Tao Ran hugged Qiang Wei and arrived at Penglai Mountain in one breath. Qiang Wei was dumbfounded. She held no resistance in front of Xuan Qing, but why did Xuan Qing capture her?
Qiangwei clearly remembered that Xuan Qing pushed He Wan away. She was sure that she was not mistaken and that Xuan Qing did indeed push He Wan away before rushing towards her. Qiang Wei said, "Sword Sovereign Xuan Qing, didn't you go to save your disciple? Why did you capture me?"
Of course it's because the person I was looking for was you. However, Tao Ran couldn't say this, because if he said it, he’d seem like an idiot. So he could only say with a cold face, "I was fooled."
Qiang Wei was taken aback for a moment. "Who fooled you?"
Tao Ran didn't speak, letting the mountain wind blow on his hair. He said, "Don't you know?"
When he asked this, Qiang Wei was dumbfounded. The entire world of immortal cultivation knew that Sword Sovereign Xuan Qing was of noble character and he never lied. So, Qiang Wei's first reaction was not assuming that Xuan Qing was talking nonsense, but that the Demon Emperor had done something to her without telling her. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that it was possible. She couldn't help feeling a little betrayed. It turned out that the Demon Emperor could even sacrifice her for the righteous woman who he had only met for a while?
Knowing that Xuan Qing was back, the Headmaster of the Penglai Mountain Sect brought the elders over, and when he saw Qiang Wei standing there, he said strangely, "Where is Master’s disciple, He Wan? Who is this demon woman?"
Tao Ran, with Xuan Qing's appearance, replied, "This Daoist is incompetent. I was unable to save the disciple, only being able to capture the left guardian of the Demon Palace. This Daoist has already met the Demon Emperor, and he wants to exchange her for my disciple. I believe that the Demon Emperor will not give up his Left Guardian for a mere Golden Core Stage girl."
Everyone nodded, and they all felt that as long as the Demon Emperor had no problems with his head, he would definitely exchange He Wan for Qiang Wei.
The Headmaster looked at Qiang Wei then said to Tao Ran, "Junior Brother Xuan Qing, please rest assured, Penglai will definitely take care of this demon woman."
There was a light breeze around Tao Ran. He thought in his heart that it would be better if he could watch Qiang Wei by himself. However, it would cause a fuss for a Mahayana monk to look after Qiang Wei. In order to prevent Xuan Qing’s elders from collapsing, he could only watch them take Qiang Wei away.
When Qiang Wei was taken away, she didn't say a word, but she was still relieved. If Xuan Qing was the person holding her, she would never have the chance to escape. However, it was not necessarily the case for others. Although her own cultivation was not as good as Xuan Qing, she could still fare well against others.
She was thinking of a way to escape because she didn't believe that the Demon Emperor would exchange He Wan for her. The Demon Emperor did something to make her replace He Wan and be brought back to Penglai Mountain by Xuan Qing. He intended to sacrifice her for He Wan, but this situation was exactly what she hoped to see— if, whether the Demon Emperor would exchange He Wan for her or not.
In fact, the Demon Emperor was innocent. No matter how bad he was, he would not sacrifice his Left Guardian for He Wan. Now things were like this, but he still had no plan to exchange Qiang Wei with He Wan. He liked that little girl from the righteous path, and while the Left Guardian had a chance to save herself, he might never have a chance to meet He Wan again if she was sent back.
Because Tao Ran did not follow the set route, the plot went askew. In the novel, Xuan Qing went to the Demon Palace to rescue He Wan on the same day, and because the Demon Emperor had prepared for a long time and Xuan Qing didn’t know where He Wan was locked up, he encountered a lot of setbacks and only severely injured the Demon Emperor until finally, the Demon Emperor took He Wan away and was able to escape.
The Demon Emperor, who was seriously injured, brought with him the female disciple from the righteous path. Watching each other and supporting each other along the way, He Wan gradually opened her heart to the Demon Emperor, and only when she was brought back to Penglai Mountain by Xuan Qing did she realize that she had long been deeply attached to the Demon Emperor.
But now, Tao Ran had grabbed Qiang Wei and left instead, doing nothing to the Demon Emperor. The Demon Emperor was not seriously injured and he didn’t escape with He Wan. He Wan, for now, had no feelings for the Demon Emperor and currently hated him to death, thinking that the despicable Demon Emperor might have done something to her master so her Master couldn’t personally save her.
She was locked up once again in the Demon Palace, thinking about how to escape every day.
