Chapter 127: A Generous Gift

Due to his youngest disciple’s vehement protests, Venerable Chengwei had no choice but to regretfully abandon this tempting plan.

“I only wanted to ask about the method so that if I encounter such an enemy again in the future, I might have a chance to break through.” He certainly didn’t mean going to chop down the tree for firewood right now. Master, grow up a bit. The sect didn’t burn that tree down immediately because they obviously need to wrap things up. The women of Xiaoshu Village are linked to the tree’s vital energy. If you chop it down, they will surely die instantly, and then there will be no way to investigate the victims’ details.

Elder Zhao Qi had been busy to the point of his feet barely touching the ground these past two days. How should he put it? Wen Xu felt it was best for him to avoid showing his face in front of the elder for the time being.

“A-Xu.”

Wen Xu looked up. He was not wearing his silk ribbon at the moment, and his gaze fell on his master’s face. Unfortunately, he still could not make out what his master looked like.

“Your master doesn’t know how to do that,” Venerable Chengwei said, spreading his hands in a somewhat helpless gesture. “I’m lazy by nature. Others only ever study how to deal with your master, but I never study how to target other people or things.”

Power. Wen Xu understood the meaning behind those words almost instantly.

What did the world say about his master?

Wen Xu had heard plenty, but no matter how much people criticized his master’s personality, they all admitted from the bottom of their hearts that his master, Venerable Chengwei, was an incredibly powerful existence.

Powerful enough that, despite having thirty pages of old friends, he could still remain true to his nature. Wen Xu thought to himself that he might never in his life reach his master’s level of flamboyant and unrestrained ease.

“A-Xu, when you grow stronger and stronger, you will find that there are many unknown existences in the cultivation world. You cannot possibly understand every single one of them deeply. What you must do is not to understand or analyze others,” Venerable Chengwei said. He had always been well aware of his disciple’s intelligence, but sometimes being too clever could instead become a constraint. “It is to strengthen yourself.”

“Look, when you were in the Qi Refining Stage, you encountered evil cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage. Now that you’ve reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, you’ve run into a Golden Core opponent who has strayed into crooked paths. A person cannot choose their enemies, but you can choose how to improve yourself.” Venerable Chengwei winked at his disciple. “So, do you want to go chop some firewood? It’s already been two days. If you don’t chop it now, you won’t make it in time.”

The serious mood Wen Xu had just gathered was instantly dissipated by these words. “Master, stop messing around.”

“How is this messing around? Your master hasn’t drunk any alcohol today.”

“The Sect Master will cling to your thighs and cry.”

“…Really?”

Why did his master sound even more eager to try now? Wen Xu thought to himself that the Sect Master must have provoked Master again recently.

“I was joking.”

Venerable Chengwei let out a sigh. “Fine, fine, I won’t go then. Speaking of which, given your personality, A-Xu, for you to directly expose that old tree’s disguise in the Spiritual Tree Well… could it be…”

“No, it’s just… there were four of us in the well. Chunzhou and Xiang He were fine, but my other friend has a very straightforward nature. Even if I hadn’t exposed it and tried to deal with it, we wouldn’t have been able to keep it up for long.”

“Oh, I see.” So he had thought about dealing with it. He had thought his young disciple had changed his nature and learned to act on impulse. Chengwei waved his hand. “Go back and recover from your injuries. You just came out of the Back Mountain Secret Realm and immediately threw yourself into danger. A-Xu, do you think you’re made of iron?”

Wen Xu was taken aback, returning to his small cave dwelling in a daze.

So, his master had said so much because he was angry that Wen Xu didn’t take care of his own body? Since when was his master so subtle? Could he have misunderstood?

In all fairness, Wen Xu valued his life very much. Yet, to survive, he had always “neglected” his physical condition. How should he put it? This was a bad habit he had developed back in the Mortal Realm.

For the sake of his studies, he could burn the midnight oil all night. He could also make himself sick enough to end up in a medical clinic in the middle of the night just to gain his teacher’s sympathy. As long as it was beneficial to him and did not threaten his life, he considered it viable.

After coming to the cultivation world, he cared even less about this. A cultivator’s body was incredibly strong, and reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage had even healed all the old, lingering injuries in his body. It was no exaggeration to say that Wen Xu felt he was in excellent condition right now.

But since his master told him to recover, he would recover.

It was also a good time to review his insights from the secret realm and consolidate his spiritual energy and cultivation realm.

**

Compared to the warm, gentle breeze on Guochun Peak, Bian Chunzhou was getting thoroughly chewed out.

Venerable Ruoshui was a hands-off master, but she hadn’t expected that after letting him run free for just a short while, her youngest disciple would almost lose his life. She rarely self-reflected, and when she did… No, a disciple wouldn’t shape up without a good scolding. Thus, before he could even finish writing his two-thousand-word self-reflection, the poor Bian Chunzhou was saddled with a new punishment.

Of course, along with the punishment came several protective talismans from his master. Sob, Master really does love me after all.

Thus, Bian Chunzhou was happily awarded a six-month confinement on Ruoshui Peak. Naturally, the self-reflection still had to be written.

He wondered how Wen Xuxu was doing now. According to Chen Zuizui, Wen Xuxu had come to rescue him the moment he stepped out of the Back Mountain Secret Realm. If Wen Xuxu hadn’t noticed something was off, even if he weren’t dead by now, he would have ended up “divorced from his second marriage” by now.

The cultivation world was indeed full of dangers. He had thought only evil cultivators and Demon Seeds were detestable and terrifying, but… well, he had let his guard down too much after joining the sect. In truth, Bian Chunzhou knew that rogue cultivators had a hard time out there. Anyone who wanted to progress in their cultivation would never choose to accept help and charity from others. Just like this body’s rogue cultivator father, who had been proud all his life and remained a Foundation Establishment cultivator until his passing.

