A bout of forcibly stifled coughing broke Wu Ming's sleep.
When the boy opened his eyes, a dazzling sunset, like a stretch of scarlet silk, filled his vision, while the sharp whistle of the wind howled in his ears...
"Did I wake you?"
His master Gu Bai's voice came through the wind from up ahead, carrying both relief and exhaustion.
Wu Ming shook his head and sat up. He found himself lying on the soft Cloud Carpet. They had long since left Prefecture City and were speeding toward Yan Mountain.
"Are you done entertaining those mortals, Master? How does it feel to be the center of everyone's attention?"
The old man could only smile wryly and sigh. "Your stunning performance today brought you far more than everyone's adulation. As Daoist Qiu said, Qiongzhou hasn't seen a newcomer gain six Human Dao Seals on their very first comprehension in decades... and you're a Desolate person from the countryside, no less. Prejudice over one's bloodline and origins is the hardest to overcome. You may have the Mingren Jade in hand, and your achievement may be beyond reproach, but from now on, you'll still inevitably become a target for everyone."
Wu Ming grinned. "Just what I want. Making haters lose their minds is a classic crowd-pleaser, tried and tested by the market."
"Very well. It's good for the young to have confidence and ambition... All right, lie down and rest for a while. We still have some distance to Yan Mountain. You overtaxed yourself today, so you should focus on resting and regulating your breath. Once you've fully recovered, you can officially begin cultivating."
Wu Ming nodded, but didn't hurry to lie down and rest. Instead, he keenly noticed something amiss.
"Master, weren't we flying faster on the way here?"
Looking down at the mountains and land slowly receding beneath them, Wu Ming estimated that they were flying at only half their earlier speed.
And looking at the old man ahead of him, his hunched back seemed even more frail, like a candle flickering in the wind.
"Master, why don't you lie down and rest for a while instead? If we crash from this height, I'm afraid I'll transmigrate back before I can repay your kindness."
Gu Bai looked surprised, then smiled wryly. "Don't worry. Your master can still hold on... It's been a long time since I spent so long riding the clouds through the sky. It is a bit tiring."
"Then, once I unlock flight mode in a few days, I'll take you for a ride!"
The old man froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Hahahahaha! Just hearing you say that makes me happy... Cough, cough!"
His laughter soon gave way to relentless coughing. His hunched body curled up like a shrimp, and the Cloud Carpet rocked slightly... It took a long while for the old man to steady his breathing, but their speed dropped by another half.
"Sigh, I'd planned to stay in Prefecture City for a day, show you the bustling sights, and introduce you to some fellow cultivators before returning to the mountain tomorrow. Unfortunately, the cost of making that Mingren Jade was higher than expected. Your master's pockets are empty now; I can't even afford food and lodging, so I have no choice but to take you home with my tail between my legs... I'll take you around Prefecture City another time, if we get the chance."
Gu Bai made a wry joke at his own expense, but Wu Ming couldn't help frowning. Then he thought of something else.
"Master, isn't it a little dangerous to fly back to Yan Mountain along the same route, out in the open like this?"
Gu Bai looked surprised. "What makes you say that?"
"You were the center of attention today, and you unexpectedly acquired a valuable Dharma Sword from the Ranxiang Workshop. That makes you a victim of the old saying: 'A man's wealth is his own ruin.' If I were Liu Xi, after failing to challenge you openly, I'd set an ambush along our route back to the mountain. The area outside Wu Prefecture's Prefecture City is full of rolling, deserted mountains, and the Liu Family is the local power. Killing and looting would be as easy as pie. Afterwards, they could blame some demon or monster, and that would be the end of it."
Gu Bai was taken aback.
But Wu Ming continued, "Still, even I can think of that. There's no way you couldn't. You were clearly very wary of Liu Xi, and you planned for everything... So this sickly, feeble state you're in now—isn't it all bait? Liu Xi has always deluded himself into thinking you're a cripple with an indomitable spirit. But you still have a few killing moves left from your days in the Nascent Soul Realm, don't you?"
This time, Gu Bai was silent for a long while before sighing. "You child... I'd planned to let you rest and relax properly, without having to think about all those annoying things. But you just can't sit still."
Wu Ming asked excitedly, "So you really were fishing for him? When do you think Liu Xi will show up?"
Gu Bai fell silent again, then asked in return, "What do you think?"
Wu Ming paused. Seeing the faint, subtle expression on his master's face, he couldn't help forming a plausible yet unbelievable guess.
"Could it be... he's already come?"
In an instant, everything clicked for Wu Ming. No wonder Gu Bai seemed so exhausted and weak. He'd already fought a fierce battle! The blood-red sunset Wu Ming had seen when he woke was most likely the last trace Liu Xi had left in this world!
Although sleeping through the entire boss fight had left him feeling as if he'd missed out on a piece of his life, Wu Ming was still genuinely happy for his master.
"Master, your divine power is peerless, unmatched beneath the heavens! With a wave of your hand, you turned that Golden Core decked out in divine gear into dust scattered across the sky. That was so satisfying!"
Gu Bai shook his head. "I'm a Nascent Soul cultivator, lying in wait to strike a man who formed his Core through outside assistance. Yet I only succeeded because he let his guard down. This crippled body of mine hardly deserves your praise..."
Wu Ming praised him again. "Master, you're crippled but steadfast, and humble to boot. Truly, you're a model for all cultivators!"
