Chapter 12

What the heck, sticky as glue and lacquer!!?

Even if he fell off this turtle's back and floated in the lake, Wen Qingyin would not want to have anything to do with Pei Junheng!

Unless that relationship is Wen Qingyin with his defeated subordinate Pei Junheng.

Fortunately, Qing Xuan Shangjun didn't say anything else that would raise Wen Qingyin's blood pressure; after laughing at that remark, he let Wen Qingyin and Pei Junheng return to Hongyu Xie quickly.

Wen Qingyin was overjoyed; he stepped on the branches that had long been waiting beside him and climbed up the tree. As Wen Qingyin stepped onto the branch, he heard Pei Junheng, who had fallen behind him, speak in a volume only the two of them could hear:

「Did you get what you wanted on Xuanwu? 」

His breath caught, Wen Qingyin jerked his head back while stepping on the branch, because the moving branch made the distance between him and Pei Junheng grow farther.

The young sword cultivator's eyes fixed on him, as if they could see his thoughts; Pei Junheng's lips were pale, and at first glance his face looked ghostly.

Pei Junheng knew he came to Xuanwu for the Ruyi grass?

That thought only made Wen Qingyin panic for a moment; he immediately tossed it to the back of his mind.

Even if Pei Junheng knew, so what?

The Ruyi grass growing on Xuanwu had no name to begin with; Wen Qingyin neither stole nor snatched it, he simply took it openly.

Wen Qingyin certainly wasn't afraid of Pei Junheng.

The cut on his hand kept aching, showing its presence; Wen Qingyin took out the ointment and applied it to that small cut, and the moment the pale green ointment touched his skin, the wound instantly healed, leaving no trace of injury when he looked again.

If others saw the ointment in Wen Qingyin's hand, they'd surely pop their eyes out; cultivators throughout the sea fight tooth and nail to get a bit of this lifesaving jade marrow salve, yet in the hands of the little sect master Wen, it's merely a common thing for treating small wounds.

Stepping on the branches back to the tree, the many herb cultivators had long been waiting here for their little sect master; upon seeing Wen Qingyin return, they all rushed over in a hurry.

「Little sect master! That broken sword cultivator didn't do anything to you, did he? 」 Zi Shu Zhi squeezed through the crowd to the front, examined Wen Qingyin from head to toe, and seeing that he had no injuries, finally put his worried heart at ease.

If the little sect master made a mistake, he would have no face to meet the fellow disciples of Yunzhong Xianmen; he might as well just kill himself in this lake.

「I'm fine. 」

Wen Qingyin calmed the surrounding Yunzhong Xianmen disciples; at that moment, Qing Xuan Shangjun and Chang Fu Shangjun happened to return to Hongyu Xie.

This incident with Xuanwu truly exceeded everyone's expectations; the two Shangjun specially had all disciples return to Hongyu Xie, feeling they needed to say something about today's unexpected accident during the lesson.

According to Qing Xuan Shangjun, it turned out that the divine beast Xuanwu had long been sleeping in the lake of Yingzhou Academy; today, as new students attended lessons at Hongyu Xie, the cause of Xuanwu's abnormality was——

Probably the disciples' noises disturbed this divine beast's sound sleep, and in anger Xuanwu rammed its head into a tree, intending to smash the source of the noise, Hongyu Xie, to be satisfied.

The immortals led by Qing Xuan Shangjun and Chang Fu Shangjun tried to pacify the enraged Xuanwu with dried fish and a toy jade ball, but to no avail; they were also intimidated by the sword aura of the Baihong Sword, yet Xuanwu was successfully soothed, and only after adding a large basket of dried fish did it cover its wounded spirit and return to the lake bottom to rest.

This seemingly mighty divine beast Xuanwu could actually be handled with dried fish.

