The Ice-Cold Beauty Senior Sister Keeps Falling for Her Own Theories - Chapter 2

Gongsun Muhan remained rigid, held motionless in the embrace.

But no one noticed her hands, hidden in her sleeves, gradually clenching tighter.

What was Feng Jie trying to do now? Use her again?

Previously, Feng Jie had hypocritically treated her with endless kindness, rescuing her from the wolf’s den, helping her become an inner sect disciple in one fell swoop, dealing with those who bullied and humiliated her, all to oust the former head senior sister whom Feng Jie disliked, making her bear the infamy of harming the head senior sister and being despised by everyone. Moreover, Feng Jie had poisoned her, destroying her cultivation and reducing her from a talented, powerful head senior sister to her current state of low spiritual power, vulnerable to anyone’s bullying…

Hah, she had been such a fool back then, unwilling to believe it, even foolishly giving up the sole spot to the Biluo Secret Realm. It wasn’t until she later heard Feng Jie admit it herself that she realized the malice and targeting she had endured from the start were nothing but a play orchestrated by Feng Jie.

This time, she would not be deceived by Feng Jie’s facade again.

Just then, a sharp reprimand came from nearby, “What are you all doing?”

Everyone turned to look at the newcomer and chorused in unison.

“Second Uncle-Master!”

“Greetings, Second Uncle-Master!”

The crowd parted to make way for Second Uncle-Master Tan Feng, the head of the Discipline Hall of the Bixia Sect. Only then did he notice Feng Jie lying on the ground. Frowning, he hurried forward and took Feng Jie’s hand.

After checking her pulse and finding that she had only fainted, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hurry up and take your junior sister to Fifth Uncle-Master for a check-up! If anything happens to her, I’ll skin you alive!”

“And what exactly happened here?”

Everyone exchanged glances, seemingly unwilling to speak.

At that moment, someone, catching Lu Yishu’s meaningful look, stepped forward.

“Reporting to Uncle-Master, when we arrived, we found Third Uncle-Master assassinated, stabbed to death by Gongsun Muhan’s personal sword. Gongsun Muhan must be in cahoots with the escaped assassin. Junior Sister was injured trying to save Third Uncle-Master from the two of them. But Gongsun Muhan, delusional, tried to trick Junior Sister into helping her escape blame. Junior Sister is just too kind-hearted.”

“Hah! ridiculous.” Though Gongsun Muhan had anticipated this, she was still disgusted by their twisted account.

The Bixia Sect would never tolerate her now.

After hearing this, Second Uncle-Master Tan Feng’s face darkened like a storm cloud. “Hmph, how dare these assassins run rampant in our Bixia Sect? Guards, drag Gongsun Muhan to the water prison. I will uncover the mastermind behind this and make them pay in blood.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the group quickly echoed, “Uncle-Master is wise.”

“Alright, Yishu, take your junior sister to Fifth Uncle-Master immediately. The rest of you, clean this up.”

Turning, he instructed the hall guards behind him, “First, take our junior brother’s body back to the hall, and take Gongsun Muhan as well.”

With that, he swept his sleeves and left. He needed to report this to the peak masters and await the sect leader’s emergence from seclusion before making further decisions.

“Yes, Hall Master.”

After carrying out Uncle-Master’s orders and seeing him off, they turned their attention to Gongsun Muhan, who lay unconscious on the ground.

Splash!

A wave of sour stench assaulted her senses, accompanied by a warm, sticky sensation.

Gongsun Muhan endured it at first, but they only grew more relentless, dousing her with bucket after bucket. It seemed even if she died, they wouldn’t stop tormenting and humiliating her.

She propped herself up, opened her eyes, and stared coldly at them.

“Hey, isn’t this swill just the perfect medicine! Right, Gongsun Muhan? You should really thank me for being so ‘considerate’ as to wake you up.”

Their laughter made the wrinkles on their faces bunch together like squirming maggots.

