Chapter 35: Roar, Roar

“Yes, I came to apologize. I’m being very sincere about it.” Pei Mingshan pulled a storage pouch from his sleeve. “Junior Granduncle-Master, why not take a look at my sincerity?”

Wen Xu laughed outright. “Pei Mingshan, you’re not a disciple of Yonglu Mountain.”

Pei Mingshan’s hand paused. Yet he proved surprisingly capable of bending with the circumstances. “You truly won’t take a look?”

“If this is the extent of your sincerity, then Yonglu Mountain does not welcome you. As for your apology, I was never the only person you owed it to. Forgive me, but I cannot accept it.”

Perhaps Wen Xu had become so angry that he had gone right past fury, because he suddenly found himself wondering whether this man had really come to apologize or to make an enemy.

He had met plenty of scheming people before, but this was the first time he had encountered someone so utterly impossible to read.

The faint outline of a slap mark could still be seen on Pei Mingshan’s face. He had deliberately left it there. Unfortunately, only after climbing the mountain had he remembered that Yonglu Mountain’s Junior Granduncle-Master was blind.

All that effort had been like making eyes at a blind man.

How could he really be blind?

But if he was pretending, what could he possibly gain from it? Yonglu Mountain’s newly minted Junior Granduncle-Master might have come from the Mortal Realm, but his talent was exceptional, and he had also earned Divine Venerable Chengwei’s favor. There was no reason for him to pretend to be blind.

Then again, what sort of cultivator could suffer blindness that could not be healed?

Pei Mingshan was a clever man, and clever people were especially fond of overthinking things.

Divine Venerable Chengwei was feared for two reasons. The first was his cultivation at the Body Integration Realm. The second was his innate ability to see through the human heart.

Before this, Divine Venerable Chengwei had lived in seclusion for over two hundred years. He had refused to take a disciple for so long, yet now, of all times, he had suddenly accepted a blind disciple with a wind spiritual root.

Pei Mingshan could hardly help suspecting that Wen Xu might possess a gift for discerning heavenly fate.

That would explain why the Divine Venerable had suddenly emerged from seclusion to accept a disciple.

“So that’s what this is about. I’ve already sent apology gifts to the other two senior brothers as well. To tell you the truth, I now realize that I was wrong.” Pei Mingshan abruptly began apologizing with genuine sincerity. “I did indeed behave improperly regarding the mission at Mist Mountain Village. Had I considered matters more thoroughly, the three of you would never have fallen into such danger.”

“I know I was wrong. Please accept this gift, Junior Granduncle-Master. My father flew into a terrible rage yesterday, and my face is still swollen. In truth, that was also the first time I had ever encountered an evil cultivator. I was unable to cultivate as a child, and even now, I have only reached the first level of Qi Refining. Some time ago, I left home after a disagreement, so I had no guards with me. That was why I sought help from Yonglu Mountain.”

“I originally wanted to describe the mission more clearly, but I was afraid the evil cultivator would hear about it and flee. That was how I caused this disaster. Fortunately, nothing truly catastrophic happened. I have fully recognized my mistake.”

Wen Xu was speechless.

When this man spoke like a normal person, it was somehow even more chilling than when he did not.

“Forgive my poor hearing, but I cannot detect even the slightest trace of remorse in your words.”

Pei Mingshan had probably finished reciting everything he had prepared, because the contrition immediately vanished from his face. “Then what did you hear?”

“The smugness of someone who believes he has everything under control and can manipulate the world at will. The mockery of someone who plays the fool while deceiving everyone around him. Does the Young Master of Golden Cauldron Pavilion always act with such overbearing arrogance?”

Wen Xu despised these favored sons of heaven who had no sense of proportion. Sure enough, whether in the Mortal Realm or the cultivation world, human nature always converged in much the same way.

“How could that be?”

Pei Mingshan actually sounded aggrieved.

“I have been the Young Master of Golden Cauldron Pavilion since childhood. In everyone’s eyes, I was naturally destined to become its future master. I grew up surrounded by praise and believed everything they said was simply what I deserved. But on the day my spiritual root was tested, everything changed.”

