Oh No, Senior Sister Cultivates The Heartless Dao - Chapter 2

Drip—

A cold drop of water landed on the tip of Qin Zhiyue’s nose. The chill seeped into her skin. She frowned and opened her eyes to complete darkness. The air smelled faintly of damp stone. She sighed inwardly. It had probably been three days since they returned to the Diyi Sword Sect.

She truly had not done it on purpose. She felt terribly wronged. Who could have guessed that on the rare occasion she left the sect, she would accidentally fall into that cave before she had even gone five kilometers?

When she woke, she found the sect’s Senior Sister covered in blood and holding a sword. Almost at the same moment, a bloodred gu worm flew toward her. Qin Zhiyue instinctively swung her sword at it…

Up to that point, the situation had still been manageable. But the instant the worm touched Qin Zhiyue’s spiritual energy, it split in two. The slightly larger one entered Qin Zhiyue’s body, while the other entered Senior Sister’s.

Even now, remembering the hellish look on Xiao Weimian’s face nearly stopped Qin Zhiyue’s heart. She had turned and run without thinking, while Xiao Weimian came toward her with her sword. Before anything else could happen, the cave collapsed.

The next time Qin Zhiyue woke, Senior Sister was lying unconscious beside her.

Qin Zhiyue raised her eyes and looked around. She was now in the Soul Tower of the Diyi Sword Sect—or, in plain terms, the prison for disciples who had broken the rules. She had been in the sect for so long without ever setting foot here.

If Xiao Weimian had not been involved, an outer disciple of her standing probably would not even have qualified to be brought here.

Qin Zhiyue was idly amusing herself with that thought when a violent surge of spiritual energy made her squeeze her eyes shut. With her head lowered, she sensed two people standing before her.

“Take her away.”

She recognized Wen Yixi’s voice. Her limbs hung weakly, and moisture had soaked her white outer robe. With her spiritual energy sealed, Qin Zhiyue was no different from an ordinary person. She could not dry her clothes, so she could only let the two inner disciples cast a spell to release the shackles on her wrists.

They took her by the arms and dragged her away. Qin Zhiyue’s face was deathly pale, and her dantian was so depleted that it could not produce a trace of spiritual energy. At that moment, she was little better off than a mortal who had gone three days and nights without food.

The disciples unceremoniously threw her from her cell into a hall veiled in cloudlike mist. A little of her exhausted spiritual energy slowly returned, but at her cultivation level, no one would pay any attention to such a small amount.

The mist-filled hall was rich with spiritual energy. Apart from Wen Yixi and a few outer disciples she recognized… Qin Zhiyue weakly lifted her eyes. A few dead leaves still clung to her long black hair, and her outer disciple’s robes were stained with mud. She knelt on the floor, slumped crookedly as though she had no bones. She knew she looked disgraceful, but she simply had no strength to sit up straight.

“How dare you.” The voice was clear and solemn, unhurried and utterly devoid of feeling.

An oppressive force swept toward Qin Zhiyue with the words. Her heart raced. The speaker was powerful enough to erase her existence without the slightest effort.

“A mere outer disciple, lying through her teeth.”

As those lofty words fell, an even greater weight settled on Qin Zhiyue’s shoulders, pressing her flat against the floor. The pressure made it difficult to breathe. Cold spread little by little from deep within her bones. She kept her head down and trembled, looking utterly terrified.

She knew who this was: Venerable Zifei, the leader of the Diyi Sword Sect.

A sword cultivator who had become famous as a prodigy in her youth, Zifei was known throughout the cultivation world for her Feixue Sword. Before reaching two thousand years of age, she had already attained the Spirit Transformation stage. The Sword Sect’s techniques also made its cultivators physically formidable. In a direct fight, she could be called the strongest person in the cultivation world today, apart from those great experts who lived in seclusion.

At least, that was what Qin Zhiyue had known before her memories returned. Now she knew that every powerful figure would eventually play a part in the female lead’s growth.

In this world, Xiao Weimian would be the final victor. The Way of the Heartless Sword was absurdly powerful, after all.

“Senior Sister Zifei. She’s only an outer disciple. How could she have done anything to Weimian?”

The new voice was gentle and measured, yet possessed a calm that made people want to believe it. Some of the frost left Zifei’s face. She glanced at the woman beside her, whose expression was mild and elegant, then gave a cold snort and sat back down.

