The elder responsible for escorting new disciples to the main peak?
That had to be Elder Fuyun, who oversaw the instruction of new disciples. Yet Chen Zhi hesitated.
She had come all the way here in the middle of the night just to ask for Elder Fuyun’s name?
“Little Grand Martial Aunt, do you have business with Elder Fuyun?” he asked. “Would you like this disciple to handle it for you?”
Elder Fuyun? Nangong Yu’s eyes lit up. Smiling brightly, she nodded. “Sure. I’m going to mess him up. You’ll do it for me?”
Her words were like a thunderclap, exploding violently in Chen Zhi’s heart!
The final sliver of the bottleneck that had held back his cultivation for so long cracked with several fractures.
“Little Grand Martial Aunt, what do you mean by that?” he asked patiently.
Nangong Yu replied, “When he was bringing in the disciples, everyone else got to ride on magical treasures, but he left me behind.”
At that, she curled her lips. “Later, he rolled me up and brought me along—but then he threw me down hard and made me fall flat on my face.”
Chen Zhi’s expression immediately became indescribable.
Only one thought filled his mind—
Elder Fuyun, why did you have to provoke her?!
She had even gone after Elder Xuanqing without hesitation. Did she know the meaning of fear?
“Which peak does he live on?” Nangong Yu asked again.
She was smiling, but Chen Zhi did not dare answer. Instead, he tried to dissuade her. “Little Grand Martial Aunt, please think this through!”
He had no idea what was about to happen, but every single thing she had done in the past had left people utterly dumbfounded.
“He is of the same generation as you. Since he offended you, he will surely apologize,” Chen Zhi said, desperately racking his brains. “Tomorrow, Grand Martial Uncle Xu can take you to seek justice.”
Why couldn’t this be settled openly?
But to Nangong Yu, there was no need.
Any time she asked a Boss for help, it meant an equivalent exchange. She could get justice for herself, so why go to the trouble of involving someone else?
“Hurry up!” she said impatiently. “Which peak?”
Always hemming and hawing, wasting the player’s time.
Seeing her resolve, Chen Zhi had no choice but to tell her. “Jade Clarity Peak.”
“Got it.” Nangong Yu wrapped her arms around the spirit crane’s neck, immediately turned it around, and rode off on the wind without another word.
Chen Zhi restrained himself again and again, but did not chase after her.
“Chen Zhi, focus on your own affairs,” he told himself. “Don’t meddle in other people’s business.”
Who was Elder Fuyun? Did he have anything to do with Fallen Reed Peak? Did he have anything to do with Chen Zhi?
There was bad blood between him and Little Grand Martial Aunt. If she went to settle the score, that was her own path.
“It has nothing to do with me.” He lowered his gaze and returned to his cave dwelling. “I cultivate my own Dao.”
The young man landed lightly on his meditation cushion, crossed his legs, and placed his palms upward on his knees.
“What is my Dao?”
Everyone had their own Dao.
If one remained unable to break through, then one must have taken the wrong path.
And now, Nangong Yu’s appearance had lit a lamp for him, guiding him forward through the mist.
—
Riding her spirit crane, Nangong Yu arrived at Elder Fuyun’s Jade Clarity Peak.
She patted the crane’s back, signaling it to land. After feeding it several spirit fruits, she watched as it nuzzled against her before spreading its wings and flying away.
Nangong Yu equipped the title [Why Did You Provoke Her?], summoned her flying vessel, and climbed inside.
[Why Did You Provoke Her?]: While this title is equipped, characters within a radius of five hundred meters have a certain chance of avoiding you.
After pasting on invisibility talismans, aura-concealing talismans, and the like, they activated stealth mode and switched on silent mode.
“Whoosh—”
A light breeze swept past, stirring the grass and trees, but causing no disturbance.
Dawn gradually broke.
Disciples returning to the sect from errands, disciples coming back from outside, and disciples rising early to cultivate all froze when their eyes fell upon a certain verdant peak.
It could no longer be called a verdant peak.
Amid the many lush, mist-shrouded mountains brimming with immortal aura, one particular mountain stood out far too starkly.
