Chapter 3

3: 3

3

After losing his eye, Christopher went home and threw a fit, demanding I compensate him with a thousand years of my cultivation.

The old master Glen Henson was greedier still. He talked about how one's body, hair, and skin were gifts from one's parents, and opened his mouth asking for three thousand.

I refused outright, and there was weariness in my voice.

"I told all of you long ago. Christopher has no immortal root. Force cultivation into him and it will only destroy him."

Then my gaze settled on the corner of the den.

"Mrs. Henson, you of all people should understand this best."

Her face went stiff, and she lowered her head, saying nothing.

Clearly, she had never told the rest of the family this secret.

The next moment, Valerie Henson stepped through the mouth of the den.

She had been in seclusion for cultivation a long while, and her immortal root was steady now.

The eyes she turned on me carried a proud, looking-down-from-above scorn.

"This little celestial servant is right. You truly don't have good roots and bones."

"But it isn't entirely hopeless."

At those words, Christopher's face lit up with joy, and he pressed her at once for what method could help him become immortal.

From the moment Valerie fixed her stare on me,

I understood what her words had meant.

Even Qionqi, inside the pouch, guessed part of it, and asked in a slow drawl,

"Cranemoor, this little wretch isn't planning to skin you, tear out your sinews, and dig out your immortal bones for him, is she?"

"If she dares, you just take her straight into the Cosmic Pouch and let me have a taste of her."

He had guessed right.

Valerie drew out an Ice Blade and handed it to Christopher.

"They all say our little sister Tinglan died on the road to subduing Qionqi."

"But the Goddess would never send you to make amends for no reason."

"You're the one who killed her, aren't you?"

The way Tinglan looked in her last moment, scattering into nothing, was still branded into my heart, and it would not fade.

Before she followed me to subdue Qionqi, she had said, all light and eager, that she wanted to pick up a few discarded scales from Qionqi's old lair to bring back and forge protective armor for her big sister and second brother.

And yet on the battlefield I doubted her, thought her heart was set on treachery, and killed her with my own hands without hesitation.

I am sustained by heaven and earth. I have no father, no mother. I never knew what it felt like to have family beside me.

But Tinglan chattered in my ear day after day, until it was as if I had learned again what it meant to hold someone dear.

Someone who longed so deeply to go home, and I was the one who severed the road back with my own hands.

At the thought, something clenched hard around my heart.

So I was silent for a moment, then gave them a nod.

Valerie smiled, pleased, and pushed Christopher forward.

"A life for a life, then. And anyway, once the immortal bones are carved out, you can still reincarnate and be born again as a mortal."

"Second brother, didn't you want to become immortal? Then kill her, and avenge our little sister."

Christopher froze where he stood, hesitating.

"Big sister, she was sent by the Goddess, after all."

"If I lay a hand on her, won't it bring down heaven's punishment?"

Qionqi knew his voice couldn't be heard by the people outside.

But he still couldn't help saying,

"If you really kill this useless worm, you won't have to wait for heaven's punishment. The lightning tribulation will chase you down and strike you every single day."

But when Christopher's blade drove into my heart, I did not struggle.

Nyxphoenix caught the smell of my blood and came diving down from the Nine Heavens to guard my life.

But Valerie was an immortal now.

To her eyes, Nyxphoenix was only a nourishing spirit-creature.

So she turned to Christopher and asked for it.

"You're bored of this Nyxphoenix anyway. Big sister will take it off your hands with pleasure."

And with that, she made to go out and kill it.

I caught the hem of her robe, trying to stop her.

But she kicked me down to the ground and shook out her plain white robe with disgust.

Outside the den, Nyxphoenix let out a shrill, anguished cry, and my blood dripped drop by drop into the Cosmic Pouch.

Qionqi bristled with rage, threatening me through gritted teeth,

"Cranemoor, is something wrong with your head?"

"That Nyxphoenix was raised at your side from birth. You used to grieve half a day over a single lost feather."

"If you don't fight back, I swear I'll hang myself right here inside this Cosmic Pouch."