The Saint Son Courtyard on Cuiyun Peak.
Ji Ling had finally gotten his wish and moved into this courtyard. He no longer had to squeeze into the Elder’s Residence with his grandfather and was much freer for it.
Not only that, but special servants were assigned to attend to his every need.
Yu Wanqing and Li Qiong had also come to visit.
Ji Ling arranged for food and wine, and the three began drinking together in the courtyard.
After a few rounds of drinks, Li Qiong laughed. "That waste Chu Fan must be dead on Dingfeng Slope by now! Tell me, did he lose his mind? What kind of place is Dingfeng Slope? He actually had the guts to go there and get himself killed."
Yu Wanqing set down his cup and sighed. "It’s a pity about a beauty like Yun Xi, though. To think that in the end, a degenerate like Shui Yuntian would be the one to benefit."
Ji Ling’s hand, which was holding his wine cup, suddenly tightened with such force that the cup was crushed out of shape.
Yun Xi was widely acknowledged as the number one beauty of her generation among the Cultivation Sects of the Eastern Domain. What young man didn’t covet her?
Back when Chu Fan was at his peak, Ji Ling had been jealous of his talent and status. But more than that, how could he not have been jealous of the innocent, childhood bond Chu Fan shared with Yun Xi?
Not only had Chu Fan become a waste, but he’d also thrown his life away on Dingfeng Slope. Yet he, Ji Ling, could only watch helplessly as Yun Xi was married off to the Celestial Derivation Sect—and to that notorious scumbag Shui Yuntian, of all people.
’I really don’t know what Yun Keji is thinking. The former Saint Heir is crippled, so why can’t she be married to me, the New Saint Son?’
The very thought made his blood boil. When he first heard the news two months ago, he had even gone to his grandfather, hoping he could mediate and convince Yun Keji to marry Yun Xi to him instead. But who would have thought his grandfather would chew him out and sentence him to a month of wall-gazing? He had only just moved into the Saint Son Courtyard today.
Sensing Ji Ling’s anger, Li Qiong shot a look at Yu Wanqing. He took the deformed cup from Ji Ling’s hand, refilled it, and handed it back.
Then he smiled. "Brother Ji, don’t be angry. There are plenty of women in the world. You’re our Sect’s Saint Son now. If you were to leave the mountain, even the Monarchs of the small nations in the Eastern Domain would have to bow to you! If you actually married Yun Xi, considering the relationship between the Great Elder and Elder Yun... if you still dared to think about other women, don’t you think the Great Elder would skin you alive?"
"Women... they’re all the same after a while. No matter how stunning she is, you’ll get tired of her eventually. You may not have gotten this one beautiful flower, but you have the whole forest. Which is the better deal? With your wisdom, Brother Ji, I don’t need to spell it out for you."
Yu Wanqing caught on and quickly added, "The Saint Son was just temporarily unable to see the forest for the trees. If even you, Li Qiong, can figure it out, how could the Saint Son not? He was probably just feeling a little resentful, that’s all."
Soothed by their words, Ji Ling’s expression softened considerably.
"Still, Junior Martial Uncle Yu had the right idea," Ji Ling said suddenly. "It’s a good thing we never told the elders how Chu Fan got the drop on us and forced us off Cuimei Peak that day."
Although Yu Wanqing was about the same age as them, he was the nephew of the Sect Leader, Yu Zongding, making him a generation senior to both Ji Ling and Li Qiong.
At the mention of this, Li Qiong’s brow furrowed. "I have a feeling that when Chu Fan drew his sword that day, it wasn’t just because of his skill in the Sword Dao. It’s very possible his cultivation has been restored."
"That’s impossible," Ji Ling said. "His Golden Core was shattered and his meridians were destroyed. Not even an Immortal could fix a ruined body like that."
Yu Wanqing laughed. "What’s the point of worrying about all this? So what if his cultivation was restored? He went to Dingfeng Slope. By now, his corpse is probably more than halfway decomposed."
