Nan Xunran nodded slightly. "Have there been any changes among the Dao children?"
In the Crimson Plume Sacred Land, the Dao children were selected once a month and reranked according to their strength. Changes in their ranks were common.
"Yes. The seventh Dao child is now a youth named He Chuan."
"He Chuan?"
Pei Ziheng explained, "He only joined the sacred land recently. I heard the Pill Peak master has a daughter who was born with weak meridians and had trouble adapting to the Spiritual Qi of the Upper Realm.
"So the peak master sent her to live in the lower realm when she was young, and He Chuan was a child from the family she stayed with there.
"She returned to the Upper Realm not long ago, and He Chuan came with her.
"When he first arrived at the sacred land, he was only at the Spirit Sea Realm. With cultivation like that, he was barely fit to be a menial.
"But thanks to the Pill Peak master, he was accepted as a menial disciple.
"Later, though, he somehow obtained an opportunity, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. Starting with the outer peak disciples, he challenged his way up.
"In the recent Dao child assessment, he even defeated the seventh Dao child and took his place."
"He also declared that he wanted to challenge you!" Pei Zimo said, sounding somewhat agitated as he clenched one hand into a fist.
"You fought him?" Nan Xunran glanced at him.
"Of course!" Pei Zimo said loudly.
Pei Ziheng added from the side, "He did. Brother was the first one He Chuan challenged, because none of the other Dao children paid him any attention."
Nan Xunran raised his eyes slightly, then asked, "...Did you win?"
Pei Zimo raised his head proudly. "I won!"
Nan Xunran frowned slightly. "And he still wants to challenge me?"
Pei Ziheng thought for a moment before saying, "He probably just wants to provoke you to boost his reputation.
"Given his personality, if he were strong enough, he wouldn't have stopped at challenging the seventh Dao child."
There was a hint of disdain in his voice. "He Chuan's character is nothing special. When he wins a challenge, he uses his opponents as stepping stones and keeps bringing them up;
"when he loses, he makes a threat and then acts as if nothing happened."
"That's right. Back then, he said something about thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, and that he'd definitely defeat me someday. But he's never come looking for me again since," Pei Zimo said, somewhat troubled.
"Host, host, this He Chuan is a son of destiny!!" the system's ball of light cried urgently.
Hearing this, Nan Xunran said indifferently, "Let's go see this new seventh Dao child."
Pei Zimo immediately nodded. "I'll go ask around..."
Before he could finish, Pei Ziheng suddenly interjected, "He's at the training ground."
Pei Zimo looked surprised. "Ziheng, how do you know?"
Without a change of expression, Pei Ziheng replied calmly, "Oh, he provoked you, my lord, so I was planning to kill him quietly. I used a Tracking Technique on him, but you came back before I had the chance."
Pei Zimo immediately protested, "How am I only hearing about this now?!"
Pei Ziheng glanced at him. "I'll tell you next time."
The training ground
A crowd had gathered in one spot.
Pei Zimo pulled a disciple aside and pointed at the crowd. "What's going on over there?" he asked, sounding a little puzzled.
The disciple froze for a moment. After recognizing Pei Zimo, the disciple was about to bow when he suddenly caught sight of Nan Xunran in the middle.
"Holy Son!" the disciple said, his voice trembling slightly with awe.
Nan Xunran's expression remained indifferent, and he merely nodded.
"In answer to the Dao child, the seventh Dao child, He Chuan, and his followers are bullying the former seventh Dao child," the disciple hurriedly replied.
"The former seventh Dao child? Is it Xu Tian they've surrounded?" Pei Zimo blurted out in surprise.
Xu Tian came from a family of scholars and was skilled in divination and prophecy. He was reserved and kept a low profile, disliking competition with others.
Since becoming a Dao child, he had neither built up his own faction nor chosen any followers.
That was precisely why Nan Xunran remembered this Dao child, who had always kept such a low profile.
"How long have they been doing this?" Nan Xunran asked slowly, his expression calm.
"Ever since He Chuan became a Dao child, whenever Senior Brother Xu comes to the training ground, they block his way and won't let him leave."
The disciple sounded somewhat indignant and clearly thought well of Xu Tian. His words also showed that he disliked the new Dao child, He Chuan.
The disciple continued, "At first, because of Senior Brother Xu's family background, they held back a little.
"But Senior Brother Xu has a good temper and never holds it against them, which only made them more and more brazen."
"We've watched them grow more and more brazen. They've even started driving away the disciples cultivating at the training ground."
Pei Zimo frowned deeply and demanded, "Haven't any disciples from the Discipline Hall done anything?"
The disciple looked troubled and hurriedly replied, "They don't dare. Zhong Yun'er is backing He Chuan. No matter how much trouble he causes, she's there to support him."
Anger flashed in Pei Zimo's eyes. "And who is Zhong Yun'er?"
"The Pill Peak master's youngest daughter," the disciple said carefully.
After listening, Nan Xunran merely said, "It seems the Pill Peak master has grown too comfortable in his position."
Then he looked at Pei Zimo and said calmly, "Go ahead and do whatever you want."
As soon as he spoke, Pei Zimo shot forward, moving so fast that his figure was almost impossible to see.
A heart-stopping stench of blood spread through the air, and blood splattered everywhere.
Piercing screams rose and fell one after another.
"Pei Zimo! What are you doing?!" He Chuan's terrified voice rang out.
Pei Zimo's face was expressionless as he said coldly, "Doing what you were just doing."
In mere moments, everyone, including He Chuan, was down and unable to rise.
Some groaned in pain, while others had been knocked unconscious. The scene was a complete mess.
Standing amid the chaos, Pei Zimo turned to Nan Xunran. "My lord, I didn't strike any of their vital points."
Nan Xunran nodded slightly. "Take them to the Holy Lord Hall. Since the Discipline Hall doesn't dare deal with them, let the Holy Lord do it."