Free Web NovelChapter 10: 10. The Shrouded Meeting Unveiled
The path leading up to the isolated summit of the Supreme Peak was entirely cut off from the rest of the Myriad Sovereign Sect, a sacred sanctuary reserved solely for the pinnacle of authority.
As I walked along the narrow stone ridge, the atmosphere was thick with an ethereal, ancient tranquility. Towering violet bamboo trees swayed lazily in the wind, their leaves rustling with a faint metallic chime that harmonized with the dense spiritual qi flowing through the mountain.
A low, rolling purple mist drifted across the path, clinging to the ancient stone steps like a protective shroud, completely masking the colossal, majestic abode looming at the peak’s edge. It felt entirely removed from the mortal plane, a place where time itself seemed to slow to a crawl.
Arriving at the threshold of the grand pavilion, I stopped before the massive, twin-paneled doors carved from ancient cedar and reinforced with glowing spiritual runes.
I took a slow breath, settling the residual adrenaline from my encounter with Su Rulan, before raising my hand.
"Disciple Lu Jianxiao requests permission to step through the door, Master," I projected my voice smoothly, letting it resonate cleanly against the barrier.
A heartbeat passed before her voice drifted through the wood, a soft, positive murmur that bypassed my ears entirely and vibrated deep within my soul.
"You may enter, Jianxiao."
The heavy doors clicked, parting silently to grant me entry.
The moment I stepped across the threshold, the breath caught squarely in my throat.
In the grand hall, her figure had been completely obscured by swirling layers of celestial qi, hiding her true form from the prying eyes of the elders.
But here, within the privacy of her inner sanctuary, the mist was entirely absent.
I had seen my master several times before in private, always without any formal pretense, yet every single time I looked upon her un-shrouded form, I couldn’t help but feel completely lovestruck and deeply emotional.
The cold, calculating composure I maintained for the rest of the sect completely faltered, replaced by a profound warmth that rooted me to the spot.
She was an absolute masterpiece of creation.
Her long, rich violet hair flowed and drifted lazily around her shoulders, entirely defying the laws of gravity as if suspended in an invisible, spiritual current.
Frame-perfect and impossibly dark, her long eyelashes cast soft shadows over her eyes, which glimmered with the exact same captivating violet hue as her hair, carrying an ancient, mesmerizing depth.
Her face was structured with the flawless, striking curves of a meticulously carved diamond, making her look sharp, elegant, and breathtakingly beautiful.
Her entire body radiated an innate, intoxicating allure that hung in the humid air like a potent aphrodisiac, instantly clouding the senses of anyone who dared to look too closely.
She sat upon a high, dark jade throne, completely relaxed yet exuding a dominant, sovereign presence. She wore a provocative, cut-through robe dress that abandoned all standard sect modesty.
The deep, daring slit of the white fabric parted perfectly as she shifted her posture, letting her long, milk-white legs peek through the robes, their smooth, flawless contours practically begging for a mere touch.
Straining heavily against the silken fabric of her bodice, her huge twin peaks rose and fell with her calm, measured breathing, drawing the eye and emphasizing the devastating contrast between her pristine status and her raw, unadulterated physical temptation.
"Are you simply going to stand at the doorway all afternoon, Jianxiao?" she asked softly, a faint, knowing smirk playing on her perfect diamond-curved lips as her violet eyes locked onto mine.
I forced air into my lungs, blinking away the intoxicating haze that threatened to completely override my senses.
It took a significant amount of willpower to pull my gaze away from the flawless expanse of her exposed legs and lower my eyes into a posture of proper deference.
"Forgive my hesitation, Master," I replied, my voice slightly thicker than usual as I stepped fully into the pavilion and let the heavy doors seal shut behind me.
"It has been a full year since I last stepped foot upon your Sovereign Peak. Though you were kind enough to visit me twice within my own abode during my seclusion. It seems my cultivation is still not profound enough to remain completely unaffected by your beauty."
I brought my hands together and offered a deep, flawless bow.
A soft, melodic laugh rippled through the quiet chamber, the sound plucking directly at the strings of my soul.
"Smooth words for a man who just came out of a hole after a year," she noted playfully. She shifted her weight on the dark jade throne, the movement causing the high slit of her robe to part just a fraction more, revealing the soft curve of her upper thigh.
"But I did not summon you to my peak simply to hear you flatter me, Jianxiao. Not when you took such an interesting detour after leaving the grand hall. Your aura still carries the distinct, lingering scent of Blossom Peak.
It seems you had some rather intense, private matters to settle with Elder Su Rulan before finally coming to see me. Come closer and tell me what is truly going on."
I straightened my posture, letting my hands rest naturally at my sides. The cold, calculating wall I had built to face the elders completely dissolved in her presence.
I walked forward, stopping at the base of the jade dais. [Jade Dias= A Raised Platform]
The faint, playful smirk on her diamond-curved lips told me she was not genuinely angry, just intensely curious. She was testing the waters to see if I would try to deceive her.
I did not flinch. Instead, a slow, confident smile curved my lips, matching her perceptive energy with absolute, unyielding confidence.
