Chapter 67: The Cause
“Don’t stop me!” Tang Wan’er shouted, tears streaming from her eyes.
If her senior brother was humiliated because of this, she would be solely to blame. How could she have the face to live in this world?
Su Yan didn’t know what to do. Just then, the system’s options popped up.
[Mission 1: Let her be and allow Tang Wan’er to leave. (Reward for completion: Flame Grass)]
[Mission 2: Persuade her with kind words and stop her in time. (Reward for completion: Water Spirit Ganoderma)]
Seeing the mission options, Su Yan was stunned. This time, the two options actually had the same reward, both being spiritual herbs. This meant that it didn’t matter which one he chose.
Su Yan hesitated for a moment, then still chose the second mission. He couldn’t just watch her go to her death.
“Are you crazy?”
Su Yan’s face was stern as he scolded, “I went through all the trouble to save you, yet you still want to go out? You haven’t even healed. How is that any different from suicide?”
“In your current state, even I can easily capture you. To just hand yourself over to them, are you trying to be trained into a female slave? That’s simply too foolish! If you’re gone, your senior brother will have no hope at all!”
After a torrent of scolding, Tang Wan’er’s eyes were red. She gritted her teeth and said, “I swore I would protect my senior brother! Now that he’s gone, how can I possibly calm down!”
Su Yan took a deep breath and continued to scold, “If you don’t calm down, you’ll just be throwing your life away for nothing! Your current behavior is brainless! They say big chests mean no brains, but you don’t look that big. How can you not understand!”
Tang Wan’er looked down at her chest, her eyes growing even redder. After being scolded, she was no longer so impulsive. She also knew that her actions were foolish, but…
“Senior Brother, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground. The sword in her hand also fell with a clatter, completely extinguishing the thought of going out to fight to the death.
“…”
Seeing her calm down, Su Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Ling Ling walked into the room at this moment. Seeing the situation inside, she blinked her eyes in confusion.
“What’s wrong with you two?”
Su Yan stood there with a serious expression. Tang Wan’er was slumped on the ground, wiping her tears with her fingers, looking like a little kitten being scolded by its owner.
Who is she?
Tang Wan’er’s eyes were blurry with tears. She saw a beautiful woman walk in. She wanted to observe the other party, but her tears wouldn’t stop, and she couldn’t see clearly at all. Her chest was also accompanied by a sharp pain.
They say there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. Could this be the ultimate expression of sadness? She actually cared so much about her senior brother, her feelings running so deep!
“Why is your chest bleeding? Oh no, the wound must have opened up.”
Su Yan looked at the young girl and noticed a small bloodstain on her collar, which was then growing larger.
Bleeding? Opened up?
Tang Wan’er looked down blankly and saw the bloodstain on her clothes. So it wasn’t a phantom pain, but real pain.
“S-save me.”
Before she could finish her sentence, Tang Wan’er fell stiffly to the ground. She felt all the strength drain from her body. Her body spasmed, and she twitched all over, unable to exert any force.
It hurts so much. Am I going to die?
The more she thought, the more scared she became.
Tang Wan’er began to cry.
Su Yan looked at the young girl’s pitiful state and sighed heavily. How could this person be like a child who never grew up, acting without considering the consequences?
“This is a cultivation newbie. I don’t know how her Master could have let her go out.”
Ling Ling sighed faintly. Seeing this little girl, she couldn’t help but be reminded of her former self.
Innocent and pure, she had believed that the world was bright and just, and that justice would always prevail. She was a companion of justice, and her purpose was to help the weak and punish the strong. But all of that had suddenly changed in just a few short months.
Under the arrangement of her Master, Bai Shuixin, Ling Ling had gained experience in the cultivation world. She had experienced a lot and had been beaten down by reality.
It was only then that she realized that black was not necessarily black, and white was not necessarily white. The reason why the Joyful Union Sect was so difficult to eradicate… was it really just because of the demonic cultivators?
A seemingly pure and kind young girl was secretly doing evil things, while a woman who didn’t look kind at all had a very kind heart.
“The human heart is hard to understand!”
Ling Ling couldn’t help but sigh. After gaining experience for a few years, she found that the cultivation world was still a society of connections.
You see a cunning villain with a low cultivation level and weak magic power, and you think you’ve got it in the bag. You want to step forward to punish evil, but when you really make a move, you find that the other party has a whole bunch of relatives, all of whom are powerful experts in their own right. And then, she had met with tragedy.
“If it weren’t for Master’s intervention, I would have been in a miserable state.”
Since then, Ling Ling had understood a principle: in cultivation, one must be cautious. If you can avoid trouble, then avoid it. A Golden Core was nothing. Compared to those terrifying existences who had cultivated for thousands of years, she was just a small grasshopper.
“Perhaps only by cultivating to Master’s level can one do as one pleases.”
There were thirteen realms in cultivation: Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Formation, Soul Division, Body Integration, Spirit Transformation, Void Interpretation, Mahayana, Tribulation Transcendence, and Immortal.
Golden Core was only the third realm. No matter how talented she was, it couldn’t change the fact that she was still young. There were many who were more powerful than her, so Ling Ling didn’t dare to be arrogant.
After all, at a low realm, one would only encounter evenly matched opponents. Even if their descendants were all dead, their enemies would not bully the weak with their strength. That was a plot that only existed in cultivation novels. In reality, if you dared to do that, you would have been slapped to death long ago.
Ling Ling looked at this young girl who didn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth, a nostalgic look in her eyes.
Su Yan helped Tang Wan’er up. Together with his senior sister, they carried her to the bed. After a little treatment, the bleeding finally stopped.
“Alright, it’s not bleeding anymore. Don’t do any more strenuous exercise, or you’ll get injured again.”
Hearing Su Yan’s words, Tang Wan’er’s face turned red. She covered her cheeks with her hands, too ashamed to look at Su Yan.
“Can you tell me what happened to you now?”
Su Yan’s knowledge of the young girl’s experience was all just speculation. He wanted to understand the truth from the person involved.
As far as he knew, it had just been a simple verbal argument at the time. How had it developed to this point?
The Joyful Union Sect disciples had only been teasing. How had it now escalated to abducting a man?
Tang Wan’er bit her lip and began to recount her experience with a wronged expression.
“That afternoon, my senior brother and I were strolling in the city, and we happened to run into them…”
As Su Yan had seen, it had started as a verbal argument. The Joyful Union Sect disciples had seen a handsome man and had subconsciously made a flirtatious comment.
This matter shouldn’t have been a big deal, but Tang Wan’er, seeing her senior brother being harassed, couldn’t help but speak up and scold them.
Logically, the two sides should have just cursed at each other and been done with it. After all, they were both from sects, not rogue cultivators without any backing. It would be very troublesome for anyone to provoke anyone.
But the problem was their personalities. Tang Wan’er was unforgiving and had scolded them for half an hour. The Joyful Union Sect disciples were used to being arrogant. How could they take this lying down?
