Chapter 25

By now, more and more people had gathered around them.

"That little girl's in for it. She smashed the thing both sides were fighting over."

"She looks pretty young. She probably didn't mean to. Besides, it didn't belong to that girl who keeps crying in the first place."

"I don't understand young people these days. They act like robbers and still think they're in the right."

Bai Su felt awkward as she listened to the surrounding comments. She no longer knew whether to keep crying.

Su Mianmian stared in disbelief at the girl who had just caused trouble. What was Su Jiu doing here?

Having smashed the jade, Su Jiu looked apologetically at Bai Su. "Sorry. How many spirit stones did this jade cost? I'll pay you back."

Lu Tianqi pointed at Su Jiu and snapped furiously, "Can you even afford it?"

Su Jiu lowered her head, a cold sneer curling her lips as an icy gleam flashed through her eyes. It was because of this piece of jade that Mianmian had died without even an intact corpse in her previous life.

"Pfft!" Someone in the crowd could no longer stand it and burst out laughing. "You weren't even the ones who bought it. What right do you have to blame her? Even if someone ought to be angry, it's not your turn. Why do I get the feeling these people aren't right in the head?" As the young man finished speaking, mocking laughter rose from the crowd one after another.

Lu Tianqi abruptly came to his senses as well. They really hadn't paid for it. He was mortified, but more than anything, he was furious.

Seeing that the item had shattered, the stall owner hurriedly packed up and left, lest the buyer come to her senses and demand her spirit stones back.

"A Jiu, come here. It was mine. You did well!" Su Mianmian pulled Su Jiu behind her and declared brazenly, "I'd rather see it shattered than leave it to robbers!"

Bai Su quietly clenched her fists, though her face still wore a pitiful expression.

"Su! Mian! Mian! I'll remember you!" Ran Chao swept a cold glance over the two of them, then the group slunk away.

Su Jiu clearly saw the undisguised malice in their eyes, and her guard rose.

Then she glanced again at the jade, now broken into several pieces, and smiled. The culprit was gone now, wasn't it? Remembering the cause of Su Mianmian's death mentioned in that book, boundless viciousness surged through her again. It seemed some things could not be avoided simply because she wanted to avoid them.

That book recorded many events involving Bai Su, but its timeline was unclear. Even if Su Jiu knew certain things would happen in the future, she had no idea exactly which day they would occur.

In any case, she could not let Mianmian follow the same path as in her previous life. If it really couldn't be avoided, if it really couldn't be avoided...

Then her only choice would be to kill this world's Child of Destiny. Cultivation was already an act of defiance against Heaven. At worst, she would defy it once more. A green glimmer flashed across the tear mole beneath Su Jiu's eye.

This Jade Pendant was, in fact, the very culprit behind Su Mianmian's death. In the original story, Su Mianmian had failed to win it from Bai Su, and the Jade Pendant had naturally remained in Bai Su's hands. Su Mianmian's followers had also reported everything that happened that day, down to the last detail, to Hong Ling, the peak master of Blazing Flame Peak. After several disciples who had witnessed the incident spread the story among the sect's upper ranks, none of the elders or peak masters thought well of Bai Su when she reached Foundation Establishment. They unanimously deemed her character unacceptable. Thus, Bai Su had still been in the Outer Gate when Su Jiu was on the verge of death.

The handsome men felt Bai Su had suffered a towering injustice, but they dared not trouble the peak masters or elders. In the end, they decided to take it out on Su Mianmian for Bai Su. Yet how could a Personal Disciple possibly go without something like a Recording Stone? Afraid it would record all their faces, the men first tricked Su Mianmian into coming out, then had the Female Protagonist release the Great Monster from the jade to attack her. That Great Monster had a Cultivation Level of at least Nascent Soul, while Su Mianmian was only at Foundation Establishment. Almost the instant they met, Su Mianmian lost her life.

Bai Su thought Su Mianmian's whip was quite pretty, so Gong Hao stepped forward and used the same method to extract Su Mianmian's Life-Bound Treasure, giving it to Bai Su. Who would have thought that Su Mianmian had not yet died completely? It was only when Gong Hao extracted her Life-Bound Treasure that the last of her life was extinguished. As a result, Gong Hao's figure was captured by the Recording Stone.

