My Green Tea Junior Sister Smells So Good - Chapter 3

When the disciples of the Demon Sect collaborated with Jiang Linchuan from the inside to wash the Yunyin Peak in blood, this once secluded place of cultivation instantly became a field of corpses, a living purgatory on earth.

The disciples of the Yunyin Sect either died or fled; some even followed Jiang Linchuan, turning their blades against their own kin.

Shen Qingyi, heavily wounded, looked upon the tragic state of Yunyin Peak. There was no one left behind her.

“Junior Sister, you shouldn’t have pushed people too far. Even mortals know the value of mercy. For a great cultivator like you to be so narrow-minded, the catastrophe of the Yunyin Sect today began because of you.”

For the first time, Jiang Linchuan defied Shen Qingyi. His brief words contained all the resentment and anger of his life. Behind him was a chaotic dance of demons; beside him was the Sect Leader of the Demon Sect, her waist swaying like a water snake.

“So, are you seeking justice for Du Yuanluo?”

Shen Qingyi asked herself, she had lived uprightly her whole life, never doing anything shameful except regarding Du Yuanluo.

However, looking at the enchanting Sect Leader beside Jiang Linchuan, she knew that even if she looked down on Du Yuanluo, this was not the girl’s fault.

She sneered: “There is no need to make excuses for your shamelessness. The righteous energy of the Yunyin Sect could not reform you in hundreds of years. It is clear your very bones are evil.”

“What is evil? What is righteous? Is the Yunyin Sect righteous? From now on, the Yunyin Sect is mine. We are the righteous ones.”

Jiang Linchuan usually kept a low profile and was rarely seen smiling. For the first time, Shen Qingyi saw his face covered in a smile, it turned out a smile could be that wicked.

The blood in her body seemed to have run dry, she could no longer hold herself up. She never imagined that her semi-immortal body would die at the hands of the Demon Sect. The Yunyin Sect, built over thousands of years by several generations, was ruined by her hand.

Amidst the revelry of the demon disciples, Shen Qingyi slowly collapsed.

But out of nowhere, a thin, weak hand reached out to support her frail body.

Shen Qingyi struggled to open her eyes, which were blurred with blood, only to see Du Yuanluo’s face again.

Like a lingering ghost, she was everywhere. If Du Yuanluo hadn’t disturbed her “Dao heart,” Shen Qingyi would have ascended to immortality long ago with her level of cultivation. She wouldn’t have met today’s disaster.

This was the face Shen Qingyi hated most, yet against the backdrop of the dancing demons, it didn’t seem quite so loathsome.

Shen Qingyi quickly realized: she must be here for revenge.

Shen Qingyi was never one to admit defeat, even when the odds were against her. But in the face of death, she suddenly understood many things. Though Du Yuanluo was annoying, she had never done anything truly wicked. From beginning to end, it was Shen Qingyi’s own heart that couldn’t untie the knot. She could blame no one else.

She handed her sword to Du Yuanluo: “Kill me. Let the grievances of this life be settled here. In the next life, and every life to come, let us never meet again.”

Du Yuanluo slowly shook her head: “I have no grievances with the Sect Leader. I am a mortal woman who believes in being faithful to one man. I did not intentionally steal the Sect Leader’s husband. Whether intentional or not, I took him, and it is only right that the Sect Leader is angry with me. I said I only wanted to stay on Yunyin Peak, in any capacity. It was my choice. I do not blame the Sect Leader.”

Even at a time like this, she still maintained that persona. But this was the first time Shen Qingyi heard her true feelings.

Though the logic didn’t track and Shen Qingyi had no energy left to explain that Jiang Linchuan was never her husband, nor was she resentful of them being together, none of that mattered now. In the face of life and death, these were trivialities.

She truly couldn’t hold on any longer: “Since there is no grievance between us, why are you here?”

