CH 36

T/N: Forgive me, but there’s a slight translation mistake I made in the previous 2 chapters. What was being held today was an assembly, a meeting to talk about the upcoming Sect’s Conference. Not the Conference day yet.

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Everyone was questioning why Xi Zimo hadn’t kicked such a traitorous disciple yet from his own Sect. But actually, Xi Zimo himself wished to quickly throw this garbage out of YuQing Sect. It’s a pity that his Shishu decided to let them stay and occupied a Peak on their own instead. There’s nothing he could do aside from fulfilling his decision.

‘Forget it. Let them temporarily stuck in the Sect for the time being.’

He figured that with the blood-sucking vermin nature of those disciples who were brought along with Gu Feiyu, it’d not be long before they couldn’t go on anymore. Of course, there’s another exception. That’d be if Gu Feiyu was able to truly command his disciples to offer a lot of cultivation resources for him.

Either way, Xi Zimo would be happy to see it. As long as his Shishu wasn’t entangled with them anymore, it’s enough. After all, without the most important variable, his Shishu, what would Gu Feiyu and the others rely on to make trouble in the world of cultivation?

After Wu Siyuan sent him a signal to take care of the aftermath, Xi Zimo immediately obeyed his instruction and sent his subordinate to usher Gu Feiyu and the others out of Lefeng Peak as soon as possible. Don’t think about dawdling, hoping his Shishu would change his mind if given more time.

In this case, in order to prevent any chance of Gu Feiyu contacting his Shishu, Xi Zimo also hurriedly ended the meeting, and guided Wu Siyuan away with some excuses:

“Shishu, let’s take a look at our newly acquired Spiritual Weapons.”

***

The matter being discussed in the assembly for all YuQing Sect’s disciples this morning was mainly regarding the upcoming Sect’s Conference, that’d be held half a year later.

This time, it’s YuQing Sect’s turn to host the Conference. The Conference itself consisted mainly of Martial Arts Competition. No matter what kind of Cultivation type they used, whether they’re Taoist Cultivators, Buddhist Monks, Demonic Cultivator, or Ghost Cultivator[1]; everyone was eligible to participate in the competition.

YuQing Sect had been preparing for this Conference since half a year ago. Now that the day for the Conference was getting closer, Xi Zimo as the Sect Leader mobilized this meeting to check the preparation and to motivate the disciples once again.

—But he certainly didn’t expect such an incident to happen during the assembly.

The one staying in YuQing Sect right now, aside from their own cultivators, there were already some small Sects’ contingents who had arrived ahead of time. For such an incident to be known by other small sects’ cultivators was…Honestly, Xi Zimo didn’t know if it’s a blessing, or was it their misfortune that their own affair was known by outsiders.

—But after thinking about it again, it seemed like it’s a good thing, to let everyone know Gu Feiyu’s real face.

‘But…haaah, I just hope that ShiShu won’t be sad for this end.’

After all, just how much energy had his Shishu expended on his beloved apprentice, Gu Feiyu, for the past decade? Thinking about those countless spiritual treasures wasted on them, his Shishu might not feel a heartache for it, but he would! Whenever Xi Zimo thought about those spiritual treasures in the hands of Gu Feiyu and his White-eyed Wolves followers, he felt like his heart started bleeding profusely.

***

On Gu Feiyu’s side.

In just one day, suddenly not only he had been expelled from Zhu Siyuan’s teaching, he, together with his Junior brothers, were kicked out of Lefeng Peak. They felt that they couldn’t be more ashamed than this.

The disciples in YuQing Sect all knew what precious resources they had been provided with all these years. But they never knew about what ‘precious treasures‘ they, allegedly, needed to offer to Zhu Siyuan in return. Gu Feiyu and the others did deliberately obscure it for years.

—But, who would have expected that Zhu Siyuan suddenly, strips them bare in front of everyone, causing them to lose their face completely!

This way, even though Zhu Siyuan merely expelled him from being his disciples, it’d be no different from expelling them from the Sect.

However, they wouldn’t be discouraged by this. Don’t bully others just because they’re young and impoverished! Surely, even without Zhu Siyuan’s providing cultivation resources to them, they’d still live well.

The Junior Brothers thought confidently;

‘No matter how bad the situation is, as long as we’re with Gu-Shixiong, everything will be alright!’

‘—Oh, wait, we should call him Gu-Shifu from now on.’

As for You Yushu, no one noticed him despite him standing beside Gu Feiyu all this while.

