Saving the White Moonlight Chapter 7

Tao Zhi knew that Yan Zhuguang was not simple. From the very start of their entry into the sect, she had treated Yan Zhuguang as a great enemy. She had tried every way to get close to her, and only when she found a chance did she carefully make her move.
She had even prepared for failure and arranged a scapegoat for herself.
But she had not expected Yan Zhuguang to be so powerful. Before Tao Zhi could even use the backup plan she had arranged, Yan Zhuguang had already forced her out.
This time, Tao Zhi was even more careful.
She knew that if it were only an ordinary frame-up, Yan Zhuguang might still have a way to wash herself clean. So Tao Zhi had to come up with a method that would make sure Yan Zhuguang could never turn things around.
Yan Zhuguang had a bright, striking face. It was very easy for people to see her once and form the impression that she was not a proper girl.
Tao Zhi understood this very well, so she changed her strategy.
From the beginning, she planted a seed in the hearts of Yimiao Sect’s sect master and his group. After hearing from her mouth that Yan Zhuguang was someone who seduced the steward and pushed out a fellow disciple, whether they believed it or not, a shadow would be left in their hearts. The shadow of a restless, seductive woman.
And once they saw Yan Zhuguang’s face, they would place that shadow on her and believe every word Tao Zhi had said earlier.
Who told Yan Zhuguang to be born with a face that always seemed to hook people?
Once they decided that, no matter how Yan Zhuguang explained, they would not believe her. Even if Yan Zhuguang brought out proof of her innocence, it would be useless. These high and mighty cultivators could never admit they were wrong. How could they admit that they had misjudged a person? So Yan Zhuguang had to be guilty. She would never be able to rise again.
Tao Zhi’s plan was good. If her opponent had been any other girl in her early teens, she might truly have fallen into the trap.
Unfortunately, her opponent was Yan Zhuguang.
Yan Zhuguang’s face did put her in a bad position. But it was not as if she did not know how to adapt. If this face worked against her, then she only needed to weaken its presence, did she not?
Using the chance of tending the spiritual fields, Yan Zhuguang reasonably splashed mud and water onto her body and face, hiding those overly bold features. Now she looked like a plain, sloppy little girl.
She was only twelve or thirteen years old. Her figure had not begun to develop, and there was no graceful curve to speak of. What capital did she have to seduce anyone?
The image of a seductive woman who had hooked the steward was smashed to pieces by the sight of the skinny little mud monkey before them.
The shadow Tao Zhi had left in these people’s hearts could indeed make them condemn Yan Zhuguang directly. But once that shadow was shattered by reality, it was also easier to shake the thoughts in their hearts.
A little girl like this could not have seduced the steward. Then the one who spoke earlier must have lied.
Yan Zhuguang even seemed completely unaware as she exposed Tao Zhi’s real situation. Between a person who did not care about tending her spiritual field and had been driven out of the sect, and a disciple who seriously cleaned the spiritual field without caring about her image and got herself dirty all over, whose side would people stand on?
After Yan Zhuguang finished speaking, countless examining gazes fell on Tao Zhi.
She hated Yan Zhuguang to death, but she could not show it. Her control over her features was not trained well enough, so they inevitably twisted.
Yun Mixue had not believed Tao Zhi’s one-sided words from the start. Now, seeing Yan Zhuguang like this, her impression of the girl improved even more.
A girl who worked seriously and honestly was naturally likable. Yun Mixue liked her very much.
Her tone toward Yan Zhuguang became even kinder. “You are tending this Miss Tao’s spiritual field for her? Why? Where is your field?”
Yan Zhuguang pulled her gaze away from Tao Zhi and answered respectfully, “Zhuguang is testing a method for the steward to improve the quality of spiritual grain. The steward planned to use an image stone to record it so it could be spread later.”
“Who knew that after I left for only a little while…” At this point, Yan Zhuguang secretly glanced at Yun Mixue, then lowered her head as if she thought no one had seen it, and continued, “When I came back, all the rice in that field had fallen over.”
Seeing her little expression, Yun Mixue found it somewhat funny. The “little while” she mentioned must have been when she went to secretly listen to Yun Mixue’s lecture.
“After the steward looked at the image stone, he said Tao Zhi’s spiritual field should be given to me for a new test, and then he expelled Tao Zhi from the sect.”
Yan Zhuguang did not say why Tao Zhi’s field had been taken and why she had been expelled. But everyone present had a brain and could judge. Of course they understood that Tao Zhi must have been expelled because she had destroyed the spiritual field.
Earlier, Tao Zhi had kept saying that Yan Zhuguang was lazy and idle every day, causing the spiritual grain she produced to be poor in quality. To avoid failing her task, she had destroyed the rice in her own field, joined hands with the steward to frame Tao Zhi, driven Tao Zhi out of the sect, and taken the field Tao Zhi had carefully tended.
Now, looking at it, each matter failed to match.
Although they did not understand how to manage spiritual fields, they could tell from Yan Zhuguang’s movements that she was very skilled at the work. No matter how they looked at her, she did not match the person Tao Zhi described.
It seemed they had believed someone too easily and had been used as a blade.
