Chapter 92: A Desperate Plea

The color drained from Bai Zhileng’s face with visible speed. For the first time, her limpid eyes, usually filled with compassion and gentleness, showed profound hurt and disbelief. Her body swayed slightly, as if the words had sapped her entire strength.

Had Xuanweizi not steadied her with his spiritual energy in time, she would have surely collapsed to the ground.

“Sister Zhaoqing…” Her lips trembled, a broken whisper escaping.

“You… why…”

“Why would you say such a thing? What wrong have I committed?”

Though the words remained unspoken, her eyes, brimming with unshed tears, articulated every unspoken question.

‘What exquisite acting.’

Shen Zhaoqing inwardly applauded with cold detachment.

‘Such heartbroken despair, if it didn’t earn an Academy Award for Best Actress, would be a disservice to her entire performance.’

‘Any less thick-skinned person would have been torn to shreds by the surrounding gazes by now.’

But who was Shen Zhaoqing? Having witnessed the myriad faces of humanity, both noble and base, in taverns during her previous life, she was a true master of feigned idleness. She had heard far uglier words and seen far more duplicitous countenances than this.

She merely stared at Bai Zhileng with chilling indifference.

“How dare you!” An elder finally erupted.

Elder Li of the Enforcement Hall glared, his eyes wide with fury, his beard trembling as he pointed at Shen Zhaoqing.

“Shen Zhaoqing, what kind of attitude is this?! The Holy Maiden, with boundless compassion, deigned to lower her status to save our sect from calamity, yet you… you dare to insult her so! Is this how the Qingyun Sect’s rules taught you?!”

“Senior Brother Li!” Xuanweizi interjected with a sharp, low cry.

The Sect Master’s expression was utterly grim. He looked at Shen Zhaoqing, his eyes showing not only pain but also a deep sense of disappointment.

He simply could not comprehend.

The little girl he remembered, though a bit lazy, sharp-tongued, and fond of money, was at her core a kind and perceptive child.

Years ago, outside Qingzhou City, despite being gaunt from hunger herself, she had shared the last cold bun in her possession with an old performer on the roadside who was nearing starvation.

It was that very encounter that had prompted him to bring her back to the mountain sect.

He had always believed that even if the heavens fell, this child’s fundamental nature would never change.

But now… had the so-called “Dao Source Body” altered her? Or had the blood and fire of the Northern Reaches extinguished her last vestiges of kindness?

Xuanweizi felt a wrenching pain in his chest, as if something profoundly important was being torn from his very being.

He slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, that flicker of disappointment had been replaced by a heavier weariness and resolute finality.

‘So be it.’

‘So be it.’

‘The trust of an old friend, after all, cannot outweigh the lives of these countless disciples and the billions of mortals below the mountain.’

“Holy Maiden,” he turned to Bai Zhileng, his voice hoarse as he cupped his hands in a bow, conveying an unprecedented apology and shame. “This old Daoist’s guidance was lacking, causing the Holy Maiden to suffer such grievance. This matter is truly too grave; I implore the Holy Maiden to allow this old Daoist and the sect elders a moment more to deliberate.”

These words, while seemingly a discussion, were in fact a form of compromise.

‘The word ‘deliberate’ was merely an attempt to preserve the last shred of pathetic dignity for the Qingyun Sect, and for himself.’

Bai Zhileng nodded understandingly, stepping aside. The sorrow in her eyes was perfectly measured, neither aggressive nor overtly dramatic, yet sufficient to stir guilt in everyone’s hearts.

“Sect Master!” Elder Li grew anxious. “What more is there to discuss! Junior Niece Gu cannot wait, nor can the mortals below the mountain! What is there to hesitate about? Are we truly to allow the Qingyun Sect’s millennia-old foundation to be destroyed for the sake of an ungrateful wretch?!”

His words echoed the sentiments of most present.

Indeed, on one side were the suffering masses, the sect hero whose fate was uncertain. On the other, a troublesome “problem disciple” who constantly caused issues and had publicly humiliated her senior sister.

