Chapter 5: White Lotus, Have You Acted Enough?

At this point, she lowered her head, a faint blush creeping over her cheeks. “Besides, daughter… daughter sincerely admires the character and talent of the five young masters. If… if daughter had the chance to become their cultivation partner, it would also greatly benefit our Heavenly Dao Sect. Sister is acting on impulse; Father, you cannot allow her to damage the relationship and goodwill between our sect and these influential forces.”

Though she never explicitly stated her desire for those five, her meaning could not have been clearer.

How could someone like Chu Xiong fail to hear it? His gaze grew heavy as he fixed it on her. “Ruoyan, I know you admire those five, but they are men whom your sister has already cast aside. Under such circumstances, do you still wish to become their cultivation partner?”

Chu Ruoyan’s expression shifted slightly, but she quickly regained her composure. She bit her lower lip, as if making a great decision, and looked seriously at Chu Xiong. “Father, I know this is difficult for Sister to accept. But I truly like them, and I believe in their noble character—they won’t look down on me because of this. Moreover, an alliance between the forces behind them and the Heavenly Dao Sect will greatly benefit our sect’s future.”

Hearing this, Chu Xiong’s brows furrowed tightly, disappointment flickering in his eyes. He had always believed his own daughter to be gentle, kind, and exceptionally talented—also more reserved and self-respecting. He never imagined she would be so eager to become partners with those five, especially when they were men her sister had already rejected.

His gaze grew colder. He gently withdrew his sleeve from Chu Ruoyan’s grasp, his voice more severe than ever before. “Ruoyan, you are my own daughter, the most esteemed princess of the Heavenly Dao Sect. There are countless outstanding young men in the world—why must you fixate on those five?”

Chu Ruoyan was so startled by his stern tone that her eyes reddened at once. She had never seen her father so angry with her. “Father, I was only thinking of the sect. Sister humiliated them so today—if we don’t make amends in time, what if the five major forces unite against us?”

Saying this, she suddenly turned to Chu Yuyao. “Sister, you too! A peaceful dissolution of the contract would have sufficed—you didn’t have to make such a scene.”

Chu Yuyao scoffed. With half her face exposed from the broken mask struck by Ji Ciyuan, her withered features looked even more terrifying. “Sister, your words are truly amusing. When they barged into my quarters to force me to break the contract, where were you then, to say a word or two? And now you play the good person.”

“You—!”

Chu Ruoyan trembled with rage but dared not act out with Chu Xiong present.

Chu Xiong, aggravated by their bickering, looked even more displeased. “Enough. This matter ends here. No one is to mention it again.”

With that, he swept his wide sleeves and turned away, leaving the room.

Only the sisters remained.

As soon as Chu Xiong left, the gentleness on Chu Ruoyan’s face vanished, replaced by a venomous glare fixed on Chu Yuyao.

She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice. “Do you think you can win against me like this? How does it feel to taste the Thousand Severance Powder?”

Chu Yuyao’s heart skipped a beat, but her expression stayed calm as she met her sister’s gaze. “Oh? So the poison in my body is the Thousand Severance Powder—and it was you who administered it? Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell Father?”

Chu Ruoyan sneered, her eyes full of mockery. “You really think Father would believe you? Don’t forget your reputation—just recently, you tried to poison me. Luckily, I noticed something wrong with the tea and didn’t drink it. I merely returned the favor in kind. Besides, do you have any proof?”

She smirked inwardly, but outwardly remained unfazed. “Whether I have proof or not is none of your concern. Just remember this: those who do evil will meet their own end—not because retribution is absent, but because the time has not yet come.”

With these words, she ignored the sudden ugliness on Chu Ruoyan’s face and turned to leave. She couldn’t bear to stay in that wretched place a moment longer.

Yet, in her current situation, she couldn’t easily leave the Heavenly Dao Sect. Without its protection, life would be unbearably harsh.

The life of a rogue cultivator was never easy.

Her birth parents had been rogue cultivators—self-serving to the extreme. If she left the Heavenly Dao Sect, they would immediately latch onto her to drain her dry.

When Chu Ruoyan was young, she’d been raised by those very parents, and their parasitic ways had left her scarred.

Even after joining the Heavenly Dao Sect, she still occasionally fell victim to their grasp.

She had no desire to be entangled with them again.

What’s more, she was now poisoned. Although the detoxification pill from the system temporarily suppressed it, she had no more than seven months left to live.

She needed to find a cure—and quickly.

[Host, you’d best give up. The Thousand Severance Powder in your body is an ancient, incurable poison. Even if the Medicine King himself from the Valley of Medicine tried, he couldn’t remove it. The only way to detoxify is through strategy.]

The system’s sudden voice in her mind startled her, causing her steps to falter.

But she quickly composed herself. “An incurable poison? Didn’t Chu Ruoyan administer this? How could she possibly have such a formidable toxin—one even the Medicine King can’t cure?”

Chu Ruoyan, like her birth parents, had been a rogue cultivator. Even if she’d stumbled upon something valuable, her parasitic parents would have stripped her of it. Even after being acknowledged by her family and joining the Heavenly Dao Sect, she hadn’t been there long enough for Chu Xiong to entrust her with such a poison. It was all very suspicious.

[Suggestion: investigate whether someone is backing Chu Ruoyan. Also, consider why it is specifically the Thousand Severance Powder—an ancient poison targeting the Yin-Yang constitution.]

The system’s tone was laced with warning.

Chu Yuyao couldn’t help but touch her own face. “Are you saying this body has a Yin-Yang constitution?”

[Ding! Hidden task triggered: Uncover the connection between the Thousand Severance Powder and the Yin-Yang Face. Reward: Yin-Yang Creation Sutra (fragment). No time limit.]

The system gave no further answer, launching a hidden quest instead.

Chu Yuyao’s heart pounded at the voice in her mind, a sense of having brushed against a tremendous secret.

In her predecessor’s memories, this Yin-Yang face was congenital. As a child, she’d suffered much mockery and scorn for it, seen as an ill omen.

Though no one dared insult her openly, behind her back she was called a monster, a ghost-faced girl.

Coupled with possessing the weakest Five Spiritual Roots, her predecessor’s childhood had been filled with inferiority and gloom, shaping her later extreme and volatile nature.

But no one had ever mentioned anything about a Yin-Yang constitution.

“System, do you know something you’re not telling me?”

She couldn’t help but ask inwardly.

[Host, this system only provides quests and rewards—no spoilers allowed~] The system’s tone turned playful. [But here’s a friendly hint: your face may not be a flaw, but an as-yet-unawakened special constitution.]

Chu Yuyao was momentarily stunned.

A special constitution?

In the cultivation world, that meant extraordinary talent and was highly coveted by all great sects.

If that were true…

Then her predecessor was no waste, but a rare genius.

But why, then, had her cultivation progressed so slowly?

Could it be because the constitution had not yet awakened?

Lost in thought, she failed to notice that as she passed some disciples, they caught sight of her face and, terrified, turned and fled.