“Though the Sect Leader never recognized me as part of the Yunyin Sect, I have always considered myself one of you. As long as the Sect Leader is here, the Yunyin Sect still exists. Of course, I must stand with the Sect Leader.”

This was the most Du Yuanluo had ever spoken to her. Every word felt like a slap to Shen Qingyi’s face. Du Yuanluo had never officially joined the sect, yet the entire sect treated her as one of their own.

Since Shen Qingyi had come out of her meditative seclusion, she had isolated and bullied her, even forbidding her from calling her “Sect Leader.” Yet now, most of the surviving disciples had defected to the Demon Sect.

Only this Du Yuanluo, whom she treated as an outsider, stood firmly by her side.

Shen Qingyi laughed self-deprecatingly: “I am no ‘good’ Sect Leader. Go find your own way to survive.”

“Immortal Shen is a good Sect Leader. Under your rule, the world was peaceful and the harvests were plenty. You were simply betrayed by a villain.”

Du Yuanluo’s gaze turned toward Jiang Linchuan like two sharp blades.

It was the first time Shen Qingyi saw such a look from Du Yuanluo. Jiang Linchuan took a step back: “You wench! It’s all because of you! If you hadn’t delayed me, the position of Sect Leader would have been mine. I told you to redeem yourself by poisoning Shen Qingyi, but you wouldn’t listen. You insisted on me slaughtering the entire peak to be satisfied. You are a curse, wherever you go, you bring filth.”

Only then did Shen Qingyi realize why Jiang Linchuan had never opposed her torturing Du Yuanluo. He had intended Du Yuanluo to be a hidden blade by her side, but Du Yuanluo simply refused to strike.

Shen Qingyi finally realized that in this ridiculous rivalry, she was the one more in the wrong.

Du Yuanluo, as if believing Jiang Linchuan’s words, held Shen Qingyi’s trembling body and cried: “I’m sorry, Sect Leader. It’s all my fault.”

Du Yuanluo said this often, as if by apologizing, no one should blame her anymore.

Now Shen Qingyi realized she had merely been bullying a weak woman. In her weakness, whether it was her fault or not, Du Yuanluo could only accept it. Aside from apologizing, she could do nothing.

The one who should apologize was Shen Qingyi. She had never felt she owed anyone anything, so the words “I’m sorry” were hard to say. Besides, three light words were useless now. She had no time to change the past or make amends.

The Demon Sect Leader, originally wanting to see Shen Qingyi beg for mercy, grew impatient with her stubbornness.

“Enough talk. Send Sect Leader Shen on her way.”

A blast of true energy was fired from a distance. Shen Qingyi had no strength left to dodge. She used all her might to push Du Yuanluo away, but Du Yuanluo turned back and hugged her.

She used her thin, weak body to block the strike.

Du Yuanluo’s cultivation was so negligible it could be ignored, how could she block such a hit? She was sent flying like a fallen leaf. The heavy impact passed through her thin frame and hit Shen Qingyi as well.

In her final moments, she heard Jiang Linchuan say: “Wench, come here. For the sake of our years as husband and wife, I’ll save your life.”

Du Yuanluo coughed up blood and didn’t even look at Jiang Linchuan. She crawled painfully toward Shen Qingyi.

“Sect Leader… please accept me as a disciple of the Yunyin Sect.”

For the first time, Shen Qingyi tasted the bitterness of regret.

Du Yuanluo had always wanted to join the sect. When she first arrived, she was a mortal with no “root of wisdom,” so no one wanted her. Later, nurtured by the spiritual energy of the peak, she began to gain insight. An elder once praised her for being pure and honest, a good candidate for cultivation.

Shen Qingyi had happened to pass by then and said nothing. Du Yuanluo had swallowed her half-spoken plea for apprenticeship. Later, when Shen Qingyi became Sect Leader, Du Yuanluo’s dream became impossible. In Shen Qingyi’s eyes, she was of ill intent and unfit for the Dao.

But now, while the living disciples were severing ties with the sect, only Du Yuanluo wanted to join.

