"So, a trash is trash after all."
A cold, piercing voice echoed around me, the atmosphere amplifying it as my eardrums drummed a helpless melody.
It was unbelievable. I absolutely never wanted to accept that. But that was the truth. Like every bitter truth we didn't want to accept as truth.
The Spirit Awakening Pearl was cold against my forehead. Still, that coldness paled before the indifference of the people around me. It was like they knew I would fail anyway.
Please glow, I begged in silence. Anything. Give them one spark, one wisp—just don't leave me empty.
Nothing happened.
No flame-red halo, no azure swirl of water, no gentle brush of wind… nothing. The lanterns floating overhead, waiting to echo a disciple's element, hung lifeless and grey.
My gaze wandered towards the Bloodline Stone, then towards the Soul Stone. They were dull too… just like me.
"Seriously… does she think a trash like her will have a bloodline? Even her Soul Stone shines like a firefly. What does she think of herself?"
Some of the daring disciples started to speak aloud, scoffing at my desperate hopes. I turned a deaf ear to their mocking. Sixteen years of life in the sect carved me to become immune to such taunts.
It wasn't like it was the first time I was being mocked. At least they weren't physical. My gaze landed on Bai Qing, my fat roommate. She had a worried face. I gave her a helpless smile.
Bai Qing wasn't as lucky as me or as strong as me. Her bullies often went too far, hurting her physically. Every day, she returned to the room with varying degrees of injuries.
Despite that, she never complained. She endured everything.
She struggled harder than any other apprentice disciple, worked harder than even some outer disciples. She never once lost her confidence.
Every taunt aimed at her turned into fuel for her resolve. In simple words, she was perfect. Unlike me. And so she awakened a bloodline and had affinity with lightning, one of the mutated element.
In the sect hierarchy, we were the same: orphaned trashes, surrounded by stars, outshined like gutter candles. Still, her candle burned more fiercely than the stars, unlike mine with a measly spark.
I envied her.
'BANG'
A loud sound awakened my senses. Crap. Elder Fan was boring into me like daggers, his lips thin. It's the time for that announcement which I dreaded. I hoped the world would freeze for a moment so I could disappear silently.
"Spirit root: none detected. Soul resonance: negligible. Bloodline signature: absent. Verdict—mortal."
The fate of an orphaned girl was sealed once more. I am nothing. A null void in space. My gaze wandered to Bai Qing again. Her attention wasn't on me, but I saw her fists clenched… with a smile on her face. A smile?
I couldn't study her further as the courtyard of Broken Sky Sect erupted in whispered relief. Another disappointment meant less competition. They weren't ready to accept another dark horse appearing in the sect.
It was human nature. Humans wanted nothing to outshine them nearby, so they didn't have to burn their absent resolve to force themselves to shine brighter. In simple terms, they didn't want to move out of their comfort zone.
"What now? Didn't I always say to be my maid, so you could live eternally in the sect? Now see yourself… your truth. Nobody." The voice of James Fang was sharper than before.
A few outer disciples laughed outright, more disgusting comments thrown my way. They had already judged me as trash for years, but the official stamp still tasted sweet to them.
My hands clenched on the broken ring around my thumb—the only relic left by my parents. So, I wasn't a null after all. Look, I have a broken ring.
I curled my lips, straightening myself as I scoffed at the mocking words coming my way. It's true that the gutter candle of me only sparked faintly against the endless brightness, but that spark was more unique and colourful than any of them could imagine. Any of them could imitate.
That was the reason I was hated by everyone. Hated by everyone. But defeated by none. I forced back the urge to grin. My hardened gaze pierced into the soul of James Fang. I saw his feet staggering as he barely balanced himself.
"Do you forget the beating, James? Or should I remind you how?"
Silence. A suffocating one. They might never expected my bluntness remained me even if my fate sealed for good.
I exhaled in content.
"Now that's it. My ears don't ring from mosquitoes anymore." I shrugged.
Despite the facade of overflowing confidence I showed outside, my desperate tries to appear strong, my mind wasn't anywhere near calm. It's just that I liked to keep my appearance intact. I wanted the sect to remember me as a rebel girl who resisted her doom, rather than a broken girl abandoned with shattered dreams.
I swallowed hard. Elder Fan's gaze on me wasn't pleasant. How could it not be? After all, James Fang was his grandson.
Crap. I forgot about that. I should've remembered that the little scum waste of air was kin to this bigger scum pollutant of air.
Too late now.
The pollution was slowly spreading toward me in the form of the overbearing pressure of a ninth-stage Essence Gathering powerhouse. Creepy powerful old man.
I gritted my teeth in pain. The mountain wind cut through my cotton robe, fuelled by the control of his essence, and almost reached my bone. It contained a coldness that made me shiver in place.
He wanted to contaminate me into submission. Dream on.
Inside that chill lurked something worse than mere cold—intent. The innate ability of every Essence Gathering cultivator. They could form a prototype of intent on their souls.
Elder Fan happened to have formed an intent to kill.
If the elder wanted to kill me now, there was nothing stopping him from doing so. Because to them, I was nothing but null.