“I was no longer the person they had expected me to become. An heir born with a leaking dantian was even more humiliating to them than an ordinary person who could not cultivate at all.”

“From the moment my spiritual root was tested, I was at the first level of Qi Refining. Even now, I remain at the first level of Qi Refining. On the surface, I am still the Young Master of Golden Cauldron Pavilion, but no one truly follows me from the heart anymore. No one believes I am capable of bearing the heavy responsibility of Golden Cauldron Pavilion.”

“With your exceptional talent, Junior Granduncle-Master, it must be difficult for you to imagine what it feels like to fall from the heavens, crash to the ground, and discover that no one cares.”

Wen Xu listened to the Young Master of Golden Cauldron Pavilion recount his personal history. Not only was his heart completely calm, he even felt like laughing.

Fall from the heavens and crash to the ground?

So in the heart of a favored son of heaven, merely crashing to the ground was already the worst thing imaginable.

Then what about Wen Xu?

If the destiny his master had spoken of was real, he had done far more than crash to the ground. He had practically been thrown into the eighteenth level of hell.

Even he had not wallowed in self-pity.

What right did this man have to demand his sympathy?

Simply because fortune had finally turned in Wen Xu’s favor, allowing him to enter Yonglu Mountain and become the Divine Venerable’s disciple?

“I truly do find that difficult to imagine.”

Admittedly, being given hope only to have it taken away was miserable. But when it came to Pei Mingshan, Wen Xu simply could not summon the slightest sympathy.

“So what exactly do you want?” Wen Xu’s patience was nearly exhausted. Still, he had once been a scholar, so he could barely force himself to endure a little longer.

Pei Mingshan said, “I want to be friends with you, Junior Granduncle-Master. Is that really so difficult to see?”

“My apologies. I cannot see.”

Pei Mingshan fell silent.

After running into that neither-soft-nor-hard refusal, Pei Mingshan still managed to continue without missing a beat.

“I heard that your good friend Bian Chunzhou has incompatible water and fire spiritual roots. He once saved you in the Cloudbreaking Secret Realm, and that is why you—ah!”

Wen Xu thought that even a scholar’s patience had limits.

When someone delivered himself to his door so Wen Xu could vent his anger, Wen Xu should have beaten him the moment he stepped inside!

“You think you’re worthy of being compared to him? Pei Mingshan, you’re at the first level of Qi Refining, aren’t you? Then today, I’ll beat you using only the strength of someone at the first level of Qi Refining. Fight back if you have the ability. Don’t use any of those useless little tricks!”

“You’re not really limited to the first level of Qi Refining, are you? Show me the drive you had when you chased me that day!”

“Pei Mingshan, I came from the Mortal Realm, but I’m not an idiot! In the cultivation world, spiritual roots are usually tested at twelve at the earliest. A twelve-year-old should already understand right from wrong. Do you dare claim that if you had been able to cultivate normally, you would not have become the person you are now?”

“Your father named you Mingshan, meaning ‘understand goodness.’ Did he foresee the condition of your spiritual root before you were born and name you afterward?”

“Bullshit! Stop making excuses for your hypocrisy and arrogance!”

Wen Xu had pretended to be a scholar for so long that even he had begun to believe he was a refined scholar who always knew when to advance and retreat.

But in truth, when he was young, he had been the little beggar who fought better than anyone else on the entire street!

He might no longer remember exactly how to hit someone where it hurt most, but his body still remembered!

For those at the bottom, the Mortal Realm was an extremely dangerous place. Wen Xu had therefore always remained vigilant.

But after arriving in the cultivation world, whether before joining Yonglu Mountain or after entering his master’s sect, every person and dragon he met had been almost excessively kind.

His guard had gradually relaxed.

Then, on his very first mission down the mountain, he had nearly failed to return alive.

He hated the helpless version of himself.

But he hated self-important heirs of prestigious families like this even more!