Following Gu Feiyu’s footsteps, You Yushu said anxiously,

“Shixiong, it’s my fault that you and Zhu-Zhenren[2] end up in a quarrel.”

Gu Feiyu reluctantly put on a smile to reassure him. “It isn’t your fault. It’s me who failed to deal with matters well.”

A cultivator next to them who was there to supervise them, to get out of the Peak immediately, heard this conversation and suddenly sneered.

“This Shizhi, you should refer to your Gu-Shixiong as your Shifu at this point. Please don’t forget propriety and don’t ruin your seniority.”

You Yushu who was warned, helplessly turned to look at Gu Feiyu with a pale face.

But that Senior Cultivator didn’t stop and continued to lecture them;

“Naturally, Gu-Shidi must keep this in mind as well. Now you have really become a Master. You might not respect your own Shifu before. But now that you’ve become a Shifu yourself, I advise you to start setting an example and educate your own disciples well. Don’t repeat the same mistake you’ve committed in the past.”

Gu Feiyu’s face distorted slightly, and his taste bud already tasted the rustic smell rushing from his throat[3].

In the end, ignoring You Yushu’s pleading look to speak for him, Gu Feiyu replied to this Senior Cultivator with a smile;

“This Shidi understands. He shall definitely, not let the other disciples repeat the same mistake ever again.”

This Senior Cultivator was called Lin-Shixiong. Gu Feiyu called him Shixiong because he’s Xi Zimo’s Shidi under the same Master[4]. Just like Xi Zimo, he was respectful to Zhu Siyuan as his Shishu.

Gu Feiyu himself was aware that this time was all due to his own miscalculation. Even to Zhu Siyuan who doted on him so much and had always been listening to his words—this kind of unscrupulous misdeed, accepting a disciple on the Master’s behalf while the Master was still alive, was unacceptable after all.

Of course, Gu Feiyu wouldn’t think that it’s his fault. In his mind, it’s because Zhu Siyuan was narrow-minded. It’s because he’s such an old geezer who stubbornly held on to orthodoxy and refused to accept new ideas. It’s because Zhu Siyuan was such a petty Master, that this kind of trivial thing was turned into a big deal.

Besides, if it wasn’t for Zhu Siyuan’s seclusion taking too long, would he be so hasty to accept a disciple by himself?

‘Tsk. If I had known this earlier, I should have forced him to leave his seclusion halfway instead, to accept a new apprentice.’ —Gu Feiyu concluded in his mind.

***

What Gu Feiyu had been thinking in his mind, naturally no one knew about it.

Not the Lin-Shixiong who was supervising his movement, not Xi Zimo the Sect Leader, and of course, not the other YuQing disciples or Elders in the Sect.

Otherwise, with such impudence, others would never let him off easily.

Currently, in order to make his Shishu feel better, Xi Zimo brought Wu Siyuan to appreciate the newly acquired flying sword and some precious herbs brought by his own disciples not long ago. If his Shishu desired it, Xi Zimo would certainly pack them away for him to take. As long as these treasures were not given to Gu Feiyu and the other bastards again, Xi Zimo wouldn’t mind.

Aside from Xi Zimo, there’s an Elder from the Sect present, Elder Tong. He’s relatively old compared to the two, and currently his cultivation was in the Void-Refining Period[5]. In YuQing Sect, his cultivation was considered among the highest.

Unlike the other Old Monsters[6] in the Sect, Elder Tong hadn’t entered a closed-seclusion for rather a long time. In this regard, he’s the strongest Cultivator in YuQing Sect who’s currently available, and could be considered as the Sect’s representative. Elder Tong was the Shidi of Zhu Siyuan’s Master[7]. He had watched Zhu Siyuan since childhood, and watched him grow up until today.

—But unlike other people, he couldn’t stand the way others spoiled this Zhu Siyuan too much.

In his eyes, this kind of pampering was no different from a loving mother who unknowingly taught her son astray.

His view was not wrong either. Just look at the original Zhu Siyuan had become~

Therefore, meeting with Wu Siyuan today, he snorted coldly.

“Hmph. Look at what you’ve become! Even admitting a disciple, you can’t even teach a good one properly! And instead, look at that bunch of White-eyed Wolves you’ve raised! In the entire Cultivation World, only you are capable of this farce!”

***

Elder Tong was also of one those Elders in YuQing sect who had intentionally or unintentionally put pressure on Xi Zimo regarding Zhu Siyuan’s privileged treatment, when the Sect Leader had just been appointed to his post back then.

