Chapter Eight: The Disciple's Gratitude

In an instant, she recalled everything.

While cultivating the Cloud and Water Scripture, she suddenly thought of the special opportunity hidden within the Peak of Myriad Laws. Overwhelmed by emotion, she inadvertently connected it to the great tribulation of her past life as an untranscended Emperor. Losing control of her mind, she fell into a demonic illusion and met a fate that replayed old tragedies.

Within that realm, her consciousness was chaotic as she revisited the moment of her death—battling with bloodied resolve, ascending to the pinnacle, desperately striving to carve a path of survival. Yet, no matter how strong she was, she was only a quasi-Emperor besieged by several others of equal rank. How could she possibly break free?

At the brink of despair, her newly sworn master appeared mysteriously within the illusory space of her tribulation. With a wave of his hand, he erased the phantasms of those quasi-Emperors surrounding her.

At the time, her mind was too muddled to comprehend, but now, recalling it, she wondered—what realm was that?

How could this master she had just sworn by appear inside her demonic illusion?

Even at the peak of her quasi-Emperor cultivation, she had never heard of such a thing.

But now, looking at Lin Jun—his hair white and his body frail—she recalled everything. Shocked and deeply moved, she immediately recognized the price her master had paid to save her.

Moment by moment, she pieced it all together logically…

Her master was likely not the waste the world rumored, but a hidden powerhouse, perhaps possessing a realm comparable to or surpassing her past life. It was precisely this unparalleled strength that allowed him to disregard the gossip and live in seclusion here.

Her sudden, inexplicable apprenticeship had disrupted his peaceful life.

When she fell into demonic madness within his domain, he could not stand idly by.

Thus, he paid a great price to quell her tribulation and restore her.

But as a former quasi-Emperor, she knew well how difficult it was to break free from such a level of demonic illusion.

Even at her peak as a quasi-Emperor, she could not have done it.

Now, she could clearly feel that her temporary master, standing there, had long since lost all vitality within his body, staggering like a flickering candle, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

That was the cost of saving her.

“Master, you…” Ji Qingyou felt a complex mixture of emotions—gratitude, guilt, and sorrow. Comparing the once youthful and poised Lin Jun to the frail old man before her, her heart ached endlessly.

No one is without feelings, not even a reincarnated quasi-Emperor. Tears streamed down her face in great drops.

She steadied the nearly collapsing Lin Jun, her beautiful eyes brimming with tender concern, calling out with heartfelt sincerity, “Master.”

In both past and present lives, she had no master, having learned everything by herself. But from now on, Lin Jun would be her one and only master.

Not for anything else, but for the magnanimity he showed in risking his life for his disciple—she felt nothing but admiration.

Moreover, the great boon of dispelling her demonic tribulation was as precious to her as being reborn.

Though she had been reincarnated, the great tribulation of her past life had never truly passed. Had she died in that illusion, her physical body in the outside world would have dissolved into the void.

“Cough, cough, ugh…” Lin Jun sat on the ground, supported by his disciple, a bitter smile creasing his aged face.

The moment he returned to reality, he felt his cultivation and stamina, once indistinguishable from his realm, ebbing away like a receding tide.

The peculiar world before his eyes had returned to normal, leaving only a body on the verge of death, gasping for breath.

Perhaps due to his severely depleted life force, every breath burned painfully in his chest, accompanied by waves of dizziness akin to motion sickness, forcing him to retch.

“Master! Don’t die!” Seeing his deteriorating state, Ji Qingyou anxiously and tenderly held him in her arms, desperately channeling spiritual energy to him.

Yet she realized that the life force within her master was like a bottomless abyss—no matter what she did, it could not be replenished.

She understood: her master had overexerted himself, and death was inevitable. No amount of rescue could save him.

Cradling the withered figure in her arms, tears streamed down Ji Qingyou’s exquisite face.

Having grown up in a harsh world filled with betrayal, she had finally found someone who cared for her—and now he was slipping away.

“Have I, Ji Qingyou, committed some sin?” she cried internally, unable to stop her sorrowful tears, soaking Lin Jun’s hair, hating her own weakness that prevented her from defying fate to save her master.

“Ugh, ugh, cough… obedient disciple, release me. I am not dead yet…” Lin Jun struggled to free himself from her embrace, gasping for air.

Realizing her earlier actions had been improper, Ji Qingyou’s eyes still shone with grief.

Lin Jun breathed deeply, a bitter smile playing at his lips.

He hadn’t expected to push himself so far—overdrawing his future strength to such a degree that, with his current foundational cultivation, he might have deeply indebted the system.

Without the system’s support, he likely would have perished.

This rollercoaster of life left Lin Jun feeling helpless. After waiting over thirty years, he had just awakened the system yesterday, only to face death today—a stark reminder of life’s unpredictability.

Filled with fighting spirit that morning, vowing “My fate belongs to me, not heaven!” by afternoon, he was forced to confront his regrets.

“Forget it, if death comes, it comes. Since ancient times, who has escaped death? Dying now just means fewer detours in life.”

“Disciple, you have just sworn to me, and I have little to give you. Here is the key to the Peak of Myriad Laws’ treasury and the token of the peak master. From now on, you are the new master of the Peak of Myriad Laws.”

“Oh, and this is the foundational sect scripture, the Primordial Immortal Scripture. I was about to give it to you. Cultivating this will benefit you. Don’t practice techniques outside the sect. Also, take good care of your junior brother…”

With his last breath, Lin Jun poured all his important items into Ji Qingyou’s hands, ensuring he did not fail as a master, completing the system’s assigned task before dying.

Simultaneously, a regretful thought arose.

With the system, if he had a “Longevity Pill” to bestow upon Ji Qingyou, which would return a hundredfold, and if he obtained an extraordinary pill himself, perhaps he could live.

But alas, the Peak of Myriad Laws was most lacking such an ordinary longevity pill.

Because the sect leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect feared that Lin Jun, a mortal peak master, might live too long, he had long since employed various means to block Lin Jun’s access to all longevity resources.

Whether his disciple had obtained any was unknown…

“Master, rest assured. I, Ji Qingyou, swear: in life, I am yours; in death, your spirit. Rest now, and in the future, I will surely find a way to resurrect you. This Peak of Myriad Laws, I will guard in your stead!”

Tears streaming, Ji Qingyou solemnly accepted the other items Lin Jun bestowed. Then, with earth-shaking resolve, she displayed a mighty aura.

In front of Lin Jun, she respectfully dispersed the cultivation of her own long-practiced Destiny Scripture, taking up the Primordial Immortal Scripture he handed her.

She sank her entire mind into it before Lin Jun’s eyes.

“Master, from now on, Qingyou will only cultivate the technique you gave me. To my last breath, I will be your disciple!”

Suddenly, with a rumbling sound, she transformed all the meridians in her body into the configuration of the Primordial Immortal Scripture.

To her, with a master who treated her so, even if this was a cultivation method destined not to reach Emperor, what did it matter?

Ji Qingyou lived her life seeking only a clear conscience.

But in the next moment, her beautiful eyes filled with astonishment.