Venting his resentment

"Qin Yi, you're so bad."

Two hours later, Gu Yiyi chided him resentfully, her legs trembling.

"There's no rush to get up. You can lie down and rest a little longer," Qin Yi suggested.

"I'm not resting here with you." Gu Yiyi bit her lip.

If she stayed any longer, she might not even be able to stand later.

"What's wrong with my place?" Qin Yi took her hand and tried to pull her into his arms again.

Startled, Gu Yiyi hurriedly jumped several steps away. "Stop fooling around! I've been out for ages. If my father finds out later, he won't let you off."

She stretched out a slender, jade-like finger and poked his forehead.

After all, her father had yet to betroth her to Qin Yi, and their relationship had not been formally settled.

If her father learned that she had been at Qin Yi's place until she could no longer stand, he might well be angered to death.

"All right, then. Junior sister, remember to rest properly when you get back."

"You're so bad."

Gu Yiyi glared at him and pouted. Once feeling returned to her legs, she hurriedly opened the door and ran back.

"Hehe."

Qin Yi lay on the bed and chuckled. The warm current produced by the medicine was still burning inside him.

Such abundant vigor truly was inexhaustible.

"This medicine is far too potent. Now that Junior Sister Yiyi has left, how am I supposed to control its effects on my own?"

"Or should I go find Junior Sister Xinran?"

To find Xu Xinran, he would have to go to the third peak, Pine Cloud Peak.

"Come to think of it, I haven't visited any of the other peaks since joining the Famous Sword Sect."

The Famous Sword Sect had nine peaks in total, each representing a lineage. Depending on the relationships between their peak masters, some were relatively close, while others were more hostile toward one another.

Take his master, Dripping Water Sword Gu Yanshan, for example. As for why he disliked Hua Yunfeng, Qin Yi had finally learned the reason during the past two hours.

While he and Gu Yiyi were being intimate, Gu Yiyi had told him why her father disliked Hua Yunfeng.

In truth, the root cause lay not with Hua Yunfeng, but with Hua Yunfeng's master, Gu Yanhe.

Gu Yanhe and Gu Yanshan-as their names suggested-were brothers of the same generation.

But although they were brothers of the same generation, they were not actual brothers, but paternal cousins.

The Famous Sword Sect had always been passed down through successive generations of the Gu family.

Back when the old sect master was choosing his successor, there had originally been two candidates.

One was Gu Yanhe, and the other was Gu Yanshan.

In his youth, Gu Yanshan had been known as Dripping Water Sword. His talent and potential had stood head and shoulders above his peers.

Compared with him, even Gu Yanhe had fallen short.

If ability had been the deciding factor, the next sect master should certainly have been Gu Yanshan.

Yet when the old sect master chose his successor, he had selected Gu Yanhe instead.

That choice had not been made because Gu Yanhe possessed some particular merit, but because he had resorted to certain schemes.

Back then, Gu Yanshan had gone on a mission of great importance. So long as he completed it, his achievements would have secured him the sect master's seat upon his return.

Yet Gu Yanhe had people spread word that Gu Yanshan had been gravely wounded during the mission, and that whether he lived or died was unknown.

As ill luck would have it, Gu Yanshan's wife heard this rumor.

She and her husband shared a deep affection, and naturally, she did not want any harm to befall him.

And so, despite being pregnant at the time, his wife insisted on taking some people to the mission site to search for Gu Yanshan.

Not only did she fail to find Gu Yanshan, but she herself fell into a trap laid by demons, was hunted down by them, and suffered grave injuries.

When news of her injuries reached Gu Yanshan, he naturally could not stop worrying about her either, and searched everywhere for her like a madman.

In the end, the two wandered about outside, losing half a year before they finally reunited.

Sadly, after suffering grave injuries in the devil creatures' trap, his wife passed away not long after giving birth to Gu Yiyi outside the sect.

When Gu Yanshan returned to the sect with his daughter, he discovered that the old sect master had long since handed the position over to Gu Yanhe.

When he first heard the news, Gu Yanshan felt as though the sky were collapsing.

He had devoted all his efforts to obtaining the sect master's seat, and even his wife's life had been lost in the process.

And what had come of it?

The old sect master had given the position to Gu Yanhe, who was inferior to him in every respect.

At the time, he could not restrain himself and fought Gu Yanhe.

Unfortunately, Gu Yanhe had already received the sect master's inheritance by then, and his strength had long since surpassed his.

Gu Yanshan lost that battle.

Feeling beset by every manner of humiliation, he had wanted to slit his own throat and depart this world.

But in the end, for his daughter's sake, he held himself back.

Afterward, he had also considered leaving the Famous Sword Sect, but his elderly father earnestly urged him to stay, saying that the Famous Sword Sect was the Gu family's foundation and that he must put the bigger picture first. As a pillar of the Famous Sword Sect, he absolutely could not abandon it.

From then on, Gu Yanshan sank into dejection.

He chose Emerald Bamboo Peak and became the sect's seventh elder.

Although he was an elder, he never concerned himself with the sect's affairs.

Sect Master Gu Yanhe felt guilty toward him and never asked him to do anything, either.

Even regarding the disciples sent to Emerald Bamboo Peak, he said that Gu Yanshan could accept them if he wished, and that it did not matter if he drove them away instead.

But this arrangement also amounted to a form of moral blackmail.

After all, everyone who entered the Famous Sword Sect had either worked extremely hard or pulled many strings to get in.

If Gu Yanshan drove them away, would they not all bear a grudge against him?

For that reason, he had never driven away a single disciple. He accepted everyone the sect sent to him.

However, he did not put much care into teaching those disciples. His usual approach was laissez-faire: they could learn whatever they could.

Only after hearing Gu Yiyi finish recounting this history of grudges did Qin Yi understand why Gu Yanshan loathed Hua Yunfeng.

There was no other reason-it was simply because Hua Yunfeng was Gu Yanhe's disciple.

Perhaps that was also why, after witnessing Qin Yi's talent, Gu Yanshan had immediately decided to focus on nurturing him.

Why was that?

Clearly, he wanted to vent his resentment.

He had Qin Yi build a solid foundation for now, while he took care of all his cultivation resources.

His aim was to have Qin Yi surpass Hua Yunfeng within the next few years.

As long as Qin Yi could rise above Hua Yunfeng in the future, those old fossils of the Gu family in secluded cultivation could open their damned eyes wide and take a good look.

Back then, Gu Yanhe was inferior to me. Now, Gu Yanhe's genius disciple is inferior to my disciple too.

Just how blind were you old fossils back then?

Can you see clearly now?