Chapter 74: The Fiancée in the Broken Engagement Revenge Story…

The disciples chosen that day gradually settled down on Muxiu Peak. A few days later, Xie Hui also met the remaining inner sect disciples arranged by the Sect Leader—those sent to Muxiu Peak were all Wood and Fire spiritual roots.

Unfortunately, out of several hundred people, Xie Hui only selected three. These people had been in the sect for a while. If their talent had been outstanding, even if their spiritual roots didn’t match, they would have already been picked by other elders as registered disciples.

The remaining ones had acceptable aptitude, but their temperaments were poor. After selecting three, Xie Hui had the Sect Leader take the rest back.

Now he had twenty-two disciples under his tutelage, plus one Xie Yin.

After everyone settled in on Muxiu Peak, Xie Hui picked a day and sorted the disciples in order of age, from eldest to youngest.

Originally a nobody in the sect, Wen Feng now suddenly became the eldest senior brother on Muxiu Peak.

The oldest among them were the three selected from the sect’s existing disciples, all around twenty-one. The disciples from the main selection were about ten, and Xie Yin, not even five years old yet, became the youngest junior sister in name and fact.

Xie Hui only intended to teach this group of disciples. Once he’d trained them to a certain level, they could begin taking in students of their own.

Unlike the original host, Xie Hui didn’t start by handing out spiritual herbs and teaching them to refine pills. Instead, he began with herb cultivation—though admittedly, a certain little girl was more skilled than them all at that.

“Keeping spiritual herbs alive is your first step in cultivation. If you can’t even manage to care for herbs, how can you talk about becoming a pill refiner?”

“Yes, Master,” the disciples answered in unison.

Luckily, few outsiders ever came to Muxiu Peak. Otherwise, people would witness an unusual scene: disciples not diligently cultivating, but instead sitting on benches watching a few sprigs of herbs like they were priceless treasures.

Xie Hui had a good eye for people. All his disciples were genuinely devoted to the Dao.

Although there was competition among them, it was healthy. Each one worked harder than the last, afraid of falling even half a step behind their fellow disciples. Some even skipped sleep to secretly cultivate under their blankets.

Once one enters a meditative cultivation state, it has effects not unlike real rest.

One day, after returning from visiting an old friend, Xie Hui saw the now-seven-year-old little girl sitting listlessly on a swing. He walked over, gently touched her hair, and asked softly:

“What’s got Daddy’s precious girl in a bad mood?”

Xie Yin leaned into his arms, cheeks puffed in indignation.

“Senior Brother was so mean! He told me to focus on eating, then went and memorized cultivation techniques while munching on flatbread!”

The disciples Xie Hui chose mostly grew up in the sect, with simple personalities and strong competitiveness. No one wanted to fall behind even a little.

“What now? Can’t keep up anymore? Want to take a break?”

Hearing this, Xie Yin immediately leapt off the swing, clearly displeased.

“No way, Daddy! How could you doubt your daughter like that? Tonight I’ll go back to my room early, hide under my blanket like I’m sleeping, and secretly study when no one’s watching!”

“Daddy, I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m going to study!”

Xie Hui had barely said two sentences to his daughter since returning, and she was already dashing off. He stood there, amused.

Two years later, the spiritual vein of the Li family had been fully mined. Xie Hui approached the Sect Leader and mentioned that Xie Yin was now wholeheartedly focused on cultivation and had no interest in romance.

Originally, he had arranged the engagement without Xie Yin’s knowledge so that the Li family would hand over the spiritual vein to the sect with peace of mind. Now that the mining was complete, it was best to annul the engagement.

After listening, the Sect Leader thought about it and agreed it made sense. Marriages should be built on mutual affection. With the agreement between Yongchang Sect and the Li family complete, if a father wanted to cancel his daughter’s engagement, who was he to stop it?

Xie Hui simply didn’t want his obedient daughter entangled with a male lead like in the original plot. The little girl guarded what was hers fiercely and hated others touching her things. With such a possessive personality, she was not compatible with Li Qing at all.

As the one requesting to break the engagement, Xie Hui prepared many precious pills as compensation and asked the Sect Leader to help deliver them.

He also had his eldest disciple, Wen Feng, take a collection of spiritual treasures to the Li family with the sect representatives to express his apology.

Among all his disciples, Wen Feng was the one Xie Hui was most satisfied with—steady, hardworking, and patient with anything he learned.

Though not the most talented, Wen Feng was the most diligent and meticulous. With such reliability, Xie Hui had no worries entrusting him with this task.

Normally, someone of lesser status would need to apologize in person to show sincerity.

But because of Xie Hui’s ties to Yongchang Sect, going personally was inappropriate. Sending Muxiu Peak’s eldest disciple was already a great show of respect to the Li family.

The gap between the Mortal Realm and the Cultivation World was no exaggeration—it was as vast as the heavens and earth.

When Wen Feng went on Xie Hui’s behalf to the Mortal Realm and visited Li Qing’s family, Xie Hui informed the Sect Leader and his disciples that he was entering seclusion.

