The fat, sleepy bird on Feng Jin’s shoulder would chirp and scream whenever it saw him from then on. It acted as if he were some kind of terrifying monster.
Later, because of the dispute over the Lingyun Sword, the grudge between him and Feng Jin grew even deeper.
A group of seniors in the Jingtian Academy, who loved meddling in others’ business as they got older, insisted on acting as peacemakers. They tried everything possible to smooth over the relationship.
However, as for him and Feng Jin:
If they lived in the same courtyard, they fought.
If they sat at the same table, they fought.
If they had different views in class, they continued to fight.
As long as the two were near each other, the surrounding area was basically ruined.
What was even more annoying was that because Feng Jin was too weak to beat him, the Grandmaster would pinch Pei Jing’s ear and accuse him of being a bully.
Pei Jing truly had nothing to say. No one bothered to look at who started the trouble first.
Seeing that the Jingtian Academy was being turned upside down by him, the Grandmaster thought that young people are concerned about their reputation in front of the best of their peers and might behave better. So, he squeezed the nice guy, Wu Sheng, between them, and placed Ji Wuduan and Yu Qinglian in front, hoping Pei Jing would settle down.
Well, this worked out perfectly—Pei Jing no longer had to worry about having no one to fight.
Before, he offended one person; now, he offended four. It didn’t seem to make much difference.
Later, Chen Xu sighed: “It’s actually rare that the four of them could tolerate you for so long without teaming up to beat you up.”
At that time, Pei Jing was being punished by the Grandmaster to copy scriptures. Holding three brushes in his hand to copy three times at once in a wild, flying script, he wrote while saying: “How could the four of them ever work together to hit me? Never mind Wu Sheng’s compassionate heart. As for the other three, every single one is more arrogant than the last—just look at Feng Jin, he practically has ‘I am the greatest in the world’ written on his face.”
“The other two: Ji Wuduan acts like ‘everyone, living or dead, is an idiot,’ and Yu Qinglian is convinced that ‘among all living things, only I am as beautiful as a flower.’ I really don’t know where they get their confidence. What kind of flower is she? A foxtail weed?”
Chen Xu’s face went dark: “You actually have the nerve to talk about others? Who can match you when it comes to being narcissistic?”
Pei Jing put down his brush halfway through, rolled his eyes, and wanted to continue sharing his insights.
Then, Yu Qinglian’s eerie voice came from behind: “Still have time to gossip behind people’s backs? I see you really are bored. Three copies aren’t enough, are they? I’ll go tell Senior Han Xu right now to add a few more for you.”
Han Xu was his Grandmaster’s Daoist title.
Pei Jing’s body froze, and his expression changed faster than turning a page. He looked back with a forced smile: “I wasn’t finished yet! How could ‘as beautiful as a flower’ be enough to describe your beauty? At the very least, we have to add ‘as lovely as jade.'”
Yu Qinglian gave a cold smile: “No thanks. I think ‘foxtail weed’ is just fine. You should save your energy for copying books.”
As Yu Qinglian walked away coldly, Pei Jing reached out in pain to stop her, even shamelessly calling her “Sister Yu,” but it was useless.
Chen Xu couldn’t stop laughing at his misfortune: “Now do you know what it means for trouble to come from the mouth?”
Pei Jing got a headache just thinking about facing the Grandmaster’s nagging. He shook his head, picked up his three brushes again, and said to Chen Xu: “When I have time, I need to teach Yu Qinglian that if a person is ugly, they should read more books. Or to put it another way, since she already lacks physical beauty, is she going to give up on inner beauty too? Then she really is a failure as a woman.”
Chen Xu instinctively looked toward the door, fearing Yu Qinglian hadn’t gone far and would come back to whip Pei Jing. He prepared to run to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Seeing that Yu Qinglian had truly left to snitch, Chen Xu turned and gave Pei Jing a thumbs up: “Your title as the ‘Number One Bastard’ of Jingtian Academy is well-deserved.”
