"I didn't expect to run into you here, Xia Ping. With my brother here, let's see if you can act arrogant." A youth adorned in jewelry yelled at another youth opposite him.

"Tch! You're such a spineless wimp." The youth who was called Xia Ping mocked. "Every time you lose, you run behind your brother's back. Sometimes I wonder if you are just his dog."

"Bastard! I will—" Fang Tianyi became angry and was about to lose control.

"Easy there, little brother." A hand fell on Fang Tianyi's shoulder, interrupting him. It belonged to a calm and tall guy who looked similar to him, except he didn't have any jewelry and he gave off a much mature and stable vibe. "We are not here to fight."

"But Big Brother-he...you saw how he insulted me." Fang Tianyi said. He was unhappy his brother didn't let him fight.

"If you can't even tolerate such little provocation, how will you achieve great things in the future?" His brother said. "Your enemies will exploit your temper and you will be the one to suffer loss."

"Yes, Big Brother." Fang Tianyi said and stood back.

"Haha! Just like I thought, you are raising an obedient dog, Fang Tian." Xia Ping laughed. His words caused Fang Tianyi to fume with rage, but recalling his brother's words, he forced himself to stay calm.

Fang Tian didn't say anything. Instead, he looked at the youth who was beside Xia Ping. "Brother Li, it has been a long time since we saw each other. How is your injury?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that question?" Li Kun instead replied with a question.

"A wound like that," Fang Tian sighed, "could it be so easy to heal? I never imagined our little spar would be so brutal and leave both of us injured."

Li Kun frowned. He didn't expect Fang Tian would be so frank. He had thought Fang Tian would hide his injury from the people from the Ming Dynasty.

"But it was unfortunate that the winner was undecided." Fang Tian continued. "Speaking of it, how about we have a spar again?"

"Didn't you say you didn't come here to fight?" Li Kun said.

"Of course, we didn't come here to pick up petty quarrels. But our contest, is it something that can be taken in the same stride?" Fang Tian shook his head. "In our generation, Mu Changshou takes the crown. But both of us tie for the next spot. Once we enter the secret realm, we will meet other opponents. Both of us would be too preoccupied and our old rivalry will be left behind in the dust. It would be a real pity if that happened."

Li Kun hesitated. His and Fang Tian's rivalry was not a matter of a day or two. Both had fought with each other several times by now and it always ended without a clear winner. Their last fight, a couple of months ago, had been particularly intense and left both of them injured, delaying their cultivation.

"How about it?" Fang Tian tried to convince Li Kun. "Let's decide once and for all, who deserves the second spot. Is it your Purple Clouds Manor or my Fang Clan? Let's fight!"

"Yes! Fight!" The Fang Clan members behind Fang Tian began to clamor. "Fight!" They began to shout in chorus in an impassioned voice.

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

Hearing their cries and watching their zeal, the members of Purple Clouds Manor behind Li Kun started to become restless. The Fang Clan members were clamoring in front of them. This was a direct provocation. Many began to get ready in a battle-ready stance.

"Brother Li Kun?" Xia Ping looked at Li Kun.

Li Kun had been standing still. But his blood had begun to boil and he was all but ready to jump on the challenge ship and let it sail. But Xia Ping's call was like an icy shower that instantly doused him and calmed his mind.

"Brother Fang Tian." Li Kun said. Once he began to speak, the Fang Clan members stopped their chant. His fellow sect members stopped fidgeting and listened with rapt attention. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I will have to decline your offer. I am on sect duty and I do not have the leisure to engage in personal fights."

"Is that so? That's disappointing." Fang Tian lamented. "I was looking forward to the conclusion. But since Brother Li is busy, I won't intrude anymore."

Fang Tian soon led his clan members and people from the Ming Dynasty into the forest. As he left, Fang Tianyi glared at Xia Ping, who just raised a middle finger in response. This made Fang Tianyi tremble in rage, but he still followed his brother.

Li Kun and Xia Ping watched Fang Tian and others leave. After he was sure they had gone, Li Kun heaved a sigh of relief.

