Chapter 3 – Soft Persimmon

The chickens and roosters raised by the sect were public property and naturally couldn’t be killed at will, so Fang Yang strongly opposed Feng Ye’s answer.

Feng Ye couldn’t resist his shidi, who was full of enthusiasm after being fed chicken soup by him just now, and reluctantly jumped into the pit he had dug for himself. The two of them reached a compromise and agreed that Fang Yang would wake Feng Ye half a shichen after the rooster crowed each day.

However, Feng Ye still had a trick up his sleeve. He had only promised Fang Yang that he would get up, not that he would practice swordplay with him.

Young people. They were so naive and gullible.

Feng Ye feigned being distraught, but the corners of his lips rose where Fang Yang couldn’t see them. He gave himself a thumbs up for his adult wisdom.

The daily work had been completed, and the next step was free time. The inner sect disciples had to attend classes and practice martial arts, but it was completely different for the outer sect disciples.

Lingxiao Sword Sect had adopted a completely free-range management approach to its junior outer disciples, and their training depended entirely upon themselves.

Fang Yang and Feng Ye were at two extremes, one too conscientious, and the other too unconscientious.

As for the rest, most of them were somewhere in-between. They would train, but weren’t as demanding of themselves as Fang Yang.

Fang Yang was already a top student among the junior disciples, and was only at the seventh level of Qi Refining, so all the others were also at the Qi Refining stage.

They either had not established their foundation, or had not yet achieved inedia. All outer disciples needed to eat. The sect very humanely set up a cafeteria at the foot of the mountain to facilitate the meals of the outer disciples.

It was noon, and after cleaning the training square, Feng Ye and Fang Yang prepared to go to the cafeteria for lunch.

This was one of the few rest times Fang Yang had each day, and after the meal, he would go off on his own to practice swordplay again.

And as for Feng Ye..…he would take a nap. Although he seemed to have slept for a long time, the dream had disturbed him and he hadn’t rested well at all.

Heaven and earth were vast, but catching up on sleep was the most important thing of all.

The useless shixiong played his role very competently today.

Feng Ye’s plan was very good, but before the two of them reached the cafeteria entrance, they were blocked by someone.

The person blocking their way was a familiar face. There were many junior disciples in the outer sect, but because Lingxiao Sword Sect occupied a vast area, the junior disciples lived scattered all over the place and usually didn’t interact with each other. Thus, Feng Ye didn’t actually know many of his fellow disciples.

If Fang Yang was the first, then the person in front of them was the second.

It was just that his relationship with this person was different from his relationship with Fang Yang. To be specific, it was one of enmity.

This person had a pair of triangular eyes, and although his facial features were fairly regular, he tended to look a little dour, as he was always scrutinizing people.

Feng Ye noticed him, and Fang Ye naturally did too.

Fang Yang treated people with unreasonable sincerity and enthusiasm, and almost never took the initiative to make enemies with people – except for the one in front of them.

Just on account of seeing his face, Fang Yang’s expression turned cold. He shouted to this person who was blocking the way forward: “Lu Chengye, what do you want?”

Lu Chengye had been amongst the disciples who entered the sect at the same time as Fang Yang. He also had three spiritual roots like Fang Yang, and therefore also trained in the outer sect.

However, he wasn’t a teenager of fifteen or sixteen like Fang Yang, but a mature young man of eighteen like Feng Ye.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, he had missed the sect’s enrollment period two years ago, but managed to make it the year previous. He joined the immortal sect and earned the title of an overage repeater.

Although he had begun to cultivate immortality a little later in life, because he was older than the others, he possessed more resilience and comprehension than them.

He wasn’t as diligent and hardworking as Fang Yang, but he was still one of the best among this batch of junior disciples.

Lu Chengye and Fang Yang had no personal grudges against each other. The cause of their enmity was…..because of Feng Ye.

In addition to training, junior disciples must also complete tasks assigned by the sect. But in fact, the sect wasn’t very strict about these tasks. As long as they were completed, the administrator in charge of inspections didn’t care who did them.