Ji Ling drained his cup. "I’m not talking about whether he’s dead or not. I’m saying, what if we had told the elders how he defeated us with a single move of his Sword? Would the Sect still have let him go to his death?"
Hearing Ji Ling’s words, Yu Wanqing and Li Qiong exchanged a look.
"Good thing we didn’t! Good thing!" Li Qiong said. "The Sect would treat a crippled Chu Fan and a Chu Fan who could recover his cultivation completely differently." To calm his nerves, he threw back the wine in his cup.
However, their entire conversation was overheard by a servant attending to them in the courtyard.
After all, Chu Fan had been the Lingyun Sect’s Saint Heir for ten years. Not everyone in the Sect was so envious that they wanted to kick him while he was down.
This particular servant had even served Chu Fan for a time, back when he was a boy and had just been taken in as the closed-door disciple of Supreme Elder Ling Zhexing.
That evening, the servant reported what he had heard to the Sect Leader, Yu Zongding.
After listening, Yu Zongding was furious at first. But then, he struck the servant’s chest with his palm, destroying his cultivation, and sealed his Mute Acupoint with a single finger.
"This matter ends here," Yu Zongding said. "It doesn’t matter if Chu Fan truly recovered his cultivation. He is dead on Dingfeng Slope. What the Sect needs is stability. From now on, you will go to the back mountain and sweep the tombs of the ancestral masters."
Yu Zongding glanced at the servant and dismissed him with a wave.
As the servant left, he gave Yu Zongding a chilling look.
Once the servant was gone, Yu Zongding left the residence and flew to Cuimei Peak.
Before the thatched cottage on Cuimei Peak, everything was as it had been, aside from the many weeds that had sprung up after two months of neglect.
’Where’s that old bastard who lived and died by Chu Fan’s side?’ Yu Zongding muttered to himself, gazing at the deserted Cuimei Peak.
He released his Spiritual Power to scan the area but still found nothing. All he discovered was a grave not far behind the cottage, one that looked like it hadn’t been there for long.
He walked over to the grave. There was no headstone, so it was impossible to know who was buried inside.
’Could that old bastard have died before that brat Chu Fan left?’
Unwilling to waste time speculating, Yu Zongding simply struck out with his palm.
A blast of Palm Force struck the grave, sending the buried coffin flying into the air. It crashed to the ground and shattered.
But there were no remains in the coffin. Inside, there was nothing but a few tattered rags.
"Playing the mystic," Yu Zongding muttered with disdain.
He didn’t pay the matter much mind.
After all, Zhegu Slave had brought Chu Fan here eighteen years ago, and Yu Zongding had seen the man many times. He had never sensed the slightest trace of a Cultivator about him.
He was just a decrepit old man on the verge of death.
If he had truly been a hidden master with his own cultivation, why wouldn’t he have taught Chu Fan himself instead of letting him study under Supreme Elder Ling Zhexing?
So, after determining there was no threat, Yu Zongding returned directly to Cuiyun Peak.
He arrived at the Saint Son Courtyard.
There, he found Ji Ling and the other two completely drunk, brazenly discussing what things would be like when Ji Ling became Sect Leader in the future.
Hearing their words, Yu Zongding was so angry he laughed. He let out a cold snort, and the three of them scrambled to their knees as if they had seen a ghost.
"Saint Son Ji Ling has acted without restraint, binge drinking in his own courtyard. Yu Wanqing and Li Qiong failed to advise him against it. All three are equally guilty. I hereby order the three of you to the Precepts Hall for three months of wall-gazing to serve as a warning. If you still fail to repent, the punishment will be severe!"
With those final words, Yu Zongding departed from the Saint Son Courtyard.
The three of them sobered up instantly. This was especially true for Ji Ling. He had just finished his last round of wall-gazing not long ago, and now the Sect Leader had caught him red-handed. At the thought of his grandfather Ji Chengding’s thunderous rage when he found out, Ji Ling felt his skin crawl.