They All Deeply Regretted It After I Became Indifferent

In the days Lin Mo led the team on their training, various incidents occurred at Qingzhu Peak.

Firstly, it was time for the disciples of Qingzhu Peak to receive their stipends.

Usually managed by Lin Mo himself, his absence meant that the disciple in charge of the storeroom had to consult with Master Yuehua.

“Master, what should we do about the disciples’ spirit stone stipends this year?” the storeroom disciple asked.

“Distribute them as usual!” Master Yuehua, sipping spiritual tea, replied nonchalantly.

“But Master…” The disciple’s face showed a hint of difficulty: “Our storeroom doesn’t have enough spirit stones for this stipend distribution!”

“How can that be?” Master Yuehua asked, puzzled.

“The expenses of Qingzhu Peak, both big and small, have always been managed by Brother Lin. The quality of our daily necessities is quite good, but Qingzhu Peak’s income is far less than its expenditures.”

“Why haven’t we faced this issue of insufficient stipends in previous years?” Master Yuehua raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Well, in previous years, Brother Lin would hunt in the Dazhou Mountain Range to subsidize Qingzhu Peak’s provisions. Any surplus spiritual plants and beast meat would be sold for spirit stones to supplement our income. Most importantly, the annual Xuanbing fruit—Brother Lin would sell his share too, using the proceeds to cover Qingzhu Peak’s expenses…”

At this point, the disciple’s voice grew softer: “For some reason, Brother Lin has stopped hunting in the Dazhou Mountain Range recently, focusing only on cultivation. Even when harvesting the Xuanbing fruit, he didn’t contribute any spirit stones…”

Master Yuehua was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

She knew Lin Mo had done a lot for the sect, but she hadn’t realized just how much…

Upon reflection, Lin Mo had managed so many affairs while maintaining his cultivation progress; he must have endured much hardship in private.

As her master, she was only focused on cultivation on ordinary days, oblivious to these matters…

Now that she thought about it, she truly felt a bit guilty towards her eldest disciple.

“So, how many spirit stones are we short?” Master Yuehua was ready to pay out of her own pocket.

“Eight thousand eight hundred low-grade spirit stones!” the disciple said.

Master Yuehua opened her storage ring, ready to take out the spirit stones, only to find, embarrassingly, that she might not have enough.

She then remembered that she had spent a lot on cultivation resources a few days ago, nearly depleting her spirit stones.

Logically, as a lord of a domain, she should have had a substantial savings.

However, she was a homebody, unlike other masters who would travel and gather resources, spending as much as they had on cultivation.

At this moment, Master Yuehua understood the pain of ‘a hero brought low by the lack of a single penny’.

Seeing the master’s lack of action in paying, the disciple had an expression that said, “You, a grand Nascent Soul master, surely can’t be lacking these few spirit stones?”

Master Yuehua, with nowhere to hide her embarrassment, wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

But to maintain the image of a lofty flower, she said calmly, “Isn’t it time to harvest the spiritual fields in the back mountain? Let’s sell the surplus spiritual rice and plants first.”

The disciple, not expecting his master to suggest such a solution, was stunned like a wooden chicken.

But at this moment, there was no other choice.

After excusing himself, he went to the back mountain to inform Yuanli about the harvest of spiritual rice and plants.

Yuanli’s face was extremely grim upon receiving the notice.

He hadn’t tended to the spiritual fields these days and didn’t know the state of the back mountain.

“I understand. In a few days, I’ll have the brothers come to the back mountain to harvest the spiritual rice and plants.”

After sending away the disciple who came to report, Yuanli hurried to the back mountain.

What he didn’t see didn’t matter, but upon seeing, he was shocked silly.

Two-thirds of the hundreds of acres of spiritual fields were dried up and dead.

“How could this be!” Yuanli collapsed to the ground, “Why are there so many pests!”

Normally, even if unattended these days, the pest infestation would only be a hundredth of what it was now.

He couldn’t understand why there were so many pests this time.

Upon reflection, he remembered that his brother Lin would often go to the back mountain for no particular reason.

He used to think it was just to supervise him, but now he realized, Lin must have been helping him with pest control and fertilization.

Now, with the spiritual fields in this state, even if all the pests were cleared, the dead spiritual rice and plants wouldn’t come back.

He cursed Lin Mo in his heart for being so heartless, neglecting the spiritual fields after his own punishment.

But what’s done was done, and there was no use in saying anything more.

Once this was discovered, what he faced would likely be more than just expulsion from the sect…

Suddenly, a daring idea came to mind…

……

That night, the spiritual fields were ablaze.

The fire, of course, was set by Yuan Li.

