Hui spun the sword in his hand, tossing it and snatching the handle out of the air. He spun it one last time, and this time, caught the handle and threw the sword toward the far wall. It flew off, impaling itself into the back wall of the forge.

He let out a deep sigh. Thank goodness. It didn’t shatter.

Six months had passed. Most of the disciples had created forges. Those few who had failed utterly and lacked all karma with the forge trained under Ying Lin on her peak, learning sword arts instead. For the most part, Hui’s peak had remained quiet. A few times, disputes broke out among disciples, but once they learned that Hui had little interest in settling their disputes in anyone’s favor and much more interest in getting them back to forging, the disputes largely quieted down. The peak rang out with the clang of hammer on metal and burned with the vicious heat of several dozen forges. Although it couldn’t be said to be peaceful, it was at least harmonious.

Even that Song Wei quieted down… in fact, he’s so quiet that it’s almost suspicious, Hui mused. He gestured, calling the sword back to his hand. It landed in his palm with a satisfying smack. I’m surprised that Hong Lu got away without injury for threatening his precious ore. Song Wei really struck me as the kind to pay back any indignity with a thousand times the indignity, and any grudge with a thousand times the—

The door to his forge flew open. A panicked female disciple stood in the doorway, her chest heaving. “Master, come quickly!”

Hui pressed his lips together. “Is it Song Wei?”

The female disciple startled, then bit her lip. “It’s better if Master sees for himself…”

Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao shall appear, huh? Hui thought, shaking his head. Sticking the newly-forged sword through his belt, he followed the female disciple out of the forge and over his peak.

The scent of blood met his nose. Hui glanced at the female disciple. A panicked expression on her face, the female disciple sped onward.

Well, shit. Hong Lu, my fellow black-lotus-target, may your soul proceed smoothly through reincarnation. Ah, I’ve got to hope that Song Wei’s white-to-black-lotus transition cheat isn’t so strong that he immediately surpasses me and comes after this small clone’s head, too!

After all, black lotuses always end up with some cheat or another, no? Otherwise, how are they supposed to overturn the powerful bullies who stepped on them until now?

Haaa, and to think, I thought I finally got through to him… no, no. Deceit is the ultimate tactic of the black lotus! Hui sped up again, pulling ahead of the female disciple. Quietly, he drew out a few talismans from his storage node, particularly barrier talismans, and pasted them under his robes around his core. Just in case. This small clone has no desire to die in one hit! If I’m to be cannon fodder in someone else’s story, at the very least, I won’t be the kind of face-slapping villain who goes down in one slash!

A red stain splashed across an open space where the orchards had been rent asunder by a blade. The low-realm harvester cultivators fled through the woods, desperately escaping the scene. Higher-realm cultivators from the Clouded Pavilion ran in the opposite direction, though whether to rubberneck or contain the fight, Hui couldn’t tell. In the distance, a beam of sword light shot from Ying Lin’s peak toward Hui’s, full of Ying Lin’s familiar fluctuations.

Hui came to a halt, hovering over the scene.

Hong Lu stood backed into the corner, hands raised protectively over his face. Deep cuts marred his body, and blood ran thick in his robes. He wavered, but he remained standing. Less lucky than him, a few toady-looking cultivators laid on the ground around him, bleeding profusely.

Song Wei stood opposite him, breathing heavily. A maddened fire burned in his eyes, and his face twisted into a hideous scowl, all the earnestness and freshness gone from his expression. He clutched a strange sword. Clearly no masterwork, the metal warped in places, and black marks stained its surface. Even so, Hong Lu’s sword, and the swords of all the toadies, laid shattered on the ground.

Ah, as expected. It’s not so bad to see Hong Lu get so thoroughly face-slapped, but ultimately, I must stop Song Wei here, before he decides to go after the rest of us. Hui descended toward the scene, drawing his own sword. “Song Wei. What is the meaning of this?”

Song Wei looked up. At the sight of Hui, his expression brightened. “Master! This man was bad-mouthing you. He was spreading rumors that Master knows nothing of forging and is only using us to mass-produce artifacts for spirit stones. I couldn’t let him keep going!”

Eh. Where’s the expected accusation? Where’s the dark glares? Instead, he’s looking at me like… like he has faith in me!

Uh, did I accidentally tame a black lotus? I don’t want this plotline, I don’t want it! Ahh, so stressful. If I make a single misstep, the backlash—

But on the other hand… hmm, I don’t really mind it? The dangerous black lotus with explosive potential is on my side, and not only that, he’s faceslapping my villains for me. When I think of it that way… I can’t help but feel like I’ve gained massively! Now I don’t even have to keep my disciples in line. I can throw that work at Song Wei!

Hui paused, thinking to himself. He looked at Hong Lu expectantly, raising his eyebrows.

