Chapter 2

Chapter 2: I’m Here to Take You Home
Lone Moon Peak was strung with lanterns and bright ribbons, full of festive joy.

Fang Cheng Lang walked up the stone steps. Along the way, he met many disciples who had just left the ceremony. They greeted him warmly and saluted him.

He answered each of them with a gentle smile, calm and at ease.

After he left, the disciples gathered in small groups of twos and threes and could not help sighing in admiration:

“Senior Brother Fang really deserves to be Master Qing Yan’s Chief Disciple. Every word and action has the bearing of a true gentleman.”

“Master Qing Yan’s eye for choosing disciples is naturally first class. Except for that one rat dropping, which of his disciples is not Heaven’s Chosen, a dragon among men!”

“Back then Master Qing Yan must have been tricked by Yu Zhao’s water spiritual root. He thought she was a rare talent. But seven years have passed, and her cultivation is only barely on par with the ordinary disciples of the sect. She only just finished Foundation Establishment not long ago. She is not even as good as Junior Sister Ye, who entered the sect later than her.”

“Hmph, if Yu Zhao was willing to put her shameful little thoughts into cultivation, she might have reached Foundation Establishment long ago.”

“Exactly, exactly!”

Their teasing and joking laughter drilled into Fang Cheng Lang’s ears.

The smile on his face faded a little.

Little Six was not as bad as they said.

But the words of defense could not come out of his mouth.

In the end, it was still Little Six who acted too rashly and brought all this gossip upon herself.

Fang Cheng Lang shook his head.

Once this storm passed, he would teach Little Six to mend her ways and win back the recognition of their fellow disciples.

Lost in his thoughts, he unknowingly walked to the front of Master Qing Yan’s cave residence.

“Master, disciple Fang Cheng Lang requests an audience.”

“Enter.”

The doors opened, and a young girl’s playful laughter floated out from inside.

So Junior Sister was here too.

Fang Cheng Lang’s expression softened without him noticing, and he stepped in.

“First Senior Brother, you are back.”

As soon as he entered the hall, a girl in a goose-yellow dress rushed over to greet him.

She had beautiful features and pale, glowing skin. A belt embroidered with flowers wrapped around her waist, which was so slender it could almost be held in one hand. When she was still, she was as bright and pure as the moon. When she moved, she was like a soft willow swaying in the wind.

“Junior Sister.”

Fang Cheng Lang nodded slightly, then walked forward and bowed to the man sitting at the head seat.

“Greetings, Master.”

Master Qing Yan wore a plain white daoist robe. His eyes were like a cold winter night, sharp and bright. There was no jade or ornament on his body, yet he gave off a feeling that he was high above and out of reach.

His face was indifferent as he spoke: “What is it?”

Fang Cheng Lang gritted his teeth, then lifted his robe and dropped to his knees. He said, “Master, Sixth Junior Sister has already admitted her mistake. Please take back the punishment.”

Ye Cong Xin froze for a moment, nervously pinched the corner of her robe, then knelt beside Fang Cheng Lang. Her voice was clear and crisp as she said, “Master, since Sixth Senior Sister already knows she was wrong, please forgive her this once. My chest does not hurt anymore.”

Master Qing Yan’s voice was cold. “Yu Zhao hurt you this much, and you still want to plead for her?”

Ye Cong Xin pressed her lips together and showed a shy smile. “Sixth Senior Sister only lost control because she cares too much. She was afraid I would steal Master’s and Senior Brother’s affection, so she struck me too hard.

Actually, I can understand Sixth Senior Sister, because I also do not want to share such a good Senior Brother and Master with other people.”

Hearing this, Fang Cheng Lang’s expression moved. He turned his head to look at her.

His heart grew soft in an unbelievable way.

Ye Cong Xin seemed a little embarrassed. She paused, then went on: “Since I have already bowed and become Master’s disciple, we are one family now. So I forgive Sixth Senior Sister.

Master, please do not blame Sixth Senior Sister anymore, all right?”

Her last sentence was so soft and sweet that, if not for Fang Cheng Lang and Master Qing Yan’s sharp hearing, it would almost have been impossible to hear.

Master Qing Yan thought for a moment. “Since Little Seven has spoken… Cheng Lang, come tomorrow to take my Talisman Seal.”

Fang Cheng Lang’s heart leaped with joy. “Many thanks, Master!”

