Who has been acting on bad faith between me and you?

After massively stomping Sect Master Cheng Yuan's face in her wild imagination, Wen Chang continued her presentation.

"It was after I successfully passed my tribulation and became a core formation expert that the elder who usually took care of me finally revealed everything that had been going on in the sect.

It turns out that the sect master, fearing I might threaten his position if I broke through to the core formation realm, pretended to help me but behind the scenes, he dragged his feet, along with some elders, all to prevent me from catching up to him.

By withholding those resources, I stagnated in the foundation establishment realm for years.." Wen Chang said. One could hear how livid she was, from her tone.

"At first, I couldn't believe it. It made no sense to me. The sect and I were in the same boat. We need each other to grow stronger, to survive in a place like the Green Fog Region.

I was born in the sect and everything I've ever known I learned from it. As for becoming sect master, I never even considered it. I only gained spiritual awareness less than 70 years ago, while Cheng Yuan has centuries of experience.

Who would trust someone like me with that responsibility? I don't even trust myself. There's so much that I am unfamiliar with and how to run a sect is definitely at the top of that list.

Besides, why would I trade my carefree life for the burdens of being a sect master? I get fed all day with no responsibilities, except for producing milk, which is as easy as breathing. It's a stress-free life.

Why would I want anything else?

Others might covet the position, but not me. I've seen what it does to Cheng Yuan. He barely has time to rest.

He's always worrying about the sect's expenses, being troubled to solve every problem, training core disciples, fawning over merchants to get resources, only to fawn over them again to get a better repayment plan.

Always walking around with that stiff, solemn expression whenever he is in public, and complaining about it in private. It's the most tiring thing I've ever seen. I even have nightmares about it when I'm chewing curd in my sleep." Wen Chang said, looking visibly exhausted and frightened by the thought.

Yang Qing wore a solemn expression on the outside, but inside, he was yelling, "Why am I not a sect guardian beast?!!! They have it easy. She's living the life I've been scheming toward. Life isn't fair. At least Cheng Yuan has it worse than I do. Hehe..."

He stole a quick glance at Sect Master Cheng Yuan, noticing his disheveled and worn-out state.

At first, Yang Qing assumed it was from the beatings he'd received in his fight with the emerald leaf cow. But now, it seemed the true cause was the burden of being a sect master. Cheng Yuan looked overwhelmed. This strange realization brought some comfort to Yang Qing. Seeing others struggle always made him feel better about himself.

....

"You see, Judge, there's no way I'd ever try my hoof at being a sect master. I even told Cheng Yuan about the nightmares I had about such a position. So when the elder revealed the trick Cheng Yuan and the others were pulling, I didn't believe it at first. I even suspected it was a scheme to test me, to see if they could pass the thankless job onto me. Because of that misunderstanding, I completely ignored the warnings.

Thankfully, the elder didn't let me remain so naïve. He, along with a few others, helped me get into the sect's treasure vault when the sect master wasn't around. That's when I saw shelves filled with precious high-grade earth-rank and sky-rank herbs. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought it was an illusion spell, so I sampled some for clarification—and it was all real."

At this point, Sect Master Cheng Yuan looked like he was about to blow. He wanted to interrupt, but Yi Jie shot him a cold gaze, and it felt like a saber was poised above his head, ready to cleave him in half if he dared speak.

Cheng Yuan swallowed his words with a heavy gulp, sweat soaking his palms and back. The moment he stopped himself, the sensation of the saber disappeared.

None of this was noticed by Wen Chang, who continued her narration. However, Yang Qing, Mao Yunru, and Feng Xin did not miss Yi Jie's silent threat. They felt pity for Cheng Yuan, trapped under his watchful gaze.

....

"Even after seeing all those herbs, I thought there had to be a reasonable explanation. Looking back, I must have seemed so foolish with my naïve thoughts," Wen Chang said, shaking her head pitifully.

"But the show-and-tell among the elders didn't stop there. They showed me records of how much the sect made from my milk, and the profits were astronomical. I couldn't understand why Sect Master Cheng Yuan always acted as if we were impoverished.

The profits recorded in those scrolls were enough to support the sect's expansion three times over. It was more than enough to comfortably support both my and the sect's needs.

At the time, it was hard to accept, and it affected my mental state. It even impacted my milk production. I lashed out at some sect members in the midst of it, including Cheng Yuan, because I couldn't believe what I saw.

During that time, I never told Cheng Yuan what I had discovered. I didn't dare to confront him. Part of me didn't want it to be true—sometimes ignorance is bliss," Wen Chan said, her tone rife with pity and self-mockery.

"I still held out hope that maybe once I broke through to the core formation realm, his treatment of me would change. It didn't.

The sect continued providing me with the same herbs they gave when I was in the middle stages of the foundation establishment realm—middle-tier earth-rank herbs that did nothing for my cultivation. That's when I decided to match my effort to what I received. I would only give back the same value in milk that I was given in herbs. Naturally, this only deepened the rift between me and Cheng Yuan.

Then came the final nail in the coffin.." said Wen Chang, her voice growing softer and lower in the process, as she turned her gaze on Cheng Yuan.

"He never truly considered me a part of the sect," Wen Chang said, her voice filled with betrayal as she looked at Cheng Yuan.

"I learned that Cheng Yuan was told the leaves of the Tupelo tree could improve my bloodline better than any sky-rank herb could, especially since my bloodline transformed into a variant of the radiant cow bloodline, the emerald leaf bloodline. It might be lower in stature but the potential is still high, though not as high as that of the radiant cow, but I can still reach the domain realm with it.

And it does have an advantage over the radiant cow bloodline when it comes to improving its purity. Where the radiant cow bloodline would require specific treasures to activate or purify it, the emerald leaf is much laxer, only requiring plant materials from spiritual plants with rich attributes, and the tupelo tree fell under that category.

The Tupelo tree leaves could refine my bloodline, making my cultivation easier. I wouldn't need to rely on the consumption of spiritual herbs anymore. My bloodline inheritance alone would be enough.

I didn't want to believe that Cheng Yuan could be so despicable," Wen Chang said, with undisguised scorn in her eyes.

"The stronger I became, the better it was for the sect. Or at least, that's what I thought. We may not have always seen eye to eye, but we were still part of the same home. If our home was ever threatened, I always figured it would be easy to put our differences aside and do whatever it took to protect it. If I had discovered that a part of me, say, my horn, could help him improve his cultivation, I would've given it without hesitation.

But he didn't and couldn't do the same for me. And that's why I can't forgive him. It's not just my trust he's lost, now, but my respect as well.

Being frugal with resources is one thing, but deliberately hiding something that could change someone's life so profoundly? That's a new low for him..." Wen Chang said, her voice filled with disappointment.

"But as naive as I was. I still held on to hope, so I decided to test him one last time. I asked for the fallen leaves from the Tupelo tree—not even from the tree itself. But he refused, angrily, and even attacked me. And he has the gall to accuse me of breaking my word.

Cheng Yuan!.. Who has been the one acting in bad faith all this time?!!! Time and again, I hoped he'd prove the elders wrong, but every time, he confirmed what they had shown me to be true.

A greedy, selfish, despicable old man hiding under the guise of righteousness, only to further his own agendas and exploit everyone else.

Some elders, and finally I, have long grown sick of it. The sect may have to change to survive the rot it's suffered." The emerald leaf cow ended with a resolve in her tone, staring at Cheng Yuan with a gaze that said one way or another, one of them would be ousted from Green Fog Swamp Sect, either alive or in death.

Cheng Yuan had a grave expression, that had increasingly grown somber since she started recounting the contents of the treasure vault.