong."

"Duan."

"Ah! So annoying! If you call me that again, don't follow me anymore!"

At that time, Duan Hong did not like her.

Later, when they grew a little older, their relationship actually eased quite a bit.

In the sect, they were two shining pearls, and also a pair of prideful talents favored by everyone.

At that time, they caused quite a bit of trouble together in the sect, and I don't know how many times they were lectured by Elder Shen, who was still considered young back then.

But they didn't care about those things at that time; they only wanted to enjoy a beautiful life.

They weren't quite best friends who told each other everything, but they were quite close friends.

Jing Yueqin would often sneak out of Luoyue Peak in the middle of the night to come to Lingxu Peak and chat with Duan Hong all night long.

"Duan, Duan! Let me in!"

"How many times have I told you, don't call me that... forget it, just like that, come in."

Regarding that rustic nickname, Duan Hong finally compromised.

Because she still liked her a little bit.

After that, on a certain day without any warning, everything changed.

On that day, news came from outside.

The Peak Master of Luoyue Peak was heavily injured while being besieged, and later went missing at Feiyun Ravine.

This matter was known to the whole world.

On the same day, the Divine Path Sect's Supreme Treasure disappeared, and the entire Beiming Divine Continent felt it.

Also known to the whole world.

Half a month later, Sect Leader Sikong Yu went to Feiyun Ravine to look for people, and later, for unknown reasons, forcibly attempted the Ascension Tribulation at the Ask Dao Late Stage.

The ascension failed, and he was heavily injured and dying...

Still known to the whole world!

For a time, the Divine Path Sect became the focus of the entire cultivation world, with countless eyes staring at its every move.

In this precarious time, I don't know how many people were hiding in the dark, waiting for an opportunity to act.

They were waiting, wanting to bite a piece of meat off this gasping giant beast, or even tear off a leg directly!

If not for Zuo Su, who was not yet the Peak Master of Lieyang Peak at the time, unexpectedly reaching the Heaven Realm, the situation would have been even worse.

And when, a month later, Duan Hong, who finally sensed something was wrong, broke into Luoyue Peak and saw Jing Yueqin again, she had already changed her appearance.

She sat quietly in front of her master's portrait, her spirit haggard, and she had lost more than half her weight.

The black hair that Duan Hong had once envied the most had also turned gray, like lifeless withered grass.

She turned her head and gave Duan Hong a sorrowful smile.

She said:

"Duan, my master is missing."

"I am going to find her."

At that moment, Duan Hong felt she was very pitiful.

Not long after that day, Jing Yueqin also went missing.

She left no letter, only hugged Duan Hong gently before leaving, and then disappeared alone.

Duan Hong had gone out to search, but the harvest was meager.

The only questionable piece of news was that a female cultivator similar to Jing Yueqin had entered Feiyun Ravine alone.

Other than that, there was no further word.

And during this period, the outsiders' coveting of the Divine Path Sect not only did not diminish but became even more rampant, and Duan Hong had to return to the sect early.

This difficult time lasted for nearly ten years, and it never improved.

The change came from an accident that no one expected.

The onlookers did not wait for the news of the Divine Path Sect being besieged, but instead waited for another piece of news.

The Disha Sect was tragically wiped out.

The orthodoxy was destroyed, and the sect was razed completely to the ground.

This time, it was a true shock to the entire world.

The Disha Sect was no nameless stray dog, but a first-rate sect whose strength was second only to the super-sects!

A cultivator who had Fallen into Demon carried a bell-shaped Supreme Treasure and single-handedly slaughtered the Disha Sect, wiping out everyone who was inside the sect at the time.

Not a chicken or dog was left, not a blade of grass survived, all reduced to scorched earth!

Countless gazes were cast once again toward the Divine Path Sect.

But this time, it was no longer greed, but had turned into fear and astonishment.

Because that Supreme Treasure was suspected to be the Divine Path Bell, which had been missing from the Divine Path Sect for a long time!

And the Sect Master of the Disha Sect was precisely one of the several people who had besieged Luoyue Shangren outside Feiyun Ravine.

Since the world could not find the trail of that cultivator who had Fallen into Demon, they could only attribute the mastermind behind the destruction of the Disha Sect to the Divine Path Sect...

In a sense, they had guessed the truth.

That day, Duan Hong saw Jing Yueqin again.

Separated by the fully activated sect-protecting Great Array.

This time, Jing Yueqin had completely changed her appearance.

Outside the mountain gate, her blood-red hair flew in the wind, and she was wrapped in Blood Demon Blade and Evil so thick it was nauseating.

She had gone into a cultivation deviation, and was a cultivator who had Fallen into Demon at the Wuxiang Realm.

After a long silence, Jing Yueqin did not speak in the end, but instead threw a weapon inside the Array.

It was the sect's lost Divine Path Bell.

"A-Qin!"

Before Jing Yueqin turned to leave, Duan Hong could no longer hold back and shouted at that blood-colored back:

"Where are you going!"

Come back!

The sect is your home, isn't it?

Where are you going?

The supposedly insane Jing Yueqin turned her head, gazed at the figure rushing out from the Array, and after her lips moved slightly, she vanished from where she stood.

"A-Qin!!!"

Duan Hong did not hear Jing Yueqin's words clearly, but she knew.

A-Qin was going to find her master...

She was not angry about being left behind.

Duan Hong only felt a heartache.

After that, the crisis of the Divine Path Sect was resolved, but Jing Yueqin had completely disappeared from the world.

She disappeared for a full two hundred years, without a single shred of news.

Duan Hong eventually gave up searching, thinking she would never have the chance to see her close friend again in this lifetime.

But seventy years ago, Jing Yueqin suddenly appeared.

As if nothing had ever happened, she returned to Luoyue Peak holding a white fox and succeeded to her master's position as Peak Master.

"Duan! You come and pet this tail too!"

Looking at the close friend who had reappeared before her, looking at her head of red hair, Duan Hong only felt that the stagnant time had finally begun to flow again.

She had changed, but it seemed she hadn't changed at all.

Jing Yueqin said nothing, so Duan Hong asked nothing.

She just nodded and said:

"Welcome back, and... you know I don't like small animals."

"I know! That's why I want you to experience this soft touch! Come, come, don't be shy!"

This time, Duan Hong didn't like her a little bit again.

There had been no accidents all these years, and Jing Yueqin had been very normal, so Duan Hong thought she had already walked out of the state of having Fallen into Demon.

But just a moment ago, when she was pushed into the Great Array of Lieyang Peak, Duan Hong realized she was wrong.

Wrong, completely.

Jing Yueqin had never walked out.

She was still trapped in that past full of despair and blood.

Unlike the others who did not know the situation, Duan Hong, who had witnessed everything, felt no fear in her heart, only sorrow.

The last time she had Fallen into Demon, she saved the precarious sect.

This time, she was doing it for the sect again.

Regardless of whether it was to make up for the mistakes her master had committed, Jing Yueqin had already given everything she had for the sect.

But, A-Qin...

"You saved us."

"Who can come to save you?"