Chapter 475 – My Master Is Not Human – Reaping What One Sows (22)
The Grand Elder forcefully barged into the small wooden cabin and looked around. Behind the bed curtains, a faint silhouette could be seen.
The Grand Elder flew into a rage and turned to rebuke Pei Boyi. “Pei Boyi, our Dianxing Sect has treated you with courtesy, yet you dare corrupt the disciples of our sect—”
Before he could finish speaking, a pale, slender hand emerged from behind the curtains, slowly pulling them aside as someone stepped out.
“A Yi, why is it so noisy?”
The young man’s voice was soft and gentle, and his features were exquisitely beautiful.
“Tang Tang.” Pei Boyi stepped in front of Bai Tang, clearly separating himself and Bai Tang from the Grand Elder and the others.
“Daoist Heyi.” The Grand Elder had once met Bai Tang many years ago. Even after all this time, Bai Tang’s appearance had not changed in the slightest, so the Grand Elder recognized him immediately.
“Grand Elder, it has been many years. I hope you have been well.” Bai Tang rested a hand on Pei Boyi’s arm, signaling for him to stand down.
“All has been well. We did not know Daoist He Yi had arrived. It seems this was a misunderstanding. Since you came to the back mountain of the Dianxing Sect without notice, we failed to welcome you properly.”
His words carried an implied accusation: you came uninvited and without sending word beforehand, so if we offended you, it cannot entirely be blamed on us.
“A Yi has been away for many days, and I was worried about him, so I came to look for him.” Bai Tang glanced at Pei Boyi. “Did you obtain the Radiant Pearl I asked you to borrow?”
“I just got it.”
“Good.”
Although Bai Tang had lost his memories, that did not stop him from putting on an imposing front. His cultivation had already reached the Great Perfection stage of late Nascent Soul Transformation, only one step away from advancing to the next realm.
If Pei Boyi could become the savior of the cultivation world, then just how powerful must Bai Tang—the one who personally taught him—be?
Bai Tang rarely appeared in public, and almost no one knew his true strength. Even the Grand Elder and the others did not dare provoke him lightly.
“I was the one who came uninvited, which was discourteous. You offended me, which was also discourteous. Let us consider the two offenses canceled out.” Bai Tang had no desire to continue entangling himself with them. Dealing with the righteous path was always troublesome—full of empty formalities and hypocrisy so disgusting it made him sick.
“You seemed to be searching for someone just now. Have you found them yet? I still have matters to attend to, so I will not stay any longer. Farewell.”
With a single change of topic, Bai Tang successfully redirected the Grand Elder and the others’ attention back to Zhenzhen. If they wanted to keep searching for someone, they could hurry and do so themselves—they were leaving first.
Pei Boyi protected Bai Tang as they walked out. The two of them even skipped the formal farewell at the main hall and departed directly on their flying swords.
The Grand Elder looked at the young maid and asked, “Didn’t you say Zhenzhen was inside? Where is she?”
How could the maid possibly know? She had merely accepted benefits from Xiao Qiu, Zhenzhen’s personal maidservant, and lured everyone to the back mountain at the agreed time.
Shaking her head, tears streamed down her face. “I-I don’t know…”
Having no other choice, the Grand Elder summoned the disciples and ordered a large-scale search throughout the back mountain.
The young maid was scared out of her wits. After the Grand Elder led the others away, her legs gave out and she collapsed onto the ground. A shadow slipped in through the crack beneath the door. The maid let out a small cry, her face turning blank and lifeless. After a short while, a strange smile appeared on her face before her expression returned to the terrified look she had worn before being possessed by the shadow.
“Senior Sister Zhenzhen, where are you? Senior Sister Zhenzhen…”
The maid opened the door and joined the search party.
She deliberately headed toward secluded areas. Whenever she encountered a disciple alone, she would ambush them. Strands of black qi seeped from her body into the disciples’. Their expressions froze, and they wandered in place like mindless corpses for several moments before regaining awareness, as though nothing had happened.
