The Grudge Between Two Peaks

Feng Zhuo ultimately accepted the large stone Yun Li had given him.

He had only meant to stop Su Ruanruan from obtaining the fortuitous opportunity, but he hadn't expected an unexpected windfall as well. He was even more delighted.

Cang Wuya asked, "That happy?"

"Of course!"

Feng Zhuo's eyes sparkled. "Junior Brother, you have no idea how awful that Su Ruanruan is!"

"All I did was refuse to take the low-grade Rejuvenation Pill she gave me, and she accused me in front of everyone of bullying her. Then, when she was choosing a master, she deliberately told Primordial Lord Chixiao that I looked down on her!"

Feng Zhuo was determined to warn his junior brother, so he would know just how awful Su Ruanruan was and stay away from her if he ever encountered her.

Cang Wuya asked calmly, "Did you want to join Crimson Firmament Peak?"

"Of course not!"

Feng Zhuo hurriedly shook his head.

In his previous life, he had indeed only wanted to join Pill Peak, but in this life...

"Junior Brother, you know my parents and Master are old friends. Naturally, I came to the Supreme One Divine Sect to become Master's disciple."

"Good."

Cang Wuya nodded. "From now on, I'll come find you every morning to practice swordsmanship."

"What?! Wait!"

Feng Zhuo hurriedly waved his hands. "Junior Brother, you misunderstood! That's not what I meant! I cultivate alchemy and spells. I wasn't planning to switch to the Sword Dao?!"

"Hold on to my sleeve."

Feng Zhuo didn't understand, but he did as he was told, all the while trying to explain to Cang Wuya that he had no intention of practicing swordsmanship.

"There are a lot of people. Be careful not to get lost."

Feng Zhuo spotted Ye Wuhen and Ling Shuanghua in the distance and immediately waved excitedly. "Senior Brother! Senior Sister! Over here!"

Once the two came closer, Feng Zhuo immediately released the cuff he was gripping and ran to Ling Shuanghua's side to complain.

"Senior Sister, please talk some sense into Junior Brother! He says he's going to make me practice swordsmanship with him every day after we return to the sect, but I'm an alchemy cultivator!"

Cang Wuya paid no attention to his rumpled cuff and pulled his junior brother, who was half a head shorter than him, back to his side. "Alchemy cultivators are too weak. Sword cultivators are formidable."

Feng Zhuo said anxiously, "But I'm also a spell cultivator!"

Cang Wuya refused to yield an inch. "Spell cultivators are no match for sword cultivators in a fight either."

Seeing that he couldn't win the argument with his junior brother, Feng Zhuo could only look to his eldest senior brother and second senior sister for help.

"Ahem." Ling Shuanghua cleared her throat. "Junior Brother, you know Carefree Peak is a sword peak, after all. The disciples all have to practice a few sword moves..."

Feng Zhuo's face fell.

His father and mother were both spell cultivators, and he had followed in their footsteps.

The Feng Household also produced many Alchemists, and Feng Zhuo happened to be interested in refining pills, so he had also taken up the Dao of Alchemy.

Did becoming a disciple mean he had to cultivate a sword technique too? He really couldn't split himself into enough pieces...

That said, Feng Zhuo simply couldn't quite endure the hardship of practicing swordsmanship.

Ye Wuhen couldn't stand by and watch, so he explained gently, "Junior Brother, don't listen to them scaring you. The peak has no such rule."

"It's just that practicing swordsmanship really can strengthen the body, so we all learned some basic sword moves when we were children. If you really don't want to, Master won't force you."

"All right..."

Feng Zhuo understood his senior brother and senior sister meant well and could only compromise. "But I still have to study spells and alchemy, so..."

He held up five fingers. "I'll only practice five mornings every ten days!"

A ten-day period had ten days, and Feng Zhuo would only practice for five mornings. Even saying he fished for three days and dried his nets for two was putting it mildly.

Fortunately, Feng Zhuo wasn't a sword cultivator. At that rate of practice, who knew how long it would take him to amount to anything?

Cang Wuya, however, had only meant to help his junior brother strengthen his body, not truly make him switch to the Sword Dao. Still less would he let it delay Feng Zhuo's original cultivation, so he nodded his agreement.

The Azure Cloud Pavilion soon came into view.