When he first transmigrated, he had also been constantly on edge and worried. On the way to Yonglu Mountain for the exam, he would lie awake at night, anxious that he might be wasting his efforts. But he was naturally optimistic, and he figured that since he had transmigrated, maybe he would have a cheat or something.

With this self-soothing, optimistic attitude, he had blundered his way through the gates of Yonglu Mountain. Because he befriended Wen Xuxu and Chen Zuizui, his life at Yonglu Mountain had become colorful and vibrant.

His friends, teachers, and fellow disciples were all wonderful. Even Lin Congcong, whom he couldn’t stand, wasn’t the kind of insidious person who would play dirty tricks behind his back. Bian Chunzhou rested his head in his hands, squeezing out words for his self-reflection while seriously reflecting on his actions.

I should have some guard against people. I can’t keep carrying Wen Xuxu around with me whenever I go out. Having Chen Zuizui around is already headache enough. I should help lighten Wen Xuxu’s ‘burden.’

One should always guard against others, but a helping heart was also fine. Bian Chunzhou asked himself: if he encountered a similar situation in the future, would he really be able to just stand by and watch?

It seemed a bit difficult; he couldn’t just turn a blind eye.

Therefore, there had to be a better way to handle things. If only I had Wen Xuxu’s ability to read people, Bian Chunzhou thought. Well, that’s impossible. A person needs to have self-awareness. If this road is blocked, there are other paths.

Perhaps he could invent a talisman to divine good and bad fortune. It wouldn’t need to be extremely precise, just directional enough. If his brain couldn’t handle it, he would just make an external cheat.

Furthermore, he could act more cautiously. For instance, if he and Senior Sister Xiang He hadn’t been so reckless this time, insisting on exploring Xiaoshu Village in the middle of the night, none of the subsequent events would have happened.

As Bian Chunzhou wrote, his thoughts flowed like a torrent. He looked down. Excellent; he had only written two hundred words in classical prose, and it was complete gibberish. Sob, someone save my god-awful writing skills!

This was way too hard, second only to digging dirt on Lingyao Peak. Elder Zhao Qi truly deserved to be the future head of the Discipline Hall. Who wouldn’t tremble in fear at the thought of a two-thousand-word self-reflection? Well, except for Wen Xuxu.

Thus, he continued to grind away at his self-reflection.

Compared to Wen Xu’s secluded cultivation and Bian Chunzhou’s confinement, everything went back to normal for Chen Zui after he returned to the mountain.

With neither of his two friends showing their faces, he didn’t feel lonely. There were, however, people whispering behind his back, making snide remarks, but he found them very strange. Their cultivation was clearly inferior to his, so why were they so concerned about whether he reached the Foundation Establishment Stage? That Wen Xu could reach the Foundation Establishment Stage was a testament to Wen Xu’s own capability; that he hadn’t yet only proved his time had not yet come.

Rather than worrying about him, these people would be better off spending more time cultivating. Chen Zui felt they lacked focus, which explained why their cultivation was even worse than his.

No, he had to go practice his saber. If he didn’t go now, he wouldn’t be able to snag a good spot.

Competition on Saber Peak had always been fierce, and Chen Zui was the ultimate overachiever among them. Moreover, he was the youngest disciple on Saber Peak. Since he was pushing himself so hard, his senior brothers and sisters naturally refused to be outdone by their junior. As a result, Saber Peak became increasingly competitive, to the point where disciples from other peaks would take the long way around just to avoid them.

Saber Peak had three Soul Transformation Sovereigns in total, and Chen Zui had studied under one of them, Venerable Yanshan.

Venerable Yanshan’s Yansha Blade was extremely fierce and unyielding. Back when he was choosing a master in Juyong Hall, Chen Zui had been won over by the Yansha Blade and joined his lineage. Venerable Yanshan lived up to his reputation and was highly suited to guide Chen Zui’s saber techniques.

But suitability was one thing. In all his years of practicing the saber, he had never seen a cultivator whose style was as… straightforward as the blade itself.

After receiving the eighty-eighth anonymous complaint from the other disciples, Venerable Yanshan felt he had to find a way to guide this stubborn, rock-like disciple of his.

However, Venerable Yanshan’s head was already starting to ache. If guiding other disciples was considered difficult, then guiding this closed-door disciple was a form of… torture.

In fact, he had originally planned to take on a few more disciples in the future. But ever since taking in Chen Zui, Venerable Yanshan had decided to turn over a new leaf, clear his mind of such desires, and never take another disciple again.

How should he put it? He always felt that he might get stuck with this disciple forever.

Yet, if one were to say this disciple was disobedient, Chen Zui was actually a very obedient child. As long as it was a task he assigned, even if the boy was extremely reluctant, he would still grudgingly comply.

This included his trip down the mountain with the Little Grand-Uncle Master to rescue people. If you told him to self-reflect, he would indeed self-reflect. But… as for what he actually came up with, even Zhao Qi of the Discipline Hall couldn’t be bothered to listen to it.

Still, he had to teach him. Since he had chosen him as a disciple, how could he just leave him to his own devices?

“Disciple Chen Zui greets Master.”

It was hopeless. His head was already starting to hurt. Divine Venerable Yanshan massaged his temples. “Have you had any new insights regarding your saber work recently?”

Chen Zui thought about it and answered honestly, “I have a few insights.”

“Oh? What insights?”

“I feel that my saber is missing something.”

He actually used his brain?! Heavens, whoever enlightened this blockhead, I am willing to offer them a generous reward!!