Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 243: Ji Qinghan: If It’s War You Want, Then War It Is!

Those mocking words shattered the illusion, plunging the crowd—who mere moments ago had been deeply moved by the profound bond between master and disciple—into a deathly silence.

A heartbeat later, the courtyard erupted.

“Master and disciple turning on each other? Killing three birds with one stone?”

“Does… does this mean Qin Meran orchestrated everything? She wanted to butcher her own master, steal his fortune, and farm a saintly reputation at the same time?!”

“I was just wondering why those Talismans she plastered on Yin Wenshu didn’t seem to be healing him. Heavens above, could it really be true?”

“If this is true, just how rotten is the Azure Mystic Sacred Land?!”

They thought they had been witnessing the grace of a living sage. To discover it was the venomous act of a treacherous disciple was a shift so violently jarring that many refused to believe their own eyes.

Qin Meran, however, was deaf to the rising tide of disgust. Her eyes were locked onto the sky, her entire body rigid with absolute vigilance.

Hovering above was a woman draped in wintersweet-white robes. Her black hair flowed like liquid night, loosely pinned by a simple jade hairpin, allowing a few stray strands to dance in the wind. Her eyebrows arched like distant, mist-shrouded mountains, and her eyes were like autumn pools—deep, tranquil, and shimmering with an innate, piercing wisdom that seemed to effortlessly dissect the world.

In terms of temperament, she shared a faint resemblance to Qin Meran. Yet, standing beneath her, Qin Meran felt an unbidden, suffocating sense of inferiority crawl up her spine.

More terrifyingly, the aura radiating from this woman was unmistakable.

A Void Refining powerhouse!

“The White Jade Tower actually deployed a Void Refining Venerable?!”

“Wait, doesn’t she look familiar?”

“Look closely! Doesn’t she resemble that peerless genius of the Talisman Dao from a thousand years ago… Ji Qinghan?”

“Ji Qinghan?!”

“‘A gentle breeze brushes the face, marking the splendid years; a cold moon reflects the heart, illuminating Qinghan!’ It is her!”

“She achieved three Divine Invocations a millennium ago and was hailed as the absolute pinnacle of her generation! But wasn’t she rumored to have perished?”

“Not only did she survive, she joined the White Jade Tower!”

The frantic whispers stripped away the woman’s anonymity, and Qin Meran’s face drained of color. Her own methods were vicious, yes. But she was only at the Grand Perfection of the Nascent Soul realm, a half-step into Soul Formation. In the face of a true Void Refining Venerable, all her petty schemes were as transparent as glass.

Ji Qinghan looked down, her voice soft but carrying the weight of an avalanche. “We study the sages’ books to cultivate the self, nurture our nature, and bring peace to the world. You have failed to cultivate your self, you have twisted your nature, and you are utterly incapable of bringing peace.”

“Your study of the sages is a worthless farce.”

“Today, you butchered your master to usurp his Divine Invocation. Your plan was flawless. It is truly a pity you had the misfortune of running into me. Then again, perhaps this is simply the universe delivering your karmic retribution.”

She spoke with terrifying calm, stating these damning facts as if discussing the weather. Yet, those calm words spiked Qin Meran’s terror to its absolute limit.

Her fears were instantly realized.

Ji Qinghan raised a slender hand and lightly tugged at the sky, her fingers curling toward the Divine-grade Dao Rhyme that Yin Wenshu’s forced invocation had drawn out.

Whoosh! An invisible, titanic force seized the descending Dao Rhyme. It stalled in mid-air, shuddered, and then sharply changed course, drifting directly toward Ji Qinghan instead of Yin Wenshu.

But that wasn’t all. Ji Qinghan’s target wasn’t just the Heavenly Dao Rhyme. Her gravitational pull extended directly into Yin Wenshu’s Sea of Consciousness, latching onto the Character ‘Mi’ (Seek) Rune that Qin Meran was actively trying to rip away!

Qin Meran felt the connection forcefully sever. The prize she had just murdered her teacher for was floating away, right into Ji Qinghan’s palm!

