***
Wenren Ying spread the five fingers of one hand against the door. His sleeve had been rolled up, cinched around the middle of his forearm—right over the blue vein bulging beneath the skin.
Although his lips were parted and the breath escaping them carried the faintest hint of a moan, his entire bearing was razor-sharp.
The instant Chu Yingfeng approached, he had switched into a state of readiness, poised to strike.
Chu Yingfeng was certainly not a bad person—Wenren Ying was confident in his ability to judge character—but it was hard to say what he might do if he saw this suddenly sprouted Seven-Treasure Pine.
So it would be best if he didn’t see it.
The situation had arisen too suddenly. Aside from this method, Wenren Ying had no other way to drive him off.
Sure enough, Chu Yingfeng heard the strange sound…and, sure enough, he hesitated and stopped, falling into a baffled silence.
After a moment, he turned and walked away.
Wenren Ying let out a long breath, and the muscles stretched taut across his body gradually relaxed.
Then he turned around—and found the Little Shopkeeper Wu staring at him with eyes wider than bronze bells.
Wenren Ying: “……”
His back seemed to tense up all over again.
“Brother Wenren…”
Little Shopkeeper Wu drew out the words meaningfully.
For some reason, whenever she spoke in that meaningful tone, it made one’s scalp prickle.
Wenren Ying reached up and pressed down on his bamboo hat, hiding his eyes completely in its shadow. In an utterly composed voice, he said, “Sorry. I didn’t want to resort to such a vulgar trick…but…”
“You don’t want Lu Datong to find out what just happened either, do you?”
Little Shopkeeper Wu suddenly shouted, the corners of her mouth curling into a roguish grin that did not suit her at all.
Wenren Ying: “……”
The words Wenren Ying had been about to say abruptly caught in his throat.
Wenren Ying: “……?”
What had she just said?
He felt as if that one sentence had turned his brain into a bowl of mush. He tried to think it through, but failed. In the end, he opened his mouth and voiced his confusion.
“…Why Lu Datong?”
Little Shopkeeper Wu answered with complete righteousness, “Because he’s the only person I know you know!!!”
Wenren Ying: “……”
Wenren Ying: “…………”
A huge crossroads suddenly appeared above Wenren Ying’s head.
Little Shopkeeper Wu: “Ah! Are you angry, Brother Wenren?”
Wenren Ying: “……”
Wenren Ying couldn’t be bothered to respond. He walked straight over to the Seven-Treasure Pine and examined it from top to bottom.
The Seven-Treasure Pine stood there quietly. A breeze suddenly swept past, stirring its slender needles and making them rustle.
Wenren Ying suddenly said, “Its primordial spirit hasn’t been destroyed.”
That was precisely why it had remained hidden here, waiting for an opportunity to appear.
Now that he thought about it, the boisterous and hot-tempered Daoist Master Songfeng must have been lying dormant once again for an unknown length of time. The reason Chu Yingfeng had come to the inn to inquire about Daoist Master Songfeng was probably because this pine had secretly sent out some kind of message.
The Xuantian Sect… The Xuantian Sect…
He had already confirmed that Chu Yingfeng was not the only person from the Xuantian Sect who had come this time. The other was Bai Yunsheng, the second disciple under Elder Renhua. Presumably, the two of them had come together to investigate Daoist Master Songfeng’s whereabouts.
He had to find a way to resolve this matter once and for all.
Wenren Ying fell into deep thought.
Wu Guanyue rested her chin in her hands and fell into deep thought as well.
***
“Ah!!!!”
“Ahhhhhh!!!!”
She Wenjie had no intention of thinking things over!
Not only was he not going to think, he was determined to release all the fury bottled up inside him through a series of enraged roars!
Humiliation! Humiliation! Humiliation!
She Wenjie had never experienced such humiliation in his life!
In broad daylight, he had been forced to humiliate himself by admitting that the words spoken by that bastard—someone inferior to him in status, cultivation, and every other regard—were true.
And then there was Wenren Ying… Wenren Ying!
She Wenjie had injured people more than once or twice. Had anyone ever dared to say to his face, “You hurt someone and still want to leave”?
No! Never!
The confidence behind She Wenjie’s tyrannical behavior came precisely from this—from the power and influence possessed by his enormous family.
Yet now, he had suddenly discovered that those things were not omnipotent after all.
