Chapter 48: Ancient Witch Spirit Heavenly Sword Gourd

“Today’s your first day taking over our shop—how does it feel being a female shopkeeper?” the middle-aged male cultivator asked his daughter with a smile.

“It’s not bad,” the young female cultivator said. “Oh, Father, I just made a sale—a little student bought a thousand seeds of yellow-skinned gourd from me, plus three first-rank golden-silk blueberry spirit fruits.”

“My daughter’s impressive—already made your first sale so early! Hah, how many spirit stones did you make?” the middle-aged man asked.

“A thousand gourd seeds and three golden-silk blueberry spirit fruits—I gave her a small discount. Made forty-eight spirit stones,” the young woman chuckled.

“Good. Very good.” The middle-aged man nodded approvingly. “By the way, I’m going to check the secret vault behind. Keep an eye on the front business.”

“Go ahead, Father,” the young woman said with a wave.

The middle-aged man entered the back courtyard and opened a stone wall inside the main house. He descended the stairs into another sealed chamber, layered with multiple arrays. Inside the chamber rested only one transparent glass-sealed box.

Inside the box floated a single seed.

If the young woman out front saw it, she would immediately cry out: “Why does this seed look so much like a yellow-skinned gourd seed?”

And besides resembling a yellow-skinned gourd seed, its shell faintly pulsed with barely perceptible sword qi.

The middle-aged man stood ten paces away, staring silently at the seed inside the sealed box.

After a long while, he couldn’t help muttering: “Tell me, are you really the Ancient Witch Spirit Heavenly Sword Gourd depicted in that mural?”

This tightly sealed seed was a trophy from one of the middle-aged man’s expeditions—he’d discovered a set of ancient stone cave murals deep within a hidden cavern beneath a mountain.

There were twelve caves total.

Each cave contained ten murals.

In the largest and oldest cave, the middle-aged man found a stone box embedded in a wall—and inside it lay a single seed.

The very seed before him.

The wall where the seed was hidden bore a mural of an Ancient Witch Spirit, beneath which were carved four ancient witch characters: Heavenly Sword Gourd.

He stood in silence for a long while, but the seed gave no reply.

The middle-aged man finally turned and left the chamber.

Immediately after he departed, a faint, nearly invisible crack appeared on the surface of the seed floating in the transparent box—and a tiny fragment broke off and fell away.

Su Jin arrived just in time and rushed to her seat.

She had barely sat down when Liu Shi entered.

She’d almost been late.

Liu Shi immediately turned serious and addressed all the students: “The clan school is currently investigating unverified items. If any of you carry anything from the black market or any object of unknown origin given to you, you must surrender it now.”

Soon, the deputy inspector will lead a team of instructors to search every student and every corner of the school.”

All lockers in every classroom will be opened for inspection.

So either report it yourselves, or wait to be caught—there will be no mercy, and you’ll face severe punishment.”

Also, I remind you once more: do not casually consume anything from the black market.”

If the school discovers any item with harmful consequences, you will be expelled without exception.”

Understood?”

“Understood,” the students replied in unison.

Su Jin finished answering, then thought to herself: Yesterday they checked us leaving; today they’re doing a full sweep.

The aftereffects of the banned substance ban must still be strong?

The clan school takes this seriously!!

Liu Shi had just finished teaching the basics of cultivation.

Deputy Inspector Su Jinniang entered with a dozen instructors.

“Search. All students remain seated. Only stand when called to open your lockers.”

Then she gestured, and the instructors began searching every corner of the classroom.

Including students’ backpacks, baskets, and even the students themselves.

This search was extremely thorough.

Almost no blind spots remained.

The first classroom had no issues.

Next came the second classroom.

And then…

“I don’t know how this got into my locker—I swear it wasn’t there when I left yesterday afternoon,” Qi Yi exclaimed, stunned and wronged.

No one expected anyone to plant an unverified item in her locker.

But how did they get it in?

And why her?

Su Jinniang, irritated, took her away.

The third classroom had only three students, the fewest lockers to check—and no issues.

After the deputy inspector and the instructors left,

Su Wuji couldn’t help asking Su Jin and Su Cheng beside him: “Do you think Qi Yi was framed?”

“Hard to say,” Su Cheng replied. “She might be crying wolf—or she might truly be innocent.”

“That’s the same as saying nothing!” Su Wuji snapped.

“At least I spoke honestly,” Su Cheng said.

Su Wuji: “...”

“Su Jin, what do you think?” Su Cheng asked Su Jin.

“I’m not a detective—I can’t know if she was framed or not,” Su Jin thought, then added, “But I think once she’s taken away this time, it’ll be much harder for her to climb back into the top ten.”

“What do you mean?” Su Cheng asked, puzzled.

“She’s an outsider, and now she’s entangled in this case. The instructors won’t hold her in good regard anymore. Even if she isn’t expelled, she’ll likely be excluded from rankings entirely. Meaning—even if she stays in the clan school, she’ll probably lose her status as an outer disciple.”

After all, this is the Su Clan School—who would recommend an outsider with questionable character as an outer disciple? Don’t we have enough upright disciples of our own?” Su Wuji quickly grasped Su Jin’s meaning and explained it to Su Cheng.

Su Cheng stared in shock.

Could you really interpret it that way?

“Will the clan school really do this? After all, Qi Yi might be innocent!” Su Cheng couldn’t help protesting.

“But Qi Yi is an outsider. As an outsider studying in the Su Clan School, you still aren’t careful enough.”

Plainly put, because she’s an outsider, every benefit she receives makes others jealous.

Any minor flaw of hers will be magnified endlessly in everyone’s eyes.

Whether that item belonged to Qi Yi or not, it shouldn’t have been found so openly.

So she deserves to lose her outer disciple status,” Su Wuji said coldly and without mercy.

It may seem like a small thing, but for Qi Yi, it will mean severe punishment.