“This is…” Mo Qiushuang grabbed the item in her hand.
“These are outer disciple clothes. How are they torn up like this? Why would Jiang Han have outer disciple clothes?” Xia Qianqian asked in confusion.
“When he first arrived, he used spiritual fruits he picked from the mountain to exchange them with an outer disciple…” Mo Qiushuang recalled the situation.
“Yes, he was wearing this exact set back then. It was too big, so he cut it shorter himself. It looked awkward. Later, when Master saw him, she scolded him.”
Xia Qianqian frowned. “The clothes of a direct disciple are far better than those of an outer disciple. Why would he wear such ragged clothes?”
Mo Qiushuang looked at Xia Qianqian with a complicated expression. “Did you ever give him clothes?”
“Why would I give him clothes? He was filthy. I didn’t even want to touch his things. How could I possibly give him clothes?” Xia Qianqian said with open disgust.
“That’s exactly it.” Mo Qiushuang frowned. “He didn’t have a storage bag back then. He was just a few years old. If we didn’t give him clothes, what was he supposed to wear?”
“Didn’t you notice he never once wore direct disciple clothing? At first he wore animal hides. Later, he wore ordinary mortal clothes bought from the market at the foot of the mountain. They didn’t even have cleansing formations on them.”
“And it wasn’t just clothes. Look at this cave dwelling. Everything inside is broken and worn. Not a single valuable item.”
“What a country bumpkin. It’s not like he didn’t have spirit stones. Yet he wouldn’t even buy decent clothes. So stingy.”
Xia Qianqian waved it off. “Isn’t that the job of the Deacon Hall? If he lacked something, he should have reported it. If he didn’t say anything, why should we care?”
“Maybe it’s not that he didn’t say anything.” Mo Qiushuang thought for a moment. “Let’s summon the deacon disciple and ask.”
She took out a Sound-Transmission Jade Slip and called for the deacon disciple.
“Eldest Senior Sister.”
“Junior Brother Lu, were you responsible for Jiang Han’s daily necessities?”
“Senior Brother Jiang?” Lu Fei froze for a moment, then cautiously glanced at Xia Qianqian.
Xia Qianqian raised her brows and snapped, “What are you looking at me for? Answer what you’re asked!”
Mo Qiushuang shot Xia Qianqian a glare. “Junior Brother Lu, speak freely. I guarantee Junior Sister Xia will not trouble you.”
Lu Fei let out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Eldest Senior Sister. Senior Brother Jiang’s daily life should indeed have been under my responsibility.”
“But not long after, when I delivered the standard direct disciple supplies to Senior Brother Jiang, Senior Sister Xia saw me.”
“Senior Sister Xia said that since Senior Brother Jiang had not yet completed the formal apprenticeship ceremony, he was not qualified to wear direct disciple clothing or use direct disciple items. So she made me take everything back and told me I no longer needed to handle Senior Brother Jiang’s daily needs.”
Mo Qiushuang’s eyes widened. “So from the moment Jiang Han came up the mountain, he has been living on his own?”
“He was only five years old at the time! How could you do that? Just because Junior Sister Xia said not to care, you simply ignored him?”
“Eldest Senior Sister, please spare me!” Lu Fei was terrified, cold sweat pouring down his face.
“Please calm your anger. I did report this matter to you at the time. You also said to leave him be. You said the mountain had abundant spiritual energy and he wouldn’t freeze to death. It would be good to use the cold to temper his body while he was still weak, so he wouldn’t fall sick easily later.”
“I…” Mo Qiushuang froze, then shouted, “Just because I said not to care, you didn’t care at all?”
“Eldest Senior Sister, I am only a menial disciple. Of course I follow the senior sisters’ orders. I truly did not dare make decisions on my own.”
Lu Fei lowered his head, grumbling inwardly. He was only a menial disciple. Whatever they said went. If he disobeyed, he might have been beaten to death long ago. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Mo Qiushuang was furious. She had only just stabilized her state of mind during closed-door cultivation, and now it felt completely shattered.
“Then why didn’t he wear shoes? I remember when I first saw him, he was barefoot. Surely he wasn’t without shoes?”
Lu Fei thought for a long time before carefully answering, “Senior Brother Jiang had shoes, but he never wore them. At the time, you told him that wearing shoes was not conducive to sensing heaven and earth. Only by going barefoot could he better connect with the energy of heaven and earth and comprehend its mysteries.”
Mo Qiushuang was stunned. She had only said that casually. Had Jiang Han truly taken it seriously?
“He never wore shoes? Were his feet alright?”
Lu Fei looked surprised. “How could they be alright? During that period, Senior Brother Jiang went into the mountains every day to find food. His feet were constantly injured. The soles were covered in scars.”
“But Senior Brother Jiang was clever. He mixed herbal medicine himself to treat the wounds. Later, once calluses formed, he was rarely injured again.”
“A few years ago, one day he suddenly went down the mountain and used the spiritual herbs and fruits he had gathered to exchange for many sets of clothes and shoes. That was when he finally replaced those animal hide garments.”
“How could this be?!” Mo Qiushuang felt as if she had been struck heavily.
She had never imagined that her casual words had caused Jiang Han such harm.
He had only been five years old then, an age meant to be cherished and pampered. Instead, he had been abandoned in the mountains to fend for himself.