"You have always possessed the sharpest senses in the entire sect, Master," I replied smoothly, my voice steady and completely unashamed. "It is true. Before ascending to your peak, I found it necessary to pay a private visit to Elder Su Rulan."
I took another half-step forward, closing the distance just enough for her to feel the subtle, magnetic shift in my aura.
"Elder Mo has grown entirely too comfortable. While he was busy in the shadows trying to dismantle my legacy and covet my wife, he neglected his own foundation. I simply went to Blossom Peak to collect a long-overdue debt, and to thoroughly ensure that his neglected wife fully understands where the true, absolute power in this sect actually lies."
My master rested her chin on the knuckles of her delicate hand. Her violet eyes narrowed slightly, gleaming with a mixture of profound intrigue and dangerous amusement.
She was a supreme cultivator who had ruled for centuries. She knew exactly what kind of ’debt collection’ leaves a man smelling so heavily of orchids and raw, lingering heat.
Yet, I had not outright confessed to the illicit act, wrapping it in a perfectly woven half-truth that gave her the exact plausible deniability required for high-level sect politics.
"A debt collection," she echoed softly, the words rolling off her tongue like a quiet, melodic verdict.
A distinct, pleased glimmer sparkled in her violet eyes as she looked down at me.
"You shattered his public plot in the grand hall, and then immediately walked into his private domain to dismantle his household from the inside out. You have become quite ruthless, Jianxiao."
"Only toward those who force my hand, Master," I said softly, my gaze softening as it locked onto hers, leaving no room for doubt regarding where my ultimate devotion lay.
"To you, I remain exactly as I have always been."
The corner of her diamond-curved lips tilted upward into a thoroughly satisfied, affectionate smile. She was completely pleased, her pride in my swift and uncompromising initiative radiating through her spiritual signature.
The faint trace of probing scrutiny in the pavilion melted away entirely, replaced by a warm, approving tranquility that wrapped comfortably around the room.
Slowly, the playful spark in her violet eyes softened, shifting into a quiet, deep solemnity. She leaned back against the dark jade throne, her gaze drifting slightly past me as if looking back through the centuries. A gentle, nostalgic sigh escaped her lips.
"A hundred years," she murmured softly, her voice dropping into a tender, intimate cadence meant for my ears alone. "It has been exactly one hundred years since your family used their immense connections to cross the realms and place you under my guidance on this very peak.
Your mother trusted no one else in this lower plane to protect you, and for good reason."
She paused, a complex, melancholic smile touching her perfect diamond-curved lips as she leaned forward, her violet eyes locking onto mine with absolute clarity.
"Actually, your birth mother was my best childhood friend," she revealed softly, a trace of deep-seated grief and fondness coloring her tone.
"When we were young, we were completely inseparable. We shared everything, made grand vows to always stay together, and we even promised that we would eventually marry the same man.
But tragedy has a way of shattering the dreams of youth, and our paths were violently forced apart.
She successfully ascended to the Divine Realm, while I, I was left bound to this lower world, cursed by the restrictive laws of my own special physique."
She shifted slightly on the dark jade throne, the provocative slit of her white robe parting further to reveal her flawless, milk-white skin, emphasizing the dangerous, fatal nature of her very existence.
"I know you have always wondered about my absolute isolation, Jianxiao. You have always been clever enough to guess that something was wrong, yet you never once pried or asked me for the reason why the elders only ever see me shrouded in layers of celestial qi, or why I must slightly suppress and distort my voice with spiritual arts during grand councils,"
she whispered, her voice carrying a hauntingly intimate weight. "My innate physique is an absolute calamity. If those with lower cultivations or the weak in mind hear my unfiltered voice or gaze upon my un-shrouded form, they completely lose their minds.
Their consciousness fractures, leaving them utterly corrupted, viler, and consumed by uncontrollable, beastly desires. Only a handful of people in existence have ever been permitted to know my true face."
Her violet eyes narrowed slightly, pooling with a mix of profound fascination and an unspoken, intense emotion as she stared deeply into my sapphire-blue eyes.
"But you, you are one of them. For some inexplicable reason, you seem to be the only man capable of withstanding the corrupting curse of my physique. You can look at me, you can hear my true voice without any suppression, and while your mortal senses may react to the allure, your mind remains perfectly sovereign."
’Maybe it is because of my unknown bloodline,’ I mused silently, a cold spark of realization lighting up in the depths of my mind.
The heavy, suffocating pressure of her supreme status completely dissolved, leaving only the raw, unguarded bond between a master and her chosen legacy.
Before I could even formulate a response to her profound confession, a familiar, mocking chuckle vibrated directly inside my skull.
’Ara ara... your master seems to have quite a bit of hidden affection for you, dear Jianxiao,’ Lucy purred within my mind, her tone immensely amused and dripping with its usual sultry weight. ’She looks at you like a woman looking at her destined reward, not just a disciple.’
I completely ignored the system’s teasing remark, instantly shutting down our mental link to keep my attention locked entirely on the breathtaking woman resting upon the dark jade throne. The revelation of her past had shifted something vital within me, stirring both my original protective instincts and a deep, burning curiosity.
