Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

Rogue yawned. Why do I feel so tired? Is it going through the network? Damn… didn’t expect that to happen. Is this payback for using the network to get Healer drunk?

He looked around as he flew through the sect. Healer and Sectgoer were talking about that one Senior… the pill cultivator. Both of them ended up with disciples instead. If I go around looking for that Senior, will I end up with a disciple, too? I don’t mind the sound of that.

Ah, a beautiful female disciple at my side… then my life could be complete. I used to have Zhubi, but now I have no one. I’m all alone on my peak…

Huh, I think I understand why Peak Lord kept running away from the peak. We get lonely, don’t we?

He looped around the various peaks, casually observing the mountains chained below. Most peaks were sparsely populated, empty save a peak or pavilion somewhere on the mountain’s height. The few that did have disciples had dozens or hundreds, with all the related infrastructure that went along with it.

It seems All-Heavens has recently expanded. Recruiting new peak lords, and these sparse peaks without much on them… but the peaks that do have disciples all have lots of disciples. The Inner Peaks… Rogue turned, gazing at the large mountains in the distance. Even from here, the mountains buzzed with energy. Sword beams shot from one to another, or cultivators on shuttles or ships took leisurely journeys between the peaks. At a guess, the main Inner Peaks have thousands of disciples each. If I base it on Gui Delun’s army, then each Inner Peak can be considered equal to a lesser sect like Starbound or Mysterious Heavenly Forest. As for the outer peaks… if you combine their total might, I’d estimate they come to a total of equivalent to one lesser sect… that is, one Starbound’s worth of power and disciples.

That’s still the equivalent of nine lesser sects. I don’t have anywhere near that power.

Which is exactly why I need to turn the sect against itself. Divide and conquer! It’s an ancient tactic. Many times in the ancient era, a lesser army has been able to sweep in after infighting and conquer a greater power. Looking at it one way, successfully splitting the sect in two is my only hope for destroying it!

But first, I should meet up with Zhang Minyan. I need to know more about both factions to know how to encourage the sect to attack itself. I know plenty about Gui Delun. I’ve married his daughter, for goodness’ sakes. He’s egoistic and heavy-handed. He doesn’t care about righteousness, or about anything but consolidating power. He’s willing to destroy entire sects to get his way, and will take shortcuts rather than actually work to resolve issues. In both his interactions with Starbound and the Mysterious Heavenly Forest sects, he took the shortest possible way to resolve his problem without actually solving anything, and didn’t bother to discover the actual truth behind any of it, but simply did whatever would give him good optics to All-Heavens Sect as quickly as possible.

…Well, that’s politicians for you, I guess.

One way or another, since optics are so important to him, if I do something that should harm his optics, he’ll move quickly to resolve it however he can… it’s a good way to draw him out into a situation he might otherwise avoid. It’s how I can trigger him into inciting an internal conflict.

The problem is that I don’t know what Zhang Minyan values to know what would trigger her to respond. Basically, I solved one half of the equation, but I still need to solve the other half. But… He sighed, casting a glance at the Inner Peaks. Outer Peak Lords sound good, but they aren’t allowed to freely enter the Inner Peaks. In reality, we’re equivalent… or perhaps lower than, Inner Peak Disciples. If I can’t catch her somewhere, it’ll be hard to enter the Inner Peaks.

I mean… I can. Outer Peak Lords can enter the Inner Peaks if they fulfil a certain number of meritorious deeds for the sect. But I don’t want to do that. It’s boring for one, and for two, I don’t want to help the sect. I’d rather draw her out some other way.

But how?

Flying a circle around the Inner Peaks, Rogue raised a hand to his chin. What if I find some kind of heavenly alchemy herb? Ha, and where am I going to find that? Er… what else? Maybe I could interest her in some of Zhubi’s scales… but no, I just got a single precious scale from Zhubi. I’m not giving that up. Hmm…

A pair of passing sword beams drew to a halt as Hui circled around the peaks. They drew up alongside him, moving at the same speed. Hui looked up, then nodded at the two late-teens men who appeared. “Good afternoon, Elder Brothers.”

“Eh, Gan Li, what is this?” the first man, a somewhat short cultivator, asked.

“It looks like one of the new Outer Peak Lords, Nian Ji. I wonder what such unnecessary excess is doing, wandering around our Inner Peaks?” the second man, with a narrow-frame and pinched face, replied.

Hui bowed to them. “Would Elder Brothers happen to know where small cultivator can find Zhang Minyan?”

Gan Li, the slender one, scoffed. “Do you hear that? This Outer Peak Lord thinks he can meet Zhang Minyan.”

“Ha! Might as well ask to see the Patriarch,” the short one, Nian Ji, responded.

“Or Gui Delun,” Gan Li muttered under his breath.

Nian Ji snorted.

“Eh? My friend is betrothed to—ah, excuse me. My friend just married Gui Delun’s daughter. Is it really so hard to see Gui Delun?” Hui asked, tilting his head.

