The Ice-Cold Beauty Senior Sister Keeps Falling for Her Own Theories - Chapter 5

[Malice Index increased by two points, currently at eighty…]

As soon as she arrived at Bixia Sect, she headed straight to the Discipline Hall.

It was the end of the Shen hour, around 4 p.m.

There was only half a shichen left until Senior Sister Gongsun Muhan faced execution.

She had to clear Gongsun Muhan’s name within an hour and get the Discipline Hall to revoke the execution order.

When she barged into the Discipline Hall, the timing was both fortuitous and unfortunate.

The unfortunate part was that the sect leader and several elders were in a meeting. Before she could even speak, she was asked to leave.

The fortunate part was that, since they were all gathered, decisions could be made quickly.

Thinking this, Feng Jie immediately decided to first rally the sect’s disciples to pressure the elders.

After discreetly stationing two disciples near the Discipline Hall, she rang the Beacon Bell of Bixia Sect, citing a matter of life and death for the sect, and gathered about seventy percent of the disciples outside the Discipline Hall.

She reserved a few Memory Retention Pearls for the elders and distributed the rest among the disciples.

With more people than pearls, aside from a few high-status core disciples, she prioritized distributing them to the more overlooked disciples.

She believed they would empathize more with Gongsun Muhan’s wrongful accusation. This was crucial for pressuring the elders to change the execution decision later.

Standing on the steps outside the Discipline Hall, Feng Jie surveyed the crowd, seeing that most had arrived.

She cleared her throat, her voice infused with spiritual energy, carrying clearly to everyone’s ears.

“I apologize for summoning everyone under such circumstances, but as you know, Senior Sister and I have been as close as siblings for years. I couldn’t bear to let her take the blame for me, which is why I resorted to this. Yesterday, I was controlled by someone and turned into their puppet. When Senior Sister came to rescue me, I took her sword but accidentally killed Third Elder. This was never my intention, but it happened because my cultivation was too weak and my will too easily swayed. I am willing to bear the consequences, but I beg you all to grant Senior Sister the justice she deserves.”

Feng Jie spoke with tears and emotion, appealing to both reason and sentiment.

She had expected someone to refute her, but instead, only a gust of wind responded, violently rustling the fallen leaves and the disciples’ robes before gently settling them.

Her gaze swept across the crowd, meeting mostly approving smiles, though the stiffly raised corners of their eyes betrayed confusion. Yet no one spoke up.

After all, from what they had witnessed, the junior sister had long since severed ties with Gongsun Muhan. A year ago, she had driven Gongsun Muhan out of the inner sect, forcing her to tend to livestock for the outer disciples and live among the animals, a scandal known to all. It was unthinkable that she would now speak up for Gongsun Muhan, let alone admit to accidentally killing someone.

Moreover, not long ago, the junior sister had pretended to visit Gongsun Muhan. One inner sect disciple, failing to see through the act, had spoken up for Gongsun Muhan and was immediately stripped of her cultivation and expelled from the sect. That scene hung like a sword over everyone’s hearts.

So, they unanimously concluded that this must be their junior sister’s latest game, perhaps another test of their loyalty, like last time.

They only needed to remember what the sect leader had said: the junior sister was the lucky star of Bixia Sect, and they must cherish her. Given the elders’ and sect leader’s doting on her, it was no exaggeration to say that all disciples in Bixia Sect followed her lead. And the junior sister had publicly declared that anyone in Bixia Sect who sided with Gongsun Muhan was opposing her.

Feng Jie scanned the surroundings in confusion, her gaze finally settling on a woman with dark blue cascading curls, a soft whip coiled around her waist, and countless tiny silver bells adorning her entire outfit. Such flamboyant attire stood out starkly among the crowd of uniformly dressed sect disciples.

The woman took small, unhurried steps as she approached, the bells at her chest and waist tinkling softly with each movement, the curves of her body swaying like gentle waves.

Feng Jie noticed someone handing her a Memory Pearl and addressing her respectfully as “Senior Sister Chang.”

Another disciple quietly approached, whispering, “Senior Sister Chang is truly remarkable, she completed the sect’s gold-level mission so swiftly…”

Chang Yuru responded with a nonchalant “Hmm,” her head slightly lowered as she examined the Memory Pearl in her hand.

She let out a soft, derisive laugh. This Memory Pearl was likely useless now.

Seeing that Chang Yuru hadn’t opened it, Feng Jie descended the steps and approached her directly. Believing that to catch the leader was to control the situation, she sensed that this Senior Sister Chang held some influence.

Anxious and stumbling over her words, Feng Jie blurted out, “Senior Sister Chang, you arrived late and might not know, Elder Master wasn’t killed by the head senior sister! She’s being framed! I’m telling the truth! If you don’t believe me, you can open the Memory Pearl and see for yourself!”

