章節 22: Chapter 21 Senior Brother, No!
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Three days later.
At the foot of Mount Pingding.
Bang!
A thick tree collapsed with a crash, revealing a burly man holding an iron axe. He placed the axe on his waist, embraced the trunk, and with a light shout, astonishingly lifted the enormous tree, hoisting it upon his shoulder.
Around him were a group of people, either vigorously chopping down trees or using plows and rakes to level the ground.
Not far away, Zhang Fei Xuan, clad in brocade, knelt on the ground, picking a herb with purple petals from a bush.
"This is called aconite, a common herb that can be found along roadside. It can be used medicinally or eaten. The petals can revitalize and nourish the blood, while the roots can dispel cold and relieve pain. If you use it to stew soup, it can also help warm the body and alleviate pain. But be careful, when the flower blooms with three petals, it can be eaten, but if it has four petals, it's deadly poison and must not be touched. Do you understand?"
Next to him was a youth of about fourteen or fifteen, now holding a small notebook, nodding and taking notes as he said, "Understood, Great Second Immortal!"
"Just Immortal is fine; what's with this Great Second Immortal? You little..." Zhang Fei Xuan's forehead vein popped as he looked at the youth with a displeased expression.
"But... Lord Song is the Great Immortal, and since you're Lord Song's junior, doesn't that make you the Great Second Immortal?" the youth said timidly.
"You could also address me as Lord Zhang, eh? What, I don't deserve to be your lord?" Zhang Fei Xuan snapped the herb in half and tossed it to the youth.
The youth caught the herb and said, "But Lord Song said we mustn't use the term lord, as our Jinxian Sect is an Orthodox Sect, with no such title as lord."
"Yet you still call him lord!"
Zhang Fei Xuan stood up, pointing at the youth, fuming with frustration.
"Great Second Immortal, did I, did I say something wrong?" the youth, startled by Zhang Fei Xuan's reaction, hurriedly asked.
Zhang Fei Xuan's finger trembled, too angry to speak.
Normally, faced with such a yin-yang monster, he would have drained his blood already, letting the kid taste the torment of blood loss.
But he couldn't...
Because he was at the base of the Sect's mountain, and above on the mountain resided a terrifying senior brother.
It had been three days!
Three days since the senior brother's last transmission of the law.
After passing on the law that day, Zhang Fei Xuan had intended to go back and digest what he had learned, only to be called by Song Yin, who then assembled the remaining tools. He transformed them into iron axes, pickaxes, and harrows using that so-called "forming objects with objects" technique, and had them descend the mountain to chop wood, level the ground, and mine for stone.
Chopping wood and mining were to repair and maintain the Sect buildings and, incidentally, to construct houses for those mortals, while leveling the ground was to clear space at the mountain's foot to make room for buildings.
There was already a small house in this place, which, according to Big Senior Brother, was where he formerly resided, and that they would start from there as the center.
Whether Sect disciples or mortals, all were dispatched here to labor.
Zhang Fei Xuan was no exception. It wasn't his turn to chop wood or level the ground today; instead, he was tasked with teaching mortals how to identify herbs and edible wild vegetables.
The youngest of those mortals was his teaching subject for this occasion.
As Song Yin put it, selecting one or two individuals each day to teach different skills to the mortals not only allowed them to test their own grasp of medicine and stones, but also enabled the mortals to verify and familiarize themselves with each other's knowledge, benefitting all.
But there he was, a revered second disciple of Jinxian Sect, known by others as an adherent of the Demonic Path, now relegated to instructing mortals, chopping trees? Mining stones? Plowing fields?!
He hadn't even done such things when he was a mere mortal!
What a joke!
And yet, he had obediently complied.
He had no choice, for since the day his senior brother passed down the law, even just a glance from him filled Zhang Fei Xuan with dread, evaporating any thoughts of resistance.
Enduring such menial labor was one thing, but for the past three days, each morning they had to bear the torment of Song Yin's "Great Path Aura." The moans and cries blanketed Mount Pingding as if they were being refined in a pill furnace.
As for why he didn't flee...
It was too alluring.
Feasting on superior grade pills, practicing true techniques, in just three days, the robust man had progressed from the Second Stage of Solidifying Essence to the Third Stage of Fighting Strength. His strength now circulated and replenished itself, otherwise, he couldn't have shouldered that tree.
Even Zhang Fei Xuan himself had felt daily insights and nightly epiphanies, and his cultivation level improved considerably, clearly advancing toward the Sixth Stage 'Communicating with Ghosts'.
With such tangible benefits in sight, and since the Great Path Aura was excruciating but not lethal, after weighing his options, Zhang Fei Xuan chose not to run.
Though that said, the torment from the Great Path Aura truly pained the flesh, refining him until his divine soul became disoriented for a while. Just this morning it was even worse, as he seemed to glimpse his long-deceased grandmother in a daze...
At this thought, Zhang Fei Xuan looked up to the sky and sighed deeply, "When will this ever end?"
"When will this ever end?"
He wasn't the only one voicing this sentiment. The robust disciple carrying the tree also had a look of bitter resentment, with a despairing sigh skyward.
Then, the two exchanged glances, sharing a feeling of mutual commiseration.
In that moment, Zhang Fei Xuan no longer looked down on this nameless disciple, because in the eyes of the Big Senior Brother, everyone's status seemed pretty much the same.
Uh... equally miserable.
"It's getting late, let's go, let's go..."
