Chapter 40
Chapter 40: Soul-Search Technique
Some people were stupid and didn’t even realize it.
Jiang Li Sheng was certain Ji Fu Ling was the textbook case.
Stupid, nasty, and about as sharp as a dead fish.
Jiang Li Sheng was about to add a couple more kicks for emphasis when Wang Yu Qing grabbed her by the arm and snapped, “Enough. Get into the secret realm. It’s about to close—don’t waste time. Protect yourself. Whatever needs saying can wait until you come out.”
Jiang Li Sheng still didn’t move. “Martial Uncle Wang, you’re not going to let her walk away, are you?”
“We won’t,” Wang Yu Qing said, shooing her. “Go. Now.”
Jiang Li Sheng planted her feet. “You have to promise.”
Chu Li Qing’s face was already stormy. “Get lost.”
Jiang Li Sheng stomped. “You promise.”
Chu Li Qing lifted a hand and flicked it, like swatting a fly. Jiang Li Sheng vanished and reappeared at the secret realm entrance in the same breath. She yelped twice, swallowed the rest of her argument, and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Senior Brother An!”
An Ru Xu lunged forward, grabbing her wrist. At the same time he bellowed, “Lu Shao Ling!”
Lu Shao Ling looked like his soul briefly left his body. Then he charged over and clamped onto An Ru Xu’s hand too, shouting, “Junior brothers and junior sisters—hurry, hurry, hurry!”
The Kun Lun Sect disciples jolted awake like a startled flock. One grabbed another, who grabbed another, until they were linked together like beads on a string, shoving into the secret realm entrance in a chaotic bundle.
The Qing Xu Sect disciples stared in disbelief. Jiang Li Sheng… popular? And mixed in with Kun Lun Sect people like she belonged there?
Back in Qing Xu Sect, she was a walking disaster. People avoided her like bad luck. She had the kind of reputation that made doors close by themselves.
“What are you standing there for?” Li Shu Ming barked. “Move! The secret realm is about to close!”
That snapped them out of it. Qing Xu Sect disciples surged forward, pouring in after the others.
The last wave crossed the threshold—
—and the secret realm sealed shut with a final, silent slam.
Outside the entrance, only the leaders remained: peak masters and elders from the various sects, the ones responsible for escorting disciples and waiting beyond the gate. None of them were going inside. Every one of them was at least Nascent Soul Stage.
Besides them, only one person was left at the entrance.
Ji Fu Ling lay on the ground, unconscious, courtesy of Jiang Li Sheng’s boot.
With the gate closed, the clearing went unnaturally quiet.
Chu Li Qing looked down at Ji Fu Ling, placed his palm over her head, and got straight to it. He was a man who liked clean endings. Since Jiang Li Sheng had insisted, he didn’t even wait to return to the sect—right there, he used the Soul-Search Technique on the unconscious Ji Fu Ling.
Li Shu Ming and Wang Yu Qing didn’t stop him. After all, more than 10,000 mu of herb fields had been destroyed. Chu Li Qing had been furious enough to cough blood. If he’d been able to catch Jiang Li Sheng, he would’ve torn her apart on the spot.
The Sect Master had scraped together every last bit of his own savings to compensate for the loss, and it still hadn’t appeased Chu Li Qing. Not once had he given the Sect Master a kind look. If anything, he’d doubled down—demanding the Sect Master personally help restore the ruined fields day after day.
The Sect Master had been tormented into near collapse. People were starting to worry he’d retreat into seclusion out of sheer exhaustion.
And now it turned out… Jiang Li Sheng hadn’t done it at all.
She’d been framed.
If the Sect Master learned that, he might actually spit blood for real.
Cheng Qian had broken into Golden Core Stage at a young age, known for diligence and for never causing trouble. Ji Fu Ling, too, always looked obedient and honest, the sort who followed rules and lowered her eyes at the right moments.
Who would have guessed they were capable of this?
No one had.
And no one thought Jiang Li Sheng could be innocent. Since childhood she’d learned this and tried that, dabbling in everything, wreaking havoc wherever she went. When the herb fields burned, everyone had assumed she’d gone to pick spirit plants for pill refining, messed up the flame control, and set off a disaster.
How could they have known she’d been set up?
As the Soul-Search Technique dug deeper, the truth unfolded in Chu Li Qing’s palm. His expression darkened with every heartbeat, until it looked like someone had poured ink over his face.
