[Then what else could you be?]
[Cold sweat instantly soaked your back, but you forced a smile onto your face and asked with a grin, "Master, are you reluctant to let me leave?"]
[The sect leader's expression changed for an instant, but quickly returned to normal. She smiled, her smile as kindly as you remembered, even a little gentler than usual. "Silly child, of course I hate to see you go. If you run into danger out there, how could I rest easy? Wait a while, and I'll have your eldest senior brother go with you."]
[She stood up, slowly walked over to you, and reached out to stroke your head, just as she had done countless times over the past seven years.]
[You kept smiling, your back rigid. Luckily, the sect leader noticed nothing.]
[Qing Yun quickly laughed it off, steering past the matter with consummate skill.]
[Seeing Qing Yun like this was an eye-opener. You truly hadn't expected this eldest senior brother to be such a good actor, too.]
[Why didn't this damned place have an anti-fraud app? You really needed one!]
[You returned to your little wooden cabin, closed the door, and slowly slid down to sit against it.]
[Moonlight shone through the window, spreading a layer of silver-white across the floor. You stared at that patch of moonlight, your mind racing. Qing Yun's acting meant he definitely knew everything. Qingfeng had left early, and you weren't quite sure whether he knew, but that had nothing to do with you. Your most important task now was to escape!]
[The nanny and Liu Bai were both good people, and your first simulation had gone far too smoothly. You had always thought that was because you were lucky. Now that you thought about it, it hadn't been luck at all-you had simply never truly entered the world of Martial Artists.]
[You had only been a mortal without spiritual roots, with a little silver to your name at most, and not much of it. Who would bother scheming against you?]
[But things were different now.]
[You had spiritual roots. You could cultivate. You had value.]
[The sect you had always considered home suddenly bared its fangs, yet you discovered you didn't even have a stick in your hands to fight back with. But sitting around waiting to die wasn't your style. Please choose:
1. Confront the sect leader directly and demand an answer.
2. Pretend to know nothing and continue trusting everyone in the Green Bamboo Sect.
3. On a dark and windy night, little Jiang fled for her life-find an opportunity to escape the Green Bamboo Sect!]
Did that even need choosing?
Three, of course!
[The next day, you carried on as usual. Cultivation, medicinal bath, sleep.]
[The third day, the fourth day...]
[A month later, you sensed that the gaze lingering on you had finally disappeared.]
[Thank goodness you had never talked back to the sect leader since joining the Green Bamboo Sect. Perhaps they thought you were an obedient, promising disciple who harbored no suspicions about them.]
[On the seventh night after that gaze disappeared, you finally acted.]
[At a quarter to one in the morning, all was silent.]
[You gently pushed open the window, vaulted out, and landed almost soundlessly.]
[Although you hadn't managed to equip the Lightfooted trait, you still had the lightness skills you had trained at the Changfeng Martial Arts School, enough to let you move through the night as silently as a cat.]
[You skirted your eldest senior brother's cabin. He slept deeply; you had already observed that. Avoiding the sect leader's wooden cabin, you followed the path down the back mountain, placing every step where there were the fewest fallen leaves.]
[The mountain gate drew closer and closer, and your heart beat faster and faster.]
[As long as you passed through that gate and got down the mountain, you could cover the three hundred li to the capital in a day and a night if you ran at full speed.]
[Then you would go to the Marquis's Household and rescue the nanny, buy a little courtyard home, and focus on cultivating. You would never think of taking shortcuts again! The anti-fraud campaigns in your previous life truly hadn't lied to you!]
[Your thoughts were a jumble, but your feet never stopped.]
[You lifted your foot, and just as you were about to reach the mountain gate-]
["Junior sister." A strong, resonant voice rang out behind you.]
[It was Qing Yun.]
[Your foot stiffened in midair, as though frozen.]
["Where are you off to so late at night?" There was laughter in Qing Yun's voice, but to your ears, that laughter was as cold as the bitter winds of the twelfth lunar month.]
[You slowly turned around.]
[Qing Yun stood more than three zhang behind you, holding that longsword, its blade already drawn. Moonlight shone on his face. It was still the face you had looked at for seven years, but his eyes no longer held any of their old simple honesty.]
[Only now did you realize-what second level of the Houtian realm? He was clearly a fourth-level Houtian Martial Artist, just like you!]
["Oh, it's you, eldest senior brother. What a coincidence. Haha, haha... I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk."]
[If he was playing dumb, you would play dumb along with him.]
["Couldn't sleep?" Qing Yun laughed. "Does being unable to sleep require bringing a bundle? Does it require sneaking around? Come back quietly, and I'll pretend nothing happened. You'll still be my junior sister."]
[You nodded and smiled too, the very picture of an affectionate elder brother and respectful younger sister.]
[Qing Yun smiled, seemingly letting down his guard, and even sheathed his sword. Looking as though he was offering earnest, well-meant advice, he said, "Master has treated you well. She's poured resources into you, too. The Green Bamboo Sect may not have given you life, but it did raise you. All we're asking is for you to give a little flesh and blood. What's..."]
What manipulation! What a sanctimonious Martial Artist! Give a little flesh and blood? They were going to eat people!
Jiang Mi finally understood. She had actually joined an Evil Cultivation Sect.
But if they were trying to manipulate Jiang Mi, they had picked the wrong person.
[You suddenly realized this was a good opportunity. Perhaps Qing Yun thought you had never learned any martial techniques; he had completely let down his guard against you.]
[The sect leader had been right about one thing: Qing Yun was absolutely unfit for anything important!]
[You seized the moment, not even letting Qing Yun finish before suddenly blasting out a punch.]
[Junior sister, my foot! Tell it to my Changfeng Fist!]
[The force of your punch carried the spiritual power you had accumulated over seven years, forming a wave of air visible to the naked eye that shot straight at Qing Yun's face! Qing Yun's expression changed drastically. Caught off guard, he only had time to raise his sword across his body to block-]
[Boom!]
[Qing Yun went flying backward and slammed into a large tree, blood spraying wildly from his mouth.]
[Those twenty taels of silver had been money well spent!]
[You cheered inwardly and wasted no time, turning to charge down the mountain. But after taking just one step, your feet very honestly turned back again.]
[Qing Yun was already coughing up blood, yet the sword was still fine. It was definitely something good!]
[If you didn't take the opportunity to grab it, wouldn't you be letting down the Green Bamboo Sect's kindness?]
[You strode over to Qing Yun. He was leaning against the trunk, pale-faced, clutching his chest as he coughed, blood dripping between his fingers.]
[Seeing you return, a flicker of terror crossed his eyes, and he struggled to raise the longsword in his hand.]
[Without even looking at him, you snatched the longsword away with the speed of thunder before the ears could be covered, then helped yourself to the money pouch at Qing Yun's waist.]
[Qing Yun's eyes widened, and he spat out another mouthful of blood. "You... you..."]
["Thank you, eldest senior brother!" you called, charging into the night without looking back.]
Before you continue