Zhang Fei Xuan glanced at the sky, the sun setting and giving the heavens a reddish tint, waved his hand and said to everyone, "Let's call it a day."
No sooner had he spoken, the remaining disciples quickly dropped their tools, fearing any delay.
As mortals reluctantly packed up their tools under the orders of Zhang Fei Xuan, they downed their tools.
A group of people formed two lines: disciples at the front and mortals at the back, aligning themselves into a long dragon climbing up the mountain in an orderly fashion.
"Hiss..."
But halfway up the mountain path, Zhang Fei Xuan suddenly drew in a breath of cold air.
"Second Senior Brother? What's wrong?" the tall and burly disciple asked.
Zhang Fei Xuan looked at the neatly organized queue, opened his mouth, and said, "Do we... usually ascend the mountain like this?"
"Don't know... never walked together before," the tall and burly disciple replied in a deep voice.
"Forget it, forget it, it's nothing..." Zhang Fei Xuan shook his head and continued to lead the people up the mountain.
Before long, they had reached the summit plaza where logs and stones were piled up. Among these, a figure with white vapor rising from their body was leaping around the plaza. With a pull, he lifted a half-human-sized boulder with ease, and then hurled it forward.
Bang!
As he hurled the boulder, the figure threw a punch at it, shattering the rock into pieces, which in the blink of an eye, transformed into tiles, gracefully covering a side hall's roof with perfect order.
Next, he embedded his fingers into a thick log as if it were some hollow object, lifting it swiftly and darting in front of that side hall, ramming the log in place. The log, glowing white in his hands, miraculously fused with the missing part of the side hall's structure, perfectly repairing the building.
If not Song Yin, who else could it be?
"Hmm..."
Looking at the restored side hall, Song Yin nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, that's it repaired. If we have more disciples in the future, we can add more buildings."
As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the people who had arrived at the mountain gate, "Back so soon? That's enough for today. Put down your things and go rest."
Only then did the tall and burly disciple laboriously set the tree on his shoulder down, the contact with the ground emitting a dull thump, followed by him rubbing his shoulders and gasping for air.
"Senior Brother, you've worked hard."
Zhang Fei Xuan bowed with clasped hands, his eyes glancing at the tall and burly disciple while feeling a sense of helplessness inside.
Both at the Power Combat Stage, this junior brother of mine is half dead from carrying a tree all day, while Senior Brother handles logs as if he's playing...
"Speaking of which, junior brother, the main hall and side halls are easy to repair, but I don't know what the statue inside looks like, do you know?"
Song Yin walked over, about to lift a big rock, but then something occurred to him, and he turned to Zhang Fei Xuan.
"I don't know either, maybe Master knows, Master..."
Zhang Fei Xuan was suddenly startled, he remembered something.
Old man Jin Guang... seems like he hasn't come out for four or five days.
"Master is in seclusion, let's not disturb him. We'll ask him when he comes out," he said.
In seclusion?
Zhang Fei Xuan smacked his lips, that old man hasn't reached Foundation Establishment yet, what seclusion...
"Right, junior brother, how's the construction at the foot of the mountain?" Song Yin then asked.
Hearing this, Zhang Fei Xuan cast his thoughts aside and immediately said, "To report to Senior Brother, the work at the foot of the mountain has been roughly finished. In another two days, it should be ready to hold constructions for mortals to reside in."
"That's great, junior brother, thanks to your hard work," Song Yin said with a cheerful laugh.
"That's what I should do..."
Zhang Fei Xuan grinned awkwardly as he flattered, "It's all due to Senior Brother's excellent guidance. I'm not only sharing Senior Brother's concerns, but I also want to learn the true techniques as soon as possible."
Song Yin nodded with a smile: "Wanting to learn the true techniques is good. As the second disciple, you need to speed up... Starting this evening, I will refine you with the Great Path Aura again, with the hope of progressing your practice in the Human Elixir Technique sooner."
"!!!"
Zhang Fei Xuan's eyes widened, his mouth unconsciously agape, his face ashen.
"No, there's no need, Senior Brother, I think once is enough, really, in Cultivation Qi Refinement shouldn't be rushed, we need to progress step by step!"
Zhang Fei Xuan squeezed out a smile uglier than crying, his voice trembling as he spoke, and on closer listening, it seemed to become a bit shrill.
He swore to the heavens, he was just offering a compliment, nothing more!
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I won't be too harsh refining you this evening. It's very normal for a cultivator to endure some hardships," Song Yin reassured, taking Zhang Fei Xuan's wrist without waiting for an answer, his face bearing a gentle smile.
Zhang Fei Xuan pulled hard, about to exert all his strength like a nursing infant, but Song Yin was immovable, like Mount Pingding itself; no matter how hard Zhang Fei Xuan scraped his feet against the bluestone, he could not break free.
Seeing the white Qi rising in Song Yin's hands, Zhang Fei Xuan let out a cry of despair:
"Senior Brother! Please, Senior Brother, noooo!!"
In the Main Hall's Elixir Room.
Old man Jin Guang, having spent a few days in the Elixir Room, was preparing to go out and check the situation. Just as he opened a crack in the stone wall, not even stretching out his body, let alone his head, he heard the distorted, hoarse cries.
Jin Guang blinked, withdrew his head back in, silently reinforced the seals, then picked up a ginseng from the shelf, chewing it as he turned back towards the stinking pile of rotten flesh, his expression suddenly resolute.
"With the blessing of the Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, today I will definitely get to the bottom of this research!"
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