Chapter 107: What Business Is It of Yours?

As soon as he said this, bursts of laughter broke out around them.

“So those two spent ten whole years alone together in that secret realm. I bet they did everything they ought not to have done. They may even have conceived a child.”

“The Azure Heaven Sect really is something else. Not only do they love airing their dirty laundry, they even enjoy some forbidden master-disciple romance?”

Yan Shu stood where she was, staring coldly at the people speaking.

She could not help thinking that these people looked even uglier than the keyboard warriors from her former life.

Sun Changfeng and Qiu Shuoran were clearly greatly enjoying the spectacle of Yan Shu and Xiao Jihan being humiliated by the crowd. They even stopped accusing them and simply stood there, quietly listening as the others cursed and mocked the two of them.

In the crowd, Yu Wenzhe’s face turned cold. He was about to step forward and speak up for Yan Shu when Shan Zhiqing caught his arm.

Shan Zhiqing looked up at him, her expression sincere. “Senior Brother, you and I both know that Senior Sister Yan is not that kind of person. But the problem is that others do not know that. Besides, at a time like this, if you step out now, you will not help Senior Sister Yan at all. On the contrary, you will only make others slander her even more.”

The foot Yu Wenzhe had lifted settled back down. He knew she had a point.

Those who were jeering at Yan Shu were all people of questionable character from the various sects. If he went out now, he would not only fail to help Yan Shu, he would likely only confirm the accusation that she lusted after male beauty.

Deep down, he also had another faint hope: he wanted to hear Yan Shu rebut them himself, to hear her deny the idea that she and Xiao Jihan were as the others imagined.

“We’ve said all this, and Yan Shu and Xiao Jihan still haven’t said a single word in rebuttal. If they have nothing to hide, then what is this if not guilt?”

As though tearing down someone who had once seemed untouchable from his altar was the most gratifying thing in the world, those people all revealed their ugliest faces, hurling filthy words and malicious ridicule without restraint.

Suddenly, a Nine-Section Thunder Whip appeared in Yan Shu’s hand, flickering with a faint blue-violet radiance of lightning.

Yan Shu stepped forward, walking step by step toward the two people who had accused her of conceiving in secret and coveting beauty.

Her cold expression startled the crowd, and they unconsciously made way for her.

Even those standing beside the two slanderers took a step back, instantly leaving the pair isolated.

The two men’s hearts tightened, but they still forced themselves to shout, all bluster and no substance: “If you dared to do it, why are you afraid of people talking? Go on then, say it—didn’t you take in Xiao Jihan, whose spiritual roots are false, as your disciple for selfish reasons?”

At those words, Yan Shu stopped in her tracks and turned to look back at Xiao Jihan.

The original Yan Shu had indeed taken him as her disciple out of selfish motives. If Xiao Jihan wanted to announce it to the world, this was the best possible moment.

Seeing her reaction, the two men immediately grew emboldened. “See? I told you there was something shameful going on between them!”

The crowd had already been suspicious. Hearing this, and seeing Yan Shu’s expression, even those who had remained neutral could not help but believe it, and they began murmuring among themselves.

Just then, Xiao Jihan, who had not spoken once, suddenly gave a cold laugh. His phoenix eyes swept over the crowd as he spat out four icy words: “What business is it of yours?”

Yan Shu: …

So, serious question: what do you do when you have a pig of an ally? Looking for an answer, urgently.

Yet Xiao Jihan’s righteous, matter-of-fact attitude left everyone stunned.

Yes, what did this have to do with them?

Even if Yan Shu had coveted beauty, even if Xiao Jihan had become the man beneath her skirts, there had been countless examples of master and disciple becoming dao companions in the cultivation world. Were they really going to mock them for that? Would that not mean they were mocking everyone in the cultivation world who had ever become a pair with their disciple or master?

At that moment, Sun Changfeng recovered his composure. He let out a cold snort. “What you and Yan Shishu do is your own affair. Even if you were engaged in disgraceful conduct, I would have no standing to say otherwise. But what you absolutely should not have done was privately refine the Beast-Luring Powder and scatter it on me, nearly costing me my life!”

