CHAPTER 63
The Induction: False Grace– The Art of Mercy
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"I have decided on your punishment," Lu Xie declared, her voice steady. "But before I pass judgment, I would like to ask a question."
She took a step closer, lowering her voice so only those nearby could hear the chill in it.
"Over a month ago... when the 'Tragedy' befell Alia..."
Lu Xie tilted her head.
"Did you have anything to do with it?"
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Bavna stood up, wiping the dust from her knees. She cocked her head to the side, her eyes burning with a raw, honest fury.
"If I am to take you down, I will do it to your face. I don't need to hide in the shadows to deal with trash."
Lu Xie studied her for a moment. The girl was a brute, rude and violently jealous, but her anger was straightforward. She wasn't the type to plot a complex schemes.
"Hmm... Good enough," Lu Xie murmured.
She turned to address the waiting crowd.
"Bavna, the punishment I am giving you is Grace. I have decided not to hold this matter against you. You can rest easy."
The declaration sparked an immediate commotion.
"Grace? Was she trying to be a Saint?"
"Grace isn't even a punishment! Does such a philanthropist really exist in this cutthroat world?"
The crowd buzzed with confusion. Even Bavna was stunned, a light of deep suspicion gleaming in her eyes. She knew "Alia" hated her. This had to be a trap.
"We are part of the same Coven. Mediocrity often breeds resentment, and I understand that it must be hard for you to stand in my shadow," Lu Xie said with a benevolent smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Let us coexist... like sisters."
She stepped forward and pulled the stiff, stunned Bavna into a hug.
To the onlookers, it looked like a touching moment of forgiveness. But for Bavna, the arms around her felt like the coils of a python.
Lu Xie placed her lips beside Bavna's ear. The benevolence vanished instantly, replaced by a voice dripping with arctic mockery.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Much ado about nothing."
Lu Xie chuckled darkly.
"All this scheming, the centipede, the shouting... just to fail so miserably at the end. It was too tragic to watch. I genuinely pity you."
She tightened her grip slightly.
"I am not sparing you because I am kind. I am sparing you because you are too incompetent to be my enemy. Killing you would be boring. But living with the fact that you owe your worthless life to the one you hate? That... is true torture. Enjoy your charity, Sister."
Every word was a needle stabbing directly into Bavna's pride. Receiving mercy from an enemy was humiliating; being called boring and incompetent was unbearable.
"GET OFF ME YOU TWO FACED WITCH!"
Bavna shoved Lu Xie away with all her strength, her humiliation boiling over into blind rage.
Lu Xie didn't resist. In fact, she leaned into the shove, allowing herself to be thrown backward.
However, she didn't scream or wail. She didn't squeeze out fake tears like a cheap actress.
Instead, she hit the floor with a dull thud and simply... lay there. She looked up at Bavna not with fear, but with a look of profound disappointment.
She sighed, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I tried to save you from yourself, Bavna. Why must you be like this?"
That single sigh was more damaging than a thousand tears.
The crowd instantly turned. They saw a gracious genius offering an olive branch, and a rabid dog biting the hand that fed it.
"She is insane!" Bavna yelled.
"I don't need your wretched mercy! I would rather drown in filth!" Bavna bellowed, her face twisted and ugly.
"Then drown you shall!" an elderly priest with a sliver cane in hand said frostily in annoyance.
"Your actions will anger the Heavens if they go unpunished!" another priestess added.
The chant began amongst the crowd as a murmur and quickly spiraled into a roar.
"Dispose of her! Dispose of her!"
Lela walked up to Lu Xie, who was still sitting on the floor with the elegance of a fallen queen. With a gentle flow of energy, she lifted Lu Xie to her feet.
"Alia," Lela whispered, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the theatrics. "You must give Bavna a proper punishment. If you keep playing the Saint, you risk starting a riot. The mob wants blood."
Lu Xie dusted off her luxurious red robes. Her face hardened, the "sisterly" mask dropping to reveal the judge.
"Since Bavna is unrepentant and rejects my grace, she leaves me no choice."
Lu Xie's voice rang out, silencing the mob.
"Bavna shall repair the Stone-Fate Altar's shell all by herself. No magic. No help. She will forge a new shell, carrying every heavy piece of rocky slab and piece it together by hand."
She paused, letting the weight of that labor sink in.
"Following that, she will be locked in Solitude for a year. No contact with anyone. Just her, the darkness, and her own thoughts. Perhaps in silence, she will learn the value of speech."
The crowd cheered at this declaration. It was harsh, just, and satisfying.
Bavna's face turned as black as the bottom of a wok. Solitude was torture for someone as loud and attention-seeking as her.
Lu Xie had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from bursting into laughter.
"You are quite a conniving fox. Be careful."
A warning suddenly fluttered into Lu Xie's mind. The voice was genderless, ancient, and amused.
Lu Xie stiffened. Someone had seen through her pretense.
Naturally, she assumed it was the High Priestess. As the most powerful person around, her little whispered conversation with Bavna would not have escaped her senses.
But unbeknownst to Lu Xie... the warning had not come from the High Priestess.
High above the Pagoda, hidden in the folds of the void a Secret Eye loomed. It watched the girl in red with an interest that bordered on obsession.
~Later that Night — The Seventh Yogi's Courtyard~
The fanfare had died down. The crowds had dispersed.
Lu Xie sat alone in a lavish courtyard lit by colorful lotus lamps. The air was cool, carrying the scent of alien flowers.
She was actively examining the night sky.
Before her age regressed, Lu Xie had possessed a passive habit of studying Cosmology. The maps of the stars, the galaxies, and the void currents of the Nine Heavenly Realms were etched into her mind with perfect clarity.
Tonight, she sought comfort in familiarity. She wanted to find the North Star. She wanted to find the Constellation of the Azure Dragon.
She looked up... and found nothing.
The sky was beautiful, filled with vibrant nebulas and three distinct moons, but the stars were wrong. The patterns were alien.
This wasn't just a different planet. This was a different reality.
'Who would have thought that there were other Heavenly Realms outside the Nine Heavenly Realms?' Lu Xie thought to herself, a sense of profound loneliness settling over her. 'I am truly a ghost in a strange land.'
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a series of gentle raps on the courtyard gate.
"Who goes there?"
Lu Xie's voice was sharp. Her gaze pierced through her face veil, scanning the wooden door.
"Young Miss... I have been assigned to serve you as your maidservant."
A slightly trembling voice replied from the other side.
"Come in."
Lu Xie spoke indifferently, though internally she groaned.
She wasn't pleased with the idea of having a maidservant. A servant meant a pair of eyes constantly watching her. It acted as a constant reminder that she was walking on eggshells as an imposter.
'Great,' she sighed. 'Now I have a surveillance spirit latched unto her that breathes and is in mortal flesh. She will probably report everything I do to the higher-ups, including the number of times I blink and fart.'
'What a headache.'
At that moment, the heavy wooden doors of the courtyard creaked open.
A petite figure walked in. She kept her head lowered, not daring to meet Lu Xie's gaze.
"This lowly one is named Trisha," the girl quickly introduced herself with a stiff, ninety-degree bow, before standing upright like a statue awaiting orders.
Lu Xie narrowed her eyes, taking the opportunity to scrutinize the girl's appearance.