“Brothers, don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, exactly. Gongsun Muhan, why aren’t you thanking your senior brother?”

Gongsun Muhan said nothing, merely watching them quietly, as if they were already corpses.

How long could their laughter last? Turn them into human-skin masks? Grind their livers into paste and mix it with swill, the wild dogs in the back hills would surely love it… What a pity her strength wasn’t sufficient yet, Feng Jie had destroyed her sea of consciousness.

Gongsun Muhan suppressed the flicker of killing intent in her eyes.

“Thank you,” she said, slowly straightening up and adopting a submissive posture as she looked at the one who had spoken.

“Hahahaha!” The man laughed arrogantly, glancing at the hall guards.

“Is that how you say thank you? Doesn’t seem very sincere, does it?”

Taking his cue, one of the hall guards rushed forward and kicked the back of Gongsun Muhan’s knees.

Caught off guard, she fell heavily to her knees before the crowd.

“You there, how could you treat our mighty inner sect senior sister like this?” He walked over and pretended to scold the guard, then pulled a crowbar from his pouch and handed it to him with a laugh, a bribe to make the guards turn a blind eye.

“We’re just lowly outer sect disciples, after all.”

Gongsun Muhan had had enough, their bullying was too much. Bracing herself against the ground, she slowly rose and looked at him, silently mouthing the words: “Outer sect disciples truly are lowly.”

He sneered. He had known it all along, after all, she was once the brilliant and esteemed genius senior sister. She could never be that weak and boring. He took out another crowbar from his pouch, turning it over and over in his hand.

Thud!

Gongsun Muhan knelt again.

The guard who had kicked her was summoned over and rewarded with a crowbar.

Gongsun Muhan gritted her teeth and stood up once more.

Thud, Thud, Thud!

By the time he had handed out all the crowbars, Gongsun Muhan’s knees were a bloody mess, gushing with blood, her legs nearly useless.

The man toyed with his red dreadlocks, half-squinting and nodding slightly at the hall guards with a threatening air.

“Alright, I’m off to see our junior sister. Drag her to the water prison and make sure she’s well taken care of, but don’t let her die. After all, she hasn’t confessed yet.”

Whips lashed fiercely against her body. Amid the raucous laughter of the hall guards, Gongsun Muhan was dragged to the water prison like an animal, bound by a coarse rope.

But it wasn’t over.

She was drowned again and again in the forging pool encircling the water prison, until the guards grew tired.

Truly, it was forging water, the pain of severed tendons and fiery tempering was beyond what ordinary people could endure. Had she not been accustomed to such heart-piercing, bone-deep agony, she would have long since died from the pain.

Yet, it was thanks to this extreme pain that she didn’t fall into delirium…

She collapsed in a corner, barely clinging to life.

The only thing keeping her from closing her eyes was the thought of leaving the sect.

After all, the sect leader was a just man and had never treated her unfairly in the way of sword techniques. He had said she was his most accomplished, his favorite disciple…

Even after her dantian was destroyed and her cultivation fell to the lowest Red Tier, the sect leader never gave up on her…

As long as she could wait until the sect leader emerged from seclusion…

The sect leader had said before entering seclusion that he would emerge today. It wouldn’t be long now.

“Drip, drip…”

Only the sound of water dripping from the eaves of the water prison kept her company. She remained motionless, waiting with her eyes open for a full four hours.

The moon rose above the willow branches, but the midnight glow did not reach inside. In the water prison, there was only darkness.

Click.

The iron bridge over the Refining Water Ring Pool was laid out once again. Gongsun Muhan looked in its direction.

“The criminal Gongsun Muhan, vicious and cruel, colluded with outsiders, murdered her martial uncle, and harbored treacherous intentions, intolerable to the heavens. She is hereby sentenced to return to the Dao at sunset tomorrow.”

The visitor was the sect leader’s personal attendant, holding a special decree from the sect leader. After reciting the words emotionlessly, he crouched down and placed the brocade decree in front of Gongsun Muhan.

