BW Chapter 176

Chen City (2)

“Zizhang, what’s wrong with you? You look deeply worried.” Jiang Yizheng had just finished lazily copying a page of mental cultivation techniques and asked the person sitting across from her while biting her brush.

“Big brother received a letter last night and didn’t sleep all night. Dabao was also making a fuss with him.” Cui Yuanbai yawned, “I only fell asleep after turning back into a blade.”

Yang Lingzhu also put down her brush along with them. Beside them, Ning Xiu, who had been randomly drawing on paper with ink all over his nose, tilted his head and looked at Feng Zizhang. “Big brother~”

Feng Zizhang sighed and took out a letter from his sleeve to unfold it. “It’s a letter from Yunzhong Sect. They want to invite me back to the Thirteenth Peak.”

“But originally they were the ones who erased your name from Yunzhong Sect’s registry without your consent.” Jiang Yizheng said indignantly, “How do they still have the nerve to come looking for you!”

“After big brother established his dao, his cultivation improved rapidly. Now he was already a peak stage Nascent Soul cultivator. For the Yunzhong Sect, he could already serve as an elder and establish a mountain sect.” Yang Lingzhu said.

After all, for these past few hundred years, Yunzhong Sect hadn’t even made it into the 120 sects of the Chongzheng Alliance. The only disciples with good aptitude they’d produced were Wen Zaiye, who entered Wanxuan Academy but died young, and Feng Zizhang’s master Wen Heshen. Previously, Wen Heshen had single-handedly controlled Yunzhong Sect, but later made mistakes and was exiled to the mortal realm. All the inner disciples of the Thirteenth Peak perished, which was a devastating blow to Yunzhong Sect.

At that time, removing Feng Zizhang’s name was because they saw him getting close to the demon and wanted to distance themselves. After the great battle at Chenyue Mountain, now the power structure of the entire seventeen states had been reshuffled.

Ning Buwei and Chu Jun now had great fame, and behind them were three Mahayana cultivators backing them up. Not to mention that both Wushi Sect and Wanxuan Academy maintained close relations with them…

Naturally, Yunzhong Sect also developed ideas.

Without Feng Zizhang, they would never dare to try to establish connections with Ning Buwei and Chu Jun. But now Feng Zizhang was not only a peak stage Nascent Soul cultivator, he had gained Hao Zheng’s favor at Wanxuan Academy, and was also a son personally acknowledged by Ning Buwei. If they didn’t hurry to establish connections now, when would they wait?

“…It’s really ‘When poor, no one asks about you in the bustling market; when rich, you have distant relatives even in remote mountains.'” Cui Yuanbai said this quite properly, then looked at Fang Wanchen who had been silent the whole time. “Mr. Fang, am I right?”

Fang Wanchen smiled. “You do remember that clearly.”

He had just been brought here yesterday. When he first arrived and saw this was a desolate city, he inevitably felt apprehensive. But after seeing the two old acquaintances Ning Buwei and Chu Jun, along with this group of adorable children, he felt relieved instead. With nothing else to do, he came to teach Ning Xiu and Cui Yuanbai to read and write, and incidentally, at Ning Buwei’s request, looked after Feng Zizhang and Jiang Yizheng to make sure they quickly finished the coursework assigned by Wanxuan Academy.

As a result, this incident happened not long after he started.

Feng Zizhang was obviously having trouble making up his mind. He looked at Fang Wanchen and asked, “Mr. Fang, do you think I should reply to the letter?”

Fang Wanchen said, “This matter is ultimately targeting Brother Chengfeng. You might as well go ask your father and the others for their opinion.”

Feng Zizhang suddenly understood and grabbed the letter before running out.

“Alright, everyone continue with your coursework.” Fang Wanchen lit a new stick of incense.

Ning Xiu gripped his brush and drew circles on paper, scooted over to Yang Lingzhu’s side, and following Jiang Yizheng’s earlier example of whispering, asked in a small voice, “Third sister~ I don’t understand~”

Yang Lingzhu touched his little head. “It’s fine, it’s better if you don’t understand.”

“Why?” Ning Xiu swallowed the candy his mother had secretly given him.

“Because if you understood, you’d be grown up.” Yang Lingzhu smiled. “When you grow up, you’ll have many troubles and won’t be happy.”

“What are troubles?” Ning Xiu asked again.

“Maybe it means you won’t be able to eat candy anymore in the future.” Yang Lingzhu gave an example.

Ning Xiu, who was secretly putting candy in his mouth, trembled slightly and got ink on his chin.

Growing up and troubles weren’t good at all.

Not being able to eat candy was a terrifying thought.

“Ning Xiu, you can’t whisper during class, and you can’t secretly eat candy.” Fang Wanchen crouched in front of him and held out his hand.

Ning Xiu closed his little mouth tight with an innocent expression.

“Be good, spit it out.” Fang Wanchen sighed. “This is the fifth piece of candy you’ve eaten today. I think I need to go have a talk with your father.”

Ning Xiu gave a little hiccup and obediently spit the candy into Fang Wanchen’s palm, saying in his sweet baby voice, “Fang Fang~ don’t talk to father~ okay?”

Fang Wanchen wiped his hands clean with a handkerchief. “Eating too much candy will make your teeth rot.”

Ning Xiu blinked his eyes. “Mother says I’m a Golden Core cultivator, so it won’t happen~”

Fang Wanchen: “…………”

Damn this cultivation world.

“Here, this is for you.” Ning Xiu stuffed a new piece of candy into Fang Wanchen’s mouth, hugged his neck and kissed his cheek, saying obediently and seriously, “Fang Fang~ if you eat the candy~ don’t talk to father~”

Fang Wanchen: “……Alright.”

You’re cute, so you’re right.