“Ji Qinghan!” Qin Meran shrieked, panic eroding her composure. “I am the Peak Master of Ink Scroll Peak of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land! Your White Jade Tower dares to trespass here and forcibly pillage my Divine Invocation?! Are you declaring war on Azure Mystic?!”

Desperation forced her to brandish the name of her Sacred Land like a shield. She had plotted for the Seek Rune for years. She had crossed the ultimate line and killed her own teacher. She had perfectly executed her masterstroke, only for Ji Qinghan to descend from the clouds and effortlessly steal the fruits of her labor. If she lost this, all her sacrifices would be for nothing.

The name ‘Azure Mystic Sacred Land’ commanded absolute dread across the Eastern Wastelands.

But Ji Qinghan merely spared her a passing glance. Her eyes were pure, tranquil, and utterly devoid of emotion.

It was a look of profound, absolute contempt.

The casual dismissal ignited a raging inferno in Qin Meran’s chest. Gritting her teeth, she formed a frantic hand seal. The Ink-Black Ruler, which had been pinning down the handsome scholar, ripped through the air and shot toward the sky, intent on smashing Ji Qinghan into pulp.

She knew she was no match for a Void Refining Venerable, but she absolutely refused to sit back and be robbed blind.

Her defiance was futile.

When the ruler came within three feet of Ji Qinghan, it slammed into an invisible wall, halting dead in its tracks.

“This ruler of yours is indeed a rare masterpiece,” Ji Qinghan noted casually. “It must have been custom-forged for you by the Peak Master of Artifact Resonance Peak. The materials are peerless, the forging technique is flawless, and it is interwoven with Sage Admonitions and the power of the Talisman Dao.”

“It is a pity your Second Senior Sister overestimated your virtue. The Sage Admonitions engraved upon it allow a wielder of pure heart to multiply their power. But you… you are fundamentally incapable of resonating with it.”

As she spoke, Ji Qinghan flicked a single finger. A jet-black inkstone materialized from thin air and smashed violently into the ruler.

Clang! The invincible Ink-Black Ruler was effortlessly swatted away like a fly. The psychic backlash slammed into Qin Meran, causing her to hack up a mouthful of blood.

But the nightmare was just beginning.

Ji Qinghan casually drew a Talisman and ignited it. Suddenly, the tumbling Ink-Black Ruler righted itself, spun around, and plummeted straight toward Qin Meran’s head!

A Treasure-Disarming Divine Talisman!

It forcefully usurped control of an opponent’s Dharma Treasure for a short duration. Powered by a Void Refining expert, the strike was lethal. Watching her own weapon descend like an executioner’s axe, the blood froze in Qin Meran’s veins.

Absolute, suffocating dread consumed her. She frantically reached inward, screaming at her Inner Demon for a way out.

The Inner Demon scoffed with mocking finality. “Dying isn’t so bad. Think of it as liberation. We deserve this, Qin Meran. Dying here today is exactly what we have earned.” The betrayal made Qin Meran want to scream. They were the same entity! Yet this ungrateful parasite would rather drag them both into oblivion than lift a finger to help!

Out of options, Qin Meran violently yanked Yin Wenshu’s paralyzed, burning body in front of her, using her master as a literal meat shield to absorb the blow.

But just as the ruler reached three feet from her face…

“Hmm? What is this?” Ji Qinghan murmured.

Qin Meran peeked over her master’s shoulder. Ji Qinghan wasn’t looking at her. The Venerable’s eyes were wide with shock, staring intently at the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion behind the crowd.

Ji Qinghan could feel it.

The Divine-grade Dao Rhyme and the Character ‘Mi’ Rune she was actively plundering were suddenly being dragged away by a massive, invisible vortex. It wasn’t that the runes were fighting her; it was that the Heavenly Dao Rhymes naturally gravitated toward that presence with overwhelming affinity. They wanted to go to the pavilion.

Ji Qinghan snapped her head toward the sky.

The colossal Origin Dao Rhyme blanketing the heavens was almost entirely drained.

The Invocation of the Origin Dao Rhyme was mere seconds away from total completion!

“No!” Ji Qinghan’s calm shattered. “Everyone, breach the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion immediately! The one absorbing the Origin Dao Rhyme is inside!”

