chapter 4

The dish never got made. Someone reported me first.

The Enforcement Hall dragged me into the Wuji Sect’s main hall. A sea of immortal disciples surrounded me, every one glaring with fury.

Shen Yuening hugged her Vermilion Bird egg like a treasure and stared at me viciously.

“My concubine-born younger sister had sticky fingers even at home. I never imagined she would behave the same way after joining the sect. Elders, punish her as you see fit. Lingxiao Peak will not interfere.”

The cold-faced enforcement elder at their head said, “Stealing every spirit-beast egg is no small offense. A minor Foundation Establishment disciple would never dare do this alone. Tell us—who is behind you?”

Tears streamed down my face. I covered my mouth and shook my head again and again.

Master had treated me so well. I would never betray him.

Shen Yuening’s eyes darted around. She stepped forward with a mocking smile.

“My little sister must have colluded with the demons. Why else would she protect the culprit? Finding the mastermind is simple. I have heard the sect owns a wondrous object called the Heart-Questioning Stone. Even a heavenly immortal can keep no secrets before it.”

The enforcement elder nodded and ordered someone to bring the stone.

I cried even harder and tried desperately to pull my hand away, but spiritual power held me immobile.

“I ask you now,” the elder said. “Who ordered you to steal?”

I bit my lip and refused to answer. To my despair, a familiar figure gradually appeared upon the Heart-Questioning Stone.

Every eye in the hall widened.

Shen Yuening shrieked, “Impossible! Master is such a distinguished man. Why would he tell you to ste—”

She realized what she was saying and clapped both hands over her mouth.

No one could lie before the Heart-Questioning Stone.

The crowd was stunned.

My master, Perfected Yuanchen, had become famous in his youth. He drew qi into his body in three days, reached Foundation Establishment before the age of eighteen, attained Nascent Soul in his sixtieth year of cultivation, and was now the youngest Spirit Transformation cultivator in the world.

Someone had even written a book about him entitled The First Half of My Life.

It described in detail how he rose through cultivation, swept aside every opponent, and earned the worship of countless cultivators. The entire book was only a few thin pages, yet a copy cost five hundred spirit stones.

Tears flooded my eyes.

Master, my clumsy thieving had dragged your name through the mud!

The enforcement elder’s face turned ashen. He silenced the whispering crowd and ordered everyone never to spread a word of this.

He stared at Master’s image on the stone, closed his eyes, opened them again, and finally released a long sigh.

“Must every idol eventually be exposed as a fraud?”

To appease the Spirit Beast Pavilion, he sentenced me to three years of confinement in the rear mountain.

Eldest Senior Brother remained dazed as he escorted me to collect my belongings.

“Master is upright, noble, and beyond reproach,” he muttered. “How could he order Junior Sister Shen to do such a thing? There must be a deeper reason. The theft is merely a cover.”

“Yes, that must be it. Before going into seclusion, Master told me to take excellent care of Junior Sister Yuening and not worry about Junior Sister Shen. So Junior Sister Shen was carrying out an important secret mission all along.”

“Boohoo. Master used to entrust every important task to me. It seems Junior Sister Shen will surpass me and become his most trusted disciple.”

I had no idea what story he invented in his head, but his gaze grew warmer and warmer until it became almost ingratiating.

By the time the enforcement disciples led me to the rear mountain, Eldest Senior Brother came hurrying after us with my luggage.

A bundle the size of a hill towered over his back. Only his two churning legs were visible beneath it, making him look like a potato with very long legs.

The enforcement disciples stared. “Why not put it in a storage pouch?”

He wiped his sweat. “None of them can hold any more.”

Shen Yuening’s furious voice approached from the distance. “Why is my entire home empty the moment my little sister leaves?”

I snatched the bundle and darted into the mountain cave.

Wonderful. She had saved me the trouble of stealing everything myself.