Chapter 074

Chapter 74: No High Ground? Then Make One

The name rolled through everyone’s ears like a bell: “Ye Wan Wan.” For a long time no one reacted, until someone whispered: “Is this Ye Wan Wan the one we know?” Another person answered after a pause: “It seems so.”

There may be many people with the same name, but only one could carry the title “first genius.” It was Azure Cloud Peak’s seventh junior sister, Ye Wan Wan. She was the one who shattered Ye Qian’s Golden Core, was punished to kneel at Black Ice Cliff, then crippled her own cultivation the next day and finally leaped off Black Ice Cliff.

Dou Ming’s whole body went tight. On his back, Ye Qian suddenly lifted her head. Cold hatred flashed in her eyes as she pushed three silent words through clenched teeth: “Ye Wan Wan.”

A man’s voice cut through the air: “She is my disciple.” Pei Xuan said in a mild voice: “The only one.”

Cheng Wen, Yu Chun, and the three guardian elders immediately understood what lay behind those words. He treasured this disciple. He treasured her more than anything.

Pei Xuan spoke as if chatting about the weather: “My little disciple rarely goes out. On her first trip down the mountain to train, your people seriously injured her. She is still bedridden. As her master, I thought it over and decided I should come in person.” He added, soft and cool: “My little disciple is kind and shy. Some things she is too embarrassed to do. I am not. My skin is thick.”

Several people held their breath, unsure what to say. One elder could not help blurting out: “That traitor…”

Pei Xuan swept him with a cold glance, and the air itself seemed to freeze. Frost sealed the space between his nose and mouth. In the next instant, his bones and blood could have iced over and shattered with a slap.

Pei Xuan possessed Dual Ice Fire Spiritual Roots. Rumor said he also had a third root called the Three Spirits, but no one knew what that third root truly was. People also said it was best not to force him to use it, because when he did, he would start a slaughter.

The elder who had spoken turned pale. A heartbeat later, terror flooded his face. His cultivation seemed sealed. He stammered: “I…”

Another elder cried his name: “Wu Xu!” The word had barely fallen when Wu Xu stood there already encased in ice. At his ankle, a tiny spark curled like a venomous snake, ready to coil upward. No one doubted that once it climbed, it would swallow him in a blink and turn him into drifting mist.

Pei Xuan said lightly: “I am petty. I cannot stand anyone speaking ill of my disciple.”

Everyone: “…”

They had curses on the tips of their tongues, but none could spit them out.

Cheng Wen stopped two elders who wanted to rush forward and sighed: “Since it has come to this, how does Fellow Daoist Pei wish to settle it? Junior Brother Yan is away. I will decide in his place.”

“Sect master!” Wu Jing and Elder Wu Xin grew anxious, but Cheng Wen cut them off.

Pei Xuan lifted his eyes, calm as a winter lake: “Two choices. Pay a person, or pay in medicine.” His gaze slid across Ye Qian and moved on like a blade of wind.

Hatred had barely risen in Ye Qian’s eyes before her body started to shake on its own. Pei Xuan wanted to kill her.

Cheng Wen sighed: “What do you want?”

Pei Xuan had prepared long ago. He flicked a beam of light with his finger. Cheng Wen caught it. It was a list. No, not a sheet, a scroll. When he unfurled it, the roll slipped from his hands, fell, and unrolled across the ground for seven or eight meters before stopping.

Several faces changed.

Wu Jing cursed, eyes blazing: “By the Great Dao, are you robbing us? What disciple could afford so many spirit medicines just to heal?”

There were more than three hundred kinds of first-grade spirit herbs. There were also over a hundred kinds of second and third grade. Worst of all, the list even included two fourth-grade medicines. Fourth grade. Even elders rarely had many of those.

Pei Xuan looked bored and faintly scornful: “Robbing? These are only the tip of the iceberg. My disciple deserves the best this world has.”

Cheng Wen studied the list for a long moment and had an answer in his heart. He said one name: “Yu Chun.”

Yu Chun, who had stood stiff for ages, jumped when called and answered quickly: “Sect master.”

“Go prepare it.”

Yu Chun hesitated: “This…”

“Go,” Cheng Wen said with a small wave. “Do not keep our guest waiting.”

Yu Chun hurried off with the list.

Pei Xuan had patience to spare. He stood and quietly looked over Azure Cloud Peak. Now and then his gaze fell on Ye Qian, and each time made her shiver with helpless fear.

Cheng Wen walked closer to Miao Lake and tried to be courteous: “Shall we sit inside?”

“No need,” Pei Xuan said.

They waited with him. No one dared make a sound. Every heart ticked loud and fast. The seconds crawled like years. People kept glancing toward the path, asking inside over and over why Elder Yu Chun still had not returned.

After a long wait, Yu Chun finally came back. He carried a Spatial Pouch and two brocade boxes. He spoke fast: “Fourth-grade medicines are too rare. The Spatial Pouch cannot hold them.”

“Mm,” Pei Xuan answered.

He took the items. Before leaving, he glanced at Ye Qian once more. This time Ye Qian shook so hard her teeth chattered.

Pei Xuan said evenly: “If she does not kill you, I will not touch you. But there is one thing you know in your heart. Whatever you owe her, however she demands it, you will endure.”

Tears flooded Ye Qian’s eyes: “I did not…”

Pei Xuan did not listen. He stepped away and left a final line behind him: “I did not see how a Golden Core was shattered, but I am not blind. A withered spiritual root cannot form a Supreme Grade Golden Core.”

His cold voice echoed in the air, ringing again and again over Azure Cloud Peak.

All the disciples looked at Ye Qian with complicated faces.

Ye Qian burst into tears: “I really did not…”

Before she finished, his voice floated back once more: “Almost forgot. Leave a mark.”

He spoke, and every heart gave a jump. In the next instant, the highest Azure Stone Peak on Azure Cloud Peak turned to ice. Power of Frost spread down in a glittering tide across the mountain. Using the Power of the Dao, someone carved two characters deep into the ice: Pei Xuan.

Everyone: “…”

Wu Jing exploded: “Outrageous!”

Even Wu Xin’s face went dark. He asked in a hard voice: “Sect master, are we just going to swallow this?”

They were furious. It was too much. Far too much.

Yu Chun and the others dared not speak. They stood like cicadas in winter.

Cheng Wen did not answer at first. After a while he asked them instead: “Then what do you want to do?”

“That traitor clearly defected from our Supreme Sect. Pei Xuan still treats that person like a treasure. Is he a fool?” Wu Jing’s voice shook with anger. “Our disciple was the one hurt. Even Wu Zhen is still gravely injured. Yet Pei Xuan comes here to extort us!”

Cheng Wen laughed, the sound cold: “Do you think he does not know all that?”

Wu Jing ground his teeth: “If not, then maybe we should find a chance…”

“If you want to die, then act,” Cheng Wen said. His figure vanished on the spot, and his voice faded too.

[A bunch of idiots.]

Pei Xuan was itching for an excuse. If Li Ming De had not warned him before he left, Pei Xuan would likely have started killing already. If anyone offered him a pretext now, the people of Heavenly One Sect would go to work perfectly, standing on the moral high ground and stomping their enemies flat. No high ground? Then make one. That was their guiding rule. They were mad, but mad with a method.

No one dared speak again, especially with Wu Xu still sealed in ice and Miao Lake wrecked all around them. Sighs passed from mouth to mouth.

From the air came Cheng Wen’s distant voice: “Wait for Junior Brother Yan Ding to come out of seclusion, then we will talk.”

Two elders’ eyes lit up. It seemed the sect master had a plan. Good. They would wait.