04
Darkness pressed down all around us. I gathered some dry grass in the cave and spread it out for Mother to sleep on.
A few wild berries and a little spring water were enough to quiet our hunger for the time being.
There was no shortage of game in the forest, but I feared the Yun family would come after us, so I didn't dare light a fire to cook.
It wasn't a peaceful night. The harsh cawing of crows echoed from all directions; someone was surely searching deep in the forest.
Mother's frail body couldn't take it. Sick and weak, she drifted in and out of consciousness, then lay completely still.
I touched her burning forehead and decided to go out and find some medicinal herbs.
“Phu Ngoc, don't go…”
Mother clutched at me groggily, her eyes full of worry.
“It's all right. I'll be back soon.”
I pushed aside the branches at the cave entrance, draped myself in a black cloth I'd found along the way, and slipped outside.
I'd taken only a few steps when a hazy figure suddenly appeared in the moonlight.
He was a celestial-looking man, with a dark-red cinnabar mark between his brows, long white hair falling past his shoulders, and mist swirling all around him.
Strangely, I recognized him as an immortal at once.
An immortal could crush me, a mere worm, with the slightest movement of his hand.
The immortal said nothing, only stood above me and looked down.
【Empress La Phu Ngoc possesses a body that can contain all things. This is a sacred dual-cultivation physique; her body alone can purge impure energy and demonic poison.】
【If I can bring her under my control, she'll make a top-grade cultivation cauldron, helping the peerless prodigy of my sect break through his bottleneck.】
【If she won't come with me today, I'll kill that half-dead woman in the cave and sever her worldly attachments.】
A bone-chilling killing intent radiated from the immortal as he coldly reached out toward me.
“I am Trường Diễn Tiên Tôn. Little girl, do you wish to cultivate immortality?”
Beneath the moon, I met his desireless, emotionless gaze and curled my lips into a faint smile.
“I do.”
Right then and there, I became a disciple of Trường Diễn Tiên Tôn. While he was in a good mood, I asked him to give Mother some silver and farmland to support herself.
The immortal was generous and agreed to everything. He even gave her a pill called “Hồi Xuân Đan” to restore her health.
I returned to the cave and woke Mother, carefully smoothing her graying hair.
“Mother, I have to go.”
After Mother took the immortal pill, the cloudiness in her eyes cleared in an instant, and color gradually returned to her cheeks.
When she heard I was leaving, she panicked and held me tightly, asking again and again where I was going.
“I'm going with the immortal to make a name for myself. I won't let anyone bully me again.”
“Mother, take good care of yourself and wait for me to come back.”
Slivers of moonlight fell across my face, making it shine.
I had never studied and knew nothing of profound principles, but I'd once heard a storyteller in town speak of the words “bide your time.”
“Those who bide their time can soar high; those who bloom in haste fade early.”
My father was dead, my uncles in La Gia Village were dead, and Mother was on the verge of dying.
The pursuers were growing stronger by the day. I absolutely couldn't just sit back and wait to die.
I couldn't be a virtuous wife, a favored concubine, or a cultivation cauldron.
An empress? I really wanted to try being an empress, to make this goddamn dream come true.
If I really learned immortal arts, I'd twist the head off every pursuer and feed it to the dogs.
Especially that old bastard out there. Hmph!
05
Mother sat stunned in the darkness for a long while.
She was just a country woman, and this was the first time she'd heard her daughter speak of “great ambitions.”
I put the silver and the land deeds in her hands, then knelt and knocked my head loudly against the ground several times.
As I left, Mother staggered after me.
Dressed in coarse clothes, she didn't dare offend the immortal's eyes, and could only stay far away to bow three times on her knees and nine times with her head.
“Thank you, Immortal, for taking my daughter Phu Ngoc as your disciple. Thank you, Immortal…”
Trường Diễn Tiên Tôn gently stroked the top of her head and pulled a silver thread from her life-gate acupoint. The thread vanished into thin air.
The woman bowing before him went still. After a long while, she raised her head and looked at me vaguely a few times.
“Go. Fine fields and a fine house await you east of the city.”
“As you command.”
Mother nodded and turned away. She no longer remembered who I was.
As for me, I stood motionless in the darkness, head bowed and silent.
Seeing this, a trace of surprise crossed Trường Diễn Tiên Tôn's normally expressionless face.
“Don't you resent me?”
At that, I bowed respectfully and answered with a smile:
“Disciple will remember Master's teaching: those who cultivate immortality must leave worldly attachments behind to focus their minds.”
From the time I was little, my uncles in La Gia Village had praised me as clever and smooth-tongued, someone who could easily put others at ease and make them lower their guard.
Tonight was no different. Seeing how obedient I was, Trường Diễn Tiên Tôn was very pleased.
He cast an immortal spell on me, then rode the wind away.
I followed him silently, feeling the icy wind and struggling to suppress the killing intent surging within me.
06
Only after we reached Trường Lạc Tông did the Immortal Venerable notice how disheveled I looked.
He casually waved a hand. A flowing blue robe settled over me, and a small, exquisite jade hairpin gathered my long black hair neatly in place.
“This makes you look gentler, more like a celestial maiden.”
“La Phu Ngoc, your aptitude is mediocre and your constitution poor. Being able to cultivate immortality is already a great blessing. Don't grow arrogant just because you have my backing.”
“For now, calm your mind and cultivate your energy here in the Alchemy Hall. Once you reach Foundation Establishment, I'll teach you the dual-cultivation method.”
Though he wasn't at ease about leaving me unsupervised, Trường Diễn Tiên Tôn was preparing to break through, and he could no longer put off going into seclusion.
Cultivation is divided into seven stages: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Great Ascension, and Great Emperor.
Each stage is further divided into three phases: early, middle, and late.
