The woman on the jade ruyi

The implication was that this time, he had severed his sleeve.

If he bullied his disciple again next time, he would sever his hand.

"Gu Yanshan, aren't you being far too overbearing?" The alchemy elder's face was full of anger.

Before Gu Yanshan could answer, Qin Yi cut in. "Overbearing? Who exactly is being overbearing?"

"Shut your mouth, you little bastard! Who gave you the right to speak here?" the alchemy elder barked.

His tone nearly drove Qin Yi to activate the [Nascent Soul Experience Card] and hack the old bastard into ten thousand pieces.

Gu Yanshan snorted coldly. "Qin Yi, go ahead. If he won't let you speak, then make a point of saying it for him to hear. Let's see what he can do about it!"

Qin Yi temporarily suppressed the fury filling his chest.

As expected of my future father-in-law. That protective tone really puts a man at ease.

"There wasn't even anything going on here to begin with. Just now, I wanted to take back the materials I'd prepared to hand in, but this old man and Hua Yunfeng wouldn't let me. This damned old man even tried to attack me. They were clearly bullying us people from Emerald Bamboo Peak," Qin Yi said.

The words "damned old man" grated harshly on Elder Gan's ears.

Elder Gan ground his teeth, almost wanting to slap Qin Yi dead, but with Gu Yanshan standing beside him, he ultimately did not dare strike.

Gu Yanshan was, after all, the Dripping Water Sword!

He was an expert who had made his name decades ago. Elder Gan was only an alchemy elder; his strength lay in alchemy, not martial prowess.

"You have every right to take back your own materials. Gan Lusong, where did you find the nerve to stop him? Who gave you the courage to bully him?" Gu Yanshan demanded coldly, calling him to account.

Elder Gan's face twisted. Knowing he was in the wrong, he could not get so much as half a sentence out for a moment.

Hua Yunfeng, however, cupped his hands and bowed. "Martial Uncle Gu, Elder Gan isn't to blame. The truth is, I need the fire salamander bone Junior Brother Qin brought back. That's why I asked him to leave it behind. Much of this is a misunderstanding."

Qin Yi said, "Give it a rest. There's no misunderstanding. Besides, I already told you: you're the head disciple of Snow Maple Ridge, and I'm the head disciple of Emerald Bamboo Peak. What gives you the right to call yourself my senior brother? I'm not your Junior Brother Qin, and you're not my Senior Brother Hua. We're so far apart that even eight poles couldn't reach between us. Besides, what does your needing fire salamander bone have to do with me? Why should I leave it for you?"

In fact, as soon as Gu Yanshan arrived, Qin Yi had noticed that he seemed not to like Hua Yunfeng very much.

Dislike for someone could not be hidden.

When you saw someone you disliked, the disgust in your eyes and the disdain on your face would reveal themselves involuntarily.

When Gu Yanshan first arrived and caught sight of Hua Yunfeng, he had shown precisely that reaction.

Since Gu Yanshan disliked Hua Yunfeng, Qin Yi naturally had to lash into him a little harder. With his master there to back him up anyway, he could now take on heaven and earth without worry.

Sure enough, Qin Yi's words were very much to Gu Yanshan's liking.

Gu Yanshan chuckled. "Qin Yi, you're right. As long as you don't want to give away what belongs to you, no one has the right to snatch it. Here in the Famous Sword Sect, unless I'm dead, as long as I still live, no one will bully or humiliate my disciple right under my nose."

Qin Yi was delighted. His father-in-law's temperament really was likable.

Hua Yunfeng said, "Martial Uncle Gu, my master told me I could take any medicinal materials in the Mission Pavilion."

Gu Yanshan said, "What do your master's instructions have to do with me?"

Hua Yunfeng said, "That fire salamander bone is very old and exceedingly rare. I hope Qin Yi can leave it behind."

Gu Yanshan said, "Naturally, Qin Yi decides what to do with his own things. If he doesn't agree, then what you're doing amounts to outright robbery."

"Qin Yi, how about a trade?" Hua Yunfeng no longer called him junior brother. Every time he did, he got snapped at, so he simply called Qin Yi by name.

"Not interested." Qin Yi turned to Gu Yanshan. "Master, let's go back."

Gu Yanshan nodded, then patted his daughter Gu Yiyi's head. With a sweep of his hand, a light breeze swept over, wrapped around the two young people, and carried them straight away.

Watching them leave, Hua Yunfeng was furious as the thing he wanted vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye.

At that moment, a jade ruyi lay quietly within his dantian.

On that jade ruyi sat a palm-sized woman with her legs crossed.

Seeming to sense Hua Yunfeng's fluctuating emotions, she secretly transmitted her voice to ask, "Yunfeng, why get angry?"

Hua Yunfeng communicated with her through his divine sense. "Sister Yu, this Gu Yanshan has gone a little too far in bullying me."

The woman called "Sister Yu" smiled. "He's merely a cultivator at the mid Golden Core stage. You'll surpass him very soon. For now, you need to keep your heart calm and your Qi steady. As long as you get through this breakthrough period smoothly, once you reach the late Golden Core stage, someone like him will no longer be able to act so presumptuously before you."

"You're right, Sister Yu."

"The Famous Sword Sect hides an enormous secret. For now, don't fall out with the Gu family. Once you win Gu Qingshuang over and become acting sect master, that secret will become your fortuitous encounter. Once that time comes, whether it's the sect master or the Dripping Water Sword, neither will amount to anything before you."

"Mm."

Under this woman's comforting words, Hua Yunfeng's emotions soon settled.

But the alchemy elder beside him could not forget how Gu Yanshan had just humiliated him in public. He snorted coldly and returned to the Mission Pavilion.

As it happened, other disciples came to turn in missions. Whenever anyone from Emerald Bamboo Peak appeared among them, his face immediately hardened, and he picked bones out of eggs with an exceedingly nasty attitude.

"These materials are so shoddy, yet you dare bring them back and pass them off as acceptable?"

"This yellow spring grass has already changed color. What did you even pick it for?"

Anything submitted by an Emerald Bamboo Peak disciple was rejected outright.

Some disciples were puzzled. They had successfully handed in materials of the same quality before.

Why had they been acceptable before, but not this time?

"Enough nonsense. If this elder says they're unacceptable, then they're unacceptable. Either go find more or hurry up and get lost."

Elder Gan vented all the resentment in his heart on these Emerald Bamboo Peak disciples.

Watching from the side, Hua Yunfeng did not try to dissuade him. A conflict between Elder Gan and Gu Yanshan was something he would be happy to see.

After lingering briefly, he left first.

After Gu Yanshan brought Qin Yi and Gu Yiyi back to Emerald Bamboo Peak, he called Qin Yi alone to a martial training ground in the inner courtyard.

Qin Yi knew Gu Yanshan probably had something to say to him.

"Qin Yi, what do you think of Hua Yunfeng?" Gu Yanshan asked after a brief moment of contemplation.

"He's very annoying. Just looking at him makes me want to beat him up," Qin Yi answered honestly.

Gu Yanshan smiled. "Do you think you could beat him?"

Qin Yi feigned ignorance. "I wouldn't necessarily be afraid of him."

Gu Yanshan shook his head. "Your talent is excellent, and your potential is very high. Given time, you'll indeed have what it takes to contend with him. But right now, you're still no match for him."