Golden Cauldron Pavilion possessed immense wealth and influence, and it had ties to every major sect in the cultivation world. Although its pavilion master was only at the Nascent Soul Realm, the elders it retained included no shortage of Soul Transformation and Body Integration cultivators.

But so what?

Because of a so-called oversight in a mission description, Bian Chunzhou, Chen Zui, and Wen Xu himself had nearly lost their lives inside Jade Pavilion.

Had it been unintentional, Wen Xu could have forgiven him.

But this bastard had clearly been testing people’s hearts, stirring up trouble, and fearing that the world was not chaotic enough!

“Pei Mingshan, did you come to apologize today as Physician Mingling, or as the Young Master of Golden Cauldron Pavilion? If it is the former, then was I wrong to beat you? If it is the latter, then although you claim to despise that identity, you still use it to—”

Pei Mingshan suddenly fought back.

It was obvious that he cared deeply about his identity as the Young Master of Golden Cauldron Pavilion.

“What do you know? What do you know? I—”

Bian Chunzhou arrived carrying the apology gift sent by that bastard Young Master, only to find his friend fighting someone.

Well, damn.

He immediately rolled up his sleeves and charged in.

“You rotten, godforsaken bastard! You actually dared to come up the mountain and attack my brother! I’ll fight you to the death today!”

Just like that, the scene changed from a one-on-one fight into two against one.

The more the three of them fought, the more carried away they became. None of them even used spiritual power.

As a result, the two senior brothers standing guard outside had no idea that a vicious battle was quietly unfolding inside.

Of course, even had they discovered it, they would not have entered to break up the fight.

They might even have stood watch for their own people and, when necessary, passed them a sword.

“Take your filthy money and get out! So what if you’re rich? Who wants your charity?”

Never in Pei Mingshan’s life had he experienced such a humiliating moment.

Even on the day he had been declared incapable of cultivating, no one had beaten him like this.

He touched his swollen face and thought that the slap mark his father had left was now truly impossible to see.

“You really don’t want it? These cultivation resources would at least be enough for you to reach the Golden Core Realm.”

Bian Chunzhou spat.

“I never knew the phrase ‘seeing no one as worthy of your notice’ could be embodied so literally. Pei Mingshan, Young Master Pei, when you discovered the evil cultivator in Jade Pavilion, what was the first thought that entered your head?”

Pei Mingshan had no interest in Bian Chunzhou.

Incompatible water and fire dual spiritual roots were almost equivalent to useless spiritual roots. At most, he would only be able to cultivate to the peak of the Golden Core Realm. His talent was only marginally better than Pei Mingshan’s own.

As the only son of Golden Cauldron Pavilion’s pavilion master, even if Pei Mingshan could not cultivate, his eyes would never settle on a cultivator whose limit was the Golden Core Realm.

“I dislike this manner of questioning and answering.”

At that moment, Pei Mingshan shot straight to first place on Bian Chunzhou’s list of most hated cultivators.

“Someone like you has absolutely no empathy! An evil cultivator was harming people, yet you could still leisurely consider how to phrase the mission posting. What a joke! Evil cultivators are vermin hiding in filthy gutters. Would he dare climb Kaiyuan Peak on Yonglu Mountain and check which mission a Yonglu Mountain disciple had accepted?”

“Because of your petty scheming, how many more victims were there in Mist Mountain Village?”

“Those were human lives! Living, breathing human lives! What kind of mystic physician are you? You do not even possess the most basic respect for life! If every mystic physician under heaven were like you, who would ever dare seek treatment from one?”

“That patient who had been parasitized by the evil seed that day—even their blood had turned green. Did you waver even once?”

“So what if you cannot cultivate? You think that makes you miserable? I have water and fire spiritual roots! There are so many people in this world. If you want to be a villain, then be openly and honestly wicked! At least then I could respect you for being a villain inside and out!”

Bian Chunzhou finished roaring out the barrage in a single breath.

The room fell silent.

Even Pei Mingshan had nothing to say.

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