She had some self-awareness about how difficult those stairs were to climb. Asking her to sweep the stairs? Wasn't that going to kill her?
"Eh? Senior Sister, this Senior Brother, I... I really have a reason. Please listen to my explanation." Ye Liuyun immediately looked at the Female Disciple with a pitiful expression. But seeing that the Female Disciple wasn't buying it, she looked at the Male Disciple.
This Male Disciple could not resist Ye Liuyun's gaze.
"Eh? I say, Junior Sister Liu, this Junior Sister Ye doesn't look like the type of person who would intentionally break the rules. How about we take her to find a Grand Elder to appeal?" the Male Disciple said.
But this woman surnamed Liu did not listen to the Male Disciple.
"Senior Brother Song, this order was issued by the Sect Master herself. How can it be revoked just like that?" the Female Disciple surnamed Liu questioned.
These words directly dispelled the Male Disciple's intention to plead for Ye Liuyun. He could only look at Ye Liuyun apologetically.
Seeing this, Ye Liuyun was helpless and could only follow the two dejectedly toward the mountain gate. On the way, she met many introductory Disciples.
Among them was someone Ye Liuyun recognized—it was exactly that Xiao Hansheng she had met before going up the mountain the day before yesterday.
"Eh? Miss Ye, you, what is this?" Xiao Hansheng quickly greeted Ye Liuyun.
"Brother Xiao." Ye Liuyun also responded somewhat awkwardly.
But it was just a greeting, and then she was taken by the two and flew up, flying toward the Yunxia Sect mountain gate. After they left, Xiao Hansheng and the others began to comment and criticize.
"This Senior Sister Ye is really interesting. On the first day of the official introductory assembly, she didn't attend and even got punished by the Sect. I don't want to climb those stairs a second time, and she has to sweep them for a month. I think Senior Sister Ye will suffer," everyone laughed.
Ye Liuyun was taken by the two and flew quickly toward the foot of the mountain.
This first flight made Ye Liuyun scream directly.
"Ah... Senior Sister, slow down, I'm afraid of heights!" Ye Liuyun was currently hugging the waist of the Disciple surnamed Liu tightly, stepping on a Flying Sword and shuttling through the sea of clouds.
When a Cultivator reaches the Linghe Realm, they can control a Magic Treasure for flight. The Flying Sword they were stepping on was a type of flying Magic Treasure.
Although flying was cool, Ye Liuyun really couldn't handle it.
"Eh? Junior Sister Liu, slow down. Don't throw Junior Sister Ye off," that Senior Brother Song kept shouting.
The woman surnamed Liu seemed to be deliberately trying to discipline Ye Liuyun. She flipped and turned in the sea of clouds. This feeling was not something Ye Liuyun, who was experiencing flight for the first time, could handle.
The moment Ye Liuyun and the others landed at the foot of the mountain, she immediately began to retch violently. Unfortunately, there was no food in her stomach, and all she vomited was gastric juice.
"Alright, this is a broom. For this month, you must sweep from the foot of the mountain to the mountain gate every day," the woman surnamed Liu said as she threw a broom to Ye Liuyun.
After Ye Liuyun retched for a while, she wanted to curse this woman to death in her heart.
"Damn, did you do this on purpose? How did I offend you?" Ye Liuyun complained a few times in her heart.
But her face remained innocent, as if she didn't have any complaints.
After Ye Liuyun adjusted her state, she picked up the broom helplessly.
As for the woman surnamed Liu, she took out a token and gestured toward the entrance of the stairs that had disappeared. The next moment, the stairs up the mountain that had originally disappeared reappeared.
"Start now. We'll wait for you at the top of the mountain. Don't think about slacking off." The woman surnamed Liu dropped this line, then glanced at Senior Brother Song.
Senior Brother Song knew what the woman surnamed Liu meant: she wanted him to watch Ye Liuyun the whole way, so there was no need for two people to stand here monitoring her.
The woman surnamed Liu flew into the sky and left. Ye Liuyun glared at her back, then reluctantly picked up a broom and began sweeping the steps.
Senior Brother Song, meanwhile, stayed right behind Ye Liuyun.
The steps were covered in leaves. How long would it take her to sweep all the way up? Ye Liuyun felt she was incredibly unlucky.
"No, no, this is too much of a waste of time!" Ye Liuyun mused over how to quickly complete the task while sweeping.
After pondering for a while, she intentionally or unintentionally glanced at Senior Brother Song.
"Hey? Senior Brother, how should I address you?" Ye Liuyun asked with a smile.
Seeing Ye Liuyun ask for his name, and being bored anyway, Senior Brother Song felt quite favorably towards Ye Liuyun and was willing to talk to her.
"Oh, my name is Song Shuwen. I heard you are the older sister of Junior Sister Lin Aoxue, the Sect Leader's Personal Disciple, is that right?" Song Shuwen asked Ye Liuyun a question while answering hers.
"Yes, that's right, but we aren't blood sisters. We just come from the same town and lived door-to-door." Ye Liuyun replied.
Song Shuwen nodded. The two chatted while she swept. Having someone to talk to along the way was certainly better than Ye Liuyun sweeping alone in silence.
In fact, Ye Liuyun clearly had an ulterior motive.
First, she used the chat to get closer to Song Shuwen, and then she subtly explained why she hadn't attended the Assembly that day, hoping to win his sympathy.
Men tend to soften up when they see a pretty girl. This common flaw among many men was something Ye Liuyun understood perfectly.
This skin of hers had no other value, but as a tool to deceive others, it was absolutely perfect.
Sure enough, after sweeping a section of the steps, Ye Liuyun feigned exhaustion.
"Ah! I can't go on, Senior Brother Song, let's take a break. I'm too tired," Ye Liuyun said breathlessly.
Song Shuwen felt a moment of pity seeing Ye Liuyun so exhausted. After thinking for a moment, he swept his Divine Sense around to confirm no one else was present. He then formed a hand seal, opened his mouth, and blew toward the steps.
In that instant, nearly a hundred meters of steps were completely cleared of leaves and debris.
"Junior Sister Ye, I... I can only help you lighten the burden a little. I can't directly fly you up. My apologies," Song Shuwen said awkwardly.
Ye Liuyun immediately gave Song Shuwen a look of gratitude, then continued forward. This time, however, she didn't need to sweep, as Song Shuwen used a Spell to blow all the debris off the steps for her.
Simply walking up certainly wouldn't be particularly tiring.
Time passed slowly. Since the steps were not currently part of an assessment, there was no Magical Power attached to them, making the ascent several times easier than before.
Given the physical endurance of Cultivators, they could have reached the top in three hours at most. Five hours later, Ye Liuyun, still feigning sweeping, arrived at the mountain gate.
Senior Sister Liu was waiting for them there.
"Ah! Finished sweeping! I'm exhausted." After sweeping the last step, Ye Liuyun plopped down onto the ground.
"Hmph! Today's punishment is over. Continue tomorrow." After Senior Sister Liu finished speaking, she turned and left.
As for Song Shuwen, he grinned sheepishly at Ye Liuyun and then also departed.
Once they left, Ye Liuyun's feeling of exhaustion immediately vanished.
"Aiya! Senior Brother Song is nice. I need to find time to thank him, otherwise, I would have been sweeping until dusk." Ye Liuyun stood up, dusted off her rear, and sighed.
"You brat, you actually used a girl's advantages to lessen your punishment? Are you starting to like this body?" Lin Qingyou teased.
But Ye Liuyun did not agree with this statement.
"Nonsense! I was just making reasonable use of my identity. Besides, I can't waste all my time sweeping every day," Ye Liuyun said, then returned to her dwelling.