Liu Hanyue was flipping through the newly purchased jewelry she had just selected when she saw Mo Qiushuang and was startled.
“Senior Sister, what happened? Why are you so badly injured? Who did this to you?”
Mo Qiushuang raised her eyes and saw that the anger and anxiety on Liu Hanyue’s face did not seem fake.
“It’s nothing.” Mo Qiushuang glanced at the newly bought Profound-tier fifth-grade hairpin and felt a chill in her heart.
Second Junior Sister had so many spirit stones. Every month she could buy the newest designs, hairpins worth 100,000 medium-grade spirit stones, yet she did not have a single spirit stone to care for Jiang Han?
Thinking of Jiang Han bargaining desperately for a single low-grade spirit stone when selling spiritual herbs, Mo Qiushuang felt even worse.
Jiang Han was now in the Purple Firmament Sword Sect, but that sect had ranked at the bottom for years. The best resources had long been divided cleanly among the four great sects. They could only pick up scraps, so poor they could barely get by.
Moreover, most of their resources were piled onto Du Yucheng, that madwoman, and those other fanatics. How could there be any spare resources for Jiang Han’s cultivation?
Jiang Han could have enjoyed abundant cultivation resources in the Heavenly Dominion Sect, yet they had forced him to give up all preferential treatment. Now he had nothing.
A suffocating bitterness clogged Mo Qiushuang’s chest. When she looked at Liu Hanyue again, anger flashed in her eyes.
They had caused all of this.
Liu Hanyue felt uneasy under her gaze, and the anger in her own heart faded somewhat.
“Senior Sister, what’s wrong? What happened?”
Mo Qiushuang shook her head, suppressing the anger in her eyes, and sighed softly, “Where is Xiao Xuan?”
Liu Hanyue curled her lips. “Master told him to enter seclusion.”
“She said the Spirit Abyss Secret Realm is about to open and found him a pile of spiritual fruits and Foundation Establishment Pills to help him break through. He’s to come out only after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm.”
As she spoke, Liu Hanyue sighed with reluctance. “I wonder how Xiao Xuan’s cultivation is going.”
“He’s been in a bad mood lately because of that wretch Jiang Han. He can’t calm his mind during cultivation. I don’t know whether he can come out before the secret realm opens.”
Mo Qiushuang frowned. Master was far too biased. When Jiang Han had tried to break through before, why had she not given him spiritual fruits or Foundation Establishment Pills? If she had treated Jiang Han even a little better, he would not have left.
“Forget it. Let’s not talk about that.” Mo Qiushuang raised her head and looked at Liu Hanyue.
“I came to ask you something.”
Mo Qiushuang stared straight into Liu Hanyue’s eyes. “A month ago, did Jiang Han really snatch Xiao Xuan’s Spirit-Congealing Grass?”
“Huh?” Liu Hanyue froze. “I don’t know.”
Mo Qiushuang’s face turned cold. “You don’t know? If you don’t know, then why did you say in the hall that Jiang Han took it?”
“I…” Liu Hanyue hesitated. “Xiao Xuan said Jiang Han snatched it, so I assumed…”
“You assumed he took it, so you scolded him like that in the main hall?” Mo Qiushuang’s eyes reddened.
“You didn’t even know whether it was Jiang Han, yet you directly convicted him?”
“Who else could it be?” Liu Hanyue’s gaze drifted aside.
“Everyone knows Jiang Han loves stealing. And he especially loves stealing Xiao Xuan’s things. Xiao Xuan didn’t even leave the sect that day. Other than that wretch Jiang Han, who in the sect would dare snatch Xiao Xuan’s spiritual herb?”
Mo Qiushuang clenched her teeth. “Who says Jiang Han loves stealing? Have you ever seen him steal? Have you ever caught him on the spot?”
“This…” Liu Hanyue lowered her head and nervously picked at her newly bought Profound-tier seventh-grade sword sheath.
“You’ve never caught Jiang Han stealing anything,” Mo Qiushuang’s nails dug into her palm as she shouted, “There are so many people in the Heavenly Dominion Sect. On what basis did you decide it was Jiang Han?”
“It wasn’t my decision alone,” Liu Hanyue said irritably.
“Everyone said it was Jiang Han. I just followed and scolded him a few times. Who knew he was so narrow-minded? Getting angry over such a small matter.”
