Chapter 96: A Final Charge

The voice sounded off. Was he injured so badly that he could no longer consume the ore? If his divine sense already confirmed it was her, why ask at all?

Yun Qing hastily replied, “It is I, Senior Qin. What is the matter?”

“Qin is trapped here. I wonder whether Miss Yun Qing could help me with a few things?”

Yun Qing found it strange beyond measure. Perhaps he had encountered some great fortune, yet she could not trust him, nor did she wish to hand over her affairs, her wealth, and her foundation to her.

She was not even at the Qi Refining stage and could not even swear a heart-demon oath. Yet today he had no way out. He had already run out of choices. Either he would vanish on the Middle Continent together with everything related to him, or he would entrust it to Yun Qing and leave behind at least a trace of remembrance.

Yun Qing was puzzled. Qin Feng said he was trapped here? That he was trapped beneath the ore, inside the pill-refining workshop of the outer-domain celestial demon? That much she had already known.

So what he meant was that he was pinned beneath this pile of ore and could not get out?

She suspected he was severely injured, so badly that he could not even walk. Even so, Yun Qing believed he still had a way to turn her to ashes in an instant.

And with Qin Feng alternating between suspicion and sudden increases in affection, Yun Qing worried he might develop the thought that if he could not live, then no one else should live in peace either.

Whatever Qin Feng thought or did, she could not escape. She might as well keep digging through the half-finished pile of ore before her.

She silently said, “Collect black iron ore.”

With the system’s help, she dug up the ore with her hands.

At the same time, she replied in an anxious voice, “Please do not worry, Senior. I will dig away the ore right away, and then you will be able to come out.”

“Qin Feng’s affection toward you has increased by 20.”

Feeling Yun Qing’s movements, Qin Feng said, “Many thanks, Miss Yun Qing. No need to waste your energy. I am afraid I am beyond help.”

“Collection experience +31!”

Obtained: Black iron ore x1

Yun Qing quickly swept the newly gathered ore into the system backpack with both hands. She had only dug up a single piece by hand, and already two of her fingers had been skinned.

Every finger was bound to the heart. She drew in a sharp breath and continued digging. “Please remain calm, Senior. We will certainly get out. I will clear the ore away as quickly as possible.”

“Qin Feng’s affection toward you has increased by 20.”

Every movement Yun Qing made was under Qin Feng’s divine sense. Rather than vanish into the world with his secrets, it would be better to leave behind a sliver of hope before dying.

“Miss Yun Qing, Qin has one matter to trouble you with. If you can help me, I will repay you handsomely.”

If Qin Feng needed her help with something, how could he be sure when she would accomplish it? How would this so-called generous reward even be given? How was any of that supposed to work?

Yun Qing did not yet understand the methods of the cultivation world. Qin Feng’s cultivation was so high, and he already held ill will toward her; she feared he might tamper with her. For instance, he could place restraints on her divine sense, seize control of her consciousness, or leave a wisp of his primordial spirit inside her body.

Still digging with her hands, Yun Qing insisted, “Senior, your matters can only be completed by your own hands. Please hold on a little longer. I will clear the ore away as fast as I can.”

“Qin Feng’s affection toward you has increased by 30.”

“Qin Feng’s affection toward you has risen to Friendly.”

Yun Qing looked at that inexplicably friendly favorability and could only marvel at human thought. The more one refused, the more affection the other seemed to feel.

Unfortunately, there was enmity between them. Otherwise, they could have formed a team and checked each other’s current position and condition.

“Please, Miss Yun Qing, help Qin.” Qin Feng’s voice through transmission grew weaker and weaker.

Yun Qing stopped digging and asked, “What can I do? Please make it clear, Senior.”

“If Miss Yun Qing can leave this place, please help…”

Qin Feng was using voice transmission. Before Yun Qing could answer, a stream of information rushed into her mind.

The information came too fast—some of it was Qin Feng’s account, some of it his emotions. Yun Qing sorted it out and summarized it.

