81: framing

"Do you want to know the answer? Then I'll make an exception and tell you!"

The black and white figure vanished for an instant, and Du Bingyan felt a heavy force tightly gripping her throat.

When she regained her senses, the extremely arrogant face of Shen Lian came into view.

"Ngh..."

The next moment, her petite body was lifted directly, and a fierce sense of suffocation filled every nerve of Du Bingyan.

"Listen well. The strong have never treated the weak with so-called fairness! Your so-called fairness is nothing more than pity bestowed upon the weak by the strong."

"Weakness is never an excuse for you to argue reasonably, especially in this bloody Cultivation World. The prerequisite for reasoning is that you must become strong!"

"Because no one cares about the plight of the weak. Just like now, your Medicinal Field was destroyed, and you clearly know you are facing an existence you cannot provoke."

"The wisest choice is to endure silently, because I can take your life at any time. I am not killing you now simply because I don't want to, not because I can't!"

"Do you understand? ant!"

After speaking, Shen Lian directly tossed the already pale Du Bingyan into the Medicinal Field.

Du Bingyan lay shamefully in the mud, her face full of confusion: "No, that's not right. The strong should protect the weak, not destroy the fruits of others' labor like this."

She picked up a broken Spiritual Plant: "This is the result of the weak person's efforts you spoke of. Even if it is insignificant in your eyes, you shouldn't destroy it so recklessly."

Shen Lian snorted coldly: "What a naive thought. Then let me tell you another bloody reality. You said it was extremely difficult for you to cultivate this Medicinal Field over three years,"

"But the strong spent hundreds or thousands of years to achieve their current accomplishments. What right do you have to demand fairness from them just based on your mere three years of effort?"

"You are working hard, but the strong work even harder. The purpose of them standing on high is to ensure that your current plight will not repeat itself on them."

"This world is that cruel. If you want fairness, your efforts are practically insignificant."

"Only by standing in the same position as the strong are you qualified to talk about fairness! Do you understand!"

Du Bingyan was completely at a loss. In her nineteen years of life, this was the first time someone had used the most practical action to display such a cruel reality so brutally before her.

"Do you know why you are still alive? Because the current you doesn't even have the qualifications to die by my hand!"

Shen Lian's words were like a sharp knife, plunging deeply into Du Bingyan's heart.

In an instant, scenes of mockery and bullying from her fellow Disciples in the Chess Sword Pavilion Medicine Hall flashed before her eyes like fleeting glimpses.

Du Bingyan came from an ordinary family; her father and mother were both physicians in the town. She had aspired to become a Pharmacist in the Cultivation World.

After successfully passing the Chess Sword Pavilion test, Du Bingyan immediately chose to become a Medicine Hall Disciple, only wishing to learn more profound medical skills, hoping one day to become a Saint like the Medicine Saint, dedicated to helping the world.

Unfortunately, only after entering the Medicine Hall did she realize that she was not valued by the Medicine Hall Elder.

For ten years, not only did she fail to become a personal Inner Sect Disciple, but later she couldn't even enter the Medicine Hall gate, forced to manage the Medicinal Field on the Back Mountain, far away from the Medicine Hall, all day long.

She originally thought all of this was because she was too clumsy, so she managed the Medicinal Field even more diligently, hoping one day to gain recognition from others.

However, the reality was that those who could enter the Medicine Hall Inner Sect to deeply study medical Dao and pharmaceutical knowledge were people whose Aptitude was inferior to hers, but whose families were wealthy.

The Medicine Hall Elder, Feng Shihua, was inherently a greedy and narrow-minded fellow.

On the first day Du Bingyan entered the Medicine Hall, he vaguely sensed that this beautiful new Disciple had extremely high talent in medicine.

Fearing that his future reputation would be surpassed by Du Bingyan, he not only refrained from teaching her useful Spirit Medicine knowledge but also secretly guided the Medicine Hall Disciples to constantly make things difficult for her.

Finally, he gave her the duty of looking after the Back Mountain Medicinal Field, preventing her from getting within half a step of the Medicine Hall again.

In truth, Du Bingyan was aware of everything happening around her; she was just forcing herself not to admit it.

Her parents had spent almost all their family savings so she could enter the Chess Sword Pavilion. If she couldn't achieve success in her studies, how great would their disappointment be?

She just hadn't expected that today, someone would vividly reveal this cruel reality to her, completely shattering her self-comforting lies.

Shen Lian: "Let me tell you one last reality. If you continue to stay here managing these low-grade Spiritual Plants, I can clearly tell you,"

"Let alone three years, even thirty years or three hundred years, you will still be an ant. No one will look up to you, and no one will discuss ridiculous fairness with you."

"To escape the fate of an ant, first you must dare to think, and once you think it, do it. Living in such a muddled state, you'd be better off going back to farm a few acres or becoming a physician in a Mortal Gathering Place—that would be better than now."

After Shen Lian finished speaking, he walked directly toward the direction of the Chess Sword Pavilion Mountain Gate.

"Dare to think... dare to act..."

Du Bingyan kept muttering this phrase.

"So, everything was just wishful thinking on my part."

Finally, as a bitter smile appeared on Du Bingyan's face, she fiercely threw away the Spiritual Plant in her hand.

"That's right. If I don't even dare to think, what right do I have to talk about fairness or ideals!"

At this moment, Du Bingyan's face held an unprecedented determination... When the bell chimed eight times, inside the Main Hall of the Chess Sword Pavilion.

"Su Mengyao, do you admit your guilt!"

After hearing about Lu Qingyi's experience, Vice Sect Master Lord Youyang immediately darkened his face and summoned Su Mengyao to the Main Hall for questioning.

"This Disciple does not know."

Su Mengyao answered concisely and her gaze was very calm.

"Vice Sect Master, this Disciple truly doesn't know what you mean by that statement."

Lord Youyang's expression was serious: "You colluded with Evil Cultivators to harm fellow Disciples, and secretly murdered Hidden Edge and Elder Xuanyuan. Even those fellow Disciples were killed by you, isn't that right!"

Su Mengyao was amused: "Vice Sect Master, do you have evidence for what you are saying?"

Lord Youyang: "Evidence? Lu Qingyi personally saw you taking an Evil Cultivator as your master and harming fellow Disciples. What do you have to say about that?"

Su Mengyao shook her head: "Vice Sect Master, if I truly intended to harm my fellow Disciples, why would I remain here instead of fleeing?"

Lord Youyang frowned: "Are you planning to coordinate with the Evil Cultivator from the inside?"

"Ha, Vice Sect Master, you must be joking. With this Disciple's mediocre cultivation, what do I have to cooperate with an Evil Cultivator?"

Su Mengyao calmly retorted.

"Furthermore, considering the level of cultivation of Senior Brother Chu and Elder Xuanyuan, and my own standard, do you think I could kill the two of them?"

"Perhaps, you weren't the one who actually attacked."

Lord Youyang hesitated for a moment before replying, but unfortunately, even he doubted his own words as he spoke them.

"If I didn't need to attack, why are you so insistent that I colluded with an Evil Cultivator? You just believe whatever Lu Qingyi says, is that right?"

"Impudence! How dare you speak to This Seat like that?"

Lord Youyang was furious and immediately unleashed his Aura Pressure, intending to force Su Mengyao to submit.