The Qian Trigram Reversed, the Situation Settling

The next morning, at dawn.

The flying vessel had just landed. The very instant Liu Dongqing stepped into Sunward Dao Academy beneath the morning light, he saw Manager Hou standing at the entrance to his courtyard, seemingly studying the eaves with his hands clasped behind his back.

Strangely enough.

In the past, merely seeing that figure would stir an indescribable resentment and irritation within Liu Dongqing.

Over time, Manager Hou's figure had nearly become a nightmare shadow in Liu Dongqing's heart.

Four days ago, by that mountain road, Liu Dongqing had been in precisely that state of mind.

Yet only four short days had passed.

Liu Dongqing hadn't even begun cultivating a single character of the supreme mysterious art recorded on that jade slip, but simply obtaining such a great Dao opportunity had already brought change upon him first—

He merely gazed quietly at Manager Hou's figure, his heart filled only with calm. The resentment and irritation he had once found unbearable had vanished without a trace.

When all was said and done, it was because I was no longer afraid.

I was no longer afraid of you, Manager Hou.

With that thought, Liu Dongqing even took the initiative to step forward and softly offered a greeting.

"How long have you been standing here, Manager? Why didn't you go inside and take a seat?"

Only then did Manager Hou turn around. An icy smile hung on his face as he looked at Liu Dongqing, his skin smiling while his flesh did not.

"The master of the house wasn't here. How would I dare break in uninvited? Especially now that I know you've climbed the high branch of the Jiang Family of Dingfire Circuit. This manager still needs to curry favor with you! I wouldn't dare do anything discourteous."

Hearing that, Liu Dongqing actually smiled a little.

"Manager, are you scolding me?

But I, Liu Dongqing, am truly nothing but a lump of mud. Whoever needs to lay a brick has to scrape off a fingerful of mud from me first.

See? Once I'd finished handling the law decrees and talisman orders from above, I rushed back overnight to tend to Senior Sister Zhang's Jade Cloud Fruit.

Manager, tell me—where in all this was there any luck of my own?"

Manager Hou didn't answer immediately.

For someone like him, whose countless slick turns of phrase came as easily as opening his mouth, it was truly rare for him to let words fall to the ground.

In that rare silence, Manager Hou stared fixedly at Liu Dongqing.

He seemed to have keenly noticed a subtle yet unpleasant change in Liu Dongqing.

Under that nearly appraising gaze, Manager Hou gave a cold laugh.

"Sharp-tongued indeed!

If you're only a lump of mud, then why, in Jiang Xiaoqi's matter, did no one else in all Sunward Dao Academy get chosen? Why did a law decree fall upon you, Liu Dongqing, alone?

There are no winds or waves without cause beneath heaven. Everything that looks like coincidence has some inevitable reason behind it.

Liu Dongqing, why was it you alone for Jiang Xiaoqi's affair?"

As he spoke, sharp light bloomed in Manager Hou's eyes. Behind his scrutinizing gaze lay nothing but probing doubt.

Faintly, violet Sky Light swirled deep within his pupils, as if he wished to devour Liu Dongqing's spiritual consciousness through their locked gazes, dragging it into the vortex of circulating Sky Light and clouding his mind.

Yet the instant Liu Dongqing caught sight of that streak of Sky Light, he inconspicuously shifted his gaze away.

He raised his head toward Departure Peak, his eyes seeming to hold a measure of reverence as he cupped his fists and saluted from afar.

"You ask me, Manager, but who am I supposed to ask?

You just said it yourself—the high branch of the Jiang Family of Dingfire Circuit. You should know better than I how weighty a great family is.

Whatever Jiang Qi wanted to do, whatever he ordered, I could only risk my life to carry it out.

Would I dare pry into the affairs behind a great family's scion?

Even if I saw it with my own eyes, even if my quick wits guessed it, could I speak of such matters outside?

Even if I were bold enough to proclaim the fine affairs of a great family's scion everywhere, I'd dare say it—but would you, Manager, truly dare listen?

Aren't you afraid of unforeseen complications?

What if you ruined Jiang Qi's opportunity, then turned around and delayed Senior Sister Zhang's crucial bid for position at Rising Mist Dao Academy because of it?"

As he spoke, Liu Dongqing took another large step forward.

"Manager Hou, before inner disciples and great family scions, I'm a puddle of mud—but aren't you as well?

