578: Chapter 578 She said, "Sect Master, you're a lecher..."

Listening to those people discuss how lewd and wicked Xu Ruyu was, Lu Yao's hand tightened slightly around her teacup.

She placed the tea money on the table and stood up to leave the tavern.

Those words pricked her heart like needles, making her even more certain that her decision was correct—Xu Ruyu was a lustful man, and she was willing to brave the danger herself.

As long as the Sect Head and the Elders could return safely, what did her small sacrifice matter?

The following evening, Lu Yao finally arrived at the Hehuan Sect.

From a distance, she saw that massive light screen.

The light screen shimmered with a golden-red glow under the setting sun, flowing slowly like a sleeping giant serpent.

She landed her flying sword before the mountain gate, where two guarding Disciples blocked her path.

"Who goes there?"

Lu Yao took a deep breath, trying her best to keep her voice steady.

"Lu Yao, Saintess of the Taixu Sect, requests an audience with Sect Master Xu Ruyu of the Hehuan Sect.

I have brought Spirit Stones to ransom my Taixu Sect's Sect Head and the various Elders."

The guarding Disciples exchanged a glance, and one of them turned to go inside and report.

A moment later, he ran back out and stepped aside with an inviting gesture.

"The Sect Master is waiting for you in Ningyin Hall."

Ningyin Hall.

Xu Ruyu was currently reviewing the ledgers compiled by the Grand Elder.

The Spirit Stones delivered by the various major Sects had already filled half of his storehouse, leaving him in a pleasant mood.

While flipping through the ledgers, he calculated how many new weapons these Spirit Stones could manufacture.

Xiao Nianyin sat beside him, engrossed in an old book she had found from somewhere.

"Someone from the Taixu Sect has arrived," the Grand Elder entered to report. "It's their Saintess, named Lu Yao. She says she brought Spirit Stones to ransom the captives."

Xu Ruyu set down the ledger.

"Are there enough Spirit Stones?"

"Not enough. It's short by nearly one hundred thousand." The Grand Elder paused. "But she said she would make up for the missing portion herself."

Xu Ruyu was taken aback.

"Herself? What does that mean?"

The Grand Elder's expression turned somewhat peculiar.

"She said... Sect Master, you are lustful, so for the insufficient portion of Spirit Stones, she would sell herself to the Hehuan Sect to settle the debt."

The air in the hall suddenly went silent.

Xiao Nianyin's hand stopped flipping the pages.

She slowly raised her head and looked at Xu Ruyu.

That gaze was very calm, but it made a chill run down Xu Ruyu's spine.

That kind of calmness wasn't an absence of emotion; it was the suffocating stillness before a storm.

"Lustful?" Xiao Nianyin's voice wasn't loud, but every word carried an indescribable tone. "Xu Ruyu, has your reputation for being lustful already spread to the outside world?"

"What does this have to do with me?" Xu Ruyu had a look of innocence. "When have I ever been lustful? I haven't even stepped out the door!"

"This must be some blind rumor spread by those Loose Cultivators."

"You actually believe rumors from the Cultivation World?"

Xiao Nianyin didn't speak; her gaze moved from his face to the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder quickly waved his hands. "It wasn't this old man who said it. I don't know how the rumors are spreading outside either."

Xu Ruyu rubbed his temples and sighed.

"Fine. Let her in. I want to see how this Saintess plans to sell herself to me."

Lu Yao followed the Grand Elder into Ningyin Hall.

Her steps were steady, her back was straight, and her head was held high.

There was no fear or nervousness on her face, only a calm resolve as if facing death.

She walked into the hall, her gaze sweeping over Xu Ruyu sitting in the main seat, then over Xiao Nianyin beside him, and her heart skipped a beat.

She had heard of Xiao Nianyin, a powerhouse of the True Immortal Realm, a terrifying existence who could kill a Saint Realm Peak with a single palm strike.

Currently, she sat there expressionless, her entire body radiating a faint chill.

Lu Yao walked to the center of the hall, stood still, and took a deep breath.

