Qin Yu easily climbed over the courtyard wall and quickly ran to Li Zhengtong’s side.

“What happened? Who beat you up?”

Li Zhengtong, gasping for breath, said, “Brother Yu... that day I used the method you taught me...”

Qin Yu’s eyes widened. “Was it those two inspectors who said you didn’t pass and beat you up like this?”

“No... no!” Li Zhengtong wiped away a tear and continued, “Those two inspectors said I did fine. As long as the leaves don’t pile up too thick on the ground, I don’t need to keep cleaning them constantly.”

“At that time, I was actually quite happy, thinking I could slack off during the day and practice for a while.”

“But then, the next day, a large group of people rode spirit beasts through that area. Those spirit beasts were pooping while walking, and not only did I have to clean the fallen leaves, but also the droppings. I had to keep cleaning until very late every day before I could finish.”

“Did those spirit beasts from the Beast Control Peak go through your area?”

Qin Yu hadn’t expected to indirectly get Li Zhengtong into trouble.

There were so many roads they could’ve chosen, yet they picked the Maple Leaf Plaza. Li Zhengtong was just too unlucky!

“How do you know they were from Beast Control Peak?” Li Zhengtong didn’t notice the change in Qin Yu’s tone.

Qin Yu, feeling a bit guilty, looked up at the stars and changed the subject. “What about those injuries of yours?”

When asked this, Li Zhengtong became even more aggrieved.

“There was too much work, I couldn’t finish it all. Today, I gathered up my courage and stood in front of those Beast Control Peak spirit beasts, asking them to change their route.”

“Who knew the leader of the group just jumped down, slapped me without saying a word, and told me to get out of the way!”

As he spoke, Qin Yu looked Li Zhengtong up and down, noticing that the guy seemed a bit more muscular than ten days ago.

It was impossible to see such noticeable results after only ten days of normal training.

‘Could this be the feedback effect of the ‘Forged Through Repeated Trials’ talent?’

‘Every time he finishes cleaning, does his strength improve just a little?’

After understanding the situation, Qin Yu comforted him. “Go wash up first, and I’ll think of a way.”

“Brother Yu, please don’t go after those people from Beast Control Peak.”

“They’ve been in the sect for years and are outer disciples. We can’t win against them, nor can we afford to offend them.”

Qin Yu nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m not dumb enough to fight them directly. Hurry up and change your clothes; you stink.”

“Okay, Brother Yu!” Li Zhengtong wiped his tears and went inside the house.

Qin Yu sat down on a stone bench in the yard, hesitating.

Should he help Li Zhengtong?

Right now, Li Zhengtong was going through a hard time, and his ‘Forged Through Repeated Trials’ talent was actually helping him improve.

So Qin Yu wasn’t sure if interfering and helping Li Zhengtong would be good or bad for him.

Hearing the occasional sobs from inside, Qin Yu suddenly slapped his thigh.

‘I deserve to be damned. It’s because of me that my good buddy got bullied like this, and now I’m still hesitating whether to step in or not.’

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Qin Yu almost slapped himself in frustration.

Seeing Li Zhengtong crying like this made it impossible to imagine how wronged he must’ve felt in the last ten days.

A fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy, leaving his parents and friends, carrying the hopes of his family, and coming alone to the Xuantian Sect.

He thought he was entering paradise, but ended up being just a janitor, eating tasteless vitality pills, doing dirty and exhausting labor, and sometimes getting scolded by the inspectors and bullied by the disciples from Beast Control Peak.

His only good friend was hiding inside his formation every day, and no one knew what was going on.

He had no one to vent to.

‘Damn it, I’ll make sure those bastards from Beast Control Peak get what they deserve!’

Qin Yu sat on the stone bench, deep in thought.

‘Although I’ve reached the first level of Qi Refining, I’m still too weak to go head-to-head with them.’

‘Should I create two more wooden signs and get Maple Leaf Plaza worked on as well?’

Qin Yu thought about it, but quickly rejected the idea.

If there were too many construction sites, it would be easy to expose everything.

Not only would Li Zhengtong’s problem remain unsolved, but he would also find himself in trouble.

Moreover, merely doing construction wouldn’t affect the Beast Control Peak bastards at all. What Qin Yu wanted was to make them pay.

