章 8: The Scum Is A Bro-con

East mountain, Training Hall.

Feng Mo stomped his right foot and flew towards Cheng Sheng, his sword pointing towards Cheng Sheng. Cheng Sheng calmly threw his jade pendant in the air and grabbed the hilt of the sword. He dodged Feng Mo's attack and used the hilt of his sword to hit Feng Mo's back. However, Feng Mo anticipated his attack. He used his sword and stabbed it into the ground as he lifted his body in the air, his hand supporting his body as he did a handstand on the hilt of his sword. Cheng Sheng swung his sword, attacking Feng Mo's arm but Feng Mo's hand on the sword pushed its hilt to propel himself in the air. He turned in mid-air, then sent a kick to Cheng Sheng as he descended.

Cheng Sheng bent his body backward and put his hands on the floor. He lifted his body, and his feet rising met with Feng Mo's foot, making Feng Mo turn in the air and finally land on his sword's hilt.

Cheng Sheng did another jump in the air and finally landed on his feet. He looked at Feng Mo two meters away from him. "Great, Cheng-shidi!" Li Tian clapped after he watched the two. He stood from the floor and patted his dustless robes with his book as he walked towards them. "Your martial arts are improving!" he said.

Feng Mo snorted as he jumped down from his sword. His sword turned to specks of light and became a jade pendant. He took the jade pendant floating in the air and hung it on his waistband. "But his cultivation – " he said, then stopped. He looked at Cheng Sheng.

Cheng Sheng shrugged while Li Tian frowned. "It doesn't matter what level are we in our cultivation." Li Tian said, his tone reprimanding. "Look at me. If I fight against Cheng-shidi, after a second I'll lose!" he said as he took out his folded fan and hit Feng Mo's head. "My knowledge and power are useless in the face of Cheng-shidi who is versed in martial arts. While I was busy chanting spells, he had already kicked me to the west mountain!" he frowned and pointed to the Meditation Hall of the west mountain afar with his fan.

Feng Mo fell silent while Cheng Sheng just cleared his ears. "Can't help it, Feng-shixiong." Cheng Sheng said as he flicked his fingers to the side. "I'm this awesome." He said and opened his arms as he dropped his sword which turned to speckles of light and became a jade pendant. The jade pendant flew itself towards Cheng Sheng's waistband and tied itself to it.

Feng Mo's eyes widened when he saw what just happened. His eyes burned as he stared at Cheng Sheng's jade pendant. Even Li Tian who was scolding Feng Mo just now turned and became interested. "What just happened?" Feng Mo asked as he looked at Cheng Sheng. His eyes are suspicious. "What was that?" he added.

Cheng Sheng reached out his hand and his jade pendant flew to his hand. "I found out last night that the jade pendant has a spirit itself." He said as he tapped his finger on the jade pendant. Surprisingly, the jade pendant glowed.

Feng Mo and Li Tian closely looked at Cheng Sheng's pendant which was faintly glowing. "A spirit, you say… "

"A spirit is similar to a soul." Li Tian said, the tip of his fan on his chin as he thought. "A soul is a spirit but a spirit doesn't necessarily mean a soul." He said and looked at the glowing jade pendant in Cheng Sheng's hand. "A spirit is the consciousness of a thing. A plant, or even a rock." He said as he poked the jade pendant with his fan. "As long as there's a thought emerged and was placed to that thing, then that thing can awaken its spiritual consciousness and becomes a spirit." He explained as he took out his own jade pendant.

Feng Mo took out his jade pendant. "A possession is an example." Cheng Sheng said as he turned his jade pendant into a sword. "If a butcher placed his thoughts to his knife, for example, he imagined how many animals did his knife had killed, then the knife might develop a consciousness. Then, the knife will be possessed by the butcher's thoughts and kill him." He explained.

Feng Mo shivered from his words as he almost dropped his jade pendant. "Speak properly!" he told Cheng Sheng and frowned.

"I am speaking properly." Cheng Sheng said as he opened his arms out to Feng Mo. "That's the bad spirit, by the way." He told him.

"You could've told me the good spirits first!" Feng Mo frowned.

Cheng Sheng turned his sword back to a pendant. He put his hands on his hips. "The good spirits I am talking about are like this spirit in the jade pendant." He said. "Either they are born out of good memories or good thoughts, or that they developed a thought on their own," he told Feng Mo.

Feng Mo's brows furrowed. "Develop a thought on their own?" he asked as he doubtfully looked at his jade pendant.

"Everything from nature has its own soul." Cheng Sheng said. "The knife was made by the mortals and so they are the only ones that can make a knife have a spirit." He said. "However, the jade came from the nature. And so, the rocks, the trees, they have their own soul. This jade pendant of mine, its spirit manifested last night. The reason why they can become the hilt of our sword is not only because of founder and shifu's alchemy but also with the help of the jade's spiritual consciousness." He explained.

"I am glad to hear you have learned." A voice said.

