"As those Soul Transformation ancestors became unable to ascend and passed away one by one as their lifespans reached their limits, the atmosphere of the cultivation world quietly changed at some unknown point," Rong Yuying's voice grew cold. "Male cultivators began to occupy the high positions of the major sects, the cultivation methods of female cultivators were disparaged as unorthodox paths, and even the standards for spirit root testing were secretly modified—for a female cultivator to enter a great sect, her spirit root aptitude must be even better than that of a male."
Li Nanzhu felt a jolt in her heart.
"The current Hehuan Sect..." Rong Yuying suddenly gave a self-deprecating smile, "On the surface, it still ranks second among the Eight Sects, flourishing like a garden of flowers. But in reality..."
She looked up, her gaze sharp as a blade. "In the next Sect Competition, we will likely be removed from the Eight Sects."
A deathly silence filled the mine.
"Why?" Li Nanzhu couldn't help but ask.
"Because the rules have changed," Rong Yuying said coldly. "The competition isn't about the strength of the disciples; it's about the sect legacy."
She sneered, "Legacy, to put it bluntly, is a comparison of which sect has more living Soul Transformation ancestors. Moreover, among the female cultivators with top-tier talent today, how many can even enter our Hehuan Sect? The strength of our disciples is declining with each generation, so how can they defeat those geniuses with top-tier talent?"
She looked at everyone, a trace of mockery in her eyes. "Guess how many of the current Eight Sects still have Soul Transformation stage female cultivators holding the fort?"
No one answered.
Rong Yuying didn't need an answer.
"Only my grandmother remains." The light of the night-luminescent pearl reflected the coldness in her eyes. "A hundred years ago, after the sect's last late-stage Soul Transformation ancestor passed away, the Hehuan Sect has been on a downward slope."
Li Nanzhu suddenly understood something, and a chill ran down her spine.
Without a late-stage Soul Transformation ancestor, even with someone like Rong Lingmeng, a cultivator in the early stage of Soul Transformation, how long could they hold on?
The fat sheep that was the Hehuan Sect had long been eyed greedily by other sects. Once removed from the Eight Sects, if anything happened to Rong Lingmeng... at that time, what the Hehuan Sect would lose wouldn't just be status and resources, but—a protective shield.
When that time came, what would the female cultivators of the Hehuan Sect face?
The answer was self-evident.
"So do you understand now?" Rong Yuying stood up, her pink gauze robes shimmering with a cold light under the night-luminescent pearl. "We carry these storage bags not just to collect the bodies of our fellow disciples..."
She looked into the deep tunnel, her voice like ice. "But to prepare for our own funerals."
The mine fell into a deathly silence, with only heavy breathing echoing. After a long time, Rong Yuying gently straightened her collar and returned to being the seductive and composed head disciple of the Hehuan Sect.
"So, little Zhu'er," she smiled and touched Li Nanzhu's face, her fingertips icy. "The next time you hear about some female cultivator failing her tribulation, you might want to think—"
"Did she really fail her tribulation, or was she made into a longevity-extending pill for some old monster?"
Li Nanzhu suddenly remembered the ending of the original novel's heroine, who "ascended to the upper realm." A wave of nausea crawled up her spine. If no one in the cultivation world could truly ascend, then did the child of fortune, Cang Dongqing, really reach the upper realm?
Why did she feel like this was all a scam?
Was the ending really as beautiful as it was in the original text?
And why had the current cultivation world become like this? Even if it was a world where the strong preyed on the weak, everything she knew now couldn't help but make Li Nanzhu feel disgusted.
Even in her past life as a journalist, where she had interviewed countless rescued victims of human trafficking and witnessed women being treated as commodities in war-torn countries, hearing this now, she could not remain calm.
Rong Yuying looked at Li Nanzhu's slightly pale face and suddenly chuckled, her fingertip gently tapping her brow. "Scared?"
That cold touch gave Li Nanzhu a start, bringing her back to her senses.
She suddenly remembered something and, after a moment's hesitation, spoke up. "Doesn't Senior Sister Rong have an engagement with Li Nanyi of the Wuji Sect? I heard it was an alliance between the direct disciples of two sects..."
The air in the mine suddenly froze.
Rong Yuying's smile turned cold instantly, and even the scent of rouge on her fingertips seemed to freeze. "You've heard of that waste too?"
Li Nanzhu was stunned.
"A waste who only relies on having a good master and a bit of talent for drawing talismans to get the title of a Wuji Sect direct disciple." Rong Yuying gently tapped her round fan. "He is merely a pawn their sect leader wants to use to swallow the Hehuan Sect's resources."
She pulled a jade pendant from her waist—the name "Nanyi" was carved on it—and shook it with a sneer. "The Wuji Sect wanted to borrow our Hehuan Sect's secret techniques to integrate them into talismans to seek a new breakthrough. In exchange, their sect leader personally arranged the connection, having Li Nanyi regularly send a batch of high-grade talismans to me."
Spiritual energy suddenly surged from her fingertips, nearly crushing the jade pendant.
"As you all probably know, that idiot turned around and gave an entire box of talismans to Cang Dongqing of the Sword Heart Sect!"
Seeming to realize her emotions were too agitated, she took a breath before continuing.
"Doesn't he know that this batch of talismans was an important token for the transaction between the two sects? Does he really think my feelings for him are so deep and sincere?" Rong Yuying's voice sounded like poisoned ice. "Taking things that were supposed to be for his fiancée to please another woman—"
"Because the Wuji Sect needs the support of the Sword Heart Sect," Feng Qingping suddenly interjected coldly. "If the Hehuan Sect is removed from the rankings, the Sword Heart Sect will take sixty percent of the vacated spiritual vein mines, while the Wuji Sect will get forty percent."
Li Nanzhu sucked in a breath of cold air. Although she had her suspicions, she hadn't expected the struggle for resources to be so nakedly brutal—hundreds of times more cruel than the capitalistic games of modern society.
What made her skin crawl even more was that the Rong Yuying in the original story, who was obsessed with love, couldn't possibly be the woman before her who saw through the calculations of interests so clearly.
Something must have gone wrong...
"So do you understand now?" Rong Yuying suddenly restrained her anger and returned to her seductive appearance. "The marriage alliance is nothing but a facade." She reattached the jade pendant to her waist. "Just like this jade pendant, it appears to be a token of affection on the surface, but it's actually a surveillance magic tool. However... it's not so easy to monitor me."
Li Nanzhu suddenly remembered the original plot—when Rong Yuying "went mad" later on, she did indeed always hold this jade pendant while muttering to herself.
Could it be...
"Alright." Rong Yuying brushed away non-existent dust from her hands, her eyes sharp. "Now to answer your initial question—precisely because of this, we must become even stronger."
She looked around, her gaze sweeping over every disciple of the Hehuan Sect. "Strong enough that even if we are removed from the Eight Sects, we can rely on our own strength to protect ourselves."
Li Nanzhu took a deep breath, suppressing the surging chill in her heart. "So that's why you risked coming here to save Junior Sister Ling and the others?"
"Correct." The corners of Rong Yuying's lips curled up. "Every disciple is our hope for the future." She suddenly leaned in, her rouge-scented breath brushing against Li Nanzhu's ear. "Just like your Five Elements Dao Sect—from what I've seen of the three of you, you're not simple at all."
Li Nanzhu's heart skipped a beat.
"Speaking of which..." Rong Yuying's round fan swayed gently, her gaze shifting between Li Nanzhu and Feng Qingping. "You'll be participating in the Sect Competition in half a year, right?"
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