"Make sure it gets pa.s.sed to senior martial sister," His words were strangely calm and firm while his eyes hesitated a bit.

Daiyu.

I don't want to have to practice the sect punishment on you.

Seeing that we have gone through numerous years of hards.h.i.+p together, I'm willing to spare you this one last time.

You shouldn't have killed junior sister because of your jealousy.

He wearily ma.s.saged his temple and sighed. A slight thump caught his attention. Looking up, his eyes settled on a figure at his door. His hands froze, and a youthful expression took over his face.

"Y-you're alive?!" Guiren's voice choked as he got up. Hastening toward the woman who had just appeared by his door, his heart swelled with joy, and his eyes lit up. Could it be a dream? She didn't die? Good. He won't let Daiyu hurt her anymore.

"Yanmei, you don't have to worry anymore. Daiyu won't harm you anymore. I'll protect you this time," Guiren s.h.i.+fted closer, his arms arising to wrap around his junior sister. A flash of disgust flashed though Yanmei's eyes before she smiled and squeezed him back.

"I-I was so afraid, I didn't think sister Daiyu would do something like that," A sob came out of Yanmei's throat and hearing it made Guiren's heart hurt. His eyes clouded. Daiyu, you cruel woman!

Yanmei stopped her tears and gently dabbed her eyes. She looked throughout the room, "Did senior sister hand over the key?"

Guiren paused. He hadn't taken it immediately because he wanted Daiyu to come to the terms herself.

"She promised to hand over the key," He finally answered his junior sister.

Yanmei frowned, her fingers tensed, "But what if she doesn't?"

Guiren shook his head. Although Daiyu may be a black-hearted person, the one thing she always did was to keep all her promises.

"No, she will," He managed to respond, his heart seemed oddly complicated. Yanmei frowned at his response. Hmph! It took so long to cause this disorder with the sect. How could she be satisfied with such a simplistic answer?

In truth, Yanmei was a from another sect attempting to take over the Tianhua sect. Having been instructed at a young age, she was a spy that came to this sect at a young age. Her task was to obtain the secret key that was pa.s.sed down from successors to successors inside TianHua.

Daiyu was the highly esteemed senior sister in the TianHua sect. So naturally, she received the vital key to sect from her old master. With extraordinary skills and talent, no one could get near enough to the sect sister except Guiren.

After a ma.s.sive ma.s.sacre killed both his parents, Guiren was picked up at a young age to go into the sect to be a servant. He was found to have little talent, and his appearance was mediocre. No one wanted to take him as a disciple.

All except Daiyu.

Daiyu had noticed his eyes were exceptionally bright for someone with such a tragic past. After choosing him at the lineup, the two had grown especially close. As winter turned into spring, Daiyu noticed herself falling deeply in love with Guiren. Time to time, she couldn't help her eyes straying to Guiren, and she couldn't prevent it. Everything he asked for, she would always give it to him. There was never a 'no' to any of his requests.

She loved to see him smile.

When he did, she found herself smiling as well.

Innocent and joyous.

However, this provided others an advantage over her.

Yanmei was one of them. Quickly understanding the situation, she immediately put up a pretense of a weak and delicate orphan. Guiren took pity on her since he was an orphan himself. He carefully guided her and took her in as his own.

However even if Guiren regarded Yanmei as his own, Daiyu didn't.

Although Daiyu was struck with envy, she never did anything out of line. Knowing Guiren didn't like troublesome relations.h.i.+ps, she kept her feelings to herself and busied herself with her obligations as the leader.

Seeing the lack of response Daiyu gave, Yanmei began to a.s.semble many levels of schemes. They were merely enough to send Daiyu on alert in fear that Guiren would be placed in harm while Guiren would misunderstand Daiyu as the person who created them. As the schemes intensified, Daiyu began to take more actions in preventing them. Identifying the real perpetrator, she hesitated many days before telling him, in fear he would be heartbroken. However, Yanmei had already antic.i.p.ated this and drew up such a story, Guiren believed Daiyu was harming Yanmei because of her extreme jealousy.

Refusing to accept any of Daiyu's words, he drove her further away from him.

Although heartbroken, Daiyu knew her duties belonged to the sect more than anything else. As the constant crimes and slanders increased against Tianhua's name, Daiyu had a difficult time holding herself together. The responsibility and the stress weighted ma.s.sively in her heart. Expecting to find comfort from her junior brother, Daiyu went to his residence only to intercept Yanmei in the act of communicating with outsiders. They two battled, but in the end, Daiyu didn't dare to hurt Yanmei in fear of obtaining Guiren's ire.

Believing Guiren would trust her due to their relations.h.i.+p, Daiyu was devastated by his cold font and his increasing guard against her. When she finally realized the reality of the situation involved Tianhua's safety, she decided to discontinue playing the kind martial sister. Using direct methods to remove Yanmei, Daiyu no longer thought of Guiren but instead, the sect's security.

During the process, Daiyu did not realize she was within someone else's scheme. Seeing Daiyu exerting such rash actions, Guiren also made his move. Stealing Daiyu's leaders.h.i.+p token, Guiren labeled Daiyu unfit to lead for killing her junior sister. Outcasted by her the very sect members she tried to protect, Daiyu was locked up in her room due to house arrest.

Night after night, Daiyu yearned for a better outcome. Wis.h.i.+ng Guiren would come to find her, Daiyu prayed endlessly to the bright moon in the sky. The shadow of heartbreak was slowly edging up her mind, and her heart was breaking into pieces.

Finally, her wish did come true— in a cruel fas.h.i.+on.

Guiren only wanted the key their s.h.i.+fu gave her.