The Entire Sect is Full of Villains, Yet the Junior Sister Conquers All

Chapter 88 : Bullying Third Senior Brother

At this time, in the Tianyan Sect, on Clear Moon Peak, in the elders' inner hall.

Mo Qingchen and the other disciples who trained together fully reported the events in the secret realm to Chang Yu. However, he didn't immediately punish Qin Xixue, but only called her alone to the inner hall for a brief inquiry.

"Master, I truly didn't collude with the demon race. That demon cultivator forcibly kidnapped me and even had ill intentions towards me. That's why I pretended to have feelings for him, hoping to find a chance to escape. My senior brothers and sisters misunderstood..." Qin Xixue lightly tugged at a corner of his sleeve, looking pitiful and on the verge of tears.

That daughterly pitiful and lovely demeanor couldn't help but soften the man's heart. He simply couldn't bear to punish her.

"Master believes you had no ill intent." Chang Yu sighed lightly, his eyes full of doting, "Don't worry, I won't punish you severely."

"Then, what about the other elders and the Sect Leader? I'm afraid if they know, they certainly won't let it go easily..." Qin Xixue bit her lip lightly, her small face turning slightly pale.

"Qingchen and the others have already reported this matter to me. I haven't had them report it to the Sect Leader and other elders. Even if the Sect Leader knows, Master will help you suppress this matter. There's no need to worry."

This blatant favoritism finally made Qin Xixue breathe a sigh of relief. She looked up at the cold and otherworldly white-robed man before her, the corners of her eyes still tinged with red, her cheeks bearing traces of undried tears.

Chang Yu reached out to wipe away her tears, asking in a low voice, "How is your spirit root now?"

"...I don't know why, but over the past year or more, I can feel my spirit root getting weaker." Qin Xixue's small face showed a trace of bewilderment and helplessness.

She naturally knew that she had no spirit root since childhood and couldn't cultivate with her mortal body. If it weren't for Chang Yu saving her when she was severely injured and near death from a demon beast attack a few years ago, giving her a Heavenly Fire Spirit Root, someone of her aptitude could never have entered one of the Eight Great Immortal Sects.

As time passed, she almost forgot that this spirit root wasn't originally hers.

Amidst others' flattery and envy, she couldn't help but develop a sense of superiority, as if she truly was that once-in-a-century Celestial Spirit Root genius...

But good times didn't last long. It seemed that ever since Chu Sang left the mountain, she could clearly feel the fire spirit root within her body growing increasingly weak, now almost disappearing.

This made her anxious and uneasy every day, not knowing what to do.

Chang Yu lowered his eyes in thought. The spirit root getting weaker and weaker, could it be that... Chu Sang's spirit root was gradually recovering?

That's right.

The Heavenly Fire Spirit Root in Qin Xixue's body was indeed the one taken from Chu Sang.

Chang Yu didn't feel there was anything wrong with this. He had saved Chu Sang back then and painstakingly nurtured her for over ten years... Taking something back as repayment was only natural.

Rather than repayment, the reason Chang Yu picked up Chu Sang back then and diligently raised her for so many years was precisely to fatten her up like a pig for slaughter.

The person Chang Yu truly cared about was only Qin Xixue.

Qin Xixue was the child of an old friend of Chang Yu's. That old friend, on their deathbed, entrusted the infant to Chang Yu to raise.

The immortal who had been without emotion or heart for nearly a hundred years touched such a soft and lovely life for the first time.

He raised this child wholeheartedly, watching her grow up bit by bit, becoming increasingly delicate and lovely. Chang Yu couldn't hide the stirring in his heart.

Chang Yu had always wanted to bring her back to the immortal sect to raise, but unfortunately, this child was a mortal without a spirit root, unable to rightfully enter the Tianyan Sect.

So, very early on, he had the idea of transplanting a spirit root for her, and because of this, he searched through many forbidden books. But unfortunately, he couldn't find a suitable spirit root.

Until eleven years ago, when Chang Yu was traveling in the mortal world, he happened to discover demons causing harm in a small mortal city. He coincidentally saved two children whose families had been destroyed by the demons—Mo Qingchen and Chu Sang.

He was surprised to discover that these two mortal children had such high talent, one with a mutated Celestial Ice Spirit Root, and the other actually had a Heavenly Fire Spirit Root seen only once in a century.

In a moment of thought, Chang Yu set his sights on Chu Sang, who was still young, not yet five years old.

Perhaps this was an opportunity sent by the Heavenly Dao for him and Xiao Xue.

This girl was about the same age as Xiao Xue, with similar physical conditions, and the spirit root would be easier to transplant successfully.

So Chang Yu took these two orphaned children into the sect to raise, especially dedicating himself to raising Chu Sang.