But from then on, they no longer searched aimlessly while calling out for people. Instead, they headed directly toward the cliff at the back mountain—the place where Zhenzhen was tied up.
“Senior Sister, Senior Sister Zhenzhen…”
“Junior Sister Zhenzhen, are you there?”
“Zhenzhen…”
More and more people gathered at the cliff on the back mountain. The person tied to the tree before them was clearly the very Zhenzhen they were searching for, yet it was as though they could not see her at all. They kept wandering in circles and shouting her name, and even after failing to find her, none of them left.
As the number of people on the cliff continued to grow, Zhenzhen gradually regained consciousness amidst the noisy voices.
Her state of near nakedness filled her with overwhelming shame. More than anything, she wished everyone would quickly disperse, but it was as though heaven itself was against her—the more she feared something, the more likely it was to happen. One after another, all the disciples sent out by the Grand Elder gathered there. If not for the fact that her loyal maidservant Xiao Qiu was still among them, she would have suspected they had come intentionally just to watch her humiliation.
The disciples truly could not see Zhenzhen. In their eyes, there was only a thick fog before them. Forget the tree—even the cliff itself was invisible.
Yet strangely, none of them wanted to leave and search elsewhere. It was as if they were certain someone was there. Even though the place appeared completely empty and could be taken in at a single glance, they simply refused to go.
“Senior Sister Zhenzhen…”
“Miss…”
The crowd packed tightly into the empty space. Suddenly, it was as though clouds parted to reveal the sun, and the scene hidden beyond the fog appeared before everyone’s eyes.
The disciples’ vision instantly cleared.
On a large tree beside the cliff hung the very Zhenzhen they had been searching for. One disciple picked up a sharp stone shard from the ground and flicked it toward her, slicing apart the curtain cloth binding her.
Zhenzhen’s legs were weak, and without support, she collapsed. The clothes she had previously torn herself fell away in strips of shredded fabric, leaving her beautiful body half-covered and half-exposed, fully displaying the alluring grace of a young woman.
The male disciples present all held their breath.
Time itself seemed to freeze, and not a single person stepped forward.
Unable to bear the humiliation, Zhenzhen let out a sobbing cry, and only then did time seem to resume its flow.
Xiao Qiu yanked off the outer robe of a nearby disciple and rushed forward to cover and embrace her mistress. Turning back, she angrily shouted,
“What are you all staring at? Get away! Keep looking and I’ll gouge your eyes out! Get lost!”
Not all of the disciples admired Zhenzhen. The male disciples who held no special affection for her became resentful after being scolded by Xiao Qiu. She was nothing more than a lowly maidservant. And as for Zhenzhen, she was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. So what if she was the Sect Master’s daughter? In the end, her body had still been seen naked by men—and not just one man at that.
From somewhere within the crowd came a cold snort.
“So that’s all she amounts to. Why act like some virtuous martyr? If she truly cared so much about her chastity, then after something like this happened, why didn’t she just die?”
“Shut up.”
The senior disciple leading the search shouted at the crowd, and the noisy group instantly fell silent.
“Xiao Qiu, quickly take Junior Sister Zhenzhen back to her room to rest. I’ll report this matter to the Grand Elder. We will definitely capture the person who framed Junior Sister Zhenzhen and restore justice for her.”
Xiao Qiu nodded, though guilt filled her heart. After all, wasn’t the greatest culprit her own young mistress? The entire situation had become a complete mess, and she had no idea how it could possibly be cleaned up.
Zhenzhen lifted her tear-streaked face and said to the senior disciple, “Senior Brother, there is no need to trouble yourself anymore. I no longer have the face to continue living in this world.”
After speaking, she pushed Xiao Qiu away and leaped off the cliff.
“Miss—!”
“Junior Sister Zhenzhen!”
Everyone rushed toward the edge of the cliff. The sound of her scream gradually faded into the depths of the seemingly bottomless abyss.