Removing something that didn't exist wasn't a crime— Rather, it was clearing space in a world struggling to contain the intents of billions. Then, like nothing had happened, the intent on me disappeared.
Elder Fan grunted as a parchment unfurled before him, already inked by the Awakening Pearl. A simple guess could read the ink on that parchment. But formality still came into play as he thrust it toward me before muttering,
"Sara. By edict of the Outer Elder Council, you are expelled from Broken Sky Sect. Turn over all sect resources immediately."
All sect resources? What resources? I laughed bitterly.
I owned precisely two things: the threadbare robes I was wearing and the tarnished iron ring that hung around my thumb. Surely, they weren't asking for my ring, right?
It was my personal possession, after all.
That meant…
I looked down at my robes. Strands of my silver-colored hair lay lifelessly below my chest. They weren't asking for my robes… right? See, it's not that I was sentimental about these robes. It's just… I had nothing else to wear.
It seemed like the sect was also like me, albeit lacking two things I had: No sentiment… no value… and no shame.
"Haha…"
Again, I heard laughs from the disciples around me. Every one of their gazes appeared to be peeling my robes one after another. Their treacherous smiles angered me to lash out. But I held on.
I had to strength to fight against all of them. For the first time in my entire life, I felt real helplessness. Weakness. Like that of a jasmine surrounded by cow dung.
I tried to suppress my nervousness. But failed to do so as my body trembled in their onslaught.
"What are you waiting for?" Elder Fan's voice turned sinister, his predatory eyes following my every movement.
Old pervert bastard. I cursed mentally.
When his power started sweeping over me once more, I slowly raised my palm to my robes. My hands felt like they were moving through viscous liquid as they slowly peeled off the outer robe.
The coldness of the mountain top touched me once more. I shivered again. It felt like my skin was slowly peeling off, not my clothes.
Every sound around me disappeared, leaving me with only the intense stares of hyenas. They were trying to eat me alive.
I bit my lips to the point they bled. Rather than panicking or crying, I studied the faces of everyone around me. I carved them into my bones, each of them. I hated to admit it, but it was futile. Hate wasn't something a talentless girl like me was qualified to harbour, but I refused to accept that.
So what if I was talentless? Those disgusting mutts around me weren't anything better. At the end of the day, they were nothing but mere cultivators. If heavenly laws could contain me in their grasp, then why couldn't I contain them in my grasp? After all, I was also a creation of those same heavenly laws.
And so, I am also a container of those laws.
My hands reached to peel down the last threads of fabric—
That's when a strained voice echoed across the Awakening Hall.
"What are you all doing?"
I froze. The disciples turned toward the doorway, faces paling. I followed the sound, and saw a woman striding through the door. Following her was Bai Qing.
I breathed in sharply.
Elder Fan trembled, his haughty appearance fading at the sight of the woman.
"Sect Master…"
I was taken aback by his words. Everyone in the room fell to their knees—except me. I wasn't a disciple anymore, so why would I kneel? So this woman was the Sect Master. I studied her while covering my exposed skin.
Bai Qing rushed toward me, draping a thick coat over my shoulders. I clutched it tightly, feeling a foreign warmth seep into my frozen skin. I smiled at her, like always.
"Thank you…"
Thank you for protecting the last dignity of me. Thank you for always being there for me. Thank you for teaching me about warmth in this freezing snow. Above all, thank you for calling the Sect Master to save me.
But…
I felt wrong. Everything felt wrong.
It's not that I was ungrateful to her. I just couldn't shake off that question. Why did Bai Qing—or how did Bai Qing—rush to ask help from the Sect Master, when she could have contacted the Law Enforcement team just below this mountain peak?
I remembered one of the traits of the Sect Master spread among the fellow disciples:
"The Sect Master of Broken High, Eris Mo, hated when a man hurt a woman. That was one of the reasons why this sect barred male disciples from hurting female disciples."
Wait…
Now, standing before this crowd of scums, the things I failed to consider started to reveal themselves one after another. I recalled the nights Bai Qing returned to the room with injuries. I recalled the moments I went out to get revenge for her.
I didn't always win—sometimes they outnumbered me and beat me into a pulp. Not once during those times did Bai Qing ask for help from the Sect Master. I wasn't complaining again. Since it was not easy for apprentice disciples like us to meet inner disciples, let alone the Sect Master.
Then how could she do the same now? Almost like…Like she had help from someone with influence inside the sect. A conversation with Bai Qing suddenly resurfaced in my mind.
That time, after I fought with a boy who bullied her, slamming him into a wall and forcing him to kneel on the ground—
"Sara… our Sect Master may have banned males from hurting us, but that doesn't mean we can do that."
At that time, I had replied resolutely:
"Every vermin deserves a beating. If his mother can't do it, then I will be his mother."
I had thought she said it because she was afraid of my actions, worried I would attract unnecessary enemies.
Now thinking back…
My gaze on Bai Qing changed.
Everything and everyone around me disappeared; in my gaze, only she remained. Her pitiful, sad face now resembled something else— a formless form, with a grin stretched ear to ear.
And I heard a cold voice filled with contempt,
"Even the sewage water below the housings deserves that pity for it to disappear…for the sake of not staining us with its scent."