Mo Qiushuang’s eyes widened. “A small matter?”
“What’s so big about it?” Liu Hanyue said indifferently.
“They were just worthless little things. As long as he admitted his mistake, even if we gave them to him, so what? Who knew he was so stubborn, refusing to admit fault no matter what. Then we had no choice but to beat him to vent our anger.”
“We only wanted an attitude from him. Whether he actually snatched Xiao Xuan’s Spirit-Congealing Grass or not, since Xiao Xuan said he did, he should have handed it over.”
“Who knew he would dare talk back to Master? That wretch has no sense of the bigger picture. Getting beaten was nothing more than he deserved.”
Mo Qiushuang trembled all over as tears slid down her face. So that was the reason. No wonder Jiang Han had left. No wonder he had shown not the slightest attachment.
“Senior Sister, you…” Liu Hanyue panicked when she saw Mo Qiushuang crying.
Mo Qiushuang wiped her eyes and sobbed, “Jiang Han lived with us for so many years. Even if you all disliked him, you couldn’t treat him like that. What did he ever do to wrong you?”
“Other than being a bit annoying, he was fine,” Liu Hanyue said after seeing that Mo Qiushuang seemed alright.
“I didn’t want to treat him like that either. But didn’t Master say we needed to temper his state of mind? We were doing it for his own good. Enduring more hardship isn’t a bad thing.” Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
“Temper his state of mind?” Mo Qiushuang let out a bitter laugh. “Hanyue, have we ever tempered our state of mind like that? Has Xiao Xuan?”
“I don’t think so,” Liu Hanyue thought for a moment. “But we’re different from him. He’s just a useless person Master brought back on a whim. How can he compare to us?”
Useless? Mo Qiushuang felt confused. Was Jiang Han really useless? With no resources, he had cultivated to the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Realm in three years. Was that the speed of a useless person?
Why did they call Jiang Han useless? Just because he had not broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm? But Xiao Xuan had cultivated for ten years and had not reached the Foundation Establishment Realm either.
Or had they simply believed Jiang Han was useless?
So they did not teach him cultivation techniques, did not give him resources, scolded him as useless, and used tempering his state of mind as an excuse?
They neither taught nor nurtured him, humiliated and beat him, left him to fend for himself, and still expected him to grow into a peerless genius on his own?
How was that possible? Mo Qiushuang felt suffocated. Even raising a dog required feeding it.
“Senior Sister, why are you suddenly so concerned about Jiang Han? Did he cause trouble again?”
Liu Hanyue was puzzled. Senior Sister had never cared about Jiang Han before. What was wrong today? She was so seriously injured yet instead of healing, she kept asking about these trivial matters.
“Sigh…” Mo Qiushuang let out a long breath. “I found Jiang Han. He’s now a disciple of the Purple Firmament Sword Sect.”
“He joined the Purple Firmament Sword Sect?” Liu Hanyue’s eyes widened. “With his useless talent, they accepted him?”
Mo Qiushuang glanced at her. “Not only did they accept him, they took him as a direct disciple.”
“What?!” Liu Hanyue cried out. “Impossible! Jiang Han cultivated bitterly for ten years without reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm. Has the Purple Firmament Sword Sect gone mad? Why would they want that useless person?”
“Perhaps Jiang Han’s aptitude isn’t bad,” Mo Qiushuang said, recalling Jiang Han’s cold expression when facing her. “When I saw him that day, he had already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.”
Liu Hanyue’s body trembled. “How is that possible? How could he suddenly reach the Foundation Establishment Realm? Before, he clearly…”
“Exactly. Jiang Han cultivated bitterly in the Heavenly Dominion Sect for ten years without reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm. Yet the moment he left, he succeeded.” Mo Qiushuang sighed softly.
“Why would that happen?” Liu Hanyue asked in confusion.
“I don’t know.” Mo Qiushuang’s heart clenched painfully. “But I think all of this must be related to us.”
“We…” Liu Hanyue did not know what to say. After thinking for a long time, she gritted her teeth and retorted, “So what if he reached the Foundation Establishment Realm? The Heavenly Dominion Sect has countless Foundation Establishment cultivators. We don’t lack one useless Foundation Establishment cultivator.”
“Besides, Master only scolded him a few times and he dared to leave the sect. That’s betrayal! I will never forgive him!”