This is bad!

Li Shouyi returned from his outing with a face full of dejection.

Standing on his flying sword, he thought to himself.

Sure enough, those damn novels were all lies. What was all that nonsense about getting a system, giving one mighty shudder, and having millions of lackeys flock to your banner?

He had spent three whole days wandering the mountain villages at the foot of the Cloud Cliff Sect, yet had not found a single useless disciple who met the system's requirements.

He had found a few geniuses, though.

Damn it! His stomach churned with anger as he remembered the child with the supreme-grade fire spiritual root he had encountered in the mountains.

Why couldn't I have talent that good? In the end, another sect had taken that child away, too.

He was not the only one out searching for promising seedlings. Other sects even had people specifically assigned to that task.

As he flew through the air, a disciple guarding the mountain stopped him just as he entered the sect.

"Elder Li, you're finally back! The sect master has been waiting for you for a long time."

"The sect master wants to see me?"

Li Shouyi found that rather odd. The sect master was a busy man. Why would he summon him out of the blue?

With a belly full of questions, he flew straight toward the main peak where the sect master resided.

The Cloud Cliff Sect's main peak was an inverted triangular mountain. The entire peak floated in the air, making for a truly peculiar sight.

Li Shouyi rode his flying sword to a majestic palace and stopped, then addressed the disciples at the entrance. "Li Shouyi is here to pay his respects to the sect master. Please announce my arrival."

Before the King of Hell's palace, it was the little devils who were hardest to deal with. Li Shouyi had understood that principle in his previous life, so he remained courteous even though the two disciples at the entrance were only at the Qi Refining stage.

"You're too polite, Elder Li. The sect master has already been waiting inside for quite some time."

"Thank you."

Still puzzled, Li Shouyi entered the hall.

Once inside, he saw that there were few people present.

There were Law Enforcement Elder Yan Hai, Treasure Vault Elder Shi Yaoqian, and Instruction Elder Chen Hui.

"My respects, Sect Master."

"Greetings, elders."

Before the sect master could speak, Yan Hai angrily demanded, "Li Shouyi, do you admit your guilt?"

That sudden rebuke left Li Shouyi wearing an utterly bewildered expression.

He glanced at Yan Hai and asked in a low voice, "Elder Yan, might I ask what crime I've committed?"

Yan Hai loved chasing the wind and clutching at shadows, and he had caused Li Shouyi no shortage of trouble.

"Still playing dumb? Your disciples openly gathered to gamble, then caused a scene in the dining hall. They showed absolutely no regard for the sect's rules!"

"And the worst offender is you, their master. You're doing nothing but leading your disciples astray!"

"It would be one thing if you merely failed to correct Lin Shuishui's excessive sleeping, but you actually encouraged her to sleep more!"

"And Su Wan'er—you even taught her a new way to gamble so she could keep gambling all day!"

"Tell me, is that any way for a master to behave?"

That barrage of blame came crashing down on Li Shouyi's head and left him dazed.

Seeing the solemn faces of the elders present, Li Shouyi was just about to explain.

A startled cry came from the entrance.

"Reporting to the sect master! Elder Li's disciple, Su Wan'er, has broken Elder Yan's son's leg!"

"What did you say?"

After that startled shout, Yan Hai pointed at Li Shouyi and angrily declared, "Li Shouyi, you must give me an explanation for this!"

"Elder Yan, we haven't investigated the matter yet. Don't hear the wind and assume a storm. Does your Law Enforcement Peak usually arrest people without even asking what happened?"

After answering Yan Hai with a grim expression, Li Shouyi thought to himself.

He knew that useless son of Yan Hai's. Relying on his father's position as the law enforcement elder, the boy acted as though no one dared provoke him, throwing his weight around the Cloud Cliff Sect and treating everyone with contempt.

The news about his son had already clouded Yan Hai's judgment. With a savage expression, he told Li Shouyi, "Don't think you can wriggle out of this, Li Shouyi. Once we confirm my son's condition, we'll see what you have left to say!"

