After Severing Her Emotions, the Whole Sect Was Overwhelmed with Grief - Chapter 30:

Chapter 30: The One with a Broken Spiritual Root… Was Never Bai Ying. It’s You!

Liu Qingyue couldn’t wait to witness the moment.

He truly wanted to see the look on Bai Ying’s face when, thinking she had victory in her grasp, she suddenly realized her spiritual root had lost all spiritual energy flow. Would she be stunned? Would she regret turning against him?

Without his help, the so-called genius Bai Ying was nothing.

When that moment came, he would make sure she knelt down and apologized. Otherwise, he would never forgive her.

While fighting, Liu Qingyue silently counted the time in his mind, stealing glances at Bai Ying, too distracted to even focus properly. The few people still cheering for him earlier had already moved over to Bai Ying’s side. Compared to Liu Qingyue’s constant evasion, Bai Ying’s dazzling display of spellwork and control over the Midnight Tiger was captivating.

Every move she made dazzled the crowd. Waves of power surged from her hands. The Midnight Tiger lunged at her again and again, but she effortlessly dissolved each strike. The cheers grew louder, and the attention more focused. The atmosphere became more intense with every moment.

Yet despite the coldness on his side, Liu Qingyue grew more and more excited. He was counting down to her collapse. There were no more than twenty counts left before she would fall from the sky and be crushed beneath the Midnight Tiger like worthless trash.

She brought this on herself. How could she not know who had kept her alive this long?

He gritted his teeth and began the countdown in his heart.

“Twenty… Nineteen… Four… Three… Two…”

The closer it got, the more rapid his breathing became. His gaze was locked on Bai Ying, terrified of missing the exact moment of her downfall.

But when he reached “One”—nothing happened.

Bai Ying didn’t fall. She didn’t panic. Instead, she summoned her treasure artifact high into the air, and infused it with boundless spiritual energy . A massive surge of spiritual energy exploded from it like a crashing wave, expanding outward with terrifying pressure.

In the blink of an eye, a devastating attack condensed into a sharp beam and shot toward the Midnight Tiger like an arrow loosed from a divine bow.

The tiger, which had been fiercely resisting, let out a deafening roar before its massive body crashed to the ground like a mountain collapsing, stirring up clouds of dust.

The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers.

They shouted Bai Ying’s name over and over. Even the judge announced her victory.

Liu Qingyue stood frozen in disbelief.

How… how was this possible? How could Bai Ying still use her spiritual root? How could she still channel spiritual energy ?

Wasn’t she supposed to panic, to lose all control and be defeated?

Had he miscalculated the timing? Had the sect physician given him the wrong date?

He kept searching for answers.

But before he could process it, the Midnight Tiger on his side—tired of his constant fleeing—pounced while he was dazed. Liu Qingyue instinctively tried to jump away using spiritual energy …

But nothing happened.

It was as if all the energy in his body had been sealed. He couldn’t release a single thread of spiritual energy .

Panic welled up inside him as he saw the beast charging toward him. He had no choice but to flee like a mortal—with his legs alone.

Fear gripped him entirely.

But how could a human outrun a beast like a Midnight Tiger?

He watched with wide eyes as the beast leapt upon him. Its razor-sharp teeth sank into his shoulder, piercing through flesh and bone.

Agonizing pain flooded his entire body.

“AAAHH!” he screamed in agony as he felt the tiger ripping through his arm.

The pain was overwhelming.

Then, everything went black.

…

When Liu Qingyue regained consciousness, a searing pain tore through his left shoulder.

He instinctively tried to cast a spell to numb the pain, but nothing happened. It was as though his magic had never existed.

“What… what’s happening?” he gasped.

He reached over to clutch his left arm, but found… nothing.

His hand grabbed only air. Where his arm should have been—was a void.

His entire body trembled.

He kept groping, trying to feel something, but it was all empty. He tried to move it, but it was numb, lifeless.

His face turned ghostly pale.

He understood now.

He turned his head shakily to look down. Where his left arm should have been—was nothing.

It was gone.

Liu Qingyue turned to the physician treating him and shouted, “Physician Xue! Where’s my arm?! Where did it go?!”

Tears streamed down his face.

“My arm! Where is it?!”

Physician Xue looked at him with pity. “Your arm… was bitten off by the Midnight Tiger. And swallowed.”

If it had only been torn off, there might’ve been a chance to reattach it. But now—there was nothing left.

Liu Qingyue froze. His eyes lost all color. But soon, a spark returned.

“I can still cultivate! Once I reach the Nascent Soul Realm, I can regenerate it, right?!”

He had heard before that Nascent Soul cultivators could regenerate limbs. As long as he trained hard enough, he could reach that realm. Then, his arm would return.

The more he thought about it, the more hopeful he became.

But Physician Xue’s face only grew more serious.

“You haven’t noticed yet, have you? You can’t use spiritual energy  anymore.”

That snapped Liu Qingyue back to reality.

“I don’t understand either! Why?! Did Bai Ying do something to me?!” His face twisted with fury.

There was no other explanation!

It had to be her.

That despicable woman! She didn’t just frame Junior Sister—she destroyed him too!

But Physician Xue shook his head. “This has nothing to do with Bai Ying.”

Liu Qingyue sneered. “Physician Xue, I know you’re close to her. But don’t cover for her! Then tell me—why can’t I use my power?!”

Physician Xue looked at him with deep helplessness. “Have you ever been able to examine your own spiritual root?”

Liu Qingyue blinked in confusion. He had never been able to sense it.

He’d always thought it was because his spiritual root was special—that’s what made it undetectable.

But then, Physician Xue said flatly—

“That’s because the one with a broken spiritual root was never Bai Ying. It was you. Now, your spiritual root has completely failed. That’s why you can’t use any spiritual energy .”