After killing Chu Jing, Li Qingqiu did not leave, nor did he wander around. He simply stood still, waiting in silence.
When a person dies, their soul appears. It takes seven days for that soul to completely dissipate. Li Qingqiu wanted to see what the soul of a so-called human ghost god looked like.
'A person immune to all mortal techniques that target the soul… surely such a fate must produce a special kind of spirit,' he thought.
Lin Chuan and Nangong E floated nearby. Lin Chuan looked at Chu Jing's corpse with satisfaction, while Nangong E's expression was complicated.
"I didn't expect the Great Wei Dynasty to have such a loyal minister," she thought quietly to herself.
Though Chu Jing's final words had both shocked and moved her, she hadn't pleaded for him. She could tell that Chu Jing had lived in torment—perhaps, for him, death was a kind of release.
Before long, a faint, translucent figure emerged from Chu Jing's body. Li Qingqiu's eyes immediately narrowed.
As expected—it was different!
Unlike ordinary spirits filled with resentment or cold malice, Chu Jing's soul was pure, almost luminous.
[Since this is your first time cleansing your own sect's corruption and restoring Dao Lineage order, your action holds great significance for the sect. You have earned one Dao Lineage Inheritance Reward.]
Li Qingqiu blinked in surprise at the message that appeared before his eyes.
'This also triggers a reward?' he thought.
Then he smiled faintly. It made sense. Cleansing one's sect wasn't easy—it was a painful but necessary act. Once done, it would strip away hesitation for future decisions like this.
It was a breakthrough of emotion and morality.
Yes—truly not easy.
He gave himself that silent evaluation.
Chu Jing's spirit—now clearly visible—slowly opened his eyes. This time, he could see not only Li Qingqiu, but also Lin Chuan and Nangong E hovering behind him. Startled, he stumbled back instinctively.
Li Qingqiu watched him with quiet curiosity. The soul of a ghost god really was unusual—it could move freely right after death.
Chu Jing glanced behind him and saw his own corpse lying on the ground. At that sight, he froze and then murmured softly, "So I really am dead…"
He had lived nearly two hundred years, and now, faced with death, his emotions were hard to describe. Oddly, he felt a strange sense of relief.
Li Qingqiu called up his Dao Lineage panel and looked at Chu Jing's profile. A faint wisp of ghostly qi curled around the man's portrait, dimming it, giving it the look of a wandering soul.
When he tapped the profile open, he found that Chu Jing's loyalty had not fallen—instead, it had risen to eighty-five.
'What does this mean?' he wondered.
Chu Jing raised his head to look at Li Qingqiu. "You can see me, can't you?" he asked.
Li Qingqiu closed the panel and replied, "Naturally."
Chu Jing turned to glance at Lin Chuan and Nangong E. "It was them following me before, wasn't it?"
"The one who followed you was this boy," Li Qingqiu said, gesturing to Lin Chuan. "His name is Lin Chuan. He's the son of my master, Lin Xunfeng, and he died at the hands of your Demonic Sect."
Chu Jing fell silent. Lin Chuan glared back and made a clawing motion, baring phantom teeth.
Li Qingqiu then pointed toward the woman beside him. "And this is Nangong E. She was a princess of the Great Wei Dynasty. Have you heard of her?"
At those words, Chu Jing's eyes widened, and his entire form trembled. "Princess Yuanxi… you—"
Nangong E looked surprised. "You know me?"
Chu Jing's voice quivered with excitement. "I have never met Your Highness in person, but His Majesty often spoke of you. He said you were the sister who treated him with the greatest kindness. Because of you, His Majesty cherished his daughters above all others."
"His Majesty?" Nangong E asked softly. "You mean… Yuan'er?"
"The Great Wei Emperor Wen—Nangong Yuan," Chu Jing said reverently.
"So he really became emperor… the Emperor Wen of Great Wei?" Nangong E said in astonishment.
Li Qingqiu, however, wasn't surprised. He had already asked her about her family, and based on the time of her father's death, he had suspected she and Chu Jing might have known of each other across generations.
Chu Jing knelt halfway to the ground, grief etched on his ghostly face. "Your Highness, this humble servant has shamed His Majesty… and failed the Great Wei Dynasty!"
Nangong E had already learned of Chu Jing's deeds and understood, at least partly, his motives. That knowledge filled her heart with complicated emotions.
She couldn't bring herself to comfort him, for his hands had indeed taken countless lives.
Li Qingqiu finally spoke. "Now that you're dead, your deeds in life no longer matter. But if you turn like Master Jiang did and attempt to refine your soul, I will destroy you completely."
Chu Jing looked up at him. "May I ask, Sect Master—what is the current state of Princess Yuanxi?"
"She is my ghost servant now," Li Qingqiu said plainly. "I found her within an ancient mirror."
Nangong E followed softly, "Without my master, I would still be consumed by resentment—lost, hateful, and dangerous. Now, though I am a ghost, I live freer than I did in life."
After hearing this, Chu Jing hesitated briefly, then clenched his jaw. "Please, Sect Master—take me as your ghost servant!"
Li Qingqiu asked, "Do you wish this for the sake of that surviving Nangong descendant—or for yourself?"
"For both," Chu Jing said solemnly. "I worry for him, but I also don't wish to vanish completely. Even as a ghost servant, I want to witness the Dao of Immortality."
He could already feel a mysterious force closing in—a power that would soon pull his spirit into an unknown realm.
Li Qingqiu shook his head. "Your soul is too unique," he said quietly. "I'm afraid I can't make you my ghost servant."
Chu Jing gritted his teeth and suddenly lunged toward Li Qingqiu.
Li Qingqiu tensed, ready for anything.
