Oxen and Horses Learn from Each Other to Plan Ahead

Under the bright moonlight, the smile on the young man's face became even more radiant, reflecting the shimmering moonbeams. Those two rows of white teeth seemed brighter still than his lively eyes.

"Since Senior Brother Liu insists on a definite answer from me, then I'm willing to give you one—yes!"

The youth was stingy with words. After saying that, he did not utter another syllable.

Where he stood, Liu Dongqing raised an eyebrow.

"You think a single 'yes' is enough to fob me off? Jiang Xiuyong, you should know exactly what Liu is asking! If you want me to join your game and scheme alongside you, then I need to see the real thing!"

At those words, the smile on the young Jiang Xiuyong's face slowly faded somewhat.

When he spoke again, his voice no longer carried its earlier teasing note, gradually becoming solemn and serious.

"The real thing?

Senior Brother, you've been tempered in our Innate Sacred Sect for three or four years. You should know that before you truly join my game, you will not catch even a glimpse of the real thing!

If you saw the real thing, cast me aside, gathered your own people, and set up a new stove, wouldn't all my previous running about have merely been making a wedding dress for someone else?

Of course... I understand Senior Brother Liu's concerns.

But set your mind at ease. I have absolutely no reason to harm you.

To put it bluntly, Senior Brother, your miserable circumstances are among the most notable in our Sunward Dao Academy. Unless I'm rotten to the core, what could I gain by scheming against you, even if I schemed you to death?

A few flower and grass seeds, then taking over your position and letting Manager Hou... or rather, those Rising Mist Dao Academy inner disciples scrambling for rank squeeze me until I cannot turn over?

There is nothing on you that could move me.

What truly matters to me is the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance itself!"

At this point, an intensely excited gleam suddenly burst from Jiang Xiuyong's eyes.

His originally refined features also became faintly ferocious at that moment.

"We're both beasts of burden in Sunward Dao Academy, Senior Brother. Who doesn't know the other's circumstances?

You should also know where I come from—

After two or three years, I'm afraid I've become the least aristocratic aristocratic son in all of Sunward Dao Academy!

But what could I do?

I'm not even like you, Senior Brother, who 'struggled' his own way into your present situation.

It was merely that the Jiang Family inner disciple supported by our branch failed in his bid for rank. The aftershocks of that bitter defeat were enough to slam me into Sunward Dao Academy's muddy swamp before I had even begun to forge my own path!

When it comes to circumstances, Senior Brother, we're six of one and half a dozen of the other—neither better than the other!"

As he spoke, Jiang Xiuyong took several consecutive steps forward and came to a steady halt before Liu Dongqing, close enough for Liu Dongqing to clearly see every minute shift in his expression.

"Someone wants me never to rise for my entire life!

But I refuse to accept it!

Before, I had no choice. Everyone in our branch was watched like hawks by the opponents from that old struggle for rank. Our branch's foundation had been almost entirely drained away, and within the prison of Departure Peak in the Sacred Sect, there was no longer any chance to turn things around.

But the foundation of a descendant of an aristocratic family was still there. Given enough time, one could always find a crack amid such tight defenses.

It was through that very 'crack' that I discovered the whereabouts of the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance.

Senior Brother, compared to someone like you who came from the marketplace, an aristocratic son like me knows more clearly what the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance represents!

Do not be swayed by all the talk in the world about depraved cultivators and evil arts.

Back then, the Demon Refining Mystic Sect was also a great human sacred land whose name shook the Five Regions. Though the inheritances of its various lineages were savage, bordering on demonic methods, all their cultivation resources, just as the sect's name implied, were drawn from the bodies of all manner of demon beasts.

They claimed that so long as cultivation resources never ran dry and the lineage inheritance was complete, even the most inferior mediocrity could borrow the foundation of demon beasts and be hammered and reforged into true gold!

But in doing so, they formed an irreconcilable, life-or-death enmity with the Demon Race east of Two Realms Mountain.

And for that very reason, when the Demon Race breached Two Realms Mountain in those years, the very first thing they did was thoroughly destroy the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's mountain gate!

Now, because the Demon Race's influence throughout the various regions cannot be ignored, and because matters have reached this point, the great sacred lands of the regions had no choice but to go with the current and brand the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's surviving descendants as depraved cultivators, deriding the inheritance of this sacred-land sect as evil arts, lest further disputes arise.

Yet among the Five Regions, the Demon Race's influence is weakest in our Southern Region alone!

The karmic consequences of cultivating evil arts are still far from you and me!

But if I can grasp even a small portion of the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance, it will be enough for me, Jiang Seven, to claw my way out of this mire! Once I enter Rising Mist Dao Academy, once I too have the qualifications to contend for rank...

Aristocratic families have their own internal rules.

When that time comes, all the men, women, old, and young of my branch will be reborn!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Dongqing gradually understood.

Jiang Xiuyong was unwilling to show him the "real thing," yet he had to convince Liu Dongqing. That was why he had delivered this near heart-baring speech.

All this talk was simply to prove that the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance concerned Jiang Xiuyong's future—and even the futures of every man, woman, old person, and child in his branch.

Jiang Xiuyong and Liu Dongqing had almost identical circumstances, the same obsession, and the same goal they had no choice but to pursue.

'The clues to the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance are probably genuine after all!'

'I only hope this sect's inheritance is truly as wondrous as the rumors claim!'

With that thought, Liu Dongqing had already made up his mind completely, yet when he spoke, he suddenly brought up another matter.

"Manager Hou intends to use me until he squeezes out the very last drop of oil. To set his mind at ease, over these next three days, I must plant every last Jade Cloud Fruit seed.

I may even have to circulate the Mirror-Illuminating Cloud-Birthing Purple Rain Art once.

But doing that would only show that I remain 'tame as ever.' It would not make Manager Hou willing to entrust me with other 'miscellaneous tasks,' much less let me leave the mountain gate for any length of time!

I do not care whether the backing behind you, Young Master Jiang, truly has only that one crack left.

You will have to figure out how to arrange for me to leave the sect."

At those words, a troubled expression immediately appeared on Jiang Xiuyong's face.

At that moment, Liu Dongqing seemed to have suddenly grasped Manager Hou's state of mind when he had faced him earlier.

Without waiting for Jiang Xiuyong to speak, he continued.

"To put it bluntly, you did not come looking for Liu out of kindness, to bring me along so we could turn our lives around and change our fates.

It is merely that your old rivals are watching your branch far too closely, and you cannot accomplish this alone—you lack a helping hand.

You sought out Liu, someone 'bound by the same fate,' only to ensure that, sharing the same mindset, I would work as wholeheartedly toward the goal as you would, without playing any tricks.

But do not think you have Liu in the palm of your hand.

If I cannot turn things around, at worst I will be beaten down into a sect menial. But if something goes wrong, what I stand to lose is my life!

Without a reliable way to leave the sect, I would rather never know that the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance even exists!

You expect me to risk myself for you, for everyone in your branch? Not a chance!

Jiang Xiuyong, I dare to accept my fate. Do you?"

Standing where he was, Jiang Xiuyong opened and closed his mouth, several times seeming as though he wanted to speak but stopping himself. At last, he gritted his teeth and stamped his foot.

"Fine!

I will think of a way!

Senior Brother Liu said three days, then three days it is!

By then, an edict for a compulsory sect mission will certainly be delivered to you. Manager Hou will not be able to utter a single word of objection!"

Hearing this, Liu Dongqing's expression remained calm, as though he had never cared about something as momentous as turning his life around and changing his fate.

"Then Liu will await the good news."