"Senior Sister Sun, it's just ahead." Pei Ling was still unsure what to make of the situation. He hurriedly tightened his grip on the Aversion to Life Saber and hid behind a nearby tree. Then he heard someone call out urgently, "This time, we're definitely going to catch that good-for-nothing Pei Hong Nian!"
"Right! He has to apologize to Senior Sister properly!"
"But wouldn't an apology be far too easy on him? We should make him hand over all the allowances the Pei Family gave him and buy Senior Sister that Moonlight Skirt!"
Amid the chatter, a group of five or six people came into view: several young Outer Sect disciples around twenty years old, surrounding a girl in a pink skirt.
The girl had a decent figure and a pretty face. She'd dressed herself to look pitiful, but there was an air of arrogance about her.
"Junior Sister Yinglan, it's you?" Pei Ling hadn't yet decided how to handle things when Pei Hong Nian, who had also just clambered to his feet in a disheveled state, came over with a sorrowful look. "Why did you make that phoenix bird attack my Paper Boat? You know I've spent all my spirit stones these past few years buying Talisman Tools for you. My mother saved up fifty spirit stones over the course of a whole year by scrimping and saving in the clan, and secretly put them aside for that Paper Boat..."
Before he could finish, Sun Yinglan raised her hand and slapped him.
Pei Ling: "..."
The people who had come with Sun Yinglan all clapped and cheered, even urging her to hit him a few more times.
Pei Hong Nian had been slapped in front of everyone, yet he wasn't angry. Instead, he said sadly, "You're always treating me this way. You..."
"You had a chance to go out on an errand with Senior Brother Zheng from the Inner Sect, and on your way back you even rode in True Inheritor Fairy Li's Xuan Gu Ling Yin Boat. Why didn't you take me with you?!" Sun Yinglan interrupted him, her face full of petulance. "You don't have me in your heart at all!"
"That's not it..."
Sun Yinglan cut him off again. "You keep saying you adore me, keep saying you'd do anything for me. But what happened? When you had the chance to get close to an Inner Sect senior brother, when you had the chance to make an impression in front of Fairy Li, all you thought about was yourself! I'm this angry, and I still didn't attack you directly. I only took my anger out on your Paper Boat!"
"And what about you?"
"A mere Paper Boat worth fifty spirit stones matters more to you than I do!"
"You heartless, faithless wretch!"
The more she spoke, the angrier she became. She raised her hand to slap him again—but before it could reach Pei Hong Nian's face, someone grabbed her wrist from the side and held it fast, stopping her.
Pei Ling gave Pei Hong Nian a speechless look, then said coolly to Sun Yinglan, "My clan brother has spent all his spirit stones these past few years buying Talisman Tools for you. Isn't that enough? You haven't even married into the Pei Family yet. Aren't you showing your greed a little too plainly?"
He and Pei Hong Nian weren't close. On the Xuan Gu Ling Yin Boat, his clan brother had even tried to trip him up. But Pei Ling had only just arrived, still needed Pei Hong Nian's help finding a place to live, and didn't have time to watch some gold-digger play games.
"You!" Sun Yinglan was also at Qi Refining Layer 4. She struggled, but couldn't break free, and her expression changed. She turned to Pei Hong Nian. "Who is he?! Are you just going to stand there and let someone from your clan bully me?!"
"Pei Ling, let go of her!" Pei Hong Nian didn't disappoint her. He immediately barked at him, "Don't be rude to Junior Sister Yinglan!"
Then he turned to Sun Yinglan and fawned, "He's a younger cousin from a branch of my family. He's young and doesn't know any better. Don't take it to heart, Junior Sister Yinglan!"
Holy crap, how had Pei Ling never realized back home that the Sect Son was such a shameless bootlicker?!
Pei Ling let go. A flash of malice crossed Sun Yinglan's eyes, and her fingers twitched as if she wanted to slap him too.
But when she saw Pei Ling look up at her coldly, and remembered how he'd just spoken to her without the slightest deference, she faltered. In the end, she didn't dare. Instead, she turned all her anger on Pei Hong Nian. "You're the Sect Son of the Pei Family. You can't even keep a younger cousin from a branch of your family in line? You're doing this on purpose!!!"
Pei Ling patiently stood aside and watched Pei Hong Nian grovel for quite a while. In the end, Pei Hong Nian agreed not to cultivate for the next month and to devote himself entirely to drawing talismans for Sun Yinglan. Only then did the matter finally settle down... Pei Ling thought he understood why his clan brother, despite having decent talent and being sent to the Chongming Sect by the family so early, could still be so easily caught up to in cultivation—even though the family found ways to gather resources for him every year.
Damn, this idiot was beyond saving!
"Follow this direction out of the woods, and you'll see a road. Take it up the mountain, and you'll reach the Affairs Hall on Huaiyin Peak. You can pick a place to live there." Pei Hong Nian had placated Sun Yinglan and couldn't be bothered with his younger clan brother anymore. He told him offhandedly, "I live in the area south of the peak. There's a big pagoda tree in my courtyard. Come find me if you need anything. I'll take Junior Sister Yinglan back first."
Pei Ling, who had long since grown impatient waiting, didn't need him to say it twice. He turned and left.
Even after he'd walked a fair way, he could still hear Sun Yinglan deliberately raising her voice to whine, "I don't like that clan brother of yours. You're not allowed to help him from now on!"
Pei Hong Nian: "All right, all right... I'll do whatever you say!"
Pei Ling: "..."
Holy crap, you really are beyond saving!
A while later, he found the Affairs Hall. After the male disciple in charge heard why he'd come, he looked Pei Ling up and down. Only then did he lead him to a huge sand table in the back room and say with a smile, "Junior Brother, new disciples aren't joining the sect right now. There are places available, but their quality varies. You look like a promising young man, so wouldn't an ordinary place with weak spiritual energy hold back your cultivation?"
"Thank you, Senior Brother." Pei Ling naturally wanted a better place to stay, but he didn't have a single spirit stone in his pocket. He could only pretend not to understand the hint. "I come from a poor family. As long as I have a place to stay, that's enough."
The male disciple wasn't ready to give up. "You don't have even one spirit stone? Some places might look about the same, but you only notice the difference after living there for a while. I'm not bragging, but all over Huaiyin Peak..."
"How about you lend me a spirit stone, Senior Brother?" Pei Ling thought for a moment and asked. "I promise I'll definitely..."
"Then you can live here. Once you get there, use your Nameplate to open the restriction." Without a second word, the male disciple pointed to a spot on the sand table and formed a hand seal, sending it into Pei Ling's Nameplate. "That's it, then. If there's nothing else, you can go!"
Seeing the senior brother's attitude, Pei Ling had braced himself for a rickety shack with crumbling walls. But when he got there, he found that although it stood a little way from the other houses, lush plants surrounded it. A stream burbled past the front door, and bees and butterflies flitted about. It was a secluded, picturesque spot.
The house itself was bright and spotless, its windows clean and its rooms immaculate.
Had he been judging a gentleman by his own petty standards?
Or was the Chongming Sect so wealthy that even its worst accommodations were this good?
Pei Ling was a little puzzled, but couldn't be bothered to think about it. He took out his Nameplate, opened the restriction, and went inside. The furnishings were elegant, and from the way things were arranged, it looked like three people lived there already. None of them were home at the moment.
He looked around briefly, then eagerly took out the Sect Rules.
Before you continue