She leaned forward, her gaze meeting Yun Ni's directly. "Then let me ask you: if Thousand Senior Sister came back, would you still dare say that?"
Yun Ni's movements came to a halt. The "Thousand Senior Sister" Fu Xiaoxiao was referring to was the sect master of the Joyful Union Sect—the woman who, on the eve of the great upheaval, had vanished without a trace along with the sect's most senior elders.
"When the sect master left, she didn't tell anyone where she was going." Yun Ni's voice was lower than before. "If I hadn't held things together, the Joyful Union Sect would have been targeted long ago."
She raised her head and looked at Fu Xiaoxiao, her gaze heavy.
"You ask if I'd still dare say it when Senior Sister came back?"
"Then tell me—when is she coming back? Is she coming back at all?"
The two questions stopped Fu Xiaoxiao's momentum in its tracks.
The sect master's disappearance was indeed the Joyful Union Sect's deepest hidden wound. Under such circumstances, Yun Ni had taken on that enormous burden and struggled to keep the sect afloat for all these years.
Fu Xiaoxiao didn't want to admit it, but she knew in her heart that if someone else had taken Yun Ni's place, they might not have done any better. That didn't mean she could accept cooperating with the Longevity Sect.
"Even if Senior Sister never comes back, you have no right to make this kind of decision on behalf of the Joyful Union Sect." Fu Xiaoxiao clenched her teeth and spoke each word distinctly.
Yun Ni watched her as the wind blew several bamboo leaves that had grown out beyond the window loose. The steam had already vanished from the bowl of lotus seed soup on the table.
At