"Uh!"
Chun Xiaobai was startled too as he looked at all the eyes fixed on him.
I meant to spend some money to ward off trouble and avoid attention. Great, now I'm the whole damn room's center of attention!
Fang Yuan was equally shocked. He really had picked the right golden thigh to cling to.
A Foundation Establishment Pill, just like that?
He hurriedly said to Bai Jin'er, "Junior Sister Bai, hurry up and thank Senior Brother Chun!"
"Th-th... thank you, Senior Brother Chun!"
Bai Jin'er's voice trembled, and even the hands holding the jade vial shook.
After all, she had risked her life on Outer Sect missions, narrowly escaping death several times. After all these years of saving, she had only amassed three thousand merit points.
Yet this Senior Brother Chun had given her a Foundation Establishment Pill merely to apologize for mistaking her for someone else?
Chun Xiaobai looked at her excited expression, then at the envious gazes around him, and finally realized-
He seemed to have casually given away a mountain of gold!
He really hadn't expected Wu Liang, a Qi Refining disciple, to carry a Foundation Establishment Pill around so casually. The fellow might well have been some rich family's son.
No wonder he could get a girl into the grove with him.
Damn it!
If I say I took out the wrong thing now, could I still get it back?
Just as he was about to go back on his word, Fang Yuan said beside him, brimming with emotion:
"Junior Sister, men as generous as Senior Brother Chun, whose bold spirit soars into the clouds, are rare. You must repay him properly someday!"
Those words sent a flush rushing across Bai Jin'er's pretty face all the way to her ears. The fierceness in her eyes had vanished completely when she looked at Chun Xiaobai.
Chun Xiaobai's hand, which he had extended to snatch the vial back, froze in midair.
In the end, he could only suffer for the sake of saving face. He smoothly tucked his hand behind his head and forced himself to say:
"Aw, it's nothing."
"Go on, take it! It's just a Foundation Establishment Pill, isn't it? This great... senior brother of yours eats them like beans."
"Like beans?!"
A chorus of sharp gasps immediately rose around him.
The female disciples nearby, who had maintained their reserve until then, now wore lovestruck expressions. They looked at Chun Xiaobai as though he were a walking God of Wealth.
He could even give away a Foundation Establishment Pill, something that could send a Qi Refining disciple soaring to the heavens in a single step.
They discreetly straightened their clothes and pushed their chests out a little farther, desperately edging closer, wishing they could press themselves right against Chun Xiaobai's face.
Feeling the scorching gazes all around him, Chun Xiaobai finally realized he needed to curb his habit of showing off.
Still, on second thought, throwing money around like dirt would at least keep people from questioning his assumed identity as an Inner Sect disciple for a while.
After all, no one would think someone who ate Foundation Establishment Pills as snacks was an Odd-Job Disciple.
"Once I, the great king, enter the Dao, I'll pull off one hell of a big job and make it all back!"
Amid this atmosphere of envy, jealousy, and resentment, the hall slowly quieted.
Everyone turned to look.
A middle-aged man strode inside, dressed in snow-white Daoist robes, his temples lightly frosted with gray and his entire body radiating razor-sharp Sword Qi.
He was none other than the grand elder of the Outer Sect's Hidden Sword Peak... Gu Changfeng.
His Longwind Sword Art had been renowned throughout the Southern Heaven Region for three hundred years. Most of the souls who had fallen to his sword had belonged to experts of higher cultivation than his, earning him a resounding title in the cultivation world-Slayer Asura.
The moment he entered, the Merit Transmission Hall, which had been as noisy as a marketplace, fell abruptly silent. Everyone sat rigidly upright, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Seeing everyone become so formal, Chun Xiaobai could hardly keep slouching over the table. Reluctantly, he straightened his body and crossed his legs in a show of proper decorum.
Gu Changfeng's gaze flashed like lightning as he swept a cold look around the room. Without any preamble, he went straight to the point:
"Today's lesson: Sword Momentum."
At those words, everyone pricked up their ears, afraid of missing even a single word.
"Only by condensing your own sword heart can you become a true sword cultivator. But before condensing a sword heart, you must comprehend sword intent, and the foundation of sword intent lies in momentum..."
Chun Xiaobai understood the first few sentences.
They meant that he needed a sword heart to walk the path of the sword heart, but to have a sword heart, he first needed sword intent, and to have sword intent, he first had to cultivate that particular "force."
It wasn't all that different from the saber arts passed down by his ancestors. They, too, emphasized "momentum."
However, once Gu Changfeng began explaining how spiritual energy circulated and how the meridians worked together, Chun Xiaobai was plunged into darkness. He couldn't understand a thing.
The less he understood, the more his brain turned to paste.
His old habit from his previous life-getting sleepy the moment class began-instantly flared up.
"Ah..."
Unable to help himself, he opened his mouth in an enormous yawn. His eyelids felt as though two lead balls were hanging from them, and his body began swaying back and forth involuntarily.
Bai Jin'er happened to notice from beside him, and her delicate brows knitted slightly.
Still, it made sense. Senior Brother Chun was already an expert at the peak of Qi Refining, so he had surely mastered Sword Momentum long ago. Such basic swordsmanship really must have been rather boring for him.
He swayed like that for half an incense stick's time.
Soon.
"Hrrr... grrr..."
A remarkably rhythmic snore rang out... especially loud in the Merit Transmission Hall, where even a falling needle could have been heard.
Gu Changfeng's voice cut off abruptly.
Every disciple's gaze snapped toward the back row.
Bai Jin'er's little face went white with fright. She quickly reached out and nudged Chun Xiaobai's arm, urgently whispering:
"Senior Brother, wake up! Stop sleeping!"
Chun Xiaobai was bleary-eyed and rather annoyed at having his pleasant dream disturbed. He instinctively waved a hand as though shooing away flies:
"Quit bothering me! Let this great king sleep a little longer..."
Dead silence settled over the room.
Everyone looked at Gu Changfeng.
In his hundred years of teaching the Dao, this was the first disciple Gu Changfeng had ever seen dare to openly sleep during his lecture in the Merit Transmission Hall.
Just as everyone thought Elder Gu would erupt in thunderous fury and throw this fool with a death wish outside...
Gu Changfeng showed no anger. Instead, he slowly descended from the platform, passed through the crowd, silent as cicadas in winter, and approached Chun Xiaobai.
He studied Chun Xiaobai, who had drool running from the corner of his mouth, and a trace of admiration actually appeared in his eyes.
"Following his heart's every desire... a promising seedling."
Under everyone's horrified gazes, Gu Changfeng gently removed the snow-white Daoist robe that symbolized his status as an elder and carefully draped it over Chun Xiaobai.
At the sight, Bai Jin'er and Fang Yuan nearly popped their eyes out of their sockets.
Th-this worked too?!
The lesson lasted a full two hours before Gu Changfeng finally finished explaining, while Chun Xiaobai continued sleeping blissfully, right until the crowd dispersed.
"Senior Brother Chun! Senior Brother Chun!"
Bai Jin'er pushed his shoulder rather helplessly.
"Wake up. Everyone's gone outside to the Martial Arts Arena to discuss swordsmanship."
Chun Xiaobai wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and opened his eyes blearily, yawning. "Hmm? Where are we in the lesson?"
"It's already over," Bai Jin'er reminded him, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"Huh? It's over already? Why didn't you wake me sooner!"
Bai Jin'er rolled her eyes, thinking that if she could have woken him, he wouldn't have slept like a dead pig.
Still, she reminded him quietly, "Elder Gu... asked you to bring his outer robe over to him."
Before you continue