Chapter 98

Chapter 98: Shen Dao Chen’s Double Standard

[Shen Sang Ruo honestly felt the Flying Cloud Sect should be renamed the Ever-Haunting Sect.]

Why did everyone who saw her chase after her like a Wandering Spirit, the kind you could not shake off?

In the end, Shen Dao Chen, with his Spiritual Power fully released, still caught up to her.

After making sure it was her, Shen Dao Chen’s voice carried a trace of anger as he called out, “Shen Sang Ruo, I called you. Why did you pretend not to hear? Are you really that unwilling to see me and your Little Sister?”

Shen Dao Chen only called her by her full name when he was angry.

[It was one thing for her to oppose Master Ling Xiao earlier, but now she would not even listen to him. Did she still see him as her father?] The more Shen Dao Chen thought about it, the more rebellious she seemed to him, and the more dissatisfied he felt.

They had not met for several months, and the first thing Shen Dao Chen did when he saw her was nitpick and blame her.

He scolded, “The Young Sect Master trial is almost here. Why are you not preparing and instead wandering around here?”

He had always trained her as the Young Sect Master, so his standards for her were very strict.

Even though the candidate he favored now was not her, he still felt she should not slack off.

“No matter what you do, attitude is what matters most. Acting so careless and treating the trial like nothing, do you look like a Young Sect Master at all?”

“The Young Sect Master’s seat carries a heavy duty. You cannot treat it like a game.”

[Favoring Bai Mu Mu had been the right choice.] The thought flashed through his mind.

“Even if it is not for the Young Sect Master trial, have you forgotten how I taught you? You cannot even keep the most basic self-discipline?”

“I thought you went down the mountain for tempering and growth, not to drown yourself in mundane fun.”

Without asking the truth, he assumed she was relaxing, and his disappointment showed all over his face.

He did not sort truth from rumor. He just poured out a storm of criticism on her.

Before, when faced with this, Shen Sang Ruo would only feel shame and think she had failed Shen Dao Chen’s expectations.

She used to treat his words as law, believing everything he said was right and for her good.

She would think she was as bad as he said, then keep reflecting and work herself to death to become the “better” he wanted.

Now she understood that all of this was just his way of controlling her.

So she would no longer be swayed by his words.

“Senior Uncle, how do you know that if I am here, I must be slacking?” Shen Sang Ruo asked coldly. “How do you know I have not been preparing these days?”

“You have no proof and only judge by your feelings. Senior Uncle once told me a gentleman does not judge without knowing the full picture. So why does that rule not count when it comes to you?”

Shen Sang Ruo had never talked back to Shen Dao Chen like this. Before, she would only say she knew her mistake and rush to correct it in fear.

For a moment Shen Dao Chen did not know whether to be shocked by her change or to argue back.

He looked at her. In the past two or three years, they had met only a handful of times.

The face he remembered had lost its baby fat. The eyes meeting his no longer held worship or fear but were calm and steady, with a firm light that seemed fearless.

This clear sign of growth made him pause.

“Senior Sister Shen, how can you talk to Father like that?” Bai Mu Mu spoke up, pulling Shen Dao Chen’s thoughts back. He quickly found a reason for himself and said, “With what I know about you, how is this a rash judgment?”

He believed he knew Shen Sang Ruo the best, and his conclusions were built from her past actions.

Shen Sang Ruo glanced at Bai Mu Mu. Bai’s cheeks were rosy. She seemed fully recovered.

The other girl was also quietly sizing her up.

From what she had overheard, Bai Mu Mu’s spiritual root seemed to have turned into an Ice Spiritual Root. Such a rare thing made Shen Sang Ruo even more certain something was off about her. [Ice Spiritual Root? That is rare. I am even more sure she is strange.]

She shifted her gaze back to Shen Dao Chen.

“Know me?” Her expression turned mocking as she let out a cold laugh: “Senior Uncle is always so high and mighty, certain that everything you say and do is the right answer.”

Her blunt words made Shen Dao Chen frown.

When had she become so stubborn and bold enough to talk back?

Before he could speak, she went on: “Even if I did come here to stroll, so what? Are Senior Uncle and Junior Sister Bai not strolling too?”

“In the past, Senior Uncle treated me and Junior Sister Bai completely differently. You could explain it by saying her health was poor and she did not need to carry sect duties.”

While he pushed her to train bitterly, he treated Bai Mu Mu with endless care and indulgence.

It was like bringing Bai Mu Mu back had awakened his fatherly love. He suddenly knew how to be a good father.

“But now, Bai Mu Mu and I are both candidates for Young Sect Master and will both join the Young Sect Master trial. Why does Senior Uncle not hold Bai Mu Mu to the same standards you used on me?”

“Or do you think she is unfit to be Young Sect Master, so she does not need to prepare for the Young Sect Master trial, and only I have to be strictly managed?”

“And Senior Uncle always claims to keep public and private separate. You would never use time meant for sect affairs to do private things like keeping your daughter company.”

After all, inside the sect, he would not even let her call him Father.

“Are you truly as open and upright as you say?”

She tore off his mask without mercy.

If he really believed his treatment of her had been right, why not treat Bai Mu Mu the same way?

Maybe he felt the problem in his heart but still refused to admit he was wrong.

If he had been consistent from start to finish, she would have seen him as a strict father. Treating them differently only made him look like a hypocrite.

Shen Sang Ruo stared straight at him. Her words pierced Shen Dao Chen’s heart like a cold needle.

He wanted to say she and Bai Mu Mu were not the same, but as she said, now there was no difference between them.

If there had to be a difference, it was only that one was his birth daughter and the other his adopted daughter.

But how could Shen Dao Chen admit he cared only about blood and ignored the years of being her father?

So why was he like this?

He had never asked himself that.

Thinking back, after Bai Mu Mu recovered, he had still treated her as before. He had never urged her to cultivate or do anything else.

Was his way really biased?

He quickly denied the thought. He was the sect master. Under his leadership, the Flying Cloud Sect had become a top sect in the Cultivation World. How could he make a mistake on something so small?

But Shen Sang Ruo’s questions were too sharp. After a long silence, he finally seemed to find a reason.