****

Ning Buwei was earnestly trying to persuade Big Yellow to go to Wanxuan Academy.

“That piece of ten-thousand-year profound iron really looks especially good.” Ning Buwei crouched in front of the big yellow dog and tugged at its fluffy big ears. “I’ve already lost Suzaku. Do you really have the heart to watch me miss this opportunity too?”

Big Yellow opened his bloody maw wanting to bite his hand, but Ning Buwei nimbly dodged, and it snapped at empty air. “This master won’t go! That woman Shang Nuanwei is too fierce! Last time she actually plucked the fur on this master’s tail bald! You heartless, ungrateful bastard! You actually want to push this master into a fire pit. This master won’t go even if you beat me to death!”

Ning Buwei continued to torment its big ears. “You’re an ancient divine beast. She’s just a Hinayana stage cultivator, yet you’re actually afraid of her. How embarrassing for you divine beasts.”

“Hmph, you have the nerve to talk about this master!” Big Yellow huffed. “Don’t you act the same way with Chu Jun, that Hinayana stage cultivator? When he tells you to go east you don’t dare go west, when he tells you to beat dogs you don’t dare chase chickens!”

“When have I ever hit you!” Ning Buwei protested indignantly. “Besides, when have I ever been afraid of him! He’s clearly afraid of me! I never listen to what he says!”

“Chengfeng, come here for a moment.” Chu Jun’s voice came from inside the room through the window.

“Ah, coming!” Ning Buwei immediately dropped the dog ears he was holding and disappeared from in front of Big Yellow in an instant.

Big Yellow, who had been slapped twice by his own big ears: “…………”

When Ning Buwei entered the room, he saw Feng Zizhang looking at him anxiously with a piece of paper clutched in his hand.

Chu Jun was leisurely drinking tea.

“Oh, did the year-end exam results from Wanxuan Academy come out? Didn’t pass?” Ning Buwei grabbed the paper from his hand and said gleefully, “Your father was always first place every year back then——Hmm?”

After Ning Buwei glanced at the content on the paper, the smile on his face immediately disappeared.

“Where’s the other page?” Ning Buwei asked.

“Huh?” Feng Zizhang was stunned for a moment and stammered, “There’s, there’s no other page. There’s, there’s only this one page.”

After Feng Zizhang finished speaking, he looked at Chu Jun with a pleading gaze.

Chu Jun shook his head. “Let your father see it.”

Feng Zizhang dejectedly took out the other page of letter paper hidden in his storage ring and handed it to Ning Buwei, saying uneasily, “Father, don’t get angry or sad after you read it.”

Ning Buwei unfolded the other sheet of letter paper and began reading.

Sure enough, it mentioned how five hundred years ago, Wen Zaiye died trying to save him, how Yunzhong Sect had no successors after that, how his younger brother Wen Heshen was exiled to the mortal realm because of him, and how their only hope had been forcibly taken away from Yunzhong Sect by him…

This was naturally not written for Ning Buwei to see, so the wording was tactful and beautified, but the meaning was clear. They were obviously trying to manipulate Feng Zizhang’s soft heart—even if it was just to prevent people from talking behind Ning Buwei’s back and stabbing him in the spine, Feng Zizhang should return to Yunzhong Sect.

However, when they wrote this letter, they never expected that Feng Zizhang would be so honest as to directly hand the letter over to Ning Buwei and Chu Jun.

Ning Buwei was so amused by the shamelessness in the letter that he laughed.

Feng Zizhang said hesitantly, “I, after I received the letter, I momentarily felt I should go back to prevent them from using this against father. But, but…”

“But what?” Ning Buwei put the letter on the table and looked up at him.

“But I felt very angry and uncomfortable.” Feng Zizhang gritted his teeth. “Although I cultivate the Path of Ultimate Goodness, it’s not the path of rotten kindness. They’re clearly trying to threaten me because they see profit in it, but I can’t think of any good way to handle this.”

After all, his father’s reputation had finally improved somewhat, and the family was finally living a stable life. He didn’t want the people from Yunzhong Sect to use this to cause trouble. If he didn’t go back, they would have leverage over him, and many groundless attacks would fall on Ning Buwei again.

Just thinking about it made him feel frustrated.

“Zizhang, I stopped the blood formation to save Ning Xiu.” Ning Buwei curled the corner of his mouth. “Back then, Wen Zaiye saved me simply because we were friends. Do you understand?”

Feng Zizhang nodded as if he understood but didn’t quite understand.

“Before, they could call me a demon and scum. Now, for temporary profit, they call me dao friend and dao lord. Tomorrow, they could just as easily say my nature is hard to change because of profit, that a demon is always a demon…” Ning Buwei chuckled lightly. “But even if they talk until the flowers bloom, those titles and reputations are just farts to me. When the time comes, whoever makes me unhappy, I’ll kill them just the same.”

Only then did Feng Zizhang suddenly understand. “Ah, father, I get it now.”

Chu Jun then asked, “What do you understand?”

“I’m going to beat them up.” Feng Zizhang picked up his sword and bowed to Ning Buwei and Chu Jun, saying with firm determination, “Beat them until they don’t dare come harass us again, until they run away when they see us. Dad, Venerable, I’m going!”

After saying this, he impatiently stepped onto his sword and shot out.

Ning Buwei froze in place and turned to look at Chu Jun. “Was that what I meant just now?”

Chu Jun laughed. “Zizhang has grown up. Let him go.”

Ning Buwei’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Just as he was about to speak, another letter suddenly appeared in front of him, and the ashes from the burning talisman paper drifted down into the teacup.

“…What kind of day is today? So many letters for me to read.” Ning Buwei pinched the envelope with two fingers, tore it open, and his expression became somewhat complicated.

“What’s wrong?” Chu Jun noticed his expression was off.

“Xie Jiu is still alive.”