“Which elder’s residence is that?”
“Does our sect have a mountain like that?”
“I vaguely remember… isn’t that where Elder Fuyun lives?”
As the sky grew brighter, more and more people turned their attention toward Jade Purity Peak.
Cultivators had extraordinarily long lives; a mere hour or two was nothing to them. Figure after figure stopped to gaze into the distance.
“What happened?”
“Why has Jade Purity Peak… gone bald?”
Jade Purity Peak had gone bald.
Cultivators possessed exceptionally sharp senses. Even Foundation Establishment disciples flying through the air on their swords could see it: amid the cloud-wreathed, emerald peaks stood one completely bare mountain.
Not a single tree, flower, or blade of grass remained.
The mountain’s rocks and soil lay exposed, naked and bare.
It was as though someone had skinned Jade Purity Peak overnight.
“What technique is Elder Fuyun practicing?”
“Could he have offended someone and had his mountain set on fire?”
“If it had burned, it would be blackened.”
“Impossible. If Jade Purity Peak had caught fire, the entire sect would have seen it.”
Yet the whole sect had been quiet the previous night, just like every other night. Nothing at all had happened.
As daylight fully arrived, more and more disciples learned that something had happened to Jade Purity Peak.
Those above the Foundation Establishment realm hovered in midair, while Qi Refinement disciples stood atop spirit cranes, all gazing at the bald mountain and whispering among themselves.
“Could it have been blown bald by a fart?”
Who—who said that?
Countless gazes whipped in that direction.
“I only heard it from someone else,” one disciple said, trembling. “I heard Elder Fuyun hasn’t been feeling well. When he received the new disciples the day before yesterday, he let out a whole lot of farts.”
The moment he finished speaking, he covered his face and plunged headfirst into his room, refusing to come out.
He had only muttered a casual remark. Who would have thought someone would hear him? He was done for. Absolutely done for.
“Elder Xuanqing also let out a lot of farts yesterday.”
“I saw it. When he fought Perfected Xu, his inner qi leaked out, and he couldn’t even stay airborne.”
“Could Elder Xuanqing’s farts have blown it bald?”
The outrageous rumor spread through the gathered disciples.
“Ahhh—!”
An enraged roar rang out from Jade Purity Peak, startling flocks of birds into flight.
“Who did this?!!!”
Elder Fuyun was awake.
The moment he discovered what had happened to the Jade Purity Peak where he resided, he flew into a furious rage.
Meanwhile, at Disciples’ Peak—
Thirty-seven inner disciples and more than a hundred outer disciples had gathered in the open space outside the hall.
It was now nine in the morning—the Hour of the Snake.
“Why are there only this many people?”
“These are the ones who passed the Heart-Questioning Trial.”
“What about those who didn’t pass?”
“Those willing to remain in the sect have been registered as menial disciples. Those unwilling to stay have been sent back home.”
Among the more than one hundred disciples, regardless of whether they were inner- or outer-sect disciples, those who knew one another began chatting.
Yet even without the distinction between inner and outer sects, some disciples’ clothing, adornments, and bearing clearly set them apart.
“You still haven’t even drawn qi into your body?” An eight- or nine-year-old boy spoke with unmistakable mockery. “I’m already at the second level of Qi Refinement.”
The girl gave a light snort. “What’s so impressive about that? My master said you have to build a solid foundation first. You can’t cultivate recklessly.”
“Your master is just fooling you,” the boy said gleefully. “He must think you’re stupid and be afraid you’ll cry.”
The girl immediately flew into a rage. “Mo Jiuyou! You’re asking for it!”
Having successfully angered Zhao Ziyun, Mo Jiuyou stuck out his tongue at her a few times before turning his gaze elsewhere.
Who told her to steal his maidservant before?
He pointed at one of the disciples, stepped onto the person’s shoulders, and peered over the crowd.
“Nangong Yu!” Mo Jiuyou accurately spotted the girl in the crowd, propping up her chin and yawning. He patted the disciple beneath him and ordered, “Go over there.”
The disciple carried him through the crowd, squeezing this way and that, until they finally reached their target.
“Put me down,” Mo Jiuyou said.
