Chapter 908 - 343: From This Day On, You Are No Longer the Goddess
"What a beast!" Murderous intent surged in Mu Qingge’s eyes.
She could easily imagine that if Xi Qianxue hadn’t come to find her back then, if she hadn’t, just to be safe, given her a bottle of medicine for self‑defense, what Xi Qianxue would be facing at this very moment.
"After coming out of the Divine Tomb, I returned to the Divine Hall. But when I was walking to the outside of the hall, I saw..." Xi Qianxue’s emotions gradually calmed as she began to recount things to Mu Qingge.
That day, she overheard talk in the Divine Hall about framing Mu Qingge. Startled, she quietly slipped away.
When she returned to her own quarters, she kept thinking about how to inform Mu Qingge, and whether Mu Qingge was safe now. That night, her master came to her room.
"Master?" A visit in the middle of the night made Xi Qianxue jump as well.
Thinking back to how the Divine Venerable’s gaze on her had grown more and more wrong lately, and what she had heard outside the hall that day, she did not dare be the slightest bit careless.
"Qianxue, after you came out of the Divine Tomb, why didn’t you come to see your master?" The Divine Venerable sat down in her room and asked. His tone, in fact, sounded no different from usual.
However, in Xi Qianxue’s eyes now, he was no longer the familiar master she once knew.
He had become frightening, terrifying, disgusting, filthy!
"I...I was a bit tired, so I thought I would rest first, then go see Master once I was recovered." Xi Qianxue found an excuse. But clearly, she was not good at lying.
The most important thing was that she didn’t know that when she appeared outside the hall, the Divine Venerable had already noticed her presence.
"Tired? Did you perhaps get injured in the Divine Tomb?" The Divine Venerable suddenly stood up and walked toward her.
The lamplight fell on his back, casting his shadow forward, enveloping Xi Qianxue.
Xi Qianxue kept retreating step by step, panic creeping into her eyes.
"Master, I was not injured, I just over‑exerted myself and wanted to sit in meditation to regulate my breathing for a few days. Once I’ve recovered, I’ll go to pay my respects to Master." Xi Qianxue said hurriedly.
"Oh? Over‑exerted? Do you need your master to help you a little?" The Divine Venerable’s tone unconsciously turned ambiguous.
Xi Qianxue quickly dropped to her knees and said to him, "Master, this disciple wouldn’t dare trouble you. It’s already late; I humbly ask Master to return to the hall and rest."
The Divine Venerable finally stopped. His obscure gaze fell on the stretch of neck revealed by Xi Qianxue’s lowered head, as a certain emotion sprouted in his eyes.
In the end he said, "Very well, I’ll go back for tonight. Since you’re tired, stay here and rest for the next few days, don’t go wandering about. In a few days I’ll come again; your master still has many things he wishes to ask you."
With that, the Divine Venerable left.
However, the meaning‑laden words he left behind as he departed made Xi Qianxue’s heartbeat inexplicably speed up.
In those words was a disguised form of house arrest.
And also...what did he have to ask her?
Xi Qianxue’s eyes flickered slightly as her thoughts spun rapidly. After she entered the Divine Tomb, she had been together with Mu Qingge and the others; there was no way the Divine Hall wouldn’t know that.
But what did that prove?
Xi Qianxue spent the next few days in anxious unease. She tried many times to send out a message to warn Mu Qingge to beware of the Divine Hall, but she just couldn’t find the opportunity.
Helpless, she could only put on an act of sitting in meditation and Cultivation, hoping to lower the Divine Venerable’s guard against her.
A few days later, the Divine Venerable once again came to her room in the night.
But this time, the moment he entered, Xi Qianxue sensed something different. It was as if there was a primordial ferocious beast hidden in his eyes, and the way he stared at her was filled with the intent to possess.
The Divine Venerable sat in Xi Qianxue’s room and asked her, "Qianxue, your master has always trusted you. Do you have anything you’ve been hiding from your master?"
Xi Qianxue’s heart jolted, but she answered calmly, "Qianxue does not know what Master is referring to."
The Divine Venerable fixed his gaze on her and asked in a deep voice, "You have a good relationship with that Mu Qingge? I’ve never heard you mention it. Last time you met in the Divine Hall, you also behaved very indifferent."
Xi Qianxue lowered her eyes, replying cautiously, "Master worries too much. Between me and City Lord Mu, it’s just mutual cooperation, each taking what we need. If what Master is referring to is the Divine Tomb, the people I cooperated with at the time were not only City Lord Mu. There was also Yao Xinghai of the Yao Family from East Continent, Ji Yaohua from Northern Continent, Ying Ze from West Continent..."
"And Wei Molili of the Wei Family, correct?" The Divine Venerable unceremoniously cut Xi Qianxue off.
Xi Qianxue lifted her eyes to look at him and said, lips pressed together, "There is nothing whatsoever between me and Wei Molili."
"Hmph, is that so?" The Divine Venerable stood up and slowly approached her.
Xi Qianxue did not dare move, so she could only secretly stay on guard.
The Divine Venerable said, "Ever since you returned from your last training in the Divine Demon Ancient Battlefield, I noticed you were often absent‑minded. You also showed great concern for that Wei Molili of the Wei Family. And now you’re telling me there’s nothing between you two?"
"This disciple’s conduct is aboveboard. If Master refuses to believe me, there is nothing I can do." Xi Qianxue forced herself to speak calmly.
"Aboveboard conduct?" The Divine Venerable narrowed his eyes.
He walked toward her again, his shadow falling entirely over Xi Qianxue, shrouding her within it.
