Ch. 12.1 Expelled

With this distance between their lips, they would definitely touch as soon as any of them opened their mouth to speak. In addition, she didn’t trust Wei Liang’s character at all. She thought that this guy would likely do something worse if she opened her mouth.

Lin Jiu felt like she was being cornered. She turned away, trying to avoid Wei Liang’s lips.

But she never would have expected him to be like a poisonous snake stalking its prey. Swiftly and precisely, he caught her lips and nibbled on them as punishment, neither too hard nor too soft.

Lin Jiu felt like her head was going to explode.

With a hand on each cheek, Wei Liang pivoted her face back into position and narrowed his eyes at her.

The message was clear. ‘If you try to escape, you will be punished even more severely.’

Lin Jiu took a long breath and pursed her lips. “Xiong Yu Lian gave me this bottle of medicine and encouraged me to put it in Liu Qing Yin’s tea so that Liu Qing Yin and Mu Rong Chun will sleep together. I’m a good person, how could I do such a thing!”

Pretending to be wronged, she continued. “Everyone knows that you and Liu Qing Yin love each other. Naturally, as someone marrying in for the wealth, I’m the one who’s most hated. We just got married, and today some disciple already set a trap for me to jump into. Who knows how many more will dig traps for me to jump into tomorrow or the day after?”

Wei Liang furrowed his brows with unclear intent, then motioned for her to continue.

Lin Jiu did so. “I have greatly offended the imperial family of Dong Ting. If I leave the Ten Thousand Sword Retreat Sect, they are sure to seek trouble with me. If they find out I have the Dripstone Spiritual Milk, they’ll likely skin me. So, before you drive me down the mountain, please train me up a little so at least they won’t be able to catch me, alright? That’s what I was talking about! I didn’t mean anything else!”

Wei Liang brushed his cool fingertips across her cheek. “Drive you down the mountain? That wasn’t what you said earlier,” he said in a casual voice.

Lin Jiu’s desire for survival flew off the charts. “Whether I’m driven away or I leave myself…it’s all the same.”

Wei Liang gently slid his fingers down her cheek, and suddenly clamped down on her jaw. “You wish to escape from me alive? No way.”

He narrowed his eyes languidly and his gaze wandered around the vicinity of her sweet red lips, trying to find the perfect angle to launch his attack.

Lin Jiu gazed at his beautifully shaped lips without any feeling of love.

Who got the wrong script here?

Just as she was fidgeting and worried that he was going to pounce on her and eat her up at any second, Wei Liang’s eyes suddenly glazed over and he raised a finger against her lips.

“Shh.”

Lin Jiu was speechless. Then, to her confusion, Wei Liang got up and hid himself on the top of the bed canopy, hidden by the drapery.

Bang!

The wooden door burst open.

Lin Jiu watched Wei Liang in surprise, then she looked towards the door.

The person who kicked the door was someone they knew: Xiong Yu Lian.

Two black-clothed male sword cultivators followed behind her with dark looks in their eyes. It was clear at one glance that these were not disciples of the Ten Thousand Sword Retreat Sect.

Lin Jiu was genuinely shocked. “You only just committed one offense during the day, and now you’ve brought outsiders to the main peak this night itself? Xiong Yu Lian, did you think you owned the Ten Thousand Sword Retreat Sect?!”

Xiong Yu Lian looked on with a frenzied look in her eyes. “My Master and Senior Masters are all getting old! They clearly know you are not a good person, but they still abide by these damned rules of the righteous! If they don’t dare to be the bad guys, then I’ll be the one to do it! I have been given so much grace by my Master that I, Xiong Yu Lian, will risk my life to eradicate this scourge for her!”

Lin Jiu sat at the edge of the bed in horror. “You openly brought outsiders through the mountain gates to commit a murder! Aren’t you afraid of getting your master involved?”