The other disciple carefully set him on the ground. Once on his feet, the eight- or nine-year-old boy stood a head taller than Nangong Yu, who was sitting on the ground and dozing off. He promptly assumed an air of superiority.
“Hey!” he called, putting on an imperious manner. “When did you get here?”
Nangong Yu’s eyelids were half-open. She let out a weary yawn and barely spared him a glance. “What do you want?”
Mo Jiuyou huffed. “Where are you staying? How come I couldn’t find you?”
After his master had taken him back, he had wanted to bring Nangong Yu over as well.
But when he sent people to look for her on the Outer Sect Peak, they had not been able to find her!
Mo Jiuyou had thought she had failed even to become an outer-sect disciple and had been sent home, and he had been disappointed.
Seeing her today made him unexpectedly happy. “I’m talking to you! Are you deaf?”
Nangong Yu had been busy all night and had only finished work shortly before dawn. Without resting for even a moment, she had rushed over to climb Disciple Peak.
With this little brat chattering endlessly in her ear, she raised her hand and slapped him. “Are you blind? Can’t you see I’m catching up on sleep?”
The crisp smack landed on the boy’s face with lightning speed, echoing across Disciple Peak.
For an instant, it seemed as though time had stopped. The entire open space fell silent.
“Good hit!” At the shout of approval, Zhao Ziyun clapped as she pushed through the crowd. “That’s exactly the lesson he deserves!”
As she spoke, she shot Mo Jiuyou a fierce glare.
Mo Jiuyou’s face turned bright red. He raised a finger and pointed viciously at Nangong Yu. “You! You—just you wait!”
He refused to believe he could not tame a mere mortal!
Nangong Yu raised her hand again. Mo Jiuyou immediately ducked behind another disciple, glaring furiously. “You hit someone for no reason! I’m telling the elders!”
The hour of the Snake had already passed, yet the elders had not arrived.
But surely they would be here soon.
“Why are you such a coward?” Zhao Ziyun asked in surprise. “If you’ve got the guts, fight her yourself. What kind of skill is tattling?”
The two of them began bickering, chattering away without pause—making Nangong Yu even sleepier.
Nangong Yu’s eyelids drooped again—until someone pried them open, revealing a face brimming with malicious delight.
“Sleepy enough to collapse, huh? What were you up to last night?”
“Burning down your ancestral graves.” Nangong Yu grabbed his hand, ready to teach him a lesson.
The little brat was as slippery as an eel and actually managed to dodge her. “I bet you started climbing Disciple Peak in the middle of the night, didn’t you?”
Disciple Peak was extremely high. Reaching the summit before the hour of the Snake was no easy feat; many disciples had begun climbing before dawn.
“If you’ve got no talent, just go home and get married. Why force yourself?” Mo Jiuyou hid behind the other disciples, gloating without pause.
Zhao Ziyun’s eyes shifted as she prepared to speak, but someone beat her to it.
“Junior Sister Little Yu made it to Azure Cloud Summit. Her will is unwavering, and her affinity with the immortal path runs deep. How can anyone say she lacks talent?”
The voice was calm and unhurried, though it could not quite conceal its youthful quality.
Xiao Junlin stood among the crowd. No one knew when he had come over.
Mo Jiuyou found this prince of the Xiao clan unbearably irritating. That pretentious manner of his made him sick. He curled his lip. “Junior Sister Little Yu? Do you really think she even knows who you are?”
For all her faults, Nangong Yu was clueless to an almost unbelievable degree. She gave no one face, and Mo Jiuyou had seen that clearly enough.
Sure enough, when he glanced over from the corner of his eye, Nangong Yu was nearly asleep again.
“How are you this sleepy?” Zhao Ziyun took out a sachet and waved it beneath her nose. “The elders will be here soon. Wake up.”
A refreshing, mind-clearing scent rushed into her nostrils and shot straight to her brain.
Nangong Yu jolted awake at once and looked toward the owner of the sachet.
Zhao Ziyun said proudly, “Well? Useful, isn’t it? Whenever I didn’t feel like memorizing my lessons, I relied on this to stay awake.”
