By sunset, Ouyang finally reached the summit of Little Mountain Peak, tucked away in the farthest corner of the Azure Cloud Sect.
A square courtyard greeted his eyes. Ouyang wiped the nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead, straightened his somewhat disheveled clothes, coughed, and pushed open the gate.
A large tree stood in the middle of the square courtyard. Bai Feiyu balanced on a branch, facing the setting sun with his hands clasped behind his back.
His white robes fluttered, making him look like an immortal banished to the mortal world.
Their newly arrived junior sister curled up in a chair beneath the tree, hugging her legs and gazing adoringly at Bai Feiyu above.
Standing in a tree every day, showing off to the sun. Aren't monkeys the only ones who spend all day in trees? Ouyang grumbled inwardly, sour with envy.
Suddenly, Ouyang sniffed. The aroma of food was already drifting out of the kitchen.
Hey, perfect timing! Dinner's ready!
Ouyang walked over to the dining table beneath the tree, pulled out a chair, and plopped down beside Hu Tutu. He flicked her forehead and said, "Stop staring. No matter how handsome he is, you can't eat his looks."
"Ow! Eldest Senior Brother! That hurt!" Hu Tutu clutched her furry head and cried out indignantly.
Just as Hu Tutu bared her claws and prepared to pounce on Ouyang, an honest-looking youth came out carrying a tray of food.
Seeing Ouyang, the youth gave an earnest smile. "Eldest Senior Brother, you're back. The food's just finished cooking."
Ouyang got up, walked over, and took the tray with a grin. "Changsheng! What did you make today? Did you stew that Three-Eyed Plume Chicken I swiped from Spirit Beast Peak?"
"Yes, yes. Second Senior Brother's at a critical point in his breakthrough, isn't he? I wouldn't dare forget something you specifically asked me to do," the youth answered repeatedly, looking cautious.
Ouyang paid no mind to the youth's anxious deference. This junior brother of his had always been like that, and no amount of telling him would change it. He turned toward Hu Tutu and said, "That's our new junior sister. Has Xiao Bai introduced you?"
"We've already greeted each other. Master's eye is as good as ever!" the youth said with a sigh of admiration.
Even with their master absent, the youth's voice remained full of reverence.
If Ouyang hadn't been able to see his junior brother's status panel, he would have believed him to be an honest, straightforward fellow.
Name: Chen Changsheng (Reborn) Cultivation: Core Formation, third level Root Bone: 8 Charm: 9 Luck: 7 Formation aptitude: 10+1 Exclusive skill: Living Puppet Technique Evaluation: A reborn, devious old bastard with severe persecutory delusions!
That was right. This junior brother before him had been reborn from the future!
He had thought Bai Feiyu, the reincarnation of an Ancient Sword Immortal, was freakish enough. Yet rebirth felt even more inconceivable than reincarnation.
Perhaps this junior brother had died so horribly before his rebirth that he had become exceptionally cautious afterward.
Ouyang suddenly reached out and pinched Chen Changsheng's cheek. "Junior Brother, you standing here right now wouldn't happen to be a puppet, would you?"
The puppets this junior brother made with his eleven points of formation aptitude could fool even the system!
Chen Changsheng stiffened and subtly took half a step back, then forced a smile. "How could that be, Eldest Senior Brother? Why would I use a puppet here in our own cultivation grounds?"
Hearing that, Ouyang immediately knew that the Chen Changsheng before him was definitely a puppet his junior brother had crafted!
This little bastard's persecutory delusions are getting worse!
Once the bowls and chopsticks were set out, Chen Changsheng excused himself, left the courtyard, and returned to his room.
"Eldest Senior Brother, that senior brother seems a little strange! There's no living vitality in him! And even though I just saw his face, I've already forgotten what he looks like!" Hu Tutu whispered to Ouyang.
"Ah, don't worry about that. This senior brother of yours is a little strange, but he has a good disposition. Still, let me tell you: here on Little Mountain Peak, you can provoke anyone except your third senior brother," Ouyang told Hu Tutu earnestly.
Hu Tutu nodded, only half understanding.
Seeing that she wasn't taking it seriously, Ouyang added, "Otherwise, you won't even know how you died!"
Hu Tutu's fur instantly stood on end. She had felt that senior brother's smile was terribly fake. Though he was clearly a Core Formation cultivator like her, she had keenly sensed something.
If they fought, she would die horribly in an instant.
But my bloodline power should make me invincible among cultivators at my level!
There's definitely something seriously wrong with this third senior brother!
Clutching her bowl, Hu Tutu silently marked Chen Changsheng as the most dangerous person on Little Mountain Peak.
Just then, Bai Feiyu jumped down from the tree, glanced at Ouyang and Hu Tutu, and asked in puzzlement, "Is Second Senior Brother still in seclusion?"
"Probably. Qingsong said he'd gained a new understanding of the Sword Dao. He's been in seclusion for three days now," Ouyang answered without looking up, placing a chicken leg in Hu Tutu's bowl.
Bai Feiyu murmured an acknowledgment, but his gaze still drifted toward his second senior brother's room.
As an Ancient Sword Immortal, the first teenage boy who had ever made him feel a sense of pressure was this second senior brother of his.
If he himself had been a genius born for the Sword Dao in his previous life, then...
This second senior brother was someone for whom the Sword Dao itself might as well have been created!
Even after witnessing countless Sword Dao geniuses in his previous life, this was his first time encountering someone as breathtakingly extraordinary as his second senior brother!
As the three of them ate, a piercing beam of sword light suddenly burst through the roof of their second senior brother's room and shot straight into the heavens!
The keen sword light rose like a pillar, illuminating the sky that had already grown dark!
"That's... Sword Intent!" Bai Feiyu's chopsticks slipped from his hand as he stared at his second senior brother's room in astonishment.
Even I am still honing my sword heart and have yet to reclaim my Sword Intent, but this second senior brother has comprehended a Sword Intent uniquely his own while still in his teens, through his talent alone?!
That's Sword Intent-something only sword cultivators at Soul Departure have any chance of comprehending!
The instant that sword light erupted, Hu Tutu curled into a ball and trembled.
Ouyang, meanwhile, sipped the chicken broth in his bowl and smacked his lips. The broth made from this Three-Eyed Plume Chicken really was delicious. No wonder those fellows at Spirit Beast Peak guarded them so closely.
Watching the roof tiles and broken bricks fly, Ouyang sighed, then shouted toward his second senior brother's room, "Leng Qingsong, you brat, fix that roof tomorrow! You've blown it off three times this month already!"
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