Chapter 36: Reviewing What Went Wrong

“I know. You look down on me. You must think water-and-fire spiritual roots are worthless spiritual roots, because no one has ever cultivated with them all the way to ascension. Am I supposed to thank you for still being willing to toss me these cultivation resources like charity?”

“Thanks, but I don’t need them! And I don’t believe water-and-fire spiritual roots are worthless. Since they exist, there must be a cultivation method that leads directly up the heavenly ladder to ascension. I’m no different from any other cultivator in this world. I’m simply walking a path no one has ever walked before!”

“You’re the one who decided that being unable to cultivate makes you naturally inferior to everyone else. Since you care so much about what other people think, why would you do something like this? Don’t use your narrow-minded perspective to define me. I’m telling you right now: I, Bian Chunzhou, will make it to the end of this path!”

Standing in the doorway, Chen Zui spoke at a somewhat inopportune moment. “Um, am I late?”

They had only been apart for one day, and now they were fighting without even calling him?

What happened to being his very, very, very, very best junior brothers?

Chen Zui glanced at Pei Mingshan’s bruised and swollen face. “Were you the one who had this saber delivered to the entrance of my cave abode?”

Pei Mingshan’s expression was exceedingly complicated. “You don’t want it either?”

“My mother told me that I’m allowed to refuse gifts from people I don’t like.” Chen Zui set down the case containing the saber. “I don’t like you. Besides, I already have a saber.”

The final blow from the straightforward Chen Zui landed cleanly.

For the first time, Pei Mingshan, who had believed every factor was within his calculations, began to seriously reconsider the threshold for becoming a disciple of Yonglu Mountain.

Wen Xu was the most talented disciple Yonglu Mountain had accepted this time. As the disciple of a Divine Venerable, it was understandable that he would reject Pei Mingshan’s lavish gift. With both his prospects and his background, Wen Xu had every right to be willful.

But what about Bian Chunzhou and Chen Zui?

One possessed worthless spiritual roots. Although he had entered the inner sect, his master, Venerable Ruoshui, was not well known and clearly could not offer Bian Chunzhou much help on the path of cultivation. The cultivation resources Pei Mingshan offered could undoubtedly have spared him countless detours.

What good was pride?

Pei Mingshan had seen far too many cultivators grovel and debase themselves for the sake of cultivation. He truly had not expected to hear such words from Bian Chunzhou.

For the first time, he could not help looking seriously—and with strange fascination—at this unlucky cultivator whose water and fire spiritual roots conflicted with each other.

As for the other one, his spiritual roots were decent, but his aptitude was painfully dull. Pei Mingshan had only needed to coax him with a few words before Chen Zui readily believed that he was truly a mystic physician from Clear Hearts Hall.

Given Chen Zui’s obsession with sabers, Pei Mingshan had assumed there was no possible way he would reject such a treasured blade.

Yet he had been rejected again.

“Exactly! Hurry up and get lost with your things. If you aren’t sincerely apologizing, how is this any different from coming to Yonglu Mountain to provoke us? Our paths are different, so there’s no point in making plans together. I hope we never see each other again!”

Bian Chunzhou angrily dragged his two friends outside. Then, suddenly remembering something, he turned around and spat fiercely.

“And that damned mission of yours! Since you never posted it sincerely in the first place, withdraw it as soon as possible!”

He was so furious.

Tonight, he absolutely had to eat a huge hotpot meal to recover. Otherwise, there would be no dispelling the anger lodged in his chest!

“Tell me, how can someone this awful even exist? He has a perfectly healthy body and more money than he could ever spend. If I were him, I’d wake up laughing every day! But instead, he’s out here lashing out at society. It’s not as though society was the reason he couldn’t cultivate. He’s sick! Seriously sick. Diagnosis complete.”

Wen Xu had originally been furious, but when he saw that his friend was even angrier than he was, his own anger abruptly faded.

