Shen Qing gritted her teeth and left everyone's sight. When she reached a deserted place, she finally let out her breath and spat out the blood that had been welling up in her throat.
The moment the blood was spat out, a sharp pain surged through her entire body.
This was the price she had to pay for forcefully activating her spiritual power earlier.
The pain was so intense that Shen Qing could hardly stand. Dizzy, she staggered a few steps and then fell straight backward.
Before falling, Shen Qing quickly glanced around with her peripheral vision.
There was no one around.
Now she didn't have to worry about losing face.
By now, Shen Qing didn't want others to see her vulnerable side.
But the expected pain didn't come. Instead, she fell into a cold embrace.
Shen Qing opened her eyes and stared blankly at the overly good - looking face that suddenly came into her view.
Li Xian frowned as he felt the warmth in his arms. For some reason, he had left his junior brothers behind and chased after Shen Qing's departing figure.
But Li Xian remembered that Yu Xuzi once said that the fates of all things in the world were extremely mysterious. If one day he felt a certain guidance in his heart, he should follow it without hesitation. Maybe there would be great opportunities ahead.
Since Yu Xuzi had said so, Li Xian did as he was told.
So when he saw Shen Qing about to fall, he instinctively rushed out.
But Li Xian wasn't used to physical contact with others. So after steadying Shen Qing, he immediately let go and took a few steps back, putting some distance between them.
Shen Qing could sense that Li Xian meant no harm. When she noticed the disciple's robe of the Five - Element Dao Sect on Li Xian, she let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he wasn't from the Qingyun Sword Sect.
Otherwise, there would be more people saying that she was pretending to be weak and pitiful.
"Fellow Daoist, thank you... Hey?"
Before Shen Qing could finish her words of gratitude, she saw Li Xian turn around and leave.
He didn't say a word or leave a single expression.
But Shen Qing was quite understanding. Maybe he was just passing by and helped her out of kindness when he saw her fainting.
In the Five - Marsh Divine Continent, there were all kinds of people.
So Shen Qing watched Li Xian's departing back and softly finished her words of thanks.
"Thank you."
Li Xian didn't know what he was doing. He could have left after hearing Shen Qing's words of gratitude, but when he saw Shen Qing in such a sorry state, he couldn't bear to look anymore and immediately turned away.
Actually, this wasn't Li Xian's first time seeing Shen Qing.
A few years ago, Li Xian had also been to the Qingyun Sword Sect. At that time, he had noticed the delicate little disciple following behind True Lord Heng Ling.
That little disciple didn't have high cultivation. Every senior brother seemed to dote on her.
But in fact, Li Xian noticed that she was more like an appendage to everyone.
She kept currying favor with every senior brother, smiling at everyone. When she heard others comparing her with Lin Yibai, True Lord Heng Ling's proud female disciple, there would be a hurt look in her eyes.
But then she would still put on a smile and agree with everyone.
That female disciple was Shen Qing.
At that time, Li Xian's impression of Shen Qing was just "utterly lacking in talent".
But seeing her today, Shen Qing seemed to have changed.
When Li Xian felt that Shen Qing had left, he turned back and took a deep look at her departing back.
A hint of depth flashed through his otherwise calm eyes. Then he turned back, and his cold figure slowly disappeared.
Shen Qing was in a bad state. Every step she took felt like walking on the tip of a knife.
The training ground was still a long way from her small courtyard.
She not only had to climb a long staircase but also cross several cliffs. For Shen Qing, who couldn't fly with a sword, this was simply torture.
She cursed Shen Chuyun in her heart hundreds of times. While cursing, she managed to climb the long staircase.
Shen Qing recalled the scene just now. Shen Chuyun had left her in the crowd.
Letting her be surrounded and gossiped about by the disciples, the malicious gazes landing on her nakedly.
Was she afraid?
She was.
Since childhood, Shen Qing had been taught by her parents that as a girl, she shouldn't be too stubborn and was destined to be weaker than men. But as an elder sister, she had to take good care of her younger brother, Shen Chuyun.
So it was she who went up the mountain to chop firewood, she who caught hares in the snow, and she who drove away the ill - intentioned human traffickers.
In the mortal world, she could be strong and confident.
But after coming to the Qingyun Sword Sect, everyone was a gifted prodigy. Only she, no matter how hard she tried, was always at the bottom.
So she became self - abased.
In the crowd, she felt isolated. She hated this feeling of helplessness and despair.
So Shen Qing rebelled. For the first time, she dared to face everyone's gazes directly and left them speechless.
This feeling was really great!
To make the time of her climb pass faster, Shen Qing began to reflect in her mind.
Lin Yibai was currently in a coma, but Shen Qing already knew that Lin Yibai was just pretending. She wasn't seriously injured at all, so she wasn't really in a coma.
All this was something Lin Yibai had exchanged from the system with her points.
To make it more convincing, Lin Yibai would really lie in bed for almost half a year until Senior Brother Pei Xuanjing accidentally found the diary in Lin Yibai's room that was full of Shen Qing's "crimes".
With that diary, everyone in the sect believed that Shen Qing was malicious and had harmed her fellow disciples.
To appease the public anger, the sect master had almost expelled her from the Qingyun Sword Sect.
But True Lord Heng Ling had kept her.
In her previous life, Shen Qing really thought that True Lord Heng Ling believed in her. She was extremely grateful for that.
But he was just after the remaining half of the spiritual bone on Shen Qing.
After that diary was discovered, she was bullied by all the disciples in the sect and lived a life worse than death.
So this time, Shen Qing would get to the diary first and destroy it!
After much difficulty, Shen Qing finally returned to her small courtyard. She opened the storage bag left in the house and took out all the things inside in one go.
She remembered that many years ago, when she first entered the sect, True Lord Heng Ling had also given her some high - grade pills.
Sure enough, after rummaging through, Shen Qing really found a few pills left in the corner.
Shen Qing took a look and found that there was even a high - grade Essence - Consolidating Pill.
Without much thought, she immediately swallowed the Essence - Consolidating Pill and began to meditate.
No kidding. What if someone came again and took a fancy to her few good things and tried to rob her?
Only when she used them herself could they really be hers.
Suddenly, it seemed as if something occurred to Shen Qing.
In the plot she knew, Lin Yibai once got an important jade pendant from Shen Chuyun.
On the surface, the jade pendant was an ordinary object without a trace of spiritual power.
But in fact, this jade pendant was left behind by a powerful cultivator. There was a small space inside.
That small space was full of rare books left by the powerful cultivator, including some profound cultivation techniques and some lost alchemy techniques.
Lin Yibai had made a fortune from these books.
That jade pendant was still in Shen Qing's hands!
Shen Qing hurriedly rummaged through the pile of miscellaneous items. Finally, she found the shabby jade pendant in a box in the corner.