After the Villainess Awakens

Xiao Mian was forced back a step by his own sword energy, bumping into Leng Mu Shi who was caught off guard. Leng Mu Shi's nose stung, tears instantly welling up.

In a battle of divine consciousness, if one side is injured beyond a certain limit, they are automatically declared defeated. Xiao Mian was injured by his own sword energy, a mouthful of blood spurting out, staining his entire front red.

He knelt facing away from Leng Mu Shi, his Shui Yun Sword propped up on the ground, buzzing sadly as if mourning for hurting its master.

Leng Mu Shi finally understood what had happened. She didn't know how to describe her feelings. Why did Xiao Mian do this?

She slowly raised her hand, unsure of what she wanted to do. But just as her hand was about to touch Xiao Mian's shoulder, the world spun. She was ejected from the dueling platform and returned to the Divine Consciousness Formation.

The divine consciousness of both sides returned to their bodies, the battle concluding. The Law Enforcement Hall disciples, who had been waiting outside the formations amidst the commotion, immediately took Leng Mu Shi and Xiao Mian away.

Amidst the loud discussions of the surrounding disciples, Leng Mu Shi and Xiao Mian were escorted towards the Law Enforcement Hall.

Xiao Mian's divine consciousness was injured. Although it didn't harm his physical body, his face was pale. He was escorted by the Law Enforcement Hall disciples, following behind Leng Mu Shi, his eyes downcast, looking extremely fragile.

Leng Mu Shi looked back at him several times. She didn't know why, but his current appearance felt strangely familiar.

It was as if she had seen it many times before. She even knew that Xiao Mian was clenching his jaw at this moment…

This absurd feeling made Leng Mu Shi shake her head. The Law Enforcement Hall disciples all possessed profound cultivation and were impartial. They carried Leng Mu Shi, a low-level disciple, like a sack. From the Healing Hall plaza to the Law Enforcement Hall, her toes touched the ground very few times.

Compared to other halls, the Law Enforcement Hall appeared solemn and exceptionally cold. Leng Mu Shi knelt in the main hall, the chill from her knees seeping into her bones.

Beside her, kneeling with a straight back but head still lowered, was Xiao Mian. You Zi Shu, having regained consciousness after taking the medicine, stood not far from them. His face was as expressionless as ever, showing no intense emotions. However, his hands clenched tightly inside his sleeves, and the slight trembling of Xue Ling at his waist betrayed the turmoil within him.

Three elders sat at the head of the hall. In the center was the sect leader, Zheng Ping. To his left was the Fifth Elder, Tian Xu Zi, and to his right was the Sixth Elder, Qu Yang.

Leng Mu Shi observed Xiao Mian from the corner of her eye. This matter had blown up, and her master, Hua Yanyue, was gone. Without anyone to back her up, she could only rely on herself.

After her mother's death, whenever she made a mistake or even just went out drinking and having fun with friends, she would kneel like this when facing her father's questioning. With a stubborn yet wounded posture, she would listen to her father's reprimands, feeling her heart turn colder with each passing moment.

Therefore, Leng Mu Shi was quite experienced in dealing with this kind of situation.

Excessive sadness was not conducive to healthy development. She was good at using happy things to drive away the lingering gloom. Even though today's events had escalated, she wasn't afraid. With Hua Yanyue gone, even Zheng Ping, the sect leader, had no right to expel her.

The only reason Leng Mu Shi felt a little panicked now was because she had dragged Xiao Mian into this.

It wasn't entirely her fault that things had escalated to this point, but for prodigies like Xiao Mian and You Zi Shu, who had never experienced the humiliation of being personally interrogated by their elders, it must be a huge blow.

Leng Mu Shi secretly decided that after this, no matter how tempting the Law was, she would never provoke Xiao Mian again.

But at this moment, she turned her attention away from Xiao Mian and looked at You Zi Shu, who was standing not far away. While the three elders above were still pondering and releasing their pressure, she pointed at You Zi Shu and said, "He is the main culprit, why isn't he kneeling!"

Leng Mu Shi raised her head to meet the stern gazes of the three elders and said as if suddenly realizing something, "Oh, so the sect leader's disciple has special privileges."