Qin Zhiyue’s breathing was uneven from the pain. She blinked with difficulty, curious enough to try lifting her head for a look at the speaker, but all she could see was a blur of white.

“The sect competition is approaching. How do we know she isn’t someone the Demonic Hehuan Sect planted here?” Zifei looked down at Qin Zhiyue sprawled on the floor, her voice without a trace of pity.

The enmity between the Hehuan Sect and the Diyi Sword Sect had lasted far longer than a day or two. It was a blood feud that would never let either side rest.

An outer disciple appearing in their path while they were investigating a Hehuan Sect elder was suspicious.

Qin Zhiyue looked thoroughly ordinary, yet she had caused Zifei’s disciple to suffer a serious setback. Xiao Weimian was still recuperating, and who knew how many rare treasures it would take to restore the cultivation she had lost? Zifei studied Qin Zhiyue. She was so ordinary that Zifei could find nothing suspicious about her, but…

“Sect Leader, Qin Zhiyue is an outer disciple under my charge. She has been in the Sword Sect for more than a hundred years. How could she be a spy from another sect?” The gentle voice held a note of helplessness, as though the speaker were quite certain Qin Zhiyue was no spy.

Had it really been more than a hundred years?

Still lying on the floor, Qin Zhiyue silently did the sums. That was far longer than she had lived before transmigrating. She had explained herself countless times over the past three days, but Zifei simply seemed determined to dislike her.

The story was only at its beginning. After the sect competition, Xiao Weimian would choose the male lead as her Dao companion, and only then would her path truly begin.

“Ming Xueshi.” Anger and warning entered Zifei’s voice. “An inner sect cultivation manual has been leaked beyond the Sword Sect. We still haven’t found the disciple responsible.”

Qin Zhiyue’s ears pricked up. The name sounded familiar. Ming Xueshi was the elder in charge of all outer sect affairs. Ah, so she was Qin Zhiyue’s highest-ranking superior.

Zifei ignored Ming Xueshi after that. She was silent for a while, but the spiritual pressure bearing down on Qin Zhiyue made her feel the meridians throughout her body swell and ache, inch by inch. It was as though she might burst apart.

Just as she was about to reach her limit, Zifei withdrew her spiritual energy. “Then why were you there?” she asked coldly.

Qin Zhiyue patiently recounted her trip down the mountain to dig up spiritual plants yet again. In a small voice, she added, “Sect Leader, someone with my aptitude could hardly be trusted with a mission as important as spying.”

What sect would be mad enough to plant her here and let her accomplish nothing for a hundred years? Her superior would probably have dismissed her long ago.

Ming Xueshi’s clear voice sounded again. “If you still have doubts, Senior Sister, allow me to put them to rest.”

The figure on the raised dais gave a light sweep of her sleeve. A glazed cauldron glowing blue-green floated into the air and enveloped Qin Zhiyue, who was still kneeling on the floor.

“Ming Xueshi!” Zifei shouted.

But it was too late.

Ming Xueshi’s skirts stirred. Spiritual energy surged around her, and frost seemed to settle over her entire body as she summoned a crystal-clear, three-legged cauldron.

It was Ming Xueshi’s magical artifact: the Wenxin Cauldron.

Beneath the cauldron, anyone whose cultivation was lower than Ming Xueshi’s could not lie. But summoning an artifact like the Wenxin Cauldron took a heavy toll on its user’s cultivation.

Zifei’s expression darkened. Did Ming Xueshi trust Qin Zhiyue’s innocence that much?

“Qin Zhiyue, let me ask you: were you responsible in any way for Xiao Weimian being afflicted with gu? And are you colluding with the Hehuan Sect?” Ming Xueshi asked slowly.

Qin Zhiyue looked frightened. Purple light made her face difficult to see clearly; only her frantic shaking of the head was visible. Her voice trembled. “I never intended to hurt Senior Sister, and I have no intention of harming the sect. I beg the Sect Leader to see the truth!”

No one could speak falsely beneath the Wenxin Cauldron.

Zifei narrowed her eyes.

With a sweep of her sleeve, Ming Xueshi recalled the cauldron. Her face immediately went pale. The cost to her had plainly been considerable.

