"First disciple? Didn't Su Qingxue accept his offer first?"
"Who cares? Both of them are trash either way, so either of them can be the first disciple."
As Chen Fang walked out of the servant quarters followed by Su Qingxue and Yang Kai, the other servants began to chatter almost immediately.
"So, was Steward Cao ultimately made to wear a green hat?"
That was the last thing Chen Fang heard from the servants. After that, all he heard were shouts echoing from Steward Cao's mouth.
"You two, this is the entrance of my Sword Cloud Peak. If you're having second thoughts, you still have a chance to return to the servant quarters." Chen Fang looked up the mountain as he spoke, then began inspecting both of their expressions.
Su Qingxue and Yang Kai looked at each other, then toward Chen Fang.
Cupping their fists and bowing, they said in unison, "We do not wish to return to the servant quarters."
It's not like you two have any other choice either, Chen Fang thought inwardly. With a smile, he opened his arms and said, "Then both of you are welcome to my Sword Cloud Peak. There's one thing I'll promise you before taking you up: I will make you two strong enough that nobody will ever dare look down on you again."
Hearing that, Yang Kai looked down, his heart almost in turmoil.
Mockery? Being looked down upon? All of that had already been happening to him for several years now.
But hearing this man's words made him feel slightly strange. It made him feel as though enduring those years had finally been worth it.
Deep in his heart, though, he knew that words alone would not be able to change his life. He alone knew what was wrong with him and why he had been unable to make any advancement all these years. Still, hearing words of comfort and reassurance moved his heart.
Meanwhile, Su Qingxue didn't care about any of that. What she wanted was to get stronger and then exact revenge on the people who had reduced her to this condition.
The two of them looked at Chen Fang with curiosity in their eyes. They knew he wasn't strong, and moreover, he was the so-called trash elder of the Cloud Pearl Sect. At the same time, he was the only one who had seen potential in them—even if it was for his own benefit.
The trio, each with their own thoughts, slowly arrived at Sword Cloud Peak. Seeing its condition, however, both of them couldn't help but feel that the servant quarters had been more comfortable than this.
"Ahem, I know this is bad. But with you two here, I feel like things will slowly change for the better." Seeing the strange expressions on their faces, for a moment Chen Fang worried that they might run away.
When neither of them said anything, he sighed. "Anyway, Yang Kai, can you clean out the disciple quarters before moving in? And about you not being able to advance in cultivation—I have a way, but we will talk about it tomorrow."
Yang Kai immediately bowed, a sparkle in his eyes, and then rushed in the direction Chen Fang had pointed.
Now that only Su Qingxue and Chen Fang remained, things became a little awkward as neither of them spoke. Just then, she suddenly spoke up.
"Elder Chen, is there still hope for me to cultivate?" she couldn't help but ask immediately.
She knew that if Steward Cao had not been eyeing her beauty and slowly circling around her to eventually enslave her, she would already have been kicked out of the servant quarters as well.
At the moment, she was only curious why Elder Chen had gone to such lengths to make an enemy of Steward Cao while snatching her away from his jaws. Was she still useful to someone?
Chen Fang turned toward Su Qingxue and slowly placed his hand on her head, stroking her hair. "There are many things that shouldn't be talked about openly."
With that, he began walking toward his residence quarters, followed by Su Qingxue.
…
Sitting on his throne-like chair, which had been specially made by his predecessor, Chen Fang looked down at Su Qingxue, who was kneeling on the ground.
Knowing very well that the woman in front of him might misunderstand his intention, he braced himself and cleared his throat. "Ahem, Su Qingxue. Listen carefully to what I am about to say."
"Every other night, when you try to cultivate and break the shackles holding you down, you feel unimaginable pain and are forced to give up, am I right?"
Saying that, Chen Fang couldn't help but cringe. He had read such lines many times in novels, and now he was the one uttering them.
Qingxue's eyes widened all of a sudden upon hearing that. Only she knew about this condition and the fact that she still tried to cultivate deep in the night. So how could Elder Chen know about this?
"How?" That was all she could utter before Chen Fang raised his hand, stopping her.
"There's a reason for this. Your body's constitution is the Chaos Yin Body, which only absorbs the Yin energy of nature. Thus, when it travels through your meridians, it almost destroys them every time and dissipates in the end before reaching your dantian."
"Chaos Yin Body?" Su Qingxue muttered, recalling that she had heard this same term somewhere before, though she couldn't pinpoint where.
"Yes, but don't worry. To overcome this and help you cultivate, there's actually an easier remedy." Chen Fang said. As Su Qingxue waited for the anticipated answer, he uttered, "Which is dual cultivation."
"What?" Su Qingxue said unconsciously, as if she hadn't heard what Chen Fang had just said.
She raised her head and looked at him, curious whether he was joking. However, Chen Fang's expression did not change at all.
"Only with the help of pure Yang energy can you overcome your body constitution and cultivate once again. Whether you want to do it or not depends entirely on you, so you can go for now." With that, he dismissed Su Qingxue, who slowly walked out of his residence quarters.