"Yes, yes, yes..."
He Pingsheng hurriedly cupped his hands.
He Pingsheng had never met the old fellow before him, but he recognized him.
Portraits of this old fellow were everywhere on Bamboo Peak. He was a disciple of the Great Void Sect's current Grand Supreme Elder, one of the sect's elders himself, and the Grand Ancestor of Bamboo Peak.
A mighty Golden Core Stage cultivator—True Person Chongyang.
True Person Chongyang was also the master of Yuxuan, Jade Virtue, and the others.
In other words, he was Linglong's grandmaster, too.
That gave him enough weight, didn't it?
"You look unfamiliar!" True Person Chongyang looked at He Pingsheng and asked, "Just arrived?"
He Pingsheng nodded. "I'm from the Servant Class, just a servant in the Alchemy Hall!"
"Outrageous!" True Person Chongyang immediately bristled with anger. "I came here to refine pills, yet the Alchemy Attendant doesn't come to greet me and sends a servant instead? What is the meaning of this?"
"Where's Hao Yun?"
"I personally brought that lad in from outside and promoted him. Where has he gone?"
"Why hasn't he come to see me?"
He Pingsheng took a deep breath and bowed to the Grand Ancestor again. "Reporting to you, Grand Ancestor, Senior Brother Hao Yun had several ribs broken in a beating. He's bedridden now and can't come to pay his respects!"
"Beaten?"
The Golden Core Stage patriarch took one stride, crossing dozens of yards and landing outside Hao Yun's door in an instant. He glanced inside and indeed saw Hao Yun lying pale-faced in bed. His anger boiled over. "What happened to you, lad? Who was so vicious as to hurt you this badly?"
Hao Yun's expression turned bitter. "Grand Ancestor, your disciple can't kowtow to you!"
"Never mind, never mind... forget the kowtowing. Tell me, what exactly happened?"
Hao Yun said, "Yesterday, Senior Sister Linglong, a disciple of Uncle-Master Jade Virtue, came to refine pills. When the refinement failed, she beat me up!"
"Outrageous... outrageous..." True Person Chongyang trembled with anger. "If that's the case, then this is insolence of the highest order! Is she trying to heap karmic burdens upon our Bamboo Peak?"
"How can I let decades of arduous cultivation be ruined in a single day?"
"Hmph..."
With that, True Person Chongyang moved his feet and shot into the sky with a whoosh, shrinking to a bean-sized figure. Within a few breaths, he had vanished.
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
He Pingsheng craned his neck toward where the Grand Ancestor had disappeared, unable to suppress a surge of envy. How wonderful it is to be an immortal, soaring through the heavens and burrowing through the earth in an instant, roaming freely through the world.
If only I could cultivate, too!
"This is bad, bad, bad..." The fellow lying in bed now wore an expression as though life held nothing more for him. "I'm done for!"
He Pingsheng walked over and asked, "What do you mean, Senior Brother?"
Hao Yun said, "You don't know... our Bamboo Peak's Grand Ancestor hates evil like a sworn enemy. He's upright and blunt. Now that he's gone back, he's bound to punish both Senior Sister Linglong and Uncle-Master Jade Virtue!"
He Pingsheng was only a youth and couldn't fathom all the twists and turns involved. Scratching his head, he asked, "Isn't that a good thing?"
Hao Yun said, "Of course it isn't! Uncle-Master Jade Virtue and Senior Sister Linglong are both narrow-minded. If they're punished because of me, won't I be dead afterward?"
"If the punishment is light, that's fine. At most, I'll get another beating!"
"If it's severe, I'm afraid I'll lose my life!"
"Well..." He Pingsheng thought it over from every angle. "Senior Brother... if the Grand Ancestor punishes them, wouldn't they be scared? Would they still dare to take revenge?"
"You, honestly!" Hao Yun reached out with his right hand and jabbed He Pingsheng's head twice with his finger. "Not everyone thinks the way you do... some people are so narrow-minded that there's nothing they won't do!"
"Besides, they don't necessarily have to act themselves!"
"They could just find someone to sneak into our Alchemy Hall in the dead of night and beat me black and blue. Who would know who did it?"
He Pingsheng finally understood. Admiration for Senior Brother Hao Yun welled up in him, and he couldn't help giving him a thumbs-up. "You really see things clearly, Senior Brother!"
Hao Yun said, "What's so clear about it? Back then, I was just like you. But once you've seen enough, you learn to see through things. People's hearts are treacherous-you simply haven't experienced it yet. Once you've taken a beating and suffered a loss, you'll naturally understand!"
He Pingsheng nodded admiringly.
A few breaths later, he furtively took the Golden Bone Pill from inside his robe and held it out before Hao Yun. "Senior Brother Hao, this... you should take it!"
"A Golden Bone Pill?"
Hao Yun's brows twitched. He took the Golden Bone Pill and examined it closely. Seeing four Pill Marks on it, he couldn't help raising his voice. "This... it's actually..."
At that point, Hao Yun hurriedly lowered his voice again. "It's actually a supreme-grade pill?"
"Where did you get this, lad?"
He Pingsheng lowered his head. "Never mind that. Take it first. It'll heal your injuries very quickly!"
Hao Yun immediately put on a stern face. "Tell me first. If you don't, I won't take it!"
He Pingsheng brought out the lie he had prepared long ago. "This... this was something my parents left me before they died. They said I couldn't let anyone else see it. They didn't even give me a porcelain bottle, so I've kept it on me all this time!"
"Your parents?" Hao Yun looked puzzled. "Weren't they both Outer Disciples? Could they really get their hands on something this good?"
"This is supreme-grade! It may only be a first-tier pill, but no one on all of Bamboo Peak can refine one!"
"No... I should say no one in the entire Great Void Sect can refine one!"
He Pingsheng remained silent.
Hao Yun asked again, "You're sure your parents left it to you? You're not lying?"
He Pingsheng nodded with a sincere expression.
Hao Yun stood on no ceremony. "I saved your life, and now I'm taking one of your pills. That makes us even!"
Smack...
He slapped his hand against his mouth, and the pill went down his throat.
"Heh... this really is good stuff..." Not long after Hao Yun swallowed the pill, his face flushed red. "Why do I feel like these injuries will heal today?"
"No wonder that book said supreme-grade pills and high-grade pills are two entirely different things!"
"Hiss, hiss, hiss... fuck... that hurts..."
Bamboo Peak, Teleportation Plaza!
There were two Teleportation Arrays in the Teleportation Plaza: one for departures and one for arrivals.
Disciples who couldn't fly had to use these Teleportation Arrays to enter or leave.
Thus, this was destined to be the liveliest, most heavily trafficked place on Bamboo Peak.
Yet at that moment, three disciples were kneeling in the Teleportation Plaza.
One was Linglong. The other two were the disciples who had accompanied her to the Alchemy Hall and taken part in beating Hao Yun.
All three had been sentenced to reflect on their wrongs for three days.
This so-called reflection meant kneeling in the Teleportation Plaza and examining their own conduct.
Before you continue