Make her no longer be hunted and reviled, but admired by all.
This wish had come a little too late. The seed planted in her most sensitive girlhood had died before it could even sprout. After so many years, Jiang Xidai had grown accustomed to this life and rarely felt the need to prove anything to others.
Let her walk this path of darkness to the very end. If she couldn’t be openly good, it was better to be an extremely obsessive villain. Without the constraints of righteousness, she could kill or commit arson as she pleased, deciding life and death for anyone who displeased her.
Watching those people grovel at her feet, trembling with a mix of fear and anger, was a bit lonely and sometimes felt meaningless. But it was still better than letting others play with her true heart time and time again.
She hated this world. And in that hatred, she found a self-consistent way to survive. Once she stopped holding any expectations for this world, she threw caution to the wind. How could she not feel a sense of release?
But since Yan Huirou wanted to do it, it wasn’t a big deal. Regardless of success or failure, Jiang Xidai was confident she could back her up.
However, the Sect Master of the Shasheng Sect had always been only marginally interested in the sect’s affairs, never truly paying them any mind. After being hounded by Yan Huirou for several days, she too began to get a headache.
For instance, at this moment, Yan Huirou held a brush, kneeling properly on the floor. She asked seriously, “Sect Master, what are our sect’s rules?”
“Sect rules?” Jiang Xidai was combing her hair in front of a mirror, her voice absentminded. “Sounds like a lot of words. Who has the spare time to compile such a thing?”
“Then… how do your disciples maintain order?”
“My word is the law. As for those who don’t listen,” the woman didn’t even lift her eyes, “chop them up for fertilizer.”
Yan Huirou’s brush trembled as she recorded this. “Then how do the disciples in the sect cultivate on a daily basis?”
“…” Jiang Xidai said, surprised, “They cultivate on their own. How else can they improve?”
“For example,” Yan Huirou said, “if I were a new, ordinary child, completely ignorant of cultivation, and I entered the Shasheng Sect, where would I be assigned? What would I do every day? Who would guide my cultivation?”
“The Shasheng Sect doesn’t accept children.” Wen Xianyin was an exception; she was the first to follow Jiang Xidai, so there was no helping that she was young.
“Mmm,” Yan Huirou said, “I know you only accept beautiful women.”
“…It’s just pleasing to the eye, nothing more.”
“Most of them have a rather pure and innocent appearance,” Yan Huirou lowered her head and wrote a few more notes. “The Sect Master’s preferences are quite consistent; these things are easy to guess.”
Jiang Xidai, twirling a strand of hair, paused at her words. “Really?”
“Really,” Yan Huirou smiled, not saying more. “Please answer the question properly.”
“The disciples in the sect aren’t recruited,” Jiang Xidai sighed lightly. “Sometimes people come to pledge allegiance on their own, sometimes Wen Xianyin brings them back from the foot of the mountain, and sometimes, after a fight, there are a few pleasing and sensible ones left over, and if I’m in a good mood, I let them stay. As for how Wen Xianyin gets them, this Seat isn’t very concerned. You can just ask her.”
Did she even need to ask? The Shasheng Sect had no recruitment process, only the abduction of women. Yan Huirou closed her eyes in sorrow.
“Once they’re in the Shasheng Sect, their names are recorded… As for what happens after, you’ll also have to ask Wen Xianyin.”
How was this plot ever filled in? This part had completely deviated from the outline; it wasn’t something she had written.
Jiang Xidai leaned to the side, elegantly pressing her fingers to her temples. “My head hurts. I didn’t want to in the first place.” After taking in Wen Xianyin, Jiang Xidai had her falling out with Zhan Ke, and heartbroken, she absolutely couldn’t stay at Lanyue Pavilion. So she wandered around with her young disciple.
At that time, due to the annihilation of the Lingshan Sect, the pursuit of her by the entire cultivation world had intensified, becoming clamorous. To avoid trouble, she mostly roamed the mortal world at the foot of the mountains, cultivating in remote places. Her young disciple Wen still needed to eat, and she would obediently go into the city every day to take care of herself, which was very trouble-free.
But one day, Wen Xianyin didn’t return for a long time. Jiang Xidai had been planning to abandon the child, as bringing a child along was always a bit inconvenient. But just as she was about to leave, for some reason, a whim struck, and she changed her mind. She went to look for her and found that the little girl had been terribly unlucky, abducted by bandits on the mountain.
Kidnapping someone under her nose, wasn’t that a provocation? She thought.
So, to rescue one disciple, Jiang Xidai casually destroyed the bandits’ fortress, and in doing so, unintentionally rescued even more young girls. That group of people, just like Wen Xianyin, clung to her and refused to leave, following her wherever she went.
Jiang Xidai was endlessly annoyed. Every day she was being ambushed and plotted against by those from the Immortal Alliance, living a life of constant conflict, and she still had to find time to care for a group of half-grown girls. She really knew how to find trouble for herself.
Jiang Xidai didn’t have the patience for it. So she found a mountain peak with abundant spiritual energy, abandoned the group of short-sighted brats, and settled down, leaving everything to be managed by the young Wen Xianyin.
