The immense pressure bore down even harder, and Bai Yang coughed, spitting a mouthful of blood. His face instantly turned deathly pale.
His hands were planted firmly on the ground, veins bulging, as the killing intent in his eyes flowed out, thick and tangible.
If looks could kill, Song Wanning would have already been sliced into a thousand pieces by his gaze.
"What? Still defiant?"
Song Wanning raised an eyebrow and was about to lift her hand when the Sect Master hastily stopped her.
"Junior Sister Song, you mustn't!"
Ye Chuxue's life was already hanging by a thread; they couldn't let Bai Yang fall into peril as well.
"What? I'm disciplining my own disciple. Are you going to interfere?"
Song Wanning glanced sideways at him, and her cold gaze sent a shiver down the Sect Master's spine.
Having lost face so publicly, the Sect Master grew more irritated. His face darkened as he said, "Bai Yang merely misspoke in a moment of panic. You are a dignified Nascent Soul True Monarch. Why lower yourself to arguing with a disciple?"
"Merely misspoke?"
Song Wanning sneered. With a wave of her hand, a water mirror materialized before the crowd.
On the water mirror, the scene of Bai Yang sneaking into the Hidden Pill Pavilion and stealing the Elixir Pills was displayed clearly for all to see.
The expressions of the crowd changed instantly. Bai Yang's face, in particular, grew so dark it looked like it could drip ink.
'So this woman knew everything. She deliberately dug a pit for me to fall into.'
"Heavens, Master Bai stole Grandmaster Song's Elixir Pills! No wonder Grandmaster Song is furious!"
"That's true. Everyone knows Grandmaster Song is extremely protective and dotes on her disciples to an extreme degree. She's never even spoken a harsh word to them!"
"She must be truly infuriated this time!"
The Sect's disciples shook their heads. No one would tolerate behavior like Bai Yang's.
He deserved it.
"Do you see now, Sect Master?"
Song Wanning's eyes were shadowed and cold. "Bai Yang stole my Elixir Pills. Am I, a True Monarch, not even permitted to discipline him?"
"Even if I were to beat him to death, he'd have to take it!"
With that, she sent a palm strike flying directly toward Bai Yang.
A giant hand formed of Spiritual Energy, like a towering mountain, swept toward him with irresistible force.
Bai Yang's pupils contracted in shock, but he was powerless to resist. Like a paper doll, he was swatted away and sent flying.
The Sect Master and the others wanted to save him. They took a step forward but then stopped.
Song Wanning's actions were justified; they truly had no grounds to interfere.
*SPURT—*
Bai Yang fell to the ground like a kite with a severed string, splattering blood everywhere.
Several of his bones were broken, and the pain sent him into spasms.
"AHHH—"
Bai Yang squeezed his eyes shut, clutching his arm in agony.
'Master... actually struck me so ruthlessly?'
He couldn't believe it.
After the shock came endless hatred.
'For a single Elixir Pill, Master was going to destroy me.'
'This woman... she's heartless!!!'
'My Cultivation is low now, but that doesn't mean it will always be this way.'
'Never underestimate the young and powerless!'
'Sooner or later, Song Wanning will fall into my hands.'
Seething with a hatred so deep it felt like his heart was bleeding, Bai Yang lifted his head and fixed a bloodthirsty gaze on Song Wanning.
Song Wanning's lips curled into a slight smile, and she sent another palm strike his way.
Bai Yang was knocked flat to the ground. He tried to get up several times but failed.
"Enough!"
Gu Qingyuan could watch no longer. He stared at Song Wanning with an accusatory gaze and said coldly, his voice devoid of any emotion, "When did you become like this?"
"Just because you're jealous, you can leave a fellow disciple to die, and even poison them!"
"And now you can even be this ruthless to your own disciple."
"Song Wanning, you've become terrifying!!!"
His callous gaze was like a sharp dagger, stabbing into Song Wanning's heart.
'They pushed me to the brink of madness step by step, forced the Song Family into a dead end... Did they ever spare a thought for me?'
'I've changed?'
'And why did I change?'
'Your loving fiancé's heart changed, yet he turned around and accused you of being jealous, accused you of being cruel.'
'He despised you, abandoned you, destroyed you.'
'The disciples you raised turned their backs on you, yet they turned around and accused you of being vicious, accused you of being malicious.'
'They slandered you, spat on you, killed you.'
"Hahahaha—"
Song Wanning couldn't help but laugh again.
"Me, terrifying? Gu Qingyuan, you're nothing but a sanctimonious hypocrite. What kind of act are you putting on?"
She abruptly suppressed her laughter, a grim smile playing on her lips. "You're the one whose love strayed! You had a fiancée, yet you developed romantic feelings for the disciple you raised with your own hands!"
"You're the one who did something so sordid, yet you're trying to sling mud at me. You've really got some nerve!"
'In my past life, I suffered because I never knew how to talk back.'
'What's the use of just getting angry and throwing tantrums? It couldn't hurt them in the slightest.'
*HISS—*
"No way... Grandmaster Gu, he...?"
The people around them were instantly stunned.
'A master developing romantic feelings for his disciple?'
'That's a forbidden love!!!!'
Everyone turned to Gu Qingyuan with looks of utter disbelief, unable to accept that this could be true.
"Junior Sister Song, stop this nonsense! You're trying to ruin Junior Brother Gu!"
The Sect Master was appalled. He wished he could sew Song Wanning's mouth shut.
Something as shocking and scandalous as falling in love with one's disciple—if word got out, Gu Qingyuan's reputation would be destroyed. He would be secretly scorned wherever he went!
It was one thing to make jealous remarks in private, but how could she spout such nonsense in front of so many disciples?
"Nonsense?"
Song Wanning let out a dry laugh, her eyes arching up to look at the silent Gu Qingyuan.
"Then why don't you ask him if he dares to swear a Heart Demon Oath?"
"If he dares to lie, the price will be that Ye Chuxue never wakes up again!!!"
"Let's see if he dares to swear it."
Her aggressive attitude made Gu Qingyuan tighten his grip on his longsword, killing intent running rampant like overgrown weeds.
But in the end, he didn't dare to swear the oath.
The surroundings fell so silent you could hear a pin drop. Bai Yang, especially, lifted his head in astonishment, staring at Gu Qingyuan in disbelief.
'Junior Sister Ye's master... actually has those kinds of feelings for her?'
'How could that be?'
The Sect Master and the other elders turned pale, too shocked to recover.
'So what Junior Sister Song has been saying all this time was true?'
'There was a reason for her jealousy. Junior Brother Gu really did...'
Everyone looked at Gu Qingyuan, their eyes filled with shock, disappointment, and judgment.
Gu Qingyuan closed his eyes. This secret had tormented him to the point of madness.
He had always known it would be exposed one day. He had imagined this scenario many times, just not while Chuxue's life was hanging by a thread.
"Have you said enough? Now come back with me and save her!"
He suppressed his killing intent toward Song Wanning again and again.
'I still need her to save Chuxue. I can't act against her now.'
Song Wanning laughed, infuriated by his shamelessness.
"Gu Qingyuan, who gave you the audacity to still think I would go save her?"
"Was it my century of devotion to you? Or the countless times I risked my life to save yours?"
Her eyes were filled with nothing but cold indifference.
"On what grounds do you demand that I save the bitch who meddled in our relationship?"