The letter Shu Tiantian sent out from the Transfer Office arrived at Tianji Sect on the second day after Yuan Jingzhi’s soul scattered, and was smoothly delivered into the hands of Immortal Lord Chixiao.

The atmosphere at Sword Peak had recently been extremely oppressive; the pressure belonging to a Deity Transformation stage sword cultivator descended, and even the chirping of insects and the rustling of grass had vanished from Sword Peak.

Until receiving the letter, Chixiao had already gone seven or eight days without any news of his little disciple. In order to deal with Ji Wushu’s awakening, the entire Tianji Sect was incomparably busy. Chixiao busied himself while also trying every possible means to find Shu Tiantian.

Only in these past few days, each time he practiced sword, even the sword formulas he was most familiar with would go wrong, which showed how unsettled his state of mind was.

When he received Shu Tiantian’s letter, Chixiao abruptly rose to his feet, disregarded the other elders, hurried back to Sword Peak. His usually indifferent eyes softened, but as he read line after line, until he reached the final line, his gentle gaze froze, his ten fingers tightened around the teacup, crushing it into powder without even noticing.

Shu Tiantian did not add much exaggeration; she merely wrote about how Yuan Jingzhi forced her and about her many narrow escapes from death. The writing, deeply inheriting Qiong Yao¹Qiong Yao: A famous Taiwanese romance novelist known for highly emotional, melodramatic storytelling centered on love and suffering.’s style, was filled between the lines with despair and pain, making one unable to help imagining what kind of despair and suffering a young girl, cherished and pampered since childhood, had experienced within the Void Abyss.

Once, Immortal Lord Chixiao had indeed deliberately distanced himself from his little disciple, but that did not mean he had no feelings for her. On the contrary, he both loved and felt guilty, mixed with a great deal of regret. If he had not discovered that his feelings for his little disciple were growing deeper and deeper, fearing that he would lose control and speak the truth or do something that would betray the sect, he would not have chosen to distance himself.

But when his little disciple was abducted, Chixiao had passed a long time as if he had lost his soul. Only when he truly lost her did he realize that he really could not let go, could not bear it.

He had thought of many possibilities, yet had never thought this matter would be related to Ling Ruoshui! He subconsciously wanted to deny it; after all, Xiaoshui was usually gentle and obedient. Even when he did not allow her to meet Tiantian, fearing her existence would hurt Tiantian, Xiaoshui had been very sensible. How could she possibly do such a thing?

Yet upon seeing this letter, Chixiao was both shocked and enraged.

Immortal Lord Chixiao was very intelligent. Apart from appearing indecisive when it came to Shu Tiantian, he was the foremost among sword cultivators, and certainly not someone easy to fool. He possessed decisiveness and rationality; almost at the first moment, he obtained the answer in his mind.

Tiantian had never lied since childhood, not to mention that those who knew of Shu Tiantian’s constitution were only a few people in total. Aside from him, the other elders would wish for Tiantian to stay in the sect every single day; it was absolutely impossible for them to leak the news. Then who else could it be?

Chixiao fell silent for a moment, yet his eyes were full of gloom.

Back then, while traveling, Chixiao had indeed encountered Ling Ruoshui, who looked extremely similar to Tiantian. Seeing her bullied by her family, and because she resembled his little disciple, Chixiao could not bear it and saved her on impulse.

During these three years, Ling Ruoshui had indeed been obedient. But Chixiao could never have imagined that that moment of soft-heartedness would harm his own little disciple.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Ling Ruoshui had been unable to contact Yuan Jingzhi for several days already. Uneasy and restless, she had not slept well these past few days. That morning, as she got up preparing to go to the medicine hall, Ling Ruoshui was called over by a young attendant, who said that Master had something to see her about.

Ling Ruoshui was somewhat absent-minded; her entire mind was worrying whether something had happened to Brother Yuan.

Long before she had entered under Master’s tutelage, she had been saved by Yuan Jingzhi. At that time, she had been the unloved daughter of the Ling family. If not for Yuan Jingzhi’s help, she would have long been ground down to death within the Ling family.

So even knowing he was a demonic cultivator, Ling Ruoshui was unwilling to distance herself from him. The last time she underwent tribulation, he had even been willing to block the heavenly lightning for her. Naturally, Ling Ruoshui did not wish to see Brother Yuan, who treated her so well, come to harm.

Not only that, she also had a faint unease in her heart, always feeling that the possibility of Shu Tiantian still being alive was very great.

