Jian Wan had only left Tianfa Peak not long ago. Back then, she really thought she just had to endure fifty years before she could walk out of that wretched place. She couldn't cultivate, her spiritual power thinned every time she used it, and all she could do was sit there day after day. Whenever she looked out from where she lived, all she saw was endless yellow sand with nothing else in sight.
With so much time on her hands, she finally forced herself to go over everything related to the Fu family from beginning to end. She had to admit Jian Lu had been right.
She'd actually sensed something was off long ago. People shouldn't underestimate a female cultivator's intuition. Her subconscious had felt danger creeping in, so she avoided the Fu family on purpose. She even used her stagnant cultivation as an excuse to retreat and focus on breaking through. Gradually, she stopped contacting her family and rarely left Tiandu Peak.
She avoided the Fu family, but the Fu family didn't avoid her. Worried their backing in the Heavenly Sword Sect would become unstable, they rushed to shove Fu Yao at her, along with a woman named Pi Zhu meant to disgust her. One wanted to replace her, and the other dared to set her sights on her man. Of course she wasn't going to tolerate that. So when the two started fighting, she struck, crippled one and sent the other home. Things finally quieted down a little.
She never expected the family had buried an even larger problem ahead of time. That ticking bomb, Jian Yu, had been planted early, and Jian Lu seized the chance to expose her, insisting Jian Yu was an evil cultivator. At first, she didn't believe it. She thought Jian Lu was deliberately making trouble to embarrass her. But when the truth came out, it slapped her harder than anything else.
Before this, she'd only sensed her family had issues. She thought the Fu family's ambition had grown too much, that they wanted more influence or more resources within the Heavenly Sword Sect. She never thought they were rotten from the roots, willingly falling into darkness and practicing evil arts. The only reason she escaped trouble was because she truly had no idea what they'd been doing.
At that point, she had to admit Jian Lu's decisiveness and ruthlessness were terrifyingly effective. Jian Lu struck right at the core, leaving the Fu family no room to deny anything. If it had been Jian Wan, she could never have done it. So when she was punished with fifty years on Tianfa Peak, she accepted it.
But just when she thought she'd finally be allowed to leave, Jian Pan Zūnshàng said, in a light and emotionless tone, that her punishment had been extended another fifty years. The order came directly from the Chief of the Law Enforcement Hall. She froze right there. She never thought Jian Li would kick her while she was already down.
But Jian Pan added one casual sentence that made her realize Jian Lu had set her up again, and she almost ground her teeth to dust.
"Jian Wan, you reached Void Refinement. You're not stupid. Junior Sister Jian Lu may have extended your punishment, but she also saved you from the awkwardness of leaving now. The Fu family's mess won't calm down in less than a hundred years."
Jian Pan Zūnshàng wasn't wrong. Even if she wasn't actually part of the Fu family, no one else knew that. If she stepped outside now, people would inevitably drag her into the whole scandal again. So she obediently stayed on Tianfa Peak for a full century.
Even if she wanted to disobey, she didn't have the ability to escape anyway.
The moment she was released, she went straight to the Law Enforcement Hall to find Jian Lu. She needed to know if she was truly a member of the Fu family, and she wanted to ask her disciple Jian Ning how she'd begged Jian Lu for help.
But she found no one. Jian Lu wasn't in the Heavenly Sword Sect, Jian Ning was still in seclusion, Jian Wu and Jian Sheng weren't around, and only Jian Li was holding down the fort in the Law Enforcement Hall.
Jian Li never liked her. So he immediately told Wei Zhengrong to bring out the soul lamps that had been confiscated from the Fu family.
Because the Law Enforcement Hall struck hard and clean, and because Jian Dan never took the normal route and even tricked "Ends of the Earth" with half a secret realm map to hunt down the Fu family's direct line, the results were impressive. Every soul lamp had gone out, only a thread of blood essence remained.
"This is the Fu family's collection of soul lamps. You should recognize them. If you want to know whether you're one of them, check it yourself."
Jian Li was straightforward. He brought out four extinguished soul lamps. Jian Lu had arranged all of this, and he trusted her methods, so he let Jian Wan test the truth on her own.
Jian Wan stared at the familiar lamps. She'd visited the Fu family's soul lamp hall many times. Back then, they'd kept one lamp for her too. But after she joined the Sect, she'd taken her lamp and placed it in the Heavenly Sword Sect's soul lamp hall.
All she wanted now was to know if she was truly a Fu family member. She also wanted a witness. She already believed Jian Lu's words, after all. If the Fu family's direct bloodline really turned to evil cultivation, they wouldn't have let her live if she were one of them.
She pressed a drop of her own blood from between her brows and drew a formation in the air. Then she guided a drop of blood from one of the extinguished lamps and cast both drops into the formation.
The formation accepted them and bloomed with a white glow. After circling once above everyone's heads, the two drops drifted apart, settling in separate corners like strangers who'd never met.
Her heart loosened a little, but she didn't stop. She removed the foreign drop, took blood from the second lamp and repeated the process. After all four lamps were tested, she finally confirmed she wasn't a member of the Fu family.
When she removed the formation, she cupped her hands and bowed to Jian Li.
"Thank you, Senior Brother, for letting me verify it myself. But did the Fu family ever mention anything about where I came from?"
"Never. These lamps were only stored here so we could track down the escaped evil cultivators."
Jian Li actually answered patiently.
"Your cave on Tiandu Peak is still yours. Go cultivate there. Jian Ning was implicated because of you and no longer serves the Law Enforcement Hall. Jian Lu promised that once she reaches the Divine Soul stage, she can enter the Battle Hall.
"Jian Ning begged Jian Lu for your sake. That's why Zhēnzūn agreed to spare you. Otherwise, just being the Fu family's adopted daughter would've been enough to drag you down. You should take better care of yourself."
After hearing all that, Jian Wan didn't even know how to respond. Her feelings toward Jian Lu only grew more complicated.
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