Wu Guanyue had no status whatsoever. Simply because she had borrowed the power available to her in that moment, she had trampled all over his identity without the slightest psychological burden and even used the incident to advertise the rooms at her own inn.
Wenren Ying had done the same. His status, position, family, and inheritance seemed to count for nothing in front of She Wenjie. Just for the sake of two bottles of healing medicine, he had…he had nearly sliced off She Wenjie’s head!
But in truth, Wenren Ying had of course taken She Wenjie’s identity into consideration. Wenren Ying lived in Meishan City as well, and the Little Shopkeeper Wu he had helped ran a business there. Once a person became connected to others, it was difficult to act without showing any restraint.
That was why he had not actually cut off She Wenjie’s head.
She Wenjie, however, could never have imagined this. If people did not kneel before him, trembling and bowing obsequiously, he felt insulted.
What was more, the consequences of that incident went far beyond this.
Verdant Cloud Adept had naturally not come to see him. To be honest, although She Wenjie was always boasting about Verdant Cloud Adept’s past achievements, he rarely got to see the adept in person.
Even his own parents could not see the adept more than a few times a year, and whenever they did, they behaved with extreme caution, afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Verdant Cloud Adept had rarely mentioned him at all, yet this time, the adept had sent him a message: He did not need to participate in this year’s Lotus Grand Tournament.
He would not be entering the inner sect.
Those words, delivered to him by a messenger, struck his face like a heavy slap.
She Wenjie had never been particularly devoted to the Dao…but being unable to enter the inner sect meant that he had lost face completely. It meant he would become a laughingstock throughout Meishan’s upper circles!
Of course, a wastrel like him was already looked down upon by others. She Wenjie usually understood perfectly well whom he could bully and whom he could not. But this time…the very soft targets he had believed he could trample at will had dealt him a crushing blow!
A twisted hatred rose within She Wenjie’s heart.
If you were kicking a dog and the dog bit you, wouldn’t you hate it?
Wu Guanyue, Wenren Ying…
Wu Guanyue, Wenren Ying…!
“Ah!!!!”
She Wenjie let out another cry like a groundhog, charged into the courtyard, grabbed the first person he saw, and began punching and kicking him.
Just then, someone entered.
“Young Master, we found out!”
The man hurried over to She Wenjie’s side and whispered into his ear.
The contents of that whisper naturally concerned Wu Guanyue.
Why had Chu Yingfeng appeared at Wu Guanyue’s shabby inn for no apparent reason? There was clearly something suspicious about it.
It was truly difficult to believe that She Wenjie’s brain had managed to think of that much…
Of the two people who had come from the Xuantian Sect, one was Chu Yingfeng, while the other was Bai Yunsheng, a scion of the Yunmeng Bai clan. This time, Chu Yingfeng had arrived at Meishan first, while Bai Yunsheng… had only come up to the grotto-heaven yesterday to pay a visit to the Verdant Cloud Adept.
He made no attempt to hide his purpose, stating plainly that he had come to reclaim the Seven-Treasure Pine, a magical treasure left behind by the Sword Lord Taibai.
This information was no secret. Even a good-for-nothing wastrel like She Wenjie knew about it by now.
As for what he had sent people to investigate… it was Wu Guanyue’s background.
Wu Guanyue had a grudge against Qian Shian of Yongfeng Money House, and Qian Shian’s master was a tree demon… Later, Qian Shian had disappeared without a trace. As for that tree demon master of his… could Wu Guanyue have killed him?
And could that tree demon master have had something to do with the Seven-Treasure Pine?
If he could prove that, then what he had done would not be some wastrel’s reckless mischief at all. He would have been trying to recover a magical treasure belonging to the Xuantian Sect! And Chu Yingfeng… would certainly be unable to escape unscathed either!
The more She Wenjie thought about it, the more restless he became. At last, he could no longer sit still and abruptly rose to his feet.
Naturally, he was not going to find Bai Yunsheng… He did not even have the qualifications to meet the martial uncle from the Xuantian Sect.
The person he intended to see was his elder brother—Master Chongxu.
Only his own brother, born of the same mother, would still be willing to see him at a time like this.
Besides, he had no choice but to go.
The Meishan She clan was a powerful and wealthy family. Although the Verdant Cloud Adept had no children of his own, there were certainly plenty of She clan disciples eager to become his personal disciple and inherit the position of Meishan’s master. If Master Chongxu still wanted to make an impression before the Verdant Cloud Adept, he had better find some way to reverse the impact of this incident—to change the impression their branch had left in the Verdant Cloud Adept’s mind.
