Chapter 12: The Tiger of Yuan Mountain

It took only a few breaths for the seated Qin Haoxuan to fall asleep. This was no surprise to Elder Chu, who continued his lecture until lunchtime, accompanied by the faint sound of snoring.

“Alright, remember the key points I’ve covered. You’re dismissed for lunch,” Elder Chu said, his throat dry after a long morning of teaching. As he left, he glanced at the sleeping Qin Haoxuan.

As if sensing something, Qin Haoxuan groggily woke up. His sleepy eyes met Elder Chu’s for a moment, and the sight gave the elder a start.

Normally, one’s eyes are dull and unfocused just after waking, but Qin Haoxuan’s were brimming with spiritual energy, so dazzlingly bright that it was hard to look at directly. They were like brilliant pearls, impossible to gaze upon, and faintly shimmered with a soul-shaking power.

At that moment, Qin Haoxuan’s entire body was burning with a restless heat. Agitated, he didn’t notice the elder staring at him. He headed straight for the dining hall, unbuttoning his shirt as he walked to let the mountain breeze cool his feverish skin. Xu Yu followed a short distance behind, her beautiful eyes blinking in confusion. She couldn’t understand how someone as determined and hardworking as Qin Haoxuan could sleep through class two days in a row and then swagger out shirtless. What had happened to make him so reckless and self-destructive?

Besides Xu Yu, another person was paying close attention to Qin Haoxuan: Zhang Kuang.

A few Spirit Sprout Realm disciples from the Spirit Field Valley surrounded Zhang Kuang, their faces plastered with fawning smiles.

“Senior Brother Yuan Shanhu, and you other senior brothers, my townsman Qin Haoxuan has been in the valley for two days now, and you haven’t prepared a little welcoming party for him yet. Why don’t we give him a proper reception this afternoon?”

“Yes, of course!” The menial disciples bowed and scraped. It was a rare opportunity for an Unsurpassed Purple Seed to ask a favor of them; how could they not perform it diligently? Besides, taking care of a low-level Uncolored Seed, a weak root, would be as easy as turning over their hand.

A satisfied smile touched Zhang Kuang’s lips. He gave a slight bow to the menial disciples who had joined the sect a few years before him. He knew these men would never amount to much, but they had been cultivating for several years, which was more than enough to deal with Qin Haoxuan.

The walk from the lecture hall to the dining hall was about five minutes. Qin Haoxuan, walking with his shirt open, attracted a lot of attention. At a corner, the group of menial disciples saw him approaching. They exchanged a look, walked straight towards him, and deliberately bumped into the preoccupied Qin Haoxuan.

“You little brat, are you blind? How dare you bump into me!”

Qin Haoxuan looked up at them. Seeing the malice on their faces, he knew they were looking for trouble. Apologizing would likely be useless. In that case, why bother? But why were they targeting him?

He glanced around and saw Zhang Kuang in the distance, smiling and waving at him with ill intent. Even a fool would know who was behind this.

As he looked at Zhang Kuang, he felt someone else’s gaze on him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bearded man in an azure shirt watching him, likely another one of Zhang Kuang’s cronies. When Qin Haoxuan turned to look, the man had already turned and walked away, leaving only a back that exuded a lonely and arrogant aura, completely different from the other menial disciples.

“Hey, are you blind? You bump into a senior brother and don’t even have a word of apology?” one of the menial disciples said, shoving Qin Haoxuan. To his surprise, Qin Haoxuan’s body was firm and his stance stable. The push didn’t move him at all; instead, the man who pushed him nearly stumbled backward.

Qin Haoxuan’s brows furrowed. He briefly considered just giving in to Zhang Kuang. He was here to cultivate the Dao; it was better to avoid trouble.

But when he looked up and saw Zhang Kuang’s smug expression, the scholar’s pride in him flared up. If he were to bow his head to someone like that, he would despise himself. What was the point of cultivating immortality then?

“Senior Brothers, I was feeling a bit weary and wasn’t paying attention. I apologize for bumping into you. Please be magnanimous and forgive me.” Qin Haoxuan clasped his hands and bowed low, his etiquette impeccable. He had calculated that if a fight broke out, no matter who judged the matter later, he would not be in the wrong.

He had claimed the moral high ground.

The menial disciples were stunned by his response. This kid wasn’t following the script! Hadn’t Zhang Kuang said he was stubborn and unyielding? That if he knew it was a setup, he would fight back head-on? Why was he suddenly so polite? How were they supposed to continue the act?

“Ahem…” Yuan Shanhu coughed to cover his awkwardness, then put on a stern face. “You knocked a pill out of my hand. Kneeling and apologizing might be enough…”

Kneel? Qin Haoxuan’s eyebrows shot up. As a scholar from a young age, he knew only to kneel to the heavens, his parents, and government officials. Now that he was on the path of cultivation, he didn’t even need to kneel to officials. The idea of kneeling in apology was out of the question.

Seeing his reaction, Yuan Shanhu was relieved. The kid was indeed stubborn. Now he had a reason to start the fight.

“What do you think you’re doing to Brother Haoxuan?”

Xu Yu’s voice came from the edge of the crowd. Everyone instinctively parted to let the Purple Seed disciple through. She naturally stood between Qin Haoxuan and Yuan Shanhu, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes filled with anger and authority as she stared down the troublemakers.

What’s going on? Yuan Shanhu was startled to see her. How did a simple matter of bullying a weak seed attract the backing of a Purple Seed?

