My System, My Wife Feng Aotian [Transmigration] - Chapter 17

Siyi hurried after Feng Jue.

Lanyang Palace exuded an imposing aura. The exceptionally beautiful Palace Mistress strode with purposeful steps, her palace robes billowing like flames. In short, she was furious.

Yet this put Siyi at ease. If Feng Jue were troubled by an Inner Demon, her demeanor would have changed. Having watched Feng Jue grow up, Siyi recognized her current state all too well.

It reminded her of the city’s grand festival years ago, when the young Palace Mistress had pouted in frustration when her favorite candy ran out.

Nothing had changed. Not a single thing.

Feng Jue took her seat, her icy gaze sweeping across the waiting guests. The Sect Master of White Water Sect had initially intended to assert his seniority before Feng Jue, but her frosty stare made him instinctively cup his hands in a respectful salute. “Greetings, Palace Mistress.”

“Hmph.” Feng Jue scoffed, slamming her palm on the table. “Lanyang Palace and White Water Sect have always minded our own business,” she snapped. “We’ve never interfered in your ancient quarrels with the Lianshan Sect. But you dare to cross the line—murdering and robbing Lanyang Palace’s tribute?!”

The Sect Master of the White Water Sect was also at the Golden Core Stage, but in Feng Jue’s presence, he felt inexplicably inferior. Bai Fenghui’s heart trembled as he marveled at the true difference between those at the Great Perfection Golden Core Stage and ordinary cultivators. He had heard that even those in the early stages of Great Perfection Golden Core could hold their own against mid-stage Golden Core cultivators. No wonder Feng Jue was so aloof and disdainful—she had the ability to back it up.

With this realization, the anger in Bai Fenghui’s eyes quickly transformed into a forced smile. With a wave of his hand, White Water Sect disciples dressed in their sect uniforms marched into the grand hall, escorting two men and several chests.

The chests thudded heavily as they were set down. The White Water Sect disciples opened them, revealing glittering spirit stones within.

03 drifted over to scan the contents, then floated back.

“Report,” Bai Fenghui prompted.

“There are two thousand upper-grade spirit stones, five thousand middle-grade spirit stones, and ten thousand lower-grade spirit stones.”

Feng Jue didn’t even bother to raise an eyebrow, her gaze cold as she stared down the assembled crowd from her place on the jade steps. 03 recorded her expression in its database, tagging it: Is this all?

Seeing Feng Jue’s lack of reaction, Bai Fenghui hurriedly added, “The raid on the Lianshan Sect was indeed carried out by White Water Sect disciples, but I had no part in it! It was solely the work of these two!”

Two men knelt before the spirit stones, one old and one young, bound tightly and spattered with blood.

Siyi sent a message to Feng Jue: The young man is the one who fell in love with the palace attendant.

After sending the message, Siyi smiled. “Oh? If the White Water Sect can’t manage its disciples, why bring them to Lanyang Palace? Are you asking us to discipline them on your behalf, Sect Master?”

Though she said this, she knew it was impossible. If they truly handed the man over to her, the consequences would be far more than a few smears of blood could cover.

Bai Fenghui also smiled. “There’s no need for Lanyang Palace to take action,” he said hastily. “We simply wanted the Palace Mistress to know that the White Water Sect has never harbored any ill will toward Lanyang Palace, and never will. This matter is complicated. The White Water Sect and the Lianshan Sect have been at odds for years. When we learned of your annulment with that brat Xue Bufan, the entire sect rejoiced for you!”

“The Lianshan Sect is rotten to the core, driven by greed. If they were truly allowed to form an alliance with Lanyang Palace, you would bear the brunt of their schemes. Look at all the misdeeds they’ve committed against Lanyang Palace over the years! Now that they’ve unfairly gained so many valuable items, our disciples naturally resent it. We merely wish to ‘borrow flowers to offer Buddha’—regain the stolen items and return them to Lanyang Palace.”

He finished speaking without a hint of shame or hesitation. Siyi’s smile widened. “So that’s how it is.”

“It seems I was in the wrong after all,” Siyi said. “After all, I personally slaughtered every one of those White Water Sect disciples who disguised themselves as bandits.”

As her words hung in the air, the hall fell so silent that the drop of a needle would have been audible. 03 heard a low, derisive chuckle from Feng Jue.

Unable to resist, 03 glanced at Feng Jue.

Feng Jue shot 03 a quick glance before turning her attention to the two figures kneeling on the floor.

