A Poor Choice of Friends

The moment they saw Zhou Heng, the four people across from him immediately went on guard, subtly forming a protective ring around the young man in their midst.

Zhou Heng smiled. "I mean you no harm!"

All four were young men around twenty. The one in the middle raised a hand to signal that there was no need to worry, then asked, "Brother, do you know the way?"

They didn't know the way, yet they dared to enter the mountains?

Zhou Heng remembered that he hadn't known his way around the first time he entered the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range, either. He couldn't help smiling again. "As it happens, I do!"

The four young men brightened. The one in the middle said, "We brought a Star-Sky Instrument, but on the way we ran into a demonic donkey that robbed us of it!"

As they recalled being robbed by a donkey, the other three looked mortified. It was clearly a deeply humiliating experience.

The Star-Sky Instrument was an extremely valuable map-guiding device. By combining celestial observations with a map and using an array to sense their position, it could pinpoint a person's location. Even in deep mountains or vast deserts, it made getting lost impossible.

No wonder they'd dared to enter the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range without knowing the way. With a Star-Sky Instrument, they had nothing to worry about—though they hadn't expected to get robbed.

"That despicable donkey..." Zhou Heng's mouth twitched.

"Brother, have you suffered at the hands of that demonic donkey too?"

"Something like that!" Zhou Heng nodded. The black donkey had ambushed him several times, and even landed a hoof to his chest.

Having suffered the same misfortune, the four immediately united with him against their common enemy, and Zhou Heng felt much closer to them.

"Brother, could you lead us out of here? We're headed to Fengyu City," another young man said.

Zhou Heng hesitated. He'd planned to earn money in the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range, and taking them to Fengyu City and back would cost him at least four days. Four days was manageable. He could help them this once.

He nodded. "All right!"

The four young men cheered as though they'd found their savior.

Zhou Heng led them back the way he'd come. Since they were all young, it was easy to get along, and they soon exchanged names.

The young man who seemed to lead the group was Zhu Zhihe. The other three were Liu Yan, Yu Zhenye, and Wan Liang. They didn't say where they came from, and Zhou Heng had no interest in prying.

Whenever they spoke of the demonic donkey, Zhu Zhihe and the others grew indignant.

When they'd first encountered the black donkey, they'd been stunned to hear it speak. Then the black donkey had boasted that it was a divine beast of heaven and earth, and not one of them had doubted it. They'd treated the despicable donkey like royalty and carried it along the way.

But the black donkey had soon shown its true colors. Once Zhu Zhihe and the others realized they'd been duped, they'd wanted to skin the despicable donkey alive. They hadn't expected it to be so powerful, or so ruthless. After beating them to a pulp, it had stripped them of everything.

It was a miracle they'd managed to keep the clothes on their backs!

"Brother Zhu, you're penniless now. What are you going to Fengyu City for?" Zhou Heng asked.

"Huh? Aren't you from Fengyu City? Don't you know Miss Zixing is going there?" Liu Yan cut in.

"Miss Zixing?"

"Hey, don't tell us you don't even know who Miss Zixing is!" All four gave Zhou Heng a strange look.

"I really don't."

"Brother, I think you've spent all your time cultivating!" Zhu Zhihe shook his head. "How can you spend your whole life on dull, boring cultivation? You've got to enjoy yourself. Take cultivation slowly!"

Zhou Heng didn't argue. He merely smiled. These four had to come from powerful families. They were all around twenty, yet had already reached the Ninth Layer of Body Refining.

There were at least twenty or thirty people of that age and cultivation level in the Nine Spirits Sect, but every one of them had gotten there through diligent, painstaking training. These four clearly weren't devoted to the martial path, yet their cultivation still kept pace with the finest of their generation. That could only mean they had powerful backing.

If you could eat a Gathering Essence Pill every day, you'd only need to spend half an hour cultivating to get three times the results of someone who trained without pause!

The poor studied literature, while the rich practiced martial arts. Cultivation depended heavily on resources, and the difference between having them and not having them was like heaven and earth. No amount of effort could make up for it.

"Speaking of Miss Zixing..." Zhu Zhihe and the other three immediately wore lovestruck expressions.

"She's a star in the heavens, beautiful and pure!"

"She's a pearl in the sea, dazzling and bright!"

"Her dancing is peerless, captivating the heart!"

"Her singing lingers in the rafters for three days!"

Zhou Heng burst out laughing. "It'd be a waste if you four didn't become poets!"

Zhu Zhihe clapped Zhou Heng on the shoulder. "Miss Zixing is acknowledged throughout the Hancang Kingdom as the most beautiful woman. Just one look at her can add three years to your life!"

Zhou Heng forced a smile. He'd never been involved with women, and the idea of a peerless beauty didn't strike him as anything special. To him, even a medicinal bath ingredient for the Bright Jade Art was more alluring.

"Brat, I refuse to believe you can resist Miss Zixing's charms!" Zhu Zhihe and the other three looked at Zhou Heng, unconvinced.

These four weren't bad people!

