Sect Master Peak.
Li Yang had not taken his master's words to heart. If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up. When he became one of those tall ones himself, he would naturally take his turn.
He put on the disguise mask his master had given him and transformed into a handsome young man with an imposing bearing-Qin Feng.
He had never interacted with Qin Feng, but often saw him spending time with the five senior sisters of Sect Master Peak, drawing envy and jealousy from the other male cultivators.
"Qin Feng, you're finally back. Where's the Divine Origin Fruit I wanted?"
As soon as he entered Sect Master Peak, a female Golden Core cultivator approached, holding out her hand with an air of lofty arrogance.
Li Yang had learned a little about Qin Feng's recent experiences from Lu Feng.
The female Golden Core cultivator before him was Qin Feng's second senior sister. Her pill-refining skills were decent, and she had some reputation in the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect.
In truth, however, she only obtained so many spirit herbs to refine pills by sucking Qin Feng dry.
Recently, her confidence had swelled so much that she planned to become a Fourth-Rank Pill Grandmaster while still at the Golden Core stage, and had demanded a Divine Origin Fruit from Qin Feng.
Divine Origin Fruit was one of the main ingredients for refining a Nascent Soul Condensation Pill, and it was expensive.
This woman would not even settle for an ordinary Divine Origin Fruit. She insisted on a premium one, making Qin Feng return to the Qin Household and enter the lineage's Spirit Herb Garden grotto-heaven to obtain it, along with some extra fourth-rank spirit herbs for her to practice with.
Li Yang did not know whether she held something over Qin Feng or whether he was pursuing her. He only knew that her attitude seriously pissed him off.
"I didn't get it." All he had on him now was a storage ring containing a few spirit stones, given to him by his master solely to keep his disguise from being easily exposed.
"How can you be so useless?!" Jiang Qingci frowned. "You should learn more from your junior brother."
"Learn what?" Li Yang asked curiously.
"Cultivation speed and comprehension are innate. If you can't learn those, fine. Your junior brother's parents are only ordinary people, yet he generously gives his senior sister all kinds of precious spirit herbs to refine pills, because he believes she'll definitely become a Fourth-Rank Pill Grandmaster.
"And I don't keep a single one of the pills I refine. Don't I give them all to him?
"Are you holding a grudge against me because I haven't given you any pills lately?
"How can you be so petty? Your junior brother has no backing whatsoever. We're his greatest backing.
"You have the Qin Household behind you and money to burn, yet all you know how to do is sulk at your junior brother.
"When will you ever be half as considerate as him?"
The barrage of accusations left Li Yang stunned.
Nobody told me Qin Feng was a fucking simp!
Although the Qin Household was not an Ancient Immortal Lineage, it supposedly had a Tribulation Transcendence powerhouse overseeing it. How had he ended up living such a miserable life?!
Wait, let me sort this out.
Qin Feng provided this woman with enormous quantities of spirit herbs for free, just to help her become a Fourth-Rank Pill Grandmaster.
Then, for the Divine Origin Fruit, he had returned to his lineage to participate in a potentially fatal battle over resources.
Even more absurdly, the woman before him was using a junior brother who had joined the sect less than six months ago to belittle and humiliate Qin Feng.
He had pieced together all this information.
But why did it stop making sense when he put it all together?
No, no. Something has to be wrong here!
Li Yang forced a smile.
"Senior sister, my soul was injured during the Clan Battle, and my memories are a little muddled. I wanted to ask, have you ever saved my life? Or do you have something you can hold over me?"
Jiang Qingci frowned.
"If you don't want to give me anything, just say so. Don't make up such ridiculous excuses. I ask you for spirit herbs because you're my junior brother. Rich waters shouldn't flow into outsiders' fields-that's why I gave you this opportunity. (Only Sect Master Peak is like this. This isn't a female-oriented novel; he won't put up with the slightest mistreatment.)
"But seeing how hopeless you are, don't come bothering me again. Your junior brother is all I need.
"And I'm warning you, stop being jealous of your junior brother.
"Even without him, your senior sisters and I would never fall for someone as narrow-minded as you!
"Don't think claiming your memories are muddled will cover up your crime of framing your junior brother!
"Master spared you punishment out of consideration for the Qin Household, but we will never forgive you!"
Li Yang had confirmed one thing-
There was something wrong with this woman's brain.
"I'm" a prodigy of the Qin Household, with vast reserves of spirit herbs. Who knows how many talented female alchemists without backing I could keep?
They'd do whatever I wanted them to.