The white-haired elder spoke, his voice trembling with rage. “They deserved to die! They should have offered the proper apology when they first met the young lady. Their greed squandered all my careful planning and nearly caused a rift between our sects. They got what they deserved!”

“And him!” The elder yanked a trembling young man forward. “He developed feelings for one of your sect’s disciples—a good thing in itself. But he made the unforgivable mistake of tempting a Lanyang Palace disciple to break palace rules. I hear your sect has already halved her cultivation and expelled her. As punishment, I strip him of all his cultivation. From this day forward, he is no longer a disciple of the White Water Sect!”

He tossed the pale-faced disciple aside, his panicked eyes filled with hatred as he stared deeply at the man, the emotion finally twisting into despair.

“If the Palace Mistress still has any anger left, kill him,” the old man said. “It would be his good fortune.”

Suddenly, Feng Jue’s voice echoed through the transmission.

“Don’t you think this White Water Sect disciple also needs an Old Master?”

The silver-white System stared at the portrait it had just scanned. The human depicted there was sorrowful and desperate, cowering in fear, his mouth tightly shut. Even facing death, he dared not utter a single word. When he was scheming his murderous and thieving schemes, did he ever imagine this would be his end?

03 silently retracted the interface.

“Palace Mistress, please look…” Bai Fenghui clasped his hands in a respectful salute.

Feng Jue drawled lazily, “Don’t dirty my floor.”

The young man, who had thought he was about to die, suddenly slumped in relief, his face breaking into a look of sheer relief.

But Feng Jue continued, “Drag him out.”

The young man’s expression froze. Instead of begging Feng Jue for mercy, he turned to the old man and whimpered, “Master…”

“Leave,” the old man said, his expression cold and indifferent, not even glancing at the young man. It was as if the young man’s life or death had nothing to do with him.

“Master! It was clearly you—” The young man’s words were cut short as palace attendants commanded by Siyi rushed forward, gagged his mouth, and dragged him out of the hall.

The elder, believing he had traded his disciple’s life for his own safety, breathed a sigh of relief. Just as a smile began to curl his lips, a golden-red light pierced through his dantian.

The pain came afterward.

First, there was heat.

A searing heat that instantly cooked his body, burned through his veins, and even charred his bones. The heat coursed through him, accompanied by crackling sounds and a continuous, shrill scream.

By the time he realized the scream came from his own throat, his spiritual root had been destroyed. He collapsed onto the floor, reduced to a quivering mass of flesh, gasping for breath.

Bai Fenghui had wanted to save him, but there was nothing he could do. He watched helplessly as Feng Jue’s technique crippled one of the White Water Sect’s most respected elders.

“Why go to such lengths, Palace Mistress?” he asked, his heart aching.

******

The White Water Sect already lacked late-stage Foundation Establishment elders. They had hoped someone else could take the blame and cover the incident, even bringing generous gifts to smooth things over. But Feng Jue showed no mercy.

Seated above them, Feng Jue blew at her fingertips and chuckled lightly. “Sect Master Bai admitted that both of them conspired together. Why punish one and spare the other? Drag them both down together.”

Bai Fenghui sighed as he watched the young, beautiful palace attendant drag the old man out of the hall, but he said nothing more.

Outside the mountain gate, the young man watched his master being dragged away. His shoulders shook with laughter as he roared with laughter, pointing and cursing at the old man for a long time before limping away in a frenzy.

In the Main Peak Hall, Bai Fenghui, now missing a key member of his sect, reluctantly offered Spirit Stones, hoping to turn swords into jade and settle the matter.

But Feng Jue had no intention of letting him off so easily.

She didn’t even glance at the Spirit Stones on the floor. “Since when has Lanyang Palace been so easily appeased?” she asked coldly.

The man whose spiritual root had been destroyed deserved it, and Feng Jue didn’t care if Bai Fenghui wanted to make trouble for the Lianshan Sect. But daring to scheme against Lanyang Palace? That would cost him his entire cultivation.

As for these Spirit Stones, they were merely a proper apology.

Bai Fenghui’s attempt at a self-sacrificing ploy to save the old man was nothing but foolish arrogance.

Siyi smiled. “Could it be that Sect Master Bai has forgotten why Lanyang Palace dominates this region? And why you dare not offend us?”

Bai Fenghui forced a bitter smile.

