Chapter 80

Chapter 80: Severing the Master-Disciple Bond

Shen Sang Ruo’s lips curved into a faint smile. Bound by chains, she stayed calm and steady, without a hint of panic or fear.

Master Ling Xiao’s eyes turned hard as he urged the golden chains.

He waited for Shen Sang Ruo to pay for her arrogance, while Shen Dao Chen’s eyes filled with grief.

To have one’s cultivation stripped is a terrible pain. Yet after a few breaths, Shen Sang Ruo’s face was still as light as a breeze.

She glanced at Master Ling Xiao, who was eyeing the Master-Disciple Contract Scroll with doubt, then said in a quiet voice edged with mockery: “Master Ling Xiao, did you forget that all the cultivation I gained because of you was ruined by those ten drops of heart blood?”

Now, the only parts of her cultivation tied to anything were the Fanning Wind and Stirring Fire Art and the Sunset Glassfire Art, and neither had anything to do with Master Ling Xiao.

He taught her to cultivate, and she dispersed her own cultivation. Shen Dao Chen raised her with flesh and blood, and she repaid with her heart blood.

She had said before that she owed neither of them anything.

Her look at this moment made them remember the day she lost her cultivation to the heart blood. She had been just as clear-eyed and firm.

Back then she said she gave her heart blood and cultivation to repay the sect for raising and teaching her.

They had thought those were angry words.

Only now did they realize that she had already cut off her attachments and made up her mind that day.

Master Ling Xiao’s expression turned dark and unreadable.

Shen Dao Chen turned his head in surprise and asked Master Ling Xiao: “Ling Xiao, since Sang Ruo lost her cultivation, have you not guided her anymore?”

By now almost three years had passed, and none of Shen Sang Ruo’s progress came from Master Ling Xiao’s instruction.

To ignore her that long, how could he still be called her Master?

Shen Dao Chen’s gaze grew complicated. He was clearly displeased with Master Ling Xiao.

Master Ling Xiao said with a cold face, as if it were only natural: “She chose to cultivate other arts on her own. Her heart was not with my lineage. Why should I teach her?”

Hearing this, Shen Sang Ruo gave another soft laugh.

He had forgotten that even before she lost her cultivation, he had already ignored her for over a year. He only learned she had just broken through on the very day she lost everything to the heart blood. [What a grand excuse, and he can say it without blinking.]

Master Ling Xiao lowered his gaze and formed hand seals. In his dark eyes, the floating Master-Disciple Contract Scroll shimmered. After a brief pause, he spoke with finality: “Sever.”

The Master-Disciple Contract Scroll dissolved at once.

The years-long bond between Shen Sang Ruo and him was cut. From that moment, Shen Sang Ruo was no longer his disciple.

Like a boulder dropping to the ground, she seemed lighter, more like freed.

Seeing that look, Master Ling Xiao frowned, then let out a cold, disbelieving laugh.

She had been wishing to sever ties with him?

In the Cultivation World, countless people begged to join his door and failed. She truly did not know what was good for her.

He would see who dared oppose him by taking in Shen Sang Ruo, the disciple he did not want, or who that wild Master was who would pass a legacy on to her.

One day she would learn that someone like her, so unbearable in his eyes, would be hunted everywhere, and only Thunder-Scale Peak had tolerated her.

He waited for the day she regretted it.

He said in his usual tone: “The master-disciple bond is severed.”

Seeing the matter settled, Shen Dao Chen could only shake his head. He thought to himself that saving Bai Mu Mu was the best outcome.

He said to Shen Sang Ruo: “Sang Ruo, hand over the Fire-Scale Vine.”

She answered in an even tone that lit Master Ling Xiao’s anger: “When did I ever say severing the bond was my only condition?”

Master Ling Xiao pressed down his fury, his eyes full of threat as he said: “You had better not push your luck.”

Shen Dao Chen also set his face and said: “Sang Ruo, stop this nonsense. We already allowed you to cut ties with Ling Xiao. What more do you want?”

He wondered how he had never noticed before that Shen Sang Ruo could be so out of line. What did she take the sect master and the number one Cultivator in the world for?

She said clearly: “Call Feng He Yun and the others here and have them write a Confession Scroll for me.”

Master Ling Xiao shot back, sharp and scornful: “A Confession Scroll for you? When have they ever wronged you?”

In his eyes, it was Shen Sang Ruo who clung to her Senior Brothers and made everyone dislike her.

He added in a cutting voice: “Do you want to act like the whole world owes you?”

Shen Dao Chen could not understand why the one he had always trained as the next Sect Master had become like this, covered all over with thorns.

In truth, Shen Sang Ruo had always been this way. She only hid her sharp edges because she had taken them as close people.

Shen Dao Chen sighed and said: “Sang Ruo, you truly disappoint me.”

Shen Sang Ruo ignored both of them. She had already decided to stand against them to the end.

She curled her lip and said: “So, Senior Uncle and Master Ling Xiao do not want to save your beloved daughter and disciple.”

She tipped her chin slightly and added: “Of course, if you want to lock me in the Confinement Chamber like before to force me…”

Then she spoke hard and refused to back down: “Let me make it clear now. I would rather break like jade than live as common clay. The only result you will get is mutual destruction.”

Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao thought she was mad, using her own life to threaten them.

If it had been only Shen Sang Ruo, they would not have been restrained. But she had drawn Bai Mu Mu into this, and they had to think twice.

Shen Sang Ruo knew very well where their weak point lay. [They will compromise for Bai Mu Mu.]

After a short standoff, it was Master Ling Xiao who spoke first: “Then I will see what it is they have done to wrong you.”

Shen Sang Ruo watched him twist space with a spell, and the corner of her mouth lifted.

They truly were devoted to Bai Mu Mu, even willing to yield to her again and again for Bai Mu Mu’s sake. [I cannot wait for the day they learn Bai Mu Mu cultivates the Ruthless Path.]

In that case, Bai Mu Mu and they were a perfect match, one side utterly fake and the other without heart. [Maybe Bai Mu Mu’s arrival is their retribution. People like them do not deserve anyone’s true heart.]

While she was thinking, Feng He Yun, Wen Xuan, Lu Shi Qing, and Luo Chu all appeared in the cave.

Because he had been summoned to this cave before, Wen Xuan felt uneasy the moment he saw the familiar scene.

The other three looked at Shen Sang Ruo with changing expressions.

Master Ling Xiao said coldly: “The Fire-Scale Vine is in her hands. She says she will only hand it over to save your Junior Sister if you write a Confession Scroll for her.”

With a mocking gaze, he added: “If you have wronged Shen Sang Ruo in any way, speak up.”