The Master's Mask Unveiled Again-Chapter 993 - 992 Demon is about to Awake

Sui Yuan’s head was buzzing at this moment.

Hearing words like "Qing University" and "expulsion," she looked at Hong Junhua in disbelief.

She blurted out, "On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that I am your grandmother! Is that reason good enough?" Hong Junhua slammed herself into the chair, banging the mahogany table forcefully as she domineeringly declared, "Whatever I tell you to do, you must do! What business does a girl have going to college? Instead of wasting energy on that, getting married and having children early is the proper thing to do!"

!!!

Sui Yuan felt a chilling cold in her heart.

Getting married and having children?

Of course, this was in line with her grandmother’s usual behavior. Back when she escaped from the kidnapping incident and returned to the Chixia Sect, her grandmother had acted the same way.

She would pick out several men for her—middle-aged widowers, sleazy bosses looking for mistresses, violent playboys... whoever offered more betrothal gifts, that’s who Sui Yuan would be given to.

She was treated like a commodity, valued only in terms of money; otherwise, she was just a useless girl unworthy of even the five-million-dollar ransom.

Now, forcing her to drop out was probably her grandmother’s sudden decision to arrange a marriage for her again, wasn’t it?

She glanced around, seeing the expressions of her father, stepmother, and grandmother—so self-righteous, so aggressive and cruel. In this so-called family, there was no one she could turn to for help.

She was used to it.

Sui Yuan took a deep breath, looking at the three of them with a lifeless gaze, but in a rare act of defiance, she spoke firmly, "My life wasn’t saved by any of you. My university tuition wasn’t paid by you. Everything I have now has nothing to do with you. None of you has any right to meddle in my life ever again."

"Ha!" Hong Junhua slapped the table with a loud bang. "And you dare say it has nothing to do with us?! This life of yours was given to you by your father! Can you give it back to him? Asking you to bring in some betrothal gifts to repay the debt of raising you—isn’t that only right and proper?"

Jing Heng quickly handed his mother a cup of tea. "Mom, calm down!"

Beside him, Xi Mei also began to coax, "Mom, please don’t upset yourself over something like this—it’s not worth it! Don’t worry, Chunchun will definitely obey you this time. She absolutely won’t run away again, right, Chunchun?!"

As if intentionally reminding her, Xi Mei emphasized the point deliberately.

"Exactly, she can’t run away again." Hong Junhua immediately grew wary. "Someone, lock Jing Chun up for me!"

This time, Hong Junhua was determined not to let anything go wrong. The last time, she had already arranged a marriage for Jing Chun, only for the stubborn girl to escape secretly, leaving her scrambling to explain to the groom’s family and even losing a large sum of bride price.

Now that she had delivered herself right into their hands, there was no way she’d let this opportunity slip by again.

Sui Yuan didn’t have time to regain her composure. Watching the Chixia Sect disciples storm into the hall, she panicked.

She couldn’t resist these martial artists at all, nor did she have the ability to escape.

She was completely without recourse.

Xi Mei was secretly pleased but feigned reluctance on the surface, saying, "Mom, do we really have to go this far?"

"Of course! If I don’t teach her a lesson, she’ll really think she’s something special just because she’s studied a few years of books!"

"..." Xi Mei held her waist as she stood up. "Mom, then I’ll step out for now. Your little grandson’s been a bit restless..."

"Go quickly, and have the servants take good care of him." Hong Junhua valued this greatly and immediately had someone escort Xi Mei away. Turning sharply toward Sui Yuan, she spat furiously, "Look at you—you’ve scared my grandson!"

Hong Junhua made a gesture, signaling the disciples to take Sui Yuan away.

Sui Yuan stood alone in the center of the hall, helplessly watching that group of men approach her with cold, emotionless faces.

She was terrified, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Nightmarish memories washed over her like a tide, drowning her in darkness she couldn’t resist.

The harsh life in the orphanage, the slaughters from the kidnapping, the soul-crushing words of her relatives—all came flooding back to her at once.

Her spirit was on the verge of collapse. She clutched at her chest, trembling.

Her fingers touched something cold.