The only difference between us is which wall we're plastered onto.

Don't go prying into things you shouldn't ask about!

After all... you wouldn't want Senior Sister Zhang to fail her bid for position because of you in the end, would you?"

The instant his words fell, and Liu Dongqing planted that step, Manager Hou actually staggered, as though forced back by Liu Dongqing's momentum, and retreated a step.

Sky Light no longer flowed through his eyes, and his face instantly turned pale.

But the next instant, Manager Hou's face flushed bright red.

He seemed to fall into a frenzy of rage born from humiliation. He first strode forward, then the imposing cultivation aura of late-stage Qi Refining came crashing down upon Liu Dongqing.

"Liu! Dongqing! You've got some nerve—"

Yet Manager Hou's furious roar had barely left his mouth before it abruptly cut off.

Facing Manager Hou's cultivation aura head-on, Liu Dongqing instinctively mobilized his own cultivation to resist.

Thus, Manager Hou clearly saw the three rings of azure radiance between Liu Dongqing's brows—two solid, one illusory.

His cultivation had regressed again?

Why?

Because of Jiang Qi's affair?

Or had Liu Dongqing himself already reached his limit, reacting so strongly to merely a slight intimidation from my Qi?

But before Manager Hou could make sense of it, he saw the smile on Liu Dongqing's face beneath the reflection of that azure Sky Light.

It was a smile that cast all caution aside.

It held the madness of someone whose every hope had been utterly shattered.

"You... all of you... you're all bullying me! Making things hard for me!

I, Liu, was born in the mud, and now I'll die in the mud. If that's how my whole life must be, then I can only accept it!

Forget the five-year term—this cultivation of mine might not even hold out for another half year.

Senior Sister Zhang's bid for position? Bid my ass!

When the time comes, Hou, on the road to the Yellow Springs, your daddy will drag you along with him."

Manager Hou's heart jolted.

He dared call himself your daddy to Hou's face. He must truly have been driven and squeezed to his limit, gone mad.

Thus, in an instant, Manager Hou felt regret that he shouldn't have gone so far. All his previous fury dissipated like smoke.

Gritting his teeth.

In the flash of lightning and spark of flint, Manager Hou flipped a hand within his broad sleeve and produced a cloth pouch. Even through the pouch, one could clearly see the treasure pearls within, each gleaming with azure light.

"Little Liu! Why say such discouraging things? You do your work wholeheartedly—who would dare bully you? Who would dare make things hard for you?

I came today... because I was concerned for your safety, and also to run an errand for Junior Sister Zhang.

She sent me to deliver the deposit for the Jade Cloud Fruit. Junior Sister Zhang is kind-hearted. She knew you cultivate the Little Azure Light Incantation, so she specially had a Dao Slave under her command, one who cultivated the same art, refine these hundred Spirit Beads with Primordial Candle Flame.

Each Spirit Bead can offset part of the cultivation regression caused by the Purple Rain Art. Refining them in ordinary times can also advance your cultivation with the greatest efficiency."

Liu Dongqing stared coldly at the cloth pouch without reaching out to accept it. Finally, he looked straight into Manager Hou's eyes, meeting his gaze without flinching or evading.

So, gritting his teeth once more, Manager Hou produced another cloth pouch.

"Little Liu, the two of us are working together for Junior Sister Zhang on a great matter! A great opportunity!

You and I should be united in purpose. We shouldn't let discord arise among our own people.

We got off track just now, and our words came one after another in haste. Neither of us should take it to heart.

I know things are a little difficult for you now, but so long as you endure these next six months, the sea will be broad and the sky boundless. There are fifty Shattered Spirit Stones in this pouch—consider them my personal gift to you, Little Liu."

Without waiting to see Liu Dongqing's reaction, Manager Hou forcibly stuffed both cloth pouches into Liu Dongqing's half-raised hand.

A moment later.

Standing quietly before the gate, Liu Dongqing weighed the two cloth pouches in his hand as brilliant dawn rays slanted across his body.

He watched from afar as Manager Hou departed with the dawn at his back.

After making such a commotion today, applying both softness and hardness, I should be able to bluff him for a while—long enough for me to become familiar with the supreme mysterious art of the Demon Refining Mystic Sect and hide it within my daily cultivation.

It's different now, Hou. Everything is different now!