“Do not be happy too early. Tell Yu Zhao that even though Little Seven has pleaded for her, wrong is still wrong. Tomorrow you will supervise her as she apologizes to Little Seven in front of everyone, so she can learn her lesson.”

“Master…”

Ye Cong Xin hurriedly tried to refuse, but Fang Cheng Lang answered at once.

“Please be at ease, Master. I will make sure Sixth Junior Sister apologizes to Junior Sister.”

Even if Master had not mentioned it, he would have asked Little Six to apologize.

She owed this to Junior Sister.

She had to pay it back.

Master Qing Yan waved his hand to show they could leave.

Once they came out of the cave, Ye Cong Xin pouted in displeasure. “First Senior Brother, why did you agree? Apologizing in front of everyone will hurt Sixth Senior Sister’s pride so much. How will the other senior brothers and senior sisters see her in the future?”

“When you make a mistake, you must accept punishment, Junior Sister. That is the rule.”

Fang Cheng Lang raised his hand and gently rubbed the top of Ye Cong Xin’s head.

Ye Cong Xin’s cheeks turned slightly red, and she said in a weak voice, “Then… then I will listen to First Senior Brother.”

“There was a ceremony today, you must be tired too. Go back and rest early.”

“All right. First Senior Brother should rest early too.”

Ye Cong Xin nodded obediently. When she turned away, the corners of her lips lifted in a faint, almost invisible smile.

…

In the darkness, it was hard to feel the passing of time.

Yu Zhao did not dare think about where she was. She could only let her mind wander.

In her previous life, her path of cultivation had been full of hardship.

Other people got twice the result with half the effort. For her, it was twice the effort for half the result.

The root of that problem lay in this slander incident.

Facing the accusations of thousands, she refused to admit she was wrong. In a burst of emotion, she talked back to Master Qing Yan in front of everyone. Then the enraged Master Qing Yan struck her with one palm.

Master Qing Yan was the head of the four Divine Transformation Cultivators of the Five Elements Dao Sect. Even using less than one percent of his strength, he was not someone a small cultivator who had just reached Foundation Establishment could withstand.

So with that one strike, her Dao Foundation was damaged, and her cultivation speed fell sharply.

Later, when she tried to make up for it, no matter how many spirit pills she took, it did not help.

Now the injury had only just formed and was not too serious yet. There was still hope to fix it.

Yu Zhao licked the dried blood at the corner of her lips.

There were two solutions in front of her.

The first was to tell Master Qing Yan what had happened and ask him to give her medicine.

Master Qing Yan had a fourth-grade Spirit Recovery Pill in his hand, and it was exactly what she needed.

This was the easiest way, and also the one Yu Zhao gave up the fastest.

She did not want any more ties with Master Qing Yan or his disciples.

Besides, that Spirit Recovery Pill would soon be given by Master Qing Yan to Ye Cong Xin.

That showed he had already decided. Even if she begged, she might not get it.

So in truth, she only had the second way she could use.

Reset Foundation and Rebuild.

The Dao Foundation was the root of Foundation Establishment. If the Dao Foundation was broken, the cultivation level would fall back with it. To establish the foundation again, the difficulty would double.

If it was not the last resort, Yu Zhao would never choose this path of burning her bridges.

But she had no choice.

Her past life told her that no one was worth trusting.

She could only rely on herself.

Besides, Dispersed Foundation had another benefit for her.

The Five Elements Dao Sect welcomed all forces and did not limit the cultivation techniques its disciples chose.

Yu Zhao’s five senior brothers all chose different cultivation techniques. For example, First Senior Brother Fang Cheng Lang cultivated the Sword Dao. Second Senior Brother Lan Zi Yu cultivated sound. Only she followed Master Qing Yan and cultivated his unique cultivation technique, the Sea Moon Scripture.

This art was very powerful and famous in the whole cultivation world. The matching price was that it was extremely hard to cultivate.

This was also one of the reasons Yu Zhao’s cultivation speed had always stayed on par with ordinary disciples.

Now that she had come back to this time, if she cultivated the Sea Moon Scripture again, she would definitely find it easy.

But that went against her true wish.

She wanted to draw a clear line between herself and that group of people.

She would never cultivate that Sea Moon art again.

Reset Foundation and Rebuild was something she had to do.

The only problem was that, for the moment, Yu Zhao did not know which cultivation technique she should choose. Her eyes slowly grew blank.

As she was thinking, a thin ray of light cut through the darkness.

“Little Six, I’ve come to take you home.”