The Junior Disciple Returns! What Are You Trying to Do?!

Qi Xiao controlled his flying sword, escorting his junior brother Li Wangyan beyond the mountain gate.

He keenly sensed that someone seemed to be tracking them, so his expression turned cold.
“A person like you, if you died right outside the sect, would be an ill omen!
I might as well dump you in the wilds and let wild beasts devour you.
That way, it would have nothing to do with our Heavenly Dao Sect!”
With that, he urged his flying sword onward, heading even farther away.

Only when that faint, almost imperceptible feeling of being watched disappeared did Qi Xiao finally let out a sigh of relief.

“If you intended to kill me, why not do it?”
The weakened Li Wangyan was puzzled.
He and Qi Xiao were already quite a distance from the sect.
Even if avoiding suspicion was the goal, there was no need to come this far.
What exactly was Qi Xiao trying to do?

Qi Xiao descended to the ground, found a cave, and then carried Li Wangyan inside.

He took out a small jade bottle from his storage ring.
“This is Nectar of Jade Dew, bestowed by Master.
After consuming it, while it won’t restore your cultivation, it can heal your injuries and nourish your physical body.”
He fed it to Li Wangyan.

The other’s complexion immediately improved significantly.

“Senior Brother Qi, what is the meaning of this? Could it be… Master’s instruction?”

Qi Xiao looked at his expression.
He knew what the other was thinking.
Undoubtedly, Li Wangyan was wondering if his master had been forced into a corner, hence arranging for Qi Xiao to act privately.

He could speak well of his master now, but then again—could such a lie deceive a protagonist like Li Wangyan?
Obviously not.

He took a deep breath and could only shake his head.
“No, no one arranged this.
It is solely my own decision to act this way.”

Li Wangyan was stunned.
He looked at the jade bottle that had held the consumed “Nectar of Jade Dew” and couldn’t help but ask, “My crimes, Senior Brother, you must be clear about them.
Why help me? Is Senior Brother perhaps… a member of the demonic sects?”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
“Since it’s not, why is Senior Brother aiding a criminal like me?”

Qi Xiao fell silent for a moment.
“You did collude with the demonic sects, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” Li Wangyan admitted frankly; he had never denied this from the start.
“Does Senior Brother find this problematic?”
“If I said it wasn’t problematic, you wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.”
Qi Xiao answered thus, but then he continued, “But if I were in your place, I might have made the same choice.”
“…Why?”
“Although I wasn’t familiar with you before, after seeing you today, I know that if you had any other choice, you wouldn’t have cooperated with members of the demonic sects.
Though I don’t know the details of the secret realm, I imagine you had no other option.”

Li Wangyan was stunned, his voice trembling slightly.
“Senior Brother… Senior Brother has never met me before, wasn’t in the secret realm…
I even heard Senior Brother only emerged from seclusion today… so why…”
“Because you said, ‘Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the youth for his poverty.’
You may not necessarily be a good person, but you are certainly someone with backbone, with unyielding willpower.”
Of course, Qi Xiao was talking nonsense; if not for seeing that unmistakable protagonist aura…

His gaze fell on Li Wangyan’s finger, where there was a simple, ancient-looking ring.

Hiss!

Isn’t your script a bit too obvious?
If I tried anything here, wouldn’t an old grandpa immediately pop out of that ring and obliterate me?
As for your crippled cultivation?
I can guess it’s that grandpa in the ring planning to help you rebuild your foundation from scratch, forging a supreme base.
That’s why he allowed your cultivation to be crippled.
If someone tried to kill you, then there would be real trouble.

Li Wangyan hadn’t uttered a sound when his cultivation was crippled, but now, tears streamed from his eyes.
As the saying goes, a true man does not shed tears lightly.

“Only today do I realize that in this world, only Senior Brother understands me!
Yet before this, I never even had the chance to meet Senior Brother face to face!”

Qi Xiao looked at him, feeling a pang of pity in his heart.
He then said, “Although Senior Brother wishes to help you, there is little I can actually do.
Now…”
He took out a storage ring.
“This contains various magical treasures, pills, talismans, and even collected cultivation techniques from my Foundation Establishment period.
Although your cultivation is crippled, your divine sense should still remain, allowing you to open the storage ring.
I have already erased my spiritual imprint from it.
The road ahead is long; these items should help protect you.
Now that I’ve broken through to Golden Core, these things are useless to me anyway.
I was going to dispose of them regardless, so I’m giving them to you, Junior Brother.
I hope you won’t find them beneath you!”

“Senior Brother!”

Li Wangyan, of course, knew that Qi Xiao said these things merely to allow him to accept the ring without reservation.
In reality, Qi Xiao simply wanted to give these things to him.