Ling Ruoshui’s mind was unsettled, yet she desperately persuaded herself that she had not done anything that defied heaven and harmed reason. From beginning to end, she had merely let slip a few words. Afterward she had also regretted it, but she could not simply watch Brother Yuan be injured and do nothing.

Lost in thought, Ling Ruoshui did not even hear clearly what the young attendant said, subconsciously about to head toward Sword Peak, when she heard the young attendant repeat in puzzlement, “Senior Sister, the Immortal Lord told you to go directly to the Hall of Punishment.”

Ling Ruoshui was utterly astonished.

Her heart having something on her mind, she subconsciously connected it to Shu Tiantian’s disappearance, but she tried hard to shake off that thought: Senior Sister was a fool who only knew how to refine medicine. Even if Brother Yuan had let her go, that fool likely would not connect it back to her.

She steadied herself and walked toward the Hall of Punishment.

However, as soon as she entered, the Hall of Punishment was empty. She only saw the familiar yet cold back of the sword cultivator in green robes.

Immortal Lord Chixiao turned around; even those calm eyes were stained with anger. “Was it you who leaked the news of your Senior Sister?”

Ling Ruoshui’s heart jolted, and she flatly denied it. “Master, I have always treated Senior Sister sincerely. How could I possibly leak Senior Sister’s news? But if Senior Sister has been found, I…”

Immortal Lord Chixiao slowly spoke, “Do you know Yuan Jingzhi?”

Ling Ruoshui subconsciously wanted to say she did not know him, when she saw that Immortal Lord Chixiao’s expression was not very good.

Her heart began to panic. How did Master know about this? Could it be that Senior Sister had returned and gone to complain to Master? But wasn’t Senior Sister just a fool obsessed with alchemy, and she had never met Brother Yuan—how could she possibly know?

She firmly believed Senior Sister did not know. It must be that Master had heard some rumors, so she spoke, “I know him, but that was before I entered under Master’s tutelage. This disciple has never contacted him again…”

These words were half true and half false; Ling Ruoshui did not dare to state them too absolutely.

But the next moment, Chixiao exposed her.

“Then last month when you underwent tribulation to build your foundation, why were you completely unharmed? You said you used pills to survive the tribulation, but I never saw you go to the medicine hall. Pills above the Profound rank can only be refined by your Senior Sister.

Shu Tiantian had written in the letter that Yuan Jingzhi was injured because he blocked heavenly lightning for someone. Naturally, Chixiao thought of the suspicious circumstances when Ling Ruoshui underwent tribulation last month.

Ling Ruoshui was rendered speechless by the questioning. She stopped trying to quibble, and with a thud dropped to her knees, her voice choked, tears already falling.

“Master, that Yuan Jingzhi did indeed block a bolt of heavenly lightning for me, but it has nothing to do with Senior Sister’s disappearance!”

Chixiao sighed. “The one who captured your Senior Sister was Yuan Jingzhi; the one who leaked Tiantian’s information—I cannot think of a second person.”

Hearing this, how could Ling Ruoshui not know she could no longer hide it? Panic filled her heart, and she cried,

“How would I deliberately leak Senior Sister’s information? That day it was only a careless remark, yet Yuan Jingzhi overheard it. Afterward I knew my sin was grave, and day and night I have been filled with guilt. I did not even dare to ask Master for forgiveness! But how could I have taken the initiative to inform him, to deliberately harm Senior Sister?”

“If you do not believe me, you may search this disciple’s soul. This disciple absolutely could not have done such a thing!”

She knew that Master had always been soft-hearted toward his disciples. As long as she cried and begged, he would forgive her.

Immortal Lord Chixiao, however, closed his eyes.

She pushed all responsibility onto Yuan Jingzhi, as though her only fault was one careless sentence, as though that made her pure and innocent.

He had hesitated. After all, three years of time—even raising a cat or dog would form affection, not to mention Ling Ruoshui had always been sensible and considerate, and so similar to his little disciple. But…

—But Shu Tiantian had read the original novel thoroughly and had long guessed the protagonist’s personality inside and out. The little white flower’s lines were especially easy to predict, so she very heartlessly added one more sentence:

“She only made a careless slip of the tongue, but I was beaten by Yuan Jingzhi until I vomited three sheng of blood, broke three bones, narrowly escaped death, and held on to my last breath to write you this letter.”

