CHAPTER 194: CHAPTER 159 REALLY ONLY ONE ROOM LEFT_2

Looking at the scene before her, her eyes immediately turned cold. Her ears flushed red as she wrapped the quilted blanket around herself, retreating step by step until she was against the wall. She stared unblinkingly at Su Bei, "Master... what are you doing!!"

"Waking you up! We’re returning to the Sect today."

Su Bei turned, waved his hand, and walked out of the room. He paused at the doorway and suddenly asked, "Hmm, have you grown bigger?"

What had grown bigger? Xiao Ruoching was baffled. She instinctively glanced down at her open shirt.

Then, a sharp scream echoed through the room, "Master!!!"

The sun had yet to rise; it was still early. A hazy mist of snow permeated the surroundings, half-concealing everything, like smoke rising from jade. Amidst the swirling mist, figures could be vaguely discerned, like scattered leaves dotting the landscape.

Su Bei and his three companions walked at a steady pace towards the Sword Sect. Since they had taken the main road on their way here, Su Bei wanted a change of scenery and chose a winding side path for their return. No one else was around; only the faint, occasional chirping of birds could be heard.

Su Bei looked at his prodigal disciple. She still wore a cold expression and remained silent. He spoke in a low voice, "My dear disciple, this state of yours won’t do! Do you remember when you first became my disciple? You would go for days without sleep! You trained day after day, why start slacking off now? For your sake, your Master dares not slack off. No matter how tired I am..."

Xiao Ruoching’s face flushed red, her small, fair hands clenched tightly. Listening to Su Bei’s words, she subconsciously tightened the moon-colored Qing Luo dress she wore. Recalling the scene in the inn earlier, her ears flushed. She kicked at the snow in front of her, deliberately trying to send it into Su Bei’s collar. Although she suspected her Master was just trying to make conversation, she had to admit that his words did reflect her current state to some extent.

A month ago, how could she have imagined a day would come when she’d go out with him to enjoy the lantern festivities?

Reborn into this life, her current state was indeed somewhat lax.

She had assumed he was just letting her cultivate freely, without offering any guidance. She never imagined he had been silently concerned about her cultivation, observing her in secret all along!

As Xiao Ruoching thought of this, a subtle, indescribable warmth touched her heart. Meanwhile, Su Bei’s voice continued to drone on in her ears, "My dear disciple! You must understand, what is it that Sword Cultivators in this world cultivate? They cultivate Sword Qi! Sword Qi is essentially that drive, that spirit. For your Master, it is the unwavering determination to revive the Sword Sect. Some Sword Cultivators parade themselves as Sword Immortals, oblivious to the fact that they are merely weeds swaying in the wind, toppling with every gust, having forgotten their very foundation!"

Seeing Su Bei speak such shameless, grandiose words with a perfectly straight face, Xiao Ruoching inwardly pursed her lips. However, she still nodded seriously and said with conviction, "Yes, Master. You are the last pillar of the Sword Sect."

Su Bei fell silent.

Xiao Ruoching, seeing Su Bei suddenly go quiet, frowned slightly, puzzled. Then, under her incredulous gaze, Su Bei suddenly covered her mouth with his hand and dragged her into a nearby snowdrift.

Xiao Ruoching’s eyes widened instantly, her heart leaping into her throat.

Could it be Master intends to... do *that* to me here?

Has he lost control?

Just as her mind raced with wild thoughts, and she was about to offer some token resistance before yielding, she caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye: Dan Wuque was also covering Sword Maiden’s mouth, hiding her in a nearby snowdrift.

Xiao Ruoching’s gaze sharpened instantly. Her delicate nose twitched, picking up the faint, almost imperceptible scent of blood in the air. Her expression turned grave.

Su Bei’s eyes narrowed. He was somewhat surprised to see his prodigal disciple react so quickly but said nothing, his gaze calmly fixed on a point in the distance.

"Can you smell it? The scent of blood."

Xiao Ruoching nodded.

"Do you feel anything else?"

