Sect Leader Is Under Great Pressure CH 098 What Is Right And Wrong, Revealed When The Water Recedes
Ziyun Dao City, Taiji Hall.
Bai Yue uneasily shrank behind Yan Ling, sneaking glances at the various high-level cultivators in the hall. They were all dressed in light purple Taoist robes adorned with cloud patterns, casting cold and slightly hostile glances her way. This hostility was something she had never encountered before. She even regretted a little, regretted secretly helping Senior Brother Yan deliver that letter.
In the center of the grand hall sat a middle-aged Taoist in a purple robe, with a scholarly appearance. He sat in the eye of a ward, surrounded by white light, which occasionally seeped into the large ward below him. The ward seals beneath him flickered, floating and flying, merging with the grand ward outside the city’s sky.
Soon, a young man walked in from outside. He was handsome, with extraordinarily bewitching golden vertical pupils, and his eyes lacked eyebrows. Instead, three snake patterns extended from his brow ridges to his temples, with a small snake pattern at the center of his forehead, slightly moving as if it were alive.
The purple-robed elder nodded slightly to the young man, "Ninth Prince."
"So urgent to find me, what is it?" Hai Chaoxu stood in the hall, not beating around the bush, and lazily asked directly.
"Previously, our sect had some misunderstandings with Kun-Lai. Now that the matter has been clarified, we wish to reconcile with Kun-Lai. However, the two sides are currently hostile towards each other, so we hope Hai Gongzi can mediate, allowing our sect and Kun-Lai to clear up the misunderstandings and return to the right path," the purple-robed elder said slowly.
"What kind of misunderstanding do you have?" Hai Chaoxu asked with a faint smile, glancing at Bai Yue and Yan Ling.
"Previously, this young lady delivered a letter stating that our sect's Yan Ling had been imprisoned and tortured by Kun-Lai, which led to the misunderstanding. Now we know that Peak Master An of Kun-Lai was just a bit strict in her teachings, which is her usual temperament, so it was all just a misunderstanding..." The purple-robed elder left his words hanging.
Hai ChaXxu, a millennia-old spirit demon, could easily hear the unspoken meaning in his words, but he also knew that much of what the elder said was nonsense. Not to mention that their sect's disciple had seized someone else's body—just this alone would justify being beaten to death in any sect. Moreover, their sect's Elder Yan had directly attacked Kun-Lai, and they weren't good people either. They just wanted to capture a few Kun-Lai disciples who were alone as double insurance, in case the flying peaks launched an attack.
But they ended up losing an elder and disciples because of it. From start to finish, it was all self-inflicted, so why should he play the mediator? He knew that because of what happened a hundred years ago, that crazy Madwoman An had always harbored great hostility towards their Dragon-Snake Clan. If anything went wrong, losing a snake head would be the least of his worries.
Seeing Hai Chaoxu smile without saying a word, the purple-robed elder sighed slightly in his heart and then signaled to the disciple beside him.
"Hai Gongzi, here are twelve Treasure-Seeking Mice from Ziyun Dao, a small gift, I hope you will like it." The disciple immediately took out a delicate animal cage containing a few golden mice, only as long as fingers, huddled together, trembling as they faced the snake spirit demon cultivator in front of them, occasionally letting out miserable squeaks, as if they were mortals seeing a terrifying ghost.
So small. Hai Gongzi nodded but did not accept them.
Then, another disciple beside him took out an exquisite jade box and respectfully said, "Hai Gongzi, this is the Dragon Pearl of the Central Continent, which can gather moonlight into dew, enhancing the purity of cultivation. I hope you don't find it lacking."
Hai Gongzi nodded again but still did not accept it.
Then, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth disciples came forward, each offering items better than the last. Finally, when the twelfth disciple came out, there were no more disciples left to offer gifts.
Only then did Hai Gongzi reluctantly nod and lazily said, "Alright, I'll give it a try."
After speaking, Hai Gongzi's gaze fell on Bai Yue, the look of those cold-blooded golden vertical pupils almost suffocating her, before he faintly said, "This young lady, you must be An Xian's daughter. Please take out something personal so I can go meet your mother."
Bai Yue looked at Yan Ling for help.
Yan Ling's face was somber, but he still held her hand tightly and comforted, "Don't worry, it's just to show your mother our sincerity, alright?"
Bai Yue's expression relaxed a bit, and she gently lifted her head, taking off a pearl flower from her hair and handing it to Yan Ling, "This is a calming spiritual item made by my father, my mother will recognize it at a glance."
The material was of exceptional quality, and Yan Ling didn't really want to give it away, but under the elder's watchful gaze, he handed it to Hai Gongzi.
Bai Yue whispered, "Senior Brother, I'm a little scared, don't send me back."
If her mother found out that she secretly sent a letter to Ziyun Dao, she would kill her.
"I won't," Yan Ling reassured her.
Hai Gongzi glanced at her thoughtfully, then turned and left.
***
On Kun-Lai's side, things were still very lively.
The captured Ziyun Dao disciples were already being sold according to their cultivation levels. Most of them were seriously injured, with several sword cultivators having inflicted severe wounds, some even losing nearly all their blood. The medical cultivators had to put in a lot of effort to save them, and this rescue service wasn't free, so the prices had to be adjusted accordingly.
Poison Peak and Pill Peak also bought quite a few, and the three peaks' cultivators simply gathered on Zhuiyun Peak to study and progress together.