Meanwhile, Qiang Wei was locked in the back mountain formation array by the Headmaster while several Penglai disciples guarded her.
Those young disciples, who had never been away from Penglai more than a few times when growing up, had no understanding of the complexity of the outside world and the sinisterness of the human heart. In Qiang Wei's eyes, they were just a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and they were still very well-behaved.
Although Qiang Wei’s spiritual powers were sealed, there were some things that could be done without much spiritual power, especially for her, the Left Guardian of the Demon Palace and Elder of the Acacia Sect.
The Acacia Sect could only be regarded as a second-rate sect in the world of immortal cultivation but its reputation was not worse than that of a first-rate sect like Penglai. It was just because Acacia Sect's practice and style of behavior were really different from the norm.
The acceptance of disciples from other schools firstly depends on aptitude and secondly on character. Only the Acacia Sect looked at the face first, and then at the qualifications after. Thus, there were so many handsome men and beautiful women in the Acacia Sect, and it was difficult to find anyone who was even a little ugly.
As the Elder of the Acacia Sect, Qiang Wei was naturally not ugly. Not only was she not ugly, she was also very beautiful. She was as beautiful and seductive as the other women in the Acacia Sect, but because she never had experience with men or women and was indifferent, she had a cold ascetic feeling to her.
The concentration of these two contradictory temperaments on one person gave her an unspeakable charm.
Qiang Wei glanced at the two disciples with her captivating eyes and sighed. "Am I going to die now?"
A normal man would not be willing to bully such a beauty, especially if the beauty was so scared and very pitiful. The two disciples couldn't help but comfort her. "As long as the Demon Emperor brings Junior Sister He Wan back, you will be fine."
"Really?" Qiang Wei said with a pair of tearful eyes. "But since Sword Sovereign Xuan Qing is so fierce, will he really let me go?"
The two disciples didn't know how to explain. Xuan Qing was not fierce, he simply didn't like talking. The two of them were scratching their heads and thinking about how to defend Xuan Qing while Qiang Wei over there was already crying pitifully inside the formation array.
"Don't cry, the Sword Sovereign is very nice." The disciple said, at a loss. "Sword Sovereign will not embarrass you."
Qiang Wei said with a face of unrequited love, "Rather than being tortured and killed by Xuan Qing, it's better for me to judge myself."
As she said that, her face changed and she suddenly turned pale, and then her beautiful body slowly fell down.
"Oh no! She committed suicide!"
The two disciples were startled. They quickly opened the formation array to go inside and see how Qiang Wei was doing. At that moment, Qiang Wei suddenly opened her eyes and exhaled a puff of pink smoke at them. The two disciples' eyes went dull and they fell asleep in a daze.
"Pfftt." Elder Qiang Wei stepped out of the formation and adjusted her skirt and said, "The disciples of these famous righteous sects are all little fools."
She unleashed her consciousness to feel her surroundings and found that there was no one around, so she restrained her breath and quietly escaped from the back mountain. The people of Penglai Mountain could have never expected that Qiang Wei would escape so quickly. Even if she wanted to escape, most people would think to stay for a few days first, right?
This left guardian was good. She had just been locked up, yet as soon as the elders walked away, she quietly made her escape.
Because no one anticipated such a thing, Qiang Wei was able to escape to the foot of the mountain smoothly.
She thought of escaping amidst the sea of people, making it difficult for the people of Penglai to catch her. Qiang Wei was rejoicing when suddenly, an ethereal sound coming from a guqin was heard in front of her.
The sound of the guqin was clear and mellow, easily making the listeners feel calm.
Qiang Wei not only thought it sounded awful, but felt that it was the scariest sound in the world. She walked a few steps forward, and saw a Daoist man in a blue, fitting robe sitting among the pine magnolias, playing a guqin.
Tao Ran didn’t stop from playing and didn't go to capture Qiang Wei. He just said, "It's better for this fellow Daoist not to move around randomly. There are monsters and beasts in Penglai Mountain, all of which are very dangerous."
Qiang Wei calmed down and said with a smile, "How can I be in danger if the Sword Sovereign is here?"
Tao Ran did not answer, and continued to perfectly act out his cold-hearted sword sovereign personality.
Qiang Wei was anxious, and logically reasoned that she had no conflict with Xuan Qing. She wanted to see He Wan return to Penglai Mountain more than Xuan Qing, so she said sincerely, "Sword Sovereign, you captured me to exchange for your disciple. This Junior can swear to Sword Sovereign that as long as Sword Sovereign releases this Junior, this Junior will return and will definitely send your disciple back."
