Elder Chu watched Qin Haoxuan snore soundly even while sitting on the ridge between fields, and his gaze turned strange once more. Whether there was a Spirit Spring underground could not be calculated through simple reasoning; it required a great deal of cultivation knowledge, and even then, the result might not be accurate.
How had Qin Haoxuan, a mountain villager by birth who did nothing but meditate and sleep during lessons, found these three plots of land?
Judging by his firm attitude yesterday, he must have already known that these three plots were anything but ordinary. That was why he had Xu Yu and the others choose them with him.
Thinking of how he had broken his seed on the first day, then defeated cultivators at the Immortal Seedling Realm Third Leaf and Fifth Leaf with the body of an ordinary mortal, Elder Chu found it stranger the more he thought about it. Could this boy possess extraordinary talent? But if he did, how could he have such a shriveled weak seed?
If not for the constraints of his status, he truly wanted to seize Qin Haoxuan and interrogate him thoroughly.
After Elder Chu left, the other disciples scattered as well. They began desperately hauling water to irrigate their fields, preparing for their Spirit Land to advance in the future. Li Jing, Zhang Kuang, and Zhang Yang, spurred on by this, were no exception. Though their plots were also Spirit Land, Spirit Land came in ranks, and theirs happened to be the worst among them.
Only Qin Haoxuan sat on the field ridge sleeping, until someone kicked him awake.
"Wake up, wake up..."
An irritating voice roused Qin Haoxuan from his sleep on the field ridge, mixed with shoves and kicks.
Qin Haoxuan opened his bleary eyes and got to his feet. Before him stood several slick-looking Menial Disciples. One of them, short and fat, stood with his arms folded, sizing him up with an overbearing expression.
The looks on their faces were practically the standard model of bullying the weak with strength and status. The moment he saw them, Qin Haoxuan knew they could not be here for anything good. Especially since they had kicked him—such disrespectful behavior annoyed him to the utmost.
Though he could tell that they were all fairly strong, and that short, fat one even possessed Immortal Seedling Realm Seventh Leaf cultivation, he still asked without servility or arrogance, showing no fear at all, "What is it?"
The Menial Disciple with the face of a lackey asked proudly, "Are you Junior Brother Qin Haoxuan?"
"I am."
"Then that settles it. Let me introduce you. This is Senior Brother Gu Xiaoyun, a senior brother at the Immortal Seedling Realm Seventh Leaf! Senior Brother Gu has come today to support you. If you know what is good for you, you will be able to walk sideways through Taichu Sect from now on!"
"Oh, support me? I do not need it."
Qin Haoxuan yawned and directly rejected the lackey's spiel, choking off the rest of his long speech in his throat, leaving him unable to continue yet unwilling to stop.
"Hehe, my junior brother does not know how to speak. Junior Brother Qin, please do not take offense." Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Gu Xiaoyun stepped forward to smooth things over. He shot the lackey a fierce glare, then put on a kindly smile and approached Qin Haoxuan. "I came today to discuss something with you, to make a trade."
"Please speak plainly, Senior Brother Gu." Qin Haoxuan raised his eyes toward Gu Xiaoyun and suddenly felt his vision blur, as though he were looking at Gu Yunzi. He shook his head hard before realizing that the man before him was not Gu Yunzi. Only their outlines bore some resemblance, and their manner of speech and smiles were somewhat alike.
After seeing through Gu Yunzi's schemes, Qin Haoxuan had become even more guarded against cultivators. He believed more firmly than ever in the old saying: unsolicited kindness concealed either treachery or theft. After all, he was only a newly initiated weak-seed disciple, without potential, background, or strength in others' eyes. Yet they kept greeting him with smiling faces for no reason—how could that not be cause for vigilance?
"As it happens, I also have a field here. Though it cannot compare to the Spirit Land of those senior brothers at the Immortal Seedling Realm Tenth Leaf, it is still a first-class Spirit Land. I heard today that Junior Brother Qin found a plot with a Spirit Spring underground, so I specially came to trade with you."
"Can disciples privately exchange land? Elder Chu said such matters were strictly forbidden."
At once, that lackey hurriedly cut in, his tone carrying a measure of arrogant superiority. "It would naturally be impossible if anyone else wanted to exchange land. But Senior Brother Gu is the nephew of True Person Gu Yunzi, the hall master of Gu Yun Hall. He only wants to trade for a plot of land. Who would be so tactless as to stop him?"
So Gu Xiaoyun really was related to Gu Yunzi, and they were uncle and nephew. Qin Haoxuan smiled. "I see. Then may I refuse to trade?"
"No!" Gu Xiaoyun panicked inwardly and shouted with a stern face. Then, realizing he had lost his composure, he forced a smile back onto his face. "Junior Brother Qin, you should think carefully. I do not want to use my status as your senior brother to pressure you, but consider this: after we exchange land, I will protect you. Zhang Kuang and the others will not dare do anything to you, and everyone will give me some face."
"I will not trade." Qin Haoxuan stubbornly shook his head. If he traded land with you today, then when I have something good in the future, you will come asking to trade again. This precedent must never be set.
Gu Xiaoyun, who had been all smiles moments earlier, was provoked by Qin Haoxuan, and his face immediately darkened. His round little eyes fixed fiercely on Qin Haoxuan as he put on an enraged expression as though he wanted to swallow him alive and flay him whole. He said coldly, "Junior Brother Qin, let me advise you: a person must know how to conduct himself if he wants to live comfortably in Taichu."
