Butterfingers

Amid it all were cries of incredulous unwillingness:

"Why, why?!

I explained it so carefully—why can't I teach him no matter what?!

I actually can't teach him!!!!

And how dared he? How dared he?!

He even had the nerve to ask me how his refining went!

Damn it!"

Listening to the commotion from Purple Bamboo Grove, Duobao swallowed and looked at Bai Ze.

"Little brother, in all these years, you're the first person to drive Senior Brother to the point of swearing. Pray for yourself.

Your big brother is getting out of here first!"

Bai Ze looked at the terrifying pressure deep within the bamboo grove and grabbed Duobao. "Brother, he isn't going to beat me up, is he?!"

Duobao seriously considered it before saying, "Based on my many years of experience, what you should be thinking about right now is what posture to take for this beating."

With that, he shoved Bai Ze aside and prepared to run.

Just then, the disturbance deep within the bamboo grove gradually subsided. A figure in purple robes emerged and looked calmly at Duobao, who was preparing to flee.

"Junior Brother, where are you going?"

Duobao gave an awkward laugh and scratched his head. "Well... the food I cooked is ready. I'm going to check on it!"

As he spoke, he activated his Spatial Divine Ability and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Guang Chengzi snorted and kicked out, forcibly interrupting Duobao's divine ability.

Then he looked at Bai Ze. "Come in with me."

Bai Ze swallowed and looked at Duobao, who had fallen to the ground nearby. He shouted, "Brother, save me!"

Still not recovered from the shock, Duobao merely shrugged at those words. "Little brother, pray for yourself."

As he spoke, he got up, patted his backside, and prepared to leave.

But just then, Guang Chengzi suddenly appeared behind Duobao and said sinisterly, "Where are you going, Junior Brother?"

Duobao's body stiffened. Turning his head, he gave an awkward smile. "I'm not running. I'm going to do the problems."

Guang Chengzi snorted coldly. "No need. You're coming in too!"

With a sweep of his sleeve, a violent gale swept through and directly sucked the two of them into his sleeve.

Then he vanished into Purple Bamboo Grove.

Only Huanglong was left standing there, utterly bewildered and tossed about by the wind.

Before long, screams began to echo from deep within Purple Bamboo Grove.

Duobao's voice was especially loud among them.

"Why? On what grounds? He can't refine it, so beat him! Why are you beating me?!"

"This is unfair! I protest! I'm going to report you to Master and Martial Uncle!"

"Heh, Master and Martial Uncle have already handed the authority to deal with you two over to me. Protest denied!"

"Aiya—there's shady business here! There's absolutely shady business here!"

Compared to Duobao, who was getting beaten, Bai Ze was not beaten. Yet as he watched Duobao get pummeled beyond human shape, his scalp went numb and his eyelids twitched wildly.

He knew Guang Chengzi was killing the chicken to scare the monkey!

He was the monkey, and Duobao was the chicken!

He might be the monkey now, but who knew whether he would become the chicken next time!

Guang Chengzi had made it clear: if he could not refine a Treasure Artifact, he could forget about leaving Purple Bamboo Grove!

More importantly, Guang Chengzi believed Bai Ze kept making mistakes because he had no pressure.

So he decided that from now on, regardless of the quality of every magic treasure Bai Ze refined, and regardless of whether the furnace exploded, all the resources used would be charged to Bai Ze!

That immediately left him wanting to cry without tears!

But because of that, he steeled himself and refined with all his life!

At last, heaven did not disappoint the diligent. A hundred years later, he successfully refined a Treasure Artifact!

As he stepped out of Purple Bamboo Grove, he felt as though even the air had become sweet!

He threw back his head and let out a long howl!

"I'm finally out, damn it!!!!"

The next moment, because his movements were too vigorous, they pulled at the injuries on his face. He immediately crouched down and covered his eyes.

"It hurts like hell!

Why does Guang Chengzi always hit me in the face?!"

"What did you say? Speak louder, I can't hear you." At that moment, a muffled voice came from beside him.

Bai Ze turned his head to look at Duobao, who had emerged alongside him and had completely turned into a pig-headed mess. He silently shut his mouth.

Over the past hundred years, he had taken quite a few beatings, but Duobao had suffered even worse!

Because Duobao had fallen even further behind in his studies than Bai Ze!

Thus, the two of them had constantly switched back and forth between the roles of chicken and monkey!

"Brother, why aren't you using a Healing Technique to recover?"

Duobao forced open his swollen eyelids, revealing a tiny slit, and mumbled indistinctly:

"You think I don't want to? Senior Brother directly placed restrictions on my wounds. They can't heal at all—I can only wait for them to recover on their own!"

Bai Ze was speechless inside as well. His black eyes were the same; there was simply no way to restore them with spiritual power.

"Brother, you've suffered enough!"

He patted Duobao's shoulder and shook his head in consolation.

The moment Duobao heard that, he felt utterly wronged. Looking at Bai Ze, he said:

"Little brother, listen to your brother's advice. If you don't have the talent, don't practice that damned artifact refining.

Your big brother really can't take any more!"

Bai Ze also wanted to cry without tears at those words:

"I don't want to either! How was I supposed to know my hands were this useless? My mind clearly deduced it so many times, but the moment I actually start, the furnace always explodes.

Now it's great—I've refined for a hundred years until I'm sick of it!

The key is, I didn't accomplish anything, and I've piled up a mountain of debt besides. This is too hard!"

Duobao wrapped an arm around Bai Ze's shoulders, and the two of them burst into loud sobs together!

These two brothers in misery had truly had an unbearably difficult hundred years!

Just then, Guang Chengzi, looking refreshed and invigorated, emerged with his hands behind his back. After glancing at the two of them, he completely ignored their crying.

He said calmly, "In three hundred years, you two will accompany me to the south."

The two immediately stopped crying and looked over in unison. "What for?"

With his hands behind his back, Guang Chengzi turned to Duobao in surprise.

"Didn't I promise to give you True Phoenix Blood Essence before? I happen to be going out to travel and replenish some heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

What, you don't want it anymore?"

Duobao and Bai Ze exchanged a glance, then nodded heavily. "We want it!"

Guang Chengzi nodded slightly, then went to instruct Huanglong.

As for Bai Ze and Duobao, they looked at each other with resolute gazes.

"Little brother, this time, we absolutely have to make Senior Brother cough up blood once!"

"Right! Otherwise, wouldn't those hundred years of beatings have been for nothing?!"

Then the two clasped hands tightly, identical sly smiles appearing on their faces.

As early as a hundred years ago, when he had been hung from a tree and whipped, Duobao had told him that he and Guang Chengzi had made a wager with him as the stake.

But unexpectedly, he lost. The Acquired Spirit Treasure Guang Chengzi had originally intended to give him was left without a resolution. He could only wait until he refined an Acquired Spirit Treasure using the heavenly materials and earthly treasures Guang Chengzi had given him before receiving it.

Yet unexpectedly, Guang Chengzi had instead taken the lead and given him a high-grade Acquired Spirit Treasure.

Duobao had also stopped bringing up the True Phoenix Blood Essence after Guang Chengzi gave him artifact-refining materials!

However, who could have imagined that Guang Chengzi would bring it up on his own initiative!

Though Guang Chengzi would merely collect the True Phoenix Blood Essence along the way while gathering heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

That alone was enough to invigorate them both!

And since this wager had begun because of him, even after obtaining the True Phoenix Blood Essence, he would receive a share!