Xuanchenzi closed his eyes, and everyone present fell into silence.
Even Zhang Qiming and Cao Xingzhi lowered their heads, quietly enduring everything.
The vast square, the viewing platform, and the crowd formed a full moon shape, incense burning in censers, filling the place with a peaceful and tranquil aura that seemed to span millennia.
Lin Nan stood right at the center of the full moon.
As the incense smoke rose, the black demonic aura on Not-Seeing-Green quickly dissipated, retreating bit by bit back to the tip of Shen Qingmei’s hairpin.
The young girl then hugged her treasured sword quietly and looked calmly toward the hysterical woman kneeling on the ground.
She roared, howled, and screamed, her hoarse voice echoing wildly across the silent square.
How pitiful.
Lin Nan closed her eyes, refusing to look at her any longer.
“Shen Qingmei,”
Suddenly, compared to Shen Qingmei’s hysteria, this voice was full of vitality.
Like a slowly rising morning sun, it burned away the lingering shadows above everyone’s heads.
Shen Qingmei froze. Her tangled hair framed her face as she looked toward the energetic young girl in the crowd.
That was the poise only a truly privileged lady could possess—something Shen Qingmei had never been able to learn no matter how hard she tried.
Her gaze instantly darkened. Seeing the sun she would never be able to replace in her lifetime, all the resentment in her heart seemed to deflate like a popped balloon.
She lowered her head and let out a sneer.
It was unclear who she was laughing at.
“Come on,” she said, “if you want to pull my hair, then come.”
“I was going to pull your hair,” Shen Yuer was always straightforward and never lied; she honestly spoke her mind. “But I don’t want to now, because I think you’re pathetic.”
Shen Qingmei gritted her teeth. “I don’t need your pity…”
“Don’t misunderstand, I’m not pitying you,” Shen Yuer held up her right palm, making an apologetic gesture. “Have you ever heard the saying, ‘A pitiable person must have something detestable about them’? You fit that completely.”
“Though I don’t know what future you have, I want to say that being an illegitimate child doesn’t mean you’re someone’s fake. I’m also born out of wedlock, but I’ve never felt like I’m a shadow of anyone or that I have to replace someone to survive.”
“I just want to live as myself. What about you? Is your goal to live as me? But if that’s your goal, what happens after you become me?”
“For example, when I came to Qingyun Sect, I hadn’t been here before. You replaced me and came to Qingyun Sect, and then what? You still didn’t know what to do…”
“To be honest, I really hate you. I hate you so much I want to pull out all your hair,” the girl’s tone suddenly grew angry, probably thinking of what happened in the Shen Family. She crossed her arms and let out a heavy snort.
“So, before I wish you happiness in prison, I hope you find what you truly want. You should be Shen Qingmei, not another me.”
“All right, I’m done.”
After saying this, the girl turned to leave, but she had only taken a few steps when she suddenly stopped.
After a few seconds, her face reddened, and she angrily turned back.
Clenching her teeth, already forming a hand sign, she was about to force the word “pierce” out through her clenched teeth.
Luckily, Miss Lin reacted quickly.
She hurried to the girl’s side, covering her eyes with one hand and pulling her wrist to drag her away.
This was the initiation ceremony after all. In front of so many fellow disciples and masters, if Shen Yuer threw a few water needles to kill Shen Qingmei, it definitely wouldn’t be something that could end easily.
“Xiao Lin, I really can’t help it.”
Shen Yuer’s voice grew a little low and despondent. “I… really intended to kill her. Actually, I was even thinking just now, if I said all that and she could suddenly see the light and kill herself right there, how great would that be?”
Lin Nan was always awkward at comforting others. She gently ruffled Shen Yuer’s hair, unsure how to respond.
“Xiao Lin, do you think I’m an evil person inside?”
Lin Nan pursed her lips and smiled gently.
The girl was indeed cute and sincere. How could that be evil? The very conflict between her inner struggles and the choices she had to make in reality only showed that Shen Yuer was a lovable girl.
“Of course not. You’re already doing very well. If it were me, I would have already swung my sword.”
“Really?”
Shen Yuer’s voice was a bit muffled. Lin Nan hesitated for a moment, then suddenly opened her arms.
The girl instinctively leaned into Lin Nan’s embrace, feeling her heartbeat and warmth, and gradually calmed down.
After thinking for a moment, the girl set a rule, “This is a comforting hug. Don’t take advantage of me, or you’ll get beaten.”
“Xiao Lin! Am I that kind of person?”
Shen Yuer was about to crouch down a bit so her face could be closer to Xiao Lin’s heart, but she had to give up on her little plan.
Lin Nan smiled softly. She was about to say something else when suddenly a commotion arose behind her. She quickly turned to look at Shen Qingmei.
Shen Qingmei laughed again. She stood up shakily, her gaze showing a hint of resolve.
“Being myself… if I listen to you and be myself, then wouldn’t I still be imitating you, Shen Laowu?” Shen Qingmei sneered and spat a wad of saliva carelessly.
“How boring. It’s like I’m neither in nor out. Should I be myself, or shouldn’t I?”
But in the next moment, she raised her head with a sigh of relief, looked at Xuanchenzi, bowed with both hands, shedding the madness and insanity, and said solemnly and seriously:
“Sect Leader, disciple Shen Qingmei confesses.”
The Beast-Taming Peak Master sighed heavily, waved his sleeve, and closed his eyes, no longer looking at her.
Xuanchenzi was silent for a moment before speaking, “If that’s the case, then return to the Disciplinary Hall and await judgment.”
“Sect Leader, may I ask a question?” Shen Qingmei allowed the Disciplinary Hall disciples to hold her again and no longer resisted.
Being dragged away backward, she looked toward Xuanchenzi.
“Ask.”
“I heard people say before that a great calamity has come upon the human world. May I ask, have I become part of this calamity?”
At these words, not only did the Beast-Taming Peak Master open his eyes again, but even Shu Ying—who was gritting her teeth and staring at Lin Nan and Shen Yuer hugging—was stunned.
She turned to look at Shen Qingmei, her eyes full of surprise.
Xuanchenzi suddenly slammed the table. “A great calamity? Where did you hear that? Who told you? Shen Qingmei, tell me, and I may consider reducing your sentence.”
Shen Qingmei smiled broadly. She was about to say the name when she suddenly found she couldn’t utter a word.
“Cough cough…”
She coughed violently, bowed her head, and saw a splash of black blood drip onto her robe.
Her vision grew increasingly blurry, and the voices in her ears faded further away.
In her daze, she saw many fellow disciples rushing over, shouting her name while stuffing various pills into her mouth.
The voices shouting “Shen Qingmei” were dense all around her.
Unfortunately, the voices drifted farther and farther away; she hadn’t even heard enough.
She turned her head and saw Shen Yuer running over.
In her heart, she smiled victoriously, thinking: The name Shen Qingmei does sound better than Shen Yuer, doesn’t it?
Lin Nan stood far outside the crowd, unconsciously gripping the sword hilt of Not-Seeing-Green tightly.
Someone had been silenced. In front of so many disciples, elders of Qingyun Sect, and even Xuanchenzi himself!
She looked up and saw Zhang Qiming looking just as flustered.
Danxia Sect? But if it were them, wouldn’t they have silenced her long ago? Why wait until now?
Who else could it be? The Prime Minister’s Residence? The Shen Family?
Lin Nan thought hard but came to no conclusion.
She looked at the scene of Shen Qingmei collapsing, completely swallowed by the crowd surging forward.
She sighed and murmured, “The blooming and withering are ever-changing; it is truly a pity to see the falling.”