Qin Haoxuan still shook his head, his glance toward Gu Xiaoyun filled with contempt. Never mind that your uncle is merely the hall master of Gu Yun Hall—even if he were True Lord Huang Long, the sect master, so what? In this world of cultivation, where the strong devour the weak, why should I rely on you to survive? Why should I trade my Spirit Spring land for your Spirit Land and curry favor with someone like you, who only knows how to throw his weight around on the strength of his elders? What future prospects could trash like you possibly have?
The lackeys behind Gu Xiaoyun began shouting, "Senior Brother Gu! If he will not trade, let us pull out every crop in his field! Whatever he plants, we pull it out!"
"That is right! We will keep pulling them out until he agrees to trade!"
Gu Xiaoyun said nothing, completely acquiescing to his lackeys' words. Seeing that he did not object, they rolled up their sleeves one after another, ready to act.
Qin Haoxuan's face darkened as well. He stepped back several paces and blocked the lackeys' path. With a cold snort, he shouted angrily, "Who dares!"
Qin Haoxuan's shout made the lackeys look at one another. They were only at the Immortal Seedling Realm Second and Third Leaf, and remembering the rumors that Qin Haoxuan had defeated a fellow disciple at the Immortal Seedling Realm Fifth Leaf, they immediately hesitated.
"What are you afraid of?" Gu Xiaoyun refused to be outdone. With his uncle, the hall master of Gu Yun Hall, as his backing, and with his own Immortal Seedling Realm Seventh Leaf cultivation, he had always run roughshod through Spirit Field Valley. Even Purple Seed disciples like Zhang Kuang and Li Jing addressed him as brother and treated him with great courtesy. For Qin Haoxuan, a weak-seed disciple who had only entered the sect days ago, to dare challenge him was an extremely grave provocation!
Under Gu Xiaoyun's urging, the courage of those disciples at the Immortal Seedling Realm Second and Third Leaf rose again. Both sides had swords drawn and bows bent, on the verge of a real fight.
Just then, Xu Yu and Murong Chao returned from hauling water and ran into this scene. Xu Yu tossed aside her water bucket, rushed over, and shouted, "Stop!"
When Gu Xiaoyun saw Xu Yu and Murong Chao return, his fat face twitched slightly, and he felt somewhat apprehensive. Yet when he thought of Qin Haoxuan's plot of land, he truly could not bear to let it go. In the end, he steeled himself. I have an uncle who is the hall master of Gu Yun Hall. What do I have to fear from them?
"I am handling something. It has nothing to do with you, so do not meddle!" Gu Xiaoyun's face sank as he assumed the airs of a senior brother. "Step aside."
"Brother Haoxuan's business is my business! Touch me if you dare!" Ever since Xu Yu had learned the value of a Purple Immortal Seed, her backbone had long since grown hard. Murong Chao said nothing, but silently took his stand beside Qin Haoxuan as well.
Two special Immortal Seed disciples had stepped forward in succession, one of them a Purple Immortal Seed whose future potential was immeasurable. Their position was clear, and they stood firmly on Qin Haoxuan's side. Gu Xiaoyun found himself in a difficult spot. Even if his uncle Gu Yunzi currently held a high position in the sect, in a few decades, it would be the world of these special Immortal Seed disciples. Offending them now was unwise.
With that thought, Gu Xiaoyun's momentum weakened somewhat. But then he reconsidered. Even Zhang Kuang and Li Jing, the two Purple Seed disciples who seemed destined for greater achievements, had to be polite before him. Xu Yu was only a girl, yet she showed him no respect at all. If word of this got out, how would he continue to hold his head up?
Gu Xiaoyun shot Qin Haoxuan a vicious glare. As he turned and left with his lackeys, he began pondering how to take revenge on Qin Haoxuan.
Zhang Yang, who had watched everything, revealed an even fiercer gleam in his eyes. After Gu Xiaoyun left, he quietly followed them and stopped them in a secluded corner.
"Senior Brother Gu, Senior Brother Gu, please wait."
Gu Xiaoyun, his face full of impatience, saw that it was Zhang Yang, the new disciple his uncle valued greatly. He stopped and asked impatiently, "What is it? Can't you see I am already upset?"
"Senior Brother, Qin Haoxuan has always been arrogant and tyrannical. Relying on Xu Yu as his backing, he plays power games between Zhang Kuang's and Li Jing's factions. No one in Spirit Field Valley dares offend him, which only indulges his arrogant swagger further. You saw it just now—his disrespect toward you is the same as disrespect toward our master. This is utter disregard for elders and superiors!"
Zhang Yang's provocation made those lackeys who had suffered a setback nod in agreement again and again, adding fuel to the fire. In their mouths, Qin Haoxuan immediately became a heinous villain who deceived his master and destroyed his ancestors.
Watching Gu Xiaoyun's face grow increasingly dark, Zhang Yang delivered his final conclusion. "Senior Brother, you are a dignified cultivator at the Immortal Seedling Realm Seventh Leaf. After honing yourself in Spirit Field Valley for a few more days, Master will surely bring you to Gu Yun Hall for proper training. If you have no way to deal with him for now, then I think it would be best to let today's matter end here, lest word spread and make Master lose face as well!"
After Zhang Yang provoked him so thoroughly, how could Gu Xiaoyun still keep his face? A nameless fire surged up in his heart. "A mere weak seed, relying on a bit of dogshit luck and living off a woman, actually thinks no one can deal with him! If I cannot deal with him, then my surname is not Gu! Besides, I am a dignified Immortal Seedling Realm Seventh Leaf cultivator. How can I be compared to trash like Yuan Shanxiang at the Fifth Leaf?"
Having said that, Gu Xiaoyun flicked his sleeve and left!
Watching Gu Xiaoyun's furious departing figure, Zhang Yang's face curled into a smug smile. Qin Haoxuan, Qin Haoxuan, I would like to see how long you can keep strutting around!
Before you continue