Luckily, Eldest Senior Brother was nearby to keep watch. He quickly dove into the water and hauled him up. Keeping well clear of the four who were breaking through, he carried his precious Little Junior Brother to shore.
"How are you? Did you gain anything?" Tian Buyi saw that Eldest Senior Brother was the only one among his disciples who hadn't broken through, and felt a little disappointed. But Song Daren was already at the fifth level; breaking through was no easy matter.
"I gained quite a bit. My bottleneck has loosened, and with time, breaking through to the sixth level shouldn't be difficult!" Song Daren replied, visibly excited.
"Good! Good! Good! Hahaha!" Tian Buyi said "good" three times in a row, enough to show how delighted he was.
"Little Junior Brother fell asleep again?" He Dazhi was happy for his fellow disciples, too. Seeing Little Junior Brother asleep once more, his head drooping over Eldest Senior Brother's shoulder, left him speechless.
"You little rascal!" Tian Buyi no longer minded that his youngest disciple was always dozing. He merely scolded him with a smile, then focused on watching the four disciples breaking through in the lake.
Another hour passed. The four in the lake stabilized their cultivation and happily ran ashore to report to their master and Shiniang.
Tian Buyi was so delighted he couldn't stop grinning.
They each summoned their magical treasures, split up, and then rode them back from the Back Mountain together.
Back at Big Bamboo Peak, everyone was still basking in the joy of their breakthroughs.
He Dazhi watched Little Junior Brother sleeping soundly, his head slumped over Eldest Senior Brother's shoulder. A mischievous impulse suddenly struck him. He took out his Rivers and Mountains Brush and used the bristles at its tip to tickle Luo Yunji's nose.
At first, Little Fatty merely twitched his nose and rubbed against Eldest Senior Brother's shoulder. Seeing this, He Dazhi's playful streak took over, and he kept teasing him.
There was a saying: too much joy brought sorrow.
"Chomp!" Luo Yunji bit off all the bristles at the tip of He Dazhi's Rivers and Mountains Brush and swallowed them. He Dazhi stared at the brush in his hand, now nothing but a bare shaft, and froze.
"Fourth Senior Brother?!" Sixth Senior Brother saw He Dazhi suddenly stop walking and called out to him. Following his gaze, he saw the hairless shaft, its tip marked with clear bite impressions.
"Ah!" Sixth Senior Brother cried out.
Only then did He Dazhi spit out a mouthful of blood that had been bottled up in his chest. A cultivator's magical treasure was bound to his life. If it was damaged, the consequences depended on the severity: at best, the cultivator might cough up blood; at worst, their cultivation could be ruined, or they might even die.
"What happened?" Hearing the commotion, Tian Buyi and Su Ru turned around. They saw the blood at the corner of He Dazhi's mouth and his pale face, and asked anxiously.
"Fourth Senior Brother, his magical treasure..." Sixth Senior Brother pointed at the hairless Rivers and Mountains Brush in He Dazhi's hand, panic written all over his face.
"What happened?" Song Daren had turned around as well and was anxiously looking over Fourth Senior Brother.
"I..." He Dazhi regretted it more than anything. Why had he gone and teased that little monster, Little Junior Brother? Otherwise, his magical treasure wouldn't have been damaged.
"Speak! Did something go wrong when you broke through?" Su Ru was extremely worried and carefully examined He Dazhi's injuries.
He Dazhi spat out another mouthful of blood, and the pressure in his chest eased considerably.
His face was full of dejection and remorse. Seeing everyone gathered around him in concern, he let out a breath. "It's all my fault! I was wrong!"
"I saw Little Junior Brother sleeping so soundly and wanted to tease him. I rubbed his nose with my Rivers and Mountains Brush, and he got annoyed. He opened his mouth and bit the brush's tip off."
"Bit... bit... bit it off? That's a magical treasure!" Tian Buyi wasn't the only one who couldn't believe it. Everyone present, except Zhang Xiaofan, who knew nothing about magical treasures, found it impossible to believe.
Song Daren lifted the little head resting on his shoulder and gently squeezed Little Junior Brother's mouth open. Sure enough, he could see a few bristles between his teeth.
"Little Junior Brother! You can't eat that! Spit it out!" Who would eat a magical treasure and swallow it? Song Daren was so frightened that panic filled his face.
Seeing Song Daren pull a few bristles from Luo Yunji's mouth, the others hurried over, trying to pry it open.
After a chaotic struggle, they barely managed to pull out a few bristles, but they did manage to wake him up.
"You little rascal, spit out what's in your mouth!" Tian Buyi stared at his youngest disciple, who looked dazed and foolish, his face full of worry and disbelief, and shouted at him.
Perhaps out of habit, Luo Yunji obediently went, "Ptooey! Ptooey!" and spat out what was in his mouth. Then he even reached in with his chubby paw and pulled out the last few bristles.
Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Fourth Senior Brother, see if it can still be used!" Wu Dayi handed He Dazhi the bristles and a small section of the brush shaft Luo Yunji had spat out, asking with a glimmer of hope.
"With some materials, it should be possible to restore it." Tian Buyi examined the two nearly intact pieces of the magical treasure.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Fourth Senior Brother, but magical treasures are supposed to be used against enemies. Can this even still be called a magical treasure? It's so flimsy." Sixth Senior Brother looked at the two broken pieces in He Dazhi's hands and shook his head in disdain.
"Why don't you take a bite and see? If you can bite through it, I'll cover the materials for your magical treasure!" He Dazhi glared at Sixth Senior Brother scornfully.
"Is it really that ridiculous?" Sixth Senior Brother refused to believe it. Even Little Junior Brother's tiny teeth could bite through it. How could his own teeth be any worse?
He reached over, took the longer piece of brush shaft that hadn't been bitten, put it in his mouth, and bit down hard.
With a "crack," Sixth Senior Brother dropped the brush shaft and clutched his mouth. A thread of blood seeped between his fingers.
Watching this, Tian Buyi was at a loss for words. Just what kind of people had he taken in? Monsters, fools, and idiots?
Sixth Senior Brother groaned for a good while before finally holding up a tooth and looking at Fourth Senior Brother, speechless.
Had he just been set up? He had, hadn't he?
"Hahaha! Sixth Senior Brother, you're so funny! You really went and bit it!" Tian Linger laughed until she doubled over, unable to stop.
The others laughed at Sixth Senior Brother, too. Once they'd had their fill of teasing him, they suddenly realized that their Little Junior Brother's teeth were even mightier than a magical treasure.
The quick-witted among them began eyeing Luo Yunji's teeth. Song Daren's eyes lit up. He had taken care of Little Junior Brother's baby teeth whenever they fell out. Perhaps they could be used as auxiliary materials to forge some incredibly powerful magical treasures!
"Senior Brother, you think Little Ji..." In the bedroom, Su Ru looked worriedly at Tian Buyi, who was sitting by the tea table in front of the window, drinking tea. She hesitated to speak.
Tian Buyi had witnessed Little Junior Brother spit out the half-broken magical treasure Fourth Senior Brother had lost earlier. Was that something a human could do? Could any human do that? He, too, had begun to suspect Little Junior Brother's identity.
"Why don't you go to Small Bamboo Peak and ask your senior sister? In particular, ask whether there was anything unusual when she found Yunji." Tian Buyi thought it over, then said reluctantly.
"Tell me... if Little Ji really isn't human..." Su Ru looked anxiously at her husband, her face full of worry and fear.
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