Unfortunately, Shen Qingyi could no longer respond. She used her last bit of strength to reach out her hand.

This reaching hand seemed to give Du Yuanluo some form of validation. She crawled even harder toward Shen Qingyi, inch by inch, almost grasping her hand.

This act was a supreme humiliation to Jiang Linchuan. At the moment Du Yuanluo was about to touch Shen Qingyi, he thrust a sword through her back.

Du Yuanluo’s hand dropped suddenly, falling just inches away from Shen Qingyi’s.

Shen Qingyi wanted to close that tiny gap, but she couldn’t move. She was already dead, only a lingering fragment of consciousness watched it all.

Du Yuanluo, I am sorry. The debts of this life can only be repaid in the next.

Daoists cultivate the present, not the future, yet this was the only time Shen Qingyi made a wish for a next life.

Suddenly, Du Yuanluo’s soft, sweet voice echoed in her ears.

“Brother Jiang, one should repay a life-saving debt with one’s body. If you don’t want me, I’ll give this life back to you. Since you’ve saved me again, I have no reason to leave.”

Shen Qingyi didn’t know why she remembered such an annoying sentence. Perhaps because, in her prejudice, she felt Du Yuanluo never said anything pleasant or perhaps because it was the first thing she ever heard her say.

But the past was fading with the wind, Du Yuanluo’s voice buried under the noise.

“Second Senior Sister, what’s wrong?”

Second Senior Sister? How many years had it been since anyone called her that?

A pair of hands supported her. Shen Qingyi felt a real sensation again.

Who else in the Yunyin Sect would support her? She opened her eyes and saw her Third Junior Sister.

Third Junior Sister? Hadn’t she defected when Jiang Linchuan attacked? She had been Shen Qingyi’s staunchest supporter, often bullying Du Yuanluo and humiliating Jiang Linchuan on her behalf.

Shen Qingyi hadn’t even had time to be angry at her betrayal before Jiang Linchuan had killed her with an arrow.

But why was she standing here, looking so vivid? Not just vivid, but with a touch of unfamiliar youthfulness. They were hundreds of years old, as the Sect Leader’s confidante, she should have a mature aura.

“Second Senior Sister, your face is so pale. Could your Golden Core be damaged? Quickly, let an Elder check it. It would be terrible if this becomes a permanent ailment.”

This sentence pulled Shen Qingyi’s thoughts back. It wasn’t just the Third Junior Sister who was alive; the whole Yunyin Sect was back to normal.

Including the “pitiful little white flower,” Du Yuanluo, lying on the bed.

Shen Qingyi circulated her true energy. It moved smoothly, though it wasn’t as deep as in her memory.

She realized this wasn’t a dream. She was alive. She had returned to the day she saved Du Yuanluo.

The words she just heard weren’t a deathbed hallucination. Du Yuanluo had just said them. The young disciples were all gathered here, the room was crowded, and no one noticed Shen Qingyi’s internal turmoil.

Just like in her previous life, Du Yuanluo reached out to pull Jiang Linchuan’s sleeve. Jiang Linchuan looked at Shen Qingyi with a helpless, flustered expression.

Shen Qingyi didn’t remember exactly what she had done in her past life, but this time, without thinking, she used her sword hilt to knock Jiang Linchuan’s hand away.

Whether to avoid suspicion or fearing the blow, Jiang Linchuan quickly and nimbly dodged.

Only Du Yuanluo remained, foolishly and stubbornly reaching out.

Shen Qingyi’s strike landed squarely on Du Yuanluo’s wrist. Though not heavy, Du Yuanluo’s mortal body couldn’t take it. Her wrist immediately turned bruised and purple.

Shen Qingyi never expected the first thing she’d do upon being reborn was to hurt Du Yuanluo. Du Yuanluo, like a frightened fawn, shrank back into the corner of the bed, looking at Shen Qingyi with terror.