Chapter 12

Many female disciples were especially grateful to my master.

They were capable, had contributed greatly, and weren’t weak in cultivation. Yet the old men above them had kept them down, barring them from the upper ranks.

After taking over, my master ranked all the disciples by cultivation and promoted the strongest women to elders.

Afraid of disgracing the sect, the newly appointed elders cultivated desperately. My master directed the sect’s resources toward them and did all she could to help.

She even took some of my precious herbs and treasures to nourish them, helping them grow stronger rapidly.

I opened my storage pouch and let her take as much as she liked.

In truth, I wanted to give her everything and let her distribute it.

But she refused.

“What is yours is yours. Anything the sect takes from you today becomes a debt it must repay.”

I grinned at her.

She hadn’t changed. She would never let me lose out.

25

When the great sects heard that the Beast-Taming Sect had changed hands and undergone sweeping reforms, they could no longer sit still.

Previously, those treasures had belonged to me alone. They only needed to attack me.

Now they had become resources for the whole sect.

There was no longer an excuse to seize them.

They were frantic.

Who could bear to watch such a rich prize slip away?

Just then, someone delivered an excuse to their door.

Soon, the great sects assembled before our mountain gate, shouting that my master must step down and return leadership to Wen Zhiyue, the former leader’s daughter.

They denounced her rise as a disgusting, bloody coup. She had slaughtered fellow disciples and was unfit to lead.

They wanted justice for the former sect leader and elders.

Strictly speaking… they were right.

I really had used bloody violence to change the sect’s leadership.

So what?

What revolution had ever been bloodless?

They had occupied the heights long enough.

It was time to move aside.

My master wasn’t shaken by their accusations.

The disciples stood firmly behind her.

In only a few days, their lives had visibly improved.

They received more spirit stones, distributed more fairly. Senior disciples came voluntarily to instruct them. Even their living quarters had been renovated and made decent.

They weren’t fools.

They knew who would give them a better life and quickly became loyal to her.

Now other sects had come to attack her. How could they accept that?

They gripped their weapons, anger burning in their eyes.

Even those weapons had only just been issued.

Standard-made swords, yes.

But spiritual swords, unlike the scrap iron they used to carry.

Benefits they had never received in decades had arrived within days of my master’s appointment.

What more needed explaining?

The former leader had hoarded all resources, circulating them only among the upper ranks. Those people feasted while the lowest disciples couldn’t get even a mouthful of leftovers.

Now these outsiders demanded justice for him.

What justice?

Who had ever cared about justice for the disciples at the bottom?

My junior sister shivered under her former companions’ glares.

She too had enjoyed abundant resources at the top.

The fact that she alone owned three spirit beasts said everything about her father’s methods.

He hadn’t even bothered pretending.

But no one had dared speak then.

Now?

My junior sister began insulting my master. Before she finished a single sentence, the disciples roared back. Abuse poured over her in a torrent, leaving her reeling.

Utterly defeated, she covered her face and hid behind the crowd, not daring to show herself again.

My master remained calm, as though she hadn’t heard a thing.

She spun a beautiful flourish with her sword and said lazily, “If you want to fight, come on. What’s all this talk for?”

Beside her, the new female elders formed a line and summoned their bound artifacts.

Nourished with precious treasures, they had broken through a whole major realm in days. Even the weakest was now at peak Void Refinement.

Dealing with the people before them would take little effort.

Sensing their overwhelming presence, those who had shouted loudest fell silent.

My master cupped a hand behind her ear in mock surprise.

“Why have you stopped barking? Weren’t you all very loud a moment ago?”

“You!”

“If you’re done barking, we’ll shut the gates and beat the dogs.”

She formed a hand seal.

“Mountain-protection formation, activate!”

The prepared formation sealed the whole Beast-Taming Sect in an instant.

This time, none of them would escape.

26

The sect and the invaders plunged into battle.

My junior sister directed the Black Dragon, Azure Phoenix, and White Qilin, hoping to overwhelm her former companions with numbers.

To her horror, the disciples she remembered as penniless now all had spirit beasts.

Spirit beasts weren’t really so scarce. Her father had simply been too miserly to give each disciple one.

Now every opponent had a beast beside them.

A Golden-Clawed Black Panther.
A Wind-Hoofed White Deer.
An Earth-Spirit Flying Bear.

Each more formidable and better at fighting than the last.

Though she brought three high-level beasts, she was beaten back again and again.

She had never truly bonded with them.

In the secret realm, she had already damaged her relationships with the Azure Phoenix and White Qilin.

The qilin no longer wanted to risk himself protecting her. The phoenix was a preening peacock; fighting had never been his strength.

Only the Black Dragon remained, crippled by a hidden injury that prevented spells. The disciples’ beasts pinned him down and battered him.

While the battle raged below, Yin Hai held me in the air as we watched.

Arms around her neck, I watched with great interest.

She was bored.

“Why waste so much effort? Let me eat them all. Much easier.”

I turned from the battle to her.

“Yin Hai, some battles they must fight themselves. The Beast-Taming Sect can’t depend on you forever.”

She didn’t care. Impatiently, she asked:

“When can we go home and eat?”