Hong Lu spat blood and scowled at Hui. “So what? It’s true, isn’t it? Everyone’s saying it. Master knows nothing! You’re not our Master, you’re just an idiot with a mountain!”

“Ah, is that so? You know what, Song Wei, I think you’re right. Let’s go ahead and keep thrashing this man,” Hui said, nodding.

Song Wei stepped forward.

“Go ahead! Beat me! It doesn’t change the truth! The truth—that you’re a useless Master who doesn’t know anything!” Hong Lu shouted, glaring at Hui. He backed away from Song Wei, occasionally giving him a nervous look.

Around them, the other cultivators began whispering amongst themselves. A few glanced at Hui, suddenly uncertain.

“That’s right. You have never lectured us. You’ve never shown us your work. You—you’re a scam! A charlatan!” Hong Lu continued.

“Song Wei, stop,” Hui said.

“But Master—”

Hui descended to the earth, standing opposite Hong Lu, between him and Song Wei. He sighed deeply and shook his head. “Hong Lu, what pitiful accusations. It’s only been a few months. Are you so impatient for Master’s guidance?”

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“What guidance. What do you know?” Hong Lu shouted.

Hui clicked his tongue. “What do I know? What do you know, Hong Lu? You stand here and criticize your Master, but have you ever seen my work? Ever stopped to watch me forge?” He turned around, looking at all his disciples. “You know, I never locked the door, nor did I ever force anyone out. Anyone could have stopped by. If you were so curious as to my skills, why not come by and watch?”

The disciples paused. A few glanced at one another. “Were we allowed to do that?” “Come to think of it…”

Hui smirked to himself. Ha! Usually, they wouldn’t dare watch me work so long as I closed the door, due to the respect they owe a master. But now I’ve questioned that. After all, this whole time, I’ve allowed people to come in and use my forge, a step unusual for a master. Usually, you'd guard your tools with your life. As a total novice with no idea of what I'm doing, I didn’t mind if they used my forge, even if they damaged it. By that fact, and the truth that I never ran people off from watching me, the disciples are now wondering… if they simply ignored an opportunity before their eyes!

Hong Lu scowled. He shook his head. “Why would we come watch your paltry skills? We’ve all seen the ruined results of your attempts scattered on the forge floor!”

Song Wei clenched his sword. “Master, let me—”

Hui held his hand out. This black lotus. I understand that you want to kill, but this is a great opportunity for me to turn it about on Hong Lu, as long as you let us keep talking!

Unwillingly, Song Wei fell back.

“Do you think success comes without failure? You can’t create something new without failing hundreds of times. You should all know that, if you’ve been practicing artifact creation. Naturally, as your Master, I’m pushing the limits of my own abilities. Do you think I could create a perfect weapon past the boundaries of my skills in one shot? No!

“These strange standards you’re holding me to… Hong Lu, you’re almost speaking as though… you haven’t truly tried to forge spirit artifacts,” Hui said, raising his eyebrows.

Hong Lu frowned. “I—”

“And to think, you were one of the first disciples to create a spirit forge. Ah! No. Hong Lu, could it be?” Hui asked, putting on a betrayed face. He looked around at the other disciples and shook his head, deeply disappointed. “Were you trying to dispirit everyone else, so that you could monopolize the materials I’ve worked so hard to gather for you? And all the while, not working on spirit artifacts yourself? Were you… going to sell them for a profit yourself, without even attempting to use them?”

The disciples looked at Hong Lu with dark gazes. The murmuring took on a darker tone.

“You dare accuse me—” Hong Lu shouted, shaking his head.

“That’s right! Hong Lu, even from the very first day, you tried to steal my ore away from me! If Master hadn’t stepped in…” Song Wei said, his expression grave.

Hui grinned internally, while continuing to give Hong Lu a deeply betrayed look externally. Yes, yes. The more I have Song Wei on my side, the more I like it! Who but a black lotus knows exactly when to step in to deal the final blow to a Young Master, after I’ve set up a psychological trap? Wonderful, wonderful! Maybe I’ll take on Song Wei as a true disciple of mine!

“This… if, if you aren’t faking, then give us a lecture! Is it unreasonable to ask that much?” Hong Lu asked, desperately trying to turn the argument back around on Hui.

“Ah… a lecture, is that it? If you wanted a lecture, why not ask straight-forwardly? There was no need to spread rumors and badmouth your Master,” Hui said, shaking his head.

“But every time we asked, you refused,” Hong Lu said.

“When did anyone ask after the first week or so? Besides, does six months count as a long time? In the world of cultivators, where a hundred years can be considered as the blinking of an eye, is six months really too much for your Master to ask for, for closing up and focusing on cultivation? Tell me, who among you hasn’t spent a decade, no, a century in closed cultivation?” Hui asked, shaking his head.

