Zhu Xingyao had indeed clashed with people… more than one, at that.
But it wasn’t he who had provoked them; someone had deliberately come looking for trouble.
He remembered this clown named Zhang Chengzhi.
In his previous life, Zhang Chengzhi had wanted to become a disciple under Master, but Master had refused him. He’d harbored a grudge ever since, and even inside the demon realm, he’d deliberately tripped Zhu Xingyao up.
Their private fight had drained quite a bit of spiritual energy, which was how the blue-winged snake demon had caught him at his weakest. Its scales slashed him, infecting him with the aphrodisiac poison, and afterward he fell into an illusion about Master… Fortunately, Master never learned of any of it.
Reincarnated once more, the grudges of his previous life naturally still had to be repaid. He would certainly not be soft-hearted.
This piece of trash actually thought he was worthy of coveting his Master?
The last one who’d dared covet his Master, Long Yunyi, had his tendons ripped out and his scales stripped, tortured until half-dead.
This one here? He might as well be thrown to the demonic beasts and leave not even his bones behind.
After all, plenty of disciples get into accidents during the demon realm trial every year.
Who would ever know it was his doing?
“Hiding at One-Finger Peak for five years like a turtle with its head tucked in, you’ve finally deigned to crawl out of your shell.
Today I’d like to see exactly what ability you have that makes the Immortal Venerable think so highly of you,” Zhang Chengzhi sneered coldly.
Zhu Xingyao scoffed, his peach-blossom eyes brimming with contempt. “A piece of trash.”
Zhang Chengzhi’s face flushed with fury. He immediately summoned his sword and, at the same time, shot a look at the several hangers-on flanking him… and they all struck at Zhu Xingyao together.
Zhu Xingyao drew his sword, ready to meet them head-on, when the Heart-Linking Curse in his chest suddenly pulsed with a familiar sensation.
Master was nearby?
How was that possible?
Since his Reincarnation, the Heart-Linking Curse had actually always been there.
It was just that Shen Xiuyun hadn’t transferred the resentment from his previous life onto the present-day him, so he hadn’t suffered from the agonizing chest pain every day.
Instead, sometimes the Heart-Linking Curse’s resonance would relay strange perceptions from Master… things like mortified annoyance and awkwardness.
Last time, when he’d used a trick to send Master tumbling onto him and they’d accidentally kissed, he’d clearly felt the shame and fury in Master’s heart at that moment.
“Looks like you really are a useless good-for-nothing, daring to get distracted in the middle of a fight!” Zhang Chengzhi thrust his sword forward and hissed in a low voice.
Zhu Xingyao snorted coldly. A piece of trash at the Foundation Establishment stage like Zhang Chengzhi didn’t need to be crushed with cultivation… relying purely on the fighting experience from his previous life, Zhu Xingyao could squash him with ease.
But now that Master was here, he naturally couldn’t appear too brutal.
Zhu Xingyao handled their attacks in a perfectly conventional manner, feigning a strained, barely-coping appearance.
He acted it flawlessly. The men fighting him noticed nothing amiss and even assumed Zhu Xingyao was nothing special.
As if they could possibly catch him… Zhu Xingyao could throw a fixed fight right under Shen Xiuyun’s nose without getting caught. How could they find a chink in his act?
Zhu Xingyao’s face turned slightly pale, his forehead covered in fine sweat. Zhang Chengzhi’s fully-charged strike sent him staggering back, and the longsword in his hand suddenly slipped away, embedding itself in the ground far to the side.
Disarmed, Zhu Xingyao couldn’t possibly catch a blade barehanded… he absolutely had no strength left to fight back.
Zhang Chengzhi smiled smugly. “Your spiritual energy is almost spent, isn’t it? Let’s see how you dodge this time.”
With that, he thrust his sword at Zhu Xingyao’s shoulder.
Zhu Xingyao seemed to know he couldn’t avoid it. He closed his eyes, bracing for the pain to hit his shoulder… but heard a sharp “clink,” and then he was embraced from behind.
“Stop!”
Shen Xiuyun was so frightened his heart nearly stopped. The hand steadying Zhu Xingyao’s shoulder trembled faintly.
Zhang Chengzhi’s sword had been only a hair’s breadth from Zhu Xingyao. If Shen Xiuyun had moved half a second later, Zhu Xingyao would have gained two more bloody holes in his body.
Shen Xiuyun felt along Zhu Xingyao’s arm and asked with concern, “Are you alright?”
Zhu Xingyao shook his head to signal that he was fine.
He stared fixedly at Shen Xiuyun, his heart pounding fast in his chest. He could feel it… Master cared about him a great deal.
If only that caring could extend beyond master and disciple.
Shen Xiuyun stepped forward, sword held horizontally in front of him, shielding Zhu Xingyao behind him. His voice was as cold as if it had been dipped in ice water.
“The rules the Elder announced before you entered the demon realm… did you all take them as wind past your ears? Hurting fellow cultivators… aren’t you afraid of being expelled from the sect?”
“We were just sparring with him, and it’s not like he actually got hurt, is it?” Having seen that Shen Xiuyun was only at mid Foundation Establishment, Zhang Chengzhi’s words grew even more brazen and reckless.
“Sparring?” Shen Xiuyun snorted. “Then if I stab you a few times and leave you with a single breath, would that count as sparring too?”