"Lu Yao, Saintess of the Taixu Sect, greets Sect Leader Xu."

Her voice was soft but very clear.

Xu Ruyu sized her up.

White clothes like snow, long hair like a waterfall, a pure and beautiful face with features like a painting—she was indeed a beauty.

But there was something in her eyes that wasn't flirtatiousness or a desire to please; it was a forced, unyielding stubbornness.

"The Grand Elder said that since the Spirit Stones aren't enough, you will make up for it yourself?"

Xu Ruyu got straight to the point.

Lu Yao's heart jumped, but she did not shrink back.

"Yes. I have brought four hundred and eighty thousand Spirit Stones, leaving a deficit of twenty thousand. But I also have this—"

She took off a jade pendant from her neck, holding it in both hands as she offered it to Xu Ruyu.

"This is a memento left to me by my mother. Although it isn't Spirit Stones, it should be worth some money."

"If it is still not enough, I am willing to remain in the Hehuan Sect as a slave or maidservant to repay the remaining debt."

"I only ask that the Sect Master release my Taixu Sect's Sect Head and the Elders."

Her voice did not tremble, nor did her hands.

But Xu Ruyu saw the flash of sorrow deep within her eyes.

He fell silent for a moment.

"Who did you hear it from that I am lustful?"

Lu Yao was stunned.

She hadn't expected Xu Ruyu to ask this.

She hesitated for a bit but still answered truthfully.

"The Loose Cultivators on the road said it. They said the Hehuan Sect... said that you, Sect Master..."

"Said that I am lustful by nature, that my relationships are a mess, and that the Hehuan Sect is a den of iniquity?"

Lu Yao lowered her head.

"Yes."

Xu Ruyu suddenly began to laugh.

It wasn't a mocking laugh, but a helpless laugh of someone who had been misunderstood but was too lazy to explain.

"And you believed them?"

Lu Yao raised her head and looked into his eyes.

Those eyes weren't lewd or greedy; instead, they had something very clear, like mountain spring water.

She suddenly hesitated.

"I..."

"You believed them," Xu Ruyu answered for her. "So you came. You thought I was lustful and that selling yourself to me would get your Sect Head and Elders back."

"If I were truly lustful, you would have already walked right into the tiger's den."

Lu Yao's face turned a few shades paler.

She bit her lip and didn't say a word.

Xu Ruyu took the jade pendant from her hand, looked at it, and then returned it to her.

"Keep this. It was left to you by your mother; don't just give it away. You don't need to pay the remaining twenty thousand Spirit Stones."

Lu Yao was dumbfounded.

"Sect Master, you..."

"While I'm not exactly a good person, I'm not so bad that I'd take a girl to settle a debt." Xu Ruyu stood up, walked over to her, and looked at her. "I can release your Taixu Sect people."

"It doesn't matter if there are enough Spirit Stones or not, but I have one condition."

Lu Yao's heart tightened again.

"What condition?"

"Go back and tell those Loose Cultivators to stop spreading wild rumors."

"Me, Xu Ruyu, lustful? I can't even handle Xiao Nianyin, so how could I be lustful?"

He turned his head to glance at Xiao Nianyin.

Xiao Nianyin replied expressionlessly, "You can't handle me?"

Xu Ruyu quickly waved his hands.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant—"

"Enough." Xiao Nianyin interrupted him, her gaze falling on Lu Yao as she sized her up. "How old are you?"

Lu Yao felt a bit uncomfortable under her gaze. "Twenty-two."

"Nascent Soul Peak?"

"Yes."

"Good Aptitude."

Xiao Nianyin withdrew her gaze and continued reading her old book as if nothing had happened.

Lu Yao stood there, unsure of what to do.

She had come prepared for the worst—that Xu Ruyu would have improper designs on her, and she would need to play along while enduring humiliation.

She had even prepared poison, intending to assassinate Xu Ruyu at the final moment.

But now, things were completely different from what she had imagined.

This man didn't give her a second look, said nothing frivolous, and even voluntarily waived the Spirit Stones.