The sword energy was razor-sharp. Even without making direct contact, it tore through Xuan Lu’s demonic aura defense. Blood immediately gushed from the wound, dyeing half his neck red.
Yet the one injured seemed to have lost all sense of pain. His eyes lit up instead. “You’re finally willing to talk to me?”
Ye Yang watched helplessly as Xuan Lu turned around and, in an instant, put on an entirely different expression—a thoroughly pathetic, ingratiating look.
Qin Zhi narrowed his eyes, too lazy to argue with this foolish dog. He simply drew his sword and gave chase. Xuan Lu dodged while trying to explain himself.
Unfortunately, his ability to grasp the point was terrible. He completely missed the mark.
All around them, people were secretly watching the drama unfold. Ye Yang suddenly noticed several wolf demons at the edge of the nearby forest, their silver-white fur marking them unmistakably as Xuan Lu’s subordinates.
Sister Wu spotted them too. She discreetly cast a Wind Following Spell, and the wolves’ voices reached the ears of Ye Yang and the other two:
No. 1 Wolf (anxious): “They’re fighting again! Does the boss even know how to win someone over? Did he even read any of the guides we gave him?!”
No. 2 Wolf: “He can chase his wife later. When are we finally going back?”
No. 3 Wolf (slightly round): “I want to eat snow hare.”
No. 1 Wolf smacked each of them: “Now’s not the time to be thinking about food! All you know how to do is eat!”
Ye Yang: “…” Looks like Xuan Lu’s subordinates aren’t exactly reliable either.
On the other side, Qin Zhi probably didn’t want the sect’s disciples to witness any more of this farce. He had stopped chasing and sheathed his sword, choosing to ignore Xuan Lu entirely. With his back turned, he held his sword and faced away.
Xuan Lu, who had once again transformed into a tiny puppy, hurriedly approached—only to be flicked away by a sword stroke, landing right in front of his subordinates.
Sister Wu’s Wind Following Spell drifted over as well—
The tallest wolf (No. 1) caught their clan leader in his paw and spoke with deep anguish: “Boss, why are you playing the dog again? You fought so hard to take back everything that was yours—was it just so you could come here and be a dog?”
Xuan Lu shifted back to human form and tossed his head. “What do you mean ‘playing the dog again’? He likes little puppies! What else can I do? Hey, do you have any ideas?”
No. 1 Wolf looked even more pained. “What ideas? I’m out of ideas, boss. How about we head back first? The elders are nagging us, boss. Hanging around here, pressing your warm face against his cold rear every day—this isn’t a solution either!”
“Pressing your warm face against his cold rear”… Xuan Lu suddenly blushed. “That won’t work. He won’t let me press.”
With that, he ran off again. Ye Yang watched as the palm-sized puppy stuck out its little rear, wagged its fluffy tail, and wiggled its way back to Qin Zhi’s side, carefully yet stubbornly clamping its tiny jaws onto the hem of Qin Zhi’s pants.
The subordinates: “…” We’re doomed! This is worse than pressing faces against rear ends!
Qin Zhi was also thoroughly annoyed. He couldn’t keep that barrier up every second of every day. He had only let his guard down for a moment, and that detestable wolf demon had taken advantage.
But… looking at the little puppy’s big, moist, shining eyes, with a clump of dried blood matting the fur on one ear, Qin Zhi’s raised sword froze in the air. After a long hesitation, he ultimately didn’t pull his leg away.
He knew this was Xuan Lu. He knew this was a great wolf demon with exceptional talent and strength—even stronger than himself. He knew the creature wasn’t nearly as fragile as he appeared. And yet, he still couldn’t truly bring himself to be cruel.
No matter what, he had raised him for a long time.
In the end, Qin Zhi still set up a barrier to flick the little puppy away. He walked over to Ye Yang and the others, his tone apologetic. “Sorry to keep you waiting so long. It’s almost mealtime. Let me treat you to a simple meal.”
Ye Yang glanced at Xuan Lu, who was lying pitifully on the ground half a meter away, and felt a little worried. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Ha.” Qin Zhi let out a cold laugh. “He’s faking it. Ignore him. Let’s go.”