Sui Yuan glanced down—it was a diamond hairpin. Her hair was still short but she had always kept it pinned to her clothing.

The girl suddenly calmed down.

A cool, pale face flashed in her mind, whispering, "Yuanyuan, I’m here."

She still had Mianmian.

She wasn’t afraid.

There would surely be a way.

Sui Yuan swallowed her fear, thought for a moment, then mustered her courage and shouted toward Hong Junhua, "I won’t agree! If I can escape once, I can escape a second time! Even if you toss me into the Underground Palace, don’t think you can trap me!"

Hearing this, Hong Junhua grew wary. "Jing Heng, throw her into the Underground Palace!"

"Mom, this..." Jing Heng hesitated for a moment.

Hong Junhua dismissed it casually with a wave of her hand. "This is the safest way! Hurry up and do it!"

"Alright."

Jing Heng was a mama’s boy and obedient to his mother. He immediately escorted Sui Yuan to the Underground Palace.

Sui Yuan’s eyes glimmered slightly, and she followed Jing Heng without resistance.

——

The news that Sui Yuan had been locked in the Underground Palace wasn’t a secret; Jing Che and Jing Pei quickly found out.

Grandfather and grandson were a rare stream of clear morality in the Chixia Sect, not corrupted by Hong Junhua’s outdated mindset. Upon learning about the incident, they immediately set out to save her.

They didn’t bother looking for Jing Heng; it would have been pointless anyway. To save time, they went directly to Lu Mian.

Even if Lu Mian couldn’t help, at least she had the Xiao Family backing her.

At the moment, Lu Mian and Xiao Qimo were strolling hand in hand through the Chixia Sect.

When she heard that Sui Yuan had been locked in the Underground Palace, the cold girl’s expression instantly darkened. A dominating and ruthless aura gathered around her—it was the sign of a Demon stirred, on the verge of awakening upon her scale being touched.

"What happened?" Lu Mian asked coldly, holding on to the last trace of patience.

Jing Che shook his head helplessly. "Probably my stepmother found out I was in contact with my sister and took her away alone. As for what happened in the main hall, the surveillance footage was quickly deleted. I couldn’t find out what went on inside..."

"Useless!"

Lu Mian spat the insult coldly. In front of Xiao Qimo, Jing Pei, and Jing Che, she promptly dismantled the electronic watch on her wrist, sat cross-legged on the floor, and, with a few deft moves, assembled it into a portable computer.

It was the first time Xiao Qimo had seen her electronic watch used in such a way. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes flickered with curiosity.

Lu Mian’s electronic watch bore a striking resemblance to the ones used by certain members of the IEG organization...

But Lu Mian had no time for such thoughts. After typing line after line of code, she restored the main hall’s surveillance footage.

The projected footage revealed everything—Sui Yuan being framed, scolded, slapped, and forcibly dragged away by a group of men. Lu Mian saw it all!

She didn’t even need sound; just by reading the lip movements, she could tell exactly what those three people had said.

Staring at the video feed of the trembling, helpless girl, with her distraught and forlorn eyes, Lu Mian’s emotions reached their breaking point.

She put away the electronic watch, clenched her fist tightly, and when she raised her eyes again, they were blood-red.

Jing Che and Jing Pei gasped sharply, instinctively taking a step back.

"Mianmian."

Xiao Qimo had never seen her like this before. He grasped her hand immediately, offering her the greatest comfort and healing he could.

But this version of her frightened him, and he felt as though he could lose her at any moment...

Lu Mian withdrew her hand.

The man’s palm was left empty.

She folded the sleeves of her blue camouflage jacket, rolling them up one fold at a time, her movements slow and elegant—like the calm before a storm.

Moments later, a bloodthirsty light flashed across her eyes. Turning to Xiao Qimo, she curled her lips into a faint smile.

"I’ve always said, I’m not a good person."

"..."

Xiao Qimo’s heart constricted sharply, but before he could say anything, Lu Mian pushed him aside.

He watched as she walked toward the direction of the main hall.

The girl was bathed in the golden-red glow of the setting sun.

Each step she took embodied four words.

"Yuanyuan, I’m here."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