Although the Duanzhen disciples’ had been extremely dispirited when they were being interrogated, hearing that voice caused them to become overjoyed. “Little— Little Shixiong Fang is here?” four or five of them yelled out at nearly the same time. The disciples raised their heads and saw two silhouettes atop a white ray and a gold ray, and who else could it be other than Xu Linyun and Fang Xing?

　　Fang Xing had his legs crossed as he sat atop the back of a giant golden crow. He was wearing a [Water-Fire Spirit Robe] with a gourd around his waist, had his hair tied up into a neat ponytail, wore boots made from beast skin, and was holding onto the [Saber of Azure Dragon]. It was an impressive display of strength, and with the goddess-like Shijie Linyun nearby, it looked as though they were a couple made for each other.

　　Shen Lo’s heart dropped when he saw Fang Xing. He had not expected the boy to catch up so quickly.

　　When Feng Qingwei heard the word “underwear”, her expression twisted into unease as well.

　　As for Xiao Jianming, he showed an annoyed expression when he saw that Fang Xing had arrived alongside Xu Linyun. The black eagle and white crane were supposed to be the Qing-Yun Sect’s signature paired birds. What was this golden crow doing in the middle of this?

　　“Haha, you all look like you’ve just had an uncle die on you; did you all get bullied?” Fang Xing laughed towards the Duanzhen disciples as he jumped off the golden crow’s back. “Stop showing such long faces. Now that your shixiong is here, give me a list of those who bullied you and watch me put them to death to help vent your anger!”

　　With these words, the Qing-Yun disciples all began to look awkward. Perhaps only this boy would dare to even mention putting a fellow Qing-Yun disciple to death in front of so many people; he truly had no limits in what he would say!

　　Shen Lo looked even worse, and he could not help but to glance towards Xiao Jianming. He was indeed worried that the boy would actually put his words into action, and he could now only hope that Xiao Jianming had seen everything he’d been doing for his sake the past couple of days!

　　“Please return justice to us, Little Shixiong Fang…” Shidi Liu—the Duanzhen disciple who had lost a limb—was in tears as he half-kneeled in front of Fang Xing and recounted the whole event of how he’d lost his arm and how the Scorpion-Tailed Lion had been stolen away by Shen Lo just before its death. As for the rest of the Duanzhen disciples, they were also throwing in their own complaints, and even the typically quiet Wu Xiangtong added in a few minor details.

　　The edge of Xu Linyun’s lips curled up into a subtle smile when she saw how the Duanzhen disciples circled around Fang Xing immediately after he’d landed. She walked towards her Danxia disciples and—after a quick headcount—was relieved to discover that there had been no fatalities amongst her valley.

　　When Xiao Jianming saw the manner in which the Duanzhen disciples had started to speak towards Fang Xing, however, his eyebrows creased together in a show of disdain. He turned around towards Pi Junzi and Feng Qingwei to order, “That livestock has been heavily wounded, which is why it fled underground. It couldn’t have gotten too far. Hurry and send people into the forest to search for its traces. Once any trace has been found, send a Flying Talisman as a signal. Do not delay!”

　　Pi Junzi and Feng Qingwei politely accepted his orders and directed their disciples towards the forest. However, one person trembled in fear as he looked towards Xiao Jianming with a pitiful expression. Unwilling to join the rest of his valley disciples, it was Shen Lo.

　　Xiao Jianming looked at Shen Lo impatiently and coldly asked, “What is your matter?”

　　“Shixiong Xiao, I… I….” Shen Lo delayed and faltered as he glanced towards the Duanzhen disciples with worry.

　　“Spit it out!” Xiao Jianming looked towards the forest with impatience. He’d already heavily wounded the ninth-tier beast, and there was no way he was going to let it escape now.

　　“Elder Brother Jianming, it’s because…” Feng Qingwei quickly recalled what had happened once she saw what was happening. Especially when she saw Fang Xing arrive, she knew it was no longer going to be an easy matter to settle, and so she did not dare to hide this from Xiao Jianming any longer. She might as well let him know about the issue beforehand.

　　“Nn?” It was the first time Xiao Jianming had heard of this event. His brows showed that he was slightly annoyed, and he swept his glance coldly towards both Feng Qingwei and Shen Lo. As for the two of them, they immediately lowered their heads while beads of sweat formed upon their foreheads.

　　“Oh, hey? Are you seeking death, you turtle bastard of a Shen Lo? Give me that beast core!” It was at this exact moment that Fang Xing’s voice suddenly interrupted them. He had finally finished listening to the Duanzhen disciples’ recollections, and his fury had sparked immediately. With his [Saber of Azure Dragon] slung over his shoulder, he walked towards Shen Lo as though he would slice him in half with a single cleave.

　　Shen Lo’s face dropped, and he took two steps backwards. He tried to keep his eyes defensively on Fang Xing while also looking towards Xiao Jianming in a silent, desperate plea for help.

　　Xiao Jianming’s eyebrows furrowed together as he suddenly turned towards Fang Xing. “Fang Xing, what are you playing at?”

　　Fang Xing rolled his eyes and yelled back, “What am I playing at? Who came up with the idea of ‘whoever deals the fatal blow takes the beast core’?”

　　“I did. What do you want?” Xiao Jianming replied.

　　Fang Xing stared right into his eyes without fear and smirked. “Then let me ask you one thing: does this rule of yours still apply?”

　　Xiao Jianming was slightly startled by this. “Words spoken by me—Xiao Jianming—naturally apply!”

　　Fang Xing let out a loud laugh. “Good. I used to think you didn’t have much guts, or at least that you had much less than Shijie Linyun, but after hearing you say that, I’ve finally started to see you as a Qing-Yun core disciple!

