Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure Chapter 109

"This junior did not mean to offend you, Senior. Farewell!"

Meeting Qin Meran's cold gaze, Tang Ping'er instinctively hid the storage ring she had just looted from Daoist Sanquan. She spun on her heel, prepared to flee.

But before she could take a single step, a suffocating pressure locked onto her. The air turned to lead. Tang Ping'er’s face went pale, and she trembled violently, looking back with wide, terrified eyes.

"Se... Senior..." she stammered, shrinking back. "This junior merely passed by this place unintentionally. I beg Senior to let this lowly girl go! If there is a chance in the future, this lowly girl is willing to serve you like an ox or a horse to repay Senior's kindness!"

As a disciple of the Joyous Union Sect, Tang Ping'er was a master of performance. Her pitiful posture and tear-filled eyes made her look like nothing more than a harmless, beautiful rogue cultivator caught in a storm.

Qin Meran sneered.

"You dare to disguise yourself before this Venerable One?"

With a cold snort, Qin Meran shattered the illusion. Tang Ping'er's aura flickered, revealing the unmistakable, cloying spiritual signature of the Joyous Union Sect.

Qin Meran didn't bother to look at her further. She glanced disdainfully at the corpse of Daoist Sanquan, then extended a demanding hand toward Tang Ping'er.

"Hand it over."

"Senior..." Tang Ping'er clutched the ring tighter, her knuckles white.

"This Venerable One is merely curious," Qin Meran said flatly. "What is it that you demonic sect disciples have schemed so desperately for? Let me see it, and perhaps I will let you keep your life."

"I..." Tang Ping'er bit her lip.

She genuinely didn't know what was inside. Daoist Sanquan had been tight-lipped about the 'great opportunity.' But facing the cold, imperious gaze of an Azure Mystic Peak Master, she had no leverage. With a heavy heart, she placed the storage ring into Qin Meran’s hand.

Qin Meran swept her Divine Sense through the ring.

A moment later, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Just for this... trash?" She looked at Tang Ping'er with genuine baffled contempt. "Demonic disciples are truly savage. You slaughter each other over such meager scraps?"

Trash?

Tang Ping'er blinked, confused. Before she could speak, Qin Meran tossed the ring back to her like it was a dirty rag. Tang Ping'er scrambled to catch it and frantically scanned the contents.

Her heart sank.

Blood-cultivation materials. Spirit stones. A few decent artifacts. But nothing earth-shattering. Nothing that justified three years of planning or the betrayal of a Mahayana-level sect.

Where is it? Where is the great opportunity?

Before she could process the emptiness, a furious roar tore through the sky. A massive figure crashed into the alleyway, blocking her escape.

"Wretch! I knew you were treacherous!"

It was Cao Tieniu, the Deputy Gang Leader of the Four Seas Gang. He glared at Tang Ping'er, his killing intent boiling, before his eyes snapped to the woman in white standing nearby.

"Peak Master Qin?" Cao Tieniu froze, his anger momentarily checked by caution. "The Azure Mystic Sacred Land has come to rob my Four Seas Gang as well?"

Qin Meran waved a hand, her expression bored. "This Venerable One is merely passing by. Continue your petty squabbles."

She turned to leave, her robes flowing with elegant indifference.

"Senior! You cannot burn the bridge after crossing the river!" Tang Ping'er suddenly shrieked, dropping to her knees.

"What?" Qin Meran frowned, stopping mid-step.

"I only killed Sanquan to atone for my crimes against the Four Seas Gang!" Tang Ping'er cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Qin Meran. "But Senior, you took the treasure I intended to return! You took the item and left me here to die! How can you be so cruel?"

The accusation was delivered with such conviction that even Cao Tieniu hesitated. He stared at Qin Meran, his suspicion hardening into certainty.

"Nonsense!" Qin Meran snapped. "When did I take anything? How could this Venerable One possibly covet the garbage in your ring?"

Tang Ping'er cowered, too terrified to argue further, but the damage was done.

"If it were ordinary items, naturally Peak Master Qin would not care," Cao Tieniu said slowly, his voice dropping to a dangerous rumble. "But what if it were half a stalk of Immortal Medicine, which my Four Seas Gang spent decades searching for?"

Immortal Medicine?

Qin Meran froze. Even she, a high-ranking cultivator of a Sacred Land, felt a jolt of greed. Immortal Medicine was something even Supremes fought over.

"Stop this madness," Qin Meran recovered quickly. "I took nothing."