Issuing the command, Ji Qinghan instantly abandoned Qin Meran and dove straight for the pavilion doors. Crushing Qin Meran had just been a convenient afterthought. The White Jade Tower’s true, sole objective was the anomaly drawing in the Origin Dao Rhyme.

They absolutely, categorically, could not allow this person to succeed!

Her sudden shift in priority sent a shockwave through the courtyard. Lu Dongshan and the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion forces instantly drew their weapons, treating the incoming Venerable as a lethal threat.

But before they could move, a bizarre sight unfolded.

Having just survived by the skin of her teeth, Qin Meran didn’t flee. Instead, her eyes turned bloodshot, and she sprinted after Ji Qinghan, hurling a barrage of lethal Talismans in a desperate bid to barricade the pavilion doors!

“What… what is happening?”

“Don’t ask me!”

Lu Dongshan and his men stared in utter bewilderment. Even a blind man could see Qin Meran was a selfish, treacherous snake. Was she seriously putting her life on the line to protect Gu Xiu?!

“What are you standing around for?! Stop her!” Qin Meran roared, coughing blood as she burned her essence to cast more Talismans.

She wasn’t trying to save Gu Xiu. She didn’t care if the Immortal lived or died. What terrified her was the thought of Ji Qinghan breaking inside and stealing her Immortal Fated Chance!

Just as Qin Meran felt her spiritual reserves bottoming out, the colossal shadow of a warship finally eclipsed the sun.

Standing proudly at the prow, hands clasped behind her back, was a woman with an expression of icy indifference.

“Fourth Senior Sister! Help me! Stop her and hold the door!” Qin Meran shrieked, her eyes lighting up with frantic hope.

Her savior had arrived. The strongest cultivator beneath the Venerable realm.

Shi Siling.

In the past, Qin Meran had found this stoic, battle-obsessed Senior Sister incredibly grating. But right now, Shi Siling looked like a descended goddess.

Shi Siling did not disappoint. Although she had just arrived and had no idea what chaos had gripped Cloud Firmament City, she took a single step off the warship without a moment’s hesitation.

Boom! She materialized directly in front of the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion. Facing the meteor-like descent of Ji Qinghan, Shi Siling’s face remained impassive as she formed a sword-finger and thrust it forward.

It looked like a casual, hurried strike.

Yet, the sheer concussive force of that single point violently blasted Ji Qinghan backward, forcing the Venerable to explosively retreat several zhang away just to bleed off the momentum.

Ji Qinghan was a Void Refining powerhouse. But as she stabilized her footing, a stark, bloody plum blossom began to spread across the left shoulder of her pristine white robes.

Ji Qinghan looked up, genuine astonishment flashing in her tranquil eyes.

This opponent… was monstrously strong.

Her instincts screamed a terrifying truth: even if she burned her life force to fight to the bitter end, she might not be able to defeat this woman.

“The White Jade Tower? Ji Qinghan?” Shi Siling’s brow furrowed slightly as she recognized the attacker. “The White Jade Tower and my Azure Mystic have never crossed paths. Are you declaring war upon us?”

“If you insist on blocking this door, then war it is,” Ji Qinghan replied, her voice dropping to a glacial chill. “Enough hiding. Come out!”

Swish! Swish! Swish! The air warped as three figures silently materialized beside Ji Qinghan. The oppressive, suffocating pressure of their auras crushed down on the courtyard.

Three more hidden Void Refining powerhouses!

Simultaneously, the myriad of White Jade Tower elites who had been systematically hunting through the city converged, surrounding the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion in an impenetrable blockade.

The air in the courtyard solidified.

Watching the lineup, Lu Dongshan felt his scalp go entirely numb. The sheer disparity in power was staggering. If Qin Meran and Shi Siling hadn’t intervened, the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion would have been massacred in seconds.

In the distance, the old drunkard watching the streets tightened his grip on his flask, his expression grim.

In all of Cloud Firmament City, only one person remained completely unfazed.

Sitting atop the highest roof of the City Lord’s Mansion, a white-haired old man with a longbow slung across his back and a wine gourd at his waist watched the alleyway in silence.

His ancient, resolute gaze never blinked. And it never shifted from the locked doors of the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion.