Chapter 535 - The Scum Is Matured

"… is that really Er Zi?" Li Tian whispered to Feng Mo as they watched their disciples leave to go to the venue of the competition.

The group battles of the second stage of the Intersect Competition will start today. Wen Wen, Cui Xiang and Cui Xiao will be fighting as a team with Sun Ri of the Shanliangde Sect, and is their fellow mage disciple.

Feng Mo's brows furrowed while Lei Qing's brow twitched. Lei Ling looked confused while You Rou shook her head. She isn't sure, either.

"What you want to say, is Er Zi suddenly acting matured today?" Xie Lan spoke behind them.

"Founder! Shifu!" the five of them exclaimed when they saw Xie Lan and Fan Wen behind them.

"Yes… Er Zi… is acting strange." Li Tian worriedly said. "He started to look after his fellow disciples earlier. Like sending the dishes they liked to them along with the condiments…" he said.

Feng Mo nodded in agreement. "He also already knows that Zhu Xi would wash his hands twice before eating so he passed the washbasin to him back and even refilled it with clean and warm water." He said. "Wen Yan's face suddenly turned black that time, though I don't know why." He added.

"He is also caring towards his shijie." Lei Qing spoke. "He handed her another bowl when he saw that her bowl cracked because she accidentally stabbed the bowl with her chopstick." She said.

"Even to his shimeis…" You Rou muttered as she recalled what happened earlier. "Er Zi placed the pepper away from Cui Xiao and also placed the shelled dishes away from Cui Xiang." She said. Cui Xiao sneezes because of pepper while Cui Xiang finds shelled dishes smelly.

Everyone then turned to Lei Ling.

"Hm?" Lei Ling muttered. "Oh, yes. Er Zi also took care of Wen Wen." He spoke when he recalled what he saw earlier before the disciples left to attend the competition. "Er Zi helped Wen Wen arrange the talismans because Wen Wen was nervous earlier. He also told him about some methods with regards to talismans, as what he heard from his master before." He explained. "He also told him to remind Cui Xiao about her spells and told Wen Wen about useful spells for him to tell her later. And there's also more tactics with fragrance that Cui Xiang uses, and also making pits…" he added.

Everyone fell silent. Fei Yinzi… never did this before. It is not like he didn't care about his fellow disciples before. It is because he cared for them more now than before that is why they found his actions strange. Humans find things strange until they learned to adapt to it. Only then what was strange to them before would now become familiar to them.

So, should they now start to adapt to this change of Fei Yinzi?

…

"Thank you, Cheng Sheng!" Xi Xing spoke after he saw that Xi Ming's complexion turned better after Cheng Sheng fed Xi Ming the magic pill.

"Shizun. Ho Ting's complexion also turned better than last night!" Ling Yun called Cheng Sheng after he fed Ho Ting the magic pill that Cheng Sheng refined last night.

"Good. Good." Cheng Sheng nodded in satisfaction. "Add one more magic pill to the dosage of Ho Ting's medicine. His condition is worse than Xi Ming's." he told Ling Yun.

"Yes!" Ling Yun answered as he fed Ho Ting another magic pill before he listed down the medicines he fed him just now. He also included Xi Ming's prescription.

"This new disciple of yours is good." Shu Mu and Xiao Le who are idle spoke as they looked at Ling Yun.

Cheng Sheng's smile became wider. "Anyone can become a sword cultivator, but not a mage." He spoke. "Our land can be filled with sword cultivators in the near future. But mages?" he shook his head. "I am afraid that out of a hundred people, there is only one mage." He told them.

Shu Mu and Xiao Le nodded in agreement. "True. That time, I have already learned all the things I need to learn in the sect and from my father. Thus, I played around and decided to learn talismans." Shu Mu said.

"Honestly, I felt bored in learning the sword. I also saw that I don't have a talent for it." Xiao Le spoke. "So, when I met Mu-ge, a new world opened up for me. I became a mage." He smiled as he looked at Shu Mu. "It's all thanks to Mu-ge." He said.

