Chapter 4: Who Said You Could Touch My Disciple?

Half a year later, Gu Chen went down to the eastern back mountain to gather spirit herbs.

Before he left, he asked me three times whether I wanted him to bring anything back.

I was taking a nap and mumbled, “Osmanthus cake.”

So he solemnly noted on his jade slip: three kinds of spirit herbs. One portion of osmanthus cake.

At noon, my message jade vibrated.

“Master… this disciple has run into a bit of trouble. Back mountain, the…”

The signal cut out.

At the same moment, the red text exploded all at once.

【It’s here! The back mountain plot!】

【In the original, this is the first time the villain’s demonic qi erupts in front of his fellow disciples. The Hall of Discipline locks him in the Demon-Suppressing Tower, and then the master “conveniently” digs out his demon bone.】

【Run, Master! Wait, in this version she IS his master…】

My divine sense swept the entire mountain in a single breath.

Gu Chen was surrounded by three Heavenly Sword Peak disciples on a mountain path. His basket of herbs had spilled everywhere, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth.

Standing in front of him was Qin Lang.

“Our spirit herbs. Why are they in your storage pouch?”

One of the disciples held up a pouch. Gu Chen’s pouch.

Gu Chen wiped the blood away. “When you knocked me down, you put them in yourselves.”

“Did anyone see?” Qin Lang smiled. “Someone with a demon bone, stealing from his fellow disciples. Who do you think the elders will believe?”

Then he lowered his voice so only Gu Chen could hear:

“Fight back. Let everyone see how filthy the thing in your bones is.”

He swung his sword.

The sword qi struck Gu Chen squarely in the chest and flung him against the cliff.

The mark between Gu Chen’s brows suddenly darkened. Demonic qi began to seep from his fingertips.

On Qin Lang’s finger, the black ring glowed faintly.

As if it were breathing.

Now I understood.

This wasn’t about stolen herbs. It was about forcing Gu Chen to release his demonic qi in front of witnesses.

Once a “demonic cultivator” was locked in the Demon-Suppressing Tower, nobody would stop anyone from doing whatever they wanted with his bones.

I appeared in the middle of the path.

The first thing I did wasn’t hit anyone.

I pressed one hand to Gu Chen’s back and poured in my Spirit Transformation power, forcing the surging demonic qi back into his marrow.

“Breathe. Remember the method. Don’t let it lead you.”

Gu Chen trembled, and the mark on his forehead slowly faded.

Only then did I turn around.

My spiritual pressure came down, and the three disciples and Qin Lang were forced to their knees, unable to lift their heads.

“The pouch.”

The disciple offered it up with shaking hands.

On its mouth lingered a thread of spiritual power that hadn’t yet faded. It wasn’t Gu Chen’s.

“You say my disciple is a thief?” I looked at Qin Lang. “Then let the Hall of Discipline search the memories of all three of you. Do you dare?”

Qin Lang went pale.

“Martial Aunt would search the memories of Heavenly Sword Peak disciples just to protect her own?”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t act on my own.” I crushed my message jade. “So I’ll call someone impartial.”

A quarter of an hour later, the sect leader and the Hall of Discipline had arrived.

The spiritual trace on the pouch, the stammering confession of the youngest disciple. In less than half an hour, the truth was clear.

That disciple had planted the herbs in the pouch. Qin Lang knew, and let it happen.

The ringleader was sentenced to three months of facing the wall and half a year of revoked resources. Qin Lang received a mark on his record and lost his place on this year’s key missions.

Not heavy. But enough for the whole sect to know who was right and who was wrong that day.

Before Qin Lang was led away, I called out:

“That ring of yours. Where did it come from?”

He immediately hid his hand behind his back.

“A family heirloom.”

Wen Changfeng frowned at me. “Junior sister, it’s just an old ring.”

I didn’t say any more.

Without proof, anything else I said would only look like I was deliberately picking on the sect leader’s disciple.

【The master suspects the ring!】

【Suspects what? The patriarch in the ring is a good guy. In the original he sacrifices himself for the hero.】

【Yeah… but the author dropped the original at chapter three hundred, before the patriarch got around to dying.】

That night, I sat and regulated Gu Chen’s meridians.

“Were you scared?”

He was silent for a long time.

“Yes.” He lowered his head. “Not of being beaten. Of the day you look at me the way they do.”

I put a hand on his shoulder.

“I can’t promise you’ll never make a mistake. But I promise I will never condemn you just because you carry a Heavenly Demon Bone.”

“And if one day this disciple truly loses his way?”

“Then I’ll drag you back.” I looked him straight in the eye. “But remember this. My protecting you doesn’t mean you’re allowed to hurt innocent people.”

Gu Chen was stunned.

Until now, people had either feared him like a monster or craved what was inside his bones.

Nobody had ever treated him as a person, someone with the right to choose his own path and the responsibility to answer for it.

He bowed his head very low.

“This disciple will remember.”

On the table sat the packet of osmanthus cake, a little dusty, its paper corners crumpled.

He’d been beaten until he coughed blood, and he’d still kept the cake safe.

【Sob, the cake.】

【Other people’s villains go dark. This villain goes cake shopping.】