This choice required no deliberation at all.

“Elder Li speaks truly,” another elder chimed in. “Sect Master, if you hesitate to make a decision, you will only invite disaster!”

“We implore the Sect Master to prioritize the greater good.”

“We implore the Sect Master to prioritize the greater good!”

“We implore the Sect Master to give the order!”

In an instant, emotions flared. Even those disciples who had harbored a trace of guilt towards Shen Zhaoqing were now swept up by the fervent atmosphere, their gazes at her filled only with cold urgency.

In their eyes, Shen Zhaoqing was no longer a living person, but a medicinal ingredient that should have been cast into the cauldron long ago.

Elder Wang closed his eyes in agony.

What could he say?

Could he, alone, truly contend with the will of the entire sect?

Xuanweizi stood hunched at the center of the storm. He looked at the faces, some angry, some hopeful, some numb, and finally, his gaze fell upon the lone figure of the girl isolated by all.

She stood there silently, like a withered blade of grass abandoned in the cold wind, yet as stubbornly unyielding as an ancient, unmoving rock.

Xuanweizi opened his mouth. The command, “Depart immediately for Penglai,” felt heavier than a thousand tons, pressing on his tongue.

Involuntarily, his mind drifted back to the dilapidated tavern from over a decade ago.

Under the setting sun, the slick, calculating old shopkeeper, his abacus clattering, had pushed a scrawny girl before him, a rare look of seriousness on his face.

“Xuanweizi, I entrust this girl to you.”

“Her fate is peculiar; she’s a top-tier magnet for trouble, but her heart is not bad. Take her back to the mountain. Don’t teach her any profound Daoist arts, and don’t let her stand before people. Just let her sweep floors in some forgotten corner, guard a gate, and live a peaceful life until old age. That’s all.”

“Consider it… a plea.”

His old friend, who had lived his entire life without bowing his head, had, for the first time, uttered the word “plea” to him.

He had agreed.

But now, he was about to personally send this child, whom he had promised to protect for a lifetime, to the altar.

“Sect Master.”

Bai Zhileng’s voice echoed softly, carrying a perfectly timed urgency. Xuanweizi shuddered, snapping back to reality. He took a deep breath, the struggle and pain in his eyes finally turning to ash. He slowly raised his hand, preparing to issue the command that would burden him with a lifetime of sin.

Just then…

“Get out of the way! Everyone, move!”

A shrill, sharp girl’s voice, accompanied by the chaotic clashing of weapons, suddenly erupted from outside the main hall.

Everyone froze, turning to look.

They saw two inner disciples, responsible for guarding, frantically trying to block a figure desperately pushing inward. However, the bizarre, malevolent energy bursting from the figure forced them to retreat repeatedly.

“Junior Sister Li? Are you mad! Go back quickly!”

“The Sect Master has given an order, you cannot come out!”

The figure, however, seemed not to hear. Using all her strength, she violently shoved aside the two disciples’ obstruction, stumbling into the plaza before Calm Heart Hall.

She fell to her knees with a heavy thud.

Li Wuxia was still wearing the simple, unadorned robe of an outer disciple of the Qingyun Sect, but it was already soaked with sweat and grime. Her dark, shoulder-length hair clung messily to her face, and her already sickly pale complexion was now utterly devoid of color.

Only her ink-blue eyes stared fixedly at Xuanweizi.

“Li Wuxia?” Elder Li frowned. “Weren’t you confined to Reflection Cliff for punishment? Who let you out! Guards, take her…”

“No—!”

Li Wuxia abruptly raised her head, cutting off Elder Li’s words.

Her gaze swept over everyone, locking onto Shen Zhaoqing.

“Senior Sister…”

She murmured, two streams of tears suddenly tracing paths down her cheeks.

Shen Zhaoqing: “Junior Sister Wuxia?”

“Senior Sister, don’t go.” Li Wuxia looked at her, shaking her head frantically, her voice hoarse and filled with desperate pleading. “Don’t go to Penglai… it’s a trap… it’s all a trap!”

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