The Sect Leader’s Daughter Awakened - Chapter 1

“Dao Lord Qingyan, I advise you to hand her over. It has not been easy for you to cultivate to this point. Do not ruin yourself for the sake of one junior.”

“Bullshit. Sheng’er is my daughter. If you want to harm her, you can step over my corpse first!”

“Hah. Since you refuse to appreciate our kindness, do not blame us for being merciless!”

…

“Little Junior Sister, Little Junior Sister, wake up. How did you fall asleep?!” Someone was calling beside her ear, the voice gradually growing louder.

Yun Sheng’s brows were tightly furrowed. She heard the voice and wanted to wake, but it was as if she had been trapped by a nightmare. No matter what, she could not open her eyes. Only when the person called for a long time without waking her and reached out to gently push her did she seem to regain control of her body. Her eyes flew open.

At that moment, Yun Sheng’s forehead was covered in fine beads of cold sweat. Her eyes, always bright and lively, stared blankly ahead, as though she had still not returned from the dream… No matter who saw her like this, they would know something was wrong with her. Naturally, the senior sister who had just woken her saw it too, and a hint of worry and concern unconsciously appeared in her eyes. “Little Junior Sister, what’s wrong?”

As Senior Sister asked, she formed a Clear Heart Art with her hand. A faint green glow gathered at her fingertips and fell on Yun Sheng, who was still shaken and dazed. Only then did Yun Sheng’s violently pounding heart gradually calm down.

Yun Sheng blinked sluggishly and finally saw the person before her clearly. She called out blankly, “Liu Jing… Senior Sister?”

Liu Jing looked at her with a frown, unable to stop herself from reaching out to check her forehead. “How did one nap make you seem so stupid…” Before she could finish speaking, the dazed-looking little junior sister in front of her suddenly reached out and hugged her.

The two of them were close, but Liu Jing had never liked physical contact with others. Seeing this, her first instinct was to dodge. But just as she was about to move, she saw what seemed to be tears shimmering in Yun Sheng’s eyes. In the end, she did not continue dodging. And so, not only was she hugged tightly by the other girl, she also had to pat Yun Sheng’s back to comfort her. “All right, all right. It’s fine now. Did you have a nightmare? It’s all right. Those were all fake.”

Yun Sheng rested her head on Liu Jing’s shoulder. Listening to Liu Jing’s child-soothing tone, she closed her eyes slightly. A single clear tear slid from the corner of her eye and finally disappeared into the fabric at Liu Jing’s shoulder.

She was being spoiled by Senior Sister again. But she knew that the “nightmare” had not been fake.

Liu Jing was much older than Yun Sheng. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she had watched Yun Sheng be born and watched her grow up. Naturally, she could tell that Yun Sheng was very far from normal right now. If they had been somewhere else, she definitely would not have cared about anything else and would have first investigated the abnormality in her junior sister. But not here. Not now. They had already delayed for quite some time.

“All right, Little Junior Sister. It’s already dark. We should get to business.”

Just as Liu Jing understood Yun Sheng, Yun Sheng also understood Liu Jing quite well. From her tone, she knew this was serious business. So she raised a hand to wipe away the trace of tears at the corner of her eye, gathered herself, and sat up properly again. “All right, Senior Sister. What are we doing now?”

Seeing how quickly she regained control of her emotions, Liu Jing also let out a breath of relief in her heart and answered without suspicion, “It’s dark now. Let’s go out and take a look first.”

Yun Sheng was inexplicably dazed. She still had not remembered what the current situation was, but that did not matter. As long as she was by Senior Sister’s side, she felt at ease. After all, the person before her had been willing to risk her life to protect her in the “future.” If no one else in this world was reliable, she definitely was!