But instead of attacking, Chu Jing's soul darted straight into the Tianhong Sword, making the blade tremble violently.
"What is this…"
Li Qingqiu was stunned—he hadn't expected Chu Jing to do something like that.
From within the sword came Chu Jing's voice, calm but distant: "I can feel my soul's uniqueness. It seems that only by doing this can I free myself from that restraint."
As his words faded, Li Qingqiu sensed the surrounding spiritual energy surging toward the Tianhong Sword.
The sword began to change before his eyes.
He stayed alert, gripping the hilt tightly, his senses focused on the sword's vibration.
Nangong E and Lin Chuan floated closer, equally on guard. Even Nangong E did not fully trust Chu Jing. The aura radiating from him after death gave them all a deep, primal fear—as if they were facing a natural predator.
Time passed slowly. Li Qingqiu waited for three full hours.
At last, the Tianhong Sword released a thick wave of black mist that coalesced into a ghostly figure—it was Chu Jing.
Li Qingqiu was taken aback. Chu Jing now resembled a thousand-year sword soul—his spirit had fully merged with the Tianhong Sword.
"Please allow me to recognize you as my master," Chu Jing said firmly.
Li Qingqiu studied him for a moment, then poured his vital energy into the Tianhong Sword.
Immediately, he felt Chu Jing's soul reach out to form a connection.
Sword souls were not like ghost servants. They acknowledged a master, but they were not bound in servitude. They retained independent thought, though their power could be freely summoned by their master.
The bond formed quickly. Li Qingqiu and Chu Jing became linked by spirit.
He couldn't read Chu Jing's thoughts, but he could feel his strength.
From that moment on, any vital energy that Chu Jing cultivated within the sword could be drawn upon by Li Qingqiu at will.
During his fusion with the Tianhong Sword, Chu Jing had absorbed an immense amount of spiritual energy. His soul now contained a unique form of vital energy—something far beyond ordinary ghostly qi.
[Since a disciple of Qingxiao Sect has taken the first step onto the path of the ghostly Dao, becoming a Ghost Cultivator and expanding the potential of the Dao Lineage, you have earned one Dao Lineage Inheritance Reward.]
"Well, here we go again…"
Li Qingqiu sighed inwardly. "Another inheritance reward? Can't I get something different for once?"
Still, he couldn't help but smile. This trip to the Zhenyang Imperial City had been incredibly profitable.
While sensing Chu Jing's aura, he opened his Dao Lineage panel again and saw that Chu Jing's loyalty had risen to ninety-two.
"Not bad," Li Qingqiu said with a grin.
"You really do know quite a bit."
Chu Jing bowed slightly, his tone respectful. "To tell the truth, I once wandered into a mountain cave where I took an immortal pill. My lifespan was extended, and I found three secret manuals there. One of them contained a forging method that I couldn't understand before. Now I realize—it uses not inner qi, but a different, stronger force."
He raised his right hand, and dark ghostly energy rippled through his palm. Despite being dead, he felt more powerful than ever.
"Take me to that cave sometime," Li Qingqiu said with a nod.
Chu Jing agreed without hesitation.
Afterward, Li Qingqiu explored the underground palace while Chu Jing pointed out his hidden treasures—not just gold and silver, but also manuals and pills of various kinds.
For a moment, Li Qingqiu frowned, wondering how to carry everything. Then he suddenly remembered the cloth pouch from Master Jiang.
He quickly pulled it out and began examining it.
Sure enough!
It was a storage pouch—a small independent space filled with Master Jiang's wealth.
After Master Jiang's death, its ownership seal had weakened, allowing Li Qingqiu to easily make it his own.
The Supreme Purity and Primordial Harmony Sutra included a method for bonding with magical tools, and since a storage pouch was also a type of magic tool, the process was nearly identical.
He then stored all of Chu Jing's valuables inside the pouch.
Chu Jing watched, awestruck.
"So this is the power of the immortals," he said, marveling. "Truly mysterious."
He couldn't hide his excitement—following Li Qingqiu seemed to open the door to an entirely new world.
"The path of cultivation is something I've only just begun," Li Qingqiu said with a small smile. "I'm still figuring things out. When it comes to trickery and deceit, I can't compare to Master Jiang."
He laughed softly. Before coming to Zhenyang Imperial City, he had truly been wary of Master Jiang. If not for sending Lin Chuan to scout the night before, he would never have dared to charge in so openly.
Originally, his plan had been simple: sneak into the palace, kill Zhao Zhi, and leave.
But once he realized Master Jiang wasn't as powerful as expected—and couldn't even sense Lin Chuan's presence—well, there was no reason to hold back.
Massacre it was.
Chu Jing shook his head helplessly. Remembering how Li Qingqiu had said he could have killed Master Jiang himself, he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated—he, too, had been deceived by that man.
"Let's go," Li Qingqiu said finally. "Time to claim Master Jiang's legacy."
He turned and stepped into the darkness. Chu Jing, Nangong E, and Lin Chuan floated behind him, following as their figures disappeared into the shadows.
…
In the mountains of Jiangzhou, Li Qingqiu walked through a quiet forest. The Tianhong Sword floated behind him, its blade humming faintly. Nangong E followed closely, while Lin Chuan lay lazily across his shoulder.
It had been one full day since he killed Zhao Zhi and Master Jiang—this was now the third day since leaving Qingxiao Sect.
Li Qingqiu had already finished absorbing Master Jiang's memories.
This mountain, according to those memories, hid the cave of a cultivator—the very place where Master Jiang had first set foot on the path of immortality.
Once Li Qingqiu finished looting that cave, he planned to return immediately to Qingxiao Sect and fulfill the three-day promise he had made to his disciples.