Chang Yuru frowned slightly, casting a suspicious glance at Feng Jie. “Senior Sister Chang?”

This was like the weasel paying New Year’s greetings to the chicken, the entire sect knew she and Feng Jie were bitter rivals, each wishing the other dead. This sudden address as “Senior Sister” felt utterly bizarre.

“Y-Yes…” Feng Jie grew nervous, wondering if she might actually be older and thus the senior sister.

“No matter,” Chang Yuru said lightly. “I just wanted to ask, little junior sister… why the sudden urge to save Gongsun Muhan?”

“Because if I don’t speak the truth, this matter will become a demon in my heart, haunting my cultivation and robbing me of peace day and night. And if the head senior sister were to die unjustly because of me, I would carry this guilt for the rest of my life…”

“A demon in your heart?”

“Guilt?”

Feng Jie watched as Chang Yuru raised an eyebrow and nodded repeatedly, seemingly in agreement. Relieved, she quickly added, “Senior Sister Chang, you can shatter the Memory Pearl right now and see, the head senior sister is truly innocent.”

Chang Yuru found it laughable. Inner demons were a concern only for those with substantial cultivation. How could someone who had trained for over a decade, squandered countless sect resources, and remained at the lowly Orange Rank speak so grandly of “inner demons” and “guilt”?

Since Feng Jie loved to pretend, why not play along? It would buy more time for Gongsun Muhan’s side.

With this thought, Chang Yuru curved her lips into a bright, mocking smile. She lifted the Memory Pearl, clenched her fist, and crushed it forcefully.

Feng Jie, who had been about to say more, quickly turned to the crowd and declared, “Senior Sister Chang has opened it! Why don’t the rest of you take a look as well? Then you’ll know I’m telling the truth!”

“Indeed, our little junior sister speaks wisely,” Chang Yuru chimed in, feigning interest in the Memory Pearl’s contents.

After a moment of hesitation, the crowd followed suit and shattered their own Memory Pearls.

Catching a glimpse of Feng Jie’s grateful expression from the corner of her eye, Chang Yuru said nothing. She simply blew the pearl dust from her palm, scattering it into the air.

Once everyone had finished viewing, Feng Jie urged, “Now you all believe me, right? Time is running out, let’s go find the sect leader and the elders to explain-”

Chang Yuru interrupted her with a look of genuine confusion.

“But doesn’t the Memory Pearl most clearly prove, that you killed the Third Elder?”

“Should we tie you up first and take you to the Sect Leader?”

Before Feng Jie could respond, she heard the outer sect disciples bowing sporadically and exclaiming:

“Senior Sister Chang, ”

“Senior Sister Chang, you mustn’t.”

Feng Jie now truly felt something was wrong. This Senior Sister Chang seemed to have it out for her. Earlier, to save time, she hadn’t thoroughly read the plot guide the system provided, but now she had no choice but to take a quick look.

Searching with the keyword “Chang” she found that the known plot didn’t mention any relationship between her and this Chang Yuru, the head disciple of the outer sect. All she knew was that both she and Gongsun Muhan were disciples of the Sect Leader. Feng Jie was the only exception, a nominal disciple personally accepted by the Sect Leader, giving her a fairly high status within the Bixia Sect.

Upon further reflection, Feng Jie realized that Chang Yuru must be connected to Gongsun Muhan. And since Gongsun Muhan was currently her adversary, it seemed Chang Yuru had come with ill intentions.

So now, should she drive Chang Yuru away, or try to ally with her to rescue Gongsun Muhan?

As she pondered, she heard Chang Yuru speak again.

“How boring.” Chang Yuru’s tone was flat, as if she had long grown accustomed to such scenes.

No matter how capable or respected she was, once their interests were at stake, they always acted like this.

She truly couldn’t understand, what kind of celestial reincarnation was this Feng Jie? After all, the Bixia Sect had always been a place where strength commanded respect.

Yet the Sect Leader and others indulged Feng Jie, despite her low cultivation. Sometimes, Chang Yuru even suspected that Feng Jie had some dirt on the Bixia Sect. After all, she was just a mortal the Sect Leader had picked up over a decade ago. When the sect offered her the chance to cultivate immortality, not only did she fail to cherish it, but she also showed no ambition, acted arrogantly and domineeringly, and lacked any semblance of immortal sect decorum…

Most importantly, she had insulted the head disciple so grievously. She truly deserved to die.

If Chang Yuru ever uncovered her secrets, she would never let her off.

Anyway, she had already secretly dealt with the Discipline Hall members on her end. Coming here was originally just to stall these disciples. If she could now delay the Sect Leader and the others as well, wouldn’t that be even better?

“Let’s go then.”