"Brother Xia Ping," Li Kun said, "I have to thank you. If not for you, I would have fallen into a trap."

"Uh? Brother Li Kun?" Xia Ping gawked. "What are you talking about?"

"Just now if you hadn't called out to me, I would have accepted Fang Tian's challenge in the heat of the moment," Li Kun said, "and suffered a heavy loss."

"Aren't you two equally matched?" Xia Ping asked.

"Indeed. Under normal circumstances, it would be very difficult for either of us to injure the other and escape unscathed." Li Kun. "But my wound from our previous fight hasn't completely healed, so I would have been at a disadvantage."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"But isn't Fang Tian also-you mean he was lying about his injury?" Xia Ping understood.

"Yes. He said he was still injured, but I am sure he must have completely recovered." Li Kun scoffed. "If we fought, he may have been able to seriously injure me. Once that happened, I would have lost the opportunity to enter the secret realm."

"I didn't think that Fang Tian was so sinister. It's good I didn't accept his invitation." One of the guys next to Li Kun and Xia Ping spoke.

"Haha! Brother Ren doesn't have to be so cautious. Even if he is cunning, Fang Tian doesn't have any reason to target people from the Ming Dynasty nor would he dare to do so." Li Kun said. "It's just that both Fang Tian and I have been competing with each other for a long time. And the relationship between our sect and his clan isn't exactly good. So finding means to eliminate the competition is normal, even if the method was a bit underhanded."

"Even if you say that, I can no longer trust someone like him." Gao Ren said.

"Brother Ren is truly cautious." Xia Ping said.

"It's good to be cautious, but if you never trust anyone, how will you make any friends?" Li Kun said.

"Aren't we already friends now?" Gao Ren smiled.

"Indeed." Li Kun and Xia Ping laughed. Gao Ren also joined in the laughter.

But soon Li Kun and Xia Ping stopped their laugh and sighed. Their smiles became stiff and their eyes lost their luster. The jovial atmosphere was dispelled and replaced with a grim one.

Gao Ren was taken aback by the unexpected change and looked in turn at Li Kun and Xia Ping. "Err...did I say something wrong?"

"It's not that." Li Kun sighed. "Xia Ping and I were just reminded of our friend who should have been with us, but he cannot be with us anymore."

"Ah! I am very sorry!" Gao Ren said. "I didn't think you would be reminded of your dead friend."

"You don't have to be sorry." Xia Ping said. "He is not dead."

"Did he go to someplace far?" Gao Ren asked.

"It would have been better if that had been the case." Li Kun sighed. Next to him, Xia Ping nodded.

"Err...if he is not dead or away, why can't he come?" Gao Ren became curious.

Li Kun and Xia Ping both of them looked at each other. Then decided to tell Gao Ren about their friend.

"You mean he was crippled?!" Gao Ren exclaimed. Li Kun and Xia Ping both sighed. For a cultivator, losing their ability to cultivate was worse than dying.

"So how is he doing now?" Gao Ren asked.

"We don't know." Li Kun said. "He seems to have shut himself up. We sent several messages, but didn't receive any reply."

"Perhaps Brother Chen believes we can no longer be part of the same world and distanced himself." Xia Ping sighed.

"That's sad. I would have liked to meet him." Gao Ren sighed. He found both Li Kun and Xia Ping as genuine people. Any person who could make them remember with such fondness had to be someone he could be close with. "You said his surname was Mu? Is he from the same family as that Mu Changshou?"

"Yes." Xia Ping said. "They are both from the Mu Family. The Mu Family was very lucky to have two stars born in the same generation."

"Speaking of Mu Changshou…" Li Kun paused, then brought their group further away from the rest. He even covered their surroundings with his divine sense to detect and prevent eavesdropping. "Brother Ren should be very careful of him." Li Kun whispered.

"What is it?" Gao Ren became alert and began listening carefully. Li Kun had been open-minded about Fang Tian, but he was telling him to be wary of Mu Changshou.

"We suspect he has something to do with Brother Chen's accident." Li Kun said, his tone solemn. Xia Ping also became somber.