"You child, you're quick-witted, and your tongue is even slicker..." Gu Bai shook his head with a helpless smile. "Still, in this day and age, a little slickness and cleverness can be useful. You're exceptionally talented and intelligent. One day, you'll accomplish far more than your master. But if you don't understand the darkness in people's hearts or know how to handle the complexities of human relationships, you're bound to run into all kinds of setbacks."
"Liu Xi was a particularly vicious petty-person tribulation. Back then, your master failed to see through him, and your senior sister Ling Xi suffered a great loss because of him. Now he's become utterly deranged, going so far as to try to kill us and steal our belongings... It was no small thing that you noticed the danger without being prompted. But sometimes, that cleverness of yours can actually do you harm."
Wu Ming blinked, not quite understanding.
Seeing his disciple put on a curious, attentive expression, Gu Bai sighed, just as he'd expected.
Gu Bai was already quite satisfied with Wu Ming as a disciple. His Spirit Root might be somewhat lacking, but his nature was pure and steadfast, and he was exceptionally intelligent. He had only just formally become Gu Bai's disciple, yet he'd already made a stunning impression at Dinghuang Prefecture in Prefecture City. His performance had far exceeded Gu Bai's expectations.
And yet, in Gu Bai's eyes, Wu Ming's quick wits were a flaw in an otherwise flawless gem.
Because people who were too clever were often too confident. Ever since waking up, Wu Ming had displayed his confidence to the fullest... whether by treating his apprenticeship as repayment for saving his life or declaring that he'd win first prize at Dinghuang Prefecture, he'd been so confident it was jaw-dropping. Every time, his confidence had ended in victory. But no one could win forever. Even the cleverest person would eventually take a hard fall!
Gu Bai had learned that lesson the hard way, and he truly didn't want Wu Ming to repeat his mistakes. So he'd decided to use this opportunity to give him a proper lesson.
In the old man's eyes, no matter how clever the boy was, his limited age and experience meant that, in many matters—especially those involving human relationships—he would inevitably have unrealistic ideas and fail to think things through.
This was precisely one of the few ways a crippled Nascent Soul cultivator like him could still teach and guide a genius disciple.
With that in mind, Gu Bai gathered his thoughts, then spoke earnestly.
"Do you know why Liu Xi dared to ambush us on the way back?"
Wu Ming lowered his head and pondered for a moment before answering. "First, he's an elder of an Aristocratic Clan, so he naturally enjoys special privileges. Even if he commits crimes, he has more than enough connections and means to hush things up and make a big deal into a small one, then a small deal into nothing. Acting recklessly has long been part of his nature. He wouldn't have the slightest moral qualm about killing someone."
"Second, though he's an obvious villain, he can serve as an elder in the Liu Family and wears such luxurious clothes. He's probably good at exploiting the advantages of his equipment and other external aids, so his practical combat ability shouldn't be weak among Golden Core cultivators. And with your injuries, your raw strength on paper might not be much greater than his."
"Third, he has a wide circle of friends in Wu Prefecture and is clearly a local power. It would be easy for him to summon a pack of cronies to back him up, or at the very least borrow magical treasures and talismans. Meanwhile, you'd have to fight on unfamiliar ground while carrying deadweight like me."
"Fourth, he's sharp-tongued and vindictive. His grudge against you has probably festered for years, so he must have kept close tabs on Gujian Sect. You, on the other hand, are open-hearted and may not have paid such a petty person any mind, much less kept track of his cultivation or techniques. So, by comparison, he knew us while we knew nothing about him. We'd have been outmatched in every way. Liu Xi had no reason not to attack."
"Fifth, even if he failed at the crucial moment, he's still an elder of the Liu Family. His life is tied to the dignity of an illustrious clan, so you might not dare to kill him outright. That means the risk and cost to him were practically nonexistent. But here, his cleverness was his undoing. If he meant to kill us and take our things, he wouldn't dare advertise it. So if he ended up dead without a trace... who would know who killed him?"
"Of course, besides those five points, there's one other possibility: the Liu Family sent Liu Xi to do their dirty work. They couldn't afford to lose, and they were dead set on getting the Dharma Sword. So no matter how brazenly Liu Xi acted, his clan would handle everything for him. That would explain why he was so fearless. But considering that his corpse is nowhere to be found, while the two of us are still at large, I think there's a good chance Liu Xi acted alone, so I won't include that possibility in my assessment for now."
When he finished, Wu Ming raised his head and looked at Gu Bai. "That's all I can think of, Master. Is there anything you'd like to add?"
Gu Bai's lips moved several times, and his face twitched again and again.
Anything to add? You've summed it up more thoroughly than I could! And you laid it out in six clear points... What could I possibly add!? Even if there were details that still needed polishing, I couldn't say so now!
If I kept going, wouldn't I sound like a sharp-tongued mother-in-law picking on her new daughter-in-law!?
How could a teenager from some mountain village have such insight?!
He'd intended to give his disciple a triumphant dressing-down, but somehow ended up landing the blow squarely on himself. No matter how pleased the old man was, his Dao heart had still taken a bit of a hit.
After that, the old man sat in a daze for a long time before he could finally open his mouth. He figured he should at least praise and encourage his disciple for being so mature and precocious.
But as soon as he spoke, his breath caught, and all that came out was a string of heart-wrenching coughs.
Taking on a disciple to cultivate immortality was truly hard...
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