Xiong Yu Lian smiled crookedly. ‘I stole the tally from Senior Master Mu Rong! My Master knows nothing about this! I did it, so it is my responsibility, so don’t you worry. No harm will come to my Master! If you can still watch us in the afterlife, then watch as Master and the Sword Monarch get married at last! Believe me, you will see that day come!’

“…”

Forcefully driving the plot back on line? Anyone who has seen the ending knows that it was true!

Xiong Yu Lian instructed the two assassins to flank her on the left and right, sealing off all of Lin Jiu’s escape paths.

Like any villain whose plot was about to succeed, she began laughing maniacally.

“Who do you think you are!” Yu Lian taunted. “Mu Master has already checked your background when you were still crying and acting miserable as that shameless thieving mother of yours led you around! You must have pledged vows with at least a dozen men! You may not have bedded them, but what other shameless things have you not done? And you dare to touch the Sword Monarch with those hands? Pah! The Sword Monarch is the best man in the world! What gives you the right to marry a man that even I do not dare fantasize of?! Hah! Hahah!”

Xiong Yu Lian’s face was strangely red as if the blood was going over her head in excitement. She waved her hand heavily and added, “In this world, the only woman worthy of the Sword Monarch is my Master, do you understand! Master is such a wonderful person, so why must she be harmed by you! Do you know how much she drank last night?! When I saw her suffering, it felt like my heart was going to rip apart! And it’s all your fault! If you had put that drug into my Master’s cup like you should have and got sent back to Dong Ting, you would still be able to keep your life. What a pity. If you seek death, there is nobody you can blame!”

A whiff of alcohol could be smelled on her breath.

Lin Jiu looked on, confused. “Did I do something to hurt Liu Qing Yin? You asked me to put a drug inside her tea but I didn’t do it, so how did I harm her? And why did you have to drown her sorrows with alcohol? Did I not tell her that if she and Wei Liang loved each other, I would happily pack my bags and leave without a word? If she has any grievances, she can talk to Wei Liang, so why would she talk to you? Is there any way you can help besides hiring a killer?”

Xiong Yu Lian was already a little drunk, and this bombardment from Lin Jiu made her speechless for a moment.

The black-clothed cultivator on the left shouted impatiently to Xiong Yu Lian. “Are we killing her or not! Even though you’ve given us enough spiritual stones, this is the Ten Thousand Sword Retreat Sect! If we are found out, then my brothers will perish here!”

“Alright, alright,” Xiong Yu Lian said, then bit her lower lip. The abnormal redness on her face was gradually receding. “Kill her, and make sure she’s dead. Just toss her corpse down the mountain.”

The two sword cultivators looked at each other, and one of them stuck out his tongue and licked it across the blade.

Just as the second man was about to assault at Lin Jiu, a weak voice suddenly rose from the wooden door. “Stop.”

Xiong Yu Lian turned around and her face paled in fright. “Eldest Senior Master!”

Lin Jiu was also stunned.

She didn’t expect that Qin Yun Xi would actually come. His face was a little red, and he looked very weak. It seems like he pushed his wheelchair all the way here himself, and climbed up the main peak along the path beside the steps.

His cold and deep gaze was fixed on Xiong Yu Lian’s body.

“Isn’t this the Great Sword Immortal Qin Yun Xi?” one of the assassin’s voices trembled. “Didn’t they say he was seriously injured and dying?”

Xiong Yu Lian’s eyes flickered as she took in this new arrival and she bit her lower lip hard until it bled. After an instance of silence, she made up her mind. “Kill her! Eldest Senior Master’s cultivation hasn’t recovered yet. He’s just a cripple!”

Qin Yun Xi’s mouth moved slightly as he strained to speak. “Xiong Yu Lian, do you want to kill even me as well?”

Xiong Yu Lian’s eyebrows were locked into a frown. “As long as you act as if you had seen nothing and return to your Cloud Crane Peak, this disciple will never do anything to you!”

