Everyone Steered Clear

"Senior Brother Qi."

Jiang Hao turned and greeted him politely.

Qi Yang was an inner disciple of Thunderfire Peak, currently at the early stage of foundation establishment.

He had been Jiang Hao's companion back when Jiang Hao was still an outer disciple. They had lived under the same roof and gotten along fairly well.

But after joining different main branches, they had rarely seen each other.

"Huh? You've reached foundation establishment? That fast?" Qi Yang suddenly exclaimed as he approached Jiang Hao.

The two people beside him were surprised as well.

A foundation establishment cultivator so young.

"I got lucky," Jiang Hao said with a smile.

This was the trouble with not having a cultivation-concealing technique. His cultivation was exposed at a glance.

He needed to find a way to get one, but his immediate priority was to earn a thousand spirit stones.

However unwilling he was, he still had to pay the compensation.

Otherwise, the Heavenly Joy Pavilion might take action, and that would truly be a calamity that swallowed him whole.

Heartbreak Cliff might not be able to protect him.

He could not understand it. Did the Heavenly Joy Pavilion really need to go this far over an inner disciple who had betrayed the sect?

Was it really as Senior Sister Yun Ruo had said, that someone simply wanted her body?

Jiang Hao did not buy that. After all, Senior Sister Yun Ruo was not beautiful enough to warrant such measures.

Compared with the woman who had assaulted him, she fell short by far more than a little.

"Senior Brother, Senior Sister, let me introduce you. This is Jiang Hao, a junior brother who lived under the same roof as me when I was still an outer disciple," Qi Yang said.

"Two outstanding disciples from the same place. That's quite rare." The man beside him smiled warmly and said,

"My name is Xu Feng, and this is my junior sister, Liang Yue."

"Senior Brother Xu, Senior Sister Liang." Jiang Hao lowered his head in greeting.

"By the way, Junior Brother, which branch do you belong to?" Liang Yue asked with a smile.

Both wanted to befriend Jiang Hao. Reaching foundation establishment at such a young age already marked him as a genius.

"Heartbreak Cliff," Jiang Hao replied.

Both Xu Feng and Liang Yue were startled. "Heartbreak Cliff?"

"Junior Brother, do you know who killed Yun Ruo of the Heavenly Joy Pavilion?" Xu Feng asked tentatively.

The unexpected question left Jiang Hao at a loss for how to answer, but he still opened his mouth and said,

"That was me."

At that moment, not only Xu Feng and Liang Yue, but even Qi Yang was shocked.

Xu Feng and Liang Yue, in particular, even began deliberately distancing themselves from him.

After exchanging a few more words, Xu Feng left with the others.

Jiang Hao said nothing about it. Perhaps the Heavenly Joy Pavilion was simply not to be trifled with.

He had no desire to form too many close ties with others anyway, especially in a demonic sect, where most people merely used one another.

But he had clearly rid the sect of a scourge. How had he ended up being treated like a criminal against the sect?

Everyone steered clear of him.

In a corner.

Xu Feng looked at Qi Yang and asked curiously,

"Junior Brother Qi, since you know Junior Brother Jiang, do you know what his aptitude is like?"

After thinking for a moment, Qi Yang answered,

"Above average, I think."

"Above average?" Liang Yue looked astonished.

"How old is he?"

"Around nineteen, I suppose. Two years younger than me," Qi Yang answered truthfully.

"With above-average aptitude, how did he reach foundation establishment at nineteen?" Xu Feng asked the question he most wanted answered.

"He had a fortuitous encounter, so his cultivation once shot up. Reaching foundation establishment probably had something to do with that encounter too." Qi Yang looked curious as he asked,

"Do you think something is wrong, Senior Brother, Senior Sister?"

Having learned the details, Xu Feng and Liang Yue formed their own judgments.

Now, as they spoke of Jiang Hao, a hint of disdain entered their eyes.

"You'd best not get too close to him in the future, Junior Brother." Xu Feng looked in the direction where Jiang Hao had been and said softly,

"I was wondering from the start why Heartbreak Cliff wouldn't do everything it could to protect him. So he advanced through a fortuitous encounter. That means the road ahead won't be easy for him.

He doesn't have much value.

Having offended the Heavenly Joy Pavilion, even if he's fine now, something is bound to happen to him later.

So don't get too close to him, Junior Brother. You'll put Master in a difficult position."

At first, Xu Feng had genuinely wanted to befriend Jiang Hao. Even after learning that Jiang Hao had offended the Heavenly Joy Pavilion, he had still entertained the idea.

After all, someone who reached foundation establishment so young was a genuine genius.

Sometimes, a genius could break through every obstacle.

But once he learned that Jiang Hao had only gotten there through a fortuitous encounter, he no longer had any desire to befriend him.

He even felt a little disdain.

Who here wasn't a foundation establishment cultivator?

Qi Yang looked in the direction Jiang Hao had left and remained silent.

After making a round, Jiang Hao found that the well-paying tasks either required leaving the sect or had extremely demanding requirements.

With his current strength and restrictions, he could only handle minor jobs.

But he also discovered that pill refining, forging, and talisman crafting were the most profitable pursuits.

Unfortunately, he knew none of them.

Should I learn one?

Pill refining and forging were out of the question. Not only were they difficult to get started in, but he also lacked the spirit stones to obtain pill formulas or forging methods.

Otherwise, his knowledge of spirit herbs would have given him something of a foundation.

With pill refining and forging ruled out, only talisman crafting remained.

It was easy to get started, and instructions could be bought anywhere.

"I could buy some materials and take them back to try."

Having made his decision, Jiang Hao planned to take a simple task and earn some spirit stones.

For now, his only option was to let small sums accumulate. Though his goal seemed impossibly far away, he could not afford to waste time.

As for a solution, he could think of one while doing tasks.

Reaching for the clouds while ignoring the ground beneath his feet would only make success harder.

In the end, he accepted a task to tend a spirit herb, the Pure Yang Flower.

Seven days, twenty spirit stones.

The pay was decent, but the requirements were demanding too. Fortunately, Jiang Hao had spent years in the spirit herb garden and met them.

The task came from White Moon Lake.

Geniuses gathered there, and it fell under the jurisdiction of the sect's guardian elder.

He had never met that elder.

He almost never saw such high-ranking figures as the teaching elder, guardian elder, peak masters, or pavilion masters.

He rarely even saw his own master, the cliff master of Heartbreak Cliff.

Let alone the other elders.

"I'll buy some talisman-crafting materials and instructions first, then head over to see what things are like."

"The Pure Yang Flower is said to be a sacred herb. I wonder if tending it will yield purple bubbles."

If bubbles could yield spirit stones, he would not have had to agonize over this.