“Senior Brother’s kindness, Li Wangyan will never forget for the rest of my days.
If one day I rise again from the ashes, I will surely repay Senior Brother’s grace!
I, Li Wangyan, swear this to the heavens here and now!”

Qi Xiao returned to the sect.

He felt this move of his should be secure… it should be fine, right?
Even if the other party later decides to kick the Heavenly Dao Sect aside, he should still give me some face—after all, protagonists generally keep their word, right?
He should be genuinely grateful, shouldn’t he?

Upon his return to the sect, however, he received a summons from his master.

He went to his master’s cultivation cave abode.

“Master. I have come.”
“You have seen your junior brother off?”
“Master…”

True Master Dao Sword waved his hand.
“No need to explain.
I know your thoughts.
However, this was an unavoidable matter.
Your junior brother’s collusion with demons is a fact.
I am currently at a critical juncture, seeking to break through to late Nascent Soul and contend for the Sect Leader position.
I cannot allow such an incident to jeopardize that.
Therefore, I agreed to the sect’s arrangement.”

Qi Xiao didn’t have much to say about Li Wangyan’s plight; after all, this was the world of cultivation.
If his junior brother had truly made a mistake, it was the mistake of not being strong enough.
Or perhaps the mistake was that the existence behind him was unwilling to intervene.

“Does this mean, Master, you have already sensed that sliver of opportunity to break through to the Nascent Soul stage?”
“Precisely so.
However, although the opportunity has been sensed, it will still require time to pursue it, perhaps several decades.
I intend to pass the position of Peak Lord to you.”

Qi Xiao was greatly startled.
“But Master, above me are still Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother!”
“Your Eldest Senior Brother cultivates the Ruthless Sword Dao.
If left to manage the peak’s affairs, chaos would likely ensue.
He is not adept in matters of human relations and worldly affairs.
As a cultivator, he is formidable; as a Peak Lord, he would only let the peak’s condition deteriorate.”
“What about Second Senior Brother then?”
“Your Second Senior Brother would become overly engrossed in sect affairs.
He is, by nature, a responsible person.
If he became Peak Lord, his own cultivation might not progress an inch for years.
Only you, Qi Xiao.
I am confident you can handle the peak’s affairs well while not neglecting your own cultivation.”

Qi Xiao fell silent, beginning to calculate the benefits this could bring him.
Becoming Peak Lord, with his master leaving the sect to seek his late Nascent Soul opportunity, meant that he would truly hold the peak’s supreme authority.
Everyone knew that those who produced resources weren’t the most powerful, nor were those who consumed them.
Those who allocated resources were.
The Peak Lord possessed the authority to distribute the resources allocated by the sect.
That power alone was more than enough.
Coupled with other perks, as long as Eldest and Second Senior Brothers had no objections…
“Since it is Master’s arrangement, this disciple has no reason to refuse!”
He agreed on the spot.

True Master Dao Sword’s eyes remained sharp as swords.
He seemed to have seen through the calculations in Qi Xiao’s heart but didn’t mind in the slightest.
“Very good.
Then this Peak Lord position shall be entrusted to you.
I will make this clear to your Eldest and Second Senior Brothers.”
“I respectfully obey Master’s command.”

The next day, Qi Xiao assumed the position of Dao Sword Peak Lord.
With his early Golden Core cultivation, taking over as Peak Lord was slightly unorthodox, but thanks to the support of his Eldest and Second Senior Brothers, no issues arose.

Just as his master had said, Eldest Senior Brother didn’t care, and Second Senior Brother seemed to have been admonished by the master to focus on his cultivation.

Qi Xiao’s first act as Peak Lord was to receive gifts.
Within Dao Sword Peak, inner and outer sect disciples formed various small factions, which collectively constituted the peak.
He wasn’t necessarily looking for extravagantly precious gifts; he just wanted to see if these people acknowledged him and showed the new Peak Lord due respect.

Some, in fact, did not.

Consequently, the resource allocations for some that month were “justifiably” delayed by Qi Xiao for various “correct” reasons.

A few who didn’t understand tried to demand an explanation from Qi Xiao.
But this was the world of cultivation, this was the Heavenly Dao Sect, this was Dao Sword Peak, and Qi Xiao was the Dao Sword Peak Lord.

Thus, merely through the act of receiving gifts, he had thoroughly disciplined those less compliant elements and firmly taken control of Dao Sword Peak.

He managed quite adeptly.

Eldest Senior Brother was at late Golden Core, planning his breakthrough to Nascent Soul.
Second Senior Brother was at mid-Golden Core; he was quite busy these years.
The sect intended to groom him in the direction of a “Paragon of the Righteous Path.”
Not that he was guaranteed to become one, but the sect’s idea was to have a “Gentlemanly Sword” figure.
Someone who, when mentioned, would make people say, “The Heavenly Dao Sect is full of heroic, peerlessly righteous figures.”