The power of that sentence shook Immortal Lord Chixiao’s mind to its core even now. Now that even Ling Ruoshui’s pleas had been predicted by Shu Tiantian, could Chixiao still soften his heart?

No. He would only be furious beyond measure.

His voice turned cold.

“Your Senior Sister treated you well. Harming a fellow disciple is a grave crime. According to sect rules, you should receive ten lashes and be expelled from the sect. From this day forward, I no longer have you as my disciple!”

Ling Ruoshui could not understand why the usually easygoing Master had suddenly become so heartless. This was completely different from what she had expected. Still young, she was utterly panicked.

No—she could not leave Master! If she returned to the Ling family, she would be ground to death!

Yet no matter how Ling Ruoshui repented, wept, begged, or requested that Chixiao search her soul, it was of no use. Because the more unwilling she was, the more she pleaded, the more she felt wronged, the more Chixiao thought of what Shu Tiantian had suffered in the letter, and the more he despised her lack of remorse.

Immortal Lord Chixiao looked at Ling Ruoshui, who from beginning to end kept emphasizing that it was unintentional, and asked, “When I sent your Senior Sister away, I prepared a seed of Scarlet Flame for her. Why did Tiantian never receive it?”

Ling Ruoshui stiffened all over and collapsed limply onto the ground.

The final sentence in Shu Tiantian’s letter had been: Why, after Master took a new disciple, did he no longer give her the Scarlet Flame? Could it be that Ling Ruoshui needed it too?

Shu Tiantian did not care whether the cat was black or white. In any case, if she sensed anything suspicious, she piled all the blame onto Ling Ruoshui—like a child cherished by all under heaven, always utterly unreasonable when complaining. Yet unexpectedly, she had guessed correctly by sheer accident.

This barbed, nitpicking remark became the final straw that crushed Ling Ruoshui. She opened her mouth, yet could not say a single word in her own defense.

So Ling Ruoshui’s so-called “careless slip of the tongue” was nothing more than a ridiculous excuse.

Immortal Lord Chixiao no longer wished to look. Coldly, he pulled his robe free and left the Hall of Punishment.

However, just after Chixiao gave a few instructions and prepared to leave the sect, he ran straight into Sect Master Dao Xuzi.

Seeing him carrying his sword and hurrying out, Dao Xuzi asked him a couple of questions. Chixiao only said he had found clues about his little disciple and was about to step away, when Dao Xuzi called him to stop.

“Shu Tiantian is in the Void Abyss, isn’t she?”

Immortal Lord Chixiao’s steps halted, and he froze in place.

Dao Xuzi said calmly, “Are you going to bring her back?”

Suppressing the surging emotions within him, Chixiao spoke in a low voice, “I’m afraid she won’t be able to wait in the Void Abyss until Ji Wushu’s thousand-year tribulation arrives. Her cultivation is not high. She…”

Dao Xuzi interrupted him, speaking indifferently,

“She is not in danger. Her soul lamp has not been extinguished—if it has not gone out, she has not died. Our people in the Void Abyss have received the news and will naturally protect her. She was meant to go to the Void Abyss in the first place. Since by chance she has already entered, you should not think of bringing her back.”

Since a thousand years ago, Chixiao had followed the orders of the deceased Grand Ancestor, searching everywhere for girls with the Heavenly Yin physique. Yet after a thousand years of searching, the only one they had found was Shu Tiantian, still babbling as a toddler.

Back then, the Grand Ancestor died attempting to contract the Calamity Dragon. Before his death, he instructed the later disciples that they must successfully contract the Calamity Dragon—this was also the only way to severely injure it.

Yet even though the Calamity Dragon lay dying and had fallen into slumber, the Scarlet Flame Flower that burned all living beings still stood in the way. Only girls with the Heavenly Yin physique could approach the Scarlet Flame Flower, and thus Tianji Sect had borne for a thousand years the responsibility of searching for those with the Heavenly Yin physique.

Those with the Heavenly Yin physique bore a heavy mission. If one went missing, the entire sect should have been filled with anxiety. No matter where Shu Tiantian went, the sect would spare no cost to bring her back—except from the Void Abyss.

Because that was where she was meant to go in the first place. In a certain sense, she could even be called a “sacrifice.”

So Chixiao had no reason, no standing, and even less excuse to bring back his little disciple.

Footnotes

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  Qiong Yao: A famous Taiwanese romance novelist known for highly emotional, melodramatic storytelling centered on love and suffering.