As soon as she finished speaking, the hall fell silent. You Zi Shu turned his head in astonishment to look at Leng Mu Shi. Never in his life had he seen such a brazen and shameless person. She had disrupted the disciple initiation and dared to speak such nonsense here!

Sect Leader Zheng Ping glanced at Leng Mu Shi and said, "Zi Shu, you tell us."

You Zi Shu bowed slightly and was about to speak when Leng Mu Shi interrupted again, "This whole incident started because You Zi Shu wanted to snatch the jade pendant my master gifted me. Why is he, the main culprit, not only not kneeling but also the first to defend himself? Could it be that as the sect leader's disciple, he can even distort right and wrong as he pleases! It seems that this Law Enforcement Hall has no fairness to speak of."

"You are courting death!" You Zi Shu couldn't bear it any longer. Xue Ling unsheathed with a clang, its tip pointed directly at Leng Mu Shi.

The disciples standing in the Law Enforcement Hall also glared at her.

Any of the three elders could easily kill Leng Mu Shi with a flick of their fingers. Such disrespect towards elders from a disciple was unheard of in the Tai Chu Sect.

However, Leng Mu Shi was the disciple of the Second Elder, Hua Yanyue, and in all these years, the Second Elder had only taken in two disciples who were treated like rare treasures. No one dared to touch her easily.

But they couldn't let her be so presumptuous either. Therefore, the Fifth Elder, Tian Xu Zi, suddenly released his pressure. The lower-level disciples in the hall felt a sweetness in their throats. Leng Mu Shi, with the lowest cultivation, directly fell to the ground, unable to even lift her head, and vomited a mouthful of blood.

When the pressure dissipated, they thought Leng Mu Shi would behave herself. However, she looked at Tian Xu Zi and asked, "What is the reason for the Fifth Elder to show off his power?"

A perfectly good display of pressure was described as showing off. The Fifth Elder, Tian Xu Zi, had the appearance of a kind old man, with a celestial bearing, white hair, and a white beard.

His beard trembled upon hearing her words. He looked at Leng Mu Shi and shouted, "This is the Law Enforcement Hall, how dare you speak nonsense! Disrespecting your elders, a lowly disciple like you deserves to be punished!"

Leng Mu Shi felt a stinging pain in her throat, but for some reason, after vomiting that mouthful of blood, she felt a sense of relief.

She looked at Tian Xu Zi, this living ancestor she had only seen once since entering the mountain, and a bloody smile once again curved her lips. Her eyes were so bright they were intimidating, her appearance resembling Hua Yanyue from years past.

The three elders felt their hearts tremble slightly.

"I speak the truth, yet the elders accuse me of nonsense. You would rather believe the one-sided words of the culprit and forbid me from defending myself. Otherwise, it is considered disrespectful and punishable…"

Leng Mu Shi licked her lips, her arm grabbed by Xiao Mian. He wanted her to stop talking, but Leng Mu Shi broke free and continued, "I'm afraid even the private prisons of mortals wouldn't be so arbitrary… Ha, is the Tai Chu Mountain Law Enforcement Hall a place where low-level disciples are not allowed to defend themselves? I understand now. Elders, please feel free to punish me for my injustice. When my master returns, I will ask her to expel me, this shameless disciple, from the sect."

After Leng Mu Shi finished speaking, the hall fell silent once again. You Zi Shu's Xue Ling sword was still pointed at her, but the three elders above were all angered by her words.

The Fifth Elder spoke again, "You are a member of our clan, yet you dare to be so disrespectful in the Law Enforcement Hall. You…"

"Fifth Elder," Leng Mu Shi, determined to be disrespectful to the end, directly interrupted him, "I have no master-disciple relationship with you, nor have we ever met privately."

"It has been four months since I entered the mountain gate. Until I became Master's disciple, no one helped me. It was indeed an elder who sent someone to bring me and Leng Tian Yin into the mountain gate. But the Tai Chu Mountain widely recruits disciples, even if no one came to receive me, couldn't I have come by myself?"

"Now, Elder, you call yourself a member of my clan and use your pressure on me, not allowing me to defend myself against injustice… Do you think I should acknowledge you as my elder or not?"