「We are truly sorry for what happened earlier, Academy; the courage shown by disciples Wen Qingyin and Pei Junheng in stepping forward deserves praise and affirmation. 」 Qing Xuan Shangjun looked smiling at Wen Qingyin and Pei Junheng in the crowd, his eyes full of benevolent relief.

「I, on behalf of the academy, guarantee that the two disciples will receive the academy's courage gift package; remember to open the jade slip to check when it arrives~」

There's actually a gift package.

Before Wen Qingyin could even open the jade slip to check, Qing Xuan Shangjun continued smiling and said: 「Everyone was just frightened; today's lesson ends early, so you may return to your own small courtyards to rest. 」"

He waved friendly at the disciples in Hongyu Xie, indicating they could now leave.

Wen Qingyin was overjoyed; he could feel the Ruyi grass in his pouch unfurling its branches and leaves, brimming with vibrant life.

He could hardly wait to have crafted the love gu.

Just thinking about successfully crafting the love gu, which has long disappeared from the Top Ten Forbidden Formulas, makes Wen Qingyin excited.

He didn't even have time to think about the gift package in the jade slip; as soon as Qing Xuan Shangjun said they could leave, Wen Qingyin turned and walked away.

「Hey! Little sect master, wait for me! 」 Zi Shu Zhi saw Wen Qingyin hurry off, didn't even have time to badmouth the sword cultivator with Wan Wanjing, and rushed after him.

Their figures soon vanished from sight.

Qiu Sanchi, beside Pei Junheng, couldn't understand his earlier behavior: 「Young sect master, why did you go down to wade into that muddy water? Wen Qingyin is seeking his own death; let him struggle alone, why must you personally fly on sword? 」 He also drew the Baihong Sword, which hadn't been seen in a long time.

What's more……

Qiu Sanchi's gaze fell on Pei Junheng's trembling right hand: "If it weren't for the pill that Wen Qingyin handed you back then, how could the Young Sect Master possibly fail to fully control even the White Rainbow?" The Young Sect Master was originally a peerless genius immortal talent unmatched in the world, but it was precisely that pill of Wen Qingyin's that nearly reduced Pei Junheng to a cripple.

Never mind whether he could pick up a sword—he might not even survive; the Young Sect Master of the Wanzhou Sword Sect almost met his doom at Wen Qingyin's hands, so Qiu Sanchi has had to worry incessantly about everything concerning Wen Qingyin, and can no longer give that deceitful pill cultivator any chance to become Young Sect Master!

Qiu Sanchi had been talking to himself at length, but after he finished, Pei Junheng before him still had not withdrawn his gaze toward the door of Hongyu Pavilion; the hand that had taken up the sword began to bleed again, his complexion grew much paler, yet lost in his own world he remained oblivious to everything.

"Does Wen Qingyin have a scar on his palm?" Pei Junheng suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Why ask that?

Qiu Sanchi's thoughts were still caught up in his accusations against those pill cultivators of the Cloud Immortal Sect, and for a moment he couldn't keep up with Pei Junheng's sudden question.

After a brief thought, Qiu Sanchi answered offhand: "How could that be? The Cloud Immortal Sect treasures him like a jewel—how could Wen Qingyin possibly have a scar?"

After saying that, Qiu Sanchi muttered under his breath: "Besides, Wen Qingyin is such a weakling—he'd cry over a tiny nick; how could he allow himself to bear a scar?"

Pei Junheng's pupil color shifted, and in his mind appeared the red mark on Wen Qingyin's palm when he raised his hand, plus the faint scar sensation felt when his fingers touched.

Rumor has it that the young sect master of the Cloud Immortal Sect bears not a single flaw, like a jade article meticulously carved by a supreme deity, unwilling to inflict even the slightest damage; then how did that scar on Wen Qingyin's hand come to be?

"The other housemate sharing my residence turns out to be the young chief of the Thousand Mechanisms Ingenious Pavilion." Qiu Sanchi picked up his jade slip and examined it carefully, asking, "Young Sect Master, have you looked at where your lodging is?"