“Senior Sister, this wasn’t your fault…”
“Junior Sister Zhenzhen…”
“Damn it!”
One disciple grabbed another by the collar and threw a punch at him.
“Are you satisfied now? Zhenzhen is dead! If you hadn’t shouted those words earlier, would Junior Sister Zhenzhen have been driven to suicide?”
“What does this have to do with me? If you want revenge, then go after the person who framed Junior Sister Zhenzhen!”
The two rolled across the ground, locked in a fierce fight.
“Miss, Xiao Qiu will come accompany you now.”
Just as Xiao Qiu was about to jump down as well, the senior disciple grabbed hold of her.
“You cannot die. Come back with me and report this to the Sect Master and the Grand Elder. We must find the person responsible for Junior Sister Zhenzhen’s death.”
The woman he loved was dead, and the senior disciple was barely suppressing his fury. No matter what, he would find the culprit and avenge Zhenzhen.
Zhenzhen’s death caused the Sect Master to cough up a mouthful of blood on the spot. The matter concerning the Cliff of Reflection was temporarily set aside as the entire Dianxing Sect mobilized to search for the person responsible for her death.
Putting everything else aside, the fact that this person could evade the sect disciples’ patrols, move freely in and out of the Dianxing Sect as though entering an empty courtyard, and even abduct Zhenzhen was terrifying enough on its own. If such a person managed to sneak into the sect’s forbidden grounds, the consequences would be unimaginable.
After searching thoroughly, the Dianxing Sect still failed to discover any hidden expert. As a result, some began to speculate that the one targeting the sect might be a demonic cultivator. Demonic cultivators never acted according to common sense and were notorious for their extreme and unpredictable behavior. Since they could not win in a direct fight against many opponents, they had instead targeted Junior Sister Zhenzhen, whose cultivation was low and who had been alone.
This explanation seemed to make sense, but there was still a problem: they had not sensed any demonic aura within the sect.
If they concluded that a demonic cultivator had infiltrated the sect, then only two possibilities remained. First, the demonic cultivator’s cultivation level was extraordinarily high—even stronger than anyone in the Dianxing Sect—allowing them to perfectly conceal both their presence and aura. However, as far as they knew, there was currently no demonic cultivator in the cultivation world capable of reaching such a level. Besides, if someone truly possessed that kind of power, would they even need to act in secret?
The second possibility was that this person possessed a magical artifact capable of concealing their aura, allowing them to move among the disciples without anyone noticing.
At the mention of an artifact that could hide one’s aura, the Grand Elder suddenly thought of the Radiant Pearl that had just been lent out. The Radiant Pearl had only one function: concealing one’s aura.
However, they had interacted with Pei Boyi, and he clearly was not a demonic cultivator. Moreover, if he had truly been a demonic cultivator in disguise and they had failed to detect it, then he would not have needed the Radiant Pearl in the first place. So why borrow it? And besides, the fifty Soul-Returning Jade Pills he had offered were genuine. Demonic cultivators were not known for keeping their promises.
“We also saw Daoist He Yi on the back mountain,” the young maid suddenly spoke from among the crowd when their speculation reached a dead end.
A spark flashed through the Grand Elder’s mind, and countless questions surfaced.
Why had Daoist Heyi appeared on the back mountain?
Why had they left without paying respects to the Sect Master?
Daoist Heyi had disappeared for a long time—why had he suddenly reappeared?
And what exactly was the Radiant Pearl being borrowed for?
The Grand Elder felt as though he had brushed against the edge of the truth, only for a thick fog to descend over it again, leaving him unsure where to begin.
“Strengthen the security of the Dianxing Sect,” the Grand Elder ordered calmly and methodically. “I will take several disciples to visit the Le’an Immortal Sect and see what explanation they can provide.”
“Jiayi, I’ll leave the sect in your hands. The cliff behind the mountain leads to a bottomless abyss. I’m afraid Zhenzhen’s remains will never be recovered.”
“My condolences.”