Qin Yun Xi sighed. “You…how did you become like this? I will not allow you to commit murder here today!”

Xiong Yu Lian gritted her teeth and barked an order to the two assassins. “Get her! What are you waiting for!”

The two men quickly brandished their swords and thrust the tips of their swords towards Lin Jiu.

“My apologies, Eldest Senior Master!” Xiong Yu Lian strode forward and spun Qin Yun Xi’s wheelchair around, pushing him outside.

Lin Jiu’s eyes were sharp. She noticed that Xiong Yu Lian was pushing the wheelchair with one hand as she stealthily took out a blade from her waist and aimed for Qin Yun Xi’s artery.

At this time, the two sword cultivators have already appeared in front of Lin Jiu. One aimed at Lin Jiu’s eyes and the other aimed at her throat.

Just in the nick of time, the temperature in the small wooden house suddenly dropped.

In the next moment, the swords of the two sword cultivators and the sword in Xiong Yu Lian’s hand were covered in snowy-white frost flowers.

The three of them were stunned for a moment by this change, but their movements did not stop and they continued to send their swords forward.

Clank—Clink—Ding-ding-ding—

The three frozen swords shattered inch after inch from the tip to the base, falling to the ground and shattering into fine glittering particles of dust.

The three were rooted on the spot, holding the useless hilts of their swords in their hands.

Xiong Yu Lian was the first to react. “Sword…Sword Monarch?”

Wei Liang’s ethereal figure appeared in the middle of the room. He gently lifted a hand, and clenched it.

Xiong Yu Lian and the two sword cultivators instantly screamed, frozen blood spewing from their mouths.

“Wait!” Qin Yun Xi cried. “If a disciple within the sect commits a crime, the punishment should be held out in the Hall of Punishment! You don’t kill one of your own…Master?”

Wei Liang’s hand stopped.

Lin Jiu saw a hint of irony in those clear black eyes.

Wei Liang slowly walked up to Qin Yun Xi and took out a leafy turquoise root-bearing piece of grass from his sleeve and threw it onto Qin Yun Xi’s lap.

“This is…the Essence Strengthening Grass…” Qin Yun Xi’s face looked somewhat conflicted as he looked at Wei Liang for a few moments before dropping his head. “Thank you, Master.” He looked at the three people who were unable to move an inch on the ground. “I already used a flare earlier. The Hall of Punishment will come to take them soon.”

Wei Liang did not look at him and tilted his head to signal to Lin Jiu to follow. She followed him out of the room obediently.

Wei Liang’s face looked a little bad. “What would happen to you if I had not returned tonight?”

Something suddenly crossed Lin Jiu’s mind. Could it be…Wei Liang deliberately teased her on the bed to scare her because he was angry?

Was he worried about her? No way!

Lin Jiu spoke. “Even though the Ten Thousand Sword Retreat Sect is a famous righteous sect, it is important to guard oneself around others. Since Xiong Yu Lian was able to plot against me with such devious methods, it is inevitable that she will do more in the night. That is why I planned to take the jade bottle to the Hall of Punishment and report her, after which I will wait there until you return.”

Wei Liang raised his brows. “You understand the sect very well.”

The one in charge of the Hall of Punishment was an elder surnamed Xing. He was extremely capable, and was a very strict and rigid man who did not show favoritism. In the entirety of the Ten Thousand Retreat Sect, this old man was the one who opposed Wei Liang’s love affair with Liu Qing Yin the most. The day the male and female leads took to their thrones, the old man retired with a grudge. He drank himself silly for three days, and he cursed at the moral degeneration of the newer generation.

Lin Jiu had long planned a way out. Staying at the Hall of Punishment was the safest choice.

“So…” Wei Liang stood with what seemed to be a smile on his face as he looked at Lin Jiu. “It’s time to expel that unworthy disciple from the sect, do you think?”

Lin Jiu was stunned and sobered up abruptly. He was talking about Liu Qing Yin!