Chapter 144

Chapter 144: Spirit Herb Uproar
Wang Qian’s eyes darted around, and he stayed silent for a long time.

Mu Ye had wanted to kick him while he was down, but when she saw Yu Zhao standing to the side, she gave up on the idea.

She gave a cold snort and stepped forward, bumping Wang Qian aside with her shoulder: “Yu Zhao, let’s go. Don’t bother with strange, irrelevant people.”

Yu Zhao smiled and followed behind Mu Ye into the Herb Storehouse.

Wang Qian stood where he was, his chest rising and falling quickly.

He had thought Yu Zhao would confront him in front of everyone and expose what had happened at the Auction Gathering and with the Shadow Pavilion, but he had not expected Yu Zhao to treat him like he was nothing but air.

It was not a slap to the face, but it felt even worse than one.

He stared at the backs of Yu Zhao and Mu Ye, hatred rolling in his eyes.

People really did flock to their own kind. That arrogant way Yu Zhao had of looking down on everyone was exactly the same as Mu Ye’s.

He gritted his teeth and muttered: “Mu Ye, don’t get too full of yourself. The Disciple Assessment is coming soon. I want to see how long you can stay so arrogant.”

“Mu Ye, who was that person just now?”

After the prickling feeling on her back faded, Yu Zhao asked Mu Ye about Wang Qian.

Come to think of it, she and Wang Qian had formed a life-and-death grudge, but she had only seen him once at the Auction Gathering and did not even know his name.

“His name is Wang Qian. Both his parents are respected elders of Greenwood Sect. He has been spoiled since he was little and thinks everyone has to give way to him.”

Mu Ye wrinkled her nose, not hiding her dislike for Wang Qian at all.

Yu Zhao understood.

It seemed that part of the reason Wang Qian targeted her was because he did not get along with Mu Ye.

Wait… Wang Qian?

Yu Zhao’s heart jolted.

In her previous life, the Young Sect Master of Greenwood Sect had also been called Wang Qian.

He had been one of Ye Cong Xin’s many admirers in the future.

“How does his alchemy compare to yours?”

Yu Zhao’s question was a bit direct, but Mu Ye did not mind. After thinking for a moment, she answered seriously: “To be honest, his alchemy skills are about the same as mine. It is just that every time there is a test, my mindset is steadier, so I usually perform a little better than he does.”

Although Mu Ye did not like Wang Qian, she would not purposely smear him in this kind of thing.

Yu Zhao fell into thought.

Wang Qian was stronger than she had imagined.

But could someone as petty and narrow-minded as Wang Qian really shoulder the responsibility of being the Young Sect Master of Greenwood Sect?

She very much doubted it.

While she was lost in thought, Mu Ye’s angry voice suddenly rang out beside her: “Senior Brother Zhao, I reserved the spirit herbs I needed for this month with the Herb Storehouse two months ago. Why did you change my herbs without asking me?”

Yu Zhao looked up and realized that she and Mu Ye had already walked to the medicine cabinets in the middle of the Herb Storehouse.

Several disciples in Herb Hall robes were busy sorting the freshly picked spirit herbs, moving so fast the whole place seemed to be boiling with activity.

Mu Ye was holding a medicine pouch in her hand, glaring at the only Herb Hall disciple who was not sorting herbs, a man sitting behind a desk.

The man, Zhao Liang, glanced at the pouch in Mu Ye’s hand and said lazily: “They must have picked up the wrong one. Next time I will remind them to be more careful.”

Mu Ye was almost driven to laughter by Zhao Liang’s careless reply.

Next time?

There was only one month left before the Alchemy Hall Disciple Assessment. Zhao Liang clearly knew how important this batch of spirit herbs was to her, yet he still dared to say “next time.”

“I don’t care. I want the spirit herbs I reserved, right now.” Mu Ye slapped the pouch down on the desk, furious.

Zhao Liang still looked unhurried as he said: “Junior Sister Mu, it is not that I do not want to help you change them. You just came too late. A lot of the spirit herbs you wanted are already gone. Your senior brother really has no way to help.”