As shops under the Azure Cloud Chamber of Commerce, the foremost chamber of commerce on the Profound Firmament Continent, Azure Cloud Pavilions could be found everywhere. Naturally, the foot of the Supreme One Divine Sect's mountain was no exception.

Feng Zhuo followed Cang Wuya into the pavilion after he presented a black token.

Ling Shuanghua pointed at the long line outside and said, relieved, "Good thing Junior Brother Cang has a Mystic-Grade Azure Cloud Token. Otherwise, who knows how long we would have had to wait to get in."

Feng Zhuo knew that the Azure Cloud Pavilion divided its customers into five grades according to how much they spent. Black was the highest, and he had a token of his own.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hua Zhaoye present a red token and prepare to enter with Su Ruanruan and Bai Wuxia.

Remembering that his senior brother and senior sister still didn't know about the bad things the three had just done, Feng Zhuo hurriedly urged Cang Wuya to move along. But the pavilion's shopkeeper came out to greet them in person, holding them up just long enough for them to run into the trio.

Hua Zhaoye stared at the black token in Cang Wuya's hand, then looked at his own red token, the second-lowest grade. His face turned livid, and he turned and went around them!

Ling Shuanghua snorted coldly, holding back only because of where they were.

It seemed relations between Carefree Peak and Crimson Firmament Peak really were poor.

After the three had gone, Feng Zhuo asked curiously, "Senior Sister, do you have a grudge against them?"

"More than you can imagine!"

Ling Shuanghua gritted her teeth. "Those Alchemists from Crimson Firmament Peak are all the same, hypocrites to the core!"

"Back then, Master was gravely injured, and we asked the Peak Master of Crimson Firmament Peak to help refine a pill. That old bastard Chixiao claimed he was in seclusion, then turned around and took someone else's commission! If your mother hadn't brought an Alchemist from the Feng Household, Master would be in the ground now!"

That was also why Ling Shuanghua was good to Feng Zhuo.

She and Ye Wuhen had grown up on Carefree Peak. Though they often bickered with Yunxiaozi, they regarded him as a father.

"Junior Brother, you have no idea! Those people from Crimson Firmament Peak put on a respectable face, but behind everyone's backs, they're more underhanded than anyone!"

"They thought they could force us to submit by getting Pill Peak to cut off our pill supply? They could keep on fucking dreaming! What a load of fucking dog shit!"

Ye Wuhen hastily gave a light cough. "Junior Sister, mind your language. Junior Brother is still young..."

"Ah, sorry, sorry!"

Only then did Ling Shuanghua realize what she had said. She scratched her head sheepishly. "I'm a crude person, Junior Brother. Make sure you don't pick up those coarse words from me."

Feng Zhuo really was shocked by Chixiao's conduct and gestured for his senior sister to continue.

"Later, our Carefree Peak made a wager with them."

Ling Shuanghua gestured animatedly. "The youngest disciples of the two Peak Masters would compete to decide the winner."

"Junior Brother Cang was only ten at the time and hadn't even reached Foundation Establishment, yet those idiots from Crimson Firmament Peak actually agreed!"

At that point, she couldn't help slapping her thigh and laughing. "Hahaha! You should have seen Junior Brother Cang chasing Hua Zhaoye all over the arena with his sword! I really regret not recording it with an image-recording jade!"

Feng Zhuo asked, "So Junior Brother won the contest, and Crimson Firmament Peak lifted the pill ban?"

"Pah!"

Ling Shuanghua immediately stamped her foot in anger. "They were sore losers!"

"The wager was there in black and white, but they turned around and said it wasn't fair for a sword cultivator to fight an alchemy cultivator! If they really thought it was unfair, why did they agree in the first place? Wasn't it because Junior Brother Cang was young and they thought Hua Zhaoye was sure to win?"

Feng Zhuo wholeheartedly agreed. "They really are hypocrites."

Su Ruanruan had learned that hypocritical manner down to the last detail.

Feng Zhuo turned and recounted the conflict at the market.

Ling Shuanghua beamed as she listened. "That was satisfying! So satisfying! Next time something this good happens, you have to call your senior sister over!"

The contract's signed at last! Darlings, move those fortune-making fingers and help your humble author tap the update reminder and add the book to your shelves~

Love you, muah (〜￣▽￣)〜