That was the original intention behind founding the Shasheng Sect. So, after all this time, the Shasheng Sect was filled with gold and jade, with countless plundered treasures, the height of luxury, yet it lacked the appearance of a proper sect.
“That’s how it is,” Jiang Xidai finished her story in a few words and raised an eyebrow. “I’m not handling the rest. You can do as you please, as long as you don’t bother me.”
Yan Huirou: “I might still have to bother you a little.”
The woman seemed somewhat displeased upon hearing this. She sized Yan Huirou up for a long moment, but ultimately conceded defeat to Yan Huirou’s pitifully innocent expression. “Then… just don’t bother me too much.”
Yan Huirou learned the general situation of the Shasheng Sect from Wen Xianyin. What gave Yan Huirou an even bigger headache than the lack of sect rules was that in a sect of this size, gathering all five thousand members, they could only find nearly eight hundred who could be considered “cultivators.”
Of these eight hundred, Yan Huirou checked them one by one and found that more than half had mediocre cultivation, and only about thirty could be considered decent. And this small group was the part that Senior Disciple Wen often commanded, and who even frequently served the Sect Master. They had almost no training, just the older ones teaching the younger ones, occasionally receiving some guidance from Senior Disciple Wen—they were all unorthodox, self-taught cultivators.
Yan Huirou had been to the Haoran Sect before, and it was obvious that the disciples there moved in an orderly manner, truly a gathering of talents. If the Haoran Sect recruited five thousand people, then all five thousand would certainly be able to cultivate. Among them, the number of outstandingly talented ones would be much higher.
The Shasheng Sect was far too lenient. The fact that it had managed to stand until now was entirely due to their Sect Master being the number one powerhouse in the cultivation world by a wide margin, killing gods and buddhas who stood in her way. No wonder their principle was to please Jiang Xidai… that was much easier than revitalizing the sect.
Now, Wen Xianyin accompanied her in a side hall. Compared to the opulent Qionghua Hall, this small place looked more like the sect’s “headquarters.” Seeing the twitch at the end of Yan Huirou’s brow, Wen Xianyin offered an apologetic smile. “Miss Yan, now you know I was telling the truth.”
“…Senior Disciple has had it tough all these years.” Yan Huirou put down the register, looking at her with sincerity and sympathy.
“No. It’s actually much simpler than you think.” Wen Xianyin, however, shook her head. “The two most important things for a sect are, first, money, to support everyone; and second, security, to defend against external enemies.”
“And with the Sect Master here, both are well-provided for.”
“Mmm…” It was understandable. After all, this was the cultivation world; strength was the most important thing.
Yan Huirou didn’t say more on this. She asked, “How are our finances handled?”
Wen Xianyin stood up and handed her another thick register. When Yan Huirou took it, she felt a bit touched, especially after experiencing Jiang Xidai’s cluelessness. Wen Xianyin’s records were detailed and very easy to read. After reading the ledger, Yan Huirou generally understood. Not only were the beauties in the Shasheng Sect plundered, but so was the money.
“Every time there’s an enemy attack or a conflict,” Senior Disciple Wen said quietly from the side, “…they all know that another fool has come to deliver money.”
“After the Sect Master cleans up, we will search the dead. One score can feed us for three years. The sect’s finances are still abundant right now.”
Yan Huirou: “So this is the main source of income?”
“It’s the entire source.”
“…”
“Money is easy to talk about; for now, as long as it’s enough, it’s fine,” Yan Huirou said. “Although there are many disciples in the sect, there are too few usable people, and a bunch of freeloaders.”
Wen Xianyin: “The Sect Master likes those who are gentle and clever, and they must resemble Zhan Ke. She doesn’t want anyone else. We all select based on this… so the range of choices is much smaller.”
Suddenly, a voice transmitted through the air, empty and ethereal, just loud enough for Yan Huirou and Wen Xianyin to hear—”Wen Xianyin, that was your own decision. When did this Seat ever make such a rule?” It sounded cold and distant, as if annoyed by Wen Xianyin’s loose tongue.
Senior Disciple Wen was caught off guard. After realizing what had happened, she immediately put on a repentant expression. “Yes, Sect Master. This disciple dare not speak rashly.” She turned to Yan Huirou and apologized, “I remembered it wrong.”
But from Senior Disciple Wen’s flickering gaze, Yan Huirou could clearly discern the deeper meaning—the Sect Master may not have said it, but the Sect Master definitely liked it.
Yan Huirou smiled faintly. “It’s not just Senior Disciple who remembered it wrong; I seem to have seen it wrong too. How strange, Sect Master, what’s going on…”
The transmitted voice disappeared and made no further sound.
“So she can still hear our conversation,” Yan Huirou tilted her head.
Senior Disciple Wen very cautiously kept her mouth shut, lightly closing her eyes, her face serene as if nothing had happened. “So, Miss Yan, since you are acting as Sect Master, I will do my best to assist you. What is the next step?”
“Obviously, the most urgent matter is,” Yan Huirou nodded, “to find people. To recruit good prospects. This time we can’t just randomly accept people based on preferences; we need to recruit talents who are useful to the sect.”
But the problem was… with the Shasheng Sect’s reputation, what talented cultivator would dare to ruin their future by coming to this demonic den?