The Fifth Elder was so angry that his ears turned red, his beard trembling as if it would fly away. Leng Mu Shi knelt in the hall with a straight back, her neck stiff as she looked at the three elders above. Her chest was stained with blood, but she refused to yield.

Sect Leader Zheng Ping finally spoke, "Since you keep claiming to be wronged, then tell us your side of the story."

Leng Mu Shi pointed at You Zi Shu, "Before I speak, he must kneel! As the eldest disciple of the sect leader, he should be a role model for the sect. Now, in the Law Enforcement Hall, he even dares to point his sword at my vital point. It's easy to imagine how arrogant and unrestrained he is in private."

You Zi Shu had always been known for his honesty and upright behavior. He had never acted out of line, and the words "arrogant and unrestrained" did not apply to him at all.

But words were like sharp knives and swords. Even if only Leng Mu Shi was saying them, it was enough to make Zheng Ping recall You Zi Shu's conduct.

Zheng Ping's gaze swept lightly over You Zi Shu, who immediately sheathed his sword and knelt with a thud.

His face was flushed red, matching the burning charcoal of the Fifth Elder above. Leng Mu Shi sighed slightly and began to speak, "It was You Zi Shu who, disregarding the differences between men and women, dragged me into the grove for no reason. He even claimed that he was acting on your instructions, Elder, to take the jade pendant my master gave me."

Leng Mu Shi threw Sect Leader Zheng Ping into the fire, "You know, I have worn this jade pendant for three months since entering the sect. Master gave it to me on the first day I arrived, as a key to freely enter the Cang Sheng Courtyard."

Leng Mu Shi continued, "I asked You Zi Shu for a reason, but he didn't explain. Instead, he tried to snatch it. Elders, you are all aware of the countless rare elixirs and untamed demonic beasts in the Cang Sheng Courtyard. I don't need to explain the consequences if they are accidentally released."

"When Master left last night, she told me to guard the Cang Sheng Courtyard well and said that if anything happened, I should come to the sect leader or elders. Master said that she had already spoken to the sect leader last night…" As Leng Mu Shi spoke, she expertly pinched herself, tears instantly streaming down her face.

The sound of the young girl's choked sobs echoed in the silent hall. Leng Mu Shi deliberately choked, "Of course… of course, I didn't believe that Master had just left and you, Elder, would order a disciple to forcefully take the key to the Cang Sheng Courtyard from me. Of course, I wouldn't give it to him."

Leng Mu Shi said, "But I… sob… sob… I couldn't defeat him, what could I do? Fortunately, my master left me many elixirs. I seized the opportunity to feed him one, narrowly avoiding being pierced through the heart by his Xue Ling sword…"

Leng Mu Shi's eyes were red from crying. She looked up at Sect Leader Zheng Ping with an innocent yet cruel gaze, asking, "Did you really order your disciple to come and snatch the jade pendant from me right after my master left? Then why didn't you do it yourself last night when you met my master?"

There were many ways to say things. If Zheng Ping admitted to it, it would prove that he had malicious intentions, allowing his disciple to bully his junior sister disciple. How shameless would that be?

Furthermore, Leng Mu Shi's words implied that she was completely unaware of the purpose of the elder's jade pendant. This matter was indeed handled rashly by You Zi Shu.

Zheng Ping was caught in a dilemma, but Leng Mu Shi timely offered him a way out, "I know that the sect leader would never do such a thing. Perhaps Senior Brother also misunderstood and acted impulsively. Therefore, after the effects of the elixir wore off, I panicked and wanted to take him to a quiet place to feed him the antidote."

Leng Mu Shi began to play the victim and even addressed You Zi Shu as Senior Brother again.

Leng Mu Shi paused and looked at Xiao Mian, "At that time, Senior Brother Xiao happened to follow us. He was worried because he saw Senior Brother dragging me around against my will earlier. Senior Brother Xiao was just concerned about me."

"But as luck would have it, Senior Brother Xiao saw me dragging Senior Brother and asked what we were doing. I couldn't explain clearly in my panic, and Senior Brother Xiao thought I was harming a fellow disciple, so he drew his sword to chase me."

