Chapter 22 – Poisoned

“There’s a method for sweeping the floor. Fellow Daoist Hao Chen, can you……” Feng Ye looked at the area Hao Chen had swept, where leaves were scattered here and there like it hadn’t been touched.

He paused, then continued with some disdain: “Pay a little more attention.”

It was free labor, but he actually complained that it wasn’t done well. Hao Chen should have known, but his thumping heart from that morning had caused him to change his attitude toward Feng Ye a little bit.

He felt that instead of childishly quarreling with the other party over trivial matters such as sweeping the floor, it would be better to start from a different angle.

So he offered an apologetic smile: “I didn’t do it well. If Fellow Daoist Feng Ye could…..personally~ instruct me…..then I would definitely do better.”

Feng Ye: “……” There wasn’t actually anything wrong with this sentence. But when Hao Chen said ‘personally,’ he deliberately emphasized the word, letting it circle the tip of his tongue before uttering it slowly, with a lingering final syllable that added a touch of charm.

Is this guy flirting with me? Feng Ye couldn’t help thinking.

But when he looked at Hao Chen again, the other’s expression was innocent.

He’s probably not. This guy always speaks in a tone that makes people think the wrong thing, Feng Ye thought again.

Besides…..who would dare to flirt with him? If someone really did dare, Feng Ye wouldn’t be angry. He would just admire their courage.

With such thoughts, Feng Ye no longer bothered with Hao Chen and didn’t respond. He just buried his head and continued to do his own work.

Hao Chen’s smile deepened when Feng Ye didn’t respond.

It seemed he had actually discovered Feng Ye’s weakness. Every time he flirted with Feng Ye, he would go silent.

Yes, he was flirting with Feng Ye. Not only now, but also previously.

He naturally knew that his words could easily lead to misinterpretation, and had said them deliberately.

Although Hao Chen was a fossil-level bachelor, being single didn’t mean he was an upstanding person, nor an upstanding fish. On the contrary, he was a great romantic and would flirt with people without even thinking about it. It was a completely subconscious speaking habit.

This was why he would talk in such a way when he had no feelings for Feng Ye at all. And now, he went a step further by saying it deliberately.

He still held that he didn’t have feelings for Feng Ye – that face was too ordinary, after all. Yet he couldn’t help but try to find ways to get the other person to notice him.

The way he accomplished this was to shamelessly flirt with Feng Ye, who was probably several hundred years younger than him. But he had a thick face.

The two began to sweep the floor again after that brief conversation, but neither of them were sweeping very attentively.

Hao Chen would glance toward Feng Ye from time to time, like a voyeur. As for Feng Ye, his thoughts were on the competition. By his calculations, the break was almost over, and Fang Yang should be heading for the next round.

Feng Ye wasn’t worried. While watching Fang Yang’s fights, he had also been watching those of the other junior disciples, and he could say with certainty that none of them were Fang Yang’s equal.

It was a foregone conclusion that this adopted shidi of his would win the championship. It was just a pity that he wouldn’t be there to watch it. He really wanted to verify the results of his teaching.

But maybe if he swept faster, he could make it there for the finals?

Feng Ye quickened his movements. However, after sweeping for a while, someone who looked like a fellow junior disciple suddenly passed him in a hurry.

The person inadvertently tilted his head as he walked past and caught sight of Feng Ye. When he saw who it was, his eyes lit up and he turned around, walking straight toward him.

He said in a rushed tone: “You’re Fang Yang’s friend, right? Do you know where he is?”

Feng Ye stared blankly. Instead of answering, he asked: “What happened?”

The disciple quickly explained: “He’s in the next match, but he hasn’t shown up. If he’s not there, he’ll be considered to have forfeited the match.”

“That naive…..did he oversleep?” Hao Chen had come over when he saw a stranger approach Feng Ye, and spoke his conjecture after listening in silence. Because it came out so smoothly, he almost called Fang Yang the nickname he’d given him.

Feng Ye glanced at him and said nothing. His mind was racing. Fang Yang oversleeping? That was absolutely impossible. He got up at dawn every day and danced to the sound of the rooster crowing. Even when he took a nap, he would wake up on time. Oversleeping was something that only happened to Feng Ye.

Only when all the roosters in the world were dead would Feng Ye believe Fang Yang had overslept.

And obviously, the roosters weren’t extinct yet.

There was only one possibility – something had gone wrong.

“I can’t talk, I still have to go find him.” The junior disciple tasked with notifying Fang Yang was eager to leave, as the beginning of the competition was growing closer.

Feng Ye quickly stretched out an arm to stop him: “No need. I’ll go find him.”

This was perfect. It saved him from running around, so the junior disciple passed the matter over to Feng Ye. Although he wasn’t familiar with Feng Ye, Fang Yang seemed to spend time with this person often, so leaving it to him shouldn’t pose a problem.

The junior disciple left, and Feng Ye stood there without saying a word. He closed his eyes, sensed the location of the bamboo slip he’d made, then tossed away his broom and strode toward the dormitories.

Hao Chen followed close behind him. He didn’t make any inappropriate jokes for now, having noticed from Feng Ye’s frown that he wasn’t in a good mood. 

The two of them went at a pace slightly slower than a run as they hurried back to the dormitories.

When Feng Ye pushed open the tightly closed door of Fang Yang’s room, the sound of low sobs was no longer blocked, and reached the ears of the two people standing at the door.

Feng Ye scanned the room, his gaze passing over the table, the chairs, the bed, before ultimately landing on Fang Yang curled up in the corner.

Endless tears fell from his eyes like a beaded curtain, and his face was all scrunched together in ugly wrinkles.

When Fang Yang saw the open door and the people standing there, he immediately stopped crying. He rubbed his eyes to conceal the tears, pretending like he hadn’t just been sobbing.

He even tried to call out in his usual relaxed tone: “Shixiong…..”

It was a pity that the words came out in a hoarse and unpleasant weeping tone.

Feng Ye hesitated as he walked through the door, then stepped forward again and approached Fang Yang steadily and resolutely.

He crouched down in front of him and manually pulled up Fang Yang’s right hand from where it was hugging his knees, connecting to Fang Yang’s meridians.

Hao Chen stood behind Feng Ye, watching in silence. He tapped his chin intermittently with his fan. Fang Yang’s cultivation seemed to have been…..substantially reduced?

Level three of Qi Refining…..Feng Ye released the hand that was touching Fang Yang’s meridian gate. He could feel a large amount of spiritual power being drained from Fang Yang’s meridians, and his cultivation level had directly regressed from the seventh level of Qi Refining to the third.

There were generally two reasons for a decline in cultivation: serious injury or qi deviation.

Fang Yang obviously did not meet this criteria. He didn’t have any injuries that could be considered serious, at most a few minor scratches from the competition.

And it was even more impossible for him to have had a qi deviation. Feng Ye had been away from him for an hour total, and he hadn’t had time to rest, let alone cultivate.

Then there was only one answer left: someone had poisoned Fang Yang.

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Chapter 21 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 23