Master, I Will Still Be Your Disciple in the Next Life

"Master, do it now! Ever since I was humiliated by this demon, I've harbored a death wish. My only motivation to keep living has been revenge, and this is the best opportunity. I am willing to trade my life for his!" Jiang Li said anxiously.

Hearing this, the Flowing Cloud Immortal King's delicate body trembled. "Li'er, you..."

"Master, I beg you, grant your disciple's wish!"

Gu Qingfeng tightened his embrace around Jiang Li. "As the saying goes, one day of marriage means a hundred days of affection. We've had at least several hundred thousand days' worth of affection between us by now. I never thought you could be so heartless. Truly, nothing is more poisonous than a woman's heart."

Jiang Li glared at him fiercely. "You demon! You will die a horrible death! Master, do it quickly!"

After much hesitation, the conflicted struggle in the Flowing Cloud Immortal King's eyes slowly gave way to firm determination.

"Li'er, I am sorry."

With that, the Flowing Cloud Immortal King immediately formed hand seals, and a surge of spatial fluctuation emanated from her hands.

The sky-blotting cloud net began to contract once more, tearing at the void as if forcibly ripping a piece out of a painted scroll.

Looking at her grief-stricken master, tears streamed uncontrollably down Jiang Li's fair face. She choked out between sobs, "Master, you haven't wronged me. It is this disciple who has disappointed you. My strength was too low, and I was captured alive and humiliated by this demon, ruining your reputation. Now, only death can atone for my sins."

Rumble!

The sound of the void shattering grew increasingly violent. It seemed the two were about to be completely exiled.

Jiang Li cried out her final words: "Master! You are the closest person to me in this life. I can no longer fulfill my filial piety in this life. In the next life, I will still be your disciple!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the void completely shattered. The massive cloud net enveloped Gu Qingfeng and Jiang Li, pulling them and the patch of void they occupied down into a boundless abyss, vanishing without a trace.

"Li'er!!"

The Flowing Cloud Immortal King let out a mournful cry, her voice as sorrowful as a cuckoo weeping blood.

This female Immortal King, who dominated the Star Ruins, shed tears. It was the first time she had cried since becoming an Immortal King.

She had been fiercely proud her entire life. After becoming an Immortal King, she had thought nothing in this world could ever move her again, but she hadn't expected to have overestimated herself in the end.

As for Jiang Li, the beloved disciple she had raised since childhood, she treated her as her own, seeing her entirely as a biological daughter. Yet now, she had met such an end.

An inexplicable sense of regret suddenly welled up in the Flowing Cloud Immortal King's heart. She regretted personally sending her disciple to hell.

The countless billions of citizens in the Flowing Cloud Immortal Realm watched their Immortal King weep in grief, their own expressions turning sorrowful as they deeply empathized with her pain.

...

The Land of Nothingness.

There was nothing here, only an eternal, solitary void.

Exiled to this place, Gu Qingfeng and Jiang Li were like two helpless, wandering ghosts drifting through the emptiness.

Upon entering this place, Jiang Li seemed to have achieved enlightenment after being freed. She felt neither joy nor sorrow, her mind completely serene and blank.

Gu Qingfeng, however, observed this Land of Nothingness with great interest. But after looking around for a while, he lost interest.

Because the Land of Nothingness was truly just a blank slate; there was absolutely nothing.

At this moment, he turned his gaze to Jiang Li in his arms.

Sensing his gaze, Jiang Li looked at Gu Qingfeng calmly. Her beautiful eyes no longer held their previous towering hatred; there was only tranquility.

She spoke calmly, "Kill me. You must really want to kill me to vent your anger right now. Do it."

"Hehehe... How could this Emperor bear to kill a peerless beauty like you?"

Jiang Li was slightly surprised. "I didn't expect that even in a place like this, your mind would still be fixated on matters between men and women. As expected of you.

Then come. Since I fell into this place with you, I had already anticipated the outcome. Whether you want to kill me or humiliate me, I will endure it. After all, I am no match for you. However, no matter how much you torture me, one thing is already destined.

And that is, you are powerless to change the situation. You will never be able to go back."

Gu Qingfeng squeezed her breasts and whispered softly in Jiang Li's ear:

"Is that so? Then you are going to be disappointed."

Jiang Li did not resist, nor did she speak. She didn't believe Gu Qingfeng could leave.

She knew very well that the only thing Gu Qingfeng could do now was vent his frustration on her.

Since she couldn't resist, she might as well silently enjoy it.

From the moment she fell into the Land of Nothingness, Jiang Li had let go of everything. The purity, false reputation, and dignity she used to value were all just fleeting clouds here.

Although she had come to terms with everything, a human was still a human. There was always something in her heart she couldn't let go of, and that was her master.

She hadn't expected that the glance at her master, whom she hadn't seen for a long time, would be her last. Just thinking of her master's heartbroken expression at the end made her heart ache uncontrollably.

"If only I could see Master one more time, how wonderful that would be..." Jiang Li softly voiced her innermost thoughts.

Here, there was no need for her to hide her thoughts, so she spoke them out naturally and subconsciously.

"Hehehe... You want to see the beauty Flowing Cloud? This Emperor will satisfy you. It just so happens that this Emperor has always wanted to try a master-and-disciple combo."

Jiang Li shook her head, ignoring Gu Qingfeng's crazed ravings.

However, in the next second, Gu Qingfeng grabbed Jiang Li's hand, tossed her into the world within his palm, and then vanished with a pop like a bursting bubble.

...

The Flowing Cloud Immortal Realm.

The Flowing Cloud Immortal King had put away her sorrow and hid in her cave mansion to enter secluded cultivation and heal her injuries.

Her injuries this time were too severe, making her originally fair face even paler and more haggard.

But this sickly state gave her a different kind of beauty, like the legendary sickly beauty Xi Shi, or Lin Daiyu from the Dream of the Red Chamber—an absolute sickly beauty.

With faint tears in her eyes, she breathed in delicate, shallow pants.

In stillness, she was like a beautiful flower reflected in the water; in motion, she was like a fragile willow swaying in the wind.

Sorrow seemed to naturally grace her cheeks, and a delicate frailty enveloped her entire being.

She cultivated with her eyes closed, when suddenly, an exclamation rang out: "Master!?"

Hearing this familiar voice, the Flowing Cloud Immortal King was startled. She didn't open her eyes; instead, she hurriedly recited the Heart-Calming Mantra in her mind, forcibly stabilizing her Dao Heart.

She knew that her injuries were too severe, to the point of giving rise to inner demons.

"Hehehe... Beauty Flowing Cloud, this Emperor has brought you and your disciple together for a reunion. As a reward, shouldn't you treat this Emperor to a master-and-disciple combo?"

Gu Qingfeng's wicked and charming voice also echoed in the Flowing Cloud Immortal King's ears.

The Flowing Cloud Immortal King's brow furrowed deeper and deeper, and the Heart-Calming Mantra in her mouth was now being chanted aloud. She hadn't expected the inner demon this time to be so severe.

"Hey, you keep your eyes closed and refuse to answer. That's too disrespectful to this Emperor. Open your eyes and look."

Hearing such words from the inner demon, the Flowing Cloud Immortal King was even more unwilling to open her eyes. She was extremely weak; if she fell into the inner demon's illusion, she risked a drop in her cultivation realm.

Gu Qingfeng, who had just emerged from the Land of Nothingness with Jiang Li, looked at the Flowing Cloud Immortal King with her eyes tightly shut, constantly chanting mantras, and grew somewhat impatient.

He wasn't going to indulge her, and immediately reached out his wandering hands.