But in the end, Elder Tong didn’t bother to pay attention to them. He couldn’t understand Zhu Siyuan’s behavior at all. And after finding out that Zhu Siyuan hardly listened to his lecture, he stopped meddling in his affair.

After all, Elder Tong was the Shidi of Zhu Siyuan’s Master, but they weren’t under the same Shifu. To put it simply, Zhu Siyuan’s Master and him were like cousins, not direct Martial Sibling—Therefore, the relationship distance between him and Zhu Siyuan was even farther.

Elder Tong stopped paying attention to Zhu Siyuan long ago. That’s why in the original plot, Elder Tong only knew that Zhu Siyuan had been treating his disciples harshly. Additionally, he still harbored forbidden feelings toward his Head Disciple, Gu Feiyu. As if it wasn’t enough, Zhu Siyuan apparently also forced Gu Feiyu to be with him. Knowing his conduct, Elder Tong looked down on Zhu Siyuan from the bottom of his heart.

Afterward, when You Yushu got admitted to YuQing Sect, Elder Tong was informed that Zhu Siyuan had spent a lot of effort to frame Gu Feiyu’s nominal fiance and had been targeting him ever since. 

Thus, Elder Tong felt even more ashamed of him. 

According to the original plot, after Gu Feiyu slayed Zhu Siyuan for justice, Elder Tong finally went into seclusion.

***

In Wu Siyuan’s opinion, this person actually was simple.

He simply hated Irons for failing to become steel [8], originally he didn’t hate Zhu Siyuan as a person, but disapproved of him as a disobedient child.

Unfortunately, perhaps it was Gu Feiyu’s successful propaganda and the constant rumor about Zhu Siyuan’s supposedly ‘immoral’ conduct, that made Elder Tong give up on him. Or perhaps, in Elder Tong’s eyes, Zhu Siyuan was capable of such infamy—But in the original plot, Elder Tong chose to go into seclusion without investigating the matter of Zhu Siyuan’s death properly.

Contrary to him who chose to give up on Zhu Siyuan, but in the original plot, it was Xi Zimo who insisted on avenging his Shishu’s death. It didn’t matter whether his Shishu was right or wrong, he just couldn’t stand on the side doing nothing when his Shishu was killed just like that. Unfortunately, those who stood on the same side as Cannon Fodder Villain never had a good end—and so did Xi Zimo.

Wu Siyuan felt that in the original plot, the ones who had the most difficult life must be those Shizhis, Xi Zimo, and his other Shidis in the same generation.

Their Shishu, Zhu Siyuan was a capricious and profligate person. As Shizhis, they had spent a lot of effort to support Zhu Siyuan, and later another bunch of blood-sucking vermin under his seat.

However, now that the one who stood here had become Wu Siyuan, fear not, he’d alleviate their burden!

Look, in just one day he had successfully gotten rid of those vermin. In this way, from today onwards they only had a single Wu Siyuan to raise with peace of mind~

That said, Wu Siyuan finally looked at Elder Tong hesitantly, and replied:

“Shishu, you can’t say that. After all, it’s my first time accepting disciples, isn’t it normal for first-times to go wrong?”

Elder Tong wanted to beat this child so much. Exactly because it’s the first time, then shouldn’t one be extremely cautious and careful in selecting a disciple?

Besides, what the hell did he mean by first-time? First-times my ass! Why don’t you say it’s the first time for you to be a human being as well?!

“You…You! Whatever, I’m too lazy to worry about you anymore, hmph! However, with your ‘good eyes‘, from now on, don’t accept any apprentice anymore! Don’t delay other people’s future!”

Wu Siyuan acted according to the original owner’s logic, and continued to respond;

“But others all have their own apprentices, and I don’t have one, wouldn’t it be embarrassing?”

Xi Zimo covered his face from the side. He was desperately praying;

‘Little Shishu, really, just don’t say anything anymore!’

Looking at Elder Tong’s expression darkened with anger, it’s possible that he’s going to swipe his sleeve and went into seclusion the next moment.

“You’re still talking about embarrassment? So, do you think it is an honor for you to accept a bunch of White-Eyed Wolves? In the beginning, didn’t you say that you wanted to accept Gu Feiyu because he’s good-looking?! But what happened afterward? Why, none of your disciples after are good-looking, but you accepted them nonetheless! No, you’ve simply become muddle-headed, stupidly following Gu Feiyu’s words as orders!”