The three turned and saw a tall man in bright red robes standing outside the Training Hall. His robes with red stripes designed on the hem made him look like a phoenix. Chen Han's arrival elicited three different responses.

"Chen-shixiong." Feng Mo's brows raised and he respectfully bowed. His tone was polite. Cheng Sheng just remained standing, his expression didn't change.

However, Li Tian's gentle face frowned as he pressed his lips tight. "Chen-shixiong." He said and bowed, then stood straight again. His soft expression with his friends earlier is gone when he sees Chen Han.

Chen Han handsomely smiled as he waved his hand from the outside. He isn't a Xinfaxian disciple and so he can't enter the Training Hall, nor any private areas of the sect. He can only roam around the common areas like the dining hall or the spring bath. And so he is waiting for the three to come out of the Training Hall.

Li Tian was unwilling but he couldn't hide from the man forever. Especially –

"Ah Sheng." Chen Han called Cheng Sheng as he patted his younger brother's head when the three of them finally came out. Li Tian pressed his lips into a thin line. Yes. Chen Han is Cheng Sheng's elder brother and the second young master of the Chen Clan – one of the great clans in the Xiwang, the widest area of the west region in the continent and where the Youxiwang Sect is located.

Cheng Sheng looked at Chen Han's handsome face. "I'm not your younger brother – " he told him.

Chen Han's brow twitched as his gentle smile towards his younger brother became an irritated smile. "Shut up." He told him. Even if he dotes on his younger brother, but if his younger brother would deny him, he needs to punish him.

Cheng Sheng just stared at Chen Han blankly. "Can I prove to you that I'm not your younger brother through fighting?" he asked.

Chen Han stared at Cheng Sheng for a long time before he acquiesced. "No. You're not my younger brother." He said and turned his back on them, then cried in his heart. How much of a failure of an elder brother am I to be denied by my own younger brother? He thought, feeling miserable but that didn't show on his handsome face. He turned back to them.

Feng Mo grimaced while Li Tian smiled smugly and hid behind Cheng Sheng. They knew Cheng Sheng ran away from his family and changed his name to cut off his ties with them. When the first time Chen Han found Cheng Sheng and Cheng Sheng denied him, Chen Han was mad. Like now, he tried to discipline Cheng Sheng. However, when the two fought, surprisingly, Chen Han – the eldest disciple of the prominent Youxiwang Sect, was defeated by a teenager. Chen Han was traumatized and was too shocked he went home to Xiwang crying and beaten black and blue. When Feng Mo and Li Tian asked Cheng Sheng why did he that, he answered he wanted to cut ties with the Chen Clan and pranked Chen Han. His prank is defeating the heir of the Chen Clan and his elder brother. The two didn't ask anymore since they were afraid of opening the wound on Cheng Sheng's heart and so they followed calling Cheng Sheng with his new name.

However, to Cheng Sheng, he is telling the truth. Chen Han isn't his elder brother, but his body is. Yes. Like what he told Feng Mo of possession, he, for some reason, had possessed the body of the second young master of the Chen Clan. He didn't know how, nor did he remember where he came from. All he knew was that he woke up inside the teenaged body of Chen Sheng. He doesn't remember what he originally was, unlike the spirit of the jade pendant. He looked at his jade pendant and felt his soul resonating with it. That is why, last night, after he played his panpipe, he noticed that the dull-lustered jade was glowing. Then, he found out their sword was housing a spirit.

Upon his awakening, he has two questions that he wants an answer: one, what is he? Two, where did the soul of the original Chen Sheng go? Even when he finds out he is different from the others in this world, and that this world deals with supernatural beings, he doesn't dare expose his identity – even to Fan Wen and Xie Lan. He is afraid they will burn him like a barbecue. This is also the reason why he can't cultivate. His soul is different from the others. Fortunately, he could still use a little magic after learning until he drowned and he supported himself with his remarkable martial arts. Why he isn't at the top of the academics and martial arts? It's because he is lazy. After learning the materials, and finding that he really can't cultivate, he stopped learning and focused on his martial arts prowess. But, he easily gets bored so he went back to his lazy attitude again.

"Why is Chen-shixiong here?" Li Tian asked, his tone still respectful but his face showed dislike.

Chen Han just shrugged at his attitude. He knows Li Tian is like this only towards him. "I am here to relay my shifu's and shishu's message to elder Fan and sect leader Xie." He answered.

"It's about the strange corpse?" Cheng Sheng directly asked.

"Yes." Chen Han answered, not hiding anything.

"Are shifu and founder gonna take us to Xiwang?" Feng Mo asked as he looked at Li Tian and Cheng Sheng.

"I guess so." Li Tian answered as he opened his fan. "We need to escort then to Xiwang." He said.

"But, founder only gone out of his closed-door cultivation." Feng Mo said, worried.

"Then – " Li Tian said as he fanned himself. " – it'll only be shifu. Founder will be staying. And – "

"There's no way founder would let shifu leave alone." Cheng Sheng said as he played his jade pendant with his fingers. "The four of us will be going with shifu." He said.