So it’s actually the child version of that crazy woman…
Inside the Spring and Autumn Bell, Jiang Tong looked at the black-dressed girl and felt a headache coming on.
He had originally planned for Gu Xianyu to seek out Jiang Yueliu from two hundred years ago, but who would have thought that Yao Xining would show up first at this time.
But her arrival was just right.
No matter how much of a genius Jiang Yueliu was at this point, she still couldn’t be as effective in handling this matter as the little sect leader standing before them.
After all, an official a rank higher can crush someone to death.
Upon hearing this, Gu Xianyu was stunned at first, then bent forward in a small bow.
“So it’s the little Sect Leader. This disciple did not receive you properly. I beg the little Sect Leader’s pardon.”
“Gu Xianyu thanks the little Sect Leader.”
“No need for such formalities. This is my duty anyway, and besides, you have been wrongly accused.”
Yao Xining swept her gaze over to Elder Du. Elder Du shuddered, then hurriedly bowed even lower, trembling: “Please calm your anger, little Sect Leader. I will immediately go and bring that culprit here!”
With Yao Xining’s permission, he hurriedly dashed down the mountain, covering over ten meters in a single stride.
Since those in the Golden Core stage still cannot fly, the sight of this old man rushing around so frantically looked even more comical.
While they waited, the other elders barely dared to breathe, watching nervously as Yao Xining conversed with Gu Xianyu.
Yao Xining first asked after Gu Xianyu’s mental state and about the details of her being framed. After hearing Gu Xianyu’s account, she expressed deep sympathy.
She looked every inch the caring leader concerned for her subordinates.
“Be careful. This woman is dangerous. She’s not as simple as she appears.” Jiang Tong felt his scalp tingle and couldn’t help but transmit a warning.
“Senior, are you very familiar with her?” Gu Xianyu continued the conversation while silently wondering in her heart.
“Not really,” Jiang Tong said. “But as the little Sect Leader, she must have her own reasons for helping you. Our situation just happens to fit with her plans.”
The fact that she could manage the sect so well two hundred years later proved Yao Xining’s capability and shrewdness.
Standing up for a menial disciple like this could become a typical example to be publicized, and also serve as an excuse to clean up the outer sect.
Her own life might be a complete mess, but when it came to politics, Yao Xining played it perfectly.
Gu Xianyu only half understood. She pursed her rosy lips, gazing longingly at the black-dressed girl beside her.
She seemed so powerful.
When would she herself be that strong?
After half a stick of incense.
Elder Du returned to the courtyard, dragging in a middle-aged woman who looked like a dead dog.
The woman had blood at the corner of her mouth, half her face swollen high, looking like a pig’s head—clearly she’d been taught a lesson already.
Thud!
The woman was thrown heavily to the ground, staring at the headless corpse in a daze.
When she looked up and saw Yao Xining, her fear turned into utter despair.
“Little Sect Leader, in my preliminary investigation, I found this in her room.”
Elder Du produced a vibrant, dewy spiritual herb and bowed his head respectfully as he handed it to Yao Xining.
Then he turned to Gu Xianyu, his eyes complicated, and bowed again.
“This old man is also at fault in this matter. I apologize to Junior Sister Gu.”
He was an old fox. Elder Du knew very well that if he didn’t cut ties quickly enough, the little Sect Leader’s temperament might drag him down as well.
For his own future, what was apologizing to a menial disciple worth?
“This is… that fifty-year-old Qingyuan Grass.” Gu Xianyu murmured, glaring angrily at the woman on the ground.
“Elder Tan Qin, I once harbored a naïve hope that the Disciplinary Hall would clear my name.”
“But I never expected the one judging me was the true culprit!”
“I…” Tan Qin was too weak to argue back, only able to look pleadingly around for help, but even Elder Du from the Disciplinary Hall averted his eyes.
Only Yao Xining watched her coolly.
Tan Qin understood. It was over. Her days as a minor elder in the Disciplinary Hall were finished.
