After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Started Pursuing My Master-Chapter 1 - Ruined

Chapter 1: Ruined

The news that Tianxuan Sect’s Eldest Senior Brother, Jiang Huai, had his cultivation destroyed by an evil cultivator spread throughout the entire Eastern Region within three days, coinciding with the sudden blizzard in the Eastern Region.

Jiang Huai is the youngest Golden Core cultivator in the history of Tianxuan Sect and the only direct disciple of the Eastern Region’s number one female sword immortal.

At the age of sixteen, Jiang Huai’s usually aloof and detached Master personally arranged a marriage for him. The wedding was set for when he turned twenty, and he was to marry Luo Qingyu, the only daughter of the Qingxuan Sect’s sect master from Yuelan Continent in the Eastern Region.

Rumors had it that Luo Qingyu, the daughter of the Qingxuan Sect’s sect master, inherited her mother’s stunning beauty. When she made her first appearance at the Eastern Region competition at the age of fifteen, she dazzled all the young disciples present with her inscrutable swordsmanship. With a thin sword, she defeated a group of proud geniuses, only to be bested by Tianxuan Sect’s Jiang Huai.

Once upon a time, everyone believed that it was inevitable for Jiang Huai to become another Ninth Realm Immortal Venerable of the Eastern Region.

Countless young cultivators were extremely envious of his fortune.

At the age of six, he was picked up by a wandering female sword immortal and brought back to the sect. Once he started cultivating, he was discovered to have a once-in-a-millennium Innate Dao Body. What made people even more resentful was that this guy had an excellent reputation among most disciples. It was said that Tianxuan Sect’s Eldest Senior Brother Jiang Huai was amiable and generous, often personally teaching his junior brothers and sisters swordsmanship and cultivation and even standing up for servant disciples who were bullied in the sect, upholding justice.

At sixteen, just as his master had mentioned finding him a Dao companion, countless female disciples sent paper kites to his mountain peak. Jiang Huai spent an entire night replying to each one, politely refusing. Each rejection letter was handwritten by him, and many female disciples still treasure them to this day.

At seventeen, Jiang Huai obtained the only portion of heavenly dao spiritual energy in a secret realm that opened once every five hundred years, successfully forming a Golden Core and turning countless disciples green with envy.

Some speculated that he would become an elder of the sect in the near future, and there were rumors that the sect master intended to groom him as the next sect master of Tianxuan Sect.

Jiang Huai spent his teenage years under the envious gazes of countless ordinary disciples until his nineteenth birthday.

He was ruined because of a ridiculous reason that no one could have anticipated.

……

The story begins with a mission Jiang Huai took on for the sect.

Tianxuan Sect is the second-largest cultivation sect on Yuelan Continent in the Eastern Region, only slightly inferior to Qingxuan Sect. Like the Qingxuan Sect, disciples of the Tianxuan Sect also have monthly sect missions, such as eliminating demonic beasts for the common folk, investigating the whereabouts of evil cultivators, or searching for spiritual herbs for the sect.

In the month of his nineteenth birthday, Jiang Huai and a few other junior brothers and sisters took on the task of investigating the traces of evil cultivators around Xuanshui City.

Such missions were generally a bit more dangerous. Accompanied by three fellow disciples, the four of them set out for Xuanshui City, gathered sufficient information, and discovered that the Evil Moon Sect, which had been hiding in the Eastern Region, had quietly set up an altar there, capturing boys and girls to use their blood in an evil ritual to cultivate.

According to the intelligence gathered, the altar set up by the Evil Moon Sect was overseen by at least one late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, and among Jiang Huai’s team, the highest cultivation was only Jiang Huai’s mid-stage Golden Core.

According to the usual practice for such missions within the sect, the four of them should have immediately returned to the sect. When they were at a safe distance, they were to use a Thousand Miles Transmission Talisman to immediately notify the sword wielders in the sect capable of handling the situation to come forward, and their mission would be considered complete.

But Jiang Huai refused to leave.

Under later questioning by the Hall of Enforcement, the three fellow disciples all insisted that they had advised senior brother Jiang Huai. There was even a female disciple who clung tightly to Jiang Huai’s arm, saying, “If Senior Brother Jiang Huai doesn’t leave, I won’t leave either.”

Jiang Huai knocked her unconscious, entrusted the remaining two male disciples to send her back to the sect first, and he alone charged to the altar to face the late-stage Nascent Soul evil cultivator.

All because he was worried it would be too late if he delayed.

On that day, a heavy snow blanketed the mountains. When the sword wielders from the sect received the message and rushed to the altar, they found that all the evil cultivators of the altar had been wiped out, and Jiang Huai was surrounded by a group of captured children. He had lit a bonfire in the blizzard to keep the children warm and was making funny faces to cheer up a little girl who had been scared into tears.

But at that moment, his meridians were already completely severed, his dantian shattered, and the Golden Core that had made countless disciples envious to the point of madness was also destroyed.

His master had brought in the best doctor from the Eastern Region, but when the doctor left, all she could do was shake her head.

In the Hall of Enforcement, Jiang Huai knelt in the center of the hall, letting the sect master scold him. It was said that the sect master was so furious that dark clouds covered Tianxuan Mountain and thunder rolled.

The sect master questioned why he couldn’t be calmer and more sensible. Even if there were a hundred thousand boys and girls, they wouldn’t compare to a single hair on Jiang Huai’s head. He was the one who was to take charge of the entire Tianxuan Sect, the bright future of Tianxuan Sect, so why… why was he so thoughtless?

It was then that everyone suddenly realized that the rumors were true. The sect master really had intended to raise him as the next sect master.

In the rumors among the female disciples, on that day, senior brother Jiang Huai just knelt quietly, his face slightly pale. His eyelashes were lowered, and he quietly admitted his mistake, his eyes still as gentle as ever.

