Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The sky was just beginning to brighten with the first faint glow of dawn.

Sunlight poured through the window gaps, spilling across the floor in scattered patches.

Her long lashes fluttered, and Lu Yuanyin's eyes flew open, looking around in shock and confusion. The bright sunlight was a bit dazzling, and she instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes from the harsh light.

Only when her eyes had adjusted to the light did she look around again. For a moment, her gaze froze as she stared blankly at the intricate ceiling, noticing the expensive mermaid silk drapes by the bed, the soft warm bedding beneath her, and the sumptuous furnishings throughout the room.

There were no terrifying, man-eating vines around. She was no longer at the bottom of the cliff.

Feeling somewhat disoriented, Lu Yuanyin sat up, causing the soft brocade quilt to sink slightly. She lowered her eyes and saw that her wrists were smooth and unblemished, her skin glowing white and delicate, completely unlike the ghastly, bloody mess they had been before.

She blinked in surprise. She clearly remembered the vines had snapped her bones and frantically drained her blood...

But now, there was no pain anywhere in her body. In fact, her spiritual power felt even more condensed than before, seemingly on the verge of breaking through to the Core Formation stage.

Lu Yuanyin felt so energetic that she could punch both Tong Jinyu and Lu Sisi's stupid heads right off!

Feeling a bit puzzled, she recalled hearing a dragon's roar while she was unconscious, and the only dragon she knew was Huo Wuyan. Could he have saved her?

But didn't Huo Wuyan want nothing more than to flay her alive and grind her bones to dust? How could he possibly save her and heal her wounds?

Lu Yuanyin looked at the healed wounds on her arms, her mind going blank. Just then, several lovely maidservants gently pushed open the door. Accompanied by the soft melody of a zither, they entered gracefully, carrying a faint sweet scent of spirit fruits drifting toward her.

Lu Yuanyin sniffed as she watched the maidservants, their arms draped in light silk, carrying jade platters, walking lightly to the bedside. They called out in sweet voices, "The fairy is finally awake. This is the breakfast our inn has prepared for you. Please take a look and let us know if there's anything you'd like to avoid."

Lu Yuanyin paused, looking at their radiant faces, each one beautiful and vibrant, full of life. They were all smiling at her with eager eyes. She swallowed the words she had been about to say and whispered, "Just leave it here. Thank you."

The maidservants smiled and said, "If you need anything, please call for us anytime."

The door closed again. Assured that the food was not poisoned, Lu Yuanyin slowly finished her breakfast.

This place was so comfortable that it actually made her nervous, and the person who saved her had still not shown up. After hesitating for a moment, she quietly slipped out of the inn. The inn's main hall was no less magnificent than the Chongyao Sect's main hall.

Even though she was an alchemist and usually quite well-off, she couldn't bring herself to stay in such an expensive inn...

Hugging her arms, Lu Yuanyin couldn't help feeling a bit resentful of the rich.

She wandered aimlessly into the lively streets. With Lu Sisi and Immortal Lord Changye around, she had no desire to return to the Chongyao Sect. She sighed. The world was vast, and for a moment, she didn't know where to go.

Rubbing her aching forehead, she was about to head to an auction house when several disciples clad in the standard Chongyao Sect robes, swords in hand, leaped down from a rooftop and blocked her way. "Stop! We've finally found you. Surrender immediately, or we won't go easy on you!" They turned their wrists, the sharp tips of their swords glinting coldly in the sunlight.

Lu Yuanyin: "?"

Seeing the drawn swords, the street vendors quickly dragged their stalls away, moving with practiced ease, clearly used to such scenes.

Somewhat annoyed, Lu Yuanyin glared at them and asked sharply, "What are you doing?"

A young male cultivator with a fresh face glared back at her, almost grinding his teeth. "You reduced Junior Sister Lu to that state and you still have the nerve to ask what we're doing?! Today, we're going to rid the sect of your evil and bring you to justice!"

Lu Yuanyin's heart skipped a beat. She had a bad feeling. "What happened to Lu Sisi?"

The male cultivator's face flushed red, and after a long pause, he spat out, "Pretentious!"

Lu Yuanyin grew even more confused. She had indeed wanted to crush Lu Sisi earlier, but before she could strike, the vines had dragged her down the cliff. When she woke up, she was in the inn.

But judging by the male cultivator's genuine anger, Lu Yuanyin's heart sank. She discreetly assessed them, noting that most were at the Foundation Establishment stage, with two leading male cultivators at the Golden Core stage. There was no way she could escape from them.