He proclaimed to the public that it was a natural disaster from the previous night, claiming the spiritual fields were struck by heavenly fire.

He had prepared in advance, scalding his body with fire before going to Master Yuehua to confess his sins: “Master, it’s all my fault. I lacked the power to extinguish the fire. I deserve to die!”

Master Yuehua saw Yuan Li’s burns all over his body, his face blackened by smoke, and said, “You are not to blame. Your cultivation is only at the Qi-training level; how could you contend with heavenly fire? You’ve done your best.”

Yuan Li continued to apologize profusely, yet inside, he was overjoyed.

Indeed, his plan had worked.

Just when he thought he could cover up the incident smoothly.

Fate had other plans; a disciple happened to be cultivating in the back mountain last night and witnessed the entire process of him setting the fire.

Master Yuehua was no fool. After personally inspecting the back mountain, he too found clues.

By then, the back mountain’s spiritual fields were scorched beyond recognition.

All the disciples of Qingzhu Peak wore expressions of sorrow.

Once the great fire was extinguished by Master Yuehua, a group of disciples began searching for any remaining spiritual rice and plants, hoping to salvage whatever little they could.

Most of the spiritual fields were reduced to black char, but some disciples discovered an area untouched by the flames.

They eagerly prepared to harvest the spiritual plants and rice from there, only to be dumbfounded.

There was nothing, not a single spiritual plant or grain of rice.

“How could this be?” one disciple exclaimed.

He couldn’t understand why even the areas untouched by the fire were devoid of spiritual plants and rice.

“Didn’t you see? Most of the spiritual plants and rice in these untouched fields are withered, rotten, and show signs of pest infestation. This is certainly Yuan Li’s doing. He neglected the fields, never bothered with pest control or fertilization, and this is the result.”

One disciple discerned the truth, and all fingers pointed at Yuan Li.

Hundreds of disciples’ eyes almost solidified their hatred into something tangible, wishing they could tear Yuan Li to pieces.

It’s important to note that a significant portion of these spiritual fields were for the disciples of Qingzhu Peak to cultivate their own spiritual plants.

Many disciples relied on cultivating these plants for money or cultivation, and all of it was destroyed by the fire Yuan Li set. How could they not hate him?

“I must have been blind, to think I felt Lin Shixiong’s punishment was too cruel at the time. Now I wonder why Lin Shixiong didn’t beat him to death.”

“That damned Yuan Li, nothing but a waste with a four-element spiritual root. Look at Lin Shixiong with his dual spiritual roots, always concerned about the cultivation of his fellow brothers, busy all day, and you dare to take spiritual stones and do nothing, indulging in cultivation all day, deluding yourself with dreams of ascension, to hell with you.”

The disciples cursed Yuan Li to varying degrees.

Some even resorted to beating him.

Unable to withstand the assault from the disciples, Yuan Li pleaded with Master Yuehua: “Master, I was wrong, I deserve to die, but I still have a mother in the world to care for. Please spare my worthless life, and I will leave the sect immediately.”

From noble mtl dot come

At that moment, an unknown disciple spoke up.

“Why wasn’t Yuan Li expelled from the sect by the eldest senior brother back then?”

It was this remark that led many disciples to ponder deeply.

Had Yuan Li been expelled at the beginning, the current situation in the back mountain’s spiritual fields would not have occurred.

After much thought, their gazes eventually fell upon Ye Kai.

It was Ye Kai who had pleaded with Master Yuehua on behalf of Yuan Li, criticizing Lin Mo in private for being ruthless and unkind, over merely forgetting to tend to the spiritual fields, to the point of wanting to expel him from the sect…

Thinking this, they harbored considerable resentment towards Ye Kai, the normally amiable junior brother.

Someone even pointed directly at Ye Kai and said, “Senior Brother Ye, didn’t you assure us back then that Yuan Li would take good care of the spiritual fields?”

Faced with such questioning, Ye Kai didn’t know how to respond.

In his heart, he cursed Yuan Li, that useless fool.

He never expected that not only would this guy continue to neglect the spiritual fields due to his obsession with cultivation, but he even dared to start a fire!

At this point, Shen Ke’er stepped forward to mediate: “You can’t blame Junior Brother Ye for this. Isn’t Yuan Li the root of all problems?”

Despite her words, many disciples still felt resentment towards Ye Kai.

Master Yuehua recalled the words Lin Mo had whispered to her.

“Even you, Master, think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill and being unkind by wanting to expel Yuan Li from the mountain?”

These words now struck her like thunder, heavily crashing into her heart.

Her decision at that time, she feared, had deeply wounded her eldest disciple.

…….