From then on, the Azure Tide Sect began hunting Gong Hao. Afraid of implicating Bai Su, Gong Hao stopped following the little group of handsome men and went off on his own, hunting down Azure Tide Sect disciples everywhere and taking their Life-Bound Treasures.

Later, because of Su Jiu's death, the sect master's two Personal Disciples uncovered Bai Su's connection to Gong Hao and issued a warrant for her arrest. But the Female Protagonist was the Female Protagonist, after all. Bai Su simply took all the handsome men into a secret realm and began living in seclusion.

Sealed within this Jade Pendant was the soul of a Great Monster who had failed Tribulation Transcendence. It was one of Bai Su's trump cards in the later part of the book. At present, the Great Monster inside had yet to awaken and was still resting and recovering. As long as the Jade Pendant was shattered, the Great Monster's soul would scatter into oblivion.

Naturally, Su Jiu would not let such an opportunity slip by.

Seeing Su Jiu staring at the fragments of the Jade Pendant scattered across the ground, Su Mianmian waved a hand in front of her face.

"A Jiu, was there something wrong with this Jade Pendant?"

Of course there was. "No. It just feels like a shame that I smashed a perfectly good Jade Pendant to pieces."

Su Mianmian waved dismissively. "What's the big deal? It was just a pretty Jade Pendant. If I find a prettier one someday, I'll buy it for you."

Su Jiu withdrew her gaze and smiled. "What made you take a liking to this Jade Pendant?"

Su Mianmian smiled. "I saw that the Jade Pendant could stay so cool in this scorching summer weather, so I wanted to take it back to Blazing Flame Peak to help me beat the heat."

The corner of Su Jiu's mouth twitched. She wanted to say something, but in the end, she pressed her lips together and said nothing.

Mu Zihan and Xia Meng came over then, both looking somewhat awkward.

When it came to their relationships, the two were actually closer to Bai Su. After all, although Bai Su was something of a white lotus, she really was generous. They had borrowed plenty of Spirit-Gathering Pills and spirit stones from her.

That was especially true of Mu Zihan. Otherwise, with her fourfold spirit root aptitude, she could never have reached the Second Qi Refining Layer in a single year.

"Su Jiu, Xia Meng and I are heading back first." To Mu Zihan, a favored daughter of Heaven like Su Mianmian was someone they could not afford to offend, but she did not want to offend Bai Su over her either.

Keeping their distance was the best choice.

Su Jiu nodded, clearly understanding what they were thinking. Everyone had their own aspirations, after all. Whether they could become friends depended entirely on fate, and she would not force it.

Seeing that neither girl was angry, Mu Zihan and Xia Meng breathed a sigh of relief, then bowed with their hands clasped and left.

Watching their retreating figures, Su Jiu sighed.

"Stay away from that Bai Su from now on."

Su Mianmian was puzzled. "Why?"

"Do you know Bai Su well?"

Su Mianmian shook her head.

Su Jiu gave a soft, derisive laugh. "You're a Personal Disciple. She's an Outer Gate disciple."

Su Mianmian did not quite understand what Su Jiu was getting at, but she nodded. "I know."

"When she was tested in Peace City, she had three spirit roots. Her best was a wood spiritual root at sixty percent, and she had only just achieved qi induction. Now her Cultivation Level is only one level below mine, and one level above yours. You have a master guiding you. She doesn't."

Su Mianmian was no fool. With Su Jiu's hints laid out this far, she gradually began to understand, and her expression slowly changed. "You mean she has access to better resources than I do? But why? Why would the sect give an Outer Gate disciple so many resources?"

Su Jiu shook her head. "You think that's impossible too. That's why I suspect her resources don't come from the sect at all."

Su Jiu guided Su Mianmian little by little.

Su Mianmian grew even more confused. "Then where do they come from?"

Su Jiu shook her head. She could hardly tell Su Mianmian that this was a novel and Bai Su was a Child of Destiny with a built-in cheat.

"It's probably a fortuitous opportunity of her own. To encounter an opportunity that great shows how strong her fortune is. Since our personalities mean we're destined not to get along, we should avoid her as much as possible, so her fortune doesn't affect us." Otherwise, there was no telling what this biased Heavenly Dao might do.

Su Jiu said all this only to make Su Mianmian feel a little wary of Bai Su, lest she suffer the same misery of being entrapped and harmed as she had in her previous life.

And just as Su Jiu had hoped, Su Mianmian gradually began to feel a measure of wariness toward Bai Su.