Of course, Tao Ran knew that she was telling the truth, but he really couldn't send Qiang Wei back. So, he closed his eyes and continued to play the guqin, ignoring Qiang Wei's words.
Qiang Wei was anxious. If the person in front of her was not the famous Sword Sovereign Xuan Qing, she would have already cursed at the other.
In the end, she could only waste time with Xuan Qing like this until the people of Penglai Mountain realized that she had escaped and found her.
The Headmaster found Qiang Wei with a black face, and first politely said to Xuan Qing, "Thank you, Junior Brother Xuan Qing, for your help. Otherwise, this demon woman would have really run away."
Tao Ran also responded very politely, "It's about my disciple, so it could be considered as this Daoist also helping himself."
Then the Headmaster said to an elder, "The young disciples can't help being tempted, so it's up to you to watch the demon woman."
The elder took the order and returned to the array in the back mountain with Qiang Wei. This time, Qiang Wei indeed behaved for a few days and was particularly obedient inside the formation, staying motionless. The elder thought that Qiang Wei saw that she could not escape so he had no choice but to behave.
Unexpectedly, on a stormy night, Qiang Wei suddenly said, "This elder, you have not made any progress in your cultivation for the last hundred years, right?"
The elder's face turned blue and he angrily retorted, "Demon woman, don’t even think about deluding people with your lies. This Daoist is not a fledgling young man."
"This one is not deluding people with lies. Elder, you really haven't made any progress in a long, long time. This one can perceive the sorrow in your heart."
The elder didn't want to care about her, so he turned his head and closed his eyes to rest.
Qiang Wei continued, "Look at you, your hair is all white. If you don't manage to break through, perhaps there will only be a little of your life left. I am the Elder of the Acacia Sect. Do you not know what the Acacia Sect is most famous for?"
The elder’s heart was moved. He had heard that the best double cultivation technique in the world was that of the Acacia Sect’s. While the people in the righteous path had always been quite disgusted with the Acacia Sect, double cultivation was also a good way to break through the cultivation base, and it had no side effects unlike using a pill to achieve a breakthrough.
Qiang Wei smiled charmingly at the elder. "What do you think of this little girl? Can I catch your sight? How about having a good time together on such a night?"
The elder started to have evil thoughts in his heart and he almost couldn’t resist at that moment. With sweat on his forehead, he said: "Demon woman...don't think you’ll confuse this Daoist."
"Whether it is confusing or not, you can tell at a glance." Qiang Wei threw a jade slip to the elder and said, "This is the double cultivation method specially used by the Acacia Sect to break through a bottleneck. Only dual cultivation with an Acacia Sect elder will be effective. This little girl is willing to help Elder break through, I only hope that Elder can save the life of this little girl."
Penglai wasn’t planning to kill Qiang Wei in the first place, and coupled with this temptation, the elder was demonized for a while. Suppose he dual cultivates with this demon woman and breaks through his bottleneck; who would find out about this interaction with her afterwards?
Qiang Wei urged again, "You are an elder of Penglai Sect. I am just a person whose cultivation base has been sealed by the Sword Sovereign. What can I do to you? Or... do you not believe in the Sword Master’s cultivation base?"
The cultivation base that Xuan Qing personally sealed was naturally very reassuring. The elder realized that if he couldn’t pass through this bottleneck in his cultivation, he would continue to suffer from chaotic spiritual power, so he thought it might be better to dual cultivate with her. Considering these, he opened the formation, walked towards Qiang Wei, and stretched out his hand to hold Qiang Wei's shoulder.
Qiang Wei lovingly chuckled. Her charming eyes were like silk as she said, "Good Brother, why don’t you come and kiss this one’s mouth?"
The elder seemed impatient, and like a monkey, he anxiously rushed closer. Qiang Wei's eyes suddenly widened and both her eyes turned into an enticing pink. The elder only felt that a flower had appeared in front of him and he had fallen into a place of bliss.
Qiang Wei looked at the elder who fell under her feet and said with disdain, "You’re so old and ugly yet you still want to dual cultivate with this beautiful girl? Shame on you."
This time, she didn't dare to walk the same path as last time. She changed her way and hurried down the mountain. When she reached the foot of the mountain, she didn't see anyone blocking her. Thinking that she finally escaped death, she looked up to the sky and laughed silently. Suddenly, she heard a faint sound of the guqin from the sea. As if she had been punched, her smile turned stiff and distorted on her face.