And so, Yun Sheng followed Liu Jing out the door without worry. Only then did she realize that not only were they not on Shoujing Peak, they were not even inside the Zhengyang Sect. Before her was an unfamiliar small town. It looked slightly worn-down, and perhaps because it was dark, every household had shut its doors and windows. However, there was not the slightest bit of light in the entire town, which faintly gave off a strange feeling. If one raised their head to look at the sky, one would discover that faint gray mist had already isolated the moonlight outside.

The moment Yun Sheng stepped onto the street, she sensed that something was wrong. She stopped cautiously. Just as she was about to ask Liu Jing what was going on, seven or eight people walked out from the alleys one after another. Looking closely, they were all disciples of the Zhengyang Sect.

Yun Sheng still had not remembered where this place was, but seeing the situation before her, she had already guessed that this must be an outing for the disciples to gain experience.

She decisively stopped herself from speaking. Sure enough, after everyone gathered, Liu Jing took the initiative to ask, “How is it? Has everything been arranged?”

Yun Sheng was not very familiar with this group of disciples. After all, there were several thousand disciples in the Zhengyang Sect from top to bottom. It was impossible for her to know every single one of them. At this moment, a junior brother at the late stage of Foundation Establishment stepped forward and answered on everyone’s behalf, “Senior Sister Liu Jing, rest assured. Everything has been properly arranged.”

Hearing this, Liu Jing nodded, her expression grave and steady. “Good. Each of you attend to your own duties. Disperse for now.”

The disciples had no objections. After greeting the two of them, they scattered in different directions.

Only when the street was left with just the two of them again did Yun Sheng ask, “Senior Sister, what exactly is the situation now?” After asking, she raised her head and glanced at the gray mist shrouding the sky above them, then asked again, “And this gray mist—what exactly is it?”

Hearing this, Liu Jing gave her a strange look, seemingly not expecting her to forget even this after a nap. With a thought, she secretly cast a spell at Yun Sheng and confirmed that she was not an impostor, nor had she been affected by anything strange. Only then did she explain, “I don’t know. This gray mist appeared suddenly. It has already been half a month. During this half month, many people in Qili Town have gone missing, so they asked the sect for help.”

Yun Sheng understood as soon as she heard it. Qili Town was definitely not far from the Zhengyang Sect. It might even be within the Zhengyang Sect’s territory.

This was simply how the cultivation world worked. Every major sect had its own territory, and the mortals within that territory were naturally their dependents. As dependents, mortals did not actually need to do much. Instead, when they encountered situations like this gray mist, they could ask the nearest sect for help, and in general, the sect would send people to handle it. Giving disciples experience was one reason. More importantly, it helped build the sect’s reputation.

Judging from the current situation, the root of this training mission lay in the gray mist overhead.

Liu Jing had already studied what exactly the gray mist above them was, but unfortunately, she had reached no conclusion. Yun Sheng also secretly collected a little of it to study. Aside from discovering that it was mixed with yin energy, death energy, and violent resentment, and confirming that it was certainly nothing good, she likewise found nothing.

But that did not matter. People in Qili Town went missing almost every night. If they could not figure out what the gray mist was, they could first figure out how people were disappearing.

Under the night sky, the small town shrouded in gray mist was deathly silent. It was so quiet that even the chirping of insects and calls of birds were absent.

Yun Sheng followed Liu Jing to the Qili Town mayor’s home. It was not because they had specifically come here to protect the mayor’s safety, but because the mayor’s house happened to be located at the center of Qili Town. By staying here, no matter which direction something happened in, they would be able to rush over and provide support at once. However, with the two of them stationed here, the mayor’s family did indeed feel more at ease, and they had long since brought out their best tea and refreshments to entertain them.

Time passed. The night grew deeper. The tea on the table had long lost its warmth, and the mayor’s family gathered in the main hall gradually grew sleepy. The adults were still fine and could stay up through the night, but the children could not endure it. The mayor’s little granddaughter had long since fallen asleep in her mother’s arms.

With a soft crackle, the lamp wick popped.