Without warm clothes. Without shoes to protect his feet. Forced to forage for wild fruit just to survive.
Mo Qiushuang took a deep breath and dismissed Lu Fei. She returned to Jiang Han’s cave dwelling in a daze.
“That Jiang Han is truly useless,” Xia Qianqian said with displeasure.
“Who is he pretending to be pitiful for? Senior Sister only said it casually, telling him to properly comprehend heaven and earth, and he deliberately went barefoot? Wasn’t that just to show everyone and oppose Senior Sister on purpose?”
“No wonder he’s a bumpkin from down the mountain. Foolish and ignorant, always embarrassing Master. I really don’t understand why Master brought him up the mountain.”
Hearing those words, Mo Qiushuang felt a chill in her heart. She had never realized that her junior sister could be so harsh.
“Perhaps he was just too afraid to disobey us.”
Mo Qiushuang gently touched a wooden sword on the stone cabinet. She had carved it herself while tempering her state of mind.
Jiang Han had begged her for it every day. Annoyed, she had tossed it to him casually. She had not expected him to preserve it so carefully. It looked almost brand new.
“For so many years, Master never asked about Jiang Han. None of the other junior sisters did either. No one ever cared about him.”
“This cave dwelling was originally abandoned. I remember half of it had collapsed. Jiang Han cleaned it up himself and moved in.”
“Our cave dwellings are all built near spirit veins and spiritual springs. The spiritual energy inside is so dense it becomes tangible. Look at his cave dwelling. It’s far from the spirit vein. The spiritual energy is thin. It’s worse than the dwellings of independent cultivators down the mountain.”
“He is nominally Master’s direct disciple, yet he has never enjoyed the treatment of one.”
“Every year we receive ten new sets of Profound-tier 5th grade clothing, along with shoes and accessories. Whenever new styles arrive, they are delivered to us immediately.”
“And what about Jiang Han? If he wanted even a basic set of outer disciple clothing, he had to painstakingly gather spiritual fruits to exchange for it. And when Master saw him, she scolded him.” New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
“And this is only what we have seen. Over the years in the Heavenly Dominion Sect, how much suffering has he endured?”
Xia Qianqian fell silent for a moment but still forced herself to speak. “That’s because he was deliberately opposing us and chose not to use what was provided. The sect distributes monthly allowances. A direct disciple receives 30,000 mid-grade spirit stones each month, along with new clothes. If he didn’t go collect them, how is that our fault?”
“Junior Sister Xia, are you truly unaware, or pretending not to know?” Mo Qiushuang added several protective restrictions to the wooden sword before carefully placing it back.
“When have you ever seen a deacon disciple deliver his monthly allowance?”
“When Master accepted him, she clearly said Jiang Han’s talent was poor and his spiritual root was incompatible with the Heavenly Dominion Sect’s cultivation method. He would likely never achieve great success.”
“So, in order not to waste sect resources, she decided that he would only receive cultivation methods and resources after he relied on his own perseverance to cultivate to the 1st stage Qi Refining Realm. Before that, he would receive nothing.”
“What?” Xia Qianqian was stunned. Without cultivation methods and resources, how was he supposed to cultivate?
“If his spiritual root was incompatible, why even bring him up the mountain?” she muttered.
“But he’s already at the Great Perfection of the 9th stage Qi Refining Realm. Master must have given him cultivation methods and resources by now, right?”
“Probably not.” Mo Qiushuang inhaled deeply.
“You may not have noticed, but I am sensitive to cultivation matters. The technique Jiang Han cultivated was only the universally available Yellow-tier 1st grade Qi Refining Art. It was not the Heaven-tier 9th grade Heavenly Dominion Scripture that only direct disciples can cultivate.”
“I suspect Master never gave him any cultivation methods or resources at all. She likely forgot about the matter entirely.”
The more Mo Qiushuang spoke, the more certain she became. Jiang Han had been acting far too strangely lately. He used to be timid and submissive, afraid of everything.
Yet this time, in front of Master, he showed no fear at all. He even uttered words that defied authority.
Combined with his sudden disappearance, this matter was definitely not simple.
Without repeated disappointments, he would never have dared to act so recklessly.
Had he severed contact because he was utterly disappointed in them, believing he would never return?
Thinking of this, Mo Qiushuang grew anxious. Though Jiang Han had indeed been annoying, he had stayed by her side for thirteen years. She had watched him grow up. There was still some affection there.
Moreover, he was the sect master’s direct disciple. If he simply left like this, what would others think of the Heavenly Dominion Sect?
The Heavenly Dominion Sect had never had a disciple defect before. She absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen.
If they were truly at fault, she was willing to make amends in the future. She only hoped Jiang Han had merely gone out to clear his mind and would not do anything foolish.
“Let’s go speak with Master. If Jiang Han truly never received cultivation resources and has been bullied by us for so long, letting him go down the mountain this time might really lead to trouble.”
“Who bullied him?” Xia Qianqian curled her lips. “We were just playing around with him.”
“Didn’t he look happy too? Every time we beat him, he was grinning. He clearly enjoyed it.”
Mo Qiushuang was furious and slapped Xia Qianqian on the forehead.
“You were the one who hit him the hardest. I’ll settle accounts with you later. Come with me to see Master!”