Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16 – Sect Punishment
Yun Yun felt like a mute who had swallowed bitter herbs—she had grievances but could not voice them. She felt that this disciple of hers must be a gold-devouring child.
“Ah! Forget it. During this period, focus on cultivating and do not run around everywhere.” Yun Yun sighed gloomily.
Seeing that Yun Yun had no intention of continuing to blame her, Lin Aoxue immediately giggled and returned to her room.
The next day, an aged voice echoed throughout the Yunxia Sect.
“The Yunxia Sect’s once-in-fifty-years mountain-opening disciple recruitment has officially concluded today. Those who failed the examination may return home. You have no destined affinity with the Immortal Dao.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the boys and girls who were still climbing the staircase were immediately swept up by a strange storm. Amid countless screams, everyone who remained on the steps was blown off the mountain and landed at the foot of the peak.
And that was not all. After they landed, when they raised their heads to look at the Yunxia Sect’s Mountain Gate again, they discovered that the staircase had completely disappeared. At the same time, the mounts belonging to the disciples who had successfully entered the sect were immediately seized by a mysterious force and carried toward Yunxia Mountain.
Yunxia Mountain sealed its Mountain Gate once again.
Meanwhile, back in Qixia Town, both the Ye Family and the Lin Family found the atmosphere unusually oppressive. Neither family could bring themselves to feel happy.
“Ah… Fate is fate. Since things have turned out this way, let them go. One can only say that the destiny of the Lin and Ye Families is simply this. The fact that the two of them successfully entered an immortal sect can at least be considered the preservation of our families’ bloodline.” The old patriarch of the Lin and Ye Families announced helplessly.
But this separation meant that immortals and mortals now lived in different worlds. As for when they would meet again, no one knew what year or month it might be.
As for Ye Liuyun, she was currently sleeping soundly. She had refined pills for an entire day yesterday, and her whole body was utterly exhausted.
She did not notice that the disciple token hanging at her waist was flickering with a white glow.
“All newly admitted disciples, please assemble at the sect’s Martial Arena.”
Today, all new disciples were required to gather. It was probably similar to the freshman orientation speeches Ye Liuyun remembered from school in her previous life—the Yunxia Sect’s upper leadership was going to hold a grand meeting.
This time, the Yunxia Sect had accepted nearly three hundred new disciples. Among them, more than a dozen had exceptional talent and were directly accepted as inner sect disciples.
The rest would follow the standard arrangement: they would serve as entry disciples for three years. If they reached the Spirit Stream Realm within those three years, they would be promoted to junior disciples. If they failed to reach the Spirit Stream Realm within that time, they would be expelled from the mountain.
However, this matter had nothing to do with Ye Liuyun.
At the moment, more than three hundred newly admitted disciples were gathered at the Martial Arena. Lin Aoxue stood beside Yun Yun, while the sect steward responsible for managing entry disciples was calling names one by one.
“Strange… where is Liuyun? Why hasn’t she come?” Lin Aoxue searched around but could not find Ye Liuyun among the crowd.
She suddenly felt worried, fearing that Ye Liuyun might face punishment from the sect for not appearing.
As the roll call continued, it soon reached Ye Liuyun’s name.
“Ye Liuyu?” the sect steward called.
Unfortunately, no one answered, so he looked up in confusion.
“Ye Liuyu?” he called again, but there was still no response.
“Ye Liuyu is not here? Why is Ye Liuyu absent? Who knows her?” The sect steward called out Ye Liuyun’s alias three times in succession.
The disciples looked at each other in confusion because Ye Liuyu had truly missed the entry of the disciples' assembly.
The elders of the Yunxia Sect, as well as Yun Yun, all frowned at the same time.
“Eh? Martial Uncle, Ye Liuyu is my elder sister. She… she might have had something to deal with and forgot about today’s assembly. I will go find her.” Lin Aoxue hurriedly stepped forward to explain.
When the sect steward heard this, she secretly glanced at Yun Yun. Seeing that Yun Yun showed no particular expression, she quickly said:
“Oh, she is your sister? Then it is fine. Continue the roll call.”
