Chapter 33
Chapter 33: The Real Reckoning
The moment the battle ended, exhaustion hit Shao Heng again, heavy as stone.
She lay in the snow, gulping air, then forced herself upright and swallowed another Rejuvenation Pill. When warmth finally seeped through her limbs, she wiped sweat and blood from her face and stood.
She’d done enough missions outside the sect now to move without hesitation.
From her ring she took a dark iron boning knife. Working quickly and efficiently, she skinned the white Snake Demon, split bone from flesh, and removed its gallbladder.
Then came the part she didn’t want.
Zhu Wu Shuang’s body was somewhere in the snake’s belly. Shao Heng fought down nausea, cast a searching technique, and in the end pulled out a small pouch woven from silver threads.
It hadn’t been corroded by the snake’s gut at all. High quality, then—likely Zhu Wu Shuang’s usual storage tool.
When she was finished, she didn’t linger. She cast Dust-Cleansing Technique over herself, forcing her scent clean, and left the area at once.
She ran hard toward True One Yuan Sect territory. Only after she’d fled more than 20 li did she finally stop, lungs burning, legs trembling.
Even then, she chose a place with cover.
Leaning against a tree, she let her snow-white outer robe blend into the endless white around her. She began circulating Origin-Nourishing Qi-Raising Art through her meridians. As the pill refined inside her, pure spiritual power flowed back into her withered Yellow Sprout, filling it slowly, steadily.
She closed her eyes.
Minutes passed.
Then she exhaled and let out a quiet, thoughtful sigh.
Inside the sect and outside the sect were two different worlds.
Including this time, she’d done five missions beyond the sect walls. Four of them had involved trouble beyond the mission itself.
Ambushes. Betrayal. Traps dressed as opportunity.
It wasn’t bad luck. She’d asked plenty of senior brothers and senior sisters what outside missions were like.
This was normal.
Inside the sect, rules served as a standard, and Law Enforcement Pavilion hung overhead like a sword. Not every disciple was kind, but most still knew where the lines were. That was why Shao Heng had endured Lu Shao Jia and the others for so long—why she’d held back from truly retaliating.
Her future mattered more than they ever would. She wouldn’t risk even a sliver of it for them.
But beyond the sect’s shelter, the cultivation world ran on survival of the fittest.
Even disciples of immortal sects maintained only surface peace.
Shao Heng took out the silver pouch, which she’d already cleaned with a technique, and the corner of her mouth lifted.
Her first wariness was long gone. She understood herself clearly now.
She liked rules like this.
She liked them very much.
She sent spiritual power into the pouch. With its owner dead, the remaining imprint was fragile. Under her steady pressure, it cracked, then shattered, and the space inside opened to her senses.
Not a lowly storage pouch at all.
Twenty-three layers of Dao-marked restrictions. A First Grade magical tool. Sixty cubic meters of space.
Shao Heng tallied her gains with quick, practiced motions.
“Over 1,800 spirit stones. Two First Grade talismans. Three First Grade treasure herbs.” Her mouth curved. “Plus assorted cultivation materials. Not bad.”
There were no techniques from Star-Inquiry Sect inside. Sect inheritances rarely relied on paper texts now, and every sect had its own anti-theft measures. She hadn’t expected to gain immortal arts, so she wasn’t disappointed.
Still, envy flickered faintly at the memory of Zhu Wu Shuang’s starlight protection and Seven-Star Palm. It had to be related to some method of absorbing starlight.
Shao Heng moved everything useful into one of her own empty storage rings.
In the end, the silver pouch held only Zhu Wu Shuang’s personal effects.
Shao Heng tossed them aside without a second thought.
Cultivators had too many ways to track and investigate, many of them strange and hard to guard against. The pouch itself could be sold for dozens of spirit stones, but she didn’t want petty profit with that kind of risk attached.
If it carried an aura mark she couldn’t recognize and someone traced it back, she wasn’t willing to gamble on that possibility.
By the time she recovered 60 to 70 percent of her spiritual power, it was already midnight. Black clouds smothered the sky; there was no bright moon.
