A man in snowy white robes with black hair flowing over his shoulders addressed the two. Dashing grace danced between the brows of his handsome face, and he regarded Lu Yun with a bit of curiosity.
“Xing Lingkong!” Xing Wuliang’s expression shifted when he saw the white-robed man.
“Congratulations to junior brother Wuliang for becoming a real grandmaster. With that, I think junior sister Xing Lan won’t beat you up in the future,” chuckled Xing Lingkong when he saw Xing Wuliang and the Lunar Pivot in his hand.
Xing Wuliang’s face darkened. Blatant humiliation! While the other’s words sounded like compliments, they were actually thinly veiled jeers.
“Though you’ve become a grandmaster, you’re still a major World Manifest. There is an incredible difference between a grandmaster at the World Manifest level and one at the Void World King level. Such as…”
Whoosh!
Xing Lingkong vanished and reappeared, sending Xing Wuliang flying.
“I can kill you before you move Lunar Pivot, so don’t think you’re invincible after you’ve become a grandmaster and wield a soul weapon.” Xing Lingkong finally turned his full attention to Lu Yun.
The young man hadn’t moved at all during this time; he remained blithely unconcerned when Xing Wuliang flew through the air.
Xing Lingkong’s actions were correct.
Xing Wuliang was a highly self-assured individual. Though he’d conversed with Lu Yun the first time the two met, he hadn’t wanted to befriend a mere stranger. He’d even addressed unknown Void World Kings as his fellow daoist.
Now that he was a grandmaster, his cockiness soared to the heavens. Lu Yun had planned to knock him down a peg or two during their trip to the Snowsword Sect. Thankfully, Xing Lingkong was one step ahead—a very beneficial development for Xing Wuliang’s character.
“Is junior brother traveling to the Snowsword Sect to search for Argent Snow’s heritage?” Xing Lingkong smiled at Lu Yun.
“Are you here to beat me up?” Lu Yun blinked. Surprisingly, he didn’t sense any malice from their visitor
“Beat you up? What for? Just because you didn’t invite junior sister Xing Lan in?” The man’s grin broadened. “My jealousy would overflow only if you had invited her in. Don’t listen to those who wish to stir up trouble.”
Lu Yun nodded. He’d felt it a bit strange and exaggerated when Su He spoke of Xing Lingkong’s anger. It now seemed that this would-be conflict was fabricated entirely by people who wanted a show. He didn’t know what kind of person Xing Lingkong was, but Lu Yun rather enjoyed watching him discipline Xing Wuliang.
He’d been worrying over how exactly to bring Xing Wuliang down to the ground on their impending trip.
Brooding ominously, Xing Wuliang struggled up from the ground and glared at Xing Lingkong.
“Just you wait, Xing Lingkong, I’ll—”
“Shh, don’t talk tough or I might not be able to control the urge to beat you.” Xing Lingkong smiled at the man. “I’ve already passed the eighty-first trial level of the third domain in Soul Dominion and accessed the third level of my soul weapon. You’ll have to work hard if you want revenge, junior brother. Otherwise, it will remain out of your reach for your entire life.”
A vein throbbed in Xing Wuliang’s forehead.
Lu Yun discovered something odd about their exchange—Xing Wuliang seemed to regard Xing Lingkong with pronounced enmity. Although the latter was picking on Xing Wuliang, he’d been the foremost disciple of the Star Sect at one point. However, Xing Wuliang never once addressed him as senior brother.
He was fuming silently after those last words.
“How about this. You’ve just obtained your soul weapon, junior brother. If you can pass the twenty-seventh floor of the first domain in Soul Dominion within a hundred years, I’ll release your senior brother Xing Hun.
“But if you can’t, that will be proof that you’re nothing but trash. I’ll beat you up whenever I see you in the future.” Xing Lingkong lifted his chin.
“Very well!” Xing Wuliang forced out through grit teeth. “If I can pass the twenty-seventh floor of the first domain in Soul Dominion within a hundred years, not only will you have to release senior brother Xing Hun, but you’ll have to kneel in front of Shenzuo Mountain and apologize to my master!”
“If you can pass,” Xing Lingkong chuckled.
“Junior brother Feifan, I’m afraid I can’t join you on your trip anymore…” Xing Wuliang turned to Lu Yun.
“No matter.” Lu Yun waved him off.
Xing Wuliang glared at Xing Lingkong one final time before leaving.
“So… uh… what just happened here?” Lu Yun asked blankly.
“The unfortunate consequences of our sect seniors being a lazy bunch,” Xing Lingkong laughed ruefully. “All of the Nihil World Sovereigns under the Star Sovereign King are lazy slugs. They spend their days either sleeping or focusing on their great dao. Very few are those who are willing to put in the effort to educate the sect’s disciples.