After waiting a while with no reply, Qiu Sanchi lifted his head; Pei Junheng's gaze still lingered in the distance, his eyes dark and unfathomable, unknown what he was thinking.

When silence fell, the dripping of each drop of blood became distinct, and Qiu Sanchi then noticed that Pei Junheng's right hand had somehow become stained with blood: "Young Sect Master, you!"

Pei Junheng raised his hand to wipe the blood from his right hand clean, and said in a light tone: "It's nothing."

It seemed this had become an utterly ordinary occurrence.

Only after the disciples of Hongyu Pavilion had mostly departed did Chang Fu Shangjun, as if still feeling frightened, wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Today's incident really scared the guts out of me."

First Xuanwu collided with a tree, Hongyu Pavilion toppled over; then the young sect master of the Cloud Immortal Sect and the Young Sect Master of the Wanzhou Sword Sect personally went down to meet the giant beast, fortunately without any mishap occurring.

Qing Xuan Shangjun sympathetically reached out and patted Chang Fu Shangjun's shoulder; the eyes that had just been smiling narrowly finally revealed a long-held doubt: "Xuanwu has slept for a thousand years—why did it wake just today?"

The human voices spoken before the disciples earlier, claimed to have awakened Xuanwu, were merely a temporary excuse to soothe hearts; in truth, Qing Xuan Shangjun could not immediately find the reason for Xuanwu's awakening, but at least he had managed to pacify Xuanwu for now.

"Other immortals have already been assigned to watch by the lake; it's time to prepare for the sect's grand competition." Chang Fu Shangjun said, and after Yingzhou Academy opened its doors, the Shangjun and immortals of the academy also grew busy.

Qing Xuan Shangjun and Chang Fu Shangjun walked out together.

The towering tree in the lake that supports the Rainbow Rain Pavilion has, after today's incident, mostly shed its flowers that once filled the top; only one branch remains with lush green leaves and clustered blossoms.

"Huh? This…" Chang Fu Shangjun stopped in his tracks, looking at that unusually different flower branch in surprise.

"That's the branch stepped on by Young Sect Master Wen." Qing Xuan Shangjun followed Chang Fu Shangjun's gaze and saw that flower branch; the flowers on it were just right, as if they had received heavenly sweet dew.

"I see." Chang Fu Shangjun, suddenly realizing, couldn't help but secretly marvel: this Young Sect Master Wen actually bears a faint resemblance to the demeanor of the Taihe Immortal Lord back then.

Qing Xuan Shangjun suddenly stopped, looking toward the calm, waveless lake surface beneath the tree; his face rarely lacked its usual smile: "I need to go into seclusion for a while recently."

Yingzhou Academy is located on a towering, undulating mountain; the mountain path is winding and difficult, but fortunately, with the jade slip guiding Wen Qingyin, he soon found this small courtyard situated in a mountain hollow—Luoxing Courtyard.

The different buildings are spaced apart, and the courtyard is surrounded by towering, cloud-piercing dense forest; the walls happen to combine into an independent space.

Before even approaching the courtyard, one first sees the huge apricot tree growing inside; its roots are thick and twisted, its canopy enormous, stretching straight up toward the horizon.

This is not the season for apricot blossoms, so there are no flower buds on the branches.

Wen Qingyin hadn't seen apricot blossoms in full bloom for a long time; his fingertip touched a black branch of the apricot tree, as if a withered twig's tip, under his touch, burst forth a pink flower bud, trembling with pale yellow stamens, gradually opening.

Seeing that the flowers were about to spread along the branch and cover the whole tree, Wen Qingyin suddenly withdrew his hand and turned to walk into the house.

Inside the room are placed two beds; between them hangs only a single layer of sheer gauze as a curtain—when the wind blows, the gauze is stirred and lifted, revealing the scene on the other bed; this gauze curtain is essentially useless.

I never expected the courtyard of Yingzhou Academy to be so shabby—can't there even be multiple rooms inside?