Zifei glanced at her, faint concern in her eyes. At last, she instructed the disciple beside her, “Take her away.”

Seeing that she had barely made it through, Qin Zhiyue felt some of the weight lift from her heart. She truly had not wanted to hurt Xiao Weimian, though the word “hurt” could mean an awful lot of things.

An inner disciple hauled the barely exonerated Qin Zhiyue to her feet and tossed her out of the hall without ceremony.

“Hey. The Sect Leader didn’t even torture you. What are you doing lying on the ground like that?”

Qin Zhiyue lay on her back without moving. “Senior Sister, my spiritual energy is exhausted. I’m afraid I’ll have to lie here on Yuxu Peak a while longer,” she said weakly.

The inner disciple’s expression changed. “This is no place for an outer disciple like you to linger. Leave at once, or don’t blame me for being rough with you!”

“Oh?” Qin Zhiyue could still manage a smile. “Then I’ll have to trouble you to be rough with me, Senior Sister.”

“You!” The inner disciple was furious, yet she could not actually bring herself to harm Qin Zhiyue. She closed her eyes briefly, then asked with obvious reluctance, “Which peak do you live on?”

Qin Zhiyue readily gave her the address. Excellent. That was more spiritual energy saved on the trip back.

After all this, her life ought to be safe for the time being. Strangely, though, Zifei had said nothing about removing the gu.

“Thank you, Senior Sister Lu.” Qin Zhiyue was dropped onto the outer sect’s peak. Caught unprepared, she fell, but she managed to summon enough spiritual energy to brace herself in time.

“You do have spiritual energy?!” Senior Sister Lu was instantly furious. Her tone sharpened. “With an outer disciple as deceitful and dishonest as you, it’s no wonder the Sect Leader questioned you.”

Qin Zhiyue did not mind. Her smile remained bright. She straightened her hair and gave a respectful bow. “You’re right to reprimand me, Senior Sister Lu. But we outer disciples have assignments to do tomorrow, and we’ll be punished if we fail to complete them. I’m truly sorry for deceiving you and keeping some spiritual energy in reserve.”

Qin Zhiyue looked so earnest that Senior Sister Lu was left briefly speechless. Her pointed explanation made it seem as though Lu had been terribly unreasonable. Annoyed, she said, “I wasn’t blaming you.”

She turned to leave with a flick of her sleeve, only to hear Qin Zhiyue’s soft voice behind her.

“You’re beautiful and kind, Senior Sister. I’m fortunate to have met someone willing to help me.”

Qin Zhiyue watched her stiffen and promptly vanish. She laughed inwardly. As expected, those treasured inner disciples were the easiest to soften.

Dragging her exhausted body, Qin Zhiyue returned to the outer disciples’ quarters. Fortunately, their peak was large enough to hold some ten thousand wooden cabins, so she did not have to share a room.

She took the hairpin from her hair and set it on the battered table, cast a cleansing spell, then dropped onto her bed.

With her eyes closed, Qin Zhiyue let out a long sigh. More had happened over the past two days than in the hundred-odd years she had lived in the cultivation world.

Her eyes narrowed, and she raised one leg without thinking. She still felt as though she had overlooked something extremely important.

In principle, she belonged to the fairest and most impartial sect in the cultivation world, at least on the surface. Today’s questioning had established her innocence, so her life ought to be out of danger.

Besides, it was only a love gu, not a deadly poison. Removing it should not be too complicated, should it?

If she remembered correctly, all they needed were three drops of blood from her heart…

And she was only an outer disciple. Who would bother paying that much attention to her?

As it turned out, someone would.

Late that night, during the fourth watch, Qin Zhiyue opened her eyes and sprang up from the bed. At almost the same instant, the bed shattered into fragments.

Qin Zhiyue: !!!

She channeled spiritual energy in midair, her long skirt sweeping through a graceful arc. Then her ankle twisted badly as she landed, and she pitched forward onto the floor.

The pain in her chin drove away her last trace of sleepiness. Gritting her teeth, she secretly gripped the storage pouch at her waist. Sure enough, once she became entangled with the female lead, trouble came one thing after another.

The person before her was shrouded from head to toe in gray mist. She could not even tell whether they were a man or a woman, and the sword they carried was just as thoroughly concealed.

Who wanted to kill her?