After another week, Su Qingcheng had successfully broken through to the fifth and final rank of the Tianqi User stage. This left her with a couple of months left to break through to become a Tianqi Geomancer, however Yao Meiyue hurriedly reminded her that this was definitely not a simple matter. Typically speaking, the bottleneck and hardest breakthrough points were usually the gaps between the fifth rank of a stratum and the first rank of the next stratum going up. For example, it was many times harder for someone of the User fifth rank to become a Geomancer first rank, than it was for a Geomancer first rank to upgrade to the second rank. However, Su Qingcheng was not deterred. In combination with the myriad of regular cultivation techniques from the Nightflower Tome and the Nightblossom Method, she also had the Thunder Blossom Cultivation which was designed by Yao Meiyue herself, a heaven-defying genius who could have been a god! With these resources available to her, Su Qingcheng was confident that she could break through in the remaining three months left to the end of the agreement.

However, Su Qingcheng could not help but shake off the foreboding feeling that something big was going to erupt come the end of the agreement. Unfortunately for her, this would eventually come true. Xiao Tie himself had also acquired a master who had forced him to conceal this matter from the rest of the clan. Xiao Tie, being something of a scheming viper, was an expert at this, and his temperament matched that of his teacher quite well, so they got along very nicely. His master was a member of the Demon Flame Sect, an infamous underground sect that was once infamous for being an assassin’s guild, but slowly faded to obscurity because they were hunted down by a certain individual. Actually, this individual was none other than Su Ran, who had gone rampant because in her youth, a member of the Demon Flame Sect had killed one of her best friends in a crime of passion. As a result, Su Ran swore a vow of vengeance and took down the entire sect… At least, the sect that was in public view.

She had no idea that she did not actually manage to eliminate the problem at its roots. Therefore, the Demon Flame Sect was able to rise up again and maintain a low profile. Naturally, Xiao Tie was not an idiot, and he was well-read on these underground matters as he was a guy who often dealt in these shady businesses, usually behind the back of his clan. It had to be said that this Xiao Tie fella was truly despicable and the “black sheep” of his clan. Due to his lecherous and selfish nature, he only was kept around due to his immense talent which for the most part he actually squandered, until he was beaten senseless by Su Qingcheng shortly before the start of the White Spirit Competition. Since then, an irreconcilable enmity had formed between the two of them. Therefore, he ditched any pretense of conquering her sexually. He wanted to murder her and torture her. This fella from the Demon Flame Sect clan clearly knew this. After some research, he discovered that the Su Qingcheng girl was the treasured daughter of Su Ran, which murdered many of his sect brothers and sisters in cold blood. How could he not want to take revenge also? Since he himself was too weak to take on Su Ran by himself, he would instead impart his knowledge to Xiao Tie, borrowing a sword to do the damage. It also helped that Xiao Tie had this enmity with her, allowing him to be further motivated. In a way, Xiao Tie was the perfect guy to be his disciple, even if he wasn’t a former member of the Demon Flame Sect.

“Master Huan,” Xiao Tie kowtowed towards his master. They were in a secret room which was surprisingly created by Xiao Tie himself as he had in his spare time spared the effort to study arrays and construction. If Su Qingcheng knew this, she would really consider Xiao Tie to be a comic villain and mock him for it instead. However, in the eyes of normal people, he could be considered a truly talented snake. “I am really impressed by the methods of the Demon Flame Sect. It’s really my good fortune to be your student.”

Xiao Tie’s master from the Demon Flame Sect was named Huan Tao. Huan Tao’s strength was at the peak of the Tianqi Sage stage, which was why he knew he could not stand up to Su Ran alone. However, he believed he could deal a big blow to her if he could kill Su Qingcheng instead, but he wasn’t a fool – he believed if he showed up himself, he would be killed by Su Ran on the spot. Therefore, the best way to do things was to nurture Xiao Tie and boost his power to the point where he could just overwhelm Su Qingcheng by pure realm difference.

“You are too humble, this young disciple has a great talent too, much better than your brothers and sisters. It’s just a shame you wasted it on women,” Huan Tao joked. The Xiao Tie of the past would have been pissed, but the Xiao Tie of now finally realized that he had wasted his time before. Though he still treated women the same way, he was no longer as frivolous with them. Huan Tao had imparted an incredibly important lesson onto him – it was wise to direct anger towards problems, and not people, and it was also just as wise to focus energy on answers and not excuses. Xiao Tie was a smart fella who easily knew the meaning behind these words. He knew the only way to counter Su Qingcheng was to neutralize her abnormal Tianqi. He also knew that Su Qingcheng had acquired the power of lightning due to the intelligence given to him by Huan Tao.

