Cleaning Up the Mess

"I'm your eldest senior brother. The sky isn't going to fall!"

The domineering declaration came in a casual tone. That flex had been effortless-and top-tier.

As Ouyang left Chen Changsheng's room, he couldn't help applauding himself inwardly.

Showing off in front of his powerhouse junior brothers felt incredible, as crisp and refreshing as drinking a Coke vintage '82!

Ouyang closed Chen Changsheng's door and turned his gaze toward the courtyard.

Under a tree thick with leaves, a square-faced Tibetan Fox sat at the stone table, holding a cup of tea and gazing at the moon.

"Enjoying the finer things in life, huh? Aren't you afraid my junior brothers will discover you're a demon?" Ouyang walked over, sat opposite the square-faced fox, and poured himself a cup of tea.

Hu Yan raised his tea and took a small sip. His dangling hind legs instinctively crossed, neatly concealing his family jewels, before he drawled, "I've concealed my aura. Those boys may have astonishing talent, but they're still no match for me. That said, Senior, you're a very good senior brother."

"Stop calling me Senior. I'm really not that old." As Ouyang spoke, he drained his cup in one gulp. The fragrance of tea filled his mouth, and even faint traces of Heaven and Earth Essence lingered there.

"Good tea!" Ouyang's eyes lit up, and he reached for another potful!

Quick as a flash, Hu Yan snatched the teapot out of Ouyang's hand and said rather painfully, "These leaves came from a ten-thousand-year spirit tea tree! Who drinks tea like that?"

Ouyang curled his lip. This fox was ugly and stingy. "Just how long are you planning to stay here?" he asked irritably.

Ouyang didn't believe for a second that a great demon at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage would obediently stay by Hu Tutu's side forever, willingly serving as a pet.

Hu Yan carefully put the teapot away, picked up his cup again, and gazed at the moon. "At first, I was merely curious about what a clanswoman with a nine-tailed bloodline had come to the Azure Cloud Sect to do. Now, I'm more interested in whether she can truly become a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox."

"Are you really that bored?" Ouyang asked skeptically.

"What else would it be? Cultivators who reach the Tribulation Transcendence Stage have very long lives, and there's no possibility of advancing any further. You have to find yourself some amusement over those endless years." Hu Yan shrugged.

I've never thought the Tribulation Transcendence Stage was all that impressive. It's not like I haven't beaten people at that stage before, Ouyang grumbled inwardly as he watched Hu Yan showing off.

Hu Yan's fox eyes rested on Ouyang, as though he could see what Ouyang was thinking. He chuckled. "So that's how it is. Do you really think the Tribulation Transcendence Stage is merely a higher cultivation realm? Boy, I admit that your true qi is so immense that even I find it terrifying. But if I wanted to kill you, I could still do it!"

Ouyang didn't get angry at that. Instead, he nodded seriously. He understood this perfectly well. Whether it was the attendants on the mountain behind them, the sect master, or his master, their dealings with him were mostly playful. They even found it amusing.

Old monsters who had lived for thousands of years and cultivated to the pinnacle of this world-how could any of them not have a few tricks up their sleeves? Ouyang wasn't really going to believe that Hu Yan had been subdued so easily by a single immortal-binding rope.

"Then are you planning to stay with Tutu until she reaches the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox realm?" Ouyang asked curiously.

Hu Yan shook his head. "Among the Qingqiu Fox Clan, even advancing from seven tails to eight is something seen only once in ten thousand years. Reaching nine tails is harder still. Every fox has their own way of channeling their power. My path may not suit her."

"But I can protect her until she's capable of defending herself, then leave," Hu Yan said. Yet he immediately laughed again. "I say I'll protect her, but with you and your junior brothers around, I imagine she could go anywhere in this world. Perhaps I simply want to stay by her side."

Huh? Why does this old fellow keep swinging his hammer east, then west? Hu Yan's rambling had left Ouyang a little dizzy.

Hu Yan jumped down from his stool. Moonlight spilled over his brown fur, rising as wisps of lunar essence that he slowly absorbed into his body.