Finally, she didn't forget to add, "In the dueling formation, I explained everything to Senior Brother Xiao. He couldn't stop his momentum in time and ended up taking a blow for me, getting injured."

"Elder," Leng Mu Shi said, "this whole thing was just a misunderstanding."

The entire incident was described by Leng Mu Shi with a mix of truth and falsehood, omitting key details, and distorting the facts.

You Zi Shu was speechless. He couldn't possibly reveal the words Leng Mu Shi had said to him, and Xiao Mian couldn't possibly reveal what Leng Mu Shi had done to him. Sect Leader Zheng Ping couldn't admit that he had nodded in agreement when You Zi Shu asked to take the jade pendant.

Therefore, under these circumstances where multiple parties had their own secrets, this absurd explanation had to be accepted.

A soul search could reveal the truth, but would Zheng Ping be shameless enough to do that?

How could he explain allowing his disciple to steal the Second Elder's jade pendant?

Would prodigies like You Zi Shu and Xiao Mian be shameless enough to expose everything?

Everyone had their pride to protect, so in the end, this incident could only be ruled as a misunderstanding.

Ultimately, Leng Mu Shi and Xiao Mian were punished by cleaning the stone steps for disrupting the new disciple initiation.

As for You Zi Shu, he was punished to clean the entire forbidden area in the back mountain alone and was forbidden from taking disciples out for training for three months.

For You Zi Shu, this was the first and most severe punishment in his life. He chose to isolate himself and didn't come out after entering the forbidden area.

Leng Mu Shi and Xiao Mian had to sweep the stone steps every day when disciples were going to and from classes. It was a public punishment and quite embarrassing.

However, this level of embarrassment meant nothing to Leng Mu Shi.

She slacked off every day with her broom, thinking she could get away with it for three months. After all, the stone steps on the mountain were surrounded by lush vegetation all year round, with barely a single fallen leaf. There was nothing to clean.

But after a few days of slacking off, she was shocked to discover that the once lush greenery was rapidly withering and decaying at an alarming rate.

Overnight, the stone steps were covered in a thick layer of dead leaves. It was only February, the time when everything should be coming back to life, yet the vegetation on Tai Chu Mountain was already withering.

Leng Mu Shi and Zhu Rong learned that Tai Chu Mountain had a cleaning formation. Every year at this time, the cleaning formation would be activated, leaving the long steps spotless.

However, her and Xiao Mian's punishment was announced to the entire sect. Therefore, the cleaning formation was not activated, specifically to make them suffer.

Leng Mu Shi had no choice but to get up early and work late. She was so busy that her feet barely touched the ground. The Law was indeed fulfilling its promise. Leng Mu Shi had to refine elixirs every day, cleanse her spiritual roots at night, record drug reactions, get blown up by the alchemy furnace, and even raise demonic beasts.

Every morning before dawn, before the disciples went to class, she would sweep the stone steps once. Every night, when the disciples were about to finish class, she would sweep them again.

She and Xiao Mian divided the work, each sweeping half. She started from the Flying Crane Courtyard upwards, and Xiao Mian started from the Flying Crane Courtyard downwards. However, gradually, her area began to extend further upwards, as Xiao Mian would help her with a little more each day.

Sometimes it was just a few steps, sometimes just a few stone stairs.

Leng Mu Shi's feelings were complicated. During her twenty-odd days of endless work, there were several times when food boxes appeared on the stone steps that marked their dividing line.

Leng Mu Shi opened one once. The amount inside was just enough for her to eat her fill. It was obvious who had left it.

However, Leng Mu Shi only looked at it and never touched it.

Because every time, she would leave a storage bag on the stone steps, filled with various rare spiritual herbs, low-level elixirs she had personally refined, and a few bundles of Demon Spider silk for connecting meridians. Xiao Mian never touched those either.

They were interacting in a strange way, not acknowledging each other directly, yet secretly offering warmth.

Like two clams deep in the sea, occasionally opening their mouths to spit out a pearl at each other before quickly retreating back into their shells.

