Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Shen Sang Ruo’s Strange Behavior

Master Ling Xiao let out a breath and said: “Luckily, her core was not harmed. Her dantian is intact, so she will not be a complete cripple. She can start training again.”

Wen Xuan staggered back a few steps and collapsed to the floor, empty-eyed: “I harmed Fifth Junior Sister! If I had paid more attention to her, if I had checked her realm first, if I had simply asked her…” But now it was useless to say anything; he had caused Shen Sang Ruo to lose all her cultivation, and years of work were gone like water.

Bai Mu Mu rushed to take the blame and cried softly: “Second Senior Brother, do not say that. It is my fault. We took Fifth Senior Sister’s heart’s blood because of me. It is my mistake!” [Inside, her joy was almost too strong to hide.] Sure enough, she shifted people’s attention and drew a wave of pity.

“It is not your fault,” Master Ling Xiao said, rubbing Bai Mu Mu’s head with gentle care. “The one who should know her own strength best is her. She was the one who did not know her limits.”

“Your Senior Sister is like this,” Shen Dao Chen added with a sigh. “Once she gets stubborn in anger, she forgets the weight of things.” He sighed again. He had planned to train Shen Sang Ruo as the next Sect Master. Now… it seemed impossible.

Lu Shi Qing laid Shen Sang Ruo on a stone bed, then wiped his hands with a look of disgust as he said: “I think she hid it on purpose, just to make us feel guilty. Hah. So scheming. She is not truly repentant.”

Master Ling Xiao nourished Shen Sang Ruo with spiritual power for a moment. She woke, but her weakness was visible to the eye.

He questioned her in a cold voice: “Since you just broke through, why did you not say so? Now that your cultivation is gone, is this the result you wanted?”

Shen Sang Ruo laughed inside. [No one cared about me, and now you push the blame on me for not speaking.] Luckily, she had gotten used to this over the last two years.

She spoke in a calm voice with no waves: “This disciple dares ask Master one thing. If I had said it, would you have believed me? Or would you have thought I was making excuses to avoid giving Junior Sister my heart’s blood?”

Master Ling Xiao opened his mouth, ready to scold her for guessing evil of her Master, which would be great disrespect. But when he met her cool eyes, he suddenly remembered two days ago when Shen Sang Ruo knelt here. She clutched his sleeve and begged him to believe her, to believe that Bai Mu Mu had not been pushed by her. She begged him to look into the truth and clear her name.

That day, only she and Bai Mu Mu were on the cliff. There was no one else around. She had always been unruly, while Bai Mu Mu was well behaved and sensible. If she did not push, then did Bai Mu Mu jump by herself? He had only felt that Shen Sang Ruo had a bad temper and sent her to the Confinement Chamber on the spot.

He opened his lips but could not say a word, and pressed them into a thin line again.

Shen Sang Ruo looked at Lu Shi Qing and said: “Also, I did not do this to stir anyone’s guilt. I said I would repay the sect’s kindness in teaching and raising me.”

Shen Dao Chen raised her on flesh and blood, so she repaid with heart’s blood. The sect taught her to cultivate, so she scattered her cultivation. From now on, they owed each other nothing.

She had done the math the moment she walked out of the Confinement Chamber. She did not want any more ties with them. What did not belong to her could never truly be hers; it was better to let go early so everyone could be lighter.

[After the Senior in Darkwood drew out her emotions, she understood many things.]

They finally realized where her oddness came from. In the past, Shen Sang Ruo smiled at everyone. But from the moment she came out of the Confinement Chamber today, they had seen only her cold face and the faint distance in her eyes.

Wen Xuan’s heart thudded hard. [I have a bad feeling. My Fifth Junior Sister seems different.]

Shen Dao Chen felt miserable as he said: “Child, what repayment are you talking about? It was only a small conflict. Why say such things, as if you will not be in the sect anymore?”

He tried to smooth things over: “I still have a few Fourth Grade Qi Replenishing Pills in my cave. I will give them to you. We can start over. Let this matter pass. We are still a kind family.”

Hearing that Shen Dao Chen would give all the Fourth Grade Qi Replenishing Pills to Shen Sang Ruo, Bai Mu Mu’s eyes almost popped out. She knew how long she had hinted and circled for those pills, and the old man had not given her even one. And now he was going to give them all to Shen Sang Ruo?

She had been gloating a moment ago over Shen Sang Ruo’s misfortune, but now she could not smile at all. [This Shen Sang Ruo is not easy to handle.]

Shen Sang Ruo lowered her eyes. [A small conflict?] The torment in the Confinement Chamber, the pain from the Seven Emotions Gu, the heart’s blood taken, and the cultivation she had just lost—all of it was called “small.” Everything about her was “small.”

She raised her eyes and refused: “There is no need.”

“Do not throw a tantrum,” Master Ling Xiao said, displeased by her repeated cold refusal.

“I am badly depleted and too weak for heavy tonics. The Fourth Grade Qi Replenishing Pill would be too strong for me,” Shen Sang Ruo answered with a fitting reason.

Shen Dao Chen did not feel happy that he kept the pills; he only felt a growing panic in his chest.

Silence fell over the cave residence again.

A young disciple came to the door holding a mirror and called from outside: “Master Ling Xiao, the people from the Rarities Pavilion have delivered the Mirror of Past Events you asked us to find!”

The Rarities Pavilion was the largest exchange in the land, trading all kinds of rare magical items. The Mirror of Past Events could show what had happened earlier. It had limits: it could not look beyond three days, the user had to know the location, and it could only be used three times.

Hearing that Master Ling Xiao had sent for the Mirror of Past Events, Shen Sang Ruo guessed his intent and kept her face unchanged, though she glanced at Bai Mu Mu. As expected, Bai Mu Mu’s face turned several shades paler.

Master Ling Xiao took the mirror with spiritual power and told the disciple: “You may withdraw.”

He said evenly: “I had planned to find the Mirror of Past Events and show the truth of that day, but since Shen Sang Ruo has admitted it, there is no need to look.”

Bai Mu Mu let out a long, grateful breath and agreed at once: “Yes, Father just said this matter is over. Let us not blame Senior Sister anymore.”

Shen Sang Ruo curled her lips into a cold smile. Whether they looked or not meant nothing to her now. True or not, what difference did it make? She had already suffered the punishment. [The child is gone; no amount of care will bring it back.]

“If there is nothing else, this disciple will take her leave,” she said as she swung her legs off the stone bed and moved to go.

Lu Shi Qing raised an arm to block the way in front of her.

She looked at him with cool eyes and asked: “Third Senior Brother, what is the meaning of this?”

Lu Shi Qing cupped his hands to Master Ling Xiao and said: “Master, this disciple believes we should still see what happened that day, so no one can later say the matter was handled vaguely to excuse themselves.”

Then he said to Shen Sang Ruo with a hard look: “We do not owe you anything, Shen Sang Ruo. Stop wearing that ugly face.”

Bai Mu Mu’s eyes went wide. [Idiot, what are you babbling about!]

Master Ling Xiao thought for a moment, then seemed to agree: “Then we will look, to seek fairness.”