Grandma had once said that learning swordplay was for eliminating demons, defending the Dao, helping the weak, and curbing the violent—it was by no means meant for bullying the weak or harming the innocent.
Zishu Bai had possessed extraordinary talent for cultivation since childhood, and his mastery of the sword was inherently powerful without even needing a teacher. He still remembered when he was little; he had merely played with a tree branch alongside a friend and accidentally injured him. At that time, Grandma had flown into a terrible rage, ordering him to kneel in the ancestral hall without food or anyone allowed to speak to him, kneeling from dawn until dusk.
From that moment on, he remembered deeply that a sword could never be used to hurt people—not even if it were a tree branch.
He let out a sigh in his heart, raising his eyes to look at Wu Moxun, who was burning with rage.
When all was said and done, this matter was his own fault; he shouldn’t have been so hasty as to bump into the senior brother’s wine cup and stain his clothes.
What should he do to make the other party appease his anger?
Zishu Bai looked at the long sword in his palm. After a long silence, he raised the sword to point it toward Wu Moxun.
“Has he gone mad? He actually dares to fight Wu Moxun!” The voices of other disciples came from the crowd. “The new disciples truly don’t know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth; Wu Moxun is an inner sect disciple.”
Seeing that Zishu Bai not only didn’t beg for mercy but drew his sword instead, Wu Moxun let out a cold laugh and immediately flew forward, charging straight at his face.
Zishu Bai tilted his body slightly to dodge, raising his hand to strike back with a sword move, and the two instantly engaged in a fierce fight.
After an unknown number of rounds, fine beads of sweat appeared on Wu Moxun’s forehead. He hadn’t expected that this new disciple, who looked gentle-tempered and easy to bully, could actually trade moves with him.
He gritted his teeth and decided to show some real ability. He thrust his sword directly toward Zishu Bai’s lower abdomen—this strike would definitely be blocked, after which he would swiftly turn his body, kicking at the knee to force him to kneel down. No one had ever been able to react to this move before.
However, something Wu Moxun completely failed to anticipate occurred: the tip of the sword was not blocked when it thrust toward the lower abdomen.
Zishu Bai raised his left hand, allowing that sharp sword tip to pierce right through his palm. Green veins bulged on his arm from the pain. Enduring that excruciating agony, he raised his eyes to look at Wu Moxun.
“Senior Brother, I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I definitely did not bump into you out of deliberate provocation; it truly was just a misunderstanding.”
Wu Moxun froze, looking at the fresh blood flowing down the tip of the sword, his expression turning somewhat unsightly.
His original intention was only to scare Zishu Bai into kneeling and begging for mercy. If he harmed a fellow disciple during the Opening Banquet, he would certainly be called to account by the elders.
He could only let out a cold snort and sheath his sword.
“Don’t let me see you again. Get out.”
Zishu Bai shook as he clutched his palm, too in pain to speak. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, he saw Jiang Xing standing not far away, looking at him with an icy gaze.
He had been seen.
Perhaps he would be called a useless trash again or something like that.
Useless trash Jiang Xing indeed thought so.
Even though he could clearly win, he deliberately exposed a flaw to let the other party hurt him, thinking that getting injured could make the other person appease his anger.
Using such an utterly stupid method to gain forgiveness—under heaven, perhaps Zishu Bai was the only one.
To think he had thought he could see a scene where Zishu Bai defeated Wu Moxun and became held in grudge by Wu Moxun from then on, only for it to turn into this state.
Truly disappointing.
Enduring the excruciating pain, Zishu Bai walked forward wanting to strike up a conversation with Jiang Xing, only to see the other party walking toward him, passing right by his shoulder.
“Shut up.”
He froze, seeing Jiang Xing ignore him as if he were non-existent, walking over to sit beside Wu Moxun.
Zishu Bai stood frozen on the spot, quickly realizing that he had been rejected by Jiang Xing. He pursed his lips in gloom, and after a moment, he still wanted to go and stop Jiang Xing.
After all, that senior brother was in the height of his rage right now; it was best not to provoke him. What if his anger was vented on him?
“Who are you again?”
