As expected of the male protagonist, so decisive in his killing.
Luoyun Huan retreated sharply, dodging the sharp blade, but the tea leaves she had so carefully picked were consumed by the flames. Her bamboo basket hit the ground, and the tender tea leaves spilled out, scattering across the sandy earth.
Clutching her neck as blood welled between her fingers, Luoyun Huan stumbled backward.
Yet inwardly, she cursed her terrible luck.
"Damn System, think of something and save me!"
In the Immortal Cultivation World, the gap in cultivation levels was as vast as a natural chasm. Without the System acting like a *deus ex machina*, her original body's pathetic Mid Qi Condensation rank stood no chance against the male lead's Early Golden Core realm.
[Host, do not panic.]
[You are still under the novice protection period.]
The System's tone remained unhurried, showing no trace of fear. Hearing this, Luoyun Huan let out a massive sigh of relief.
Good... wonderful. She was still under novice protection, which meant no matter how hard she courted death, she wouldn't actually die.
Instantly re-energized, Luoyun Huan prepared to stand up and wage a war of words against the entire group, vowing to curse the male protagonist and female supporting character until they were drenched in blood.
Suddenly, a familiar "beep-beep" alert sounded in her ear—a notification tone Luoyun Huan knew all too well, triggered only when Eldest Senior Sister was in close proximity.
As it turned out, today was Qin Yiqiu's patrol day.
A plan formed in Luoyun Huan's mind. Biting down hard on the tip of her tongue, she let the pain flood her senses until tears welled up in her eyes.
"I don't know what I did wrong to deserve being treated like this by Senior Brother..."
"These tea leaves are wild anyway; is it really such a crime for me to pick a few?"
Her voice was tearful and delicate, sounding like a fox caught in a hunter's trap. Her nose twitched as she let out soft, whimpering sounds.
Lin Rouyun was dumbfounded, never expecting this woman to be so adept at playing the weak victim. Just as she was about to speak, she felt a chilly breeze sweep across her back.
"What do you think you're doing? Bullying a fellow disciple right here—do you have any regard for the rules of the Yunjian Mountain Sect?"
A man's reprimand echoed across the mountain peak. Su Jue frowned in displeasure, only to find the disciplinary squad standing before them.
Yet what turned his face pale wasn't the disciplinary squad—which he normally wouldn't have given a second thought—but rather... the sight of Qin Yiqiu.
Clearly, Qin Yiqiu had seen this scene as well.
It took barely a single glance for her to recognize the bullied outer disciple.
Unconsciously tightening her grip on her belt, Qin Yiqiu could not understand why this person continued to face bullying despite all her best efforts to help her.
Worse still, the bullies had escalated from a few outer disciples to her own junior brother and junior sister.
"Eldest... Senior Sister..."
Lin Rouyun stuttered as Eldest Senior Sister landed on the ground, completely ignoring the two of them and walking straight up to Luoyun Huan.
"Why are you being bullied again?"
Looking at the scattered tea leaves on the ground, Qin Yiqiu was momentarily at a loss. Even so, she squatted down, reached out, righted the bamboo basket, and began picking out the clean, tender leaves untainted by blood and soil.
"I don't know..."
Tears welled in Luoyun Huan's eyes, mixed with the pain from her tongue. Drop by drop, they fell, dampening the back of her hand and wetting her eyelashes. A true picture of a beauty in tears.
It was enough to throw anyone's heart into disarray.
"They said I was disrupting your Dao Heart, Eldest Senior Sister..."
The more Luoyun Huan spoke, the louder her crying became. Her tears had started as an act, but soon became laced with the genuine grievance of being dragged across worlds by the System.
Unable to help herself, Qin Yiqiu pulled her into an embrace, her slender fingers stroking gently down her spine as if comforting a startled cat.
Even the System was stunned by Luoyun Huan's acting skills.
This was super-tier tea-art!
Top-tier green tea.
Seeing someone cry like this would stir compassion in anyone's heart. Frowning, Qin Yiqiu suppressed the fluttering sensation rising in her chest.
Instead, she turned to look at Su Jue and Lin Rouyun.