"I'm very pleased with the name she gave me, because now I'm called Handsome Guy!" Hu Yan chuckled, turned into a breeze, and flew straight back into Hu Tutu's room.

This fox really did have a strange temperament!

Ouyang looked up at the moon. The moon in this world was extraordinarily large, as though he could reach out and touch it.

Perhaps the lack of light pollution in this world made everything seem so pristine.

Suddenly, Ouyang's gaze sharpened. A wooden boat came flying out of the moon.

The wooden boat flew without wind. Two young men stood aboard it, one working an oar as though rowing, the other standing at the bow with paper and brush in hand.

As the boat drew closer, Ouyang saw the character for "punishment" carved into its side and immediately realized who the visitors were.

Cultivators from the Azure Cloud Sect's Punishment Peak!

The cultivators of Punishment Peak oversaw the Azure Cloud Sect's laws. They had the authority to investigate anyone or anything that violated those laws, and even the sect master wasn't exempt.

Punishment Peak's cultivators were all at least in the Core Formation Realm. They wore gloomy expressions all day, and their eyes always scrutinized whoever they looked at.

That was why the people of the other peaks called the cultivators of Punishment Peak the sect's dogs through gritted teeth!

The wooden boat drew near, and the young man holding paper and brush cupped his hands toward Ouyang. "Still awake, Senior Brother Ouyang?"

Ouyang returned the greeting and asked a question he already knew the answer to. "I've had trouble sleeping these past few days. What wind blew you two Impermanences over here?"

The two men before him wore black and white respectively, and their names were equally unusual: one was White Impermanence, the other Black Impermanence.

Thus, the pair were also known as Punishment Peak's ghosts who judged the dead!

Ouyang could have figured it out with his toes. Chen Changsheng had definitely caused too much of a stir that morning, and Punishment Peak had noticed something unusual and specifically sent people over.

White Impermanence smiled. "This afternoon, the peak master said someone had sworn a heavenly dao oath on Little Mountain Peak, so he sent us to ask what happened."

With that, the wooden boat began to descend toward Little Mountain Peak's courtyard.

A gentle surge of true qi blocked the boat. Wearing a broad smile, Ouyang said, "I had nothing to do today, so I swore a heavenly dao oath. If I don't reach the Foundation Establishment Realm within ten years, may I cease to be human."

"Senior Brother, it'll be very difficult for me to explain that sort of excuse to the peak master!" White Impermanence said, his face darkening.

Even an open-eyed liar couldn't spout nonsense like that, could he?

Who swore a heavenly dao oath to curse themselves just because they had nothing to do?

Ouyang shook his head. "Junior Brother White, there's something you don't know. Not only does everyone on Little Mountain Peak know about this, but the sect master knows too."

"The sect master knows too?" White Impermanence turned to exchange a glance with Black Impermanence, then looked skeptically at Ouyang. Had Ouyang really sworn such an absurd heavenly dao oath?

Since when had the Heavenly Dao's acknowledgment become so cheap?

Just as White Impermanence was about to ask more questions, Ouyang tossed him a book. "I can't let you two brothers come all this way for nothing. These are some interrogation methods I've recently developed. Consider it a gift for you both!"

White Impermanence caught the book. A crooked line of writing adorned its cover:

"The Azure Cloud Sect's Ten Great Tortures"

White Impermanence opened the book and glanced through it. Cold sweat immediately poured down his back, only to give way to wild delight a moment later.

With this book, let's see if those fellows can still keep their mouths shut!

White Impermanence put the book away as though it were a priceless treasure, then cupped his hands toward Ouyang. "Since the sect master knows about this too, we'll report it as it happened. You really must visit Punishment Peak more often when you have time, Senior Brother Ouyang. Even the peak master says you're an interrogation expert who comes along only once in ten thousand years!"

Ouyang smiled and cupped his hands. "Of course, of course. I'll drop by Punishment Peak another day and improve your tools while I'm there."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Ouyang, the pair steered their wooden boat away and vanished into the moon once more.

Only Ouyang remained, standing in the hazy moonlight with his brow deeply furrowed. Recalling what Chen Changsheng had said, he couldn't help letting out a quiet sigh.

"A great calamity?"