　　“All you Qing-Yun sisters and brothers, listen up: Xiao Jianming said that whoever deals the fatal blow takes the beast core. You’ve seen how the ninth-tier Blue Centipede is already heavily wounded, and damn, that’s a ninth-tier earth-element beast core! A ninth-tier beast core by itself is worth a good forty thousand Spirit Stones, and with it also being an earth-element beast, its value would double, leaving it at eighty thousand Stones. Now if it’s crafted into a pellet, the value could double again; that’s over two hundred thousand Spirit Stones, a motherf*cking fortune! Hurry up and hunt some treasure!”

　　Upon hearing this, Xiao Jianming’s expression changed and he aimed a vicious gaze towards Fang Xing. The boy was actually encouraging the Qing-Yun disciples to betray him—that required enough guts to cover the heavens! Not even Xiao Jianming knew if someone would truly betray him for the sake of this two hundred thousand Spirit Stones….

　　When Xiao Jianming swept his attention across, he saw that Fang Xing had helped everyone realize just how valuable the ninth-tier beast core was, and there were quite a few of them showing rather peculiar expressions. This group of people might not have considered taking the beast core for themselves at all in the past, but now that Fang Xing had reminded them of the rules and calculated the actual value, it was possible some would start to grow restless.

　　“Hey kid, what nonsense are you spouting? The centipede was wounded by Shixiong Xiao Jianming; it naturally belongs to Shixiong Xiao Jianming!” Feng Qingwei loudly yelled at Fang Xing, clearly extremely upset.

　　“Bullsh*t, which son of a bi*ch said earlier that whoever kills the beast gets its core?” Fang Xing cursed back.

　　“You dare—!” Feng Qingwei’s face grew red as she secretly glanced towards Xiao Jianming.

　　The surrounding Qing-Yun disciples could not believe their ears and all grew tense. They even admired Fang Xing’s courage to be able to say “which son of a bi*ch had such an idea” in front of Xiao Jianming himself. Was the boy truly not afraid of being killed?

　　Even Xu Linyun sighed helplessly and tightened her grip, ready to lend a helping hand.

　　As for Xiao Jianming, the frost within his gaze was clear. His uncle had advised him to use sly methods to see if he could get the boy to reveal any secret skills he’d learned from Bai Qianzhang, and to not use force unless there were truly no other options. This was to avoid angering Bai Qianzhang, who had only just recently gone into seclusion. Right now, however, Xiao Jianming’s anger could no longer be contained. No one had dared to so blatantly curse him—ever.

　　Xiao Jianming had even started to wonder. After not returning to the sect for the past four years, had his status and credibility within the sect really dropped by so much so soon? No matter the case, he decided he would teach this little turtle egg bastard a good lesson.

　　“Shixiong Xiao, that rule of yours, is it certain?” an emotionless voice rose up. This time, it was actually Xu Linyun’s.

　　Xiao Jianming’s heart quivered as he thought to himself, ‘Why must Shimei Linyun be so close to the boy? If I were to physically fight him, it’s likely she’d try to stop me. Dammit, she may not be able to completely stop me, but if I really do it through force, not only would I offend Elder Bai Qianzhang and Shishu Tie Rukuang, but this fated future wife of mine would be offended most of all….’

　　Amazingly, as Xiao Jianming thought this, his flames of fury were calmed. Xiao Jianming—someone who had always taken anything within the entire Chufung Kingdom without a sweat—had for the first time felt it was hard to teach someone a lesson. “The words of a nobleman are as solid as a thousand cauldrons[1]; if I speak such words, of course I will keep them!” Xiao Jianming coldly replied. However, he also directed his frigid glance across all of the Qing-Yun disciples, his eyes filled with a forceful warning.

　　A sense of haughtiness had risen within Xiao Jianming’s heart. He did not believe that anyone would actually disobey him for that single beast core, and with so many people helping with the search, he would be able to kill the Blue Centipede the instant it was found. No matter what, the beast core would still end up in his hands; the boy didn’t even stand a chance to try and fight him for it. Although Xu Linyun might have a chance, her battle prowess was not on par with his. Even if he reaffirmed his rule, what did it matter?

　　When they saw the look from Xiao Jianming, some of the Qing-Yun disciples quickly panicked, and especially those who had even a slight thought of having other ideas immediately gave up on it. After all, not everyone was Fang Xing who would dare to directly anger Xiao Jianming, the elder core disciple shixiong of the Qing-Yun Sect.

　　Xiao Jianming was satisfied upon seeing the Qing-Yun disciples’ reaction and coldly commanded, “You guys go ahead. Once you’ve found the livestock, give the signal with the Flying Talisman!”

　　Just as they were about to enter the forest, Fang Xing suddenly snickered. “I know you all don’t dare to offend a certain someone, but you need not worry! Once you’ve found a trace of the Blue Centipede, just secretly send the message to me and Shijie Linyun. If the message is accurate, no matter whether you send it to me or Shijie Linyun, you will be rewarded with thirty thousand Spirit Stones, and we will keep your identity hidden!”

　　With Fang Xing’s declaration, quite a few disciples began to have certain thoughts once again.

　　Crumble….

　　Anger flashed across Xiao Jianming’s face, and a stone beneath one of his feet was instantly crushed into pieces.

　　—

　　[1]The words of a nobleman are as solid as a thousand cauldrons: An idiom. A thousand cauldrons are extremely heavy, signifying that these words are also of a significant weight and cannot be taken back, which a nobleman would not do in the name of honor and pride.