‘A direct confrontation is impossible, so I’ll have to strike from behind.’

The first thing Qin Yu thought of was laxatives.

‘Could I feed those spirit beasts some laxatives?’

‘No, no, forget it. Not to mention if laxatives work on spirit beasts, even if they do, they would mess up the whole way, and would they still not have enough poop?’

‘Also, poisoning goes against sect rules. This plan won’t work!’

Qin Yu thought of a few more ideas, such as setting traps and ambushes.

But either they were useless or too risky.

In the face of absolute power, any trick or conspiracy was useless.

Qin Yu rubbed his head in frustration, wishing he could become Qin Yu the Great right now and shove those bastards’ heads into the poop their spirit beasts left behind.

‘No, I still don’t know enough about the sect, and I don’t know anything about Beast Control Peak. Thinking like this won’t lead to any good plans.’

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never be defeated!

Qin Yu decided that tomorrow he would first go gather information and then plan carefully.

If there was no other way, he would have to temporarily stop the construction at Mingyue Plaza.

Hurting strangers was one thing, but he couldn’t bring himself to hurt a good friend like Li Zhengtong.

“Are you done washing up?” Qin Yu asked when Li Zhengtong returned in fresh clothes.

“Mmm!” Li Zhengtong nodded, looking expectantly. “Brother Yu, have you thought of a plan?”

Qin Yu was Li Zhengtong’s last hope. If even Qin Yu couldn’t do anything, Li Zhengtong thought he might as well apply for a sect withdrawal.

Qin Yu sighed. “The people from Beast Control Peak are a bit hard to deal with. It’ll be difficult to solve this in a short time!”

Hearing this, Li Zhengtong’s eyes quickly dimmed.

“Even you can’t do anything about it, Brother Yu?”

Although Qin Yu didn’t have a solution yet, Li Zhengtong didn’t blame him.

He felt that his expectations of Qin Yu had been too high. Qin Yu was powerful, but he wasn’t omnipotent.

After all, Qin Yu was just a janitor who had entered the sect for less than half a month. How could he possibly deal with all those outer disciples who had been in the sect for many years?

“Look at you!” Qin Yu scolded. “I said the people from Beast Control Peak aren’t easy to deal with, but I didn’t say your problem can’t be solved.”

Li Zhengtong immediately saw a glimmer of hope.

Qin Yu continued, “You have two problems now. One is too many leaves, and the other is too much excrement, right?”

“Right!” Li Zhengtong nodded frantically.

Qin Yu said, “The excrement issue is difficult to handle, but the leaves are easy to solve.”

Li Zhengtong’s brain worked hard, but he couldn’t think of how to solve the leaf problem.

So many leaves were falling, and when the wind blew, they’d fall all over. How could this be solved? Was Brother Yu going to stop the wind?

Qin Yu could tell what he was thinking and knew the guy was overthinking.

“You fool!” Qin Yu gave Li Zhengtong’s head a tap. “The trees aren’t that tall. Why can’t you just take a long stick and knock all the leaves off the trees?”

“When there are no leaves left on the tree, there won’t be any more falling leaves.”

Li Zhengtong suddenly understood and immediately flattered him, “Brother Yu, you’re so smart.”

“But Brother Yu, won’t this violate the sect rules?”

“It won’t. I’ve already memorized the sect rules. It says not to casually damage flowers, plants, or trees. But we’re not damaging the trees; we’re just helping the trees metabolize a little faster.”

Li Zhengtong looked at Qin Yu with admiration, although he didn’t quite understand, but he felt like Brother Yu was speaking the truth.

“Rest well tonight. Tomorrow I’ll go with you to knock the leaves down!”

Knocking down the leaves would solve the problem once and for all. In the future, Li Zhengtong would have more time to cultivate.

Qin Yu was doing this as a way of silently compensating Li Zhengtong for the ten days of cleaning up excrement.

‘Although Brother Yu doesn’t say anything, he’s remembered it all in his heart!’

Qin Yu added, “As for those bastards from Beast Control Peak, give me a week, and I’ll definitely deal with them for you.”

Li Zhengtong’s eyes welled up with tears. “Brother Yu, you’re so good to me.”

Qin Yu said, “Stop with the sappy stuff. Hurry up and go back to cultivate.”

Li Zhengtong replied, “Okay!”

Qin Yu said,