"Kill or be killed..." Some Ziyun Dao disciples were determined to resist until death.
"We don't kill or mutilate, don't misunderstand, relax, I'm just here to treat your injuries," said a gentle female disciple from Qingnu Peak.
"I don't believe... Ahhh—"
"The foreign spiritual energy in his body has been extracted, three breaths faster than our peak's original method, see that?" The female disciple from Qingnu Peak turned and smiled at her fellow cultivator.
"These are practice dummies for me, don't randomly experiment with your new ideas on them." A nearby cultivator disapproved.
"That's right... We're all still at the stage of 'chicken pecking chicken,' don't aim too high."
"Alright then, I'm still not familiar with the first volume of the Vein Expansion Needle. The Kun-Lai disciples who came for vein expansion treatment all said it hurt..." The girl then raised her hand, gently pinching a needle, and complained, "Even though it's free, no one is willing to come for vein expansion."
"What's so great about that? I'm even paying them for treatment. Who said medical cultivators earn a lot? They don't see how tough it is for low-level medical cultivators!" Another disciple agreed wholeheartedly.
"Exactly, which medical cultivator hasn't been on several expeditions, practiced on thousands of people before someone was willing to use our services voluntarily? Before that, we have to borrow money everywhere, even helping each other out as our own guinea pigs!" A female medical cultivator said angrily, "And then they still say our fees are too high, can it be higher than their lives!"
“You still have the nerve to say that? Can’t you be a bit gentler when we're helping each other out?” a disciple immediately complained. “Last time I agreed to let you practice on me, and you directly used a life-saving needle as thick as chopsticks. It scared me so much I ran off.”
“That was because I needed to pass the level six medical exam. It’s all Kun-Lai’s fault for being so wealthy. Look at those spirit demon cultivators who can’t afford treatment but still want their injuries healed—they can be like these captives and be handed over to us newbies for practice.”
“What’s the use of only having spirit demon cultivators? We need humans—humans! Seventy percent of the exam is about treating humans!”
“Exactly, exactly! Those cats, dogs, birds, snakes, and scorpions aren’t the same as humans!”
“I’m considering marrying a sword cultivator from Sword Peak. Don’t they often get injured? That way, I’d have more time to practice.” The female cultivator said shyly.
“Wishful thinking. Sword cultivators want to marry mid-level healers. A few years ago, some tried marrying low-level healers, thinking they could start from scratch, but they ended up getting divorced during the process of low-level healers taking the mid-level healer exams,” someone poured cold water on the idea.
“…Yeah, Peak Master An is the only successful example.” The female healer sighed.
“She failed in the end too.”
“It seems so… We’re all the same. Sigh, Kun-Lai, the world’s getting worse. Let’s not talk about it.” The junior brother beside her gently said to the trembling female captive, “Don’t be afraid, we’re just going to treat your injuries, otherwise it could leave side effects that could impact your cultivation.”
“No, please don’t…” The female captive trembled slightly, shrinking to one side, her eyelashes wet with tears, pitifully saying, “I’m willing to marry you, just please be gentle.”
“Uh…”
As the flying peak master, Feng Qingxiu couldn’t help but laugh on the side, starting to understand why the rooms on Qingdi Peak and Qingnu Peak were all soundproofed so well.
You Jia shook his head and sighed, “These cultivators, not an ounce of tenderness.”
“Low-level cultivators have it rough.” Huang Wei, standing beside him, agreed with a heavy heart, “Back in the day when I couldn’t successfully calculate celestial mechanics, I could only copy books to earn a few spiritual stones each day.”
“Exactly. When I was low-level, I had to chop off hands just to get by. Later, I accidentally published ‘Why a Son with a Fortune Ended Up So Poor He Had to Cut Off His Hands—A Discussion on You Bazhua’s Ruthlessness,’ which hit the headlines and earned a lot of rewards. That’s when life started getting better,” You Jia shook his head. “Those days are hard to look back on.”
His words sparked a conversation among the others about amusing incidents from the past.
Feng Qingxiu listened quietly, but his mind was still on what happened last night.
After leaving the room, he pretended nothing had happened, but heaven knows he felt like he was burning up inside when he faced his master. He only managed to calm the blush on his face by quickly practicing an ice meridian technique.
But how should he speak to his master in the future? Why did seeing his master wear that particular robe make him so happy that he wanted to pounce on him?
This doesn’t make any sense.
And how was he so bold to dare help his master put it on again?
What will my master think of me? Will he think I’m too forward?
His heart was beating so fast—from last night until now, it hasn’t stopped pounding. Is this what they call feeling lovesick inside?
Who knows where his master went.
Maybe he doesn’t want to see me?
Should I prepare another robe for him…
Feng Qingxiu felt the need to calm down.
Suddenly, his communication jade flashed, informing the peak masters to attend a meeting. It said a spirit demon cultivator had brought out a reconciliation letter from Ziyun Dao for everyone to see, offering treasures and spiritual items to ransom back their disciples and elders.
With serious matters at hand, everyone quickly headed out. But as soon as they entered the hall, they heard a purple-robed spirit demon cultivator say, “...The young Miss Bai doesn’t dare come back to see you.”
Everyone shook their heads inwardly. What a fool! Once she’s out there, there’ll come a time when she cries and begs to return.
But this matter… Their eyes all fell on Peak Master An, who coldly tossed a pearl flower to the ground, shattering it into pieces.
“If she doesn’t want to come back, then let her stay gone.”