“Do you think he’ll be punished?” Bian Chunzhou plucked a stalk of Pill-Fragrance Grass and fiddled with it. “He’s the young master of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion. We beat him up, but is that really going to be the end of it?”

“No,” Wen Xu said suddenly.

“Really?”

Wen Xu fell silent for a moment before continuing. “My master said I did a good job reporting the matter, so the Golden Cauldron Pavilion must give Yonglu Mountain an explanation. Otherwise, he said…”

Wow. As expected of his divine dragon master. So dependable!

Bian Chunzhou’s eyes lit up. “Otherwise what?”

“My master said he wouldn’t mind being the ‘elder who comes after someone beats up the junior.’”

Bian Chunzhou, whose divine dragon filter was eight hundred layers thick, thought: As expected of Divine Dragon Dad! Divine Dragon Dad is the GOAT!

Wen Xu: …

As expected, Chunzhou holds a special kind of reverence for my master. Confirmed.

“Hehe, doesn’t that mean he came here today specifically to get beaten? If I’d known, I would’ve punched him a few more times to vent my anger! Do you think he’s really only at the first level of Qi Refining? Forget it. I can’t be bothered to think about that.”

Bian Chunzhou suddenly felt much better.

“But Wen Xuxu, you actually hit someone! I thought scholars and gentlemen used words instead of fists. He actually managed to make even you lose your temper!”

In a sense, Pei Mingshan was quite an impressive person.

“Mm. He said unpleasant things,” Wen Xu replied vaguely.

“That’s true. Not a single decent word came out of his mouth. He claimed he came to apologize, but it felt more like he came to bestow cultivation resources upon us out of charity. Did he think that because I have water-and-fire spiritual roots and came from the countryside, I’d be desperate for cultivation resources? He even mentioned the Golden Core Realm. Deep down, he probably thinks that’s as far as I’ll ever get.”

As it happened, Bian Chunzhou had guessed correctly. That was precisely what Pei Mingshan believed.

Pei Mingshan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and was escorted to the foot of the mountain by the none-too-polite disciples of Yonglu Mountain.

When he looked back, Yonglu Mountain’s gates had already shut tightly.

It was just like when he was twelve years old, when the gates to cultivation had shut him out.

Pei Mingshan wondered why everyone seemed able to step on him.

Why did everyone assume he would turn bad?

Why should he fulfill everyone’s expectations and become a villain?

He refused.

He was going to be a good person.

If even someone with water-and-fire spiritual roots dared to proclaim such grand ambitions right to his face, how could Pei Mingshan allow others to look down on him?

Whatever Pei Mingshan thought and whatever kind of person he became in the future were entirely outside Wen Xu and Bian Chunzhou’s concerns.

As for Chen Zui, that fellow would never waste his energy thinking about something so mentally taxing in the first place.

While they waited for the hotpot to boil, Bian Chunzhou asked curiously, “Don’t you usually practice your saber at this time? Why did you come over specially?”

Chen Zui stared intently at the bright red broth. “I finished early.”

“What? You’re capable of finishing early?”

Had the sun risen in the west today?!

“I suffered a minor injury, so my master told me to shorten my saber-training sessions.” Chen Zui spoke with obvious reluctance. “Besides, I’m human too.”

Bian Chunzhou said, “…It isn’t very obvious. I always thought you were forged from iron.”

After hearing that, Chen Zui actually nodded.

“Thank you for the compliment. I’m still some distance away from attaining a body forged from iron, but I’ll work hard.”

…No one told you to work hard in that direction!

Seriously.

Bian Chunzhou gave up arguing and began using freezing talismans to freeze the meat before slicing it into mutton rolls.

He had to admit, talismans truly changed lives. They were even more useful than technology.

He even felt that using talismans in magical combat was far less appealing than applying them to everyday life.

It would be wonderful if he could live on Yonglu Mountain forever.

At that very moment, Bian Chunzhou’s thoughts aligned perfectly with those of a certain former personal disciple of a past sect master.

