This was how she had managed to evade several waves of pursuing Cultivators.

But in front of Gu Qingyuan and his companions, she was still no match. After being trapped in the Sword Array, she was ultimately captured by Gu Qingyuan’s own hands.

Every single move was carved into her Divine Soul, never to be forgotten.

Coupled with her century of understanding Gu Qingyuan, she had long since understood his abilities inside and out.

After countless hours of study, she revealed them to Lu Xingyao one step ahead of time during their sparring sessions.

And she gave him time to figure out a way to counter them.

Lu Xingyao himself was first-rate in both comprehension and aptitude, and in just half a month, he had mastered them completely.

He was also extremely clever.

He immediately understood her intentions and played along, directly shattering Gu Qingyuan’s mental defenses and planting a Heart Demon in his heart.

His Dao heart was damaged, and a Heart Demon had begun to form.

If he could never defeat Lu Xingyao again, Gu Qingyuan would find it difficult to even reach the Late-stage Nascent Soul realm, let alone advance to Divinity Transformation!

Song Wanning’s eyes were filled with gentleness and her smile was soft, yet for some reason, it was utterly chilling.

"It’s rather funny, isn’t it? The deeper the love, the deeper the understanding. Gu Qingyuan must be dying of frustration, hahahaha—"

The Sword Spirit laughed along with her.

"Serves him right. He’ll never figure out this puzzle in his entire life. When he wakes up, he’ll definitely start questioning his existence!"

After all, it was his ultimate trump card that he had never shown anyone before. Who could stand having it so easily crushed?

Song Wanning quickened her pace, her mood improving even more.

It was just a shame that she wouldn’t be able to appreciate the look on Gu Qingyuan’s face when he woke up.

*

"Sect Master, my master is unconscious, and Master Lan has gone into seclusion. I beseech the Sect Master to help."

Filled with resentment, Ye Chuxue arrived at the Sect Master Hall, feeling a humiliation she had never known before.

The gazes of the disciples around her felt like they could pierce right through her.

She rubbed the Storage Ring on her finger, her eyes dark and gloomy.

Her master had given her the Storage Ring, allowing her to survive a year in the Erosion Wind Cave and even advance to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment realm.

But because of that, all the Elixir Pills had been used up.

She had originally taken her remaining Spirit Stones down the mountain to buy Elixir Pills, but the shops didn’t have a single high-grade elixir.

Low-grade elixirs were useless for her master, so she only bought a few for herself before hurrying back to the Sect.

She had wanted to ask Lan Le for help, but he immediately went into seclusion after hearing the news, and she couldn’t even get a meeting.

Ye Chuxue knew Lan Le was still holding a grudge.

She clenched her fists, unable to understand how she and her master had ended up in such a state.

"Heh, Ye. It’s not that I won’t help, but I already had someone take out all the Sect’s reserves for Junior Brother Gu. I was hoping he could win some glory for the Sect, but who knew..."

The Sect Master stared at Ye Chuxue with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ’I have a mountain of problems to deal with, and now this woman has the nerve to cause more trouble!’

"You know as well as I do, ever since Junior Brother Gu and Junior Sister Song had their falling out, she stopped providing the Sect with Elixir Pills. There’s nothing I can do!"

"How about this? I have a few Revitalizing Pills here. Take them."

As he spoke, he took out a small porcelain vial and thrust it into Ye Chuxue’s hands.

"I hope Junior Brother Gu recovers soon. Our Heavenly Inquiry Sect still needs him!"

After a few more feigned pleasantries, he turned and walked away, completely ignoring the terrifyingly dark expression on Ye Chuxue’s face.

The small porcelain vial contained a few pitiful Revitalizing Pills, barely third-grade.

’The Sect Master’s gesture was no different from shooing away a beggar!’

Ye Chuxue’s knuckles turned white as her grip on the vial tightened.

’How dare he??!!’

’He was never like this to Master in the past!’

’Is this human nature?’

’The Cultivation World.’

’It’s just too cold-hearted.’

Ye Chuxue clutched the vial and stormed back the way she came.

"Hiss... she still has the nerve to come asking for Elixir Pills?"

"I heard that for this duel, the Sect Master gave his only Eighth-grade Elixir to Grandmaster Gu. Who knew he’d end up losing so disgracefully!"

"I know, right? Yesterday, I wanted to find a hole to crawl into. A loss is a loss, but I never thought he’d lose that badly..."

"Qingyuan Sword Lord, my ass. I think that title is all hype. Any other Nascent Soul Ancestor wouldn’t have ended up like that!"

"Tsk, isn’t it just a case of beauty leading him astray? I heard Grandmaster Gu suffered several serious injuries for Master Ye’s sake, and his Cultivation hasn’t progressed in years!"

"For real??"

"Of course it’s true! My older brother plants Spirit Grass on Grandmaster Gu’s peak, and he says the Grandmaster dotes on Master Ye like she’s the apple of his eye!"

"Tsk tsk..."

The disciples whispered behind her back, their assessing gazes falling on Ye Chuxue without any restraint.

’These bastards!’

She desperately suppressed the killing intent in her heart and quickened her pace without looking back.

’The humiliation of today, I will one day repay a hundred, a thousand times over.’

’Heavenly Inquiry Sect, this damnable place should just fall apart!’

Having failed to get the medicine, Ye Chuxue returned to her peak. Seeing her master unconscious once again, she felt incredibly conflicted.

She felt both heartache and a faint trace of weariness.

She was sick of this place, the Heavenly Inquiry Sect.

’As soon as Master wakes up, I’m leaving.’

’The world is vast; there has to be a place for me somewhere.’

Opening the small porcelain vial, she took out the elixir—better than nothing—and put it in her master’s mouth. Ye Chuxue pursed her lips, a flicker of determination in her eyes.

’Since no one is willing to give me Elixir Pills, I’ll just have to make them myself.’

’What happened before was just an accident. As long as I study diligently, I’ll definitely show everyone what I’m capable of.’

’Heavenly Inquiry Sect, just you wait and regret this!’

She turned and threw herself into the Alchemy Room.

...

"Master, I heard Ye Chuxue went to the Sect Master to ask for Elixir Pills and got casually brushed off."

Li Rao said cheerfully as she skipped in, holding a small rabbit.

She had just returned from the back mountain when she overheard some disciples discussing it. Everything they said implied they thought Ye Chuxue was ungrateful for even daring to ask for elixirs.

Song Wanning listened without replying. She glanced at the injuries on Li Rao’s body and smiled.

’The little girl looks soft, but she’s ruthless when she acts. She must have run into a demon beast on the back mountain again.’

’During this time, I’ll have to put more effort into raising Li Rao properly.’

’Li Rao isn’t a tool I found to disgust Bai Yang and the others, nor is she some pet I casually picked up.’

’I don’t want to make the same mistake again and raise a bunch of ingrates.’

As for Ye Chuxue, she had long expected this.

She could only hope that Ye Chuxue would master the Alchemy Technique as soon as possible, so she could properly "heal" Gu Qingyuan’s injuries.

"Come, I will take you to the Practice Platform."

...

News that Lu Xingyao had utterly crushed Gu Qingyuan spread quickly.

There were always people willing to "take desperate risks" for Spirit Stones and sell Sect intelligence, so the Sect Master couldn’t possibly contain the news.

With countless eyes watching, there was nothing he could do.

"Haha, the Ten Thousand Sword Sect has already fired the first shot. We of the Seven Stars Sect can’t fall behind. Tomorrow, we’ll take Junior Ming Yue and head for the Heavenly Inquiry Sect!"