A few third-realm cultivators raised their hands, but more cultivators nodded to themselves. After all, from a cultivator’s perspective, I’m the one who’s being reasonable, and Hong Lu is the one being unreasonable!

Hui sighed, not giving Hong Lu any time to defend himself. “If what you want is a lecture, then naturally, your Master will give a lecture. But Hong Lu, there’s no need to spread rumors and smear your Master’s name to get attention. Simply approaching me is enough. Isn’t that right, Song Wei?”

“Ah? Eh… Yes!” Song Wei said, nodding. “Didn’t we all approach Master to ask him to let us use his forge?” He looked at Hong Lu and gave him an admonishing shake of his head. “There’s no need to fall to such depths, if what you want is Master’s attention!”

Hong Lu grit his teeth and spat blood in a way entirely unrelated to his injuries. “You… dare to…”

“Hong Lu, all disciples are equal here. There’s no such thing as the Hong Clan here,” Hui said, willfully forgetting his earlier lecture to Song Wei about respecting the powerful.

“You—” Hong Lu spat up another mouthful of blood.

“Now, now. Is that inner demon of yours flaring up? Calm down, calm down.” He looked around. “Master will lecture you soon. Ah, even though I’ll have to take time from my breakthrough to lecture you, I’ll still…” He looked down and shook his head.

“It’s okay, Master! Keep studying your cultivation. There’s no need to disturb you,” Song Wei said, his eyes shining with worship.

“If you insist. But I would hate for my disciples to feel abandoned,” Hui said.

“No, no. We don’t feel abandoned at all,” Song Wei said. If not for his bloodstained robes and bloodied sword, it almost looked like an ordinary scene.

“No?” Hui asked, uncertain.

Song Wei looked around at the others. “No, no. Right, everyone? We don’t feel abandoned!”

One of the disciples cleared her throat. “We would like…”

Song Wei narrowed his eyes at her.

Her eyes flickered to his bloodstained self, and she swallowed. “…for Master to continue to cultivate in peace!”

Looking around, Song Wei nodded at all the other disciples. “Right? Master’s happiness is our happiness.”

The other disciples all stood up straight and nodded.

Hong Lu scowled. “This is nonsense. You won’t get away with this.”

“Hong Lu, if you refuse to be my disciple, then the two of us will no longer have anything to do with one another,” Hui said simply. I absolutely could resolve this in such a way that Hong Lu remained… but quite honestly, I’m not interested. I’m not here to earnestly raise disciples. I don’t much care for whether he succeeds or fails. If he wants to cause problems now, won’t he continue to cause problems in the future? The kind of disciple who spreads rumors rather than facing me head-on…

Well, to be fair, he also faced me head-on, but not taking no for an answer! Imagine if he decided he didn’t want to fight by my side when the time came to face All-Heavens, and he attempted to recruit disciples to fight against me instead, or spread rumors against me among the disciples! Although I need more cultivators, I don’t need to take in poisonous disciples who will only drag me down like this Hong Lu.

Hong Lu blinked. He pointed at Song Wei. “So this man attacks me, and you—you throw me out?”

“Mmm? And now you’re questioning your Master, too,” Hui said, shaking his head.

“This is wrong. You’re completely overturning justice!” Hong Lu snarled. Veins throbbed on his forehead, and his cultivation began wobbling again, no longer stable.

Hui tilted his head. “But who’s the first one to forget favors and violate justice? Is it me, in refusing to take your side? Or you, in turning against the Master who healed you, lifted you off the Clouded Pavilion, and gave you materials for free?”

Hong Lu gnashed his teeth. He pointed all around him. “You’re all being taken in by this charlatan. Don’t fall for it!”

You know what? I think this is quite enough. Hui waved his hand. In his injured state, Hong Lu couldn’t fight it as a blast of wind caught him up and carried him off the peak. He tumbled away, falling out of sight into the clouds below the peak.

As he fell, he howled some threat or another, but the wind snatched his voice away.

Hmm, well, I suppose this Hong Lu will be quite eager to come after Xing Huang, if he recovers down there below the peaks. Ha, too bad that man doesn’t exist! Using a fake name is becoming a better and better idea by the moment!

Dusting his hands off, Hui turned to the group. “Does anyone else have any problems with my leadership?”

The other disciples backed up, shaking their heads.

Hui nodded to himself. He turned to Song Wei.

Song Wei quickly bowed, saluting to Hui.

“Clean yourself up. And come by the forge. I want to have a look at that sword. You’re only third realm, right? Cutting a fifth-realm cultivator is quite the achievement.” With that, Hui turned on his heel and swept away, leaving the disciples staring after him wide-eyed.