How could he not know? Lanyang Palace’s prosperity stemmed from its control of spirit veins, especially after the Old Palace Mistress’s decisive victory against the Nine Heavens Sect. The spirit veins previously controlled by the Nine Heavens Sect had fallen under Lanyang Palace’s dominion, further cementing its status as the foremost sect on the Eastern Continent.

The Spirit Stones he brought were a massive sum to outsiders, but to Feng Jue, they were utterly worthless.

“Besides the Spirit Stones, I also have another form of compensation,” Bai Fenghui said. Whether his pained expression stemmed from sorrow for the White Water Sect losing an elder or the compensation he was about to reveal, he asked Feng Jue, “May I ask everyone to withdraw?”

Feng Jue raised a finger, and the attendants on both sides retreated, leaving only Siyi alone in the Main Peak Hall.

Bai Fenghui glanced at Siyi but said nothing. Turning to Feng Jue, he asked in a low voice, “Palace Mistress, do you remember the Secret Realm where that ‘darling of the heavens’ from the Lianshan Sect was severely injured and his Spiritual Root crippled?”

Feng Jue’s gaze flickered. “The Chongshan Secret Realm?”

“Exactly. The Chongshan Secret Realm only opens once every century and only allows disciples below the Foundation Establishment Stage to enter. It’s filled with countless Heavenly Spiritual Treasures, including supreme-grade materials for refining Core Transformation Pills. These pills aid in forming the Golden Core, and Xue Bufan went to the Chongshan Secret Realm specifically for those materials. At the time, he was unparalleled in talent, the foremost young prodigy of the Foundation Establishment generation. Yet he was the only one to be severely injured within the Chongshan Secret Realm! Palace Mistress, do you know why?”

Feng Jue glared at him coldly.

Bai Fenghui, now embarrassed, dropped the pretense and blurted out, “Because the Chongshan Secret Realm has ascended in difficulty!”

Feng Jue’s eyes widened in surprise at these words. Having experienced numerous missions and many “immortal cultivation” opportunities, 03 knew that a Secret Realm’s rank upgrade meant it would open to cultivators below the Golden Core Stage, rather than just the Foundation Establishment Stage. The Heavenly Spiritual Treasures within would also upgrade, but so would the danger level.

This was a very rare occurrence. A Secret Realm’s rank upgrade required the accumulation of vast amounts of spiritual energy—it was something one might encounter but could never seek out.

“If the Chongshan Secret Realm has upgraded, Young Master Xue’s severe injury makes sense,” Siyi said. “After he was wounded, disciples from other sects fled the realm in fear. The Chongshan Secret Realm closed half a month earlier than usual, likely because the upgrade process had begun.”

Lanyang Palace had also sent Foundation Establishment disciples to the Chongshan Secret Realm in search of opportunities, but they gained little. They only circled the outermost fringes, unable to find a way into the interior before being expelled from the realm.

Feng Jue nodded, but still didn’t understand. “Even if the Chongshan Secret Realm has upgraded, what does that have to do with me? It only opens once every century. Could it possibly open immediately after the upgrade?”

Bai Fenghui clasped his hands, a confident smile spreading across his face.

“Exactly as the Palace Mistress says. After the upgrade—”

“The Chongshan Secret Realm will reopen in ten days! The White Water Sect is willing to join forces with Lanyang Palace to explore it, and we’ll split the rewards equally!”

Feng Jue was intrigued. If Bai Fenghui’s words were true, this would be the first opening of the Chongshan Secret Realm after its upgrade, and the resources inside would undoubtedly be exceptionally abundant. However, Bai Fenghui was also a Golden Core Stage cultivator. Why would he offer such a lucrative opportunity to others? The situation inside was likely far more dangerous than other Secret Realms.

She turned to Siyi.

A silver-white ball of fluff blocked her view, holding up its panel.

The lines on the panel were more intricate than usual, radiating excitement.

“I sense the call of the quest!” 03’s voice brimmed with enthusiasm, making the entire system shimmer with vitality.

“This Secret Realm is connected to the Protagonist! It must be crucial!” The clear voice grew louder with each word, the silver-white system bobbing upward, nearly floating above Feng Jue’s head.

“Host, go! Inside, there’s definitely something the Protagonist wants. We must seize it!” 03 urged, rushing to Feng Jue and thrusting the panel forward.

“There might even be beautiful women in there!” It emphasized the word “beautiful,” and the panel drew a provocative, indescribable image of a woman’s figure.

03 pressed the panel against Feng Jue’s face, emphasizing:

“Beautiful! Women!”

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