Wu Moxun had a belly full of pent-up anger. Seeing another new disciple without eyes sitting beside him, he was instantly about to flare up. “Sick of living, aren’t you? Are you seeking death too?”
Jiang Xing sat opposite him, smiling slightly: “I came to help Senior Brother appease his anger. Hearing that there is a Senior Brother named Wu Moxun in the inner sect with superb sword skills, Jiang Xing has specially come to seek reliance.”
He took out that mother insect core from his robe and placed it gently on the red sandalwood table. “Seeing Senior Brother’s exquisite sword technique just now, you must surely be the legendary Senior Brother Wu. Please be so kind as to accept this.”
In the original book, all demon cores could be sold for a high price. The rank of that mother insect was enough to make him leap into the inner sect, so it was bound to be incomparably precious and expensive.
Sure enough, Wu Moxun’s expression improved a bit. Pinching that mother insect core, he raised his eyebrows slightly. “So you are that new disciple who killed the Sand Town mother insect. The Inner Sect Assessment is the day after tomorrow—you still have the leisure to come attend the banquet?”
“If I really get the chance to enter the inner sect, I will certainly need Senior Brother’s care at that time…” Jiang Xing respectfully poured wine for him, saying in a low voice, “So I specially came first to thank Senior Brother. Regardless of whether I can enter the inner sect, if there is anywhere Junior Brother can be of use, please feel free to give orders.”
Wu Moxun saw him raise his hand to pick up a Thousand Mountain Red Lychee from the porcelain plate, his expression pausing slightly.
Jiang Xing slowly peeled open the red lychee, placing the fruit flesh into the wine cup, and said gently: “Senior Brother, please.”
Wu Moxun stared straight at Jiang Xing. After a long while, he took the wine cup from his palm, took a small sip, and savored it carefully, his mood instantly brightening quite a bit.
That’s right—it was precisely that taste in his memory.
Among these trash new disciples, there were actually a few sensible and worry-free ones after all.
“You like drinking wine too?”
Jiang Xing shook his head and smiled: “Originally I didn’t like to drink it, but today I suddenly discovered that using Thousand Mountain Red Lychee to pair with Lotus Heart Brew tastes exceptionally good.”
Wu Moxun raised his eyebrows, casually pushing a wine glass in front of him, clearly having already accepted Jiang Xing. “I discovered this matter as early as six years ago when I entered the sect. You can be considered to have some taste—let’s drink together.”
On the other side.
Zishu Bai stared in dazed shock at Jiang Xing, who was talking and laughing merrily with Wu Moxun.
So amazing.
He could make a senior brother with such a bad temper get into a good mood, sitting together like friends drinking and chatting.
His palm was still bleeding, dripping onto the ground along the sleeve of his pure white Daoist robe. For some reason, seeing Jiang Xing’s smile toward Wu Moxun, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.
Perhaps to Jiang Xing, he had never been a friend, because Jiang Xing had never smiled at him like that—not even once.
“How did you get injured?”
A familiar voice suddenly came from behind. Zishu Bai subconsciously turned his head, meeting Yan Zhun’s worried gaze.
He hurriedly hid that hand, saying in a low voice: “It’s nothing, just accidentally scratched it. Where did you go just now?”
Yan Zhun clicked his tongue, taking out some spare ointment from his robe to hand to him. “How could you be so careless… Right, I was just about to tell you about this matter!”
He pointed angrily toward a small Daoist boy not far away, saying: “See that bracelet on his hand? That was originally something I gave to Jiang Xing. I don’t know how it ended up in his hands!”
Zishu Bai followed his finger to look over. Upon seeing the small Daoist boy clearly, his expression suddenly froze—that was precisely the small Daoist boy who had rushed toward him with the fruit platter just now, the one he had bumped into Wu Moxun to dodge.
“Then I went to ask him where the bracelet came from,” Yan Zhun was still saying furiously, “Guess what? He said it was payment from someone else for doing work for them. Who else could that ‘someone else’ be? It’s definitely Jiang Xing!”