Gongsun Muhan thought she had misheard. Hadn’t the sect leader said she was his most beloved disciple and that he would never abandon her?

She remained motionless, her gaze vacant, unsure of what to say. Was the sect leader too heartless, or was she too foolish? In this lifetime, she had trusted only two people, and both of them…

The attendant sighed softly. “Don’t blame him. It was a decision made out of helplessness.”

“Heh!” Gongsun Muhan couldn’t help but laugh.

“Helpless?”

“How laughable.”

She stared at the retreating figure of the attendant, unable to snap out of her daze for a long time. The bright red sect leader’s seal on the unfolded brocade decree was particularly glaring. After a while, she slowly propped herself up, leaning against the cage frame, as if having resolved herself to something.

With trembling hands, she slowly retrieved a cloth pouch hidden inside the lining of her chest garment and clenched it tightly in her palm.

…

Feng Jie’s consciousness had just returned, but before she could even open her eyes,

[Malice Index increased by 10 points. Current value: 70.]

[Malice Index increased by 5 points. Current value: 75.]

[Malice Index increased by 10 points. Current value: 85.]

[Warning! Electric shock imminent! Target’s Malice Index at 85. Host’s mission is at risk of failure. Please take immediate action!]

Bzzzt…

Feng Jie was electrocuted until her entire body went numb. Only when she smelled a strong, burnt odor did the torment finally end.

She lifted her trembling hand and touched the top of her head. Sure enough, all her hair was standing completely on end.

Oh my god!

What’s going on?

There are punishments too?!

[This is a reminder. The ten-second electric shock will not affect the host’s physical condition. It is only a warning to conscientiously fulfill your mission obligations.]

[If the target’s Malice Index increases further, each additional point will double the intensity and duration of the electric shock.]

“Good heavens, and it stacks? Alright, alright, I get it.”

She smoothed down her hair and hurriedly checked the Malice Index log.

Five hours ago? Four hours ago? Just now?

Damn!

Didn’t I tell them to save her?

Why are these people so unreliable?!

It seems she’ll have to stay by Gongsun Muhan’s side and keep a close watch.

“Hey, hey, hey! That plot guide, show it to me now!”

[Note: The host may currently only access Chapter 1. Subsequent chapters must be unlocked progressively.]

“I, screw you! Why didn’t you tell me earlier that there are punishments and restrictions? Shabi, you big liar!”

No sooner had she spoken than all her hair stood on end again.

Whoosh! Feng Jie’s hand, which was flipping through the pages, froze. Could it be that Shabi could hear her?

She quickly skimmed through the plot. The book stated that Feng Jie had framed Gongsun Muhan for murdering their martial uncle, leading to her being imprisoned in a water dungeon where she endured extreme torture before breaking out and fleeing to the back mountains. After being discovered, she was pursued to the Centrifugal Cliff, where she jumped. Following the fall, her consciousness was completely devoured by the demon heart. Although she lost all her spiritual power, she miraculously survived and even obtained the Bi Xin Sword. Later, she fainted and was rescued by the leader of the demon clan, officially embarking on the path of demonic cultivation.

When she tried to read further, she couldn’t see anything else.

It seemed the story was starting off with high stakes, both a demon heart and the divine Bi Xin Sword.

Forget about the sword; the demon heart was something Gongsun Muhan must not come into contact with at all. If she did, her malevolence index would skyrocket, and she wouldn’t survive. No, she absolutely couldn’t let her jump off that cliff.

If she didn’t break out of prison, she wouldn’t be chased and forced to jump. But without imprisonment, how could there be an escape?

So, the immediate task was to clear Gongsun Muhan’s name and get her out of the water dungeon.

Having sorted out her thoughts, Feng Jie’s consciousness emerged from her mind.

As soon as she stirred slightly, the person beside her woke up.

“Junior Sister, you’re awake! I’ll go call Master.”

