Whenever there was even the slightest commotion within the sect, it would quickly spread far and wide like wildfire.
The events at Qianyun Peak spread as if they had grown wings, whispered about by everyone from the sect master, elders, and peak lords down to the gate-keeping sweeping servants.
The details always boiled down to the same core theme: Yun Mu was cruel, erratic, and tyrannical, and his disciples suffered horribly under his command.
Sect Master Jiang Xiaohua simply could not sit still upon hearing the news and made a special trip to Qianyun Peak.
“Junior Brother Yun, what kind of performance are you putting on this time?” Jiang Xiaohua barged into the dark room, trying to yank Yun Mu out.
“Hey, wait… Just the last lash, it’ll be done in a second.” Yun Mu brandished his whip, struggling to turn back and give Sui Yu one final strike. “Alright, let’s go!”
[Phew—I almost missed today’s check-in quota.]
“You!” Jiang Xiaohua let out a long sigh, hurriedly rescuing Sui Yu and feeding him a top-tier healing medicinal pill. “Are you alright? Don’t blame your Master; he isn’t intentionally trying to torture you. Don’t hold a grudge against him, and go back to rest today first.”
Sui Yu was already long accustomed to this. Showing neither joy nor anger, he obediently bowed to Jiang Xiaohua and Yun Mu. “Thank you, Sect Master. Master, this disciple will take his leave.”
After the disciple retreated from the main hall, Jiang Xiaohua pulled Yun Mu down to sit and grabbed his slender wrist to carefully inspect him.
A moment later, Jiang Xiaohua’s sword-like brows furrowed slightly. “Junior Brother, what have you been doing lately? Clearly, when your cultivation realm dropped back then, although your spiritual soul was damaged, the situation wasn’t severe. How come looking at it today, your injuries have instead worsened?”
Yun Mu recalled that in the secret realm, in order to break Sui Yu’s inner-demon illusion, he had spared no expense, damaging his own divine sense to assist him. Although he had been recuperating ever since he returned, the power of a spiritual soul affected by a collapsed sea of consciousness could not be mended in a short time—unless he possessed the Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Pill, which could heal the spiritual soul, or the Netherwater, which possessed the efficacy of nourishing the spiritual soul.
Even the original host, who had been a tycoon, never possessed these two rare, supreme treasures, so he had no choice but to rely on slow self-cultivation.
“It’s nothing. I accidentally took a wrong turn during cultivation. Brother, don’t worry, it’s nothing major,” Yun Mu casually replied.
“Matters concerning the spiritual soul cannot be taken lightly, and cultivation certainly cannot be rushed. Junior Brother still needs to calm your mind,” Jiang Xiaohua worriedly said. “Judging from your pulse, the Six-Desires Soul-Severing Curse hasn’t flared up for quite some time, and it doesn’t look like emotional out-of-control behavior caused by a curse. Why on earth have you been inflicting abuse day after day?”
Yun Mu: “…”
Could he tell him that the system forced him to do this?
It made it look like he really enjoyed beating people.
“I think that child Sui Yu is quite good. His character is pure and kind, and he doesn’t look like someone who would violate sect rules or do anything out of line,” Jiang Xiaohua earnestly said. “If you really feel pent-up, go find Fan Shao at the Enforcement Hall and vent your emotions on those disciples who made mistakes.”
“Uh… Brother, don’t you think it’s abnormal for me to casually inflict abuse on others like this?”
Yun Mu was genuinely curious why Jiang Xiaohua, as the sect master, could tolerate him to such an extent, even compromising his own bottom line.
Jiang Xiaohua patted Yun Mu’s head. “It’s fine. With your Brother here, no one dares to say anything. Whatever you’ve become now is entirely because of that curse; your original nature is still kind.” He then retrieved a sandalwood box from his storage ring. “I have some Calm-Mind Incense here; take it and use it. This item has a fairly decent effect in nourishing the spiritual soul. Get some good rest, I’m leaving now.”
Just like punching a time clock every single day, Yun Mu finished beating Sui Yu and returned to the main hall to study the “Nine Stars Bone-Forging Art” in his sea of consciousness.
