Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Shen Sang Ruo, Do You Know Your Crime

When Shen Sang Ruo returned to the Flying Cloud Sect, she went straight to the Library Pavilion. She greeted the elder on duty, then buried herself in the stacks. She took a Fasting Pill and slept in the Library Pavilion at night. She did not want to go back to Thunder-Scale Peak. She had no fondness for that place or the people there. To her, that peak was a nest of trouble. Staying far away was best.

Day after day, she did not step outside the Library Pavilion. Ye Huai’s Life-Bound Sword was broken. Song Wei Yan’s meridians were ruined. Bai Ruo An was blind. Su Xi Yu was poisoned. Daoist Wu Wei’s life was running out. None of these was easy to fix. Immortal Lord Chang Li’s body, reshaped by Nirvana Power, had not fully adjusted, so he had already gone into Closed-Door Cultivation to rest. Shen Sang Ruo had to treasure every moment and search for answers.

The Flying Cloud Sect was one of the top sects in the Cultivation World. The Library Pavilion held many rare books. There might be methods recorded there that could help them. If she could not find anything in the sect, she would hire the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion was the largest intelligence network in the Cultivation World. Its members were hidden everywhere and passed along all kinds of information. Their fees were extremely high, priced by difficulty. Even a simple message cost one hundred high-grade spirit stones. Most other requests started around one thousand high-grade spirit stones and had no cap. The price scared off most cultivators, but the speed of the Pavilion was very fast. If they could not find something, they did not cancel the search and return the payment. Instead, they posted a bounty in the pavilion. The client then had to pay thousands of high-grade spirit stones each year to keep the bounty active. If the answer was found later, half the stones were returned. Simply put, if they did not find it, they would keep looking, and you had to keep paying to make sure they kept looking. That policy not only discouraged people from wasting their time with impossible tasks, it also kept the Pavilion’s business strong.

If she chose to hire the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, spirit stones were not the main problem. The pills and talismans Su Xi Yu and the others had given her were worth thousands of high-grade spirit stones each. The real problem was time. Turning those gifts into stones would take effort, and she did not want to sell them cheaply. The best way was to send them to an auction, and there were many tricks to auctions. She needed a long term plan. After thinking it through, she chose to search the Flying Cloud Sect first. [I’m impatient by nature. I’ll do what I can right now.]

While she raced through old texts, Luo Chu had just finished visiting Bai Mu Mu on the main peak. The other three Senior Brothers were strangely cold to him, and Bai Mu Mu could only lie in bed. He was bored and almost went out of the sect to play. Then he heard disciples talking. They said Shen Sang Ruo had stayed in the Library Pavilion for days, working as if forgetting to eat or sleep. Some called her a model Flying Cloud Sect disciple. Others said she was only putting on a show. A few even claimed she was studying in secret while Bai Mu Mu was sick, planning to beat her in the future Young Sect Master contest.

Luo Chu agreed at once. He sneered: “They say Shen Sang Ruo didn’t want to return, but here she is. I knew she was faking it. The Senior Brothers were fooled. I’m not.” He spun on his heel and said: “I’ll report to Master and have him deal with you. You dare show attitude to your Senior Brothers? You really don’t know your place.”

He rushed to Thunder-Scale Peak to find Master Ling Xiao. When the Master heard that Shen Sang Ruo had been back for days, his eyes lifted and his brows drew tight. She had gone down the mountain to train without reporting to him. Now she had returned and still had not come to pay her respects. He did not like Shen Sang Ruo coming to him for every little thing, but that did not mean he would tolerate such disrespect. She had abandoned her peers to survive alone, and then she ignored her elders. She needed firm teaching.

Master Ling Xiao released his divine sense, and the whole sect filled his mind. He found Shen Sang Ruo at once, turning pages fast in the Library Pavilion. Luo Chu spoke on and on, eyes angry, voice full of righteous heat. He declared: “Shen Sang Ruo is studying so hard only to take advantage of Junior Sister being unable to cultivate, so she can steal the Young Sect Master seat back. Her heart is vicious. She is two faced in front of us and behind our backs. Master, you don’t know how arrogant she is now. Even the First, Second, and Third Senior Brothers together can’t hold her down. You must not let her off this time, or she will cause greater disasters and shame both teacher and sect.”

Master Ling Xiao gave the serious speaker a cold glance. Spiritual power gathered in his hand. In the next instant, he pulled Shen Sang Ruo straight into his cave. She was still holding the book she had not finished.

Seeing Luo Chu’s taunting brow and Master Ling Xiao’s cool face with hidden displeasure, Shen Sang Ruo understood the situation. She set down the book, cupped her hands, and bowed with respect as she said: “Disciple greets Master.” With her current cultivation she could not resist Master Ling Xiao. He cared most about formal manners, so she did what was proper.

Sensing her cultivation, Master Ling Xiao did not feel happy about her breakthrough to Early Golden Core. His gaze sank. Her Senior Brothers and Junior Sister had fought through blood and took heavy wounds, yet she had stepped over their blood to break through. In his mind, she was no different from a leech. He lifted his cold eyes and asked: “Shen Sang Ruo, do you know your crime?”

Shen Sang Ruo found it absurd. She had been reading quietly in the Library Pavilion and had not bothered anyone. How did she end up guilty again? She held down her anger and said: “I do not know what crime this disciple has committed. I ask Master to make it clear.”

Master Ling Xiao stared straight at her, his gaze heavy, and said: “Disrespecting your elders, failing to protect your peers, and being afraid to die. Do you not know your crime?” Shen Sang Ruo heard what he meant and let out a cold laugh.

She said calmly: “Master means this disciple went down the mountain to train and returned to the sect without informing Master and Senior Uncle.”

He narrowed his eyes and asked: “Do you know your crime?” She answered without bowing her head: “Master once said these small matters did not need to be reported to trouble you and Senior Uncle. You were busy and would not care about such minor things.”

Master Ling Xiao’s tone turned colder as he asked: “Do you think going down the mountain to train is a small matter?”