I took a deliberate step forward, the spiritual pressure of the room wrapping comfortably around my frame as I looked up into her violet eyes.
"If my birth mother trusted you above all others in this lower plane, Master, then I wish to know the full truth of her affairs," I said, my voice dropping into a quiet, intensely serious cadence.
"A year ago, devastating news reached me from the upper realm claiming she had been brutally killed by powerful cultivators inside an ancient ruin. That report completely broke me, consuming me in an absolute grief that forced me to lock myself away and drown my sorrows for the past twelve months."
An isolation that secretly almost killed me, I thought grimly, a sudden flash of cold fury passing through my soul as I recalled the bitter, lingering trace of poison someone had slipped into my wine. If it wasn’t for the forbidden, taboo soul-splitting ritual I executed years ago, that treacherous assassination attempt would have succeeded completely, and my consciousness never would have violently snapped back across the cosmos to reanimate this flesh.
"But hearing you speak of her now, I need the absolute truth. Is she truly gone, or is there a chance she is still alive? What exactly happened in the Divine Realm that forced her to hide me here?"
I paused, my gaze dropping briefly to the flawless expanse of her exposed, milk-white legs before locking back onto her face with unyielding intensity.
"And more importantly, tell me about your physique. I refuse to accept that you must remain bound to this world, hiding behind layers of mist for eternity. How can you be cured of this curse?"
A profound silence stretched over the grand pavilion as my questions hung in the humid, heavily perfumed air. My master did not answer immediately.
Instead, her violet eyes shimmered with a complex mixture of guarded melancholy and intense admiration. She slowly lowered her chin from her hand, her posture straightening on the dark jade throne, radiating the true, unyielding gravity of a supreme sect leader.
"The truth regarding your mother’s affairs, and whether she still draws breath, is a story that must be told to you by her own lips, not mine,"
she murmured softly, her words carrying a cryptic, powerful undercurrent that sent a sudden jolt of hope straight through my chest.
She leaned forward slightly, her gaze locking onto mine with absolute clarity. "But as for how to cure or control my cursed physique, that is the exact reason why I called you to my peak today."
A dangerous, icy coldness suddenly settled into her beautiful, diamond-curved features, completely erasing the last remnants of her playful demeanor.
"Deep within the hidden zones of the Heavenly Sovereign Ruins lies a legendary, ancient artifact known as the Peerless Beauty Suppression Locket. It possesses the unique cosmic authority required to perfectly seal and regulate a calamity-grade physique like my own, allowing me to finally step out into the world without bringing ruin to those around me."
She let out a soft, mocking laugh that carried an immense, suffocating spiritual pressure.
"And that is the true reason why I am allowing that black-hearted rat, Ye Chen, to participate in this upcoming expedition. Do not think his little schemes have escaped my notice, Jianxiao.
Even from the absolute apex of this mountain, I can feel the disgusting, plotting rot of his dark heart from afar. His hidden intentions toward Leng Qingxue are utterly wicked, and he foolishly believes he can use the chaos of the ruins to act upon his vile desires."
The corner of her lips tilted upward into a cold, lethal smile that promised absolute annihilation for anyone who dared cross her legacy.
"Rest assured, your wife was never in any true danger. I have already secretly deployed a unit of my most loyal, elite shadow cultivators to guard Qingxue from the dark, ensuring his pathetic plot would be crushed the moment he tried to breathe in her direction. But now that you have stepped out of your seclusion, Jianxiao, you can handle his execution personally."
A cold chill ran through my veins, not from fear, but from the sudden, terrifying realization of how insidious destiny truly was.
’She thinks her shadow guards are an absolute defense,’ I communicated grimly to Lucy, keeping my expression perfectly placid as I looked at my master.
’She has calculated for every variable, but she does not know the absolute absurdity of a protagonist halo. In the original novel, the moment the expedition reaches the inner ruins, a freak, automated spatial trial triggers. It dynamically shifts the corridors based on karmic destiny, completely trapping her elite guards in an isolated killing array while leaving Qinxue entirely exposed. That is exactly how that rat bypassed her protection, poisoned my wife, and carried out his vile plot.’
’Ara ara, look at you getting all intense,’ Lucy giggled in my mind, though her tone carried a sharp, analytical edge. ’But you are entirely correct, dear Jianxiao. The heavens love to bend the rules to force a crisis. By normal logic, your master’s elite unit would slaughter Ye Chen in a heartbeat. But destiny will engineer a freak accident to sideline them.’
’Then it is a good thing I am here to rewrite the script,’ I thought, a predatory glint flashing deep within my sapphire blue eyes. ’The spatial distortion will still happen, but instead of finding a helpless prey, Ye Chen is going to find me waiting for him in the dark.’
She leaned back against her throne, her violet eyes gleaming with a dangerous anticipation.
The corner of her lips tilted upward into a cold, lethal smirk that promised absolute annihilation for anyone who dared cross her legacy.
"I am letting him enter that domain precisely because his strange, anomalous destiny will guide him straight to the artifact. You will accompany the group, watch him like a predator in the shadows, and the moment he uncovers the locket, you will completely crush him. Tear his fortunes away, ensure he never sees the light of day again, and bring that locket back to me."
