Fang Zhuo slowed down. As the red jade token at his waist flashed, he passed through an invisible barrier.
Carefully avoiding the various peaks and the immortal cranes between them, even with his Fourth Level of Qi Condensation cultivation, he had to steer clear of immortal cranes in the Body Refinement Realm. Whenever sword-light occasionally streaked past, he also had to stop where he was and bow in greeting.
After such starts and stops, an hour and a half later, he finally arrived before a mountain shaped like a bank of clouds, purple and gold all over.
"Uncle-Master Fang?" A young attendant on the mountain spotted Fang Zhuo, waved, and asked, "Didn't you go become the Dean of Ascension Academy? What brings you back?"
Seeing the lively gleam in the attendant's eyes and hearing his crisp speech, a sharp light flashed through Fang Zhuo's eyes. Smiling, he said, "I have something to discuss with Young Master Ming. Is he on the mountain?"
"He is!" The attendant nodded. "I'll go report it!"
"Alright!" Fang Zhuo nodded, only to see the attendant flip over on the spot and transform into a white crane, flying toward the mountaintop.
Before long, the white crane returned. Without changing back into the attendant, it directly called out, "Uncle-Master Fang, come up. The young master is here."
"Many thanks!" Fang Zhuo carefully climbed onto the immortal crane's back. Within minutes, man and crane had reached the summit.
A palace stood here, its main colors still purple and gold. Built against the mountain, it blended perfectly into the peaks. A plaque hung above the entrance, bearing the three words "Purple Cloud Palace"—written, astonishingly, in Dragon Script.
Fang Zhuo stepped down from the immortal crane and stood before the palace gates, about to call out when the gates opened by themselves. A clear voice came from within. "Since you're here, come straight in. Why be so formal?"
"Yes!" Fang Zhuo hurriedly nodded and took small steps into the palace. In the spacious hall, a purple-haired youth who looked only sixteen or seventeen sat cross-legged on the floor. A table stood before him, and beneath it, a furnace fire roared as something cooked within.
For an instant, Fang Zhuo felt sour. Clearly, they were the same age, yet one looked over forty while the other looked underage.
But he suppressed that sourness in the blink of an eye.
"You're in luck. I recently acquired a Jade Treasure Black Chicken. They say it works best when stewed into soup, so you can have a taste!" The youth knew Fang Zhuo's emotional shift like the palm of his hand, but paid it no mind.
"The Jade Treasure Black Chicken, thirteenth among the Eighteen Treasures—they say it needs to stew for three days and three nights before it can be drunk. This must only be the beginning, so it seems I'm not fated to enjoy it." Fang Zhuo shook his head.
"Have you become polite after serving as a Dean?" The youth smiled. "Fine, don't drink it, then. I'm not even willing to give it to you. Tell me—things were going well as Dean, so why did you suddenly come back?"
Rather than answer, Fang Zhuo first took out a bow and handed it to the youth.
"Hmm?" The youth accepted it, examined it first, then casually drew it. "Not bad. Using these wheels to distribute the force lets it achieve four times the power. Did you make this?"
"I wish I had!" Fang Zhuo shook his head. "It was made by a new student at Ascension Academy named Yang Ning. I heard he loves crafting mechanisms. In two months since enrolling, he hasn't cultivated for a single day—he's either reading or refining artifacts. They say he improved the plow used for farming when he was two years old. He's a famous prodigy!"
"Mm, not bad. Then invest in him in my name." The youth rummaged through his robes, took out a porcelain bottle, and handed it over. "Loving artifact refinement will delay his cultivation. Give this to him."
"No!" Fang Zhuo said helplessly. "It's like this: the ship he was on encountered Lin Tianheng blocking their path during Foundation Establishment. Something may have happened, because afterward Lin Tianheng ordered me to kill everyone on that ship!"
"Something like that happened?" The youth froze. His face immediately turned cold, but then he shook his head and took back the pill bottle. "That's a pity. Lin Tianheng's momentum is at its peak right now."
"Hasn't Young Master's Purple Cloud Golden Cauldron Qi already been mastered?" Fang Zhuo asked.
