“Senior Sister, let’s go back.” Jiang Han smiled and called out to Du Yucheng.
There were still many magical artifacts gifted by the uncles that he had yet to refine. He also needed to familiarize himself with them before the Spirit Abyss Secret Realm opened. He had no time to waste words with them here.
Du Yucheng had already returned to her usual cold demeanor. Hearing him, she glanced at Jiang Han, then at Mo Qiushuang. Seeing that Mo Qiushuang truly had no intention of fighting, she finally gave a slight nod. “Mm.”
The moment her voice fell, she waved her hand and teleported away with Jiang Han, leaving Mo Qiushuang standing there in a daze.
“Liar? Selfish? Disgusting?”
Each word struck Mo Qiushuang like a heavy blow. She staggered backward several steps uncontrollably. It was only long after Jiang Han had disappeared that she slowly regained her senses.
She had not expected Jiang Han to still remember something from so long ago.
Back then, Lin Xuan had accidentally eaten the Jade Marrow Ganoderma that their master had raised.
Lin Xuan had been young at the time. Afraid of being scolded by their master, he had gone to Third Junior Sister for help, hoping to find an identical one to replace it.
But their master discovered the Jade Marrow Ganoderma missing far too quickly. In a panic, Lin Xuan said it was Jiang Han who had done it. Third Junior Sister testified as well, pushing all the blame onto Jiang Han.
At first, Jiang Han refused to admit it no matter what.
Mo Qiushuang had told him it was only an act. As long as he admitted it, she promised she would not hit him.
She even promised that if he agreed, Third Junior Sister would take him to Spirit Wind Mountain to gather herbs.
Only then had Jiang Han agreed.
Yet after Jiang Han admitted it, their master flew into a rage and personally beat him severely. She then punished him with three months of closed-door confinement, forbidding him from stepping outside.
After Jiang Han came out of seclusion, he found Mo Qiushuang and questioned her. Hadn’t she said it was only an act? Why had their master beaten him?
Mo Qiushuang had thought Jiang Han was foolish and laughable. She had only said she would not hit him. She had never said their master would not.
She had even told the other junior sisters about it, and they had all laughed endlessly. More than once, they had mocked Jiang Han about it to his face.
Mo Qiushuang’s pretty face turned as pale as snow. The green lotus in her lake of heart trembled violently. One petal seemed unable to withstand the turmoil. It quietly detached and dissolved into nothingness.
“Pfft!” Mo Qiushuang spat out a mouthful of blood. Her aura rapidly weakened. Even her realm began to fluctuate, as if on the verge of falling.
Her face was filled with dejection. She had not expected Jiang Han to be so resentful. That had been seven years ago. Why did he insist on clinging to such small matters?
Mo Qiushuang wiped the blood from her lips and looked toward the Purple Firmament Sword Sect in the distance.
“Junior Brother, that madwoman is too dangerous. If you stay by her side, something will happen sooner or later. No matter how you see me, no matter how long you continue to hate me, I will bring you back.”
Looking at the lotus in her heart lake now missing a petal, her resolve only strengthened.
“Thank you, Senior Sister.” Jiang Han bowed respectfully to Du Yucheng. Without her presence today, he would likely have been dragged back.
“N-no need.”
Du Yucheng seemed to pause for a moment. Before finishing her sentence, she teleported away and vanished.
Jiang Han frowned slightly. For some reason, he felt that Senior Sister had seemed… nervous?
“Perhaps it was just my imagination. A sword cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul Realm, the strongest beneath the Divine Transformation Realm. What could possibly make her nervous?”
Jiang Han returned to his cave dwelling and took out the Soaring Sky Shuttle to begin refining it. Its escape speed was comparable to a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. With it, no one in the Spirit Abyss Secret Realm would be able to catch him.
Although it required high-grade spirit stones to operate, what he possessed most now were high-grade spirit stones. He even had 200 top-grade spirit stones.
“I still need to find a lower-grade magical artifact flying sword as cover, and keep the Thunderbolt Sword hidden as a trump card.”
“I also need to stabilize my realm further. If I can advance another step and reach the False Core Realm, then even without the Thunderbolt Sword and Annihilation Divine Lightning, I could sweep through the Spirit Abyss Secret Realm.”
…
Mo Qiushuang dragged her exhausted body back to the Heavenly Dominion Sect.
Now that she knew Jiang Han’s whereabouts, she felt somewhat relieved. The next problem was how to bring him back.
As the foremost among the thirty-sixth generation disciples of the Heavenly Dominion Sect, her talent was exceptional, and her cultivation diligent.
In just 300 years of practice, she had reached the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul Realm. Gentle and patient within the sect, cold and decisive toward outsiders, she had already become a renowned powerhouse in the cultivation world.
Although her Dao heart had flaws, she was not the cold and heartless person Jiang Han had described.
She was deeply confused.
Why had Jiang Han become so repulsed by them recently? Or rather…
Mo Qiushuang’s body trembled. Her scalp tingled.
She suddenly realized something.
She, her junior sisters, and their master…
They seemed to have harbored an instinctive disgust toward Jiang Han.
Yes, disgust.
As long as Jiang Han made even the slightest mistake, he would be severely punished. Even if he merely looked at them on the road, he would be inexplicably beaten.
But why?
They were all geniuses blessed by heaven, with good temperaments. How had they become so malicious?
Was it because when he first arrived, their master had instructed them to train him from a young age?
To temper him, they had left five-year-old Jiang Han alone to fend for himself, ignoring him and scolding him at will, claiming it was to refine his state of mind.
Or was it when he was first caught stealing by Lin Xuan, and after being beaten and scolded by their master, he had endured silently without uttering a word?
Yes. That must be it.
Mo Qiushuang closed her eyes, letting tears slide down her cheeks.
It was because of that. She had come to believe deep down that Jiang Han’s character was flawed, that he was weak and incompetent. They had told themselves they were correcting his bad habits. If he became angry, they had taken it as proof that their tempering was effective.
Yet back then, Jiang Han had truly liked her.
Whenever he found something good, he would run over eagerly to give it to her.
Though he himself needed spirit fruits the most for cultivation, the first person he thought of was her. He only wanted to help her cultivate.
But how had she treated him?
Mo Qiushuang choked. Tears poured down like a breached dam.
She forcibly cut off her thoughts. She dared not continue. She feared she would not withstand the pain. She feared the already cracked Dao heart would shatter again.
The mountaintop seemed no different from when she had left. The junior sisters were still playing. Lin Xuan was still the first to rush over and ask about Jiang Han. Their master was still stabilizing her Dao heart.
Yet the Heavenly Dominion Sect felt strangely unfamiliar.
Jiang Han had been gone for so long. Aside from the initial burst of anger, it seemed they had gradually forgotten about him. Only she was trying to bring him back.
He had been their junior brother for thirteen years. They had watched him grow up.
How could they remain so calm? How could they still laugh and play?
Mo Qiushuang felt a chill spread through her heart.
It should not be like this.
They should not be so cold.
They should not.
“Senior Sister, did you find Senior Brother Jiang Han?” Lin Xuan asked, his face filled with expectation.
But Mo Qiushuang suddenly felt irritated. Lin Xuan’s voice sounded grating to her ears.
If you want to find Jiang Han, then go find him yourself.
You spend your days playing in the sect. When I return, you rush over with an anxious face to ask a question. Is that truly caring about Jiang Han?
She suddenly had no desire to speak. Ignoring Lin Xuan, she teleported away directly.