Chapter 11: Cousin Li Mao

Jiang Min struggled, but how could she possibly break free from the disciples of the Disciplinary Hall, whose cultivation far surpassed her own? She raised her voice in protest:

“What are you doing? What crime have I committed to deserve this treatment?”

“Innocent? Whether you’re innocent or not will be determined after the Disciplinary Hall has investigated.” The woman in the green robe spoke in a low, forceful voice. “My cousin Li Mao is dead! He was kind and never made enemies. Since joining the sect, the only person he had any conflict with was you. You are the most likely culprit.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Min realized that the woman before her was exactly who she suspected—Li Mao’s cousin, Jiang Ziyi.

So she had finally come.

But Jiang Min’s conscience was clear. Li Mao’s death was his own doing; she saw no reason to let herself be dragged down and sacrifice her own future.

“Li Mao is dead?!”

Jiang Min’s look of shock was perfectly natural.

Her mother had once told her to be sincere with her own people, but when dealing with truly rotten individuals, she must hide her true heart, speak falsehoods, and never show weakness.

“What does his death have to do with me?”

Jiang Ziyi approached Jiang Min, standing over her and looking down with undisguised certainty.

“In this vast sect, you were the only one who ever had a dispute with him. I learned that you accused him of snatching your lot at the initiation, but you do not realize that my cousin had my support. No matter the assignment, he would have received the same treatment—why would he bother fighting for someone else’s lot? How ridiculous!”

The day after Li Mao disappeared, the Alchemy Hall sensed something was amiss. After several days of fruitless searching, they resorted to an immortal secret art that could determine life and death, and finally confirmed the news of his demise.

This news, when it reached Jiang Ziyi’s ears, filled her with both shock and fury.

She had been cared for by Li Mao’s mother for many years in childhood and was deeply grateful to her. Later, when Li Mao’s mother had him late in life, Jiang Ziyi cherished this cousin, arranged for him to enter the Eastern Spirit Sect, and even provided him with abundant cultivation resources.

Ordinarily, the death of a mere servant would have passed unnoticed—the Disciplinary Hall saw such things often and would turn a blind eye.

But after learning of Li Mao’s death, Jiang Ziyi used her influence—her fiancé was an inner-sect disciple—to pressure the Disciplinary Hall to investigate. Soon she discovered that Li Mao had quarreled with Jiang Min during the initial assignment.

Further inquiry at the ferry point revealed that the day Li Mao disappeared, he had last gone to the Zixia Mountain market—coincidentally, Jiang Min had lingered there for quite some time before returning to Liuyun Peak.

Upon learning all this, Jiang Ziyi could no longer sit still. She hurried to Liuyun Peak with members of the Disciplinary Hall and a servant from the Alchemy Hall who had been close to Li Mao.

In Jiang Ziyi’s eyes, Li Mao enjoyed her protection and excellent treatment—why would he need to fight others for opportunities?

It must have been this brazen country girl, spewing slander, who, after being exposed and humiliated, lashed out at Li Mao in a fit of resentment.

She bent slightly, her gaze icy and oppressive as she stared at Jiang Min.

“I’ve seen many like you from the backwoods—vicious, deceitful, full of lies. You’d best confess now and spare yourself further suffering.”

Jiang Min had seen her share of arrogant officials and nobles, but never had she encountered someone so self-important, cold, and blindly convinced of her own righteousness—she nearly laughed out loud.

“Yes, yes, I’m just some country bumpkin who can’t read a word, can’t even recognize my own lot, and had nothing better to do than snatch someone else’s. Whatever you say must be true!”

“You—!”

Jiang Ziyi had only come to apprehend her cousin’s killer and cared nothing for the likes of Jiang Min, but these sarcastic retorts stoked a rare fury in her. A mere servant dared talk back? She raised her hand, ready to deliver a lesson, but before she could act, a boy in servant’s gray hurried forward, eager to ingratiate himself:

“Sister Jiang, there’s no need to dirty your hands. Let me do it for you.”

The youth, about fifteen or sixteen, was Li Mao’s closest friend—broad-shouldered and sturdy, with a chubby, shrewdly smiling face and comically mismatched eyebrows.

Jiang Ziyi withdrew her hand and looked at Jiang Min with a stern expression. “This slap is for my dead cousin, Li Mao. Luo Lei, do it for me.”

“Li Mao and I were like brothers. Even if you hadn’t asked, I would have avenged him myself.” Luo Lei, seeking to please Jiang Ziyi, advanced on Jiang Min, spitting into his palm and sneering. “I saw Li Mao go to the Zixia Mountain market that day, and you were there for ages. If you didn’t kill him, who did?”

He bore Jiang Min no personal grudge, but by playing the part of Li Mao’s friend and feeding stories of their conflicts, he had finally attached himself to this promising outer-sect senior sister, even joining the hunt for the murderer. Now was the time to prove himself and reap the rewards.

So, as if spitting was not enough, Luo Lei poured spiritual energy into his palm, raised his hand, and swung hard at Jiang Min.

But Jiang Min was not one to sit and wait for punishment. A mere lackey dared to slap her? Her hands were restrained, but her legs were not.

Before Luo Lei’s slap could land, Jiang Min’s expression turned cold. Drawing on her strength, she leapt up, channeling spiritual power into her legs and kicked Luo Lei squarely in the chest, sending him sprawling. The two Disciplinary Hall disciples restraining her were caught off guard and only then tightened their grip on her arms to prevent any further movement.

“You dare—”

Jiang Ziyi’s cry of rage was cut off as Jiang Min ignored her, pouring spiritual energy into her voice and addressing her question to the Disciplinary Hall steward, who had been watching from the sidelines:

“Striking a servant disciple without cause—does the Disciplinary Hall condone this?”

The force of her question, empowered by spiritual energy, echoed across the rear mountain.

The other servants, who had been quietly cultivating in their rooms, were startled and emerged to see what was happening.

Yet, despite the crowd, no one answered Jiang Min’s question.

The unspoken rule was that only the strongest held the right to speak, but when a mere ten-year-old girl voiced such a challenge, the rules written in black and white in the sect’s code suddenly seemed laughable.

The Disciplinary Hall steward averted his gaze impassively. Zhong Qu and the others standing beneath the corridor remained silent.

Jiang Min took in everyone’s reactions and let out a bitter, self-mocking laugh. Indeed, in an immortal sect, right and wrong no longer mattered.

“Striking you? You’re simply paying the debt you owe my cousin,” Jiang Ziyi said coldly, her eyes growing even more severe. She instructed the two Disciplinary Hall disciples, “Hold her down.”

She stepped forward, spiritual energy gathering in her palm. Whether Jiang Min was the killer or not, today she would teach this impudent servant a harsh lesson.

Luo Lei, clutching his chest as he got up, wore a look of smug satisfaction. This wretched girl dared to kick him? There were plenty here who could deal with her.

Though Jiang Min was held fast and forced to bend at the waist, she refused to yield. She lifted her chin, her dark eyes fixed defiantly on Jiang Ziyi, her rims reddening with a fierce, stubborn light.

The humiliation she suffered today—

One day, she would return it all.

“Stop!”

Just as Jiang Ziyi’s palm was about to fall, her wrist was seized in a firm grip and flung aside. Alarmed, she realized that, despite her cultivation at the eleventh level of Qi Refinement, she hadn’t even sensed the newcomer’s approach. This person’s power surely surpassed her own.

She spun around in haste, and upon seeing who it was, most of her anger dissipated at once.