“Thus, responsibility for teaching the younger generation sadly falls to those of us who are more senior.
“Star Sect recruitment centers on potential and perception. Thus, sect disciples only need a little bit of prodding to walk their paths to great effect. It so happens that the best way to motivate people is to beat them up.
“They’ll exert themselves in cultivation if they don’t want to suffer a beating. Their eventual goal is to beat others up and avoid being a punching bag. After all, it’s not like we can explain our own dao to our juniors,” Xing Wuliang frowned with frustration. “We can only push them to cultivate and derive their own path. Back in my time, I was also hung up and beaten by my senior brothers.”
“So now you beat people with extra fervor?” Lu Yun recalled how the young disciples of Shenzuo Mountain had complained to Xing Wuliang when they first arrived. They were immensely woeful that senior brother Wuchou of Mochou Mountain had paid them many visits.
Xing Lan’s replica had slapped Xing Wuliang across the face in front of the sect’s front doors, leaving his dignity in tattered shreds.
The various libraries and treasuries of the sect are open to all that the rules determine have the right to enter. The eligible can enter at any time to peruse books or take treasures. This design might actually not be a case of laziness from the Nihil World Sovereigns. They’re still probably giving hints or pointers to their own disciples.
But Ah Zhi is seriously lazy.
An image of sleepy Ah Zhi and her bleary eyes floated to the forefront of Lu Yun’s mind. It was highly likely that her personal inclinations had caused the sect’s culture to develop in such a way. The rule that Star Sect disciples had to take care of their own trouble in the outside world, even upon pain of death, was probably another result of Ah Zhi’s laziness.
The foremost Nihil World Sovereign of the Star Sect—Xing Chen—also seemed to hate hassle.
Thus, tradition gradually formed from the tone set at the top.
However, that coincidentally proved to be a winning combination as geniuses abounded in the sect and the Star Sect showed no signs of decline. Lu Yun would never dare execute the same strategy in the Dao Academy. That would just be courting death.
The Star Sect was this way because Ah Zhi was so strong that her rules affected the entire World Plane. She was the reason why the sect didn’t collapse from such lackadaisical attitudes, and plentiful resources why the greatly suffering younger generation didn’t form any death feuds or rebel.
If it’d been anywhere else in the Boundless Realms, hate and bitterness would’ve abounded in pointed struggles throughout the faction.
……
“As for the Xing Hun we mentioned, he was a stunning genius at first, but he developed the seniors’ bad habits before he grew into his own. He doesn’t yet have the right to be so lazy, but he’s accustomed to being lazy. I had no choice but to suppress him with cultivation rules and force him to train.” Xing Lingkong rubbed his nose. “Since his master Xing Shenzuo is also very lazy, I didn’t give much thought to his dignity…”
“I understand now.” Lu Yun nodded. “Do you want to beat me up too, senior brother?”
“That depends on your strength, junior brother, and if you cultivate diligently,” Xing Lingkong responded solemnly. “The ones we beat up are those who have great potential, but are relaxed about cultivation. Though they know why they’re being beaten up, who cares about that when a fist is actually meeting their face?
“Ah, wait.” Xing Lingkong suddenly slapped his forehead. “I almost forgot the real reason why I’m here. Do you also train with Argent Snow, junior brother Feifan?”
“Yes.” Lu Yun brightened. “Senior brother…?”
“As do I, but there is no heritage for the soul weapon in our sect. I’ve trained with it for three hundred million years and have some reflections after my time. I’m here with orders to share them with you.”
Three hundred million years was an impossibly long period of time to the world of immortals, but didn’t account for much to fourth realm denizens. It also wasn’t a lengthy period of time to Xing Lingkong since he was a Void World King. In fact, he was an unequivocal genius to spend only three hundred million years to reach his cultivation level and access the third level of Argent Snow’s domains.
“Oh yes, did you say that you were going to visit the Snowsword Sect ruins, junior brother?” Xing Lingkong recalled what the two had been discussing before he’d arrived.
Lu Yun’s eyes lit up again. Though Xing Lingkong was just a Void World King, his mastery of supplemental dao and cultivation of soul force exceeded Lu Yun’s. His understanding and comprehension of Argent Snow was also superior. If he received Xing Lingkong’s reflections, he would be able to avoid a lot of wasted effort.
“Indeed, I want to go there to see if I can find anything about Argent Snow’s heritage.” Lu Yun nodded frankly.
“Then I’ll go with you!” Xing Lingkong immediately offered. “I’ve wanted to go there for a very long time.”
