‘Tsk… How do I ruin Ye Qingyi’s state of mind?’
Shen Qian thought to herself.
The cultivation of the Clarify Heart and Free Mind Technique required above all a clear and pure Dao heart.
If one’s mind was constantly besieged by negative emotions, then pure cultivation was impossible.
She just needed to keep targeting Ye Qingyi, step by step, forcing her to act.
If Ye Qingyi lashed out and hurt someone, that would be even better.
She wouldn’t just help her hurt someone—she would find a way to make her accidentally kill them.
Then Ye Qingyi would be stained with the blood debt of a fellow disciple.
Let’s see if she still had the qualifications to be Master’s personal disciple.
But who knew that her first move would be interrupted by the young master of the Return to Void Pavilion.
Not only did she fail to get Ye Qingyi, but it made her stew in a fit of pent-up frustration.
Seeing that one plan had failed, Shen Qian came up with another: have her underling Wang Xiu invite Ye Qingyi to the secret realm in the back mountain.
Then she would have the team members pick a fight with Ye Qingyi, and one of them would “accidentally” go missing.
Then, wouldn’t the black pot be firmly slammed on Ye Qingyi’s head?
When Wang Xiu returned, Shen Qian maintained her dignity as Senior Sister and asked, “How did it go? Did she agree?”
But Wang Xiu’s answer was, “Senior Sister… the feeling she gives me isn’t like what you said.”
Shen Qian’s fingers froze.
A bad premonition arose.
“She gave me this.”
Wang Xiu took out several bottles of pills from his sleeve and placed them on the table.
“Senior Sister Qingyi said Master gave her too many, and she can’t use them all by herself. She also told me to share some with the other junior brothers and sisters.”
Actually, he hadn’t accepted the pills and spirit stones Ye Qingyi had given him before.
These were all cultivation resources he had accumulated on his own.
He wanted to use his own sacrifice to untie the knot between Shen Qian and Ye Qingyi.
Unfortunately, Shen Qian didn’t appreciate it.
Shen Qian’s gaze landed on those jade bottles.
The corner of her mouth twitched.
“So what’s this?”
Her voice turned cold.
“A few bottles of pills bought you off?”
“It’s not being bought off.”
Wang Xiu shook his head.
“I just don’t understand—Senior Sister, you always say she took your position, but that position… was never yours to begin with.”
The air in the cultivation room suddenly solidified.
Shen Qian slowly raised her head, her gaze cutting across Wang Xiu’s face like a knife.
“What did you say?”
Cold sweat broke out on Wang Xiu’s back, but he didn’t back down.
If he didn’t speak clearly today, he would despise himself for the rest of his life.
“Who Master takes as a personal disciple is Master’s own decision. The Taiyi Sacred Sect has been established for tens of thousands of years. There has never been a rule that whoever is the most likely must be the one.”
His voice trembled, but he spoke every word clearly: “Senior Sister, you’ve been in the sect for over twenty years, diligent and conscientious. All the disciples have seen it. But Ye Qingyi… she didn’t take anything from anyone. She was just chosen by Master.”
“You hate her, target her, frame her because of this…”
“You are the one in the wrong.”
The last four words were like four slaps, hitting Shen Qian’s face one after another.
Shen Qian’s cave dwelling was so quiet that only the sound of their breathing could be heard.
Shen Qian stared at Wang Xiu, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
Her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed it back.
On that delicate face, anger, unwillingness, and grievance surged up all at once, finally turning into a trembling cold laugh.
“I’m wrong?”
She stood up, her voice squeezing through gritted teeth:
“I’ve been in the sect for twenty-three years—twenty-three years! I get up to cultivate before dawn every day. Others rest, I cultivate. Others have fun, I still cultivate. I never dared to refuse the elder’s tasks. I never dared to neglect my junior brothers and sisters’ affairs. I walked cautiously, as if treading on thin ice, for twenty-three years, and only then did I finally stand in that position.”
“And her? What did she do? She just got lucky, was bumped into by Master outside, and was brought back to become a personal disciple!”
“Twenty-three years of my effort, not worth her face?”
“And now you tell me—I’m the one in the wrong?”
Shen Qian’s voice echoed in the cave dwelling.
Her eyes were red, her chest heaving violently.
She looked like a wounded beast, roaring, but no one could understand her pain.
Wang Xiu looked at her, and suddenly an indescribable bitterness surged in his heart.
He remembered how Senior Sister Shen Qian had personally taught him swordsmanship, breaking down each move for him, full of patience and gentleness.
He remembered how, before, when he was injured, Senior Sister Shen Qian had gone to the pharmacy overnight to get him medicine and stayed by his bedside until dawn.
Those things were real.
Shen Qian’s kindness was real.
But the woman standing before him now, consumed by jealousy, was also real.
When had things started to change?
“Senior Sister.”
Wang Xiu’s voice lowered.
“You asked what she did—she cultivated the Clarify Heart and Free Mind Technique.”
Shen Qian’s voice cut off abruptly.
“One day. She only took one day.”
Wang Xiu looked into Shen Qian’s eyes.
“The Taiyi Sacred Sect has been established for tens of thousands of years. Those who can cultivate this technique number fewer than a handful. This is the reason Master chose her as a personal disciple.”
“Not because of luck. Not because of her face.”
“Because of her talent. She is the right material.”
“But those are just rumors! They haven’t been confirmed!”
“But I saw it. The moment I met Ye Qingyi, I knew it was true.”
Shen Qian’s face gradually turned pale.
She opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but found she couldn’t say anything.
She knew Wang Xiu was telling the truth.
The Clarify Heart and Free Mind Technique.
She had cultivated it for twenty-three years and hadn’t even touched the threshold.
And Ye Qingyi, only took one day.
Wang Xiu took a deep breath and spoke the last words he had kept in his heart for a long time: “Senior Sister, stop now. It’s still not too late to turn back.”
“If you keep going like this… you’ll lose more than just the position of personal disciple.”
“You’ll lose yourself.”
Shen Qian was furious. “Get out.”
Wang Xiu opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but eventually turned and left.
After Wang Xiu left, Shen Qian stood alone in the empty cultivation room, looking at the jade bottles on the table.
Those were Ye Qingyi’s pills.
Wang Xiu hadn’t taken them away.
He left them here.
Shen Qian reached out.
Her fingertips touched the smooth surface of the jade bottle, and her fingers tightened one by one.
“Clarify Heart and Free Mind Technique…”
She murmured, her voice so low that only she could hear.
“You cultivated it… so what?”
“You were born with a pure Dao heart. You deserve to be a personal disciple. You deserve to be favored by Master. You deserve to have all this.”
“But what about me?”
“What are my twenty-three years of effort worth?”
She wouldn’t stop.
She couldn’t stop.
If she stopped here, then her twenty-three years of persistence would mean nothing at all.
“First Master, then Wang Xiu.”
“Ye Qingyi, you bitch, how many more things are you going to take from me!”
…
Bam!
The wooden door slammed violently against the wall, making a huge noise.
Ye Qingyi walked in from the doorway.
“Although, I understand your jealousy toward me, I understand it, but I don’t respect it.”
“Now I’m standing right in front of you. Whatever grievances or grudges you have, bring them on. I’ll take them all.”