Chapter 11
The man didn’t dare refuse.
Perhaps it was because, on the way here, he had seen Liu Meng casually smash a tiger’s head with a single slap.
In the end, faced with a choice between “unknown danger” and “instant death,” he chose the former.
Fortunately, there was no danger inside the cave abode. After an hour, the man emerged, trembling with fear, and shook his head at Liu Meng.
Liu Meng smiled faintly, taking note of the somewhat lean man, then stepped inside.
As expected, there was no danger in the cave abode. Everything of value had long since been plundered.
There wasn’t even a single skeleton here. After all, in the Profound Female Sect, even corpses were valuable.
The only thing that needed cleaning was the dust and stains in the main hall.
Liu Meng couldn’t be bothered to make the exhausted men do anything. With a wave of her hand, she used her spiritual power to restore the hall to order.
She found a cell for the men and locked them inside, then returned to the raised platform in the hall, took out the Sound Transmission Moon Token, and infused it with spiritual power.
The next moment, Qin Shuang’s voice came from inside the token.
“Junior Sister, you’ve settled in so quickly?”
“I’m free right now. Tell me where you are, and I’ll come over at once.”
Liu Meng described the cave abode’s location. Qin Shuang fell silent for a moment, then replied, “I understand. I’ll be there in six hours.”
Three shichen...
Liu Meng silently reflected on this for a moment.
When she had come here, she had taken a day and a night because she was looking after those mortals and had stopped to rest several times.
But cultivators moved at a completely different speed from mortals. If she left the mortals behind and traveled at full speed, she wouldn’t need even two hours to cover this distance.
Yet Qin Shuang had said it would take her six hours to get here.
Just how far away was her cave abode?
Liu Meng sat quietly on the raised platform and waited. The sky had begun to lighten when someone gently knocked on the newly installed cave door.
She waved her hand, and the cave door opened by itself.
A graceful figure entered through the doorway, then quickly swept toward the main hall.
“Senior Sister Qin Shuang.” Liu Meng came down from the raised platform and nodded slightly to her visitor.
“Junior Sister Liu Meng.” Qin Shuang, her face uncovered, had an exquisite beauty. Smiling, she asked, “You must have seen quite a few unoccupied cave abodes on your way here. What did you think of them?”
Liu Meng frowned slightly. “There are so many unoccupied cave abodes. Were all of them once occupied by disciples of the Profound Female Sect?”
“That’s right.” Qin Shuang nodded firmly. “I told you that most disciples here won’t survive a year. Only by forming an alliance do we have a chance of staying alive.”
“Junior Sister Liu Meng, have you made up your mind? Will you form an alliance with me?”
Liu Meng thought for a moment. She wasn’t really worried that Qin Shuang would plot against her; after all, she was only a clone. What she truly feared was that if she died, she would no longer be able to ensure her main body’s safety.
But under Qin Shuang’s intense gaze, she eventually nodded.
By comparison, Qin Shuang standing before her was more trustworthy than the unknown dangers outside.
Seeing Liu Meng’s answer, Qin Shuang immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She opened her storage pouch and took out two ancient-looking, jade-green pendants.
She stared into Liu Meng’s eyes and asked, enunciating each word:
“Now that we’re allies, I want to ask you something...”
“Do you want to truly free yourself from Su Meier’s control?”
Free herself from Su Meier’s control?
Liu Meng’s heart gave an involuntary thump.
As Su Meier’s maids, they had all cultivated the subsidiary art of the Profound Female Art. A brand had been imprinted on their souls, making them Su Meier’s slaves for the rest of their lives.
And now Qin Shuang was asking her outright... whether she wanted to free herself from Su Meier’s control?
Liu Meng fell silent. She didn’t know whether Qin Shuang was testing her, but regaining one’s freedom was surely something any normal person would want. So she avoided giving a direct answer. “Could it be... that Senior Sister has a way?”
Qin Shuang nodded solemnly and gently raised the jade pendant in her hand. “This isn’t a pendant, but a jade slip. I happened upon it beside the remains of an ancient cultivator while carrying out a mission outside the sect. I found only two jade slips like this.”
A jade slip?
Liu Meng’s heart stirred as she examined the entirely jade-green stone.
Indeed, its shape had nothing to do with decoration. It looked more like an ancient medium for storing information.
Qin Shuang didn’t keep her in suspense. She explained, “This jade slip contains a supreme secret art that has long since been lost, called the True Explanation of Slaying the Three Corpses and Condensing the Dao. It doesn’t cultivate spiritual power or temper the body; it specifically severs the obsessions and brands within the soul. Once mastered, it can sever all shackles imposed on the soul by outsiders, leaving one’s soul pure and unblemished, transcendent and free from outside influence. From then on, one’s thoughts will flow freely, and no one will ever control you again.”
Sever the brands on the soul? Become free from outside influence? Never be controlled by anyone again?
Liu Meng’s first reaction wasn’t joy, but doubt.
Why did this secret art seem to have been made specifically for them?
What a coincidence!
Seeing the suspicion in Liu Meng’s heart, Qin Shuang continued, “I know what you’re thinking. This secret art appeared at a suspiciously convenient time. But based on my deductions, it was originally created by cultivators of the Profound Female Sect to free themselves from their masters’ control.”
“And this jade slip is made of no ordinary material. Once someone sends their divine sense into it, the jade slip will automatically pour all the information inside into their mind. After the transmission is complete, the spiritual resonance contained in the jade slip will be exhausted, and it will turn to dust and vanish completely. And because this secret art is so special, the person who receives the information can learn it, but cannot reveal it to anyone else.”
“In other words, one jade slip can teach the art to only one person.”
“That’s why I’m looking for only one ally. I have just two jade slips like this.”
“I’ve laid all my sincerity before you.” Qin Shuang gently placed the extremely precious jade slip on the stone table in the hall. “The choice is yours. I’ll wait to hear from you. I hope you won’t keep me waiting too long.”
With that, Qin Shuang turned and left the cave abode without hesitation.
Liu Meng slowly walked to the stone table, her brows furrowed.
This might be an incredible opportunity, but it could also be a vicious trap.
She had only one chance to try... which meant she couldn’t have someone else test it first.
If Qin Shuang had ulterior motives and the True Explanation of Slaying the Three Corpses and Condensing the Dao was actually a sinister evil art, then after cultivating it, Liu Meng might not only fail to free herself from control, but fall into even deeper bondage—or even have her soul explode and die on the spot.
But what if... Qin Shuang was telling the truth? If this really was her only chance to escape Su Meier’s control, and she gave it up out of suspicion and fear, she would regret it for the rest of her life.
If it were anyone else, they would surely be agonizing over the choice by now.
But for Liu Meng... this didn’t seem to be a problem.
“System, summon a clone for me!”