Chapter 48: Utterly Ruthless

I'm thirsty.

"Just lick it." Xue Jin took out a waterskin from his storage space, poured it into a small cup, and brought it to Yuan Yao's mouth.

Yuan Yao's face was extremely weak; she subconsciously opened her mouth to drink water.

As a result, only a few drops of water.

She instantly looked at Xue Jin with resentful eyes.

Xue Jin, however, said: "Did you sneak out on your own?"

Yuan Yao felt that Fourth Senior Brother's gaze was somewhat frightening at this moment, and she immediately replied: "I came to train together with Eldest Senior Brother."

"How come you have so many new and old wounds on your body?"

Yuan Yao weakly said: "I can't beat them."

"Who is it?" Xue Jin asked calmly.

Yuan Yao said: "Besides those people just now, the rest… are all dead."

Upon hearing this, Xue Jin realized her misunderstanding and reminded her: "You've been unconscious for two days and two nights."

"What?!" Yuan Yao exclaimed in shock.

She jolted from the shock, her body moving involuntarily; fortunately, Xue Jin pressed down on her then, preventing her wounds from tearing open again.

"The Wuduan Mijing will close soon." Xue Jin's voice was clear and cold, his face bearing the youthful innocence unique to adolescents.

Yuan Yao froze; the Wuduan Mijing is about to close?

She inquired of the 250 System in her sea of consciousness: "How many days of lifespan do I have left?"

【Host, your current lifespan is as high as fifteen days and eight double-hours.】

Hearing this, Yuan Yao couldn't help but recall the scene before she lost consciousness, when numerous cultivators besieged her; she lowered her eyes: "Xue Jin, those people, are you……"

"Yes." Xue Jin knew what she was going to ask and answered directly.

Yuan Yao slowly said: "Third Senior Brother once told me that the cultivation world is full of deceit and the weak are prey to the strong, completely unlike the world of the Carefree Sect. Although I believed him then, I never fully grasped its cruelty……"

At first, she merely wanted to survive, gathering them together to let them reflect and repent, thereby raising their Awakening Value to 50.

But she had thought things too simply.

From their standpoint, they would feel that everything she did harmed their interests, so to them she was a bad person.

They therefore wanted to kill her to vent their anger.

Xue Jin raised his hand to her head and said calmly: "The cultivation world has always been like this—either you kill me or I kill you. It's because the master and the Carefree Sect have protected you too well, making you overly naive. Don't overthink it; as long as you don't violate the Carefree Sect's rules, go after what you want, kill whom you wish to kill, and destroy what displeases you."

"We will become your backing."

Upon hearing these dangerous words, Yuan Yao's heart stirred; she lifted her head to meet Xue Jin's gaze.

"Xue Jin, you don't ask me why I left the Carefree Sect?"

Xue Jin frowned slightly upon hearing that.

Those handsome brows and eyes seemed to reveal a hint of disdain.

He withdrew his hand: "No one can make you leave the Carefree Sect except yourself. Therefore, the reason can only be that you want to leave the Carefree Sect."

Yuan Yao: "……"

Immediately, Xue Jin glanced at her again and said a heart-wrenching sentence.

"You're so stupid."

Yuan Yao retorted: "Xue Jin, you're stupid."

Xue Jin calmly stated: "In the entire Carefree Sect, the stupidest person is you, and the weakest person is also you."

Upon hearing that, Yuan Yao instantly clenched her fist to punch Xue Jin.

Xue Jin did not dodge.

After a punch landed on the youth's body, the youth remained unmoved and said: "So weak."

Yuan Yao glared at him, angry and puffed.

If the 250 System had appeared ten years earlier, she would definitely be stronger than Fourth Senior Brother Xue Jin now!

Among the six of them, aside from her, Fifth Senior Brother Ying Wuji is the strongest, followed by Second Senior Sister Xiao Lingwei, then Fourth Senior Brother Xue Jin, then Eldest Senior Brother Song Yan, and finally Third Senior Brother Cang Li.

And over the past two years, Fourth Senior Brother Xue Jin's strength has surged dramatically, approaching that of Second Senior Sister Xiao Lingwei.

Her age is closest to that of Fourth and Fifth Senior Brothers.

Fourth and Fifth Senior Brothers are both sixteen years old, with Fourth Senior Brother only three days older than Fifth Senior Brother.

Third Senior Brother Cang Li is seventeen.

Second Senior Sister Xiao Lingwei is eighteen.

Eldest Senior Brother Song Yan is nineteen.

Suddenly, Lu Xiangxiang's figure appeared in Yuan Yao's mind; her heart tightened slightly, and she gazed at Fourth Senior Brother before her.

"Fourth Senior Brother, do you still want to go train elsewhere?"

"You want to follow me?" Xue Jin immediately guessed her intention.

Yuan Yao nodded.

"First return to the Carefree Sect to recuperate." Xue Jin's tone was very cold.

Yuan Yao still wanted to say something, but seeing Xue Jin turn around, she heard: "Get on. There should still be half an incense stick's time before the Wuduan Mijing closes."

"Fourth Senior Brother, how do you know that?" Yuan Yao's body remained weak, powerless all over; she could only climb onto his back.

Xue Jin lifted her onto his back, then walked out of the cave, raised his head to gaze at the sky of the Wuduan Mijing: "Observing celestial signs."

Yuan Yao followed his line of sight and could only see blue sky and extremely scattered white clouds.

"How to read it?"

"Watch the clouds, watch the wind, watch the airflow." Xue Jin patiently explained: "If the clouds are more dispersed, it proves the wind inside the Mijing is more scattered, and the airflow likewise surges covertly; gradually, they will form a vortex shape, at which point a massive vortex will form, connecting with the outside world and thus becoming the exit of the Mijing."

Yuan Yao suddenly understood, she lifted her head and stared at the sky, unconsciously using her own spiritual sense to sense the changes in the airflow.

Indeed, just as Fourth Senior Brother had said.

Xue Jin naturally noticed her spiritual sense; he didn't expect that his saying that would cause her to realize it herself.

Xue Jin also lifted his head and gazed at the sky.

"Xue Jin, I've figured it out." Yuan Yao suddenly blurted out.

"Figured out what?"

Yuan Yao recalled her previous "strategy plan" and came to a realization: "Either not be ruthless, or be ruthless to the utmost."

She wanted them to fear her.

She wanted to use force to completely suppress them, so they would not even dare to have murderous intent.

The voice of the 250 System suddenly sounded: 【Host, your strength is not enough to suppress their resistance; this would easily invite backlash, and your Awakening Value would plummet straight down. Friendly reminder, host, you can use your truth, kindness, and beauty to strategy them, snatch away the brilliance originally belonging to the female lead, make them love you, be obsessed and crazy for you, thereby achieving awakening.】

Yuan Yao hearing these words, her face turned black.

Make a hundred million people love her?

Regardless of gender or age?

This is too absurd, right?!

She's not a hundred-million-fan idol!

Moreover, among those target individuals are her master, senior brothers, and senior sisters; making them love her, she instantly felt her scalp go numb.

She only has familial feelings toward them, completely lacking any other kind of emotion!

Yuan Yao cursed loudly in her sea of consciousness: "You idiot, get lost!"

250 System: 【Host, please do not insult the system.】

"Then get lost both ways!"