Seeing the condemnation in the hall grow louder and louder, the sect master stroked his long beard and stepped forward to take charge. “Now that the truth has been uncovered, there is no need for further debate.”
“Bai Xiaoru harmed a fellow disciple. Her crime is compounded. She is confined for three months and demoted to outer sect disciple. Qing’er saved her fellow disciples and merits reward. By exception, you are permitted to participate in the sect’s grand tournament.”
“From today onward, all disciples are strictly forbidden from leaving the mountain. The Disciplinary Hall will search every residence. Not a single place may be overlooked. We must find the traitor colluding with demonic cultivators and the evidence!”
When they heard their residences would be searched, many disciples panicked. After all, quite a few had secretly stashed storybooks and spring paintings; being exposed in public would be humiliating.
For a time, no one paid any more attention to Bai Xiaoru and the others.
When the Disciplinary Hall’s people led Bai Xiaoru away, tears streamed down her face. Her eyes lowered, she swept a venomous glance at Su Yanqing, then left in silence.
Today’s humiliation would be repaid one day.
Su Yanqing, don’t you get smug!
Completely unaware, Su Yanqing was smugly asking the system, “How was it? Wasn’t my dramatic performance just now impressive? I even scolded the female lead to tears.”
『Congratulations, host, on completing the mission. Reward: one Newcomer’s Gift Pack!
Heartthrob Halo, Ancient Lingxu Sword Art, Water Spirit Root upgraded to Mutated Ice Spirit Root.』
Su Yanqing’s eyes sparkled. “As expected of the Fortune Reversal System. This haul is huge!”
『Host, Xie Qingxuan’s mission is not yet complete. The reward is a Mutated Divine Beast Egg! Please keep up the effort and strive to grow stronger.』
As she left the Grand Hall, Su Yanqing limped a few steps before both Murong Yi and Mu Yunci came over.
“Little Junior Sister, I have something to ask you. Could you…” Before Murong Yi could finish, Mu Yunci interrupted him, his voice gentle and magnetic. “Little Five, Master and the sect master are waiting for you in the rear hall. Whatever it is can wait. Little Six, your leg wound has not healed. Your Senior Brother will help you over.”
Su Yanqing had no wish to pay Murong Yi any mind to begin with. Though he had spoken up to testify for her, she had never forgotten what he had done before.
She hurriedly took Mu Yunci’s arm, smiling sweetly. “Thank you, senior brother. What do my father and the others want with me?”
“I don’t know the details, but it shouldn’t be anything bad.”
Mu Yunci had a warm, gentle air. When he smiled, he was like a clear breeze or a bright moon, impossible to resist.
The face-obsessed Su Yanqing naturally could not resist. Dragging her injured leg, she was led away in a daze.
Following behind them, Murong Yi’s eyes were full of confusion.
In the past, Little Junior Sister had always hovered around him and hated their senior brother’s discipline most of all.
Now, how had it all turned around?
In the cave at the bottom of the cliff, a cool breeze drifted in from time to time.
When Xie Qingxuan woke, there was no one beside him. The girl’s sweet fragrance still lingered in the air.
He touched his cheek, which still throbbed faintly, his eyes dark and sinister.
He had been willing to risk falling into demonic possession just to spare her life, yet she had dared to humiliate him while he was unconscious.
Recalling the girl’s rare Nine Yin physique, Xie Qingxuan decided to emerge from seclusion and personally capture this wild, untamable girl, refine her into a furnace cauldron, and use her to disperse his demonic qi.
Fortunately, the sea of awareness mark he had placed on the little girl could track her for a thousand li.
Xie Qingxuan closed his eyes and sensed the mark’s location.
Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Who? Who erased my sea of awareness mark! Could the demon race have discovered her?”
Xie Qingxuan opened his crimson, sinister eyes, his gaze filled with a resolve that would not be denied.
Little did he know, the little girl he yearned for was at this very moment enjoying the meticulous care of a gentle, handsome man.
Entering the rear hall, Su Yanqing saw the sect master and her Master wearing stern expressions. Her heart fluttered with unease. She lowered her head nervously, not daring to make a sound.
Murong Yi and Mu Yunci both stood behind her without a word.
Su Xiaofeng, with the air of an immortal, his face ashen, asked sharply, “Qing’er, tell me honestly. During the time you were missing, what exactly happened?”
“If not for your two senior brothers vouching for you with all their strength, why would your Master have removed the mark for you in public?”
Su Yanqing suddenly understood. Her Master had not made a misjudgment; he had helped her conceal the truth.
That piercing pain had been him erasing the mark for her.
She glanced from the corner of her eye at her expressionless Master, feeling somewhat relieved.
Her Master seemed cold and heartless, but he was quite partial to her after all.
After steadying herself, Su Yanqing openly told the truth that had been concealed in the Grand Hall. “After I fell off the cliff, I fled into a cave and found a senior in seclusion.”
“Just then, the demon snakes came hunting me. He killed them, then said I had some kind of Nine Yin physique and wanted to kill me to eliminate future trouble. That was when Senior Brother Murong arrived.”
Murong Yi stepped forward excitedly to explain. “The other party’s cultivation was unfathomably deep. Half a move wounded me gravely. Little Junior Sister deliberately scolded me away. I fled to fetch reinforcements… Sect Master, Little Junior Sister is surely innocent. Please investigate carefully!”
Hearing the words “Nine Yin physique,” Su Xiaofeng and Helian Chuxue both looked briefly stunned, then quickly set up a barrier within the hall.
Su Xiaofeng’s face was anxious, his tone much gentler. “Qing’er, how did you escape?”
Su Yanqing told the truth. After all, in the original plot, these two were both her backers.
“After Senior Brother Murong left, that person struck me unconscious with one palm. When I woke, he was bleeding from all seven orifices and had fallen unconscious, so I fled. After that, senior brother brought me to the Grand Hall.”
“Do you know who that person was?”
Su Xiaofeng stroked his long beard and sighed. “A year ago, you stole the Yuehun Lantern to save Murong Yi.”
“If not for the killing move I had imbued into it with half my power, you would have long been killed by the demonic cultivator. But it also exposed your constitution, drawing the demon race’s covetous eyes.”
“Fortunately, the sect had that person guarding it, so the demon race did not dare invade. Your spiritual energy backlashed, and you were unconscious for three months. The Yuehun Lantern seizes the soul and mind; you all lost that period of memory.”
The more Su Yanqing listened, the more confused she became. This part of the plot had never been mentioned in the novel!
『Host, you are the vicious female supporting character. When you do good deeds, the female lead naturally takes credit for them. Why would the author give you a chance to clear your name!』
Su Yanqing: The vicious female supporting character has no human rights at all, huh?
“Why does he guard the sect?” she asked, puzzled.
“That person is the surviving orphan of the Xie family. The sect received kindness from the Xie family in its early years, so he was allowed to cultivate in seclusion within the secret realm. And the one who wiped out his entire clan was precisely a demonic cultivator who possessed a Nine Yin physique furnace cauldron.”
Su Xiaofeng’s expression flickered, and he looked somewhat dispirited. “This is why I never let you leave the Wuji Sect. If others were to learn of your constitution…”
“From now on, you must establish your foundation within one month and become a sword cultivator. Sword arts will conceal the unique yin spirit aura on your body.”
“During this time, cultivate in the Lingxiao Hall. If that Xie family orphan finds you, I fear no one will be able to protect you!”
Su Yanqing’s mind went blank. The plot had never said that her Nine Yin physique would bring so much trouble!