Someone called out to him.
Su Yang felt helpless.
But he could only stop, his body tensing.
He quickly turned around and jogged over.
“This disciple Su Yang greets the Inner Sect Fairy.”
Servant disciples like Su Yang were not even considered proper members of the sect.
They had no standing to call an inner sect disciple “senior sister”; they could only address her as “Immortal Maiden.”
The female disciple didn’t care about his form of address. She merely glanced at him and asked impatiently:
“Tell me, you just came from over by the woods. Did you see a rabbit with red ears?”
As she spoke, she gestured:
“About this big, pure white except for its two red ears. It’s my spirit pet. If you know where it is, I’ll make it worth your while!”
A rabbit with red ears?
With such a distinctive appearance, Su Yang certainly hadn’t seen one.
He shook his head.
“In reply, Immortal Maiden, this disciple has been cutting spirit wood over there the whole time. I haven’t seen your spirit pet.”
Ding Yue knelt on the ground. His eyes shifted, and he suddenly let out a cold laugh.
“Senior sister, this brat is slippery as they come. There isn’t a single honest word in his mouth.”
Pang Yue understood what Ding Yue was getting at and hurriedly chimed in:
“Exactly, exactly. Don’t be fooled just because he’s only recently joined the sect. He’s always been a sly one.”
“I even saw him sneaking around in the woods this morning. For all we know, he stole your spirit pet and ate it, senior sister.”
Su Yang’s heart sank.
He lowered his head and met Ding Yue’s malicious gaze, anger flaring within him.
But when he looked up,
and saw the inner sect disciple’s robes, his heart turned cold.
Inner sect disciples held extremely high status and could do as they pleased with servant disciples, even deciding whether they lived or died.
And this Immortal Maiden before him was clearly no ordinary person. The aura of pressure she exuded marked her as at least a cultivator at the Middle Qi Refining Stage.
He was only at Qi Refining, Second Layer—not even close to being her match. He had no hope of escaping, either.
All Su Yang could do was pray that the Immortal Maiden would be reasonable enough to hear him out.
Just as he was about to explain himself,
he suddenly heard the female disciple give a cold laugh.
He looked up.
She casually raised a hand and flicked it.
Two streaks of white light shot out, striking Ding Yue and Pang Yue squarely in the chest.
Thud! Thud!
Two dull impacts rang out, followed by two cries of pain.
Ding Yue and Pang Yue went flying far away.
They crashed heavily to the ground and each spat out two mouthfuls of blood, staining the earth in front of them red.
Ding Yue clutched his chest, his face full of terror. Pang Yue was trembling all over with fright. Neither of them had any idea why the inner sect senior sister before them had attacked.
The female disciple looked down at them.
Her voice was cold, her contempt undisguised:
“Do I look like a fool to you?”
Ding Yue and Pang Yue wouldn’t dare say a word now.
They could only prostrate themselves and kowtow repeatedly.
The female disciple took a step forward and snorted.
“My spirit pet is at the Middle Qi Refining Stage, too, and it’s exceptionally fast.”
“And this servant disciple? How many days has he been in the sect? Forget catching or hurting my spirit pet—he couldn’t even touch it.”
“Couldn’t you come up with a more convincing lie? Do you understand now why I attacked you?”
Ding Yue’s face turned deathly pale. He kowtowed without stopping.
“I understand, I understand! Senior sister, spare me! I was confused. I deserve to die!”
Pang Yue glared fiercely at Ding Yue, then kowtowed repeatedly as well, begging for mercy.
“Senior sister, spare me! He tricked me. I absolutely didn’t mean to deceive you!”
The female disciple looked disdainful and waved her hand impatiently.
“Stop kowtowing. I’ll spare your lives this time.”
“But right now, gather every servant disciple on Cuilin Peak and search the entire mountain, inside and out.”
“You must find my precious spirit pet!”
Ding Yue and Pang Yue stopped kowtowing and nodded without hesitation.
“Yes, senior sister. We’ll get right on it!”
The female disciple said no more. She moved, rose into the air with Wind Riding, and soon vanished from their sight.
Su Yang stood where he was.
Watching the direction in which the woman had disappeared, he let out a small breath of relief.
Though this Immortal Maiden was domineering, at least she was reasonable. She hadn’t believed Ding Yue and Pang Yue’s slander.
Still, the Immortal Maiden clearly didn’t regard servant disciples like them as people.
Ordering every servant disciple to search for her spirit pet.
Only an Immortal Maiden could come up with something like that.
There were quite a lot of servant disciples on Cuiling Peak, and each had assigned duties.
They had to tend the spirit fields and cut timber.
Each day came with a quota.
If they went looking for a rabbit today, there was no way they’d finish their work.
And they had no choice but to finish it.
Failure meant severe punishment.
So they’d have to work overtime.
Su Yang figured many of the servant disciples wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.
A sudden understanding dawned on him.
It wasn’t that the Immortal Maiden was reasonable. To her, Ding Yue and Pang Yue were no different from him, a servant disciple.
They all held the same place in her eyes.
In any case, none of them counted as people.
They were nothing but ants she could dispose of with a wave of her hand.
She summoned them when she pleased and dismissed them just as easily.
She didn’t care whether Su Yang had been framed; she only thought that no one had the right to make a fool of her.
Nor would she care what happened if the ants failed to finish their work. All she cared about was whether her spirit pet could be found.
Thinking of this,
Su Yang lowered his head slightly.
The small measure of relief he’d just felt vanished completely.
Ding Yue and Pang Yue had by now gotten back to their feet.
Both of them looked terrible.
They each wiped the blood from the corner of their mouths.
Their gazes fell on Su Yang at the same time.
Their eyes held anger, malice, and hatred.
Of course, they didn’t dare resent the inner sect senior sister.
So they could only vent their anger on Su Yang.
Ding Yue’s voice was icy.
“What are you standing around for? Didn’t you hear what senior sister said? Hurry up and find her spirit pet!”
Pang Yue was just as surly.
“Search that stretch of woods to the west. Keep going until you reach the end, and don’t come back until you do!”
Su Yang’s heart tightened.
That stretch of woods to the west.
He’d heard someone say yesterday that it was a deadly forest.
An Outer Sect Elder had once kept poisonous insects there.
Although the Elder had later taken most of them away, some were inevitably left behind.
Several servant disciples had been poisoned to death by insects in those woods.
Over time, it had become forbidden ground for the servant disciples.
Pang Yue was clearly sending him somewhere dangerous. He wanted Su Yang dead!
Su Yang opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
Ding Yue cut him off.
“What? You don’t want to go? Or are you refusing to do something for senior sister?”
At those words, Su Yang knew he had no choice but to go.
The two stewards wanted to make trouble for a servant disciple like him, and he had no way to resist.
Su Yang shut his mouth, said nothing more, and turned toward the west.
He pushed aside the branches and leaves in his way as he went.
All the while, he cursed Ding Yue and Pang Yue, those two old bastards.
The woods were indeed as remote and difficult to traverse as he’d expected.
The trees were sparse and low.
There wasn’t even a clear path.
The farther in he went, the harder it became to walk.
Su Yang cautiously made his way through the woods, searching all around to see if he could find the red-eared rabbit.
He didn’t think he’d actually find it.
But he was already here.
He might as well search the place.
Just then,
Su Yang froze.
His eyes fixed on the foot of a withered tree in the distance.
A pure-white rabbit with red ears was crouching there.