Chapter 033

Chapter 33: So There Was Also a Junior Brother

Xun Yin ranked third among the senior uncles, with seniority even above Sect Master Li Ming De. He was skilled in Array Arts and Mechanism Arts. Because Fang He An’s master, an Alchemy teacher, was away, Xun Yin had been forced to cover his junior brother’s job. He now lived on Crimson Glow Peak, studying herbs and spirit food, hoping to solve the food needs of the handful of One Hundred and First generation disciples.

Progress had not been smooth. He had not yet worked out spirit food. But with Senior Uncle Xun Yin’s arrays helping, Heavenly One Sect’s spirit plants grew extremely well. Healing salves were never in short supply. As for pills, since Fang He An’s master was away, no one refined them. Only Fang He An made simple wound pills and a few First Grade poison pills. Anything of two grades and above still needed improvement.

Li Wan Zhi had mocked Fang He An for this once and got beaten up for it. Fang He An had shouted while pummeling him: “Try having your master run away on the second day you enter the sect. Try chewing through books to become a First Rank Alchemist and a Core Formation Stage cultivator. You try it.”

After learning about Fang He An’s rough start, Li Wan Zhi did not dare mock him again. According to Fang He An, among the first three to enter the sect, he, Bai Jian, and their still unseen Eldest Senior Brother were all raised free range. The sect took them in, tossed them on the mountain, and whoever had time taught them a little. Only Senior Sister, because she had been so weak as a child, was looked after for a few years by Sect Master Senior Uncle. People like Ye Wan Wan and Li Wan Zhi, who had Yan Ju and Pei Xuan teaching them hands on, were a new trend this year, something the sect had never tried before.

Seeing Yan Ju, Li Wan Zhi instantly became well behaved. He stood by the table with stiff arms and legs. While Ye Wan Wan had been in closed cultivation on Snow Mountain for half a year, Yan Ju had taught Li Wan Zhi for most of that time. The rest of the time he learned from Xun Yin, with Ming De appearing once in a while. Even though their official master disciple bond had been fixed only after he came out of the Sword Tomb and chose a Lifebound Spirit Sword, they had already been in an apprentice test period for a while. Still, master and disciple did not look close. Yan Ju was too strict.

Li Wan Zhi quickly gave his seat to Yan Ju. Hugging his sword, Yan Ju answered with a cold grunt: “Your feet can run fast. How much of the Swiftwind Thunder Command Art have you learned?”

Li Wan Zhi’s face fell. He was close to tears: “Master, the swiftwind part is fine, but Thunder Command Art is a Core Formation technique. I only formed my core two days ago. I have not learned it yet.”

“You dare say that after slacking?” Yan Ju said.

Li Wan Zhi covered his head, aggrieved. Xun Yin chuckled: “We are out in public. Do not scare the kids.”

Fang He An muttered under his breath: “Senior Uncle, you are the one scaring me. You are so gentle all of a sudden. I am not used to it.”

Xun Yin’s eyes widened: “Brat.”

Grinning, Fang He An shut up. Li Wan Zhi and Bai Jian greeted the elders and bowed in turn. Xun Yin waved them down with an easy smile: “We do not have that many rules. Sit. Your Young Senior Uncle and I came down the mountain because we heard what happened here.”

The four nodded obediently. Stroking his beard, Xun Yin looked them over. [Did we come to the wrong place? Look how tense these little ones are.]

“Do not be nervous,” Xun Yin said. “Your Young Senior Uncle and I already spoke with Dark Nether Sect. The Puppet Construct matter will be handled by the elders. You only need to enter the secret realm.”

He paused, then added: “This time we will wait outside until you come out.”

Li Wan Zhi forced a laugh: “That is not necessary, right…”

If Senior Uncle stayed here, then Yan Ju would also stay in Dreammarsh City. What would happen to him then?

Yan Ju raised his eyes and asked coldly: “Not happy to see me?”

“How could that be,” Li Wan Zhi shouted, eager to please. “With Master here, my back does not hurt, my legs are not sore, and I can eat two more bowls of rice. How could I dislike Master.”

He scooted to Yan Ju’s side and started kneading his shoulders and tapping his back: “I am just afraid Master will get tired. You have an important duty.”

Bringing in money for them was Yan Ju’s duty. But since the end of last year, after the sect master took back the tribute Spirit Stones from the two cities under the sect’s protection, they had not lacked Spirit Stones. Yan Ju no longer needed to take odd jobs. Even so, he still traveled through ancient ruins and deep forests, seen one moment and gone the next. Each time he returned, he brought resources: Demonic Beast bodies, Artifact Refining materials, rare medicines, even immortal herbs. Not only Yan Ju. The other senior uncles also sent things back to the sect. The youngsters did not know exactly how valuable these things were, but starting this spring, Sect Master Senior Uncle changed their yearly stipend to a monthly one. After each of them began receiving ten thousand Spirit Stones a month, they understood that Heavenly One Sect was not short on money for now. The elders were working hard for them. Their master was working hard too.

Yan Ju ignored Li Wan Zhi’s flattery. He grabbed him by the collar and dragged him off: “We have not met for a few days. Let your master test your footwork.”

Li Wan Zhi almost cried. As they left, Xun Yin smiled and said he would go too: “Rest well today. Tomorrow at the hour of Chen, after they deliver the supplies, we will talk about the secret realm.”

“Yes, Senior Uncle,” they answered.

Watching the two elders leave, Fang He An finally let out a long breath: “Now I can relax. Junior Sister, why are you still frowning?”

Ye Wan Wan said softly: “It is serious.”

Fang He An blinked: “What?”

Ye Wan Wan looked toward the door, as if looking over all of Dreammarsh City: “If Yan Ju and Xun Yin had not come, that would mean it was not a big deal. Because they came, it proves the matter is not simple. They only come down the mountain to shield us when lives are at risk. Senior Brother, be careful once we enter the secret realm tomorrow.”

Even though Fang He An felt Ye Wan Wan was seeing danger everywhere, he still listened carefully and agreed.

The next day everyone gathered at the foot of Dream Marsh Mountain. Dark Nether Sect arrived with three Nascent Soul Stage Elders. The moment they saw Yan Ju and Xun Yin, their faces turned serious, and they hurried forward to flatter them. Yan Ju stayed cold and silent. Xun Yin smiled and exchanged greetings, but his hand did not turn soft. He took four Spatial Pouches and handed them to Ye Wan Wan and her group.

“These must be their compensation, right?” Li Wan Zhi said.

He opened his pouch, glanced once, then snapped it shut and hid it. Fang He An rolled his eyes: “Why are you sneaking around like that? People might think we have never seen the world.”

But when he opened his own pouch and looked, he also yanked the string closed in one swift motion. Reading their faces, Ye Wan Wan had a guess. She opened her pouch and found the Spirit Stones inside were ten times the agreed amount.

“Did they give us the wrong one?” Li Wan Zhi whispered. “Ten times. One hundred thousand Spirit Stones. Even as the Li Clan young master, I have never felt so rich.”

“Impossible to be a mistake,” Fang He An said seriously. “Senior Uncle took these himself.”

Yan Ju said coldly: “So easy to impress.”

Xun Yin chuckled: “The disciples who suffered under Dark Nether Sect this time were from our Heavenly One Sect. Of course our compensation would not be the same as the others.”

Li Wan Zhi and Ye Wan Wan both looked up together: “What?”

When had they suffered? A bad feeling prickled at Ye Wan Wan’s heart. Xun Yin looked past them and called out: “Nan Zhou, come and meet your senior brother and senior sister.”