"But you just said they are from the same Family?" Gao Ren said.

"Yes. That's why you should be even more careful around him." Li Kun said. "Among all the families and sects in this province, not many would dare to assassinate the genius of the Mu Family. Only the Liu Clan, Fang Clan, Purple Clouds Manor, and Ten Thousands Beasts Sect can face the anger of the Mu Family." Li Kun paused for a while then continued. "The Liu Clan's Miss is infatuated with Brother Chen. And as successors of our respective sects, we are privy to and have a say in our sect's affairs. So we know it was not someone from our sects. That leaves only the Fang Clan and Mu Clan itself."

"Doesn't that leave Fang Tian as the most likely suspect? Why do you suspect Mu Changshou?" Gao Ren said.

"I know Fang Tian very well. He never considered Brother Chen his rival, since Brother Chen is younger than him. He wants to let Fang Tianyi deal with Brother Chen. Besides…" Li Kun turned towards Xia Ping.

"Besides," Xia Ping picked up the dialogue where Li Kun left, "that Mu Changshou is weird. The beasts are scared of him. Every time he is around, the beasts I have will panic and become violent."

Gao Ren's eyes flashed in realization. The monster beasts had a strong instinct. Even after they were tamed that instinct would never disappear. They would only panic if they were to face something against which they had absolutely no hope or something that caused them to feel innate fear, like a natural enemy. He had seen Mu Changshou on the ship. Although his cultivation was good for his age, it was nowhere enough to trigger panic into the beasts that Xia Ping carried.

"You think he is a Gu cultivator?" Gao Ren took a deep breath.

"He must be." Xia Ping nodded.

"No wonder you suspect him." Gao Ren sighed. "Should I warn Qin Huang and the rest?"

"It's up to you." Li Kun and Xia Ping shook their heads. "It may be that we are wrong and just quick to jump to a conclusion because we think our friend is involved. Mu Changshou may not be a gu cultivator, he might have something else. Even if he is one, he might not have harmed Brother Chen." Li Kun said.

Being a gu cultivator didn't mean you were evil. However, there was a reason gu cultivators were frowned upon.

To cultivate gu, you had to nourish them with flesh and blood. This meant constant contact with dead rotting bodies. But this was not the best method. To cultivate the strongest gu, you had to nourish them with your own flesh and blood, which meant raising them inside your body. Your body would become their nest. You would suffer pain as they gnaw on your flesh and turn your body into a playground, where they would mate, reproduce, multiply then eat each other. In the end, only the strongest of them would survive. It would also become absolutely loyal to you, carrying your dead will. But just a single gu was not multi-purpose, so you had to repeat the process until you had a set of gu with desired characteristics.

Those faint of heart would never be able to practice the art. However, almost every cultivator would find the idea of being in constant contact with dead and rotting bodies or raising insects within their own bodies very repulsive. Thus most people thought that whoever practiced such art had something wrong with their mind. And a person with a twisted mind would not care about family or friends.

"I will talk to him if I meet him. They have already gone into the forest." Gao Ren said after thinking for a while. "I don't like him, but we are part of the same faction. It's best to warn him, just in case."

"I heard the rumors." Xia Ping grinned. "No wonder you don't like him."

"Hahaha!" Li Kun also laughed. "I also heard Qin Huang and his group were freeloading at Misty Flower Pavilion."

"Those good for nothing bastards!" Gao Ren had black lines on his forehead. "All they know is how to throw the Ming Dynasty's name around." Gao Ren sighed, "If not Sir Chen found out, they would have completely ruined our reputation."

"Hahaha! Brother Ren shouldn't let it stress yourself." Xia Ping said. "Didn't Sir Chen force them to pay several times the price? That should teach them a lesson."

"Sir Chen had them pay ten times what they had owed." Gao Ren said. "But it's nothing compared to the damage to the Ming Dynasty's reputation."

"There will always be some bad apples in the lot." Li Kun shook his head. "Anyway, let's head in."

The three led their party into the forest.