"Of course, of course," Cao Tieniu said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "But this matter is too grave to leave to words."

Without warning, Cao Tieniu lunged forward, grabbing Tang Ping'er by the throat. His spiritual energy surged, piercing her mind.

Soul Search!

Tang Ping'er screamed, a raw, tearing sound, as her memories were ripped open and displayed for Cao Tieniu. He saw everything: Sanquan’s plan, Lu Yutian’s success, the betrayal, and finally... Qin Meran inspecting the ring.

Critically, he saw Tang Ping'er’s conviction. She hadn't seen Qin Meran take anything, but she knew the treasure had been there. Lu Yutian had it. Sanquan had it. The only unaccounted variable was Qin Meran.

"Bitch!"

Cao Tieniu threw the broken, drooling Tang Ping'er to the ground. He turned to Qin Meran, his eyes burning with fury.

"Peak Master Qin. My gang may be small, but to rob us of Immortal Medicine in broad daylight..." He stepped forward, the ground cracking under his boots. "Is this not bullying the weak?"

"I. Did. Not. Take. It." Qin Meran enunciated every word, her patience fraying.

"You are the Peak Master of Ink Scroll Peak. A scholar of the sages," Cao Tieniu said through gritted teeth. "You wouldn't want to tarnish your reputation, would you? Return the medicine, and I will bury this matter. No one will know."

"I cannot return what I do not have!" Qin Meran shouted, her aura flaring. "This Venerable One does not lie! Do not test me!"

"You refuse to admit it?"

"If I had taken it, I would say so! What could you possibly do about it? Do you dare attack me?"

Cao Tieniu ground his teeth so hard they nearly shattered.

Too much! This is too much bullying!

But in the end, the weight of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land was too heavy. He could not attack a Peak Master without bringing annihilation upon his gang.

"The Azure Mystic Sacred Land is indeed overbearing," Cao Tieniu spat. He turned and stormed away, his voice carrying back on the wind. "But this grudge is settled! The matter of the Immortal Medicine will not end here!"

Qin Meran watched him go, her chest heaving with indignation. For the first time in her life, she felt the bitter sting of being wrongfully accused. The cognitive dissonance was deafening—she, the righteous scholar, painted as a common thief?

While Qin Meran stewed in her misplaced outrage, the true culprit was busy.

Listening-to-Rain Pavilion.

Gu Xiu sat before a dense array of materials. He had spent days gathering reagents, burning through his accumulated wealth. Everything was ready.

He picked up the withered branch.

Earth Cloud Sprout.

A true Immortal Medicine. In this lower realm, it would never grow, but its vitality was potent enough to defy death. It was one of only two known substances capable of repairing a damaged soul.

The Four Seas Gang had hidden it well. But thanks to One Glance Ten Thousand Years, it now belonged to Gu Xiu.

However, curing the soul was only half the battle. The true enemy was the Dao Injury.

An injury from the Great Dao was not a wound of flesh or spirit; it was a conceptual scar. Even if the soul was mended, the Dao Injury would remain, a parasite clinging to his existence, preventing him from ever advancing.

But Gu Xiu had a plan. He had read a theory once, in a forbidden text. A speculation on how to treat the incurable.

He placed the Earth Cloud Sprout into his alchemy furnace. He ignited the talisman fire.

He wasn't just making a pill. He was preparing for surgery on his own soul.

Meanwhile, at the City Lord’s Mansion.

Sang Shoudao sat alone in the moonlit courtyard, a cup of wine in his hand. He was the silent watcher of Cloud Firmament City, an old relic of a bygone era.

His Divine Sense retracted from the city, and the frown on his face smoothed into a melancholic smile.

"Kid," he murmured to the empty air. "I know you avoided me because you didn't want to bring trouble to this old man."

He set down his wine cup and reached into the void, pulling out a massive, unadorned longbow. He ran a weathered hand along the string.

"But you forget... these hands of mine."

His eyes gleamed, shedding the dullness of age for a sharp, martial light.

"Back in the day... they could draw a great bow."

He stood up, his spine straightening, the years falling away from his shoulders. He downed his wine in a single gulp and began to chant, his voice resonating with the power of a general singing his final war song:

"Who says life cannot return to youth?" "Before the gate, flowing water can still go west!" "Do not sing of white hair..." "And the yellow rooster!"

Tonight, the dormant City Lord would act. He would live up to his name: Sang Shoudao. Guardian of the Way.