Few people in the Taichu Sect knew about Qin Haoxuan and Xu Yu’s good relationship. Zhang Kuang had assumed that even if Qin Haoxuan had helped her before she was famous, she wouldn’t have remembered. After all, she was now a favored child of the sect, a future Vice Sect Master at the very least. Why would she care about a small favor from a weak seed?

But Xu Yu did remember. Not only did she remember, but after that night she had spent in his arms, she had developed the budding feelings of a young girl for a boy.

Seeing Xu Yu step forward, Yuan Shanhu felt like backing down. But then he saw Zhang Kuang’s unfriendly expression from a distance. He had promised to help him, and if he retreated now, he would completely offend him.

Damn it all! Yuan Shanhu cursed his bad luck. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. Sparing Qin Haoxuan wouldn’t win him any points with Xu Yu. He might as well go all in. At least he could still curry favor with Zhang Kuang.

Steeling his resolve, he knew he couldn’t afford to provoke Xu Yu, but he could provoke Qin Haoxuan. He bypassed her and spoke directly to him. “Junior Brother Qin, you’re a lucky man, having a woman to protect you. Even I’m envious of you living off her.”

The unprocessed spiritual energy from the lotus was already making Qin Haoxuan feel agitated. Hearing these words, his temper flared. But he knew that if he fought, he would almost certainly lose to these senior disciples. A beating was inevitable. In that case… it was better to endure it for now.

Xu Yu’s face had already turned grim. She stepped forward and raised her hand to strike.

A Purple Seed striking someone? The person being struck, no matter how justified they were, could only take the beating. If they dared to fight back… the Sect Master himself would personally turn them to dust for touching a single hair on a Purple Seed’s head.

Yuan Shanhu felt like he had the worst luck in the world. Afraid of hurting Xu Yu, he didn’t even dare to circulate the power of his Spirit Sprout, pulling it all back for fear of the rebound force injuring her. If that happened, he wouldn’t be able to explain his way out of it with a hundred tongues.

Zhang Kuang had moved to the center of the crowd as soon as Xu Yu had intervened, wary of her driving off his men. The moment he saw her about to attack, he quickly stepped in front of her. “Junior Sister Xu, what are you getting involved in their affairs for? Although Qin Haoxuan is my townsman, I must be impartial this time. He was indeed in the wrong just now.”

Others feared a Purple Seed, but Zhang Kuang was one himself. Relying on his height and strength, he grabbed Xu Yu’s arm and began to pull her out of the crowd, showing no trace of gentleness and pinching several bruises onto her delicate arm. Xu Yu struggled but couldn’t break free.

Seeing Xu Yu in trouble, Qin Haoxuan started after them. “Zhang Kuang, are you asking for a beating?”

His words stunned the onlookers. A disciple with a weak seed wanted to beat up a Purple Seed disciple? The Purple Seeds were the sect’s treasures, coddled by the Sect Master himself. Was he trying to get himself killed?

Though he was a verified Purple Seed, Zhang Kuang still felt an instinctual fear of Qin Haoxuan. Hearing his old townsman threaten to beat him, he quickened his retreat before realizing, under the gaze of the crowd, that he had no reason to be afraid of him.

But everyone had seen his moment of panic. Feeling that he had lost face, Zhang Kuang shot a vicious glare at Yuan Shanhu and his men. He might fear Qin Haoxuan, but he didn’t fear them. From a distance, Li Jing, who was watching the show, felt like he was watching a game of jungle chess: the elephant eats the tiger, the tiger eats the leopard, the leopard eats the mouse, and the mouse, Qin Haoxuan, eats the elephant, Zhang Kuang.

Sensing Zhang Kuang’s command, Yuan Shanhu started after Qin Haoxuan, shouting, “Zhang San! Li Si! Get him!”

Qin Haoxuan heard the footsteps behind him and knew that Zhang Kuang wouldn’t truly hurt Xu Yu. He, however, was in danger of being beaten. He abruptly stopped his pursuit, reversed the circulation of his energy, and shielded his body with the boiling, hot spiritual energy from the golden lotus. In one fluid motion, he spun around and shot a fist out from his waist, aiming straight for Yuan Shanhu’s nose.

As a scholar, Qin Haoxuan understood a key principle of fighting: he who strikes first gains the advantage.

Yuan Shanhu sneered. A shimmer of spiritual light flashed across his body as he formed a hand seal. A yellow light shot from his hand, crossing the ten-step distance in an instant and striking Qin Haoxuan, sending him flying several meters back. “Mountain-Toppling Palm!”

The crowd gasped. That was a ruthless move! Although the Mountain-Toppling Palm was just a basic combat technique of the Taichu Sect, a mortal body like Qin Haoxuan’s would surely have several ribs broken and be unable to get up.

“Senior Brother Yuan’s Mountain-Toppling Palm has improved again! Congratulations!” Zhang San and Li Si’s sycophancy was also improving day by day. “This kid dared to challenge you. He must be tired of living!”

The onlookers sighed in pity. This kid’s path of cultivation was likely over. That one palm strike would put him out of commission for at least a month. Losing a month of cultivation time, even with a Purple Seed backing him, meant the best he could hope for at the assessment was to become a menial disciple.

Comfortable… unbelievably comfortable! As he lay on the ground, Qin Haoxuan felt no pain from the palm strike. Instead, he felt the searing heat inside him vanish in an instant. The rampaging spiritual energy seemed to transform into a sweet nectar, seeping into his bones and organs, and a feeling of immense power filled his entire body.