Chapter 3
Disgusting.
Those comments were disgusting.
The man before me was worse.
I had joined the Taixuan Sect at five. In my heart, Master had long since become my mother. As her cultivation partner, he was someone I had always respected as a father.
When I saw him in the dungeon in my previous life, I truly thought I had been saved.
In my excitement, I told him who had hurt me. Afraid he could not defeat the demonic cultivators involved, I urged him to take me away at once.
It had never occurred to me that he was one of them.
The man I had once regarded as a father became a beast driven by nothing but lust.
That was the first time I cried in the dungeon. Not from weakness, but from the sheer absurdity and despair of it all.
“Soul-Eroding Powder? Let me see.”
After Master explained what had happened, Xiao Wuya inspected the pill closely.
[What do we do when our wife’s too clever?]
[The third male lead speaks so gently. The charm of a mature man.]
[Afterward, our Immortal Lord personally bathes her, applies medicine, and combs her hair. Later he even abandons his sect to stay by her side and care for her. Total daddy boyfriend.]
[Once again, I can’t believe how ungrateful she is. They’re all so handsome. Why won’t she agree?]
So they knew I did not consent.
They ached for those beasts whenever one so much as frowned. Yet when I lost all my cultivation and was imprisoned in a dungeon to be violated by them in turn, they thought I was too ungrateful to appreciate my good fortune.
“I can’t find anything wrong. Zhiwei, how did you identify the Soul-Eroding Powder?” Xiao Wuya asked, puzzled.
“If you don’t believe me, Sect Leader Xiao, swallow it yourself,” I said coldly.
He had never heard me speak to him like that. His expression stiffened for an instant before turning gentle again. “Of course I believe you. I’m only curious how you noticed.”
The Qingluan Sword hummed with my killing intent. I stroked its blade, suppressing its urge to strike.
“Because I’m strong enough. You’ve been stuck at the peak of Void Refinement for centuries. How could you compare to me?”
At my full strength, only a handful of the great sects’ ancient ancestors could have fought me on equal terms.
If killing the old Demon Lord in the war had not left me gravely wounded and greatly weakened, I would already have hunted them all down, destroyed their cultivation, and ground their bones to ash.
“Zhiwei, you mustn’t speak to your Martial Uncle that way,” Master said, frowning.
Xiao Wuya remained gentle. “It’s all right. She’s upset and doesn’t know what she’s saying. I won’t hold it against her.”
He looked at me with concern. “You look pale. Did using your energy just now aggravate your injuries? You’re badly hurt. You need careful nursing.”
The old Demon Lord’s Immortal-Slaying Formation had damaged my foundations. After using my energy twice, even breathing pulled at my torn meridians and sent pain deep into my bones.
He watched me closely. No doubt he wanted to assess my condition before planning his next move.
When I did not answer, he offered to take my pulse.
“Sit down, Zhiwei. Let your Martial Uncle have a look.”
Without waiting for permission, he sat on the stone chair beside me and reached for my hand.
The thin ice of my restraint finally broke. The Qingluan Sword became a silver flash and swept at him without hesitation.
The sound of steel cutting through flesh and bone was dull and distinct.
Blood spurted. Xiao Wuya stared at the end of his arm in shock.
I had cut his right hand clean off.
[Holy shit, what’s happening? Has she lost her mind?]
[Is she some kind of violent psychopath? He was only concerned about her. Why would she do that?]
[She’s sick. Is something wrong with this woman?]
[AAAAH, my heart! Can she just die?]
No.
Not only would I live, I would repay every measure of pain they had inflicted on Master and me a hundredfold, a thousandfold.
“Zhiwei… why?” Pain twisted Xiao Wuya’s face. Yet instead of stopping the bleeding, his first thought was to ask why I had done it.
Before, if anyone had so much as spoken ill of him, I would have drawn my sword to defend him.
I had respected him so much. Trusted him so completely.
How had it come to this?
Still kneeling nearby, my junior disciple stared wide-eyed, unable to understand what he was seeing.
I looked at Xiao Wuya as though he were rubbish. “If you can’t keep your hands to yourself, I’ll cut them off for you.”
Smack!
The instant I finished speaking, Master slapped me hard across the face.
Afterward, she stared at her own hand for a moment. Then anger and disappointment quickly filled her eyes.
“You really have gone mad.”
“How can you be so ungrateful? Is this how you repay kindness? Have you forgotten how your Martial Uncle Xiao has treated you since you were a child?”
“Do you think reaching Body Integration makes you invincible? That you can do whatever you like? Today you cut off his arm because you were in a bad mood. If I displease you tomorrow, will you murder me and betray the sect?”
“How are you any different from those demonic thugs?”
[Tell her! Please, slap her a few more times.]
[She cut his arm off and still looks as if she’s the one who’s been wronged.]
[Master really loves Immortal Lord Wuya. Why don’t you stop loving that lunatic, Immortal Lord?]
I offered no defense. I watched Master support Xiao Wuya and tenderly stop his bleeding and heal him. The curve of my lips grew more bitter by the moment.