Chapter 31:
Hemp Rope
HUAQING, MEANWHILE, felt the newly recruited Cheng Xi was the most suspicious one of all. The guy had been so passive-aggressive toward Mo Tianliao every day that he might as well have been screaming “I’ll never concede defeat!” all the time.
Xuanji thought his second disciple had a point, so he summoned Cheng Xi to question him.
The disciple who went to summon him didn’t return for a long time, which ratcheted their suspicions up a notch. After another long wait, a figure in a black cloak finally shuffled in.
“Cheng Xi, why are you coming before Shizun dressed like this?” Displeased, Huaqing shook his colorful outfit by way of demonstration. One should always dress up when presenting themselves before their shizun.
“It’s not good to dress so fancy either,” Yuli muttered to himself. He was standing next to Huaqing, and the dazzling array of colors was making him dizzy.
“What do you know?!” Huaqing flicked his junior on the forehead. “This is what’s called dressing up to please the elders.”
This grown man had already been mistaken for “shijie” several times. Yuli wanted to blow rude bubbles at him, but alas, he was in human form, so all he could do was roll his fishy eyes at him and ignore him.
Yuanhai slowly looked back at his two arguing juniors and then slowly turned back around. He always spoke so slowly, he might as well not intervene.
“Greetings, Shizun,” Cheng Xi said feebly from under his cloak.
“Cheng Xi-shidi, what are you wearing?” Huaqing couldn’t stand the sight of it. Who in the world came to see his master covered in a bedsheet? He walked over and yanked the hood back.
Silence fell upon the crowd. This good-looking young man now had green sideburns and green eyebrows; even his nose hair was green. His once smooth forehead had grown a layer of fine green fuzz as well. He looked like he’d grown mold.
“Um… Uh, what happened to you, Shidi?” Huaqing asked with a concerned expression, although he was secretly pinching himself on the thigh to keep from laughing out loud.
“I-I don’t know…” Cheng Xi was on the verge of crying.
Yesterday, Mo Tianliao had dazzled everyone by establishing his foundation a year after joining the sect and defeating a mid-stage foundation establishment cultivator. As soon as he left, chaos had erupted.
Back in Woxuan Sanctum, Cheng Xi had felt like everyone was looking at him differently. If a disciple with dual attributes could break through to the foundation establishment stage within a year, then as someone with a heaven attribute, he had to look like a fraud. How could he take it lying down? That damned Mo Tianliao; he must have taken some secret elixir—
Right! A secret elixir!
Cheng Xi had taken out the celadon bottle Huaqing had given him. It wasn’t long after Mo Tianliao had been given a bottle of the same medicine that he’d established his foundation. This had to be a miracle elixir that could instantly boost one’s cultivation. Mustering up his courage, Cheng Xi swallowed it, gathered his energy in his core, and waited for it to take effect.
But nothing had happened. His spiritual energy hadn’t reacted. That was strange. He’d used his spiritual energy to catalyze a reaction. But a night had passed, and still nothing…
And then the senior had come to summon him to the main hall. The guy had been so shocked that at first he couldn’t speak, and when he did, all he said was “Wh-what happened to you?” That was when Cheng Xi had realized something had gone wrong.
Everyone in the hall was stunned into silence by his story.
Yuanhai slowly walked over and patted the young man on the shoulder. “Uh, um… Green hair actually looks quite…nice.”
Cheng Xi’s tears finally spilled over. His eldest senior really was such a kind man.
Xuanji cleared his throat and dismissed Cheng Xi. “You can go back now.” He also excused him from morning classes for a few days.
“Shifu, aren’t we going to question him?” Huaqing blinked.
“With a brain like that…” Yuli shook his head. He’d never heard of anyone this dumb being a spy.