Wiping away her tears with her finger, Luoyun Huan had yet to recover from her aggrieved state when the System's voice chimed in her ear.
[Congratulations, Host! Favorability increased by 1 point!]
Not only was the System pleasantly surprised, but Luoyun Huan herself froze for a moment. She truly hadn't expected this; previously, favorability points had trickled in by fractions of a point, and now a whole integer had been handed over out of nowhere.
She didn't know whether to feel touched or suspicious.
Did the Eldest Senior Sister actually enjoy watching her cry? But that would be way too perverted.
Yet, recalling that this book was an unspeakable mess with all sorts of bizarre kinks, Luoyun Huan wanted to die for a split second.
"I have said it many times: do not rely on your status as the Master's disciples to bully your peers."
Qin Yiqiu spoke with an aura of absolute frost. Cold sweat broke out on both of their foreheads, but Su Jue had always been someone who refused to compromise or admit defeat easily.
"Eldest Senior Sister, you've been bewitched and blinded by this vixen! If this goes on and your Dao Heart is ruined, no one can bear the consequences! After cultivating so hard for so many years, do you really want to see it all go up in flames?!"
Su Jue shouted this out, mustering all his courage.
The next instant, a sword hilt struck him viciously across the cheek, making his head ring with a loud buzzing sound.
"My affairs have never required your permission to decide. Bullying a fellow disciple is bullying, and there are no excuses that can absolve you."
Seeing this and fearing that the Eldest Senior Sister might give her a taste of that sword hilt as well, Lin Rouyun proved herself a wise judge of the situation and swiftly raised a hand to slap her own face.
A crisp sound echoed through the air.
"Since the two of you cannot control your impatience, copy the Heart-Cleansing Formula three thousand times. No hiring someone to do it for you, no using magic. You will copy it character by character."
"And remember, you will kneel in the Patriarch's ancestral hall to write it."
Both lowered their heads, not daring to utter a word. The previously clear sky suddenly grew hazy, and a biting chill permeated the surroundings.
Everyone knew the Eldest Senior Sister was on the verge of losing her temper. And rightly so—after all, the two junior disciples she cherished most had actually gone out of their way to bully someone else.
For Qin Yiqiu, this was a devastating blow and a profound disappointment.
The two of them were led away by other members of the disciplinary squad, who were tasked with supervising whether these two senior siblings actually completed their punishment.
Thus, atop the mountain peak, only Qin Yiqiu and Luoyun Huan remained.
"Why do you keep getting bullied every single time?"
Qin Yiqiu resumed sorting through the tea leaves, discarding the ones that were too dirty and deciding she would need to pick some fresh ones.
Luoyun Huan originally intended to pick up the bamboo basket herself, but the Eldest Senior Sister moved a step faster, cradling the basket in both hands and handing it to her.
"I don't know. Maybe I'm just too weak."
Luoyun Huan flashed a bright smile. That was indeed what she thought, even if she hated to admit it.
She had assumed Senior Sister would leave once she finished helping pick up the tea leaves, but instead, the other woman walked over to the other side of the tea bush and began picking leaves herself.
"Eldest Senior Sister, don't you have patrols to run?"
Puzzled, Luoyun Huan couldn't help thinking that these tea leaves were meant to be her token of gratitude for Senior Sister in the first place. If the other person picked them herself, what kind of thank-you gift was that?
"I'll keep you company for a little longer. Just in case you get bullied again."
Holding a tender tea bud in her hand, Qin Yiqiu couldn't resist flicking the forehead of the person before her. For reasons unknown, seeing Luoyun Huan like this made her want to tease her.
"Besides..."
Circulating her Heartless Formula, Qin Yiqiu brought a flicker of pale blue spiritual light to her fingertips. Her cool fingertips lightly brushed against the skin of Luoyun Huan's neck.
Sending a thrill deep into her soul.
Luoyun Huan gazed steadily at the person before her, nearly ensnared by that profound and earnest gaze.
"My junior brother's sword is very sharp; taking a hit like that must have hurt terribly. I'm sorry—it's because of me that you've been dragged into all this trouble."
As those cool fingertips brushed against her skin, the wound on her neck healed naturally.