This "dedication" doesn't mean he was particularly good to Chu Sang or taught her many spells and sword techniques. On the contrary, he rarely took the initiative to teach Chu Sang the ways of cultivation.

Even after Chu Sang had stayed in the Tianyan Sect wholeheartedly for a full ten years, listed as a direct disciple, Chang Yu hadn't even given her a handy magical tool.

Even in those first few years when she came to the Tianyan Sect and her cultivation speed increased rapidly, it was all due to her own silent research and diligent cultivation, having nothing to do with Chang Yu.

Chang Yu only paid extra attention to her spirit root, often giving her many pills to nourish it.

Back then, Chu Sang always thought Chang Yu particularly cared for her, feeling more respectful and grateful towards this master.

Until four years ago, when Chang Yu actively proposed sending her to eliminate a group of rampaging demon beasts, saying it was for training to break through.

However, anyone could see that sending a small disciple who hadn't even reached Foundation Establishment alone to such dangerous mountains and waters to eliminate powerful demon beasts was tantamount to sending her to her death.

Chu Sang was also foolish at the time. Out of trust in this master who had shown her great kindness, she took up her sword and went without a word. The result was predictable—she was severely injured by the demon beasts and fell into a coma for months.

It was at this time that Chang Yu took away her spirit root and gave this Heavenly Fire Spirit Root to Qin Xixue.

From then on, Chu Sang, with her "damaged spirit root," could no longer cultivate and became a waste despised by everyone in the sect.

A few months later, a new Celestial Spirit Root disciple came to the sect—Qin Xixue.

"...Chu Sang?" Qin Xixue suddenly realized. She bit her lip with a troubled expression, "No wonder the last few times I saw her, her cultivation had advanced quickly. I don't know what method she used, but she seemed to have no problems at all."

"You met her?" Chang Yu was surprised. He had expelled her from the sect a year and a half ago, thinking she would obediently return to the mortal world to live an ordinary life. He didn't expect her to still be in the cultivation world.

"She now has a new sect. Perhaps others in that sect helped heal her spirit root." Qin Xixue nodded with difficulty, grabbing Chang Yu's arm, anxiously saying, "But Master, what about Xue'er's spirit root now..."

"If I could help you once, naturally I can help you a second time." Chang Yu spoke slowly, his voice cold.

A few days later, Qin Xixue's punishment was announced—six months of confinement.

When Lou Qing heard this news, she rolled her eyes, "Just six months of confinement? Ha, I'm truly impressed. Elder Chang Yu's favoritism couldn't be more obvious."

"Let's not even talk about whether Qin Xixue really colluded with the demon cultivator. She even wanted to shelter that man-eating demon cultivator earlier. If it weren't for Chu Sang discovering that demon cultivator's true identity, we might have had our hearts and livers dug out that night, unable to even return to the sect... Just for this point alone, six months of confinement and it's over? Just like that?" Other disciples were also very dissatisfied with this punishment, complaining quite a bit.

Six months of confinement, without even suffering any corporal punishment. Not to mention that during a disciple's confinement period, they don't have to do sect tasks and are still well-fed and taken care of... Is this punishment or reward??

This is the lightest punishment for sect disciples.

All who understand, understand.

The most unsatisfying part was that Chang Yu specifically ordered them not to tell anyone else about this matter.

With the identity of an elder pressing down on them like a mountain, these small disciples didn't dare to disobey, and so this matter was suppressed.

Mo Qingchen, like the others, also felt this punishment was too light and inappropriate, even developing some dissatisfaction and disappointment towards Chang Yu.

Eleven years ago, after his family was massacred by the demon race, he and Chu Sang were picked up by Chang Yu from the mortal world when they were near death.

Whether it was the kindness of recognition or the kindness of saving his life, Mo Qingchen had always been grateful to Chang Yu. For many years, he had been wholeheartedly dedicated to the sect, never disobeying Chang Yu's words in the slightest. Even when he risked going to the demon realm to obtain that medicinal lingzhi to save Qin Xixue, it was under his orders.

Now, however, he felt that Chang Yu was perhaps not as selfless and benevolent as he had imagined.

Even this Little Junior Sister who came to the sect later seemed vastly different from what he had imagined, not as pure and intelligent as she appeared on the surface.

Mo Qingchen couldn't help but recall the time when Chu Sang was driven down the mountain.

Would she really have done that?

Or was she... framed?

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Chu Sang didn't know that the plot in the Tianyan Sect had already started to collapse. After all, in the original story, Qin Xixue was the beloved Little Junior Sister in the sect, loved by all. Now, forget about being beloved—many disciples had already developed dissatisfaction towards her.

Although Chang Yu forbade those disciples from reporting the secret realm incidents to the Sect Leader and other elders, he didn't stipulate that they couldn't tell other disciples.