Zhuang Li smiled and waved his hand. “No need. I just remembered I need to get back to the club to review the competition. I’ll head out first. I’ll come visit again another time.”
A vein bulged on Qin Zhi’s forehead. Competition reviews were never announced at the last minute. This guy had made a special trip in the midst of his busy schedule just to…
“You came all this way just to laugh at me. Thanks a lot.”
“Hehe, you’re welcome.” Zhuang Li had seen a great show and was thoroughly satisfied. He didn’t even bother pretending anymore, completely ignoring the murderous look on Qin Zhi’s face.
—
Zhuang Li had run off, but Ye Yang and Sister Wu couldn’t escape. Sister Wu, in particular, had gone all out just to get her gossip fix. Ye Yang only just learned that she had come prepared with a backup plan—she had scheduled a meeting with a Sword Sect elder to discuss some YCG matters. The elders had been waiting for ages!
In the end, only Ye Yang followed Qin Zhi to his own territory.
Like most modern cultivator sects, the Sword Sect maintained a semi-hidden existence. Part of its territory lay within various secret realms, while another part was located deep in the remote mountains of the human realm, surrounded by barriers. Humans without spiritual perception couldn’t detect it—even modern technology was fooled.
The mountain belonging to the Sword Sect was an ordinary wild mountain in Dongzhou. But once you ascended, you discovered that hidden behind the barrier were several other peaks reaching into the clouds. The steepest among them was where Qin Zhi’s master resided.
“The cloud layer is thick here. Watch your step.” Qin Zhi led Ye Yang as they flew up a narrow path along the mountain ridge. “Normally, there are floating formation arrays for going up and down. But my master has been in seclusion for a long time. For safety, Ren Peak is temporarily closed to outsiders, so the floating arrays have been shut down too.”
Of course, there was also the consideration of cost. The daily operation and maintenance of a mountain peak was no small expense. With his master still in seclusion, Qin Zhi didn’t dare make such decisions on his own… and besides, he didn’t have that much money. So he had to economize wherever possible.
“Anyway, aside from me and my senior sister needing to go up and down Ren Peak, the other disciples on the peak are all focused on their cultivation.” The other disciples had low cultivation levels and couldn’t yet use floating techniques. Without the floating formation array, they had no choice but to stay on the mountain and cultivate.
Ye Yang expressed his admiration: “It sounds like you’re managing Ren Peak now. That’s amazing!”
At that, Qin Zhi’s face fell. “It wasn’t supposed to be my turn at all. It should have been my senior sister’s responsibility. Now I have to teach the newly initiated disciples, manage the daily needs of dozens of people on the mountain—food, clothing, supplies—I’m run ragged every single day!”
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. “And on top of all that stress, there’s a dead dog causing trouble!”
Ye Yang: “…Um, what about your senior sister? What’s she doing?”
Qin Zhi immediately calmed down. “She’s off traveling.”
“Traveling? Doesn’t that mean she has plenty of free time? Why not call her back?”
Qin Zhi’s lips moved several times before he finally uttered four words: “It’s a bit inconvenient.”
Ye Yang: “?” Why does that feel strange?
—
Ren Peak was extremely high, covered in ice and snow, maintaining a very low temperature year-round. Located at the intersection between the human realm and the Sword Sect’s secret realm, it had a unique climate. Dongzhou might not see heavy snow even once every few years, but here, multiple blizzards raged every single day.
According to Qin Zhi, this kind of climate was very conducive to sword cultivation. Ye Yang had no idea what the principle behind that was.
But one thing was certain—the food on Ren Peak was excellent.
Spiritual plants grown in this frozen wilderness had a unique flavor. The extreme cold locked the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within their leaves, stems, and roots, making them delicious even with the simplest preparation.
Moreover, among the disciples of Ren Peak was a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties. Before pursuing the Dao, he had been an imperial chef in the palace—a master of his craft. While his cultivation progress had been slow over the centuries, he had certainly succeeded in fattening up all the disciples on Ren Peak.