In weather like this she could still absorb some moonlight essence, but it would be a thin harvest. Better to move.
She needed to gather the treasure herbs for her tasks and return to the sect. Tang Dong’s corpse had to be submitted before the deadline for the devil cultivator hunt.
Shao Heng rose, took out her sheepskin map to confirm direction, and started walking.
—
Outside the Law Enforcement Pavilion of True One Yuan Sect, Shao Heng had changed back into her yellow outer sect robes. She was heading toward the main gate when two girls stepped into her path.
She paused, brows lifting.
“So I taught the little one a lesson, and now the big one’s here?”
One was older, one younger, and their similar faces made their relationship obvious. The younger was Gu Yu Sui, the same girl she’d dealt with before. She’d just entered the sect this year, already 12, and she still looked timid when her eyes met Shao Heng’s.
The older cultivator bowed slightly. “Junior Sister Shao Heng, you’ve misunderstood. I’m Yu Sui’s sister, Gu Xuan.”
Her posture was humble, her eyes lowered. “I’ve come to apologize.”
Shao Heng’s expression didn’t soften. She waited.
Gu Xuan continued, voice measured. “My sister is still young and was misled by others. Some days ago, she went with them to cause trouble for you outside the lecture hall. Thank you for letting her off—”
“Stop.” Shao Heng cut her off. “Whether she was misled or whether she’s simply greedy and foolish has nothing to do with me.”
Her gaze went cool. “Don’t block my way.”
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Gu Xuan’s face, quickly forced down. She took out a jade box and offered it with both hands.
“This is our apology. Please accept it, Junior Sister Shao Heng.”
Since breaking into mid-stage First Realm, Shao Heng’s spiritual sense had sharpened. Even through the seal, she caught a faint medicinal scent and a thread of spiritual aura leaking from the box.
A First Grade treasure herb.
She looked from the foolish younger sister to the clever older one, then reached out without ceremony and took the box.
“Fine,” she said, and tucked it away. “I’ll take it.”
No polite refusal. No performance.
She nodded once at Gu Xuan and walked past them toward the Law Enforcement Pavilion.
Behind her, Gu Yu Sui grabbed her sister’s hand, voice tight with reluctance. “Sister, that’s jade ginseng! One plant costs 43 spirit stones. How can you just give it to her?”
“If I refine that jade ginseng and gain 10-plus furnaces of spiritual power, I’ll have a better chance in the disciple competition—”
“Shut up.”
Gu Xuan’s voice snapped like a whip.
She dragged Gu Yu Sui to a secluded corner so they wouldn’t humiliate themselves in public, then cast a Soundproof Charm. Her expression was cold with fury.
An outer sect disciple earned only 120 spirit stones a year. Giving away a treasure herb like that—how could it not hurt?
“Did you forget what I told you?” Gu Xuan hissed. “The disciple competition is a massive free-for-all!”
“It won’t be round after round of duels. An inner sect elder will use an immortal art to send all of you into an arena. The last 10 standing become inner sect disciples.”
“The elders will intervene if someone is truly about to die, so there won’t be deaths. But can you guarantee Shao Heng won’t hold a grudge and cripple your foundation instead?”
“In a duel, you fight with everything you have. Even if she’s ruthless, no one can blame her. And if Shao Heng enters the inner sect, do you think the elders will side with you over her?”
Gu Yu Sui froze, then stammered, “N-no… right? I only went with them… She already punished me…”
Gu Xuan’s eyes blazed. “How many times have I taught you? Why won’t you change?”
“I told you to make peace with her, and you went and offended her anyway. And what was that just now?”
Her voice dropped, sharp and merciless. “What are you doing? You’re gambling your own safety on someone else’s kindness.”
Gu Yu Sui trembled, eyes reddening until tears brimmed.
Inside the Law Enforcement Pavilion, Shao Heng walked quickly, but surprise tugged faintly at her thoughts.
[Gu Xuan?]
[So smart.]
[Did she guess what I’m planning?]
Shao Heng had long since decided: in the disciple competition, she would settle every old debt for real.