But if he wanted his cultivation to improve, he could not remain hidden away forever.

Admittedly, standing with his hands on his hips and cursing someone out had felt wonderful. But Bian Chunzhou knew perfectly well that countless people in the cultivation world were far worse than Young Master Pei.

Could he rely on his friends’ life-saving talismans every single time?

Impossible.

Being lucky this time did not mean he would be just as lucky next time.

“What are you thinking about? Give it to me if you don’t want to cut it.”

Perhaps Chen Zui had not gotten his fill of saber practice today. He took over the task of cutting the meat and somehow made every chop strike the cutting board with a sharp clack, as though he were practicing saber techniques instead of preparing dinner.

Bian Chunzhou, now deprived of his task, blinked. He summoned a handful of water and washed his hands, then casually poked the droplets clustered in midair.

“Before we eat hotpot, I want to reflect on what happened.”

“Reflect?”

That was rather sudden.

“First, I was too careless when choosing this mission. From now on, before accepting a sect mission, I’ll keep my eyes open, investigate everything in advance, and only accept it afterward.”

Wen Xu said, “…But I heard from a senior brother at Kaiyuan Peak that the mission wall is already undergoing reform. From now on, anyone posting a mission must leave their real name and a spiritual-power seal verifying their cultivation.”

Bian Chunzhou truly had not known. “They’re that efficient?”

Wen Xu nodded. “The new rule was implemented last night.”

“Then, second, I treated the whole matter too much like a game. Our original plan was to dress like ordinary people and gather information in the marketplace. Going to Jasper Tower was my idea, and I was the one who dragged Chen Zuizui inside. Had I not gone in so carelessly, the heretical cultivator wouldn’t have noticed us, and Young Master Pei wouldn’t have gotten the chance to trap us right to our faces.”

Wen Xu had not expected Chunzhou to reflect so deeply.

“Then I was also at fault.”

“You weren’t! Without you, we would’ve been dead!”

Wen Xu shook his head. “Actually, when we saved the man parasitized by the evil seed at the inn, I already had some doubts about Pei Mingshan’s identity. That was why, when we split up that day, I made a special trip to Clear Hearts Hall.”

There was more to this?!

Bian Chunzhou’s eyes widened.

How had Wen Xu become suspicious?!

“None of Clear Hearts Hall’s spirit physicians are in the Qi Refining Realm. But I still wasn’t certain of his true identity at the time, so I didn’t notify either of you. I should have warned you immediately.”

Instead, he had failed to take the matter seriously, assuming there would still be time to mention it later.

“And…”

“There’s more?”

“I also went to the slums that day. I learned that a handsome young man from Mist Mountain Village had turned into a white-haired, wrinkled old man within the span of several months. I should have realized the danger immediately and reported it to the sect. Instead, I thought I should meet up with you first so we could discuss it together. Had I sent word then, Senior Brother Huang might have arrived in time.”

He had underestimated the dangers of the cultivation world far too greatly.

A single lapse in attention could cost someone their life. What he had considered safety was nothing more than his own conceit.

After entering Yonglu Mountain, he had become too relaxed. He had assumed that after leaving the Mortal Realm behind, he could finally loosen his guard a little.

But the dangers faced by cultivators far exceeded anything he had imagined.

Whether for the sake of revenge or his own safety, he had to cultivate with everything he possessed. He could not allow himself even the slightest trace of complacency.

“Then it’s finally my turn, right?” Chen Zui had already finished slicing the meat. He was now swinging the kitchen knife with such force that it whistled through the air. “I think everything you two said is meaningless. As long as you’re strong enough, none of it will be a problem!”

…

Very good.

That was unmistakably Chen Zui’s style.

Yet, for once, he had struck directly at the heart of the matter.

They truly were still too weak.

Had even one of them advanced to Foundation Establishment, why would they have needed to use a life-saving jade talisman against the heretical cultivator at Jasper Tower?

At that moment, the three of them desired strength even more than they desired the hotpot sitting on the table.

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