"If your conduct were truly aboveboard, then why, that day, when you’d already reached outside the hall, didn’t you come in, but only hid in the dark to eavesdrop? Then, you slipped away quietly again. When I came last time, I had already given you a chance, but you disappointed your master far too much." The Divine Venerable’s words made Xi Qianxue suddenly feel a sense of danger closing in.
She looked at the Divine Venerable who was drawing closer and explained, "I wasn’t hiding anything, I just felt that Master was discussing serious matters, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go in and disturb you."
"Qianxue, how have I treated you all these years?" the Divine Venerable suddenly asked, shaking his head.
Xi Qianxue lowered her eyes and said softly, "Master has treated me very well."
"And how have you repaid me?" Suddenly, the Divine Venerable’s voice turned severe.
Xi Qianxue snapped her head up and saw the Divine Venerable abruptly lean in close. His features had become twisted and hideous, his eyes terrifying. Instinctively, she stepped back, wanting to open up some distance between them.
However, the moment she moved, the Divine Venerable seized her wrist, yanked her toward him, and directly flung her onto the bed.
"Master!"
Xi Qianxue cried out in pain, exclaiming as she tried to get up from the bed.
Yet the Divine Venerable’s tall figure pressed down over her, pinning her firmly in place. He even reached out a hand, going to tear at her skirts.
"Master! What are you doing—!" Xi Qianxue struggled as she cried out in terror.
The Divine Venerable let out a cold laugh, the desire in his eyes no longer concealed. "What am I doing? Can you still not see what I’m doing now? You are the Goddess, the most noble, most sacred woman in this realm. Even if you fall in love, you can only fall in love with me; you can only belong to me!"
Rip—
Her skirts were torn; the sound of fabric splitting jolted Xi Qianxue awake.
While resisting with one hand, she took out from her Sumeru Ring the vial of medicine Mu Qingge had given her for self-defense...
"...I smashed the vial, and the scent inside spread out, making him faint and collapse on top of me. I was also affected to some extent; according to the method you taught me, I didn’t lose consciousness. I seized the chance to leave, escaped from the Divine Hall. But I was worried that if I returned to the Xi Family, once he woke up he would easily find me and even implicate the Xi Family, so I fled here to you. Qingge, the Divine Hall is no longer the Divine Hall I knew, and Master is no longer the Master I knew. You must be careful, don’t let anything happen to you." Xi Qianxue said to Mu Qingge.
Mu Qingge, however, remained very calm. Aside from her fury at what the Divine Venerable had intended to do to Xi Qianxue, she cared about nothing else. Looking at Xi Qianxue, she said, "Perhaps, in the past, you never truly knew what the Divine Hall and the Divine Venerable really were."
Xi Qianxue’s body stiffened, and she was left speechless.
On her way fleeing to Luoxing City, she had also seen those accusations laying out the Divine Hall’s crimes.
Some of them she had heard rumors of before, but the version she’d heard was not the same as this one. Yet now, she found herself more inclined to believe the version currently spreading.
"Qingge, are you planning to go to war with the Divine Hall?" After a long time, Xi Qianxue finally spoke.
Mu Qingge nodded slightly and said unhurriedly, "I don’t want to bow to anyone, and I won’t let myself be trampled on. The only thing I can do is rise up and fight back."
"But the Divine Hall is not as simple as you imagine. To make it your enemy is no different from an egg striking a rock!" Xi Qianxue said anxiously.
"Even so, I still have to give it a try. Otherwise, what am I supposed to do? What are my citizens supposed to do? Forever submit to the Divine Hall’s tyrannical might, becoming their slaves and running dogs?" Mu Qingge said, her spirit soaring.
Xi Qianxue bit her lip. She understood Mu Qingge and naturally knew that with Mu Qingge’s temperament, she would absolutely never compromise like this.
She was the sort who would rather shatter like jade than live on as tile. Many times, she seemed to assess the situation and compromise, but that was only because it had not yet touched her bottom line and principles.
Once her bottom line and principles were crossed, she would never give an inch!
"Perhaps I have a way to avoid war," Xi Qianxue said, mustering her courage as she spoke to Mu Qingge.
Mu Qingge raised an eyebrow and asked, "What way?" In war, people died. If there was a way to avoid war, she was more than willing to hear it.
Xi Qianxue said, "I am the Goddess, the Divine Hall’s future successor. As long as the Divine Venerable is dead, I will be the ruler of the Divine Hall..."
Mu Qingge understood what she meant.
"No." Mu Qingge refused without even thinking. She did not want Xi Qianxue to sacrifice herself, to remain forever in that filthy, hypocritical place, swallowing her grievances, just to safeguard Mu Qingge’s own safety.
The victory she wanted was absolutely not that kind!
"But this is the safest and most reliable method," Xi Qianxue said, standing up.
She believed that with Mu Qingge’s trump cards, plus her own, killing the Divine Venerable was not an impossible task.
"Do you like this title of Goddess?" Mu Qingge suddenly asked in return.
Xi Qianxue was stunned, her mind blanking for a moment. "I..."
"You don’t like it, do you? You’ve said before that entering the Divine Hall was never your own choice. You have never been happy there," Mu Qingge continued.
Xi Qianxue could not respond. She simply could not lie to Mu Qingge. She indeed did not like the Divine Hall, did not care about being the so-called Goddess, and did not want to remain forever in that cold, vast hall, waiting for some god’s summons.
"Qianxue, look at me." Mu Qingge suddenly stepped closer to Xi Qianxue. When Xi Qianxue lifted her eyes to meet hers, Mu Qingge said to her, "From this moment on, you are no longer the Divine Hall’s Goddess. You have nothing more to do with the Divine Hall. You are only yourself—you are Xi Qianxue."