The steward was quite tactful. After all, she could not punish the future sect master’s elder sister over such a trivial matter—that would simply be asking for trouble.
However, some of the elders were dissatisfied. They felt that Ye Liuyu had broken the rules.
Within the Yunxia Sect, reaching the first stage of the Dao Palace Secret Realm—the Foundation Establishment Realm—qualified one to be promoted to a sect steward. Reaching the second stage, the Core Formation Realm, allowed one to become an outer sect elder. Reaching the third stage, the Nascent Soul Realm, allowed one to become an inner sect elder. As for the fourth stage, the Out-of-Body Realm…
Currently, only Yun Yun and the Yunxia Sect’s Supreme Elder had reached that level.
“Sect Master, although Ye Liuyu is Nephew Aoxue’s elder sister, she has still failed to follow the rules. A small punishment should still be given. After all, this is not the mortal world.” An outer sect elder spoke.
As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Aoxue became unhappy and immediately shot the speaking elder a glare.
The elder saw Lin Aoxue looking at him with hostility and awkwardly forced a smile. But just then, an inner sect elder also spoke.
“Sect Master, Elder Fu is correct. A small punishment is still necessary.”
The one who spoke was the Grand Elder of the inner sect.
Within the Yunxia Sect, there were four great elders in the inner sect and six great elders in the outer sect.
Now that the Grand Elder of the inner sect had spoken, Yun Yun could no longer pretend she had not heard it. She could only nod helplessly.
“Very well. Since you all insist, she shall be punished by sweeping the Mountain Gate staircase for one month,” Yun Yun announced.
Once those words were spoken, the new disciples who had felt somewhat dissatisfied finally dispelled the resentment in their hearts.
“Damn it, you old fossil. Just wait.” Lin Aoxue silently remembered this old fellow in her heart.
The meeting soon ended. Lin Aoxue originally wanted to go find Ye Liuyun, but Yun Yun stopped her, saying that Ye Liuyun should experience some hardship to learn the rules.
Although Lin Aoxue wanted to help Ye Liuyun, Yun Yun had already publicly announced the punishment. Besides, it was not a particularly severe penalty, so Lin Aoxue could only let the matter go.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun had already awakened.
“I am exhausted to death. Old demoness, what time is it?”
Ye Liuyun sat up from the bed with a weary expression and stretched lazily.
“It is the Hour of Si,” Lin Qingyou replied.
“Oh, the Hour of Si… huh? The Hour of Si? Wait—why did you not wake me up? The new disciples were supposed to assemble today!” Ye Liuyun was initially groggy, but she quickly realized something was wrong.
However, Lin Qingyou looked completely unconcerned.
“It is only an assembly. I saw that you were too tired yesterday, so I could not bear to disturb you,” Lin Qingyou replied seriously.
But Ye Liuyun’s expression immediately turned unpleasant. She hurriedly gathered all the medicinal ingredients and pills in the room, preparing to head to the Martial Arena.
However, the moment she stepped out of her cave residence, she ran into a man and a woman—two senior disciples of the sect. Hanging at their waists were blue jade tokens engraved with the words “Law Enforcement Disciple.”
In other words, they were disciples of the sect’s Law Enforcement Hall.
The Law Enforcement Hall specifically handled punishments and supervision of disciples within the sect.
“You are Ye Liuyu, correct?”
As the two approached, the male disciple revealed a brief look of admiration when he saw Ye Liuyun. The female disciple, however, was extremely stern.
“Eh? Yes, that is me. Senior Sister, what do you need from me?” Ye Liuyun asked innocently.
With that expression paired with her face, it was impossible to tell that she had intentionally violated the sect’s rules.
“You know exactly what you did. On the very first day after officially entering the sect, you disobeyed the sect’s orders. The sect has already issued a command to punish you. Your punishment is to sweep the Mountain Gate staircase for one month. The two of us are disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall, responsible for supervising you while you clean the steps.” The female disciple took out the enforcement token and declared it righteously.
When Ye Liuyun heard that the sect was punishing her by making her clean the Mountain Gate staircase, her face instantly turned green.