Though they'd only just met, some people could know each other their whole lives and never understand one another, while others hit it off at first sight. Zhu Zhihe and his friends were the kind of people who wore their hearts on their sleeves, and Zhou Heng felt a genuine warmth from them.

Martial artists threw themselves into the martial path until becoming stronger seemed to be all they cared about. Everything else could be cast aside.

Within the sect, that turned into fierce competition. Everyone wanted to climb by stepping on someone else's head. There was no room for friendship.

That night, they hunted a wild boar and feasted. Then Zhu Zhihe and the others deliberately started telling Zhou Heng about the ways of the bedroom, sparing no detail. But Zhou Heng had never been with a woman, so he only understood bits and pieces. An indescribable restlessness stirred inside him, but he suppressed it as soon as it rose.

Instead, Zhu Zhihe and the others ended up blushing. They tossed and turned all night, and the next morning each of them woke with bloodshot eyes.

Two days later, they left the woods and reached the main road. Zhou Heng determined their direction and led the four toward Fengyu City.

When they arrived, Zhu Zhihe and the others refused to let Zhou Heng leave. They practically dragged him along, telling him not to worry about money because they'd take care of it.

Zhou Heng had never made friends before. The four seemed so sincere that he couldn't bring himself to refuse, so he agreed. As for why he'd entered the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range, Zhu Zhihe and the others had already asked him. That was why they'd told him not to worry about money.

Of course, Zhou Heng would never tell them about the Cold Pool of the Absolute Valley.

But the moment those four dragged him into a tavern, Zhou Heng regretted it.

"Here, young master, let me give you a drink!" Inside the private room, a sixteen-year-old girl with exquisite features and a pretty face leaned toward Zhou Heng with her bright red lips. He'd lost count of how many times she'd flirted with him already.

"Hahaha!" Zhu Zhihe and the other three laughed mischievously. Each had a beautiful woman beside him, and they were happily enjoying their attentions, behaving with reckless abandon.

This wasn't an ordinary tavern. It was the most famous pleasure house in Fengyu City, Apricot Spring Pavilion. The women there served drinks and shared beds, but the prices were astonishing. An ordinary family would have to spend an entire year's income for a single night of pleasure there.

A poor choice of friends!

Zhou Heng shook his head again and again. Still, Zhu Zhihe and the others hadn't gone too far. They were merely taking a few liberties, and they did it with some restraint.

"Zhou Heng, I just asked around. Miss Zixing won't reach Fengyu City until tomorrow. Today, we'll eat and drink our fill. Tomorrow, your big brother will show you what heavenly beauty really means!" Zhu Zhihe laughed.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. A waiter promptly pushed it open, his face full of apologetic smiles. "Gentlemen, I'm terribly sorry. An honored guest has arrived and specifically asked for Spring Lotus and a few of the other girls. I'll arrange some replacements for you."

"What!" Liu Yan jumped to his feet and pointed at the waiter's nose. "Are you blind? Do you think we're easy to push around?"

"I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't dare!" The waiter shook his head frantically. He was only at Body Refining Tier Three. How could he withstand the pressure of Liu Yan's peak Ninth Layer of Body Refining? His legs nearly gave out. "That honored guest is Young Master Jin, the young lord of White Jade Valley. I can't afford to offend him!"

"So you think you can afford to offend us?" Liu Yan said coldly. At that moment, all traces of his spoiled young-master air vanished, replaced by an aura of authority.

"I couldn't afford to offend you either! I couldn't!" The waiter hurriedly shook his head.

"Get lost!"

"Yes! Yes!" The waiter turned and fled.

"Come on, let's keep drinking!" Liu Yan sat down and raised his cup to them.

Young Master Jin. Could it be Jin Xiuming?

Zhou Heng wondered. He'd already decided White Jade Valley was a target to be wiped out, so he had no fear of crossing them. But Zhu Zhihe and the others looked utterly unconcerned. They weren't just spoiled fools who didn't know their place. They must truly have deep roots to treat White Jade Valley with such indifference.

What kind of background did they have, if they could look down even on White Jade Valley?

The five women who'd been serving drinks were trembling all over. They were rootless duckweed, and even a slightly bigger wave could send them to their doom.

Bam!

The door swung open again. The first time, someone had pushed it open; this time, they'd kicked it in.

A young man in brocade robes walked in, followed by four attendants. Every one of them held his chin so high that he seemed to have his nostrils pointed at the sky, arrogance written all over his face.

"So you're the trash who dared to fight this young master for women?" The young man in brocade held a folding fan in his right hand and pointed it at Zhu Zhihe and the others in turn. But when he pointed it at Zhou Heng, he froze. "You, you bastard!"

Zhou Heng smiled faintly. What a narrow road they shared! The young man in brocade was none other than Jin Xiuming.

"Brother, you know him?" Zhu Zhihe was always eager to stir up a scene, and immediately asked, "Don't tell me you snatched one of his girls before, too?"

This was a blind cat stumbling onto a dead mouse!

Jin Xiuming's face twisted with rage. He waved a hand. "Today, I'll have all five of you carried out!"