Li Shouyi merely gave a cold laugh, his expression grim, and thought to himself.

Who's afraid of whom?

With that spoiled brat of yours, who in the entire Cloud Cliff Sect hasn't suffered at his hands?

When the time came, he would see just who was settling accounts with whom.

"Have you made enough of a scene?" Tang Que, the sect master who had remained silent until now, asked in a deep voice.

His authoritative voice brought everyone up short, and they answered together, "We acknowledge our mistake."

"Hmph. Look at yourselves. Do you have even a trace of the dignity expected of your seniors?"

"Elder Shi, bring them here so they can explain what happened."

At Tang Que's command, Elder Shi went out to fetch them, his eyes narrowed to slits.

Li Shouyi almost wondered whether the old fellow could even see where he was going.

His eyes were even smaller than Li Ronghao's.

Yan Hai continued glaring viciously at Li Shouyi.

But Li Shouyi ignored him. A glare could not kill anyone, so he could stare to his heart's content.

A short while later, Shi Yaoqian brought two people inside.

The moment one of them, a sleazy-looking young man, saw Yan Hai, he could no longer hold back his tears and burst out sobbing.

"Father, you have to get justice for me!"

"This vicious woman didn't care the slightest bit that we belong to the same sect! She broke my leg!"

Seeing him, Yan Hai hurried over to support him and soothed him. "Don't be afraid, Shang'er. Your father is here!"

As he spoke, Yan Hai took a bottle of pills from his robes, poured out two, and fed them to Yan Shang.

Something miraculous happened.

Yan Shang, who had just been clutching his knee and wailing nonstop, could suddenly stand again, full of life and energy.

With a dark expression, Li Shouyi looked at Su Wan'er and asked quietly, "You wayward disciple, what is going on here?"

"Hmph! Master, you don't know what happened. He was bad-mouthing you, and I couldn't stand it, so I made a bet with him. The winner could do whatever they wanted to the loser."

"And then he lost."

Her little face puffed up with anger, Su Wan'er pointed at Yan Shang.

She looked just like a child who had won a fight and was now complaining to her parents.

"Uh."

Li Shouyi did not know what to say. After all, his disciple had been standing up for him. But when he noticed the surrounding elders watching him...

He still put on an angry act and scolded her. "You wayward disciple! Even so, you shouldn't have hit him so hard. We're all fellow disciples of the same sect."

"But, but..."

Su Wan'er kept stammering "but" for ages, yet never dared say the rest.

Li Shouyi was glaring at her with such a grim face that every word she wanted to say in explanation stuck in her throat.

Everyone present had heard Su Wan'er's account.

If she was telling the truth, then Yan Shang had been at fault first. The sect master and Yan Hai exchanged a cryptic glance, and finally Yan Hai gritted his teeth and pulled his son away.

"Wait a moment, Elder Yan," Li Shouyi suddenly called.

Seeing that Yan Hai actually intended to simply walk away, he was not about to let that slide.

"What else do you want?"

Yan Hai suppressed his anger as he looked at Li Shouyi, his expression as though he wanted to devour him.

"Elder Yan, leaving just like that doesn't seem to comply with the rules, does it?"

"As the elder of Law Enforcement Peak, please tell us how insulting an elder should be punished!"

This old bastard was always looking for ways to trouble him. Now that he had a chance to even the score, if he did not squeeze something out of him right away, when would he?

"You..."

Yan Hai glanced at Li Shouyi, then exchanged another cryptic look with the sect master. When he saw the sect master silently nod...

He gritted his teeth and asked, "What do you want?"

"That bottle of pills you had just now looked rather good, Elder Yan."

"How about..."

As he spoke, he reached toward Yan Hai, gave him a cold laugh, and held out his palm.

Yan Hai's chest heaved with anger. He took the pills out of his robes and handed them to Li Shouyi, then said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Li Shouyi, mountains and rivers are bound to meet again. Don't let yourself fall into my hands."

"Heh."

Li Shouyi laughed coldly beside his ear. "Next time, paying me a bottle of pills won't be enough."