“This is not an easy matter. From your description, it seems Su Qingcheng is cultivating in the same Nightflower Method as her mother. Your pal Madame Lu is not an insignificant figure that I don’t know of, she holds a high position in the Snake Empress’ tower after all, so her report to you shouldn’t be false.” Huan Tao stroked his long white beard in deep thought. “The Demon Flame Mystery Palm I taught you can dissipate some of its energy on contact, but assuming Su Qingcheng reaches the Geomancer rank, she can still overwhelm it. However, I know for sure that Nightflower Tianqi’s corrosive property is limited by the Tianqi cultivation of the user. Therefore, you need to hurry up and reach the Tianqi Prince level.”

“I’m still three ranks away from reaching this level, Master.” Xiao Tie seemed dejected, but a flame seemed to rise up in his eyes. As he already practiced a flame and earth oriented Tianqi technique in the first place, adapting to the Demon Flame method was as easy as pie for him. “Does Master have any pointers on speeding this up?”

“Naturally, your teacher is not some simple old fart,” Huan Tao laughed. “However, this Demonic Blood Boiling method is not simple. It is incredibly painful, and only the most talented in flame Tianqi control can use it easily to rise up starting from the Geomancer stage. Fortunately, you have the luck of having me, its inventor, as a teacher!”

“You created the legendary Demonic Blood Boiling method?!” Xiao Tie was startled, but felt true joy in his heart. Despite his frivolous personality, he still took the effort to learn some things about underground sects that could help boost his power since the incident when he was trashed by Su Qingcheng. In a way, that moment was pivotal to his own growth and maturity. It was a shame that he was still so villainous, otherwise he could have become an outstanding member of the cultivation world.

The Demonic Blood Boiling method was a Tianqi cultivation method that involved forcibly using the Demon Flame to convert the life force in one’s blood to Tianqi. Life force tianqi was incredibly potent and allowed someone to artificially boost their strength by fusing it with nature. Though his consumed life force at an astonishing rate, the method had ways to mitigate this loss by using a modified Demon Flame Tianqi to convert the life force into strands. This was very similar to the method Su Qingcheng used to improve her control of Tianqi. The strands of life force had the same potency as the regular Demonic Blood Boiling method, but it consumed less blood, making it much safer. However, the degree of difficulty was also much higher.

Xiao Tie was blessed to have the creator of such a demonic method as a teacher, so it was a surprisingly short time before he quickly learned and managed to use this technique. Huan Tao couldn’t help but admire his genius, realizing that his sharp eyes did not deceive him. Xiao Tie would certainly be a top class genius of his Demon Flame Sect. However, this was under the condition that he still lived after his agreement with Su Qingcheng was up. Knowing Xiao Tie’s personality, Huan Tao knew he would probably be impulsive and challenge her to a life and death battle. Huan Tao could be considered a grand elder type of person, so he was naturally very well-versed in the workings of the real world. He could easily tell from Xiao Tie’s personality and eagerness to work under him that he was desperate for power so he could wash away the humiliation that clouded his heart.

Without slaughtering Su Qingcheng with his two bare hands, Xiao Tie could never forgive himself.

That moment…

Su Qingcheng was seated at the main clan gathering table. No one else was in this grand hall aside from her and Su Ran. Su Ran looked at Su Qingcheng with a discerning eye and realized that her daughter had reached the fifth rank of Tianqi User in just seven months. On top of this, her tianqi was now more overwhelming and with her immense Emperor-level spiritual sense, knew that Su Qingcheng was continuously letting electricity course through her veins.

“My daughter, do you know why I called you here?” Su Ran smiled faintly.

“No, mother, I don’t know…” Su Qingcheng sighed and hung her head low. She felt she would be reprimanded.

“Don’t be afraid. I saw how determined you were, standing up to a Tianqi Emperor like that… I was truly moved. You’ve gone through too much hardships in just these few months. I feel you should know some things.”