Qin Feng was a Nascent Soul cultivator. He had known Bai Wuyou since they were both in their teens, and later they became dao companions for hundreds of years.

When they were young, the two of them pursued greater cultivation and never considered descendants. Later, because their cultivation had become too high, they remained childless for many years.

Only when they were already in the Golden Core stage and nearing the end of their lifespan did they use certain methods to step into the Nascent Soul stage. In this life, the chances of reaching a higher realm were slim.

Relying on cultivation to extend one’s lifespan, Qin Feng had not cared much about descendants. He himself could live.

But once he knew his lifespan was limited, every cell in his body began urging him to continue his bloodline.

Because of the method used to form his nascent soul, hidden problems gradually appeared in his body. He would not live to the full twelve hundred years of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

With no hope for himself, he grew ever more eager to have an heir. He discussed it with Bai Wuyou, but her body had problems as well. She would never be able to have children in this lifetime.

He had once promised her a life of devotion, just the two of them together. Yet as the days passed and no child came, he lost all hope in life.

He could die; he could do anything. But he absolutely needed a son, the continuation of his life, proof that he had once existed in this world—even if, after that, he were made into a eunuch, so be it.

He had brought up parting from Bai Wuyou, but she refused. In a fit of anger, he left the Qin family estate.

Since those with high cultivation would not do, he sought out those with lower cultivation. Roaming the mortal world and acting as a chivalrous hero, Qin Feng soon met a mortal woman who admired him and was willing to bear his child.

Perhaps heaven took pity on him. Not long after he was with the mortal woman, she conceived his child. Under divine-sense observation, it was indeed a son.

The arrival of his son filled his life with renewed vigor. All that remained of his days was to protect the boy and raise him to adulthood.

After long days of waiting, the child was finally born safely. He named him Qin Yan, the continuation of his life.

His dao companion could not accept any of this, so he settled mother and son in a separate estate.

More than ten years before he was captured by the outer-domain celestial demon, one day he was away from the estate when revenge-seekers came. By the time he rushed back, he could only save his newborn son. Qin Yan’s mother, along with all the cultivators protecting mother and child, had been brutally slaughtered.

After the estate was drenched in blood, Qin Feng brought Qin Yan back to the Qin family estate and personally cared for him.

What gratified him was that Qin Yan’s aptitude was not bad. Nurtured by precious heavenly materials and earthly treasures, he had reached the acquired realm at the age of fifteen. In the future, he might not lack the hope of reaching even greater cultivation.

What delighted him even more was that not long after entering the acquired realm, Qin Yan seemed to have suddenly awakened. His cultivation progressed extremely quickly and with great solidity. In only one year, he advanced from the first level of the acquired realm into the innate realm, and two years later he had already reached the late Qi Refining stage.

Only then did the late Qi Refining Qin Yan disappear without a trace from the Qin family estate.

Following clues and traces, Qin Feng tracked him to the vicinity of the black iron mine, only to inadvertently break into the forbidden land of the outer-domain celestial demon—the pill-refining workshop of Heavenly God Number Four.

Trapped by formations and forced into battle through several days and nights, he was finally struck down by an illusion formation that caught him off guard. In a moment of inattention, he lost consciousness, and when he woke again, he had become the scarlet iron spirit worm Yun Qing saw before her.

Thereafter, there were times he was lucid and times he was muddled. In the early years after he transformed into the scarlet iron spirit worm, this forbidden land still held many cultivators. In the decades before Yun Qing entered, there had been no more human figures.

What Qin Feng wanted her to do was investigate Qin Yan’s whereabouts and determine whether he was still alive in this world.

Back when the estate had been bathed in blood, he had also investigated the matter, but the trail pointed to... He was unwilling to let these minor matters disrupt his life. As long as Yan’er was safe, the mortal woman who had borne his son could live or die for all he cared; he would let the past be the past.