Leng Tian Yin tried to catch Leng Mu Shi every day, but Leng Mu Shi was busier than a bee, getting up earlier than a rooster and sleeping later than a dog. Unable to catch her, Leng Tian Yin could only hear about her sister's romantic affairs from the gossip of her fellow disciples, often getting into arguments with them because she didn't believe it.

After the Law helped Leng Mu Shi cleanse her spiritual roots, her cultivation had advanced from the lower level of the Star Realm to the middle level.

This was a tremendous breakthrough for a new disciple in just a few short months.

Even Xiao Mian, with his exceptionally talented pure water spiritual root, had taken eight years to reach the upper level of the Star Realm from the beginning of his cultivation and had only recently entered the peak of the Star Realm. Every time he advanced a level, the sect paid great attention, rewarding him with resources and praise. Tian Xu Zi would boast about his little disciple to everyone.

However, Leng Mu Shi's silent advancement to the middle level of the Star Realm went unnoticed by her own master, let alone receiving encouragement, congratulations from fellow disciples, or even rewards from the sect. It was like wearing fine clothes at night.

But none of this mattered to her. She felt it wasn't enough.

It really wasn't enough, far from it. The spiritual energy she could output was still just a weak trickle, not enough to support her refining higher-level elixirs.

Even with the Law's help, she had begun to learn how to suppress her other spiritual roots while refining elixirs, allowing her to refine elixirs of increasingly higher quality. However, it still couldn't satisfy her urgent state of mind and couldn't allow her to refine elixirs beyond her current level.

She had been refining entry-level elixirs day and night for the past few days, producing enough to supply the entire sect for a year. Now, every time she opened the furnace, she could do so without injuring herself.

But Leng Mu Shi couldn't go any further. The Law also said that cleansing the spiritual roots too frequently could be counterproductive.

Leng Mu Shi had no choice but to stop for the time being and give up on the idea of refining elixirs beyond her level. It wasn't that she was impatient, but the more she delved into the Dao of Alchemy, the more she realized how vast and endless it was.

And why Hua Yanyue would go to such lengths to refine medicine.

Almost everything in this world could be used as medicine, and a single herb often had numerous effects. These effects, when combined, could form an elixir.

But these combinations were never fixed, and each interaction would produce different results.

Coupled with the control of fire, the timing of opening the furnace, the amount and timing of injecting spiritual energy after opening the furnace, the size and quantity of the elixir itself, even the storage after the elixir was formed, the cultivation level and physical condition of the person taking the elixir… countless factors could affect the efficacy of an elixir.

What were the mere recipes recorded in books? As long as she had enough spiritual energy and time, Leng Mu Shi could even develop hundreds of elixirs with different effects from a few herbs in a low-level elixir recipe.

Not to mention that as she progressed to the next stage of the Dao of Alchemy, the ingredients she would come into contact with would become even more complex, with even more diverse and potent effects. It was like opening the door to a whole new world. How could Hua Yanyue not be obsessed?

How could she not be driven mad?

Every day, Leng Mu Shi wished she could split herself into eight and work tirelessly. She even stayed up all night, her small notebook filled with records, already piling up into two large boxes.

This made the time she spent sweeping the stone steps every day a torture. She couldn't help but use her spiritual energy to speed up while sweeping. She couldn't help but read books on formations, first experimenting in the Cang Sheng Courtyard, and then, within two days, she had set up a small, continuous cleaning formation in the area she was responsible for.

This way, at night, when the disciples returned to their courtyards and no one was around, her cleaning formation would activate, and she could avoid going out to sweep the stone steps once, freeing up time for alchemy.

It had only been a month since Hua Yanyue left, and Leng Mu Shi was already on the verge of obsession.

And the more she studied elixir recipes, the more she discovered the endless mysteries of the Great Dao.

One night, as she experimented with using the Demon Spider legs from the rafters as medicine, attempting to control the spider silk with the refined elixir, she finally reached her limit - she vomited a mouthful of black blood from exhaustion.

She fainted on the ground, but the vast, boundless spiritual energy of advancement lingered in the small room for a long time, gently soothing her tense mind and physical fatigue like a pair of gentle hands.

She was awakened the next morning by the sound of someone knocking on the Cang Sheng Courtyard's barrier.

She got up, all the exhaustion and dark circles under her eyes from the past few days swept away by the advancement last night.

