Meanwhile, Master Feng Mian was pacing back and forth nervously in his room. When he fought with Xiu Xiang, for a moment, he could feel strength growing deep within her. He had already destroyed her power core once. Even with a Qi Rejuvenation Pill, she shouldn't have been able to become that strong that fast.
When he first took Xiu Xiang in after his Senior Brother passed away, he wanted to use her as an outlet for all the rage and frustration he built up from competing with him. He loved every moment of seeing her in pain but then he had a premonition, a horrible one. Far off into the future, Xiu Xiang would kill him and the entire North Peak. Fearing for his life, he purposely destroyed Xiu Xiang's power core during a fake training and had been giving her fake pills to make it seem as if he was treating her when in fact he really hadn't. He had checked his storage of pills thoroughly, but nothing was out of place. It could only mean that someone else had given her the pill or worse, she had been able to heal herself.
He once remembered his Senior Brother say that he felt strong potential in Xiu Xiang. He, himself, had witnessed how fast Xiu Xiang's growth was and it scared him. Even without that premonition, if he let Xiu Xiang continue to grow, within ten years, she would surpass him, the master! That would've been a horrible damage to his ego and pride. He wouldn't have it! He already lost to his Senior Brother. He wasn't about to lose to his Senior Brother's disciple either.
"I need to get rid of this thorn in my side..." he thought bitterly as he bit at his thumb nervously. His face scrunched up as he tried to think of an idea. He spent an entire night feeling restless until an idea struck him.
"The hunting competition is coming up soon... yes... I'll have Wang Yue kill her in the forest. Once the demon beasts eat her body, there will be no evidence left behind..." He cackled evilly to himself.
Xiu Xiang spent the next couple of months trying to heal on her own. Instead of sleeping, she would spend the cold nights going deep into the forest to collect herbs to pound into a paste as medicine as she had no energy to turn it into a pill which would've been much faster and more efficient.
"If only I was in the West Peak... Wei Xing would've jumped in to help," she thought. The cold boorish guy, he was. Despite it all, he was kind. She couldn't help but smile when she remembered the beautiful rare smile he had given her down at the bottom of the mountain.
The finished paste stunk horribly as she smeared it over her injuries. It finally closed up but if she moved too fast or moved too roughly, her fresh skin would break, and the injury would open again. It was a constant repeat as she was forced back on the heavy-duty chores again, carrying buckets of water from the bottom of the mountain and chopping firewood. She was surprised she hasn't frozen to death yet. Signs of winter was coming as each passing night got colder. Frost could be seen at night and early in the morning.
The morning chores weren't even done yet when one of the North Peak disciples came looking for Xiu Xiang.
"Hey, waste. Master is looking for you!" he called out. Once he was done he took off looking quite irritated and even added some choice swear words. Xiu Xiang dug the head of her axe into one of the firewood that she had been chopping and headed for Master Feng Mian's courtyard. She didn't know why he would look for her. She made sure to avoid troubles despite being constantly bullied while doing her chores.
In the courtyard of Master Feng Mian's there stood Liu Li, Wang Yue, Song Yi Yan, and Ren Wu Ji. Four of his best disciples were waiting and chattering nonstop until they saw Xiu Xiang walk in.
"What are you doing here, Waste?" Ren Wu Ji snickered. Xiu Xiang was just as confused as they were. It obviously didn't look like anything good. The door to Master Feng Mian's villa opened and he walked out dressed in fine purple garment. His hands were behind his back as he eyed one disciple to another.
"I called you all here today because you five will be participating in the hunting competition," he explained.
Hunting competition?
Xiu Xiang racked her brains. The novel mentioned the hunting competition in passing. The competition lasted four days and Wei Xing had come out on top.
Wang Yue was so angry he took out his frustration on the Demoness. The problem was, the Demoness never participated in the competition and there wasn't much information on the competition itself as it had been mentioned in a small passage.
"I'm supposed to participate too? This asshole definitely has something planned," Xiu Xiang thought to herself.
"Master, why is the waste—I mean why is Xiu Xiang mei participating too? You sealed her energy. Won't she just be a hindrance?" Wang Yue asked looking quite annoyed.
"All teams need an aide. Be it cooking, cleaning, or carrying your weapons, she'll do it all," Master Feng Mian said. He didn't say much after that and dismissed them all.
So, it was a chance to bully her in the open, Xiu Xiang thought. She didn't make it far when she was ganged up by all four of them.
