Chapter 228

Chapter 228: The Four of Flying Cloud Sect Learn Shen Sang Ruo Has Severed Feelings

Shen Dao Chen rubbed his brow as he said: “Then good.”

Just then, a disciple burst in shouting: “Bad news, Sect Master!”

Shen Dao Chen snapped, his face dark: “Why are you panicking like this? What happened?”

The disciple panted as he reported: “The people we planted among the candidate cultivators did nothing. Shen Sang Ruo somehow got her hands on countless treasures, enough to pile into a small mountain. Our plan to target them may fail…”

Before he could ask more, another messenger rushed in to report: “Sect Master, Linglong Pavilion announced they will refuse all trade with us from now on. They are openly backing Ninghua Sect.”

The teacup in Shen Dao Chen’s hand shattered into powder as he ground out several cold words: “Good. Good. Very good.” [He had truly underestimated Shen Sang Ruo.]

What angered him most was that she used all of it on Ninghua Sect, not on Flying Cloud Sect.

He ordered in a hard voice: “Keep targeting them. Spare no effort. I want to see how long Ninghua Sect can last!”

With a flick of his sleeve, he left.

He went to Bai Mu Mu’s room. Seeing his daughter unconscious on the bed made his chest ache. Master Ling Xiao was channeling spiritual power into Bai Mu Mu.

Shen Dao Chen turned his head and asked in a low voice: “Ling Xiao, how do you plan to handle those four unworthy disciples?”

Even if they were Master Ling Xiao’s Personal Disciples, this could not be brushed aside.

Master Ling Xiao answered coolly: “After harsh punishment by the Disciplinary Hall, they were sent to the Confinement Chamber for seven days. When they come out, I will teach them myself.”

He had already grown disgusted with them and had planned to expel them from Thunder-Scale Peak. But they were disciples he had chosen himself. Memories surfaced of how obedient and sensible they used to be. Why had they changed like this? He finally began to reflect: [Maybe my teaching method was the problem.] So he kept them, planning to teach them personally and use their change to prove himself.

Shen Dao Chen was only barely satisfied. He even doubted they could last the entire seven days in the Confinement Chamber. He warned in a deep voice: “Ling Xiao, if they go mad like this again, I will expel them from the sect. You will not be able to keep them.”

Master Ling Xiao did not reply. His look showed clear impatience. As the number one cultivator of the Cultivation World who had looked down on the world for many years, he found that tone hard to accept, even if Shen Dao Chen was his Senior Brother and the Sect Master. Without either side noticing, friction began to grow.

Inside the Confinement Chamber, the four from Thunder-Scale Peak endured a forced “team building.”

The formation’s mental torture made their heads split with pain. Their bodies twitched beyond their control. Yet at the same time, all of them thought of Shen Sang Ruo, who had once been wronged and shut in this place.

So this was how painful the Confinement Chamber was.

Even with their Late Golden Core cultivation, they could barely endure it. Back then, Shen Sang Ruo had only been at Foundation Establishment. How had she survived?

At that time, she had trusted them and stayed close to them, but they locked her in here for Bai Mu Mu’s sake. Lu Shi Qing had even planted the Seven Emotions Gu on her.

Feng He Yun smashed a fist into Lu Shi Qing’s head and roared with all his strength: “Are you even human?!”

Were they human? [She must have been so desperate.]

Maybe in that kind of despair, she chose to cut off her feelings for them.

At that thought, pain flared in their minds, as if a thousand needles stabbed into their skulls. It hurt even worse than the Confinement Chamber’s formation.

Their emotions broke. They howled and screamed until only low sobbing was left.

They already knew Shen Sang Ruo’s feelings for them were completely gone.

They had learned it on the day the team competition ended.

That day, the injured Wen Xuan and the punished Lu Shi Qing were resting in the same place. Seeing Lu Shi Qing look soulless, Wen Xuan forced a smile and tried to talk, saying: “Third Junior Brother, I can tell you like Little Ruo.”

A little light came to Lu Shi Qing’s eyes, but it quickly dimmed. He choked out: “But Little Ruo probably does not want to see us anymore.” He had hurt Shen Sang Ruo again in the Secret Realm.

Wen Xuan tried to comfort him, saying: “We did too many wrong things. Only if we give our all to make it up to her can Little Ruo—”

Lu Shi Qing cut him off with a flat voice: “She has no feelings for us.”

Wen Xuan froze and asked blankly: “What did you say?”

Lu Shi Qing said, grief thick in his voice: “She did not react to the Seven Emotions Gu or the Emotion Summoning Gu. Her feelings for us are completely gone.”

Wen Xuan wanted to deny it, to say it was impossible. But when he saw Lu Shi Qing’s face covered in tear tracks, the words stuck in his throat. Lu Shi Qing stared straight at him and nearly sobbed: “I planted the gu with my own hands, many times.” So there could be no mistake.

Buzz.

All other sounds vanished. Wen Xuan could only hear the ringing in his ears. He had no time to rage and scold Lu Shi Qing for putting those gu on Shen Sang Ruo so many times. A flood of fear and panic swallowed him whole. His lips trembled, and helplessness filled his eyes as he whispered: “How can this be… how can this be…”

The Emotion Summoning Gu held all of Lu Shi Qing’s hope. Because of that, its failure made his despair even deeper. He could no longer lie to himself. He could not bear it and told the others, hoping to huddle together for warmth.

Soon after, Feng He Yun and Luo Chu learned the truth too. Only then did they understand that Shen Sang Ruo’s coldness and distance were not an act but real and from the heart.

She had completely given up on them.

Yet they had foolishly thought for so long that she could not let go of their bond, that she would come back. Maybe the moment she walked out of the Confinement Chamber, she had already thrown away all feelings. Years passed before they finally understood. That was why, at the Sect Grand Tournament, they risked everything to testify for Shen Sang Ruo.

They had truly been wrong.

Their feelings for Bai Mu Mu turned into fierce hate. If not for her, how would things between them and Shen Sang Ruo have become like this? They hated Bai Mu Mu, and they hated themselves.

Scenes of the past on Thunder-Scale Peak rose in their minds. Now, even getting a single glance from Shen Sang Ruo had become a fantasy. [How can we ever bring back her feelings for us?]

In Ninghua Sect, the recruitment fair lasted five days and ended with ten thousand cultivators chosen to join. The people who joined from established sects included Joyous Union Sect, Beast Taming Sect, Spirit Herb Valley, and Divine Talisman Sect, but they made up less than one tenth. All the rest were rogue cultivators.

The elders from those sects, along with several sectless Nascent Soul cultivators, became elders of Ninghua Sect according to seniority.