Yet after giving them to you, not only did I fail to get a single finished pill, I even had to endure your insults...
How had the world of Sect Master Peak gone so insane that I no longer recognized it?
"Mm-hmm." Li Yang swallowed the curses on the tip of his tongue. It was not as though he had transmigrated into Qin Feng's body, anyway.
"You're absolutely right, senior sister. My crimes are unforgivable. Please don't ever pay me any attention, much less forgive me."
With that, Li Yang walked around Jiang Qingci and headed straight for Qin Feng's cave abode.
He left Jiang Qingci standing there, utterly bewildered.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go!
After hearing what I said, Qin Feng should have apologized, then argued that he wasn't that sort of person and told me not to be deceived by our junior brother.
Why had he just looked at me as though he were looking at-an idiot?!
Qin Feng's cave abode was a simple wooden hut, but several plots of spirit herbs lay outside.
Li Yang walked inside and saw a sword lying on the bed.
It looked rather attractive, but it was only a second-rank spirit sword with four patterns, not even as good as his previous spirit sword, which had been destroyed.
"Ye?" Li Yang casually picked it up and saw the character "Ye" engraved on the blade.
That was rather strange. Why wasn't it "Qin" or "Feng"?
Without dwelling on it, he sat cross-legged to resume cultivating.
But he soon noticed something wrong.
This was Sect Master Peak, after all. A personal disciple's cultivation abode was bound to have a Spirit-Gathering Array, so why was the spiritual energy so sparse?
He immediately extended his divine sense-
"Fuck you! You simping bastard!"
Qin Feng had actually diverted the spiritual energy in his own cultivation abode into the spirit herb gardens!
But Qin Feng was not an alchemist himself. This was clearly all prepared for Jiang Qingci, that bitch who wanted to play the whore and still put up a monument to her chastity.
Before Li Yang could vent his anger, a metallic clang rang out, and the wooden hut's door was cleaved open by a sword.
A female cultivator in red barged inside.
She spotted the spirit sword beside Li Yang at once and flew into a rage.
"Qin Feng! How dare you! You even dared steal the spirit sword I specially forged for our junior brother!"
Li Yang's bewilderment piled upon his astonishment.
Luckily, he had not started cultivating. Otherwise, such a violent interruption would have sent his energy awry.
Was Qin Feng really a son of the Qin Household? Not some floor sweeper on Sect Master Peak?
"Third senior sister, let it go. It's my fault too. I stole the affection that originally belonged to him. It's only natural for senior brother to be a little upset."
Behind the red-clad cultivator stood Ye Zhiqiu, whom Li Yang had met once in the Fate Soul Hall, looking pitiful enough to stir anyone's sympathy.
As he spoke, his eyes were slightly lowered, his lashes falling over them like two little fans.
His fingers held the corner of his third senior sister's sleeve, not tightly, but in a gentle pinch, as if afraid she would charge forward and make things worse.
"Let's go." He tugged at that red sleeve, his voice as soft as melted syrup. "If senior brother likes that sword, let him keep it."
His gaze finally settled on Li Yang, only to brush him lightly before shifting away, as though one more glance would make the other man even unhappier.
The moment he looked away, the corners of his eyes reddened slightly, and a hint of pink touched his nose, like March peach blossoms fallen upon snow.
Li Yang had disliked Ye Zhiqiu from the first time he saw him.
Having such a freak among sword cultivators dragged down the image of the entire group.
Affected and so frail he could not withstand a breeze.
Like the sound of fingernails scraping glass, he made people physically uncomfortable.
"No!" His third senior sister was furious, her willow-leaf brows bristling and her gaze as stern as if she were interrogating a criminal. "Qin Feng! Was last time's lesson not enough? You refuse to mend your ways no matter how often you're taught. Don't think I won't dare lay a hand on you just because you're a son of the Qin Household!
"If you want us to like you, improve yourself instead of using methods like this to get attention."
Li Yang thought there was nothing wrong with that statement.
It was the principle of "fragrant flowers draw butterflies on their own."
But then his third senior sister continued:
"Although you supplied the materials-premium Geng metal, ten-thousand-year-old purple essence copper, and ten-thousand-year-old mystic jade-I gave it to our junior brother, so don't get any crooked ideas.
"Now! Give the sword back to your junior brother immediately, then kowtow and apologize to him. As long as he's willing to forgive you, I won't pursue the matter!"
P.S. Some people say this feels like a female-oriented novel, but this junior brother actually has a charm buff. Don't find it strange. The only strange place is Sect Master Peak.
Before you continue