Bai Xiaochun’s spirits were rising rapidly. He was just about to say something when Zheng Yuandong looked over at him with a ferocious glare.
“Bai Xiaochun, as your Elder Brother, I won’t let anyone else beat you, but I can certainly give you a thrashing!” With that, he shot in Bai Xiaochun’s direction. Bai Xiaochun’s scalp began to tingle so hard it felt like it might explode. He was just about to brandish the portrait of his master when Zheng Yuandong swished his sleeve, causing the portrait to fly over to him.
Bai Xiaochun let out a shriek, and a pair of wings sprouted out behind him as he prepared to flee. However, before he could get very far, a powerful smacking sound rang out, which was Zheng Yuandong’s palm making contact with his rear end.
Searing pain swept through him, and he screamed. Looking like he was about to cry, he shrieked, “Save me, Uncle Li! My Elder Brother’s trying to kill me!!”
Li Qinghou’s eyelid twitched, and he pretended not to have heard. Zheng Yuandong’s fury had not been sated in the least; seeing Bai Xiaochun waving around the portrait of his master had him fuming, so next, he unleashed a kick.
Bai Xiaochun screamed again, sounding even more anguished than before.
“Save me, Master! Save me!!”
Seeing Zheng Yuandong beating Bai Xiaochun caused the anger among the onlookers to slowly fade. Soon, strange expressions appeared on the faces of the elders, and they began to cough dryly.
“This is a personal matter with the sect leader and his family….”
“Right, right. Oh, I have some medicinal pills in the furnace, I’ll take my leave now.” Hiding their smiles, the elders began to disperse.
Soon, only Li Qinghou and Xu Meixiang were left hovering in midair. As Li Qinghou watched Bai Xiaochun off in the distance, he seemed a bit emotional. After all, he had high expectations for Bai Xiaochun.
Xu Meixiang looked over at Li Qinghou, her gaze soft. “In his heart, he views you as his father,” she said softly. “Are you really willing to abandon him to the north bank?”
Li Qinghou shifted his gaze from Bai Xiaochun to Xu Meixiang. Shaking his head slightly, he said, “All the things Xiaochun did don’t really matter. Deep down, he’s a good person. Furthermore, I can tell that he really is sorry for everything…. Sending him to the north bank as punishment isn’t really necessary.
“But I was being honest with what I said to the sect leader earlier. Ever since he got the Waterswamp Kingdom from the north bank, I’ve been thinking about the matter. Bai Xiaochun’s latent talent is superb. The ideal situation would be for him to combine the best aspects of both banks. Besides, if he can successfully cultivate the Waterswamp Kingdom, and reach the great circle of the tenth level of Qi Condensation within a few years, well… then maybe we can accelerate the opening of the Fallen Sword Abyss. In that case, he might be able to forge a new path for himself.”
“The Fallen Sword Abyss?” Xu Meixiang replied, looking shocked. “One of the three Holy Lands of the Four Great Sects in the eastern Lower Reaches of the Heavenspan River…. Supposedly, there are even traces of heavenly energy there. Whenever we open it, all of the Four Great Sects of the eastern reaches, the Blood Stream Sect, the Pill Stream Sect, the Profound Stream Sect, and our Spirit Stream Sect, will send in disciples from the tenth level of Qi Condensation to participate in a bloody struggle….”
“That bloody struggle is necessary….” Li Qinghou said with a light sigh. “If he doesn’t master the Waterswamp Kingdom, I won’t let him go. But if he does, then he absolutely must go. Cultivation is a long, blood-soaked path. Only the fit survive and prosper. He needs to learn to deal with that, not shirk from it.” With that, the two of them turned and left.
That day, Bai Xiaochun’s screams filled the sect. Zheng Yuandong was dead set on teaching him a lesson, not as the sect leader, but as his Elder Brother.
Late that night, Bai Xiaochun, his nose bloodied and his face swollen, trudged along behind Zheng Yuandong as they returned to their Master’s cave.
“On your knees!” Zheng Yuandong said, glaring. “Apologize to Master!” Bai Xiaochun was so frightened that he immediately plopped down to his knees in front of the portrait.
“Master, I apologize….” Bai Xiaochun felt so swollen he thought he might burst at any moment, especially his buttocks. “Master,” he continued, on the verge of tears, “when all of those disciples came to beat me up, you felt sorry for me, and visited me in a dream. Sir, I tried to tell Elder Brother, but he didn’t believe me….
“Master, why don’t you visit Elder Brother in his dreams tonight, and tell him the truth…?” Zheng Yuandong stood off to the side, unsure of whether to laugh or cry. He had a mind to beat him, but when he thought about how terrifyingly tough Bai Xiaochun’s skin was, his hand ached a bit, and he held back.
“Kneel here for three months,” he said. “That’s your punishment for the disaster of 10,000 Snakes Valley!” He had no other choice but to do this, for the sake of the disciples of the three mountain peaks. With that, he gave a cold harrumph, and then swished his sleeve, causing a medicinal pill to tumble out. Pretending he hadn’t noticed the pill, he turned and left.
Seeing that Zheng Yuandong was leaving, Bai Xiaochun immediately let out an anguished cry. He was about to start complaining to his Master about everything, but first, he looked around to make sure that the miraculously stealthy rabbit wasn’t around.
“Oh, woe is me, Master….
“Elder Brother beat me so hard… my butt hurts so bad. Look. Look! I’m swollen all over!
“This is so unfair! I really didn’t do any of it on purpose…. I didn’t… huh?” It was at this point that he noticed a medicinal pill on the ground, which was none other than the pill Zheng Yuandong had just left behind.
“A high-grade tier-three Energy Building Pill!”
Eyes shining, he quickly looked around outside the cave, then sat down off to the side. Feeling a bit bored, he consumed the pill and then began to focus on cultivation.
About that time, something happened that none of the disciples or even the peak lords in the sect noticed. Behind Mount Daoseed, in a wide-open, empty area, everything suddenly began to distort.
Moments later, the distortions vanished. However, what was now faintly visible, right there behind Mount Daoseed, was… another mountain peak!
It was… the ninth mountain peak of the Spirit Stream Sect. Although the sect leader was aware of its existence, even he hadn’t noticed the strange distortions from moments before.
The ninth mountain peak of the Spirit Stream Sect was incomparably quiet and peaceful, and all of the plants and vegetation that covered it were pitch black. At the summit of the mountain, atop a black peach tree, was a monkey, sitting there quietly, mixed emotions visible in its eyes.
If Bai Xiaochun were there, he would recognize it instantly. Astonishingly… it was the same thoughtful monkey that had eaten one of his strange pills, and that he had released into the wild some time ago.
Eventually, the monkey sighed.
“I know you’re there,” he said. “Might as well stop hiding.”
As soon as the monkey spoke, the air behind him distorted, and an old man appeared, tall, wearing a long violet robe. He stepped out of thin air, looking almost like an ordinary mortal, with seemingly no cultivation base power whatsoever emanating off of him. At the same time, however, he almost looked like a Paragon, standing right there!
A strange expression appeared on the old man’s face as he came to stand off to the side. A moment later, a third eye opened on his forehead, and he looked down at the monkey. “You are…?”