As a result, an underground black market was born. Some people already had some savings at home before going to learn at the Lingxiao Sword Sect, and they naturally lived a life of luxury and never had to do any chores.

Training was tiring enough, so rather than spending their time performing pointless labor, they preferred to pay someone to do it for them.

On the other hand, there were those who came from poor families. Even after becoming a member of an immortal sect, they still planned to save some money to send to their families in the mortal world.

Thus, deals were made.

One paid and the other worked, an even exchange. This could be considered a legitimate business.

But some people were unwilling to pay, and also didn’t want to do chores. They targeted honest people who looked easy to bully and used force to compel them to lend a hand.

As luck would have it, Feng Ye was the soft persimmon Lu Chengye had targeted.

After all, Feng Ye was very ordinary in every aspect, with an ordinary appearance and an ordinary name. Even if someone came to the sect to ask after him, most people would be unaware that such a fellow disciple existed.

Moreover, Feng Ye was quite useless. After three years of training, his cultivation had barely reached the third level of Qi Refining. At one level per year, it could be considered steady development.

But in the eyes of most people, this was a soft persimmon. If they didn’t come and squeeze it, they would feel they’d lost out.

A month ago, Lu Chengye, who felt he would lose out if he didn’t take the opportunity, naturally approached Feng Ye. He cornered him, and was threatening him with his fists when Fang Yang saw them. As a good young man, Fang Yang certainly wouldn’t sit idly by and watch this kind of bullying, so he stepped in to rescue Feng Ye from peril.

He got to know Feng Ye because of this, and since they lived close to each other, their relationship grew increasingly better. 

Fang Yang bore no goodwill toward Lu Chengye, a local tyrant who used his cultivation to bully his fellow disciples.

Lu Chengye also didn’t like Fang Yang, this self-proclaimed hero who meddled in the affairs of others. But he didn’t have the confidence that he could beat Fang Yang, who was also at the seventh level of Qi Refining, so he had no choice but to give up.

However, he still held a grudge against the two of them. He would make a few sarcastic remarks whenever he got the chance, and today was no exception.

Lu Chengye said with an enigmatic look on his face: “What can be done? There’s only one way to the cafeteria and you won’t let people go there?”

Fang Yang didn’t fall for his provocation. He wasn’t good with words, and had almost never had the upper hand in previous arguments with Lu Chengye. Furthermore, it was not the behavior of a gentleman to gain satisfaction through aggressive speech. Since he was a sword practitioner, he should speak with the sword.

Instead of wasting time arguing with Lu Chengye, it was better to practice his swordplay more.

Fang Yang came to a decision and tugged Feng Ye along to skirt around Lu Chengye.

But as they passed by, Lu Chengye said in a voice so low that only they could hear it: “Do you think protecting this waste will do anything? The inner sect examination is about to begin, and your useless shixiong definitely won’t pass. When the time comes, just wait and see how I deal with him.”

Fang Yang’s footsteps came to a sudden halt. He clenched his fists tightly, and the anger he had been suppressing showed signs of breaking out.

This was exactly what Lu Chengye wanted. The Lingxiao Sword Sect had a free-range management style, which appeared loose and easy.

But despite such looseness, there were several golden rules that could not be violated, one of which was that disciples were not allowed to fight amongst themselves. Those who stirred up trouble would be expelled from the sect without mercy.

The cafeteria wasn’t far away. It was currently lunchtime, and there were many people around. If Fang Yang couldn’t hold back and took action first, his guilt would be confirmed, and there would be only one result waiting for him: being expelled from the sect and never again having the opportunity to become immortal.

Although Lu Chengye seemed to be targeting Fang Yang, his actual target was Feng Ye. After all, without Fang Yang’s protection and with Feng Ye’s limited skills, he would be at his mercy.

Fang Yang was also aware of this, but the young were always prone to impulsiveness. At this moment, he was so infuriated by Lu Chengye’s words that he lost control of himself.

