Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Third Senior Brother Su Ming
Sixth Junior Sister had not been body-seized by an outsider.

Fang Cheng Lang should have felt happy, but the sword in his hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and his insides burned. He really could not smile.

Yu Zhao said calmly, “If First Senior Brother still does not believe me, I can go with Senior Brother to see Master and ask Master to use his divine sense to check.”

Using the art of body-seizing to take over another person’s body might not show any problems on the surface, but a foreign soul could never fully merge with the body. As long as a high-level cultivator examined it carefully, they could easily find clues.

Yu Zhao’s words were open and upright, and her eyes did not dodge. Even if Fang Cheng Lang did not want to believe it, he had no choice but to.

He put away the sword in his hand, guilt in his eyes as he said, “Sixth Junior Sister, First Senior Brother misunderstood you, you…”

Yu Zhao rudely cut him off, “Does First Senior Brother have anything else?”

Fang Cheng Lang froze for a moment and shook his head without thinking.

Yu Zhao said, “Since there is nothing, I will go back and rest first.”

Yu Zhao was tired of this endless tug-of-war with Fang Cheng Lang and did not want to hear him preach about the Great Dao anymore, so she simply said her farewell.

“Sixth Junior Sister!” Fang Cheng Lang panicked. He stepped forward, grabbed Yu Zhao’s wrist, and said with worry, “You are hurt!”

Yu Zhao answered, “It is nothing, just a small wound.”

He started, “But…”

Yu Zhao raised her voice and snapped, “First Senior Brother! I am really tired today. Can you let me have some quiet time alone?”

Yu Zhao’s voice rose, and the impatience between her brows was completely uncovered.

Fang Cheng Lang stared at her in shock. His fingers slowly loosened.

Yu Zhao met Fang Cheng Lang’s confused gaze and felt an indescribable sense of relief inside. She had only repeated the words Fang Cheng Lang had said to her before, and he already could not accept them.

He had no idea how she had survived those years.

Yu Zhao pulled her hand free with a cold face, turned around, and strode back into her cave dwelling.

The door of the cave residence closed.

In the night, Fang Cheng Lang’s figure looked lonely and bleak.

He stood there in a daze, still replaying what had just happened in his mind.

Yes, in the past he had felt that Sixth Junior Sister was weak and not independent enough, that every day she only knew how to circle around her senior brothers, as if she had nothing of her own to do. Sometimes he would even feel annoyed.

But now, Sixth Junior Sister’s temperament had changed greatly. She suddenly did not cling to him anymore, and he found he was very not used to it.

He also remembered that Sixth Junior Sister had always been the most afraid of pain. Every time she sparred with Fifth Junior Brother, she would cry hard afterward, so much that her tears could soak the front of her robe.

But this time, even when she was bleeding, she did not react, as if the injured person was not her at all.

[What on earth is going on!]

A nameless irritation rose in Fang Cheng Lang’s heart. He suddenly remembered that he had originally come today to ask Sixth Junior Sister to apologize to Second Junior Brother.

He had forgotten to mention it just now, and now he could not bring himself to say it.

He thought, once Sixth Junior Sister was in a better mood, he would talk to her again. These days he had been busy with their junior sister’s apprenticeship, and it seemed he really had ignored her feelings a bit.

Once they talked it out, everything would be fine.

Fang Cheng Lang took a few steps, turned back to look at the tightly closed cave door, and left in silence.

…

Fang Cheng Lang had used his sword only to frighten her and had not really wanted to hurt Yu Zhao, so she had only suffered some superficial wounds. After she applied some special medicinal powder, by the next day the wound was already almost healed, leaving only a faint red mark.

She had spent the whole previous night thinking about her meeting with Elder Gu and had long thrown Fang Cheng Lang to the back of her mind.

She finally made it to dawn. Full of joy, she got ready to go to the Archive Tower, but when she opened the door, an uninvited guest was waiting outside.

The young man grinned and called out, “Hehe, Yu Xiao Zhao, I finally caught you. What have you been busy with these past few days, sneaking around like a ghost? I tried to find you several days in a row and never saw you.”

The young man had delicate features, fair skin, and bright eyes. When he grinned, faint dimples appeared at the corners of his mouth.

