“Xie Bing, do you admit your guilt?”
Gu Monian stood on the high platform outside the main hall, his cold, clear visage like an immortal banished to the clouds and mist.
It was a face that had once haunted Xie Bing’s dreams, yet one she dared not profane in the slightest.
She unconsciously stiffened and looked up at her Shifu, high above.
“Shifu, your disciple does not know her crime.”
Gu Monian’s indifferent brows furrowed slightly. “You don’t know?”
This phrase, coming from Xie Bing’s mouth, was truly strange.
He vaguely recalled that over these ten years, when she made a mistake and he asked her if she admitted her guilt, Xie Bing would lower her head and whisper, “Your disciple admits her guilt.”
He had heard Xie Bing’s confessions too many times. Some held suppressed unwillingness, some concealed cowardice, some had implied meanings, some seemed tinged with tears…
But he had never heard her hold her head high and say, “Your disciple does not know.”
Whenever he rebuked her, Xie Bing confessed. It had been so long that he believed it was only natural.
Hearing this now was profoundly unfamiliar.
The corner of his mouth slowly curved. Gu Monian descended the steps step by step, the hem of his robe brushing the cold, icy surface of the white jade, swaying like Xie Bing’s anxious heart of old.
“You are perverse in nature. With slight provocation, you accept the challenge, spewing wild words, injuring your fellow disciples. If I had not stopped you, what else would you have done? Even so, you still don’t know your mistake?”
The senior brothers of Crimson Flame Peak were clustered around the avant-garde ice sculpture, helpless. Hearing this, they acted like chicks finding a mother hen, chirping loudly: “Exactly! This woman is so scheming, deliberately provoking us to fight so she could harm Senior Brother Yan Lixuan!”
“I can’t even melt this ice sculpture! This proves she lured us on purpose! She’s just jealous that we cherish the Junior Sister!”
“We didn’t initially want a life-or-death duel with her; we just came to reason with her. Who knew this waste would actually dare to accept the challenge! My senior brother is so pitiful, he was forced!”
“This woman’s viciousness is rarely seen in one’s life!”
Gu Monian finally reached Xie Bing. From his face, no trace of warmth could be found.
He glanced indifferently at Xie Bing, raised his right hand, and a cold, fierce spiritual light flashed, enveloping the ice sculpture. In less than ten seconds, the ice slowly melted.
Gu Monian was the most powerful Immortal Cultivator in the Taixu Sect, his strength unfathomable. To this day, the cultivation world has no fixed conclusion on what stage Gu Monian’s cultivation had reached.
A trifling trick of Xie Bing’s was naturally easy for him to break.
Water trickled and dripped.
Soon, the shivering Yan Lixuan collapsed to the ground. Several senior brothers rushed to help him up, only to find that he was crying!
Tears mingled with the icy water, streaming down his face without stopping. He looked like a drowned rat—utterly pitiful.
“Senior Brother, don’t cry!”
Humiliation spread through the hearts of the Crimson Flame Peak members. This feud with Taixu Peak had grown deep!
Yan Lixuan sobbed, unable to suppress the grief in his heart. “I… wuwuwu… hic…”
“What? Senior Brother, don’t be afraid! Don’t be angry!”
“I…”
His weeping punctuated by hiccups, Yan Lixuan looked mournfully at Xie Bing. He turned and buried his face in his junior brother’s shoulder, crying profusely again for a long while.
He soaked his junior brother’s shoulder, then moved to another shoulder. Only after thoroughly drenching the shoulders of all seven junior brothers did he muster the courage to twist his head and glare furiously at Xie Bing again.
This time, he finally managed to speak a complete sentence:
—“Wuwuwu, I’m so sad! I can’t fcking stop these wretched tears!!”
Why was he so heartbroken, so sad he just wanted to bawl his eyes out!!!! Xie Bing was no trash Object Cultivator!
This woman was too damn wicked!
The Crowd: “…”
Xie Bing: “…”
Right, Disarming Weapon had an additional effect: causing sadness to peak. It looked like the crying would continue for another hour.
“Shiiing—”
All the spirit swords of the Crimson Flame Peak senior brothers were drawn! Their sword points aimed at Xie Bing!
Losing the fight was one thing, but making Senior Brother Yan Lixuan cry like this was a blatant, outright humiliation! They could not let this end peacefully!
Gu Monian frowned at the escalating tension, his voice turning even colder. “Xie Bing, apologize.”
Xie Bing’s head was lowered, letting out a cold scoff.
Apologize?
Apologizing was out of the question.
She was not the humiliated Xie Bing of the past.
She had changed.