I only hope that the roommate who will share lodgings with him is quiet.

Thinking of this, Wen Qingyin took out the jade slip he had placed in his bag; the space for the other roommate's name on the jade slip remained blank, and he also did not see on the jade slip the "surprise gift package" mentioned by Qing Xuan Shangjun.

Could it be that his jade slip is really broken?

Setting the jade slip aside, Wen Qingyin sat at the table and took out the Ruyi grass he had been searching for a long time.

The Ruyi grass, when plucked, suffers no loss of spiritual power; its exquisite, translucent form does not resemble a plant but rather a decoration made of glass or jade, as if tapping it on the table would produce several clear sounds.

Wen Qingyin also rummaged out from his bag a small porcelain round box, on which a big, chubby, twisting worm is painted in ink.

He carefully opened the lid; inside, a chubby worm lay curled up quietly.

This is the gu worm that Wen Qingyin has carefully nurtured, and it is also about to be made into a love gu.

Picking up the Ruyi grass, Wen Qingyin gently touched the gu worm with it; seeing the gu worm slowly awaken, he then placed the entire stalk of Ruyi grass into the porcelain box.

Wen Qingyin closed the lid of the porcelain box and waited patiently; the box had been cold when he first took it out of his bag, but now, without realizing it, his hands had warmed it.

He listened to the faint chewing sounds coming from the box, striving to calm his nervous heartbeat.

Over these past few years, he has not been idle in the Cloud Immortal Sect; Wen Qingyin is no longer the person he was a few years ago.

After waiting for the chewing sounds to cease, Wen Qingyin gently opened the box lid.

The gu worm inside the box slept peacefully; the Ruyi grass that had been placed inside was gone, and the previously white, plump gu worm resembling a jade silkworm had turned translucent with a bluish tint, as if dyed by the Ruyi grass.

Wen Qingyin took out the "Ten Great Forbidden Secret Recipes," and repeatedly checked the description of the love gu to confirm beyond doubt the condition of the gu worm.

He succeeded in making it!

He carefully put away the porcelain box; Wen Qingyin could not hide his excitement, walking several circuits around Luoxing Courtyard.

The love gu is merely the simplest of the formulas in the forbidden book; now that he has successfully made the love gu, the remaining nine forbidden formulas are imminent.

Before his eyes appeared that lofty face and cold, hard gaze; Wen Qingyin tightened his grip on the "Ten Great Forbidden Secret Recipes."

Rash, his cultivation not yet advanced—will he be defeated by Pei Junheng's hands?

Then, as he said, let's wait and see.

He said he would defeat Pei Junheng in front of the entire Yingzhou Academy at the sect grand competition, and that was not just empty talk.

After walking several circuits and successfully calming his emotions, Wen Qingyin decided to pick up his small hoe from his bag, found a suitable spot in the courtyard, and began to cultivate a spirit field.

The land of Yingzhou is not as soft and suitable for reclamation as Penglai's; thus, after Wen Qingyin roughly finished his work, night had already covered the heavens, and the bright moon hung high above.

Wen Qingyin stood up, feeling only that his arms were sore; after washing his hands, he lay down on the bed.

Leaning on the bed, he prepared to look at the forbidden book again, but estimating that he was utterly exhausted today, after reading just a single character he felt drowsiness wash over him like a mountain pressing down.

And yet his roommate still hadn't arrived.

Feeling heavy drowsiness, Wen Qingyin struggled to keep his eyes open as he felt for the jade slip; the space for the other roommate's name on the jade slip remained perpetually blank.

Is his jade slip really broken?

Finally unable to hold on, Wen Qingyin clutched the jade slip and fell asleep, immediately entering a deep, sweet slumber.

And after Wen Qingyin fell asleep, the jade slip in his hand suddenly emitted a flash of light, finally filling the previously blank space.

Beside Wen Qingyin's name, another roommate's name popped up—

"Pei Junheng."