Chapter Thirty-Eight: Deliberate Obstruction

When Mingyue returned to the dormitory, Nalan Meidai, Mo Yao, and Dou Ruhu had already washed up and were preparing for bed.

"Mingyue, why are you back so late? Mu Xiaotian was sent back at dinner time, and they say the food at the Alchemy Sect is quite excellent," Nangong Yurou asked, stepping forward with concern.

Dou Ruhu asked, her face full of gossip, "What did the Alchemy Sect have you doing? Was it helping the Great Master Feng? Were you excited to see him? Oh, my idol!"

Mo Yao studied Mingyue carefully. Seeing her exhausted state, she asked with suspicion, "Mingyue, why are your clothes so dirty? Your face is covered in grime like a messy kitten. Surely Master Feng didn't put you to work sweeping floors, did he?"

Mingyue quickly hid her raw, chafed hands behind her back and said awkwardly, "It’s about the same; just manual labor. Is there anything to eat? Quickly, give me some; I’m starving to death."

Nangong Yurou hurriedly fetched the pastries she had bought in Jinlu City. "There are a few left; make do with these. Didn't Mu Xiaotian say the Alchemy Sect provided a sumptuous dinner?"

Mingyue inhaled four pastries and drank a bowl of water before she began to feel better. Looking up, she noticed several pairs of eyes watching her with concern and gave a sheepish smile. "Heh, I was just too hungry; my manners were indeed a bit unsightly."

"Mingyue, your hands are chafed and swollen like this. What exactly did Feng Qingcheng have you doing?" Nangong Yurou asked. "Don't tell me he had you moving stones."

Mingyue shook her head, her expression dimming as she said embarrassedly, "I was scrubbing shelves today, which is much the same as moving stones." She added in a low voice, "Head Steward Sun Qinglai said the Alchemy Sect has never accepted female disciples and advised me to give up while I can."

Mo Yao slammed the table in anger. "That is simply going too far! Everyone knows that the students pre-selected by the elders are candidates for future inner-sect disciples. For Sun Qinglai to assign you the menial labor of an outer-sect servant—isn't that just looking down on people?"

Nangong Yurou and Dou Ruhu agreed. "Exactly, Mingyue. You should just stop going to the Alchemy Sect. Your medical skills are excellent, and your immortal energy is among the best in the academy; you could certainly become an inner-sect disciple of the Medicine Sect."

Mingyue thought of how Nalan Meidai had tried to bribe her with a million silver pieces and shook her head, saying firmly, "No, I absolutely cannot give up. Giving up halfway would only make people look down on me even more. I chose to take the alchemy acolyte entrance exam myself, and no matter how bitter or exhausting it is, I must persist."

Nangong Yurou and Mo Yao exchanged glances. Mo Yao patted Mingyue’s shoulder and comforted her, "Very well, we support you. Remember to take care of yourself at the Alchemy Sect. If you are mistreated, you must tell us. Get some rest now."

Mingyue slept until the morning practice bell rang. On her way to practice, she bumped into Nalan Meidai and Jiang Yiyi.

Jiang Yiyi sneered, "How is the Alchemy Sect? It must be comfortable not having to cultivate at the academy, right? I heard they assigned you the menial labor reserved for the lowest-ranking outer-sect disciples. It certainly suits your lowly status."

Mingyue couldn't be bothered with her. Just as she was about to run past, she heard Nalan Meidai laugh with disdain, "Yiyi, no matter what, she is still a future inner-sect disciple of the Alchemy Sect; don't speak to her like that."

Jiang Yiyi mocked, "Inner-sect disciple? Her? Don't insult my intelligence..."

Even after Mingyue had run far away, she could still hear Jiang Yiyi’s deliberately loud laughter. She looked up at the blue sky, gritted her teeth, and felt her resolve to continue harden even further.

The next day after breakfast, under the gazes of envy, jealousy, and hatred from the others, Mingyue and Mu Xiaotian were once again escorted to the Alchemy Sect by Senior Brother Luo Jiajin to continue scrubbing the herb shelves.

"How can you not even clean the herb shelves properly? You really are a useless glutton. Come, look here, and here, and here—do it all over again, redo it!" Sun Qinglai stood to the side, cursing and swearing. It wasn't until Mingyue had carried dozens of buckets of water back and forth and scrubbed the same shelf over a dozen times—until it was reflective and the rag had worn through—that he finally relented.

Sun Qinglai inspected the shelves meticulously, as if he wanted to shine a lamp into every corner. He pointed to a spot with a speck of dust and scolded, "This place isn't clean! Are you blind? You can't even handle this little task, yet you dream of entering my Alchemy Sect? Since you haven't finished the shelves on this side by midday, you won't be having dinner. You’re truly stupider than a pig or a dog."