The pain dragged Ji Fu Ling awake. She thrashed and tried to resist—but resisting Chu Li Qing’s pressure was like a leaf trying to fight a mountain.
Her face twisted. Cold sweat flooded her skin until her robes clung to her like wet rags.
And when Chu Li Qing struck the truth carved into her soul, his anger flared hot and violent. He ripped a memory-scene free and flung it into the air before Li Shu Ming and Wang Yu Qing.
“Look,” he said, voice rough with fury. “Those two dogs. It was them. Shameless—sneaking around behind everyone’s backs. Then, when it was about to be exposed, they burned the fields and framed her.”
Nearly all of them had been fooled.
Li Shu Ming and Wang Yu Qing had already believed Jiang Li Sheng earlier, when she’d cursed with righteous fury and Ji Fu Ling had gone pale with panic. But belief wasn’t the same as certainty. Seeing the memory with their own eyes nailed it down like a blade through wood.
Li Shu Ming was usually mild-tempered. Now he looked like he might explode. He only needed two glances before he recoiled, as if the scene itself dirtied his eyes. “Unforgivable,” he said coldly. “Even the harshest punishment would be deserved. Bring them back to the sect and deal with them.”
What made it unforgivable wasn’t the secret affair.
It was the frame-up.
More than 10,000 mu of spirit plants—gone. The herb fields fed the entire Qing Xu Sect. Pill refining, artifact crafting, formations, cultivation—everything relied on those plants.
Wang Yu Qing, normally gentle, was furious enough to tremble. “I knew it,” she said bitterly. “Jiang Li Sheng has caused plenty of trouble in her life, but she’s never been the type to deny it to the bitter end.”
In the past, when she messed up, she wore guilt on her face. If she was told to fix roofs, she fixed roofs. Fix houses, fix houses. Fix courtyards, fix gardens. Sometimes she even drained her own spiritual power to help others cultivate as compensation. Her master might shield her from expulsion or the Steward Hall’s whip, but repayment was still repayment.
This time, she’d bitten down and insisted it wasn’t her.
And it truly wasn’t.
Wang Yu Qing turned to Chu Li Qing. “Senior Brother Li and I will stay here to keep watch. Senior Brother Chu, take her back to the sect. People without character, who can shamelessly harm a fellow disciple, cannot be spared.”
Chu Li Qing nodded once. He sealed away Ji Fu Ling’s memories, packed her limp body into a magic tool like luggage, and left.
On the Qing Xu Sect side, the three Peak Masters had handled the matter. The Kun Lun Sect and Tai Yi Sect people hadn’t dared approach while things were still unresolved. Now that Chu Li Qing had gone and the dust had settled, they came over to greet them.
The three sects had been friendly for tens of thousands of years. Their peak masters, hall masters, and elders mostly knew each other well.
Ying Zong Yu asked bluntly, “Senior Brother Li, Senior Sister Wang—was that little girl Jiang Li Sheng framed?”
Li Shu Ming nodded.
Wang Yu Qing sighed. “Our sect’s juniors are a disgrace. We’ve let Junior Brother Ying witness a farce.”
Jiang Li Sheng’s curses had been loud. Chu Li Qing’s Soul-Search Technique had been done without any attempt to conceal it. Lying would’ve been pointless.
“I rather like that little girl,” Ying Zong Yu said, grinning. “If not for this mess, how would she have been sent to Kun Lun Sect?”
What he didn’t say out loud was the real reason: if not for Jiang Li Sheng, he would still be worrying himself sick over Wei Qing Lan’s damaged spirit mansion. Delayed healing meant delayed cultivation. Other people could afford to lose time. Wei Qing Lan couldn’t.
Wang Yu Qing’s expression softened into a smile. “It’s rare for someone to like her. So she didn’t cause trouble at Kun Lun Sect?”
“No, no,” Ying Zong Yu said quickly. “She’s doing fine there. Obedient, follows rules, hasn’t gotten into trouble.”
He quietly decided that her argument with Zhao Ke Xin didn’t count. Small matter. Not worth mentioning.
“Good,” Wang Yu Qing said. “Once she comes out of the secret realm, we’ll have her return to the sect.”
Ying Zong Yu laughed. “No rush. We’ll talk after she comes out.”