Pei Jing thought for a moment: “Number One Blade? I have that title too? My sword skills are indeed good, but being praised so suddenly by you makes me quite embarrassed.” However, his wide grin showed he wasn’t embarrassed at all.
Chen Xu said coldly: “I didn’t mean that kind of ‘Blade’ (Jian/Bastard).”
The brush paused. Once Pei Jing realized what he meant, he understood. His smile slowly stiffened, and with a blank face, he turned to Chen Xu and said solemnly: “You see, in this world, there are always people who talk behind your back because they can’t beat you. A perfectly kind and righteous young man is given such a bad name for no reason. This jealousy from the weak is truly terrifying.”
Chen Xu could only roll his eyes.
When Yu Qinglian was very young, she was actually a beauty, and as she grew up, she became even more cold and elegant. Every year, countless cultivators crossed the sea to Yingzhou just to catch a glimpse of her.
After leaving Jingtian Academy, Pei Jing traveled the world and once followed a mortal ship to Yingzhou Island.
The immortal island of Yingzhou was covered in white mist, and immortal music played on its own, like a paradise beyond the world.
When he arrived, Yingzhou was in chaos. Yu Qinglian’s mother, the Island Master, had been backstabbed during a critical moment of her breakthrough and fell into a long sleep. The elders felt Yu Qinglian was too young to lead and seized power.
The situation was so sudden and clearly suspicious; with Yu Qinglian’s personality, there was no way she would accept it. But at that time, she had only just reached the late Golden Core stage. Outnumbered, she was locked up.
When Pei Jing found Yu Qinglian in the palace, she looked much more haggard, but the fierceness and bloodthirst in her eyes remained. She grabbed Pei Jing’s sleeve and said only: “Help me!”
Pei Jing pulled his sleeve back: “Sure, but remember you owe me a favor.”
With one sword and one whip, the two caused a bloody storm in Yingzhou on a night of the full moon. They dragged out the traitor in the Elder Council and wiped out the demon cultivators’ nest in one go.
He stood aside with his sword, watching her settle the grudge personally.
With one whip, she turned the spiritual canal into a pool of blood, with bodies everywhere.
Where her green dress spun, it looked like a flower blooming. The title “Green Flower of the Blood Pool” came from this.
While ten thousand ghosts wailed, blood remained on Yu Qinglian’s face. The moment she turned around, she smiled at him with a look of relief.
Pei Jing thought for a moment and said: “You’d better not smile. You’re already ugly, and now you’re even scarier.”
Yu Qinglian said seriously: “It’s a miracle you’ve lived this long without being beaten to death.”
Pei Jing shook his head: “Someone would have to be able to beat me first.”
Yu Qinglian rolled her eyes and said: “If Feng Jin, Ji Wuduan, Wu Sheng, and I teamed up, we couldn’t handle you?”
Pei Jing said firmly: “It’s impossible for the four of you to team up.”
Yu Qinglian suddenly remembered and said: “Because among all living things, only I am as beautiful as a flower?”
Pei Jing was stunned, then followed up: “That’s right.”
The two looked at each other and then both couldn’t help but turn their heads and laugh.
Blood flowed like a river, and bones were piled high. The bright moon shone over the valley, and they talked and laughed as if they weren’t in hell, but just passing through the mortal world.
Pei Jing watched these scenes in the Heart Demon Room and found it ridiculous. How could this be a “heart demon”?
Was it because he was so full of righteous energy without a single shadow that the heart demon couldn’t do anything to him, so it used past memories to fool him?
After that, there were some fragmented memories.
During his travels, he caught a “painting ghost” that couldn’t be burned or erased, so he simply sent it to Ji Wuduan. Ji Wuduan loved poetry and books; not realizing what Pei Jing wanted to do, he opened it, and a pale hand reached out from inside, right in front of his eyes.
