Feng Xianyun’s gaze swept over the crowd.
The disciples who had been gathered around all lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.
Feng Xianyun walked over to Shen Qian, crouched down, and reached out to check her pulse.
After a moment, he stood up and looked at Ye Qingyi, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
“Did you do this?”
Ye Qingyi shrank her neck, her voice as soft as a mosquito’s hum.
“I… I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to hug her, who knew she’d be so fragile…”
“Hug?”
Feng Xianyun raised an eyebrow.
“A hug can break someone’s waist?”
Ye Qingyi opened her mouth, wanting to say it really was a hug, but seeing her master’s helpless expression, she finally closed it.
In her sea of consciousness, Ye Chu laughed out loud.
‘You’re telling that to your master? Does he believe it? A young lady at early Foundation Establishment, a single hug breaks someone’s waist—who’d buy that story?’
Ye Qingyi retorted in her mind.
‘Then what do I do? Say I’m a Body Cultivator, so I’m super strong?’
Ye Chu’s tone was matter-of-fact.
‘It’s normal for a Body Cultivator to be strong, but I doubt your master will believe it right away. At this level, a normal female Body Cultivator’s clothes can’t hold back her bulging muscles anymore. And here you look like a frail girl who can’t even truss a chicken. So you should thank and praise my Unique Body Cultivation Training Method!’
Ye Qingyi: ‘Oh, thanks a lot.’
Feng Xianyun sighed and took a jade bottle from his sleeve.
He shook out a pale golden pill and fed it into Shen Qian’s mouth.
The moment the medicinal power spread, a trace of color returned to Shen Qian’s pale face, and her broken bones slowly healed under the nourishment of spiritual energy.
After a short while, Shen Qian slowly woke up.
She opened her eyes and saw Feng Xianyun standing in front of her.
She froze, then her eyes reddened, and her voice came out hoarse.
“Master… Junior Sister Ye… she hit me…”
Feng Xianyun looked at her, his gaze calm.
“I know.”
Shen Qian’s tears burst forth.
“Master, you must get justice for me…”
“I know.”
Feng Xianyun repeated, his tone without any fluctuation.
“I also know that you provoked her first.”
Shen Qian’s crying stopped abruptly.
She stared wide-eyed, incredulous at Feng Xianyun.
Her lips moved a few times, but nothing came out.
Feng Xianyun straightened up, clasped his hands behind his back, and swept his gaze over everyone present.
“What happened today: Shen Qian provoked first, Ye Qingyi struck too hard afterward. Both sides are at fault.”
“Shen Qian, from today on, you are not to target Ye Qingyi again. If you do, you will be expelled from the sect.”
Shen Qian’s face turned white.
Expelled from the sect…
She had been in the Taiyi Holy Sect for twenty-three years—this was her home.
If she were expelled, where could she go?
“Disciple… understands.”
Her voice was so low it was almost inaudible.
Feng Xianyun turned to Ye Qingyi.
“You too. When you have a conflict with a fellow disciple, you don’t come to me for judgment—you solve it privately, and you went too far. You are confined for three months to reflect on your mistakes.”
Ye Qingyi lowered her head and obediently admitted her fault.
“Disciple knows I was wrong. I shouldn’t have struck so hard… I didn’t do it on purpose. I really just wanted to hug her…”
Feng Xianyun sighed.
Little girls these days were such a handful.
He turned and left, then stopped after two steps, glancing back at Shen Qian, who was still lying on the ground.
“Aren’t you getting up?”
Shen Qian bit her lip and slowly stood up.
Her waist still ached dully, but she didn’t dare say anything.
Since master told her to get up, she had to get up.
Feng Xianyun cast another glance at Ye Qingyi.
“Not following me? Planning to stay and start a feast?”
“Oh, coming right away!”
Ye Qingyi lowered her head and obediently followed Feng Xianyun out.
The remaining disciples also dispersed.