Just when he was about to move, Feng Ye suddenly pressed down on his shoulders.

Walking beside Fang Yang, Feng Ye had naturally heard every word Lu Chengye said.

Moreover, he also knew that the “waste” Lu Chengyu referred to was him.

Contrary to Fang Yang’s anger, he wore a calm expression devoid of anger, as if he was just a punching bag that couldn’t fight back or retaliate.

Fang Yang reflexively tried to break free from Feng Ye’s grip, but was unexpectedly unable to shake him off.

In terms of physical fitness, he, who was at the seventh level of Qi Refining, should be far superior to the third level Feng Ye, but he was unable to move under Feng Ye’s grip.

Feng Ye looked at Lu Chengye’s expression of sarcasm and malice and smiled, saying only one thing: “Then I’ll be waiting for you.”

Having said this, he continued forward with Fang Yang, only releasing his grip once they were out of Lu Chengye’s sight.

Fang Yang looked at Feng Ye’s hands, then at his ordinary face, and had a moment of doubt: was his useless shixiong actually useless? 

Feng Ye’s next words dispelled his doubts.

Patting his chest with a sigh of relief, Feng Ye said gratefully: “Fortunately, nothing happened. Shidi, don’t be impulsive. Letting him insult me a few times won’t hurt anybody. Come on, let’s go eat first, and then I can sleep……”

Useless-shixiong really is useless, Fang Yang thought expressionlessly. Only a waste would just think about sleeping and eating. As for practicing swordplay, there was no such thing in the world of the useless. Correspondingly, there was also no such thing in Feng Ye’s world.

Fang Yang didn’t refute Feng Ye’s suggestion to eat first, but still couldn’t help but warn him worriedly: “After the inner sect examination in a few days, I’ll be admitted and won’t live at the foot of the mountain anymore. If Lu Chengye…..”

If Lu Chengye were to cause trouble for Feng Ye, Fang Yang would naturally be too late to stop him after entering the inner sect. This was also why he must urge Feng Ye to practice his swordplay. He hoped that after he left, his useless shixiong wouldn’t be beaten too badly.

Fang Yang didn’t finish his sentence, but Feng Ye was aware of his worries. He inwardly lamented that if Fang Yang hadn’t intervened that day, he would have beaten Lu Chengyu until he was unrecognizable.

Fang Yang-shidi’s worries were completely groundless. His useless shixiong was only useless in front of others, but not where others couldn’t see…..so he would wait for Lu Chengye, who loved to squeeze soft persimmons, to come and experience it for himself.

These were Feng Ye’s thoughts, but it wasn’t easy to express them to Fang Yang, so he just rubbed his shidi’s head comfortingly to signal that he shouldn’t worry.

After that minor episode, Feng Ye and Fang Yang entered the cafeteria to find that there were already quite a few people inside. They had to wait in line for a long time before they could eat.

And elsewhere, an unfamiliar guest arrived at the mountain gates of Lingxiao Sword Sect.

Hao Chen gazed at the rolling mountains and hidden sect therein, and with a swish, opened the paper fan he carried with him.

The weather in early autumn wasn’t very hot, but he still fanned himself.

How stylish he looked with the fan was far more important than the coolness it provided.

Hao Chen took a quick look at the terrain and saw the four big characters “Lingxiao Sword Sect” written on the mountain wall.

These four characters were massive, occupying the entire wall of the mountain and able to be seen from a great distance. It was also unknown who wrote them.

But the strokes of these four characters were swift and fierce, the breaks clean and decisive, which somewhat indicated the proudness and determination of the inscriber.

Hao Chen murmured the name again: “Lingxiao……Sword Sect.”

There was a perpetual faint smile on his lips, which made one feel as if they were bathing in a spring breeze – but when he spoke the word “Lingxiao,” that smile was three parts disdain and seven parts sarcastic.

With a snap, Hao Chen closed the fan, tapping his palm with it as he walked onward.

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T/N: Lingxiao (凌霄) can be interpreted as “Rising to Heaven.”

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Chapter 2 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 4