This was what happened when you dragged a burden along with you~
She Wenjie understood it perfectly. With an outwardly respectful manner and inwardly delighted heart, he went off to throw his elder brother under the bus.
***
Two days later.
The moon shone clear and bright, and the stars glittered in the pure night sky.
Chu Yingfeng sat cross-legged on the bed, his hands resting on his knees, his mind calm as he meditated.
Moonlight spilled over his jet-black hair and pale face, making his hair appear even darker and his skin even whiter. He looked almost like a male ghost devoid of all human vitality.
At the Xuantian Sect, Chu Yingfeng was, of course, not especially popular.
He was too solitary, had no powerful background, and possessed too great a reputation. His life at the Xuantian Sect could hardly be called pleasant. Even his master, Perfected Renhua… perhaps regarded him as nothing more than a hired fighter.
But to be honest, Chu Yingfeng did not care about any of that.
There were very few things he cared about at all. Even when he had heard the words “Meishan’s Number One Blade engaging in daytime debauchery” that morning, he had not…
…But he had also heard Little Shopkeeper Wu’s voice.
Little Shopkeeper Wu had been threatening Wenren Ying. The threat had been…
“You wouldn’t want Lu Datong to find out, would you?”
Chu Yingfeng: “……”
Chu Yingfeng: “…………?”
…Why Lu Datong?
At heart, Chu Yingfeng was someone who enjoyed exploring the unknown. At that moment, he had keenly sensed, from Little Shopkeeper Wu’s threat, the existence of a realm he knew nothing about…
…But his keen sixth sense also told him that he did not particularly want to learn more.
Chu Yingfeng frowned faintly and cast these inexplicable matters from his mind. He quietly continued meditating, allowing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to enter his meridians through each breath he drew and released—
Suddenly, he opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon his fingers.
A message butterfly rested upon his pale knuckles.
Chu Yingfeng stared silently at the butterfly. His emotionless eyes flashed with unmistakable annoyance.
Bai Yunsheng was looking for him.
After a long while, he finally rose and leapt through the inn window. Then, just like that, he vanished into the darkness.
At the same time, Wenren Ying was standing in the shadows.
No one knew how long he had been lying in wait. His entire presence had been completely concealed, yet his muscles remained in a state that could shift instantly between relaxation and explosive force. It was the posture of a beast lying in ambush for its prey, and he had mastered it with startling ease.
Could it be that this was not the first time he had lain in wait like this? Not the first time he had hunted?
But who, exactly, had he been lying in wait for—and who had he been hunting?
Watching the direction in which Chu Yingfeng had disappeared, Wenren Ying stretched lazily, preparing to follow him.
At that moment, his view suddenly flipped upside down—
He had been lifted high into the air! And the hands holding him were as firm as iron pincers, gripping him so tightly that he could not break free!
The person who had lifted him carried a clean, soft, warm fragrance—the cozy scent of freshly washed bedding, mixed with the smell of a cat’s belly fur after it had been warmed by the sun…
Wenren Ying: “…Little Shopkeeper Wu, put me down.”
He knew Little Shopkeeper Wu was behind him, but he had never expected the other man to be capable of something so outrageously powerful…
Standing atop Wuyun and holding Wenren Ying over his head, Wu Guanyue blinked his round eyes. “Why, Wenren-ge? Wuyun runs really fast! We can catch up with him right away!”
Wenren Ying: “…………”
The corner of Wenren Ying’s mouth twitched. He did his best to remain calm as he explained, “But Wuyun makes a lot of noise when he runs, doesn’t he? We’re following him—following him, understand? Be good and put your Wenren-ge down.”
Wu Guanyue thought about it. That did seem to make sense, so he obediently said, “Oh!”
Then he put Wenren Ying down.
Wenren Ying had just breathed a sigh of relief when he felt something heavy land on his back…
Wu Guanyue had placed Wuyun on top of his head, then climbed onto Wenren Ying’s back without the slightest hint of hesitation. In a perfectly reasonable tone, he declared, “Then you be our mount, Wenren-ge! Charge!”
Wuyun was equally justified as he cried, “Meow!”
Wenren Ying: “…………”
Wenren Ying: “………………”
Nothing.