But what was the use of admitting mistakes?

In the end, his master came to the Hall of Enforcement and took him back for recuperation. The infuriated sect master left the sect and slaughtered the entire Evil Moon Sect in one night.

It was said that many other evil cultivator sects were also implicated, with many evil cultivators complaining bitterly. Even those who had not provoked Tianxuan Sect suffered this unwarranted disaster.

And all this was a story from three months ago.

……

In the deep winter, the fine snow continued to fall.

Jiang Huai had been lying in bed for three months.

During the first month of these three months, his bedside was visited daily by junior brothers and sisters, making it quite lively.

In the second month, some elders from the sect would come, hoping that his dantian and meridians would show some kind of miracle.

Regrettably, no miracle occurred.

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In the third month, occasionally, some junior sisters who admired him would bring him winter clothes or homemade pastries. But after visiting once, many people did not come again.

And now, besides his master who would come to see him once a day, there was no one else by his bedside.

So every day, Jiang Huai looked forward to this time because his fairy-like master would come to see him at this exact time every day.

Jiang Huai’s master was named Chu Xianning.

Chu Xianning, an eighth realm Mahayana cultivator, the number one female Sword Immortal of the Eastern Region. Her age was a secret, not to be asked. But Jiang Huai guessed that his master must be almost six hundred years old by now.

Indeed, no matter how cold and aloof a woman is, she becomes sensitive about her age as she gets older.

Jiang Huai was picked up by his master at the age of six. The reason for picking him up was that he was pleasing to the eye, just like choosing a likable puppy at a pet market. Over the years, Jiang Huai had also been trying hard to fulfill the duties of a puppy, finding ways to please his master every day.

It took him more than a decade to occasionally make his usually aloof master smile like a flower when they were alone. But ever since his cultivation was destroyed, his master’s expression had become cold again.

Jiang Huai understood that his master was unhappy.

The door was gently pushed open.

The woman who entered the room wore a white palace dress with the hem spread out like petals. Her figure was slender, and her exquisite curves were hidden under the palace dress. Her jet-black hair cascaded down to her waist, and her features were as beautiful as a painting.

The faint light from the window fell on her collarbone, her skin as clear as jade, giving off a lustrous glow that reminded Jiang Huai of a stream shimmering under the moonlight.

His master, Chu Xianning, held a medicine jar in her hand. As she approached the bedside and sat down on the chair, Jiang Huai could smell a waft of floral fragrance.

Sword Immortal Chu Xianning was a Flower Spirit Body, and her title was the ‘Petal Fairy’. It was rumored that a Flower Spirit Body would emit a faint fragrance from their body, and even their saliva was as sweet as nectar. Jiang Huai had always been curious if this was true, but when he asked, he was met with a cold stare from his master, thinking he was deliberately being frivolous. That night, he was made to practice swordsmanship until dawn.

“Do I still need to take medicine?” Jiang Huai looked at his master in front of him, his eyes showing a hint of distress.

“This is the last jar,” Chu Xianning replied indifferently.

Her voice was as clear and cold as a string, not at all soft, but Jiang Huai loved this cool and indifferent tone, which always made him feel itchy at the bottom of his heart.

Of course, Jiang Huai dared not defy his master’s wishes. A disobedient puppy would be punished by its owner. If he dared to say the words “I won’t drink it,” his master might very well force-feed him by sticking a funnel in his mouth.

So he obediently picked up the medicine jar, held his nose, and drank it all in one gulp. The bitter taste instantly spread across his taste buds. The medicine was only to repair his damaged meridians, but his dantian was likely beyond recovery in this lifetime.

Fortunately, after all the medicine went down his throat, there seemed to be a lingering sweetness like nectar on the tip of his tongue.

Although it was probably just Jiang Huai’s illusion.

Jiang Huai drank everything in the medicine jar, even deliberately turning the jar upside down to show Chu Xianning that it was empty. Chu Xianning just glanced at him indifferently and said,

“I have something to tell you.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“Your engagement are going to be annulled,” Chu Xianning said, her eyes and voice seemingly colder than before.

“I see,” Jiang Huai nodded lightly.

Chu Xianning’s gaze did not move away from Jiang Huai’s face. She tried to read a trace of disappointment, anger, or frustration in his eyes, even a bit of regret would do, but this guy had none. He just nodded calmly.

“Master, why are you staring at me?”

Jiang Huai suddenly looked up, meeting Chu Xianning’s gaze.

Their eyes met, and it was Chu Xianning who first averted her gaze slightly.

Lately, the unruly disciple had become increasingly restless, his eyes always overflowing in her presence. Since his cultivation was destroyed, he had been much quieter. But judging by his look these past few days, he seemed to have the attitude of someone who forgets the pain once the wound heals.

“I remember you quite liked the marriage I arranged for you.”

“That’s true. Although the saintess of Qingxuan Sect is a bit dull in personality, she is indeed very beautiful.”

Jiang Huai’s eyes briefly swept over Chu Xianning’s slender and exquisite collarbone at the neckline of her palace dress. He dared not look longer; even half a second more might result in Chu Xianning hitting him with the jar.

They say that when a woman can’t see her toes when she lowers her head, it’s an unparalleled beauty.

Indeed, the master’s figure is… not exactly ideal, but it’s slender, well-proportioned, and elegantly poised.

“I remember you used to send her many gifts and taught her swordsmanship.”

“Yes.”

“It’s rare to see you so proactive with a woman. Now that you’ve heard the news of the annulment, aren’t you regretful?”

Chu Xianning’s eyes rested on his face, not knowing what she was expecting.

But Jiang Huai just gave a helpless smile, his voice light but rippling like a stone thrown into a lake.

“No regrets.”