Mingyue watched Sun Qinglai’s tantrum in silence, comforting herself internally: *Just grit your teeth and get through it; you must hold on.*

She looked at her ten fingers, which were raw and bloodied. Since the fingers are connected to the heart, she endured the piercing pain and slowly walked to the well outside the warehouse to fetch more water. Fortunately, her wounds had always healed faster than an ordinary person's since childhood. After a few hours, the cuts were mostly healed, though they still stung sharply whenever they touched water.

A bitter feeling washed over her as she suddenly remembered a sunny morning, the sight of an ugly-looking boy roasting a wild rabbit with her in the forest. She remembered they had once saved a small dog named "Xiao Bai" which had nine tails and a pair of extremely beautiful fox eyes. It was only after she had read many books later that she realized it was a rare nine-tailed fox, a species long extinct, and not a dog at all.

Mingyue didn't know how long she had been working. As the sky grew dark and the hour reached nine in the evening, she straightened her aching back and wiped the sweat from her brow. Sun Qinglai had long since left with the acolytes for dinner, and no one had brought her any food. Mingyue felt hollow and weak with hunger.

"Young Mistress Mingyue..." While Mingyue was busy scrubbing, the acolyte Laifu walked in, glancing around before calling to her in a low voice. Blushing, he hurriedly pulled two warm steamed buns from his robes and shoved them into her hands. "I took these secretly while Head Steward Sun wasn't looking. Eat them quickly. Don't be offended that he didn't send you dinner."

Mingyue accepted the warm buns, looked at Laifu’s blushing face, and said "Thank you" with gratitude. Laifu nodded with a smile and vanished into the night.

After eating the buns, Mingyue felt her strength returning. It seemed that not everyone in this world was cold-hearted; there were still many kind people.

Mingyue had expected to spend the next ten days scrubbing the herb warehouse shelves, but on the third day, Sun Qinglai used the excuse that she was "incompetent for the tasks assigned by the Alchemy Sect" to send her to another place for "training."

On that third day, as soon as Mingyue arrived, Sun Qinglai personally led her to the back mountain of the Alchemy Sect and pointed to a noisy construction site. "From now on, you will work here. No slacking off. Of course, if you don't want to do it, you can leave the Alchemy Sect at any time."

Looking around, Mingyue realized the air was filled with dust. Many low-ranking outer-sect disciples were chiseling stones and moving bricks to expand a series of buildings on the back mountain.

The overgrown ground was piled with stone bricks a meter long and half a meter thick. Disciples with their sleeves rolled up were struggling to load these bricks onto wheelbarrows to transport them to the construction site. It was the first time these disciples had seen a girl assigned to the construction area, and many stopped to watch with curiosity. Only inner-sect disciples who had committed crimes or powerless outer-sect disciples were demoted to this place to perform physical "cultivation."

A foreman-like man saw Sun Qinglai bringing a young girl over from afar. He was stunned for a moment before jogging over to bow respectfully. "Zhang Shan pays respects to Head Steward Sun. What wind blew you here, sir?"

Sun Qinglai stroked his beard and said haughtily, "This is Mingyue, the new alchemy acolyte. Because she is incompetent at her assigned tasks, she is here for some training. Arrange some work for her, like chiseling stones or moving bricks. Young people are spoiled; how can they accomplish anything without some discipline?"

"This..." Zhang Shan looked Mingyue up and down. She was young, beautiful, and had thin arms and legs—she hadn't even fully grown into her frame yet. How could she handle such heavy labor? He wondered how this young junior sister had offended the Head Steward to warrant such deliberate harassment.

Zhang Shan said with difficulty, "Junior Sister Mingyue is so young; there doesn't seem to be any work here suitable for her."

Sun Qinglai threatened, "Isn't moving bricks perfect for her? If you keep babbling, be careful or I'll strip you of your position as supervisor."

Zhang Shan was startled, realizing that angering Sun Qinglai would bring him no good. He hurriedly bowed and smiled. "Yes, yes, I will arrange it right away."

There were many disciples in the Shushan Immortal Sect. Inner-sect disciples were the true darlings of the heavens, the future pillars and backbone of the sect. However, with every intake of one or two hundred academy students, each elder only selected ten or twenty to become inner-sect disciples; the rest were relegated to being outer-sect disciples.

Outer-sect disciples were also divided into ranks. Those with family backgrounds or good aptitude returned to their families or were sent to manage sect businesses. Those working as laborers had entered the Shushan Immortal Cultivation Academy by sheer luck, but due to mediocre talent and no family backing, they had failed to reach the Immortal Realm after five years. They were left as low-ranking outer-sect disciples, performing menial chores while relying on the sect’s monthly supply of pills and herbs to cultivate. Beyond that, the sect provided a generous salary, which they sent home to support their families. This was a major reason why these low-ranking disciples preferred to stay and toil rather than leave.

Under Sun Qinglai’s watchful, predatory gaze, Zhang Shan bit the bullet and called over