Qiu Shuoran also said coldly, “Exactly! For the sake of an opportunity, you harmed your fellow disciples and secretly refined the forbidden Beast-Luring Powder. Such a man deserves to be killed by all! Today, I will seek justice before everyone present!”

“Hah.” Xiao Jihan gave a cold laugh at that, looking at him with open disdain. “You?”

Qiu Shuoran immediately flew into a rage and summoned his flying sword, pointing it straight at Xiao Jihan. “Do you dare fight me openly and fairly? If you lose, I will pretend today’s matter never happened. If you lose, then you will immediately kneel and give me and my master three loud kowtows, then get out of the Azure Heaven Sect!”

Xiao Jihan looked at him with frost in his eyes, his tone just as contemptuous. “Why would I not dare?”

Qiu Shuoran’s eyes flashed with viciousness. Today, he would surely take Xiao Jihan’s dog life!

He was just about to agree when Sun Changfeng on the side cut in. “Shuoran! Do not be so presumptuous! This was already his fault. Expelling him from the sect would be the proper course of action. You are a single-spirit-root cultivator; what good would it look like for you to spar with someone who only has false roots? Would that not make it seem as though you are using your strength to bully the weak?”

Qiu Shuoran blinked in confusion. “Master, you…”

“Enough.” Sun Changfeng wore an expression of lofty virtue as he turned to Xiao Jihan. “I only want justice. Come back to the sect with me and be punished in the discipline hall!”

Xiao Jihan gave a cold smile. “Justice? Since you want justice, I can give it to you right now. There is no need to go to the discipline hall.”

Seeing his confident bearing, everyone grew suspicious. Could it be that Xiao Jihan still had some hidden trump card?

Just as Xiao Jihan was about to make a move, Yan Shu quickly spoke up. “Wait!”

Xiao Jihan looked at her. Yan Shu pointed her thunder whip at the two men who had slandered her and said, “Let me deal with these two first!”

As the male lead, Yan Shu did not worry in the least that he would not be able to clear his name. Though she felt that, judging by the original novel’s description of the male lead’s character, he really might have privately refined Beast-Luring Powder and scattered it on Sun Changfeng.

After all, Sun Changfeng was no good person.

But the problem was, she did not want to take the blame for it.

Even less did she want to stand there like a timid little bird, enduring slander and insults without so much as a reaction. Her rule was simple: if she was going to slap someone’s face, she would do it to their face, and if she was going to hit someone, she would not wait until the next day.

She was not a doormat, and she had no intention of swallowing her anger.

Without another word, she swung the thunder whip and attacked the two men.

They had not expected her to strike so suddenly and were caught off guard by the first lash.

The thunder whip carried pure and concentrated lightning power. It bore through their wounds and surged straight toward their dantian, the pain of lightning even reaching their golden cores!

The two retreated repeatedly, but their mouths still refused to yield. “What did we say that was wrong? Xiao Jihan admitted it himself!”

Admitted it your mother!

You shameless scum! You filthy wretches! Your whole family is disgraceful!

Yan Shu was furious. She could not beat the male lead, but could she not beat these two bastards?

That was right. She was taking out her anger on the weak. She was picking the soft persimmons.

Her gaze turned icy as she looked at them. Then, in an instant, she transformed the whip into a dragon and sent it surging straight at the two men.

Ten years in the secret realm aside, just the rare mutant spiritual roots she possessed, not to mention the thousand-year spirit wine from the Medicine King, had caused her cultivation to improve dramatically.

Because of the seal within her body, she had been suppressed to the late stage of the Golden Core realm. But in truth, her sea of spiritual power had already reached the late stage of Nascent Soul. Dealing with two Golden Core cultivators was nothing at all.

Once the lightning dragon appeared, even the air seemed to be tinged with the essence of thunder and lightning. The crowd was instantly dumbstruck.

They had seen sword qi take form. They had seen spells take form. But that was only an illusion of form. They had never before seen a lifeless object transform directly into a living shape.