The Young Master of the Ghost Territory changed his expression on the spot, yelled “Get out!”, and retreated in terror.
Ji Wuduan was afraid of ghosts. Pei Jing only found out about that weakness then. It was actually quite funny—Ji Wuduan refined corpses, collected skulls, and lived with the dead, but he was a poor little guy who was afraid of ghosts.
After a moment of shock, Pei Jing understood. He clutched the scroll, breathless, squatting on the ground laughing until his stomach hurt and he couldn’t get up.
Ji Wuduan pushed him angrily, trying to kick him out.
Pei Jing held up the scroll and said: “Don’t be like that, brother. I came to bring you a woman. Don’t look at her scary face; her figure is great and she has a lot of charm.”
Ji Wuduan: “…Are you leaving or not?”
Pei Jing didn’t leave, so Ji Wuduan was forced to leave first. To be able to annoy the dignified Young Master into seclusion in the Ghost Territory was truly unheard of.
Later, there was a time when the five of them accidentally entered a demon cultivator’s nest. It was filled with monsters of incredibly weird appearances—female ghosts with faces on both front and back, and headless children that would pop up out of nowhere.
Ji Wuduan pretended to be calm, but his face was incredibly pale. Pei Jing was shaking with laughter. He then simply pressed on Ji Wuduan’s shoulders, reached out, covered his eyes, and pushed him forward.
Feng Jin asked: “What are you doing?”
Pei Jing talked nonsense: “Oh, he wants to imitate Wu Sheng, so he asked me to help him.”
Wu Sheng heard this and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “I can see even with this white silk over my eyes. Be careful, don’t bump into anything.”
Yu Qinglian said: “I feel like you’re tricking Ji Wuduan again.”
Pei Jing immediately felt wronged and gave Ji Wuduan a push: “Quick, tell them, didn’t you want to imitate Wu Sheng’s eyes and ask for my help?”
Ji Wuduan spoke with great difficulty: “…Yes.”
However, it didn’t take long for the other three to find out about his fear of ghosts. Everyone’s expression was very strange; a second later, they all burst into loud laughter, completely ignoring their image and Ji Wuduan’s dignity.
After the Wentian Trials ended, at the Shanyin Cottage, everyone was drinking and getting drunk, talking about their life’s wishes and pursuits.
At that time, Pei Jing no longer thought of this world as a book. After all, every person he met was made of flesh and blood; his mentors and close friends were precious. What he thought in his heart was: find the protagonist, change his own fate, and after that, he wouldn’t care how powerful the protagonist became. He would focus on cultivating, slaying demons, and seeking the Great Dao.
But he said: “I already have the ‘Number One in the World’ title, so I’ll strive to become the youngest Nascent Soul cultivator in history. One day, I want everyone to know Pei Yuzhi—dashing, elegant, and a true master.”
Yu Qinglian rolled her eyes first: “Everyone will know Pei Yuzhi—arrogant, proud, and a madman.”
Ji Wuduan was drunk. When he was drunk, though it wasn’t obvious in his behavior, his speech became very slow. The usual gloomy and dark aura vanished, and he looked like a dazed little kid. He wouldn’t say a word for a long time. When it was Feng Jin’s turn, the Phoenix Emperor, who had placed second in the trials, was in a bad mood and turned his head with a huff.
Wu Sheng’s wish was much more noble: to spend his life helping and saving the people of the world.
When it was Yu Qinglian’s turn, she was also a bit tipsy. She slapped the table, the bells on her wrist jingling, and said with great passion: “I want everyone in this world who is more beautiful than me to be weaker than me, and everyone who is stronger than me to be less beautiful than me.”
Pei Jing laughed so hard he hit the table: “Oh my god, so your dream is actually to become the strongest person in the world!”
Chen Xu immediately pulled Pei Jing over and said to Wu Sheng: “Master, please save him first. I’ve had enough of him.”