Xiao Ruoching ignored Su Bei’s large hand, which had inadvertently landed somewhere on her body. Her expression was grave. Is this the Devouring Heaven Demon Art again? Has it already infiltrated so much, in places I don’t even know about, without a trace? Suppressing the myriad suspicions in her heart, she whispered, "Master, it seems somewhat like Evil Qi, but..."

"It’s not very strong," Su Bei said softly. Unleashing his Selfless Realm, he instantly detected several Evil Cultivators nearby, their cultivation around the Golden Core realm. They were extracting some kind of Qi from a corpse.

Perhaps this time, we’ll learn a bit more. Su Bei watched them coldly, his gaze devoid of any superfluous emotion, as if he were looking at a group of dead men. The winter mountain forest was a good place for killing. Snow could bury half the evidence, and a casually tossed body would leave no trace. After some time, wild wolves foraging in the forest would devour it.

"Master, could you remove your hand..." Suddenly, a whisper reached his ears.

Su Bei looked down and saw his prodigal disciple, her neck flushed red. There was a hint of confusion in his own eyes as he subconsciously squeezed a little. Seeing his prodigal disciple’s eyes shimmering with unshed tears, Su Bei cleared his throat. He stood up and declared righteously, "Master is about to avenge this tragically deceased prodigy."

After extending his Selfless Realm and confirming multiple times that there were no other high-level Evil Cultivators nearby—only these few—Su Bei took a step forward. Then, in the instant before the Evil Cultivators could react—

One strike!

Instantly, four jets of blood arced through the air, and the thick stench of blood filled the wind.

The sole surviving Evil Cultivator, seeing the turn of events, instinctively tried to detonate his own Evil Qi. Seeing this, Su Bei struck out with his sword, pinning the man to a large tree. He then walked towards him step by step, looked at his mask, and said coldly, "Who sent you?"

Wearing a mask, the Evil Cultivator silently met Su Bei’s gaze. Suddenly, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and then, his entire body swelled up like a balloon and exploded in an instant, sending flesh and blood flying!

Su Bei frowned at the scene. This organization, it seemed, was more disciplined than he had imagined. He casually picked up the jar from the ground. Inside, a wisp of Purple-Red Qi, extracted from the prodigy’s corpse, drifted restlessly.

Purple-Red Qi. He had only heard Dan Wulan describe it before; seeing it with his own eyes now left Su Bei deeply shocked. He could hardly believe such a terrifying technique truly existed in this world.

Footsteps sounded from behind. The three women had silently come to stand behind Su Bei, their eyes filled with complex emotions as they surveyed the scene. Xiao Ruoching’s gaze flickered, her heart a maelstrom of emotions. Even though she believed her Master wouldn’t be like he was in her past life, that was just her own speculation. Who could truly know the truth? A seed of doubt had still taken root in her heart. It is said that once a crack appears in the heart, trust becomes fragile and is not easily rebuilt.

Su Bei didn’t look at his prodigal disciple’s conflicted expression. He instructed the others, "See if any clues were left behind." This was the second time he had encountered such a mysterious organization. Does this mean I’ve stumbled into another special plotline? he wondered.

"Senior Brother, there’s a Stone Token here!" Dan Wuque’s voice suddenly called out from nearby. Su Bei hurried over and looked at the Stone Token in her hand. After a moment’s thought, he retrieved the silver token he had found earlier from his storage ring. It glinted strangely in the sunlight. Su Bei squinted, carefully examining the pattern on it. Sure enough, it was the exact same ancient ring pattern!

What did this pattern represent?

Just as Su Bei was pondering this, Sword Maiden, who had been silent the whole journey, suddenly blinked thoughtfully at the Stone Token, then signaled Su Bei to let her have a look. Su Bei didn’t give it much thought and casually handed the Stone Token to her. He then resumed his search for other clues.

Sword Maiden held the Stone Token, looked down at the stone necklace around her neck, and gently touched the smiley face carved into it. Then, she quietly put the Stone Token back without a word.