Trường Diễn Tiên Tôn was five hundred years old, the youngest mid-stage Great Ascension cultivator in the Nine Provinces.
After he hurried away, I drew a dagger from my sleeve, grabbed my long black hair, and hacked it off.
Locks of hair fell across my shoulders, and the jade hairpin shattered on the ground.
Under the bewildered gazes of the sect's menial disciples, I strode out of the Alchemy Hall and headed straight for Sword Peak.
When the Sword Peak elder learned I was a disciple Immortal Venerable Chang Yan had brought back, he immediately took me in.
【I heard the female emperor La Phu Ngoc uses Thương Long as her mount. If I seize that opportunity before she comes into her own, I’ll have Thương Long and can reach the threshold of Great Emperor!】
That was the eldest senior brother of Sword Peak. Ever since I joined the peak, he’d been watching me like a hawk, never leaving me alone.
【La Phu Ngoc has a body that can contain all things. If I take her as my cultivation partner and dual cultivate with her, immortality won’t be far off!】
This was the second senior brother of Sword Peak. He was always at my side, showering me with sweet words and doing everything he could to please me.
【She really does have true phoenix blood. I’ll make her use her phoenix true flame to forge a peerless divine weapon for me, so I can make a name for myself throughout the Nine Provinces!】
This was the third senior brother of Sword Peak. Every few days, he’d come pressure me to forge spiritual weapons.
I focused solely on sword cultivation, keeping my face blank as I slammed the door on these pursuers.
Later, thanks to my Heavenly Spirit Root, it took me five months to reach Qi Refining, one year to reach Foundation Establishment, and three years to form a Golden Core.
My cultivation speed was unmatched.
The Sword Peak elder appointed me the peak’s chief disciple. My senior brothers, having gained nothing from me, turned away in fury.
From then on, my days at Sword Peak were far from pleasant.
During sparring practice, my senior brothers at the Golden Core stage ganged up on me, beating me until I was covered in injuries day after day and nearly damaging my foundation.
I swallowed the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, forced myself to my feet amid everyone’s jeers, and climbed to the mountaintop to keep practicing my swordsmanship.
The more they tormented me, the less I would yield.
They swung their swords a thousand times; I swung mine ten thousand.
They rose at the fifth watch; I rose at the second.
Even when the sword hilt rubbed my hands raw and bloody, I refused to lose!
07
In my fifth year at Chang Le Sect, that spring, Immortal Venerable Chang Yan was still in seclusion, trying to break through to the late stage of Great Ascension.
The sect opened a secret realm, and I followed my senior brothers from Sword Peak inside to gain experience.
Left at the back of the group, I lowered my head to hide the arrogance, hunger, and killing intent written all over my face.
The moment had come!
“The disciples of our peak work hard every day and never slack off. Why should that woman get the position of chief disciple? She must have used underhanded tricks.”
“Think being a woman means she’ll get special treatment? What a joke! We’re not about to go easy on her.”
“What a bore. I was only sucking up to her a few days ago for fun. She really thinks too highly of herself.”
They all hurled insults at once, laughing and jeering in concert.
By the time the eldest senior brother realized something was wrong, I had already drawn my sword and killed three of them.
Fresh red blood slid down my blade. I kicked three heads, their eyes still open in death, over the riverbank.
“Bitch, how dare you kill someone!”
The eldest senior brother trembled all over, his eyes bloodshot, as he drew his sword and charged straight at me.
I raised my sword with effortless grace to parry, then counterattacked and cut off another head.
By then, at the late Golden Core stage and with superior swordsmanship, I had far surpassed every inner disciple at Sword Peak.
Not one of them would get away!
“Trying to run?”
“Why not join forces and kill me today? Steal my Heavenly Spirit Root, devour my body that can contain all things, and draw out my phoenix true flame? Then all the opportunities will be yours.”
“Don’t you want to ascend?”
I spun my sword through a flashy flourish and taunted them in a low voice.
At the word “ascend,” those who had been about to retreat stopped in their tracks.
Greed gleamed in their eyes. They glanced at one another, and every one of them wavered.
“Bitch, die!”
“Bitch, how dare you kill a fellow disciple? Heaven and earth won’t tolerate this!”
“Bitch, may you die a horrible death!”
Ha. A horrible death?
Even if I die a horrible death, I’ll make sure every pursuer dies with their eyes open at my hands!
【Warning! Warning! Pursuit failed!】
【Warning! Warning! Pursuit failed!】
【Warning! Warning! Pursuit…】
There were more than twenty disciples at Sword Peak. It took me three days and three nights to kill them all.
In the deepest part of the secret realm, corpses lay everywhere. I lay motionless in a pool of blood, staring up at the pitch-black night sky.
Every meridian in my body was shattered, and my flesh hung in tatters from broken bones. It hurt a little.
But now, the true phoenix bloodline in my body began to take effect.
Sparks shot from my dantian, then became a raging fire that enveloped me.
As the first light of dawn appeared, I was reborn from the ashes.
I wiped the dried blood from my eyelids, let out a few breaths of foul qi, and felt my skin and body grow tougher. Joy filled my heart.
“Nascent Soul! Nascent Soul! Ha ha ha…”
The pursuers died horribly beneath my sword. I devoured their spiritual energy, gaining many new abilities.
Beast taming, lightning summoning, puppet arts, water control, formation arrays, alchemy…
I had all kinds of skills—none mastered, but a wide variety—and they made me stronger.
More than twenty Foundation Establishment and Golden Core disciples traded their lives for me to break through to Nascent Soul. Their deaths were worth it!
The dark path, the dark path—I really had fallen to it.
When the sky was fully light, I used my shattered Qingfeng sword to prop myself up, then gathered everyone’s bodies into my bag of holding.