“Huh?” Feng Jie, caught off guard by Chang Yuru’s sudden change in attitude, could only assume that Chang Yuru, despite disliking her, was clever enough to want to join forces to rescue Gongsun Muhan.

Little did she know that Chang Yuru would never trust anyone, let alone believe in her and form an alliance.

Just as Feng Jie took a deep breath, ready to lead everyone to the Sect Leader, she was struck by a crackling electric shock. Her vision went black, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to her knees.

[Malice Index increased by two points. Current value: 87.]

Expressionless, she pressed down her frizzed hair and spat out a mouthful of black smoke.

As everyone turned to look at her, she scrambled to her feet, with no time to explain, when a disciple came running over, shouting, “Someone has broken out of prison!” Her vision went black again.

What in the world is going on?

She rushed to the panting disciple’s side. “Who? Who broke out?”

At the same time, Chang Yuru’s voice rang out.

“What’s the current situation? Has the escapee been recaptured?”

“It’s Gongsun Muhan! She knocked out the guards from the Discipline Hall and tried to escape through the western path. Senior Brother discovered her, and now she’s fleeing toward the back mountain. Senior Brother has gone to notify the elders, and they’re on their way now. They must have caught her.”

Back mountain.

Lixin Cliff!

The force of the plot is just too strong.

Seeing everyone rushing toward the back mountain, Feng Jie quickly grabbed a disciple and asked for a shortcut to Lixin Cliff.

After all, her cultivation level wasn’t high, so she could only take a shortcut.

After asking, the disciple gave Feng Jie a strange look. After all, Lixin Cliff was deep in the back mountain, with a bottomless abyss, perpetually shrouded in toxic miasma. Legend had it that the remnants of an ancient demonic beast were suppressed there, and any cultivator who approached would lose all their cultivation. It was a forbidden area of the Bixia Sect, why would Little Junior Sister suddenly ask about it?

Before he could figure it out, Feng Jie pushed her cultivation to the limit, exhausting herself, and managed to reach Lixin Cliff just ahead of the Sect Leader and Chang Yuru.

At that moment, Gongsun Muhan stood on the edge of Lixin Cliff, facing the advancing sword tips of her fellow disciples, with the abyss and toxic miasma behind her.

Seeing that her heels were already hanging over the edge, Feng Jie, recalling her “group favorite” attribute, hurriedly shouted:

“Step back!”

No one moved.

“Won’t you even listen to me? I’m Feng Jie!”

The crowd glanced at her. Though they didn’t step back immediately, they halted their advance.

Seeing this, Feng Jie quickly turned to Gongsun Muhan. “Senior Sister, believe me, I’ve found evidence. I won’t let you die!”

Gongsun Muhan let out a scornful laugh. “Hah, ridiculous.”

She had overheard the guards saying that Feng Jie had pleaded with the Sect Leader, wanting her to suffer a more gruesome death, something about how killing an elder, an unfilial act in the mortal realm, deserved the punishment of being made into a human swine and tortured, not granted an easy death…

But what angered her more was herself, how could she have trusted Feng Jie over a mere nameplate?

Seeing Gongsun Muhan’s disbelief, Feng Jie hastily pulled out the Memory Pearl she had left for the Sect Leader and the others. “Senior Sister, if you don’t believe me, look, this is the evidence!”

She took a step forward, intending to hand it to her, but Gongsun Muhan retreated another step.

Feng Jie’s heart leaped into her throat.

“Alright, alright, Senior Sister, don’t retreat anymore. I won’t move.”

“I’m really not lying to you, Senior Sister!”

At that moment, perhaps out of fear, fear that Gongsun Muhan would die, fear that she herself would die, fear of never seeing her grandmother, parents, and younger brother again, Feng Jie burst into tears, overwhelmed with urgency.

Gongsun Muhan merely lifted her gaze to glance at her. The once crystal-clear blue in her indigo eyes was now obscured, leaving only a dense, unfathomable darkness, much like the solitary peaks in the distance.

Sobbing, Feng Jie forced out a complete sentence, “Then… then… I’ll throw this Memory Pearl to you.”

Seeing her actually toss the Memory Pearl over, Gongsun Muhan’s body instinctively reacted. She sidestepped, and the pearl instantly rolled to the edge of the cliff and vanished.

“Senior Sister, just believe me this once! I’m begging you!”

At that moment, Gongsun Muhan only felt the biting cold of the cliffside wind. The pain from her previous injuries resurfaced, and the warmth in her dantian was rapidly fading. Time was running out.

She glanced back at the gray, misty abyss behind her.

Watching Feng Jie’s tears fall like broken pearls, staining the ground with dark splotches, she suddenly moved.

She took out that nameplate, the token Feng Jie had given to earn her trust, the one that, if crushed, would cause Feng Jie to either lose all her spiritual power or die.

Bang!

She crushed it.