“I was the one who reserved them first.”

“You did reserve them first, but I cannot make the spirit herbs you want appear out of thin air. If you had come a little earlier, this kind of mistake would not have happened.”

Zhao Liang not only refused to solve the problem, he even tried to blame her instead. Mu Ye was so angry she felt like she would explode.

“Zhao Liang, you did this on purpose!”

“Junior Sister Mu, I have never had any grudge against you. Why would I make things hard for you? This really was just an accident, so please watch what you say.”

Mu Ye paused.

That was right. Zhao Liang and she had no conflict. Why would he deliberately target her?

Unless…

Mu Ye thought of Wang Qian, who had gotten to the Herb Storehouse before her.

Wang Qian’s father was an elder of the Herb Hall, and Zhao Liang just happened to be under his father’s control.

Since she and Wang Qian were rivals, Zhao Liang was very likely acting under someone else’s orders, or trying to curry favor with that elder, which was why he was doing this on purpose.

Once Mu Ye figured it out, her expression turned cold: “Zhao Liang, does Elder Wang know how hard you are working here to flatter him?”

“What nonsense are you spouting! This has nothing to do with Elder Wang! Don’t drag other people into this!”

Zhao Liang straightened up, shouting harshly, though his guilty heart showed in his eyes.

The disciples in the back who were sorting the herbs quietly slowed their movements and pricked up their ears to listen.

“No relation? You say there is no relation, so there just isn’t? Do you really think I will believe that?”

Mu Ye was angrier than she had been in a long time.

She could accept losing to Wang Qian openly and fairly in a test, but she could not stand Wang Qian using dirty tricks to interfere with her and ruin the fairness of the assessment.

“What benefits did Elder Wang give you that made you deliberately make things hard for me? Is he that afraid Wang Qian will lose to me? Or is it that you yourself think he’ll lose, so you took it on yourself to do something this stupid?”

Mu Ye’s features were soft and pretty, and her bearing was as gentle as an orchid, giving others the impression that she was mild, quiet, and graceful. But her personality was the complete opposite of her appearance.

Back in Dragon Roar Valley, when she had seen Yu Zhao going alone to save someone and had insisted on going with her, it had already shown that she was gentle on the outside but firm on the inside, with a very strong will.

Now that someone was bullying her to her face, if she could just endure it, then she would not be Mu Ye.

“Mu Ye!”

Zhao Liang was almost scared to death by her words.

If what she was saying reached Elder Wang’s ears, even if he did not die, he would lose a layer of skin.

“Stop making trouble here! I already told you it was an accident, an accident! If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to force you to leave!”

Zhao Liang’s face darkened, and the aura of a Golden Core cultivator suddenly spread out, pressing down on Mu Ye.

Mu Ye instinctively wanted to step back to ease the pressure when suddenly a hand pressed against the small of her back.

“Don’t step back. I’ll help you.”

Yu Zhao’s voice rang clearly in Mu Ye’s ears.

At once, the crushing pressure coming at her melted like snow and finally turned into a light breeze brushing against her cheek.

Mu Ye felt moved, and her gaze instantly grew sharp.

“You are this flustered because I hit the mark, aren’t you? Zhao Liang, you had better hand over those spirit herbs right now, or I will report this to the Alchemy Hall elders and ask them to stand up for me.”

Mu Ye’s background could not compare to Wang Qian’s, but she was still the beloved disciple of the Grand Elder of the Alchemy Hall.

Zhao Liang might not be afraid of offending her, but could he really afford to offend the Head Elder of the Alchemy Hall?

Sure enough, after hearing Mu Ye’s words, Zhao Liang’s face grew even darker, and he started to feel a trace of regret.

He had not interacted with Mu Ye much. He only knew that her reputation in the sect was good, so he had assumed she had a soft temper and was easy to talk to, someone who could be brushed off casually. He had not expected her to be this hard to deal with.

If he had known, he would not have taken her spirit herbs away. He would have tampered with the spirit herbs themselves instead and used more hidden methods to deal with her.

“Who said they were going to ask the Head Elder of the Alchemy Hall to stand up for them?”