Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal?
Chapter 376: They’re Here

Chapter 376: They’re Here

Wang Shouyi suggested they just kill Ren Xiaozhao.

But Li Qingran didn’t think it was necessary, and neither did Chen Huaian.

So Wang Shouyi threw Ren Xiaozhao off the flying vessel, and Wang Debiao also announced that this woman would be expelled from the Formless Sect.

After all, it was Wang Debiao who brought her into the Formless Sect, so he still had the authority to drive her out.

The flying vessel quieted down. This little episode wasn’t a big deal, but everyone’s gaze toward Chen Huaian and Li Qingran had subtly changed.

Wang Debiao’s flattery and Team Leader Wang Shouyi’s respect made them start to wonder if Chen Huaian had some hidden identity.

Like… a personal disciple of the Kunlun Immortal Palace.

Or maybe, the boy toy of a personal disciple from the Kunlun Immortal Palace.

Some people showed respect on the surface but were secretly jealous—d**n it, we’re all cultivating immortality now, and this guy’s still making a living with his face?

What a f***ing guy, really makes you clench your fists till they’re stiff.

But Chen Huaian’s attention wasn’t on them. He was still thinking about Ren Xiaozhao.

It wasn’t because he couldn’t let go or old feelings were flaring up.

He wasn’t some kind of masochist. He already had a soft, sweet, obedient little disciple—why the h*ll would he miss that drama queen?

What caught his attention was that the moment Wang Shouyi announced Ren Xiaozhao’s expulsion from the flying vessel—

The gray qi above Ren Xiaozhao’s head instantly reduced by half.

And then when Wang Debiao said she’d be expelled from the Formless Sect, and even revoked all the cultivation techniques and resources granted to her—

At that point, the gray qi above Ren Xiaozhao’s head had diminished to almost nothing.

Now that… was interesting.

He had assumed the gray qi was a bad thing.

Having it gone should be a good sign—but for Ren Xiaozhao, it meant she had lost her path to continue cultivating.

Being cast out from the Formless Sect basically cut off her future, and at the same time, the gray qi practically vanished.

Could it be… that for Ascenders, this gray qi was their “luck”?

A different kind of fortune, unlike the Purple Qi from the East or golden dragon qi, one that specifically served those ascending to immortality.

But if it’s all fortune, why must this one be distinct from the real Heavenly Dao’s qi?

Chen Huaian frowned as he watched Ren Xiaozhao sobbing below the flying vessel, completely puzzled.

“Master~~~”

An annoyed, twisty voice echoed in Chen Huaian’s ear.

He turned and saw a “puffed-up pufferfish.”

“Hmph!” Li Qingran stood with her hands on her hips, cheeks puffed out in frustration. “Still looking! Is she that pretty? Does Master think I was too harsh earlier? That I shouldn’t have broken that girl’s arm? If Master thinks that, just say it—I can break one of my own and give it back to her!”

Even the air was thick with sourness.

Chen Huaian couldn’t help but laugh. He looked away from Ren Xiaozhao and turned to Li Qingran.

She instantly turned her head away, avoiding his gaze, but her fluttering lashes betrayed her—she was still sneaking peeks at him.

Was she scared he’d scold her?

“I wasn’t looking at her.”

Chen Huaian shook his head and looked up at the sky, a hint of melancholy in his eyes.

“I was… saying goodbye to the past.”

As the words fell, he let out a sigh—a rich, aged man kind of sigh.

“Saying goodbye to the past?”

Sure enough, Li Qingran was instantly disoriented by the melancholy aura. She leaned in, blinking her big eyes curiously. “So Master could call her by name… you must have known her before, right? Did you meet her while fighting demon beasts back then? What was your relationship?”

A barrage of questions left Chen Huaian momentarily overwhelmed.

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat and half-truthfully said:

“You once asked me if I ever had a Dao Companion, remember? Strictly speaking, Ren Xiaozhao was my Dao Companion in the past. But she’s not anymore. Looking at her now is just me putting an end to it all.”