She was Niohuru Bing. [T/N: Niohuru refers to the blackened/empowered return of the protagonist in the drama ‘Empresses in the Palace’]
“Shifu, I have done nothing wrong.”
Xie Bing finally raised her head. Her eyes reflected the sea of clouds and misty mountains within her sight, lucid and clear. “This matter, from beginning to end, was self-defense on my part. I had no intention of provoking anything. If you want to reprimand me, why not consider why they caused trouble? And why they wanted to kill me?”
The source of all this trouble was simply that she was not the female lead, simply that she was a stumbling block on the cultivation path of the female lead, Xuan Yao.
She refused to yield.
Her thin body seemed so light, as if a single hand could break it. Yet the inner strength it contained felt as heavy as a thousand catties. Her words were firm and decisive, landing with icy resonance in the heart.
For a moment, Gu Monian felt dazed.
…Who was this? Was this the Xie Bing he knew?
In that instant, an image almost faded from his memory overlapped with her—the woman he had pined for decades… the woman he wanted to resurrect… bore a faint resemblance to Xie Bing.
However…
Gu Monian came to his senses, remembering how five years ago, a slightly drunken Xie Bing had dared harbor such filthy intentions towards him, secretly longing for him all along. The strange feeling in his heart vanished instantly.
She was unworthy.
Just as the disgust surfaced in his eyes and he was about to speak, he watched, stunned, as Xie Bing turned and walked away???
Xie Bing left only three words: “I take my leave.”
Gu Monian: ???
He, her Shifu, was right in front of her, and she dared leave immediately?
Xie Bing pulled Lu Chu along. Lu Chu hurriedly bowed to Gu Monian and left with Xie Bing.
“Have you gone crazy? You dare leave before your Shifu dismisses you?”
Xie Bing’s voice was slightly muffled. “He wouldn’t dare do anything to me.”
He was keeping her because she was still useful.
There were still two years until the cauldron took shape.
Yan Lixuan’s journey back to Crimson Flame Peak was a continuous wailing, tear-streaked spectacle. They passed several main peaks along the way, attracting countless onlooking martial brothers.
Some offered handkerchiefs, some gentle words of comfort, some formed a chorus of curses… A man’s tears shouldn’t be shed lightly. This woman was utterly vicious! In their mouths, Xie Bing became a incredibly malicious low-level cultivator.
Before they even reached Crimson Flame Peak, one piece of news had already spread throughout the entire Taixu Sect:
—Object Cultivator Xie Bing had beaten Senior Brother Yan Lixuan of Crimson Flame Peak, a Sword Cultivator, until he cried!!
…
Xie Bing was leisurely grinding points on the Immortal Cultivation Training System.
As the saying goes: “One day of practice, one day of skill; one day without practice, ten days wasted; three days without practice, a complete layman; four days without practice, just stare blankly.” The System’s next assessment task would be issued the day after tomorrow. She still didn’t know what insane topic the damn System would come up with, so she could only maintain a state of daily study.
Thus, she was unaware that she was now famous throughout the entire sect.
She was just flipping through an ancient text when a faintly shimmering Spirit Paper Crane flew through the window. She reached out to receive the crane, opened it, and smiled slightly:
Written on it was that she could go to the Sword Tomb to choose her magical artifact.
The Taixu Sect had existed in the cultivation world for tens of thousands of years. With a vast and prestigious legacy, it had inherited countless heavenly treasures, overflowing with riches. They were extremely generous to their disciples, allowing them to claim a magical artifact at each major stage. Up to Ascension, one could claim a total of three top-grade artifacts. As for other training artifacts, they were distributed even more freely.
However, claiming had certain rules. For example, only after Foundation Establishment could one enter the Sword Tomb for the first time to select an artifact.
Though called the Sword Tomb, it was actually the sect’s boundless vault of magical artifacts. Over countless ages, the various artifacts had developed their own temperaments and would not easily acknowledge a master. So, it was basically all up to individual destiny.
Some people would obtain a rarely seen, heaven-defying treasure on their very first entry; others would only get an ordinary spirit sword.
Xie Bing was very Zen about it. Knowing she had no spiritual energy, she prepared herself according to the standard of “just visiting”…
Mm, she prepared a picnic bag.
The Sword Tomb’s territory was vast, requiring self-exploration. Finding one’s Lifebound Magic Weapon was essentially a one-on-one process. Without spiritual energy, she could only rely on her two legs—a walking bus. Covering tens of thousands of meters meant she’d get hungry!
What to do when hungry? Eat, of course! Xie Bing felt that recently, studying had almost made her hair fall out. If she became malnourished on top of that, how could she score 100 points? How could she get new spells?