The person before her was none other than the disciple of the Fifth Martial Uncle, her Second Senior Sister, Qing Fengwan.

Feng Jie grabbed her hand. “Second Senior Sister, no need to disturb Martial Uncle. How long have I been unconscious? And how is First Senior Sister?”

“You’ve been out for almost five hours. It’s already midnight. The Sect Leader, Master, and the senior brothers have all come to check on you several times. Everyone was very worried.”

Qing Fengwan gently held Feng Jie’s hand and patted it. “Junior Sister, don’t be so reckless next time. I was worried too.”

“Second Senior Sister, I promise I won’t do it again, hehe.”

As she spoke, Feng Jie raised two fingers above her head, mimicking a solemn vow.

“You’re always so mischievous.”

Qing Fengwan affectionately booped her nose.

It seemed Feng Jie was truly the beloved of the group. That was good, it would make her plans much easier to carry out later.

“Second Senior Sister, you still haven’t told me how First Senior Sister is doing.” Feng Jie shook her hand playfully.

Qing Fengwan pulled her hand away. “She-”

She glanced out the window at the moon about to set in the west. “She will return to the Dao at You Shi today.”

Her eyelids lowered slightly, as if carrying an indescribable sorrow. “Third Martial Uncle was such a good person. How could she bring herself to do it?”

“No, First Senior Sister didn’t kill Third Martial Uncle! It was, it was me.” Feng Jie lowered her head sheepishly.

“How could that be? Don’t joke around, Junior Sister.”

“Ah, forget it. It’s hard to explain right now.”

Feng Jie’s mind was already racing. Returning to the Dao at You Shi meant Gongsun Muhan was to be executed at 5 p.m. today. She had to escape before then, and there wasn’t much time left to clear her name. What should she do? No one believed what she said! If only there were surveillance, a simple replay would solve everything.

Feng Jie slapped her forehead. Right, surveillance!

“Senior Sister, is there any magical artifact that can replay past events?”

“The Memory Pearl can record scenes as they happen and replay them later. But if you want to look back at something that’s already occurred, it probably won’t work.”

“Ah, so there’s no other magical artifact? If only I were a camera, I could just play back the memories in my mind.”

Sigh, it seemed she had no choice but to force her way through. In all her life, this would be her first time breaking someone out of prison.

“Camera? What’s that?” Qing Fengwan had never heard of it.

“Nothing much, just a magical tool that can replay past events. I heard about it from someone else.”

“I see.” Qing Fengwan suddenly remembered something. “There seems to be something called a Memory Pearl that can extract a person’s memories and condense them inside the pearl. However, the method of extracting memories is too cruel, it can severely damage the consciousness. At best, it harms one’s cultivation; at worst, it can cause mental impairment or even death. But this is a demonic artifact, and we in the immortal sects generally don’t have it. I only saw it once before, during a training trip with my master, at an auction held by the Jianghai Pavilion.”

“Jianghai Pavilion?”

“It’s a massive force independent of both the immortal and demonic factions. They are mysterious and low-key, yet incredibly wealthy. They’ll take on any task as long as you can afford their price.”

With the information in hand and a new plan forming, Feng Jie only wanted to send the other away and dared not delay any longer.

“Oh, I see. Thank you, Second Senior Sister. I understand now. Senior Sister, I’m feeling a bit dizzy and would like to sleep a little more.”

“Alright, then lie down and rest quickly.”

As she spoke, Qing Fengwan prepared to sit by the bedside again.

“Second Senior Sister, you must be tired too. Go back and rest. I’d feel terrible troubling you like this. Besides, since I’ve already woken up, I’m sure I’m fine now.”

“Alright,” Qing Fengwan chuckled softly. “Then rest well.”

Once Qing Fengwan was far enough away, Feng Jie hurriedly got up. After making sure no one was outside the window, she rushed to the medicine shelf and hastily poured all kinds of pill bottles into her brocade pouch.

She had to hurry, she needed to make a trip to the water prison first.