Never underestimate the speed of rumor spreading when disciples in these major sects are bored.

Through word of mouth, it didn't take long for most disciples to know about this matter.

They also kept their distance from Qin Xixue.

After all, if they were to go on missions together in the future, no one wanted to have their lives jeopardized by her.

During this time, Chu Sang was like a diligent little bee, running to the East Peak every day. The small snake also became increasingly familiar with her. At first, it pretended to be quite docile and cute, but once it became familiar, its true nature was exposed.

Perhaps because it had rarely played with other demon beasts since childhood, the small snake really liked to play with Xiao Bai. But Xiao Bai didn't want to play with it, so it deliberately caused trouble, always trying to provoke the other.

"We're both Nascent Soul stage demon beasts. How come you're the only one who can't shape-shift? How can you be so stupid, unable to shape-shift."

Xiao Bai swatted at it with a paw, "You! Seeking death!!"

The person and beast started fighting again. This was already the third time today, and the forty-ninth time this month.

At first, Chu Sang would try to stop them, but now she couldn't be bothered anymore.

She was also a bit worried. Although Xiao Bai was indeed at the Nascent Soul stage, it was only because it had eaten Third Senior Brother's blood that it advanced. Advancing too quickly meant its realm wasn't as stable as if it had been steadily built up, making it temporarily difficult to change into human form.

Hong Niang was a mature beautiful woman who didn't play with these two boring little ones. She picked up her needles and began weaving cloth seriously, all eight legs working together, hoping to weave a new magical robe for her master before winter came.

Chu Sang sat cross-legged on the ground, constantly fiddling with the dragon egg.

A month had passed, why was there still no movement?

As the sky gradually darkened, after finishing a fight where some of its hair had been pulled out and its face had gained several claw marks, the small snake finally remembered it had a master. It scurried over to Chu Sang, "Sister Sang, is there any movement from Master?"

"No." She was beginning to suspect this egg might have perished.

Could Third Senior Brother have failed to advance again?

Chu Sang originally wanted to use her spirit sense to probe the situation inside, but the outer shell was like a natural barrier, making it difficult for spirit sense to enter.

She used the most primitive method, reaching out to touch the egg.

So cold.

Abnormally cold, like... touching a piece of ice.

Common sense tells everyone that eggs need warmth to hatch. How could an egg this cold possibly hatch?

"Should we add some fire?" Chu Sang couldn't magically produce a mother dragon to incubate it. After thinking it over, she could only try using the heavenly flame, burning the egg a bit.

The small snake tilted its head, watching.

Hmm.

Would Master be cooked first? Or break the shell first?

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For demon beasts, advancement is the most difficult and vulnerable time of their lives, with an extremely high failure rate. Not to mention that this was Mu Changqing's second attempt at advancement after failing once, increasing the difficulty several times over.

If he encountered enemies or other dangers, he could suffer backlash at worst, severely injured and certain to die.

Driven by demon beast instinct, he used a forbidden technique to seal himself first.

The pain, like breaking bones and ripping flesh, nearly made Mu Changqing faint, yet he couldn't get enough spiritual energy supply, making him even weaker and near death.

Ordinary demon beasts need large amounts of spiritual energy to advance, let alone the dragon race.

The spiritual energy here was far from enough. The consequence was no different from him growing increasingly weak under the torture of pain, unable to recover until death.

As Mu Changqing was in a daze from the pain, his dry dantian was suddenly covered by a large amount of dense spiritual energy.

This spiritual energy wasn't ordinary. It was extremely pure, premium spiritual energy without any impurities. Under the nourishment of this dense spiritual energy, his weakened body gradually recovered, and he finally pulled through.

However, a huge chill suddenly enveloped him, freezing his entire body's meridians in an instant.

True dragons have fire-controlling techniques that can resist this chill, but he was now just an insignificant flood dragon. This cold force was enough to strangle him in his weakened state.

Not long after, a sudden warmth dispersed the cold in his body. Mu Changqing's long eyelashes trembled as he opened his eyes, a flash of golden light passing through them.

...The advancement was successful.

When he came out, he found himself in a coffin.

This coffin was made from a supreme-grade spirit stone, which could only be described as extravagant and luxurious.

Mu Changqing realized that the spiritual energy he had felt earlier came from this coffin. Did... that Little Junior Sister prepare this for him?

Mu Changqing's thoughts were somewhat complex. Demon beasts generally don't have good feelings towards human cultivators, even seeing them as food. He was no exception.

But...

He wandered aimlessly around, belatedly realizing something was off. When did these trees grow so tall?

Just as he was puzzled, someone patted his head, "Little snake, why did you come here?"

"...?"