She went to the Dining Hall to ask for millet porridge, semi-prepared foods, and also stuffed several kinds of pots into her Storage Brocade Pouch. She was an old hand at this.
When she arrived spiritedly at the designated location, she found everyone clustered together in one group. She was isolated.
That cluster of people—she didn’t need to look to know who it was.
She could already hear someone excitedly exclaiming: “Junior Sister, rest assured! Once inside the Sword Tomb, I will definitely protect you!”
“The Junior Sister will surely find a rarely-seen, world-defying treasure! I heard the Sword Tomb houses the Founder’s Sanskrit Sound Sword. Maybe the Junior Sister will claim it.”
A thin, delicate voice then spoke up, and instantly everyone fell silent to listen: “Senior brothers are too enthusiastic. Xuan Yao will definitely work hard and not disappoint your high expectations.”
Xie Bing: “…”
She glanced at them, too lazy to bother, and leaned against the ruined walls, opening her book.
Indeed, what that person said was true. In the previous life, Xuan Yao had indeed obtained the Sanskrit Sound Sword in the Sword Tomb, one of the most powerful Innate Artifacts in the world. The female lead’s script, as the Heavenly Dao’s own daughter, was certainly no joke.
As she read, she finally heard some commotion. Someone flew over on a sword in the sky and landed steadily before the Sword Tomb’s broken walls.
It was the Youngest Junior Brother, Su Caiyi.
“By order of Shifu, Perfected Gu, I am to open the Sword Tomb for the twenty-three newly Foundation Establishment cultivators of the nine peaks. Although you all possess our Taixu Sect badges, the Sword Tomb is treacherous and unpredictable. The protection only lasts three days. Within three days, regardless of whether you find your Lifebound Magic Weapon, you must return here. Everyone, remember this well.”
Everyone clamored in acknowledgment. Many flattered Su Caiyi zealously.
—Su Caiyi was a popular figure in the Taixu Sect!
Xie Bing narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Su Caiyi.
Su Caiyi seemed to have grown taller again. He was clever and lively, trained at divine speed, and was much liked by Gu Monian. Despite his young age, many important matters were entrusted to him, including the task of opening the Sword Tomb.
After giving his instructions, Su Caiyi activated the Sword Tomb entry formation. Ignoring the sycophants, he instead stuck close to Xuan Yao, asking her things with great enthusiasm.
Xuan Yao blushed slightly, answering in a low voice.
The innocence of youth, a heart full of passion—it was displayed vividly.
A delicate young girl, a devoted and sincere youth; their faces were practically pressed together.
Xie Bing couldn’t bear to watch. Seeing everyone else enter, she closed her book and prepared to go in, too.
A flash of familiar cyan shadow appeared. The entirely infatuated Su Caiyi jolted as if shocked, only then noticing Xie Bing.
His fingers clenched his sword hilt tightly as he abruptly rushed over. “Eldest Senior Sister, you’re here too.”
Xie Bing paused, then responded, “Ah, yes.”
She’d established her Foundation; of course she was here. Why else?…
Su Caiyi’s face flashed with a moment of embarrassment. He rubbed his head and said sheepishly, “I almost forgot… Eldest Senior Sister, why have you been avoiding me lately?”
Xie Bing frowned. “I need to study.”
“Eldest Senior Sister, you only love studying now. You don’t love me anymore.”
“???”
Seeing Xie Bing still ignoring him, Su Caiyi said somewhat aggrievedly, “Be careful in there. If you encounter danger, just come back. Don’t push yourself.”
Xie Bing was silent for a moment, then continued forward.
Su Caiyi pivoted on his heel and hurriedly followed, wanting to pull Xie Bing like he used to, but timidly withdrew his hand.
He called out urgently, “Eldest Senior Sister, are you angry with me? I like Eldest Senior Sister the most. Please don’t be angry, okay?”
Xie Bing instantly sensed Xuan Yao’s gaze land on her back.
She took a deep breath and turned her head to Su Caiyi. “Youngest Junior Brother.”
“Yes?”
On Su Caiyi’s fair, boyish face, a look of anticipation appeared.
Eldest Senior Sister was finally willing to pay attention to him. What did Eldest Senior Sister want to say to him?
“Keep away from me, and I might live a little longer.”
Su Caiyi’s face instantly turned white. Almost in disbelief, he said, “Eldest Senior Sister, what do you mean by that?”
Xie Bing looked at the graceful youth she had practically raised single-handedly. A wave of bitterness surged in her heart.
Her nose stung slightly. She cleared her throat. “I said—”
Su Caiyi waited expectantly. “Yes?”
“Scram!”
Su Caiyi: …