Rejected By The Sect, Claimed By The Immortal Jade

Chapter 3: The Mute Maid

The little mute maid stared at him.

Her hair was like dry straw, her kitchen maid uniform was too big and stained with oil. Her face was thin and dirty. But those eyes ..

Ye Fan would know those eyes anywhere.

Three years ago, in the burning Ye Clan manor, his 5-year-old sister Ye Ling had clung to his leg and cried, "Brother, don't leave me!" He had been knocked unconscious by Elder Mo's men and woke up in the Profound Sword Sect as an orphan.

He thought she burned. He thought everyone burned.

She was alive.

And Elder Mo's hand was like an iron vice on his wrist, his nails digging into his skin.

"Come with me now, Ye Fan," Elder Mo whispered again, his kind grandfather smile still on his face for everyone else to see, but his voice was pure venom. "Or I will have the kitchen steward beat that little thief to death tonight for stealing spirit rice. Accidents happen in the kitchen every day."

Ye Fan's new Devouring Root roared inside him. For a second, he wanted to explode, to devour this old dog right here, even if it cost him ten years of life.

"Calm!" Lingxiao roared inside his head. "You are Qi Condensation Level 3! He is Golden Core Peak! If you attack now, you, your sister, and that white-clothed girl will all die! Endure!"

Endure. Again.

Ye Fan had endured for three years.

He lowered his head, his fists shaking. "Yes... Grandpa Mo... I will go with you."

"Good boy." Elder Mo patted his shoulder.

"She will not go anywhere."

Su Qingxue jumped down from the roof, her sword half an inch out of its sheath. Cold Qi spread from her. Qi Condensation Level 8.

The disciples gasped. Su Qingxue never interfered in Outer Court matters. She was cold, distant, like a fairy who didn't touch mortal dust.

Elder Mo's face darkened. "Qingxue, what is the meaning of this? This is an inner affair of our Mo lineage."

Su Qingxue didn't look at him. She looked at Ye Fan, then at the tiny figure behind the pillar.

"That maid is under my protection," she said coldly. "She works in my courtyard. If Elder Mo wants to punish her, you will need to ask my master, Elder Binglian, first."

Elder Binglian. The only female Grand Elder in the sect, known for protecting her disciples like a she-wolf. Even Elder Mo didn't want to provoke her.

Elder Mo's smile froze. He stared at Su Qingxue for three seconds, then laughed.

"Hahaha, a misunderstanding! Just a misunderstanding! I thought that maid was a spy from the Blood Demon Sect. Since she is yours, Qingxue, then it's fine."

He let go of Ye Fan's wrist. His eyes gave Ye Fan a final warning: Tonight.

He turned and flew away on his sword, taking the unconscious Liu Hao with him. Liu Ruyan scrambled after them, looking back at Ye Fan with complicated eyes.

The crowd dispersed, whispering. A trash beating a genius — this would spread through the sect by nightfall.

Only three people remained in the ruined woodshed.

Ye Fan, Su Qingxue, and the little maid.

Ye Ling was shaking. She stared at Ye Fan, tears streaming down her dirty face, but she made no sound. She was truly mute — her tongue had been burned by fire that night to stop her from screaming.

Su Qingxue sighed and gently pushed the little girl forward.

"Go. I told you, he is alive."

Ye Ling took one step, then another, then ran. She crashed into Ye Fan's chest and hugged him so tightly her small nails dug into his back. Her whole body shook with silent sobs.

Ye Fan hugged her back, his own eyes red. For three years he had no family. Now his family was in his arms, thin as a skeleton.

"Ling'er... brother is here. Brother is here," he choked out.

Su Qingxue turned away to give them privacy, but her voice was soft.

"Three years ago, I was returning from a mission and passed your Ye Clan. I saw the fire. I... I owed your mother a life debt. She saved me when I was young. I found Ling'er hiding in the water vat, her tongue burnt, unable to speak. I couldn't save anyone else."

She looked back, her cold fairy face full of guilt.

"I hid her as a mute maid because Elder Mo was searching for survivors. He came to my master's peak twice to search. I told my master she was an orphan I picked up. I didn't know you were her brother until today, when I saw your jade awaken."

Ye Fan knelt down and wiped Ye Ling's tears. She was looking at his neck, at where the jade used to be.

He picked up the shattered pieces from the ground. They were dim now, but still warm.

Ling'er touched the pieces and suddenly —

Buzz!

The jade pieces vibrated. A faint, pure, silver bloodline power flowed from Ling'er into the jade.

Inside his mind, Lingxiao gasped in shock.

"Pure Ye Clan Divine Blood! Boy! This is the key! The final layer of the jade — the Immortal Emperor's inheritance — requires the blood of a pure Ye Clan virgin! That's why Mo Qianji wanted her!"

Ye Fan instantly pulled Ling'er's hand back.

He understood now. Why Elder Mo massacred his clan. It wasn't just for his root. It was for the jade's inheritance, and his sister's blood was the key.

If Elder Mo got her tonight, she would be sacrificed on an altar.

"Qingxue, thank you," Ye Fan said, his voice hoarse but full of murderous intent now. "But you can't protect her anymore. He knows she is alive now. Tonight, he will come for her."

Su Qingxue nodded, her hand on her sword. "I know. My master is in seclusion. I can hold him for one incense stick at most."

"One incense stick is enough."

Ye Fan stood up, holding Ye Ling with one hand, and the shattered jade in the other.

His Devouring Root was spinning crazily, hungry. He had only devoured a tiny bit of Liu Hao's Qi. He needed more. Much more. He needed to reach Foundation Establishment tonight, or they would all die.

He looked towards the forbidden part of the sect — the Beast Forest, where disciples were forbidden to go at night because a Tier 3 Demon Beast lived there.

A Tier 3 Demon Beast... equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator. Its beast core would be enough for him to break through.

It would also be enough to kill him.

"Lingxiao," he asked inside his head. "If I devour a Tier 3 beast core, how many years will it cost me?"

"...Five years. And you might explode and die."

Ye Fan smiled. A crazy, desperate smile that he hadn't shown in three years.

"Good."

He turned to Su Qingxue. "Take Ling'er to your courtyard. Lock the formation. No matter what you hear from the Beast Forest tonight, don't come out."

"Where are you going?" Su Qingxue frowned.

Ye Fan tied the shattered jade pieces back around his neck with a straw rope. The golden-black light flickered in his eyes.

"To go get my sister a birthday gift," he said. "And to take back what belongs to the Ye Clan."

That night, as the full moon rose, the entire Profound Sword Sect heard a terrifying beast roar from the forbidden Beast Forest, followed by a human roar that sounded even more like a beast.