"Only minor mastery. His Calamity Annihilation Heavenly Origin Steps have reached major mastery!" the youth said irritably. "And our realms are a whole level apart!"
"Lin Tianheng is already over a hundred, while you're only forty, Young Master. Such a small gap will be caught up soon enough!" Fang Zhuo hurriedly said.
The youth nodded. "That's what I think too. But not yet—I still need to endure for a while. Forget that Yang Ning. Still, I'll tell my friends about this. A dignified Golden Core cultivator picking on a bunch of elementary school students? I'll have everyone look down on him together!"
"Uh..." Fang Zhuo's mouth twitched before he asked, "Is there really no other way?"
"You value that Yang Ning highly?" the youth asked in return.
Fang Zhuo nodded and sighed. "It just feels like too great a pity!"
Resting his chin on one hand, the youth tossed a piece of charcoal into the furnace with the other and asked, "You rarely come to me for help. It doesn't feel right to send you away like this. So, Lin Tianheng told you to kill people—did he say it to your face? Where did he say it?"
"Not to my face. He didn't come himself, either!" Fang Zhuo quickly replied. "His maid Wang Yi came to find me and told me to send the people on that ship into Demon Subduing Valley!"
"Oh?" The youth was startled. "What exactly did she say?"
Fang Zhuo hurriedly recreated the scene from that day.
"If that's how she put it, then he didn't intend for these people to die," the youth said.
"Demon Subduing Valley has Fierce Beasts at the Fourth and Fifth Levels of Body Refinement everywhere you look. Sending them in is no different from sending them to their deaths, isn't it?" Fang Zhuo asked.
"So Lin Tianheng truly does want the people on that ship dead. But since he sent Wang Yi to say it and didn't state it outright, that proves he still cares about his face! We can use that against him!" the youth said.
Fang Zhuo blinked. "How do we use it?"
"Simple. When the time comes, I'll call Lin Tianheng over, then invite a few more friends to watch." The youth smiled. "As long as Yang Ning comes out of Demon Subduing Valley alive, we'll make a few cutting remarks. Then even if he wants to kill someone, he won't be able to say it aloud!"
"But how could he possibly come out of Demon Subduing Valley alive?" Fang Zhuo asked. "He's only at the Second Level of Body Tempering!"
"Didn't he invent the Pulley Bow, which lets him fight across levels? How do you know he only invented one bow?" The youth smiled. "Perhaps there are other things?"
"Inventions aren't cabbages—how could they be made so casually?" Fang Zhuo said. "And an artifact that lets someone at the Second Level of Body Tempering defeat a Fifth Level of Body Refinement Fierce Beast... could something like that really exist?"
"Where there's a will, there's a way. You can only pray that he manages to make one!" The youth spread his hands. "After all, even I can't openly oppose him!"
"I understand!" Fang Zhuo nodded. "When I return, I'll have Yang Ning make preparations!"
"You'd better not do anything unnecessary," the youth said softly.
Fang Zhuo froze. In the next instant, cold sweat burst from his forehead.
That was right. How could I dare warn him?
If he came out alive, that would be because his life was tough. But if I interfered, then I would be openly opposing Lin Tianheng!
"I understand!" This time, he truly understood.
"Good that you understand. Want some chicken soup?" the youth asked.
"Yes!" There was no rush to return anyway. It was one of the Eighteen Treasures—he absolutely had to taste it!
"Now that's more like it!" The youth smiled. "In this world, only cultivation and fine food must not be forsaken! Oh, and this bottle of medicine—if Yang Ning truly comes out alive, secretly give it to him!"
"Alright!" Fang Zhuo accepted the bottle, casually opened it for a look, then began feeling sour again. "Golden Cauldron Pills? I've never even taken one!"
"I'm cultivating Purple Cloud Golden Cauldron Qi, so I made a lot of these." The youth spread his hands. "If you want some, take a whole gourdful when you leave!"
Fang Zhuo was speechless. What was he supposed to do with so many pills for the Body Refinement Realm? Besides, they weren't even sweet!
Before you continue