Now, her hair was a little messy, but her eyes were bright as the moon, and her cheeks were rosy and plump like ripe fruit.

She looked vibrant, beautiful, as if her skin would break with a touch, juice overflowing.

Leng Mu Shi got up, unaware that she had advanced again, reaching the upper level of the Star Realm, a height unattainable for new disciples in the sect.

She simply patted her clothes and, before going out to see who was knocking, stood by the table, fiddling with the Demon Spider control elixirs she had refined last night.

Every time she moved the crimson elixirs with her finger, the Demon Spider on the rafter would squeak, pulled towards the direction of her finger by some invisible thread.

Leng Mu Shi slowly curved her lips into a smile but quickly suppressed it.

She couldn't tell anyone about this. If the cultivators of the world knew that an alchemist had the ability to control demonic creatures like this, chaos would surely ensue.

Leng Mu Shi had only tried it on the Demon Spider. This spider had very weak spiritual energy, which was why she could control it. Her abilities were enough to suppress it.

But if her cultivation became stronger in the future, there were countless other things she could try… Just thinking about the possibilities made Leng Mu Shi tremble with excitement.

The "Gate of Heaven" had only opened a crack, and it was already enough to drive the world mad.

She calmed herself down by the table for a while before walking to the barrier and opening it - revealing Xiao Mian standing outside.

"What are you doing here?" Leng Mu Shi didn't really want to see him. In the future, she just wanted to stay away from him.

Xiao Mian was holding a food box in his hand. He wasn't surprised by her cold attitude. She was always like this.

But his hand, tightly gripping the food box, tightened even more. In the end, he endured the humiliation and said in a low voice, "You haven't eaten anything for a month."

Leng Mu Shi: "…"

"I don't need to eat."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Xiao Mian's lowered eyes. His knuckles were white from clenching his fists.

Leng Mu Shi thought of the food boxes that would appear every few days on the stone steps where they divided their cleaning duties. She couldn't help but soften her tone and added, "You haven't taken the things I left for you either…"

Xiao Mian looked up at her words, their eyes meeting across the distance.

After a moment, he looked away first and said with pursed lips, "Those are too precious."

Leng Mu Shi didn't say anything else. She felt that she couldn't accept the food box. Xiao Mian liked her. This fact, which she initially found absurd, had become an unbearable weight on her heart. It was something she had never anticipated.

After being humiliated by her, he still secretly watched her. Leng Mu Shi really didn't know what to do.

She had wanted to give him those elixirs and meridian-connecting items as compensation, so they would be even. But unexpectedly, Xiao Mian refused to accept them and continued to bring her food.

So she spoke, rejecting him, "I won't eat the food you bring me. And I will never cause you any trouble again. Xiao Mian, I don't…"

"I'm just here to celebrate with you!" Xiao Mian interrupted hurriedly.

The young man's hair and clothes were immaculate, but the look in his eyes was as tangled as a mess, "You advanced, I just want to celebrate with you…"

"Aren't you going to celebrate?" Xiao Mian looked at her and asked.

Under his gaze, bright as shattered stars, Leng Mu Shi recalled her recent advancement as if it were a lifetime ago.

It was a huge event. If it were any other disciple, they would have spread the news and excitedly claimed the reward given by the sect for advancing.

At that time, she had been ecstatic after cleansing her meridians and advancing, but there was no one to share her joy with, nor did she have the time. She could only suppress her joy and devote all her energy to alchemy.

Unexpectedly… the first person who wanted to celebrate with her was Xiao Mian.

Seeing her hesitation, Xiao Mian opened the food box. Inside were delicate dishes and even a small jug of wine.

He pointed at the jug with his long, slender finger and said a little embarrassedly, "I brewed it myself. I used the wild fruits I picked by the spiritual spring while cleaning the mountain path. It's a little sour, but it tastes good."

Xiao Mian slowly curved his lips into a smile at Leng Mu Shi, a restrained smile, and asked softly, "Would you like a drink?"

Leng Mu Shi felt a sourness in her heart even before she tasted the fruit wine.

She tried hard to resist, but she couldn't.

She let Xiao Mian in.

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

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