Elder Tong sneered. “It’s a good thing that you’ve become sober on your own today. And it’s fortunate that you’re finally able to differentiate right from wrong.”

Wu Siyuan decided to take this chance and reported his grievance to his Elder,

“I never expected him to get ahead of himself and regarded me as a Dead person. I couldn’t help it before and nearly lost my temper, those disciples never cared about me at all. They unanimously shoved a disciple on me. That new apprentice, just one look at his face we’ll know he’s not a good person. I also heard that he’s Gu Feiyu’s nominal fiance…”

Elder Tong massaged the bridge between his eyebrows with his finger, feeling the throbbing pain from his temple.

He was aggrieved. Lamenting why was it among his generation, only he had to face difficulties advancing his cultivation stage, and had yet ascended to the Immortal Realm until today.

—Exactly because of this reason that he was forced to look after this unreliable Nephew.

He was very sure that he had done a lot of good deeds in this life.  Therefore, he wondered, just what kind of unpardonable sin he had done in his past life—for him to be plagued with debt in the name of Zhu Siyuan in the present.

“This damn child! You just dislike that new disciple because he is Gu Feiyu’s nominal fiance! Is this why you end up losing your temper with Gu Feiyu? Don’t tell me that you’re still thinking about reconciling with them on another whim!”

Wu Siyuan hurriedly denied, “That’s impossible! How can I, I’m not stupid!”

With every sentence that Wu Siyuan said, Elder Tong felt that this child had accurately hit every point that made him want to curse.

Xi Zimo watched those two Overlords argue back and forth, he wanted so badly to persuade them but didn’t dare to do so.

When he first took his post as YuQing Sect Leader, he was able to gain a firm foothold within a few years. He was able to beat the other Elders and other Administrators in the Sect who disliked his little Shishu. In addition to his eloquence, his cultivation and ability were also high enough to shut them up.

He once thought that, in case Elder Tong fought with him, there’s still a slight possibility to win.

It was because previously he thought Elder Tong simply hated his Little Shishu. But today, he looked at them bickering, it seemed like he might be wrong about it. To be honest, it was the first time he saw Elder Tong speak so many words with other people.

Looking at it again, Xi Zimo realized that perhaps Elder Tong simply wished his Little Shishu to be taught properly.

Xi Zimo thought about a lot of things in consideration, and felt that his little Shishu really need to be taught again after all.

Elder Tong, on the other hand, seeing that Xi Zimo had no intention to blindly defend Zhu Siyuan, he was quick to adjust his attitude as an Elder and began to lecture Zhu Siyuan seriously.

“If it weren’t for your Shifu being unreliable, ascending to the Immortal realm that early, you wouldn’t have been spoiled astray by a bunch of old-geezers Shixiongs and Shijies.”

Xi Zimo really wanted to remind him: ‘Excuse me, but Elder Tong, you couldn’t possibly think you are still young, right?’

“—Just how did that bunch of Shixiongs and Shijies of yours teach you back then? From now on, you must come to meet me every day and start learning once again. If you continue to be ignorant, you will make the entire YuQing Sect lose their face. Also, you’re forbidden from accepting any disciple these days. At least, wait until the Sect’s Conference commences 6 months later. We can take a look and see if there’s a good seedling at that time.”

Xi Zimo heard how Elder Tong decided the matter so simply. He looked at the toe of his shoe, yet again silently rebutting the Elder;

‘Elder, choosing disciples in the Sect’s Conference won’t be as easy as choosing Cabbages in the market…’

Those Sects’ Disciples or Cultivators who were eligible to be brought to the Conference must be well-known. Even if some of them had no Master yet able to shine brilliantly in the competition…well, do you think those Talented people would consider his little Shishu to guide them further in their cultivation? Forgive him for being blunt, but those who happily chose his Shishu as their Master must have been eyeing the enormous resources he had, or they were simply unpromising, weaker than even his Shishu.

But Elder Tong certainly couldn’t hear Xi Zimo’s rebuttal, thus he heard the Elder once again promise his Shishu:

“—Don’t worry, I will definitely pick a good one for you!”

Wu Siyuan himself didn’t refuse his goodwill and casually nodded, following him along.

“That’s right, this time, I want to find a disciple who can beat those White-eyed Wolves with a flick of their hand. It’d be better if the disciple admitted is wealthy and capable, so they can support me with cultivation resources!”

References