As for Qi Xiao, he simply cultivated in silence.

In such a manner, time flew by as swiftly as a white steed flashing past a crack—five years passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, his master returned.

Qi Xiao immediately went to the front of the peak to welcome him, his heart filled with some anticipation.
Had his master found the opportunity to break through to late Nascent Soul and was now prepared to achieve it?
If so, his master could contend for the position of Heavenly Dao Sect Leader.
At that time, he, Qi Xiao, would be the personal disciple of the Sect Leader—his status would undergo a qualitative transformation!

However, two figures descended from the sky.

Qi Xiao was dumbfounded on the spot.

Because one of those people was not unfamiliar to him, although theoretically, he had only met him once.
But…
This person left a very deep impression.

His former junior brother, Li Wangyan.

He couldn’t help but look at his master.

Surprisingly, his master’s eyes were not as piercingly sharp as before, capable of seeing through people’s hearts.
Instead, they now seemed quite gentle.

“While seeking my breakthrough opportunity, I was unexpectedly ambushed by sinister agents of the demonic sects and nearly perished.
Fortunately, your junior brother here saved my life.
He has had difficult years, yet also encountered opportunities, restoring his former cultivation and advancing further.
He is now at late Foundation Establishment.
Therefore, I have brought him back to the sect.”

Hearing his master’s explanation, Qi Xiao immediately nodded and said to Li Wangyan, “Junior Brother, I knew all along that these trials and tribulations could not hold you down.
Today, you have indeed returned.
Senior Brother must celebrate for you!”
“You flatter me, Senior Brother. It was but a bit of wind and frost.”

Enough! Stop with these lines! Your protagonist buffs are getting a bit too numerous.
Especially this ‘but a bit of wind and frost’ is utterly terrifying. You’re not about to pull out something like a Spring-Autumn Cicada, are you?

“As you are now the Peak Lord, reassign him an identity within the sect to avoid trouble from the administration,” True Master Dao Sword instructed Qi Xiao.

Qi Xiao nodded.
“This disciple respectfully obeys Master’s command!
Junior Brother Li, please follow me.”

He took his junior brother around the sect for a bit, then procured an identity token for him.

“Now that you are at late Foundation Establishment, a sect steward position requires Golden Core cultivation.
But for a peak steward, Foundation Establishment is sufficient.
All peak stewards are under my jurisdiction now.
If you have any matters, just let me know.”

He then took Li Wangyan to a cave abode.
“Although I would very much like to assign you a cave abode befitting a personal disciple, like the one you had before, that is truly difficult at the moment.
So, for now, I can only arrange a steward’s cave abode for you.
But the quality of this one should be quite good.”
Li Wangyan looked around.
“Indeed. Small as a sparrow, it has all the essential organs.
It even has a spirit herb plot here.
Senior Brother has been very thoughtful.”

Qi Xiao gave him a few more instructions before finally taking his leave.

It seemed the scenario he feared hadn’t come to pass.
Something must have happened between his master and junior brother to resolve their enmity.
To think it would be a script of returning to the sect.
Then, was there something fishy about junior brother being convicted of colluding with demons back then?
Qi Xiao couldn’t help but frown.
He felt he should investigate.
He would take action first thing tomorrow morning.

…

Qi Xiao was stunned.

Subconsciously, he raised his hand and formed a seal.
A water mirror appeared before him.

Reflected in the mirror was a beauty of cool elegance and purity.
Her figure was graceful, her waist slender, yet above that slender waist blossomed rather ample curves.
Her whole person was quite tall and slender.

“Is this… me?”

Her voice had changed as well.

But when had this happened?
He had been diligently cultivating last night…

It was Li Wangyan.

She reached this conclusion almost instantly.
Because among recent events, only the return of her master and Li Wangyan fit.
And her master wouldn’t do such a thing, so it could only be Li Wangyan…
But… when? How had he done it?

“Senior Brother, are you there?”

At that moment, Li Wangyan’s call came from outside the cave abode.
Qi Xiao immediately opened the cave’s restriction, grabbed Li Wangyan, and pulled him inside.
She then promptly closed the cave again.

“Junior Brother Li, would you care to explain to me what this situation is?”

She had already identified the culprit.

Li Wangyan looked at Qi Xiao with a beaming smile.
“Truly like a celestial being who has descended to the mortal realm!
My dear senior sister, I adore this appearance of yours.”
“So it was you!”
Qi Xiao grabbed the front of Li Wangyan’s robe.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”