"Well, well. Looks like we're going to have a lot of fun this year," Ren Wu Ji snickered as he eyed her up and down. One by one, they insulted her except for Song Yi Yan who kept up her innocent act.
"Don't bully, Xiu Xiang Shimei. I'm sure she's in a hurry to go back to her chores," Song Yi Yan said to Wang Yue but snuck a glance at Xiu Xiang. She understood that look all too well. It simply meant for her to stay away from Wang Yue or suffer the consequences. Not like she wanted to be near him anyway.
"I'll take my leave first," Xiu Xiang said as she bowed to her seniors.
The competition had arrived at last and Xiu Xiang dreaded the thought of entering the competition. She may know close hand to hand combat but, it was useless against demon beasts. Her life was going to be in danger if she wasn't prepared. She was going to have to rely on wits alone to make it through the four days of competition.
Everyone was dressed according to their peaks. Five disciples from each peak were allowed into the competition and were well equipped except Xiu Xiang, who merely carried a bag of medicine. Some disciples in the audience had taken her as cocky and overconfident as she didn't prepare any weapons.
As much as she wanted to refute them, she couldn't. It wouldn't end up pretty and she would only get dragged away to get punished by Master Feng Mian.
While Sect Leader Lin addressed everyone and explained the rules, Xiu Xiang's eyes wandered about. Her eyes happened to lay upon Wei Xing who looked stern and unmoving at the front. Seeing how he was, she wondered if the smile she had seen on him was a fluke.
"...and without further ado, the hunting competition will now commence!" Sect Leader Lin announced. The crowd in the background cheered for their peaks and the competitors set off for the back mountains.
"Hurry it up!" Wang Yue snapped at Xiu Xiang. She wanted to smack that arrogance out of him but knew better. She kept her mouth shut as she reluctantly followed her group.
The day felt long and tiring as they moved from place to place. For the first time, Xiu Xiang was able to witness her sibling disciples' abilities. They had skills to back up their arrogance.
A large bull demon beast came storming at them and it took less than five minutes for the four to subdue it. Ren Wu Ji pulled out his spiritual pouch and shoved the demon beast inside.
"That's one kill for us!" he laughed heartily.
"We're going deeper into the mountains. There'll be more demon beasts to hunt," Wang Yue said. Everyone agreed but completely ignored Xiu Xiang, who was growing tired by the hour. She couldn't use her spiritual energy like everyone else thus she grew tired faster.
It was getting late as the team made more kills.
"Oomph!" Xiu Xiang tumbled to the ground as she tripped on a tree root. Wang Yue looked annoyed and spat, "You! Stay here! You bumbling around is giving away our location."
"But I...!" Xiu Xiang started only to get scolded by Liu Li.
"Senior Brother has spoken. Stay here," she warned.
Xiu Xiang had no real affinity with Liu Li. If she remembered correctly, Liu Li neither bullied nor took the Demoness's side. She looked like a no-nonsense type of person and knew that talking back ended up nowhere.
Sighing, Xiu Xiang nodded in agreement and found a comfortable place by a large tree while the group went on ahead.
Nighttime came but no one returned. Xiu Xiang's stomach growled and she knew she had been abandoned. Just as she was thinking this, she felt something disturb the air around her.
During the months of constantly digging for medicine and carrying back firewood, Xiu Xiang's senses heightened. Something dangerous was heading toward her and she knew that if she didn't leave now, she would die.
Getting up to her feet, she ignored her stomach's growling and headed the direction where she sensed less danger. She stumbled as she ran and felt the danger getting closer and closer. Just then a speeding arrow came flying toward her. Luckily, she tripped over a tree root and missed the arrow by an inch. Another arrow came zooming by and it hit Xiu Xiang in the shoulder. The force of the arrow was strong enough to throw her forward. She tumbled forward and realized that in front of her was a cliffside.
If she fell off, she probably wouldn't die but she would be heavily injured. She peeked over her shoulder and saw four dark figures approaching her. Without even seeing who they were, Xiu Xiang immediately knew who they were. Most likely they were her teammates and had been ordered by Master Feng Mian to kill her off.
"As if! I'd rather take my own life then!" she thought bitterly. Arrows came flying and this time she didn't hesitate. She jumped off the cliff and felt her body smash into multiple tree branches breaking her fall. She landed back first on the ground and felt the air get sucked out of her. Her eyes went blind and everything went white.
"I'm going to die..." she thought and let the darkness overtake her.