The evidence from the Recording Stone was conclusive. Even the Disciplinary Hall could hardly protect itself; no one was going to speak for her now.
“Tan Qin, I am willing to give you one last chance.”
Yao Xining squatted before her, gently patted her head, her words seeming to shine with the glow of a lover’s care.
“Confess everything. As long as you tell the truth, the sect will show you mercy.”
At these words, hope for life ignited once more in Tan Qin’s eyes!
“I’ll say it! Little Sect Leader, I’ll tell everything!” She forced a smile uglier than crying.
Gu Xianyu’s face turned a little pale. She opened her mouth, but heard Jiang Tong sigh in her mind.
“Ah…”
“Xianyu.”
“S-Senior, what is it?”
Hearing Jiang Tong call her by name, Gu Xianyu felt lost and unconsciously gripped her clothes tighter.
“You must remember: the prettier a woman is, the less you can trust what she says. Never become like her in the future.”
“But…”
“But what?”
I’m not even that pretty…
Gu Xianyu thought, but didn’t say it aloud.
In her eyes, only someone like Yao Xining could be called beautiful. She had only just shed her mortal status and was still a menial disciple, looking plain and rustic.
Luckily, Senior stayed in the little bell. If he ever came out, she’d feel inferior for sure.
But… why did Senior seem so familiar with this woman?
Gu Xianyu was puzzled, while on the other side, Tan Qin began her confession.
What she said shocked everyone present.
Dong Fan, the vice steward of Drunken Immortal Tavern, was actually this woman’s boy toy.
And Tan Qin didn’t just have one lover. Several young, innocent outer sect disciples had been seduced by her, all becoming her playthings.
Using her early Golden Core cultivation and her status as a Disciplinary Elder, this woman had completely lost her mind—not only keeping lovers but also amassing wealth by corrupt means.
This time, she’d framed Gu Xianyu because she had coveted the Qingyuan Grass for a long time. She and Dong Fan had immediately hit it off, wanting to teach that little wench a harsh lesson.
In the end, not only did Gu Xianyu survive, she’d also kicked an iron plate.
“You beast! How did the Disciplinary Hall produce such scum?”
Elder Du’s beard trembled with anger as he cursed her furiously.
A flash of unwillingness passed through Tan Qin’s eyes.
Why? How could a menial disciple at the second level of Qi Refining have such good luck?
She hadn’t acted like this during her interrogation, but now she seemed to have confidence, as if someone were secretly backing her up.
Could it be, as Dong Fan suspected, this useless girl had encountered some lucky chance?
As she was thinking this, a dark shadow fell over her.
Tan Qin looked up, trembling, and her dantian was struck hard. She clutched her stomach, blood spurting out three meters high, howling on the ground in agony.
Her cultivation… her cultivation had been destroyed with a single kick!
“Reduced to a mortal and expelled from the sect. That’s already leniency.”
Yao Xining smiled slightly. “Break her bones, throw her down to the slums at the foot of the mountain, and assign people to watch her. She’s not allowed to leave even a single step.”
“L-Little Sect Leader, little Sect Leader!”
Tan Qin didn’t even get the chance to beg for mercy before her limbs were snapped with a “crack, crack” and she was dragged away like a dead dog.
“Junior Sister Gu, I’m sorry you had to suffer.”
Yao Xining took Gu Xianyu’s hand, her tone kind and warm.
“If you ever have any difficulties in the future, feel free to come to me.”
Gu Xianyu: ……
She finally understood a little why Senior said this woman was dangerous.
Before leaving, Yao Xining looked back at Gu Xianyu.
A woman’s sixth sense told her that this menial disciple was not simple.
Neither servile nor overbearing, calm and composed…
In Gu Xianyu’s eyes, she saw the qualities of a sword cultivator: the courage to press forward relentlessly.
They would meet again.
Perhaps as enemies, perhaps as friends—or perhaps… to compete for something.