If she confronted them head-on, she would definitely lose.

Lu Yuanyin tried to probe for information, but when the group looked at her, their faces were filled with undisguised disgust, and no one was willing to talk to her.

Feeling uneasy, she silently followed them.

She was taken to the Reflection Hall.

This was not her first time here. She had been locked up for dozens of days before for fighting with Lu Sisi's sycophants, and had also received ten lashes from the steward for injuring Lu Sisi, leaving her bedridden for half a month.

But she had never seen such a spectacle. Outside the Reflection Hall, a crowd had gathered. Almost all the elders, various hall stewards, and even the rarely-seen sect leader had appeared. They stood on a high platform, their expressions stern and imposing, their faint pressure gently weighing down on her as a silent warning.

Feeling unsettled, Lu Yuanyin tightened her grip on her sword, as if it could give her a sense of security.

She stood quietly among the crowd, waiting for the people on the platform to speak.

As mournful cries drifted in from outside, the Chongyao Sect Master lowered his eyelids. "Lu Yuanyin, do you know your crime?"

His voice sounded gentle and serene, but to Lu Yuanyin, it was like a thunderclap, making her head spin and her vision blur. "Disciple does not."

The Sect Master stroked his white beard, shaking his head as if disappointed. "You severely injured a fellow disciple and took thirteen lives. Do you admit it?"

Lu Yuanyin's heart pounded. In the Chongyao Sect, harming a fellow disciple was a grave taboo. She lifted her head abruptly, staring at the Sect Master in disbelief. "I did not harm any fellow disciples. I will never admit to something I haven't done."

As her words fell, a harsh female voice rang out from outside the hall. "Of course you won't admit it!"

Tong Lanyi, supported by two female cultivators, limped into the hall. Her face was pale, with dark circles under her eyes, and she looked like a terminally ill person, except for the stark hatred and disgust in her eyes. "Lu Yuanyin, if you want to hide it, you have to not do it at all! Do you really think no one knows what you've done?!"

After saying this, Tong Lanyi knelt heavily, tears streaming down her face. "This Lu Yuanyin has always been jealous of Junior Sister Si Si. A few days ago, we only wanted to borrow a spiritual herb from her, and she struck without mercy, killing thirteen fellow disciples and severing Junior Sister Si Si's meridians, leaving her on the brink of death!

I beg the Sect Master to see clearly and bring justice for them!"

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. The people looked at Lu Yuanyin with complicated expressions, and several disciples stepped forward, shouting, "We beg the Sect Master to bring them justice!"

Even Tong Lanyi seemed surprised by the number of people supporting her. A glint of cunning flashed in her eyes, but her face grew even more desperate and helpless.

Hidden in her sleeves, Lu Yuanyin's hands tightened. Her gaze passed over the faces of those people, and her expression grew cold. Among them was a man with a head of fiery red hair and a youthful face—a face she knew all too well. Half-demon Mu Lang.

He was the child of a spirit beast and a human, rejected by his clan and despised by humans. When he was fighting with wild dogs for food and on the verge of death, Lu Yuanyin had taken him in.

The first thing he said to her was that he would protect her well in the future and never let anyone hurt her. He would be her sharpest, most invincible fang and claw.

But now, he was baring his fangs at her, his crystal-clear eyes filled with hatred and disgust, as if he wanted nothing more than to grind her bones to dust.

Her gaze moved on, passing over the others. Beside him, a female cultivator had her brows arched in anger, her eyes blazing. Lu Yuanyin vaguely remembered this senior sister.

When her mother was sick and dying because they couldn't afford treatment, Lu Yuanyin took pity on her and treated her mother for free. At the time, she had knelt crying in front of her, swearing to repay her for the rest of her life.

Among this group were many familiar faces.

Those people who had once bowed and scraped to her, vowing to serve her with all their hearts, now clamored for her death.

Even though she had already known the outcome, Lu Yuanyin still felt an indescribable weariness. She felt lost about everything she had done in the past. She lowered her eyelashes, her expression unreadable. In this life, she had followed her parents' teachings, saving the dying and healing the wounded.

She believed she had never wronged anyone. Yet in this sect, she was always hated and loathed, with everyone cursing her name wherever she went.

Even the people she had saved, without knowing the truth, had convicted her based solely on Tong Lanyi's words, casting her into an abyss of no return.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Yuanyin lifted her head, meeting the Sect Master's gaze. She said firmly, "I will never admit to something I haven't done."

Author's note:

Here we go~

Let's advance the plot a bit!