Body-refining and bone-forging shared a similar underlying principle with artifact-refining. If one treated the physical body like a precious weapon to be tempered, forging flesh, blood, tendons, and bones to their absolute limit, one could possess a physique as powerful as a demonic beast.
In short, it boiled down to one phrase—strengthening the physical body.
By then, even if he couldn’t use spiritual power, he could still carve out a bloody path relying solely on his fists.
To keep surviving, Yun Mu had to force himself to grow stronger. In this world where magical techniques flew wild, strength was forever the hard truth.
Of course, any endeavor required a progressive, step-by-step process, so Yun Mu started strengthening his basic physique simply by standing in horse stances and running.
“Hey, have you heard? Immortal Yun Mu was punished by the Sect Master!”
“Really? Hasn’t the Sect Master always cherished his junior brother? How could he bear to punish him?”
“He probably couldn’t stand it anymore either. Immortal Yun Mu is so cruel and erratic; which of his disciples isn’t filled with grievances? This time it’s even more outrageous—he’s spent several consecutive days abusing his little disciple. Who knows what kind of deep hatred exists between them for him to resort to such unscrupulous means.”
“What deep hatred could there be? It’s clearly just an excuse to vent his anger and satisfy some warped psychology…”
“They’re coming, they’re coming! Immortal Yun Mu was punished today to fetch water at the Medicine Peak. Let’s go, let’s hurry over and take a look.”
“Such a magnificent spectacle, how can we not witness it with our own eyes!”
#Immortal Yun Mu punished by the Sect Master of Luoxuan Sect#
#Immortal Yun Mu is capricious and volatile, continuously abusing his disciple for days is this the decay of morality or the distortion of human nature?#
A wave of public opinion swept across the immortal cultivation world, and the Luoxuan Sect’s popular figure once again hit the trending search topics of the cultivation world.
Junior Sister Shen Xingshuang of Shuiyun Peak was carrying a medicine basket as she passed by. Seeing Yun Mu carrying water and walking at a brisk pace, she couldn’t help curling her lip. “Yo, isn’t this Immortal Yun Mu? How did you end up reduced to fetching water at the Medicine Peak?”
“Junior Sister Xingshuang,” Gu Renran followed behind her with a disdainful look. “Haven’t you heard? This Seventh Elder of ours is cruel and erratic, constantly beating and scolding his disciples, and got punished by the Sect Master. What do you call this? ‘He who commits much injustice will inevitably destroy himself’!”
Yun Mu straightened his back, sweat clinging to the stray hairs on his forehead. “Who says this Sect Master was punished by Senior Brother? I am simply”
“Master,” a cold voice interrupted him.
Sui Yu was standing behind them at some unknown moment, the Zefeng Blade swaying lightly at his waist. “Such coarse work as fetching water why should Master toil over it? Better leave it to this disciple.”
Shen Xingshuang’s eyes widened. “Senior Brother Sui Yu! He’s abused you so badly, why are you still speaking up for him?”
“What Junior Sister calls ‘him’ should be addressed as ‘Master’,” Sui Yu lowered his gaze, taking the bucket from Yun Mu. “Respecting teachers and valuing the Dao is only right and proper. Master punishing this disciple is meant to temper my state of mind. If you find it interesting, why don’t you come and receive twenty lashes as well?”
Shen Xingshuang’s face turned beet red, and she stomped her foot. “Who, who wants to get beaten up like you!”
Yun Mu stared blankly at the youth’s back, a tumultuous storm raging in his heart: [Shouldn’t this little disciple hate me to the core? Why is he suddenly speaking up for me? Did the sun rise from the west?]
“Do you truly believe that Master treating you that way is for your own good?”
“Isn’t it?” Sui Yu stared fixedly at Yun Mu, as if searching for a specific answer.
“If you think it is, then so be it.” Yun Mu shrugged, took back his bucket, and continued walking toward Medicine Peak.
Sui Yu’s gaze grew deep and dark. Although he had long known that everything Yun Mu did was not out of his own accord, this answer was still not what he wanted to hear.