The old and young in the room were already drowsy. As that soft sound rang out, the mayor, seated in his chair, unknowingly leaned back and fell asleep. No one knew how long he slept. Perhaps it was one or two hours, perhaps one or two quarters of an hour, or perhaps merely the span of a few short breaths… Suddenly, a sharp cat’s cry rang out, instantly tearing through the silence of the night.

The mayor was abruptly startled awake by the cat’s cry. Not only him; almost everyone in the room, old and young, woke from their stupor. The elderly mayor clutched his heart, which was pounding wildly from the fright, and immediately heard his little granddaughter’s frightened crying beside his ear.

But that crying sounded only for an instant before someone covered her mouth.

At this moment, the mayor had no attention to spare even for the little granddaughter he doted on. Clutching his chest, he hurriedly looked around, only to discover that the two immortals who had still been guarding this place before he fell asleep were now nowhere to be seen. He rushed to the door in two or three steps. All he saw was heavy darkness. Even the moonlight had long since been hidden by the gray mist.

A gust of wind passed, cold enough to pierce straight through the heart. In the end, the mayor did not dare step outside. After a moment of hesitation, he shut the door.

…

Civet cats were creatures that always seemed capable of being connected to gods and ghosts. A cat crying in the middle of the night was even more frightening.

But tonight’s matter had nothing to do with the civet cat. Long before that cat cried out, Liu Jing and Yun Sheng had already discovered the situation. It was actually the sudden appearance of the two of them that frightened the cat hiding outside, causing it to let out a scream and wake the mayor’s family.

Naturally, that cat’s cry did not stop Liu Jing and Yun Sheng. The two of them did not even fly on their swords. In the blink of an eye, they rushed to the eastern side of town.

They arrived quickly enough to see more than a dozen figures staggering out from the gray mist that had grown thicker after nightfall. And the two of them were not the only ones who had discovered those figures. Two other Zhengyang Sect disciples had also been nearby and had arrived even faster than them. At that moment, the two had already drawn their swords and were gazing from afar at the figures inside the dense mist, alert and on guard.

“Senior Brother Ying, from the way those figures are moving, they look like walking corpses,” the younger disciple said quietly to the senior brother beside him as he looked at the figures in the dense mist. He had not noticed Liu Jing and Yun Sheng arriving.

“Could someone be refining corpses here?” Senior Brother Ying also spoke, his tone filled with confusion.

Yes, who would not find it strange? Qili Town was not far from the Zhengyang Sect. And the Zhengyang Sect was a renowned righteous sect. Who would be so desperate as to come here and carry out such ghostly tricks? If they really wanted to refine corpses, could they not find some small village or town deep in a remote mountain?

Neither of them could understand it. The younger junior brother was precisely at an impulsive age. Since he could not understand, he simply stopped thinking about it. Seeing that the figures in the dense mist were walking unsteadily and slowly, he lowered his guard somewhat for a moment and walked forward with his sword raised. “Senior Brother, don’t worry. Allow me to go take a look first.”

Senior Brother Ying had no time to stop him before he saw the younger junior brother step into the dense mist. How could he feel at ease? He hurriedly followed. Soon after, sounds of fighting came from within the thick mist. It did not sound like flesh clashing against flesh. Instead, the clanging and banging sounded very much like metal striking metal.

Just by hearing the sound, Liu Jing and Yun Sheng guessed that those swaying things were definitely not ordinary walking corpses that could be dealt with easily. Those things were either puppets or evil beings of a higher level than walking corpses. As for the two disciples who had just stepped into the dense mist, the younger disciple was still in the Qi Refining stage, while Senior Brother Ying was only at Foundation Establishment. They would have no issue dealing with ordinary walking corpses, but if they had to deal with puppets or higher-level evil beings, they were completely outmatched.

“Go!” Liu Jing’s expression suddenly turned grave. After calling out, she immediately rushed into the mist.

Yun Sheng had just been about to follow when she suddenly sensed something. Her steps changed direction, and she rushed toward the western side of town.