The two Inner Peak disciples stared at him, slack-jawed. After a second, Nian Ji laughed aloud. “What an obvious lie. Gui Yutong isn’t betrothed to anyone.”

Hui coughed. “I think Elder Brother will find that she’s just married a certain Outer Peak Lord named Xie Hao.”

Nian Ji cast a side-eyed glance at Gan Li. Gan Li frowned and raised two fingers to his forehead. The nearest chain began to glow faintly, and then a glob of light lifted off the chain and zipped into Gan Li’s forehead.

Is… is that how it works? Looks painful, Hui thought, raising his eyebrows.

Gan Li opened his eyes. They faintly glowed for a moment, but the glow wasn’t enough to hide the startled look on his face. He looked at Nian Ji.

Nian Ji raised his eyebrows back, equally startled. A second later, he crossed his arms, quickly recovering. “Yeah, well, Gui Yutong is just an Outer Peak Lord like this trash. It’s just a bunch of trash bragging about knowing trash.”

“Gui Yutong isn’t trash,” Gan Li replied, deeply insulted.

Nian Ji shook his head. “No, no. I mean his friend Xie Hao.”

Gan Li crossed his arms. “But then Gui Yutong married trash.”

“Yes, yes. We can’t say that,” Hui agreed, nodding along.

“I didn’t mean—” Nian Ji sighed. He scowled at Hui. “Listen! Outer Peak trash like you should buzz off. That’s what we came here to say.”

“Eh, what if I don’t buzz off?” Hui asked, tilting his head.

“Then we’ll make you buzz off,” Nian Ji said, rolling up his sleeves to reveal startlingly stocky arms.

Gan Li looked at Nian Ji. “I thought we were just going to harass him a little bit. I didn’t come here to fight.”

“Hey. Don’t get cold feet now,” Nian Ji grumbled.

“What? I don’t actually want to kill him,” Gan Li said, backing away.

“Kill him? I just… wanted to spar a bit,” Nian Ji returned.

Hui casually flew on, leaving the two arguing cultivators behind. While these two are distracted, I’ll go figure out how to contact Zhang Minyan. I don’t have time for this nonsense.

“Hey! Stop right there!” Nian Ji shouted.

“No,” Hui replied.

Nian Ji raised his hand, hurtling at Hui. Gan Li darted forward and grabbed his arm. “What?” Nian Ji snarled.

“Nian Ji, there’s no need to harass him further. There’s a limit to harassment, after all,” Gan Li said evenly.

“We’ve only just gotten started!” Nian Ji said.

Gan Li shook his head. “You can’t call the winds and summon the rain in All-Heavens the way you could in the sect back home. Act with caution, Young Master.”

“I told you not to call me that,” Nian Ji grumbled.

Hui quirked an eyebrow. It almost sounds like… like a transmigrator who knows better than to let Young Master run free, trying to hold back a Young Master! Could Gan Li be a fellow world-hopper? He cleared his throat. “Elder Brother Gan Li, have you ever seen the internet?”

“Seen what in a net?” Gan Li asked, confused.

Guess not. He’s simply a servant from the original clan earnestly trying to mind his Young Master! Ah, how admirable, how admirable. Hui nodded to Gan Li. “No, no, I said, have you seen Zhang Minyan?”

The two don’t sound remotely similar, but I’ll just pretend like that’s what I said all along, and see if he goes along with it.

Gan Li’s brows furrowed for a moment, but then the clouds cleared. He nodded over his shoulder at a distant peak, one of the particularly majestic peaks. A thin stream of white smoke streamed nonstop from the upper right side of the peak. “I’m not worthy to enter Senior’s presence, but her peak is right over there.”

“Gan Li! We weren’t going to tell him that,” Nian Ji said, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

“What does it matter? Zhang Minyan hasn’t taken guests in years,” Gan Li returned. He shook his head. “Nian Ji, let’s leave this man alone.”

Hui cupped his hands to the duo and flew up toward the peak. As he went, the two squabbled behind him. Nian Ji leaped at his back, but Gan Li blocked his way.

An impetuous Young Master and his diligent servant. Hmm… a Young Master like that could be quite useful in certain scenarios. I’ll have to remember that Nian Ji, Hui thought to himself, tucking his hands behind his back.

The peak loomed up before him, exuding a thick medical scent. The bitterness of pills mixed with the herbal and floral notes of the fresh spirit herbs growing on the mountainside. Wood-element qi swirled around him, even purer than the wood-element qi in the Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect. Hui took a deep breath, his body instinctively relaxing in the qi flow. I have a lotus body right now, after all. This wood-element qi feels like coming home to a warm bath for this body.

Abruptly, the sky darkened. A bolt of lightning struck Hui out of nowhere. Startled, Hui lost his grip on flight and plummeted out of the sky.

In the distance, Nian Ji pointed and laughed, laughing so hard he fell off his own flying sword. Gan Li darted out and caught him before he could go tumbling like Hui.

Ah… now I understand why Gan Li gave in. Well played at placating your master, you damned diligent servant! Hui thought, crossing his arms with a scowl as he fell toward the earth.