After just one lunch, Ye Yang immediately understood why Qin Zhi had once built himself a little cottage outside to cultivate on his own.
After the meal, Ye Yang received a message from Sister Wu. She had finished her business. Qin Zhi still had many things to attend to, and Ye Yang didn’t want to impose further. So he said goodbye, promising to visit again another time.
But he hadn’t expected that the Sword Sect drama was far from over.
The next day at work, Sister Wu brought YeYang new gossip. “You wouldn’t believe how much dirt the Sword Sect has. Do you know about that senior sister of Qin Zhi’s?”
“You don’t mean my second brother’s senior sister, do you?”
“Exactly. Even you’ve heard of her? Oh my, this is huge.” Sister Wu’s expression was very subtle.
Ye Yang had only mentioned it casually. He hadn’t expected it to be true. Recalling Qin Zhi’s odd reaction when talking about his senior sister, his curiosity was piqued. “What happened? Isn’t his senior sister off traveling?”
Sister Wu’s energy instantly spiked. “Oh, please. ‘Traveling’? She’s hiding from a debt—a debt of the heart!”
Chi Lian perked up his ears and squeezed over. “Another heart debt? Do all talented disciples of the Sword Sect have to go through some kind of romantic tribulation? I see that in novels all the time.”
With more listeners, Sister Wu grew even more animated. She pulled up a chair, sat down with a thump, and said, “Ah, you just don’t get it. Let me tell you…”
It was a well-known principle that the fewer entanglements a cultivator had, the better.
Of course, this wasn’t encouraging cultivators to abandon love and desire altogether. Having a stable dao partner could actually be very beneficial to cultivation, and some sects even encouraged disciples to form more healthy relationships to improve cultivation efficiency.
Unfortunately, it was very difficult for most people to maintain stable and harmonious relationships with multiple partners simultaneously, which was why fewer entanglements were considered better.
But the Sword Sect, a righteous and orthodox sect, had produced an unconventional genius: Qin Zhi’s senior sister, Bei Zhen. Her actions could only be described as heretical in nature.
The incident had occurred a century ago, before the internet existed. If Sister Wu hadn’t visited the Sword Sect, she wouldn’t have known about it either.
Bei Zhen had prosopagnosia—face blindness. At the same time, she was exceptionally outgoing and warm-hearted. She was instantly friendly with everyone, eager to help, and had a wide circle of acquaintances.
But people began to notice that there was always the same person by her side, albeit in a different role each time.
Sometimes he was her dao partner. Sometimes her sworn enemy. Sometimes her good brother. Sometimes her sister. Sometimes her pet. Sometimes her disciple. On several occasions, people even heard her call him “Mom”…
It was all very bizarre.
Until one day, when Bei Zhen was hiding on the mountain, too afraid to go out, and that person came looking for her—only then did everyone learn the truth.
Bei Zhen had accidentally wandered into a secret realm and encountered a Buddhist disciple named Le Zheng. The two had supported each other and narrowly escaped with their lives, becoming close friends in the process.
That Buddhist disciple had probably fallen in love with Bei Zhen. After returning, he left the monastic life, abandoned all his cultivation, and started over from the beginning.
He went to find Bei Zhen, wanting to surprise her. But Bei Zhen, with her face blindness, didn’t recognize him at all. Thinking he had excellent potential, she wanted to take him as her disciple. Le Zheng, for his part, didn’t realize that Bei Zhen genuinely hadn’t recognized him—he thought she was playing some kind of game and went along with it.
After two days of this, they parted ways for a while due to some circumstances. In a fight with demonic beasts, Le Zheng accidentally shattered his disciple token.
When they met again, Le Zheng had changed his clothes but was carrying the magical artifact Bei Zhen had given her little disciple. Bei Zhen, believing her disciple had died because the token was broken, had been searching everywhere for his body.
Le Zheng, now very weak in cultivation, didn’t even have a chance to explain. Bei Zhen chased after him, and he barely managed to escape using his combat experience from his previous life.
From then on, Le Zheng became Bei Zhen’s sworn enemy—completely unilaterally.
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