Only Shen Qian was left in the cave dwelling.
She stood there, looking at the mess, and let out a long sigh.
…
“Three months of confinement… Did I really hit too hard?”
In her sea of consciousness, Ye Chu’s lazy voice sounded.
‘Too hard? It’s lucky you didn’t kill her.’
Ye Qingyi: ‘…’
‘But the Love Hug I taught you is pretty practical.’
Ye Chu’s tone carried a hint of amusement.
‘Next time you run into someone you can’t beat, just rush over and hug them.’
Ye Qingyi’s mouth twitched.
‘Can you be serious for a second?’
‘I am serious.’
Ye Chu said with a straight face.
Ye Qingyi asked helplessly, ‘Then what if next time it’s a pervert? Oily hair, scraggly beard, stinking with sweat—what does a pretty girl like me do? He’d just hug me back. That’s like throwing meat buns to a dog, right?’
Just thinking about it made Ye Qingyi break out in goosebumps.
No way!
Absolutely not!
Ye Chu couldn’t help shuddering either.
Yeah, that scene was unimaginable.
Thank goodness Shen Qian was a woman today, and pretty decent-looking too.
Girls cuddling like that—there’s no problem doing it a few more times.
If the genders had been swapped, things wouldn’t have been resolved so easily.
He really needed to seriously think about how Ye Qingyi could protect herself from now on.
…
The confinement room was on a cliff wall at the back mountain of the Taiyi Holy Sect.
Called a confinement room, it was actually a naturally formed stone cave.
Three sides were rock, and one side was a sheer cliff.
A restriction was set at the cave entrance.
Spiritual energy could pass through, but people couldn’t get out.
Ye Qingyi sat cross-legged in the stone cave.
Before her was a thousand-yard abyss; behind her, the cold stone wall.
The night wind poured in through the entrance, rustling her robes.
“Three months…” she murmured.
“How am I going to get through this…”
‘Cultivate.’
Ye Chu’s answer was crisp and direct.
‘Three months is just right for stabilizing your realm and practicing that terrible aim of yours.’
Ye Qingyi sighed.
She was about to say something when a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy came from the cave entrance.
The restriction had been triggered.
Ye Qingyi looked up and saw a figure appear at the entrance.
A moon-white robe, silver streaks at the temples—it was Feng Xianyun.
“Master?”
Ye Qingyi quickly stood up.
Feng Xianyun entered the cave, raised his hand to lift the restriction, and sat down on a stone stool across from Ye Qingyi.
“Sit down,” he said.
Ye Qingyi obediently sat.
Feng Xianyun looked at her, remained silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke.
“Attack me with full force.”
Ye Qingyi was stunned.
“…Huh?”
“Attack me with full force,” Feng Xianyun repeated.
“Let me see your true strength.”
Ye Qingyi swallowed.
“Master, um… I don’t know why, but my attacks never hit…”
“Oh?”
Feng Xianyun was somewhat surprised.
“Then I want to see even more.”
Ye Qingyi gritted her teeth, stood up, and flexed her wrists.
She took a deep breath and threw a punch.
This punch used all her strength—at least all the strength she could control.
The fist wind howled, shooting straight toward Feng Xianyun’s face.
Then…
It missed.
She had aimed right at Feng Xianyun’s body, but the fist brushed past three inches to the side, slamming into the stone wall behind him.
The stone wall exploded into a basin-sized crater, sending rubble flying.
Feng Xianyun didn’t move an inch, not even blinking.
Ye Qingyi’s face reddened.
She withdrew her fist and stood still.
“Again,” Feng Xianyun said.
Ye Qingyi threw another punch.
It missed again.
Again.
Missed.
Again.
Missed.
…
She threw more than a dozen punches, and not one hit.
The closest was when the fist wind grazed Feng Xianyun’s sleeve, tearing a slit in the fabric.
Feng Xianyun looked down at the tear, then back up at Ye Qingyi, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.