After massively stomping Sect Master Cheng Yuan's face in her wild imagination, Wen Chang continued on with her presentation.
"It was after I had successfully passed my tribulation and became a core formation expert that the elder who usually took care of me finally revealed everything that has been going on in the sect.
It turns out that the sect master in fear that I might threaten his position if I broke through to the core formation realm pretended he was doing everything to help me but behind the scenes, he dragged his feet together with some elders so I couldn't catch up with him. In holding back those resources I ended up stagnating for years at the foundation realm.
Of course when I was told that, I didn't believe it at first. It made no sense to me at all. I and the sect are pretty much in the same boat. We need each other if we hope to grow stronger.
I was born in the sect and everything I've ever known I learnt from the sect. As for being a sect master, not once have I thought about it. I only just got spiritually aware less than 70 years while Chen Yuan has centuries on me. Who would ever trust a cow to hold that position, I don't even trust myself. There's a lot in this world I don't understand and how to run a sect is definitely at the top of that list.
Besides, why would I even give up the position I am in to try and be a sect master? I get fed all day, and have zero responsibilities other than producing milk which is as easy as breathing to me. It is such a carefree and stress-free life. Why would I want to trade that for anything? Being a sect master? Others may covet that position but I don't. I've seen what it's done to Cheng Yuan. He barely has any time to relax.
Always worrying over the expenditure of the sect, being consulted to solve every problem that comes up, training core disciples, fawning over merchants to get resources to grow the sect, fawning over those same merchants to give him more allowance on his repayment plan, always putting a stiff solemn expression around the sect so he carries the bearing of the sect master. It's the most tiring thing I've ever seen, I even have nightmares about it at times when I'm busy chewing curd in my sleep."
Yang Qing outwardly had a solemn appearance but inwardly he was yelling "Why I'm I not a sect guardian beast!!! They have it easy. She's living the life I've been trying to scheme my way towards. Life really isn't fair. At least Cheng Yuan has it rougher than I do hehe"
He threw a quick glance at Sect Master Cheng Yuan and noticed how disheveled and worn out his appearance seemed to be.
He had assumed it was from some of the beatings he received in his fight against the emerald leaf cow but now it seems it may just be due to the pressures of being a sect master. He seemed to have a lot on his plate. For some reason this made sadistic Yang Qing feel better about himself. Seeing others busier and having a rougher time at it than him always seemed to put him at ease.
....
"You see Judge there's no way I'd try my hoof at being a sect master, I even told Cheng Yuan about some of the nightmares I had about being a sect master. Thus when the elder told me the story about the trick Cheng Yuan and the rest were pulling. I didn't believe it at first. I even suspected it was a scheme between the sect master and the elder to try and sound me out so that they can throw that thankless job on me. I aptly turned a deaf ear to the elder's words.
Luckily the elder didn't let me get stuck in my own naivety. He together with some other elders managed to get me into the sect treasure vault when the sect master wasn't around and that's when I saw shelves and shelves of precious high-grade earth rank herbs and also some sky-rank herbs. I couldn't believe my eyes I thought it was an illusion spell meant to trick me so I sampled some for clarification and found out it was all real."
At this point, the Sect Master had a livid expression on his face. He had wanted to interject but Yi Jie threw him a cold gaze that he felt as if a cold saber had been raised above his head ready to cleave him in half if he dared to utter anything.
Cheng Yuan quickly swallowed the words in his mouth with a heavy gulp and sweat drenched his back and palms. The moment he dispelled the notion of talking the feeling of the saber overhead disappeared.
None of this was noticed by Wen Chang who was still going on with her narration of events. This however, did not escape the eyes of Yang Qing, Mao Yunru, and Feng Xin who felt some pity at being locked on by Yi Jie the swift silent saber.
....
"Even after seeing all those herbs, I thought surely there must be a reasonable explanation for all this. Thinking back I must have seemed so foolish to the rest with my na?ve thoughts.
The show and tell among the elders didn't stop there. They guided me through all the records of sales and how much the sect was making from my milk. The profits were astronomical that I couldn't understand why the Sect Master always acted as though we were impoverished at all times. freeweb(n)ovelfreewebno(v)el
The amount in profits recorded in those scrolls showed that it was enough to support the sect's expansion 3 times over. Getting the resources I needed should have been easy for the sect without putting them in a bind.
This was all too much to swallow for me at the time and it affected my mental state for a while and even my milk production capacity. I started lashing out at some of the sect members including Cheng Yuan for a while because I couldn't believe what I saw.
During that period of time, I still didn't reveal to Cheng Yuan what I had seen because I didn't have the courage to confront him. Some part of me didn't want it to be true, being oblivious is a gift sometimes. And I was waiting to see if his treatment of me would change once I broke through to the core formation realm.
Sadly it didn't. The sect continued giving me the same herbs I was getting at the middle stages of the foundation realm. These were middle-tier earth rank herbs. They had little to no effect on the improvement of my current realm. It was then I decided I'll give what I receive. The equivalent value of the herbs I get will be what I will give back in regard to my milk. This went back and forth with the strife between me and Sect Master Cheng Yuan only growing wider and wider.
It was in the midst of this that I heard some devastating news. The news was that Chen Yuan had never once considered me as part of the sect. The proof of it lay in the Tupelo tree and all the other things he's been doing. It was brought to my attention that Cheng Yuan had been told that the leaves of that tree may be beneficial in improving my bloodline concentration better than any sky herb could, especially since my bloodline turned into a variation from the radiant cow bloodline into the emerald leaf.
The Tupelo tree leaves could help refine that bloodline further and make it easier for me to cultivate and I won't have to rely on herbs to improve my level just the bloodline inheritance alone would be enough to support me.
I didn't think that Chen Yuan could be that despicable especially since the stronger I was the better it was for the sect. We may fight and disagree but still, we are under one sect. If I knew some part of me could help him in his cultivation even a horn I'd be okay with helping him. I couldn't understand him hiding that information nor forgive it.
Being stingy with resources was one thing but deliberately concealing something that could drastically improve someone's life was a low I never expected him to reach.
I decided to try him and see if he still meant it when he said he'd support my growth fully as he had promised by asking for the Tupelo tree leaves that had fallen on the ground. Not even from the tree itself. But he disagreed with anger and even attacked me. And he has the gall to say I couldn't keep my word.
Chen Yuang who was the one who has been dealing in bad faith all this while!!!!... Time and time again I tried and tried and hoped you would disprove what the elders showed me to be true. But every single time you showed with no doubt that what they told me was the real truth.
A greedy, selfish and despicable old man hiding under the righteousness of growing the sect all to further his own agendas and use everyone in between.
Some of the elders and finally myself have long grown sick of it. The sect may have to change to save it from the rot that has been growing." the emerald leaf cow ended with some resolve in her tone as she stared at Cheng Yuan with a gaze that said one way or another one of them will be ousted from Green fog swamp sect either alive or in death.
Cheng Yuan too had a solemn expression on his face at this point. In fact, his has been on longer ever since Wen Chang recounted the things she saw in the sect treasure vault.
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