Everyone assumed Elder Xie was refining pills again. But in truth, this time, besides refining pills, he had also sensed a subtle loosening in a bottleneck that had long remained unmoved—possibly signaling a breakthrough.

Three months passed in a flash. Wen Feng had yet to return from the Mortal Realm, when suddenly, a massive storm cloud gathered above Muxiu Peak. From the look of it, someone was about to undergo tribulation!

Even when their sect’s most powerful Grand Elder faced tribulation, the scale had never looked like this.

The overwhelming pressure of the dark clouds in the sky was stifling. Several elders and the Sect Leader rushed over, immediately sitting down to guard Elder Xie’s tribulation.

Everyone in Yongchang Sect knew Elder Xie was best at alchemy, but his cultivation was considered the weakest among the elders.

The other elders were mostly at the Body Integration Stage, with only Elder Xie stuck at the Nascent Soul Stage for tens of thousands of years. Among the disciples under those other elders, three had already broken through to the Nascent Soul Stage, yet Elder Xie’s cultivation had shown little improvement.

Most disciples believed it was because Elder Xie had devoted all his attention to alchemy and had no heart for cultivation.

There were also those who secretly whispered that Elder Xie had an extraordinary gift for alchemy, but was only mediocre when it came to cultivation talent, and that he’d already reached his limit.

Over the years, such speculations had never ceased.

Many disciples from the sect had gathered at the square in front of Muxiu Peak, whispering in hushed tones. But all their murmuring ceased the moment the first bolt of tribulation lightning struck.

These disciples had seen elders undergo tribulation before, and they were all well aware of how terrifying it could be.

But this—this was different. Each bolt of lightning that descended upon Elder Xie was laced with golden light. Not only the disciples, even the gathered elders were seeing this for the very first time in their lives.

The Sect Leader, upon witnessing this, suddenly recalled the descriptions from ancient texts—lightning tribulations at the Tribulation Stage were said to look just like this. His face lit up with barely restrained excitement, even his heartbeat sped up. He had to fight the urge to let a smile break free.

Eighty-one bolts of lightning rained down, each one stronger than the last. The final bolt was as thick as a water barrel and had been gathering within the clouds for nearly half an hour.

From the moment the clouds had started to gather until now, nearly five hours had passed. And yet, not a single disciple was willing to leave the square, even though their legs were going numb.

Xie Yin stood beside the other elders, pacing anxiously in circles. Just as she was about to step forward to get a closer look, the Sect Leader grabbed her wrist tightly and stopped her.

“You must not be reckless during a lightning tribulation! If you barge in carelessly, the lightning your father is meant to endure will double in strength.”

After hearing the Sect Leader’s warning, Xie Yin understood she truly had no choice but to wait here in worry.

The others were focused on trying to glean some insight from the lightning tribulation. Only Xie Yin was consumed by panic, terrified that her father might suffer even the slightest harm.

Meanwhile, in the Mortal Realm, Wen Feng’s mission to the Li family to dissolve the engagement had encountered some complications.

Although it had been said that Wen Feng would accompany the Sect Leader’s men to deliver the apology gift, from the moment they left the sect, the group had clearly taken on a formation with Wen Feng at the center.

After all, in both identity and cultivation, none of the others could compare to him. He was an alchemist, and cultivators of all paths needed pills one way or another.

Once at the Li household, Wen Feng had already discussed matters with the family head and successfully retrieved the engagement token.

He had carried himself with humility and presented the compensation his master had ordered him to deliver. The precious items immediately lit up the eyes of everyone present.

“Though the engagement was originally arranged for the sake of extracting the spiritual vein, now that Yongchang Sect wishes to dissolve it, it is only proper to offer compensation.”

“I hope that this young master of the Li family may one day find a worthy wife. As for my junior sister, Xie Yin, she is devoted to the Dao and seeks only the path to immortality.”

The head of the Li family accepted the items with a smile and nodded.

“From today forward, the engagement between my Li family and the Yongchang Sect is null and void. Everyone here shall bear witness to this.”

But at that moment, a young man’s voice suddenly rang out from outside.

“Yongchang Sect just thinks I’m a cripple now, unworthy of a daughter of one of their elders. You’ve come all this way to dissolve the engagement just to humiliate me!”

“Even if I am a cripple, I have no interest whatsoever in your sect’s elder’s daughter!”

Wen Feng had originally intended to handle this matter calmly and respectfully. He hadn’t expected this young man, appearing out of nowhere, to come out swinging with accusations. Even with Wen Feng’s good temper, his brow furrowed slightly.

Especially since the implication of the boy’s words was a direct insult to his junior sister.

The Li family head’s face darkened the moment he saw Li Qing enter the main hall. He signaled the servants to quickly take him away, lest he offend the people of Yongchang Sect.

The truth was, Yongchang Sect had been rather magnanimous. Even after dissolving the engagement, they had continued to offer protection to the Li family.

If Li Qing’s outburst ended up making the sect change their mind, the family head would want nothing more than to rip out the boy’s heart with his bare hands.