Their gazes toward Tao Zhi immediately turned unfriendly. This person had made them lose face in front of Lianji Immortal. She truly could not be spared lightly.
Tao Zhi shook all over, and a chill ran down her spine. She had still underestimated Yan Zhuguang. If Yan Zhuguang managed to turn the situation around again this time, Tao Zhi’s life would be in danger.
She opened her mouth to defend herself, but Yun Mixue interrupted her.
Yun Mixue did not mean to cut her off. She simply had not finished asking Yan Zhuguang questions. “You have a way to improve the quality of spiritual grain? How do you do it?”
Only by truly proving that Yan Zhuguang had the ability to improve spiritual grain quality could the dirty water of “seducing the steward” be washed completely from her.
Yun Mixue always felt that this little girl had a strange energy that made her trust her very much.
Yan Zhuguang carefully looked at Yun Mixue and the group of bright and neat cultivators behind her. “Zhuguang does have a method. If Immortal wishes to see it, may I trouble you to move to the spiritual field?”
The people of Yimiao Sect wanted to scold her. Asking spotless Lianji Immortal to go to such a muddy, filthy place was simply asking for death.
Who knew that before they could scold, Yun Mixue nodded and agreed. She did not dislike Yan Zhuguang’s dirty appearance at all. She reached out and held her muddy little hand. “Then I will trouble Zhuguang to lead the way.”
Yun Mixue’s palm was cool, even cooler than Yan Zhuguang’s after she had soaked in the spiritual field for so long. Yan Zhuguang had heard that Yun Mixue had a rare mutated ice spiritual root and cultivated ice arts. Now it seemed true. Just the slightest breath from her was this cold.
Yun Mixue felt the little hand she held tremble once. It seemed to shrink back carefully, almost with low self-esteem. Yun Mixue could not help tightening her hold a little. She also drew in her aura even more and quietly cast a small spell to warm her palm.
When Yun Mixue’s hand warmed, Yan Zhuguang’s hand was wrapped in soft warmth. She looked in surprise at Yun Mixue’s long, jade-like fingers and showed a worshipful expression.
That burning gaze made Yun Mixue think of the lecture on the Lecture Platform earlier.
It was this gaze that had made her unable to ignore the person hidden in the dark, forcing her to turn her eyes over to show that she had discovered the other party.
If she had known earlier that it was such a little girl, perhaps she would not have acted that way and scared her off.
Yan Zhuguang pulled Yun Mixue toward the spiritual field. The people of Yimiao Sect could not stay in place, so the large group carefully followed them down the field ridge. Tao Zhi had no choice but to trail behind.
The people of Yimiao Sect wanted to use spells to avoid the mud splashing onto their bodies. But seeing that Yun Mixue had not used any spell and instead let the muddy water wet her hem, drawing ink-like stains across her snow-white robes, they could only endure it and consider themselves unlucky.
Unlike those who wanted to please Yun Mixue, Chu Ningyan cast a Light Body Spell on herself to keep from stepping into mud. She also spread spiritual energy around her body to stop muddy water from splashing onto her.
Although she had not spoken, she had her own thoughts.
Yun Mixue could recognize Yan Zhuguang, and naturally Chu Ningyan could as well. This dirty little girl was the servant disciple who had secretly listened to the lecture earlier.
Chu Ningyan’s impression of her had already been bad. After knowing she had sneaked in to listen to the lecture, it became even worse. Chu Ningyan hated people who acted secretly and hid things. If someone wanted to hear the lecture, then listen openly. Who was this act for?
Afraid of being discovered and punished? If she had known that, then she should not have come to sneak-listen.
In any case, Chu Ningyan did not like this person named Yan Zhuguang. Even though she knew Yan Zhuguang had been wronged by Tao Zhi, she still did not like her. In her view, the two of them were birds of a feather. Neither was much better than the other.
If Senior Sister had not wanted to clear Yan Zhuguang’s name, Chu Ningyan would not have bothered to wrong herself by following over.
The two people in front did not care what the people behind them thought. One did not wish to guess at other people’s minds, and the other simply did not care what others thought.
After reaching the spiritual field where Yan Zhuguang had been working earlier, Yan Zhuguang pulled free from Yun Mixue’s hand. She shook her hand in a small motion, shaking away the remaining warmth and that faint, strange reluctance.
“My method must be used when the spiritual grain is ripe. It is not ripe yet, so please allow me to ripen the grain I will use for the demonstration.”
Spiritual grain ripened by force would have much lower quality, but in order to show the method quickly, this was the only choice.
After Yan Zhuguang received permission, she reached out and carefully held the stem of one spiritual rice plant. She had five spiritual roots, and the wood root among them was the thickest. Because of that, using wood-attribute spells came more naturally to her.
She poured wood-attribute spiritual energy into the spiritual rice. The plant slowly began to ripen faster, and the ear of grain at the top slowly turned golden.
When the spiritual grain had gradually ripened, she withdrew her hand and began casting spells on that stalk of rice.
The little girl had a solemn face. With full focus, she used her muddy hands to form one hand seal after another. She was so serious that her whole body seemed to glow.
Yun Mixue watched in a slight daze.