He couldn’t tell Li Qingran about the changes in the gray qi above Ren Xiaozhao’s head.

He had hinted at it before—Li Qingran couldn’t see it at all.

He was afraid if he told her too much, she’d worry.

She couldn’t come to this world often to begin with. If she got too hung up on what was happening here, it might affect her cultivation.

“Oh! I remember now!”

A flash of killing intent crossed Li Qingran’s eyes. She mumbled, “D*mn it, I should’ve just killed her with one strike…”

“What did you say?”

“Ah, nothing.”

Li Qingran smiled, her eyes spinning as she changed the topic: “So it’s the Dao Companion who abandoned Master, huh? When Master says he’s bidding farewell to the past… does that mean you’ll never have anything to do with that woman again? Is that what you mean?”

“Exactly!”

Chen Huaian felt like handing her a “Big Brain Award.”

No wonder she was his precious little dumpling—she always hit the mark.

“My path is one of clarity, of balance, of going with the flow. Anything that aligns with the heart is my Dao.”

With hands behind his back, Chen Huaian looked toward the drifting clouds and sighed.

“I once lost myself for that woman. But from now on, I am who I am—and I’ll never lose myself again.”

He turned to look into Li Qingran’s eyes.

“To love someone, you must love yourself first. When you bloom for someone else, don’t forget you’re also a flower waiting to bloom. No one is just someone else’s supporting role, or someone’s shadow. You and I—we’re both rare flowers of this world. Only by challenging spring and defying the heavens can we truly bloom far and wide.”

Li Qingran was stunned.

Her own face was reflected in Master’s deep, well-like eyes.

The “leaf and shadow” in his words… wasn’t that her, once upon a time?

Just like Mo Shumei once advised her—just be yourself. Don’t keep giving and forcing yourself to be the perfect person in someone else’s eyes.

Maybe, being herself was already the best thing she could be. Anything extra was just… extra.

“I understand now.”

Li Qingran mimicked Chen Huaian’s stance, hands behind her back, standing beside him at the edge of the flying vessel, watching the clouds roll by.

Suddenly, she tilted her little head and leaned sideways, resting against Chen Huaian’s shoulder through the air.

Her silky black hair flowed down his shoulder. She spoke in an exaggeratedly mature tone: “Then Master is the world’s big rare flower, and I’m the world’s little rare flower. Can the big rare flower allow the little rare flower to bloom by his side?”

Chen Huaian laughed heartily. “Why not?”

Li Qingran squinted her eyes and laughed with him.

Her eyes reflected only the one beside her.

With fingers gently twirling her hair behind her back, she silently murmured in her heart:

——

If I bloom, the breeze will come.

If you remain, the fragrance won’t fade.

…

Qinling Mountains.

Eight hundred miles of Qinling, with seas of clouds locking a thousand peaks. The peaks take in sudden rain; a single leaf shows life or death.

At the tail end of summer and the start of autumn, the Qinling Mountains should have been full of vitality and green.

But at this moment, only black clouds obscured the sky as demonic qi soared high.

At the center of the black clouds, a hundred-zhang-high tower loomed, half-hidden.

Lightning and thunder flashed through the clouds, yet none of it could shake that towering black structure.

Beneath the black tower, at the entrance to the first level—

The meteoric iron doors were tightly shut. The door rings swung in the wind, banging loudly now and then.

In front of the door, a massive black tiger the size of a hill lay curled up.

Two little tiger cubs rested on its knees.

The Tiger King had already cultivated half a human form. It had been meditating—

Until suddenly, its eyes snapped open.

The calm in those crimson pupils vanished, replaced by numbness and hatred.

Under the confused gaze of the two cubs, it slowly stood, stretching as it looked toward the southern sky.

Just like always, it gave a habitual stretch.

But today, it also took a deep breath of the wind’s scent.

“They… are here.”

It murmured in a deep voice.

…

…