"Crooked intentions?" Hu Guyi smiled. "Senior Brother Xuanzhen, you can't put it that way. To be honest, this is a wonderful thing for both you and your Green Ox Gate. You're refining the Sixty-Year Pill to improve your disciples' strength so that the Green Ox Gate won't disappear from the martial world. Achieving that goal is very easy. You only need to offer the pill to Sect Master Bai. Within a thousand miles, what sect would dare touch the Green Ox Gate? Even if other sects wanted to, they would have to consider the Huaqing Sect's reaction."
"Exactly. As long as you give me the Sixty-Year Pill, I guarantee that as long as the Huaqing Sect stands, your Green Ox Gate won't suffer bullying from other sects," Bai Tianqi said.
Xuanzhenzi ignored Bai Tianqi and continued staring at Hu Guyi. "I never imagined I had misjudged you."
"Hahaha! Senior Brother Xuanzhen, don't blame me. I did it so I could break through, too. Precisely because I told Sect Master Bai about this, he promised to provide me with a cultivation method to break through my current realm. But I spent quite a few years planning this, all so you would trust me and treat me as a true friend. Only then could I find out when you would finish refining the Sixty-Year Pill," Hu Guyi said. "Half a year ago, I learned that you had already begun refining it. Refining a Sixty-Year Pill probably takes a year, which means yours will be ready to leave the furnace in another six months. Sect Master Bai's birthday celebration gave me the perfect opportunity to offer this good news as a congratulatory gift."
"Was it all a lie?" Xuanzhenzi asked, somewhat dazed. He had never imagined that his closest, most trusted friend had been deceiving him all along. His heart filled with indescribable disappointment and anger.
"Not quite. Before I knew you could refine the Sixty-Year Pill, I genuinely wanted to be your friend. After all, you could refine pills. Being friends with you offered me nothing but benefits," Hu Guyi said with a smile.
"Hahaha! Friends?" Xuanzhenzi burst out laughing. "I truly never imagined it. You did all this for the Sixty-Year Pill."
"Of course. Why would I have gone to such painstaking lengths if not for that Sixty-Year Pill? I knew you dearly loved your disciples, so I treated my own disciple as my son. That was how Dacheng came to be my disciple," Hu Guyi said.
"It was all an act you put on for me," Xuanzhenzi said softly.
"Exactly. What does a disciple count for? But I knew that only by treating my disciple like my own son would I improve your impression of me. In fact, when I asked you for pills for Dacheng before, that was all a lie. Dacheng is merely a disciple of mine. I don't care in the slightest whether he can break through. All I care about is myself," Hu Guyi said.
"Say no more. All I can tell you is that I don't know how to refine the Sixty-Year Pill at all," Xuanzhenzi said.
"There's no use denying it. I've already investigated everything. There's a batch of pills being refined in your secret pill-refining chamber, and it's been there for half a year. What could it be besides the Sixty-Year Pill?" Hu Guyi asked. "Besides, it won't need any special attention from now on. It only needs to cool for six months, and the pills will be complete. So even if you refuse to hand over the Sixty-Year Pill this time, we can go to the Green Ox Gate and take it ourselves. We only need to wait another six months."
"Daoist Xuanzhenzi, my birthday is in two days, so I don't wish to raise a hand against anyone. Thus, I hope you can part with your treasure. As long as you stay at the Huaqing Sect for these six months, once I obtain the Sixty-Year Pill from your sect, I'll let you return and reward you handsomely," Bai Tianqi said.
"I really must thank you for today," Xuanzhenzi suddenly said with a smile.
His smile left all three men seated there somewhat bewildered.
"I've finally seen someone's true face," Xuanzhenzi said. "Sect Master Bai, I am a Daoist who has renounced worldly life, so I won't deceive you. I don't know how to refine the Sixty-Year Pill."
"Then what's in your secret chamber?" Bai Tianqi clearly did not believe him.
"That's right. What's being refined in that secret chamber is indeed a first-grade pill," Xuanzhenzi said.
"There you have it." Bai Tianqi had finally heard the answer he wanted from Xuanzhenzi's own lips, and it filled him with joy. Previously, it had all come from Hu Guyi. After all, Xuanzhenzi had yet to confirm it himself.
"The Sixty-Year Pill isn't the only first-grade pill! All I can say is that although this is a first-grade pill, it only works on each successive leader of the Green Ox Gate. It has no effect even on our disciples. If anyone else insists on taking it, death is the only path awaiting them," Xuanzhenzi said.
"Whether that's true or not, I'm determined to obtain this pill. Xuanzhenzi, if you know what's good for you, all the terms I promised the Green Ox Gate earlier will remain unchanged. If you refuse, don't blame me for showing no mercy," Bai Tianqi said.
"Senior Brother Xuanzhen, it's only a pill. Even if a first-grade pill is difficult to refine, once it's gone, you can refine another. Once your life is gone, however, you truly have nothing left," Hu Guyi also urged.
"Taking my life is simple. But aren't you afraid that without me, if anything goes wrong during the refining process, all your efforts will crumble at the final hurdle?" Xuanzhenzi asked.
"Simple. I'll spare your life for now, then have your disciples captured as well. I'm not worried that you won't submit," Bai Tianqi said. "It seems you have no intention of cooperating. Then don't blame me. Zhang Ming, Hu Guyi, the two of you, seize him."
After receiving Bai Tianqi's order, Zhang Ming and Hu Guyi stood up.
"Senior Brother Xuanzhen, you mustn't blame your junior brother."
"Surrender without a fight and spare yourself some physical suffering," Zhang Ming said with a chuckle. His cultivation was stronger than Hu Guyi's and had already reached second-rate upper grade. Although he had only recently reached that level, dealing with Xuanzhenzi before him would be effortless in his eyes.
"Zhang Ming, don't be too careless. Xuanzhenzi's cultivation is far above Sect Master Hu's," Bai Tianqi warned.
"I haven't fought in so many years that I had almost forgotten I knew martial arts," Xuanzhenzi said with a faint smile.
"You can still smile at a time like this!" Zhang Ming shouted, then chopped his palm toward Xuanzhenzi, who was still seated in his chair.
Hu Guyi had not intended to act. After all, he felt that Zhang Ming alone would be enough, and given Zhang Ming's temper, he certainly wouldn't want Hu Guyi interfering. But Bai Tianqi had just ordered him to attack as well, and he could hardly go against Bai Tianqi's wishes. Thus, he attacked Xuanzhenzi alongside Zhang Ming.
Xuanzhenzi showed no intention of rising. With a light tap of both feet against the floor, he spun around, chair and all, evading their strike. Immediately afterward, he tapped his foot, changed direction, and hurtled toward the two men in his spinning chair.
Before either man could recover, Xuanzhenzi delivered a kick to each of them. Both gave a muffled grunt as they were sent flying.