Chapter 284

Chapter 284: Learning to Let Go Is an Important Lesson in Life
The Head Elder’s proposal won everyone’s approval.

The people of the Seven Stars Sect decided to fight Yu Zhao to the bitter end.

But they never thought they would be the ones to give in first.

There was only one reason for this: the mental pressure Yu Zhao put on them was simply too great.

Even if Yu Zhao did nothing and only wandered around the Seven Stars Sect, stopping here and there at random, she could still leave everyone jumpy and on edge.

When Yu Zhao found a small pool of water and decided to sit there and fish, the hearts of the Seven Stars Sect crowd almost jumped out of their throats.

Yu Zhao did not know that, while killing time, she had stumbled onto the spot where the spirit vein lay.

Right now she sat by the pool with a fishing rod in hand, her posture lazy.

Looking at the calm surface of the water, the corners of her lips curved in a happy smile.

These past few days, she had clearly felt that they were spying on her more and more often, and the gaps between each time were getting shorter. Their urgency could not be hidden.

She slowly figured it out and guessed that they had probably misunderstood her because of the spirit vein and were desperate to make her leave as soon as possible.

Now that the initiative was in her hands, it was finally the Seven Stars Sect’s turn to feel restless.

A clear female voice sounded behind her as someone called: “Yu Zhao… Senior.”

Yu Zhao looked back, nodded to the nervous young woman, then turned her attention back to the fishing rod.

Xing Yu sensed Yu Zhao’s cold attitude and could not help wanting to back away.

But when she thought that if she missed this chance, she did not know what year or month she would see Yu Zhao again, she forced herself to be brave and said: “Senior Yu Zhao, I have something I want to ask you. I hope Senior can clear up my doubts. Xing Yu will be very grateful.”

After she finished, she bowed deeply, her curled lashes fluttering with unease.

Yu Zhao asked casually: “You are close to the Head Elder. Why not ask him?”

Xing Yu was stunned and blurted out: “Senior Yu Zhao knows me?”

Yu Zhao said: “Has no one ever told you that you look a lot like the Head Elder?”

Yu Zhao had already noticed Xing Yu several days ago.

Xing Yu kept secretly watching her from neither too far nor too close. Once in a while she would walk two steps forward, then immediately retreat three steps back.

Most important of all, her face was about seventy percent similar to the Head Elder’s. Anyone who had seen both of them would be able to guess their relationship.

Xing Yu let out a bitter smile, touched her cheek, and said: “Someone mentioned it a long time ago, but later no one brought it up, and I slowly forgot it myself.”

Yu Zhao’s eyes moved slightly.

It sounded like Xing Yu’s relationship with the Head Elder was not very good.

[Could this be her way in?]

She said: “Ask whatever question you have.”

Xing Yu said: “Senior Yu Zhao, before I ask this, please forgive my rudeness. But I really want to know how you found the courage back then to sever your master-disciple relationship with Master Qing Yan. Were you not afraid of gossip and rumors?”

In Xing Yu’s eyes, this question might offend Yu Zhao, so after she spoke, she felt uneasy, her head almost buried in her chest.

Yu Zhao did not mind at all. She said calmly: “Master Qing Yan brought me into the sect, and I also took on the duties of a disciple in return. I do not owe him, and I will not feel guilty for this. When you find that a situation harms you, you should cut your losses in time, not cling to it and keep making mistakes. As for gossip and rumors…”

Yu Zhao gave a soft laugh and said: “The first time you hear them, you feel pain. After you hear them many times, you slowly grow numb. In the end you get used to it and feel nothing at all.”

The only people who could truly hurt her were the ones she cared about.

Once she stopped caring, those wounds turned into blades without edges. They would still hurt, but they would not be fatal.

Xing Yu murmured, her face full of longing: “If only I could have courage like Senior…”

Yu Zhao asked: “Would you mind sharing your story with me?”

“Of course not…” Xing Yu said.

It was as if Xing Yu had finally found a place to pour out her feelings. She told her troubles one by one.

Yu Zhao had not been wrong. Xing Yu really was closely related to the Head Elder. She was the Head Elder’s granddaughter and the only blood relative he had left in this world.

In theory, even if the Head Elder did not spoil her in every way, he should at least take extra care of her.

But in fact, the Head Elder treated Xing Yu with less care than he gave to any ordinary disciple of the Seven Stars Sect.

When an ordinary disciple met with unfair treatment and complained to the Head Elder, the Head Elder would stand up for them.

When Xing Yu faced trouble, the Head Elder only told her to think of a way to solve it herself.

Not only that, every time Xing Yu earned a sect reward through her own effort, the Head Elder would find all kinds of reasons to make her give it up to other disciples who were not as good as her.

Everyone knew that, in order to fight for resources, there was no lack of schemes and open and hidden battles even inside the sect.

As the Head Elder’s granddaughter, Xing Yu had never enjoyed any special treatment and instead had to yield again and again.

As time went by, the disciples of the Seven Stars Sect slowly realized that the Head Elder did not care about her and would not stand up for her. Her days grew harder, and in the end she sank to the very bottom among the disciples.

When the sect distributed resources, she always received the worst share. Sometimes she got nothing at all, yet she never escaped from doing the hardest and most tiring work.

She tried to resist, but all she got was the Head Elder’s cold indifference and her fellow disciples’ mockery.

She said bitterly: “They say the Head Elder puts all his heart into the sect, that he is selfless and noble, yet he has a granddaughter like me, selfish and petty, a shame to his good name. They say someone like me is not worthy to be the Head Elder’s granddaughter. But I am only defending my own rights. I have not hurt anyone. How can they say that about me! Senior Yu Zhao, do you think I am wrong?”

“You are of course wrong,” Yu Zhao said in a firm voice.

Xing Yu’s eyes dimmed at once, and her fingers clenched tightly at the hem of her clothes.

[Even Senior Yu Zhao says I am wrong. Am I really wrong…]

Yu Zhao went on: “Your mistake is that you value feelings too much and did not see the true faces of the people around you earlier.”

Yu Zhao did not actually know the Head Elder very well in this life, but in her previous life she had personally experienced his extreme stubbornness.

When the spirit vein of the Seven Stars Sect withered, she had still been in the Five Elements Dao Sect, acting as Ye Cong Xin’s foil. It was clear she could not have been the one who did such a thing.

Yet just because she had a bad reputation and no one to protect her, the Head Elder put the blame for the sect’s downfall on her. He gathered a few fellow disciples who were just as brainless and chased her down again and again.

Yu Zhao had once thought the Head Elder simply had deep feelings for the Seven Stars Sect. Only now did she realize he probably treated the Seven Stars Sect as his private property and would sacrifice even his own granddaughter to win benefits for the sect disciples.

What a selfless Head Elder.

It was truly moving.

“Eh?” Xing Yu lifted her head in surprise and joy.

Senior Yu Zhao was on her side.

Senior Yu Zhao understood her.

Yu Zhao said: “Sharing the same blood does not automatically make someone your family. With some people, the bond is thin from the start, and you cannot force it. Do not let worldly ideas bind you. Only you yourself will never abandon you.”

Yu Zhao saw a reflection of her own past in Xing Yu.

The words she used to comfort Xing Yu were also what she wanted to say to her past self.

Learning to let go was one of the most important lessons in life.