In an instant, Zishu Bai’s eyelashes trembled slightly. As if sensing something, he looked toward Jiang Xing, while Yan Zhun’s dissatisfied muttering still came from beside his ear: “Let me tell you, Jiang Xing must have been tricked by that Daoist boy. That bracelet is very expensive, pure gold…”
No, how could someone as smart as him be tricked?
Zishu Bai closed his eyes and said softly: “Let’s go back.”
Yan Zhun asked, puzzled: “What, are you tired?”
“A little.”
“The inner sect only has three spots for each peak this time, and the assessment content is the same every year.” Wu Moxun held that mother insect core and inspected it closely, the corners of his lips curving slightly as he put the core into his storage ring, continuing, “Come to the East Hall to find me over the next two days, and I will personally instruct you.”
Jiang Xing responded respectfully, then took out that cultivation manual from his robe and handed it forward. “Senior Brother, could I trouble you to explain this book?”
Wu Moxun glanced at it casually and almost spat out his wine. “Isn’t this the most basic Foundation Establishment art?”
Oh no, so it was the most basic one.
Jiang Xing’s heart tightened. If Wu Moxun saw that his strength was actually very weak, the other party might go back on his word and stop helping him from then on.
Just as he was about to explain, he saw Wu Moxun take the book over and look at him suspiciously: “Was the mother insect really killed by you?”
Jiang Xing opened his mouth, not having thought of how to answer yet, when the other party interrupted him again: “Forget it, whatever you say. Being able to snatch it from someone else’s hands is a capability in itself.”
Wu Moxun flipped open the book and asked in a flat tone, “Where do you not understand?”
He was actually willing to teach him?
Jiang Xing tentatively pointed at those words he couldn’t understand.
“Niwan? You don’t even understand this?” Wu Moxun took a sharp breath, pressing his fingertip onto Jiang Xing’s head and tapping heavily twice. “This is Niwan! You know nothing at all—how did you enter the sect?”
Hehe.
The last time he felt looked down upon like this was back in elementary school when he scored second place, and the first-place student mocked him ruthlessly. Other than that, Jiang Xing had never screwed up anything in learning.
Wu Moxun threw the book back to him, saying with disgust, “Fine, I’ll teach you carefully tomorrow.”
Jiang Xing breathed a slight sigh of relief, calmly accompanying him in drinking wine.
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse, with mountain mist permeating the air as the Opening Banquet finally drew to a close.
Having drunk too much wine, a burning heat tumbled in his stomach. Jiang Xing rarely drank wine—for no special reason, other than having no friends to invite him to drink together. Drinking wine was not his way of venting either, so he had no chance to drink to his heart’s content like this.
His face was certainly very red, and his head was starting to feel dizzy, just shy of the point where everything was spinning.
Jiang Xing supported Wu Moxun as they walked on the mountain steps, feeling a wave of annoyance in his heart. Clearly this man loved drinking wine so much, yet his alcohol tolerance was actually this terrible.
“Back then… I was also first place in the trial back then! The elders said… said I was a genius rarely seen in decades…” Wu Moxun was leaning almost his entire weight on Jiang Xing, slurring drunken nonsense. “You coming to find me… counts as finding the right person.”
Beside them, several inner sect disciples echoed his words, making Jiang Xing feel even more annoyed. No matter how incredible he was, wasn’t he still beaten into a cripple by Zishu Bai during the Sect Grand Competition later on?
Suddenly, a black shadow popped out from the bushes, stopping in front of Jiang Xing.
He was startled. Looking closely, he found it was a wild cat from the mountain.
Orange, very chubby, seemingly fed often by people, so it wasn’t afraid of humans.
The wild cat affectionately rubbed against Jiang Xing’s leg, seemingly begging for food.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he wanted to shoo the cat away, but Wu Moxun on his shoulder suddenly moved.
A miserable screech instantly pierced through the quiet night.
“What kind of thing dares block my way!” Wu Moxun said without caring at all, continuing to chat with Jiang Xing about his glorious achievements when he entered the sect back then.
Jiang Xing looked toward that cat that had been kicked aside, its tiny body weakly heaving in the bushes.
After a moment, he silently retracted his gaze and left without looking back.