Su Qingcheng was startled. Was Su Ran going to personally talk to her about her past? This was something she was really excited about. If Su Ran could really corroborate Yao Meiyue and Fang Li’s experiences, then that could help Su Qingcheng not only broaden her horizons, but also learn more about her mysterious mother and teacher.

“Sigh… Master, stop hiding.” Su Ran sighed as she looked at the necklace hidden underneath Su Qingcheng’s clothes. With a soft sound, Yao Meiyue’s body materialized next to Su Qingcheng as she looked with plain expression back at Su Ran. You abandoned the path of godhood because of me. I feel like I owe it to you to help your daughter to do the same. Yao Meiyue spoke clearly.

“What do you mean?” Su Qingcheng was shocked.

“Master is correct… I… I had a lot of respect for Master. I had a fortuitous encounter with her while I was roaming the Liandou Continent. For me, it was a form of experiential learning. However, when I encountered her, I knew she was not simple. When I found out she was the Sect Leader of Night Lily Sect, I desperately wanted to be her disciple, since I knew the ferocious power of her Tianqi. I only convinced her to take me in because, on top of my Quad-Essence ability, I also knew the Ghost Calamity Palm which I used to defeat her in a spar.”

Disciple Ran was truly a heaven-defying power… She could have been a true God, but… She managed to offend someone from the Lower Realm. As you know, Qingcheng’er, the Upper Realm is called Cloud Nine, a paradise for magical beasts. The Lower Realm, on the other hand, is called the Infernal Lands, a paradise for the dead and banished folks. Yao Meiyue hurriedly explained.

“One of my best friends was killed by someone in the Demon Flame Sect. In a fit of fury, I enacted personal vengeance on their sect… But how was I supposed to know that the Demon Flame Sect’s Ancestral Lord was an Infernal Tianqi God?”

Demon Flame Sect… Su Qingcheng kept this in mind. She would read up on the Demon Flame Sect later. For now, she patiently listened to the story shared by former teacher and disciple.

“The Demon Flame Sect’s Ancestral Lord is a terrifying existence that even can withstand my Ghost Calamity Palm, he has a real name that nobody except him knows, so we call him the Netherworld Shura.”

Netherworld Shura deliberately suppressed his power to the peak Tianqi Emperor stratum just so he could materialize in the Liandou Continent. He knew already that Su Ran was behind the slaughter of his sect on the continent, so he attempted to get revenge on her by killing her. I couldn’t let that happen, so I self-destructed my physical body to destroy a massive chunk of his cultivation. It didn’t kill that old fogey who won’t die, but he’s definitely still recovering in the Infernal Lands and it won’t be that long before he recovers his full strength.

“I felt incredibly guilty for implicating my Master. I couldn’t focus on wantonly killing anymore, and after seeing Master self-destruct like that… I realized that I fucked up in life. I used one of my life-saving treasures, the necklace you’re wearing now, as a spiritual medium so that Yao Meiyue’s soul could still be preserved. She’s teaching you now and taken you in as a disciple, so I hope you mature earlier and don’t grow up to become like me.” Su Ran sighed, and looked as if she’d grown older by a bit.

If Su Ran knew that Xiao Tie, that villainous snake, had taken in a teacher from the Demon Flame Sect, she would probably raze the Xiao clan to the ground. “If it’s not too much to ask, please listen to Master. It would be in our best interest if one of your ultimate goals was to refine a body for Yao Meiyue to possess.”

“Rest assured, mother, I will definitely help in this task. Master Meiyue was the reason behind the recovery of my Tianqi paths by creating the Phoenix Rainbow Elixir. Without her, I would still be a piece of trash. Furthermore, she created a cultivation method for me to use this elemental energy of Thunder. I imagine she has the genius to help me with anything. How could I not be indebted to her?” Su Qingcheng spoke with a resolute will that made Yao Meiyue look at the kid in an even better light.

Your kid is truly an outstanding girl. Definitely the most talented of your three kids. Yao Meiyue laughed. However, we must not let this matter leak to anyone. Qingcheng’er has already had really bad feelings recently. We must be on alert. I trust her judgment.

“En, you are right. Pretend this talk never happened. Right. Aside from this matter, I believe it’s time for you to make preparations to enter the Bailing Empire’s Tianqi Ranking Board.”

“Huh? The Tianqi Ranking Board?” Su Qingcheng asked plainly.