"… why do you have to feed me with dog food? Can't you just share your story without smiling and looking stickily to each other?" Cheng Sheng complained. "I've had enough of the Xi couple already." He said, referring to Xi Ming and Xi Xing.

Xi Xing blushed and kept his expression indifferent to hide his embarrassment. Shu Mu and Xiao Le laughed.

"Shizun. I've already dried it! You can look at it!" Ling Yun said as he gave the paper to Cheng Sheng.

Cheng Sheng read the words while nodding. Everything that Ling Yun wrote is precise. "Good." He spoke. "For now, you watch over Ho Ting's condition. Don't let him die." He told him. "It was also you who noticed the change in his soul after he fought against me and da shixiong. Now, to train your eyes, you watch the changes to his soul, and also to his qi. Got it?" he said. "You also look at Xi Ming after Ho Ting's condition turned stable." He added.

Xi Xing is currently checking Xi Ming's meridians through his pulse. Although it was Cheng Sheng's job, he isn't unreasonable since Cheng Sheng has stayed up late last night to finish refining many magic pills from the Devouring Worms' corpses.

Ling Yun solemnly nodded. "Got it!" he answered as he returned to his seat which is beside Ho Ting's bed.

"You really got a convenient disciple this time." Shu Mu told Cheng Sheng.

"Yes. Cheng-shixiong can now rest his eyes from watching his patient's condition after he treated their illness. He now has Ling Yun." Xiao Le spoke.

Cheng Sheng fell silent. In fact, he wished for Fei Yinzi to be a mage. Thus, he had the child cultivate a method that could enrich his qi, which is suitable for the mages. But, who would expect for Fei Yinzi to be talentless in the area of alchemy? Although Fei Yinzi's body could gather more qi form the surroundings than an ordinary cultivator, he can't understand alchemy. He has no affinity with it.

Cheng Sheng wanted Fei Yinzi to be a mage is because he wanted the child to live a safer life. As his promise to Fei Yan, and also for his own wish. He doesn't want his disciple to die an earlier death, since everyone knows that although the sword brings glory, it also brings death earlier to the one wielding it. So, he didn't want Fei Yinzi to wild the sword.

Yet, fate played a trick on him. Fei Yinzi was more suited for the sword. That time when he realized it, he wanted to turn back the time before he brought him to the Xinfaxian Sect and pulled him to the cultivation world. He truly regretted it. Thus, he almost became crazed in training Fei Yinzi to become stronger faster, especially he, as his master, has become a waste.

The only way one could protect the other is teaching him on how to protect himself.

"Cheng Sheng?" Xi Xing called when they noticed that Cheng Sheng fell silent.

Cheng Sheng blinked. "Of course." He spoke. "I need to cultivate, too, especially now that my cultivation stopped remaining stagnant." He told them.

They all nodded in agreement. "That's true." They muttered.

Cheng Sheng smiled. "Shu Mu. Xiao Le. I have something I need you to do." He spoke.

"Oh? A new mission?" Shu Mu grinned. Xiao Le can't help smiling, too.

Cheng Sheng nodded. "Also, this." He said as he took out a qiankun pouch and placed it on Xiao Le's palm. "Use them. Don't forget to give father, former sect leader Wu, elder Fei and elder Xi one. Let Wu Bai take his rest now that the Devouring Worms have been totally eradicated from Zhongyang. This is also worth for a celebration." He told them.

They nodded in agreement. "Let's keep the celebration for now." Sun Rong spoke as he and Qie Shi appeared by the door.

"What's wrong?" they all turned and saw the two's worried faces.

"Something happened to one of the guests." Sun Rong answered while Qie Shi had their subordinates bring the person in the infirmary.

Everyone inside saw that the person was bound on the stretcher. Cheng Sheng immediately checked the person's pulse and he frowned. He stared at the person's soul and qi but then he felt his head ached.

"Cheng Sheng!" they all cried when they saw his face paled.

"I'm alright… Ling Yun." Cheng Sheng called. "Check this person's soul and qi." He told him.

Ling Yun hurried over and checked the person. Then, he gasped in shock. "Sh – shizun!" he exclaimed.. "This person has two souls!" he told him as his face paled in horror.