This was Yu Zhao’s third senior brother, Su Ming.

As soon as Yu Zhao saw him, she did not even need to think to know why he had come. She said lightly, “No, I am not lending you anything.”

Before Third Senior Brother Su Ming joined the Five Elements Dao Sect, he had been a prince of some country. Since childhood he had been dressed in fine clothes and eaten rich food, living in extreme luxury, so he had formed the habit of spending money freely without any restraint.

In the Five Elements Dao Sect, each personal disciple received ten mid-grade spirit stones and five qi replenishing pills every month. Such generosity was hard to find anywhere in the Immortal Cultivator Realm, yet it still could not satisfy Su Ming’s strong appetite for spending.

Right after the monthly allowance was handed out, he would go to the market district outside the sect to hunt for strange and rare items. In just a few days, he would squander all the spirit stones before they even grew warm in his pocket.

At some unknown point, Yu Zhao had become his spare money pouch. Whenever he was short on money but saw something he liked, he would come to Yu Zhao to “borrow” spirit stones.

He called it borrowing, but she had never seen him pay anything back.

Yu Zhao was not a stingy person and never cared much about worldly possessions. As long as Su Ming asked, she always agreed. That was why Su Ming had never imagined that Yu Zhao would refuse him.

When he heard her words, he first froze, then broke into a smile and said, “Yu Xiao Zhao, stop joking. I really need it. Next month, next month I will definitely pay you back!”

As he spoke, he reached out, wanting to grab the storage pouch at Yu Zhao’s waist. His movements were very natural.

Yu Zhao tilted her body slightly and avoided his hand. Her voice grew cold as she said, “Then wait until you pay back the six hundred eighty-eight mid-grade spirit stones I lent you before. We can talk about borrowing spirit stones after that.”

When Yu Zhao spoke that exact number, she felt like her heart was bleeding.

She had joined the Five Elements Dao Sect for seven years and had only received a little over eight hundred mid-grade spirit stones in total. Most of them had been taken by Su Ming, and the ones left in her own hands were pitifully few.

What was even more ridiculous was that Su Ming had taken her spirit stones without ever being grateful. He even used her spirit stones to buy things to win Ye Cong Xin’s favor.

When she showed she was unhappy, she would even be scolded as petty and narrow-minded.

Su Ming stared at her and asked, “Yu Zhao, are you serious?”

Yu Zhao nodded.

Giving spirit stones to Su Ming without even getting a word of thanks was worse than throwing them into the water. At least then she could hear a splash.

Su Ming complained, “Yu Zhao, you are being way too petty. It is just a few spirit stones. Do you really have to ask me for them? I never said I would not pay you back! Besides, this time I am borrowing spirit stones to prepare an entry gift for our junior sister. I have a proper reason. If you do not lend them, does that not sound unreasonable?”

As soon as Su Ming opened his mouth, he started complaining nonstop. Even the dimples on his face were filled by anger and could no longer be seen.

Yu Zhao was unmoved and threw down three hard words: “I am not lending you.”

“You…” Su Ming was choked by her words, his eyes round with anger.

Yu Zhao said, “I will say it again. I am not lending you anything. Hurry up and leave. Do not stand at my door blocking my way.”

At another time, Yu Zhao might have argued with him and forced Su Ming to pay back part of the spirit stones first. But right now she was thinking about going to the Archive Tower and had no mood to waste words with Su Ming. She only wanted to shake him off as soon as possible.

Su Ming exploded, “Fine, Yu Zhao! Very good! I finally see you clearly! No wonder they all say you are selfish and self-centered! It is my fault for being blind and not seeing your true face earlier! From now on I will never come to you to borrow anything again!”

Su Ming looked very angry.

But Yu Zhao laughed. She had heard much uglier words than these. They no longer had any power over her mood.

She said, “That is really great. Remember what you just said. From now on, do not come to me to borrow anything. I do not owe you anything.”

Su Ming had wanted to throw a few more harsh words at her, but when he met Yu Zhao’s dark eyes, he suddenly felt guilty. In the end, he could only give a heavy snort, flick his sleeve, and leave.