The Sect Leader Raised a Fox to His Own Detriment - Chapter 3

“Mph!” A-Yin’s eyes widened in shock.

Yue Xichen’s fingers moved like living things, shifting roughly within his mouth. A-Yin’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he was forced to swallow the entire piece of peach blossom cake in one go.

When Yue Xichen withdrew his hand, his fingers were coated in A-Yin’s saliva, but he didn’t seem to care. At the very least, his frost-cold face betrayed no emotional ripples.

“Go back!”

Seeing Yue Xichen turn away without a single word of explanation, A-Yin’s eyes reddened. He covered his mouth, turned, and sprinted out of the sleeping quarters.

Deep within the room, the lamps flickered. Yue Xichen looked at his hand; the saliva on his fingers had already dried. A sigh echoed through the chamber, vanishing into the air along with the rising wisps of white incense smoke.

Under the night sky, near the latrines, the sound of retching continued. A-Yin had been gagging himself for nearly an hour. It was only after he had vomited up most of the peach blossom cake Yue Xichen forced him to eat that he finally let himself be.

“A-Yin, are you alright?” Zhan Ning had become worried after A-Yin didn’t return from the latrine for a long time, so he came to check.

“I… I’m fine…” A-Yin was about to wipe the corner of his mouth when he saw Zhan Ning offering him a handkerchief. He didn’t take it. “Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother, but I’m afraid I’ll ruin your handkerchief…”

“Handkerchiefs are meant for wiping things! What’s the point of a handkerchief if you’re afraid of it getting dirty? Here, take it.” Zhan Ning firmly pressed the cloth into A-Yin’s hand. Feeling a surge of warmth, A-Yin used it to wipe his mouth.

Just then, a group of Lingyun Mountain outer disciples passed by. In Lingyun Mountain, outer disciples were numerous and taught by outer sect elders. Only by becoming an inner disciple did one have the chance to study under the five great elders and access better resources. The best among the inner disciples could become disciples of the North or South Peak Masters.

Most disciples worked themselves to the bone in hopes of being chosen by Yue Xichen, but to everyone’s surprise, ten years ago, Yue Xichen took A-Yin as his closed-door disciple and stopped taking direct disciples altogether.

“Look, it’s that A-Yin and Senior Brother Zhan Ning…”

“Some people are good for nothing but having good luck. Unlike us, who work hard to raise our cultivation bit by bit, only to remain outer disciples. He, on the other hand, stays at Qi Refining Level 1 for ten years yet remains the Sect Leader’s closed-door disciple. Tsk tsk!”

“I really don’t know what the Sect Leader sees in him.”

“Didn’t they say he’s an illegitimate son? So he didn’t see anything in him—he saw something in his mother!”

Walking past A-Yin and Zhan Ning, the outer disciples didn’t hold back; instead, their gossip grew more biting. A-Yin was so angry his hair nearly stood on end, feeling as if magma were about to erupt from within him.

“Don’t be angry, it’s not worth it,” Zhan Ning said, patting his shoulder.

In the past ten years, this wasn’t the first or second time he’d heard such gossip. Usually, A-Yin swallowed his pride, but for some reason, the fire in his chest wouldn’t go out this time.

“In this sect, he can only hang out with Senior Brother Zhan Ning. After all, Zhan Ning has a good temper.”

“That’s not ‘good temper,’ that’s weaklings huddling together for warmth… right, Senior Brother Zhan Ning?”

Hearing the outer disciples call to him, Zhan Ning gave an awkward laugh and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, whatever you say is right.”

Seeing how easy Zhan Ning was to bully, the outer disciples laughed even louder and more shamelessly. A-Yin bit his lower lip. If there was one thing he disliked about Zhan Ning, it was that he was too easygoing it seemed anyone could step on him. Though Zhan Ning was “weak,” he was still stronger than A-Yin, having reached Qi Refining Level 5. For someone who had been a disciple for twenty years and was the Sect Leader’s first pupil, that progress was a bit slow, but he was still stronger than the new outer disciples. A-Yin didn’t think Zhan Ning needed to be so humble.

Suddenly, the mocking outer disciples went silent, looking like mice that had seen a cat.

“It’s Senior Brother Lin…” “Senior Brother Lin…” “Greetings, Senior Brother Lin.”

A tall, lean Lingyun Mountain disciple entered their field of vision. His features were sharp and heroic, his hair neatly tied, and he carried an air of arrogance from head to toe. This was Lin Fengfei, Yue Xichen’s second disciple. He had joined the sect only half a month before A-Yin. On the day before the North-South Martial Competition, he had broken through Foundation Establishment Level 9 and officially entered Gold Core Level 1.

Lin Fengfei walked past A-Yin and Zhan Ning without looking sideways, staring straight ahead as if the two were no different from the air. This dismissive attitude was something the sect had long since grown accustomed to; given his talent and his status as Yue Xichen’s disciple, everyone believed he would be the next Sect Leader, so his arrogance wasn’t surprising.

A-Yin’s gaze instinctively fell on Lin Fengfei’s waist, where a sword was hanging. This sword was named Lengshuo, granted by Yue Xichen; it was a divine weapon from the Qinggu Secret Realm. The last time the realm opened, Yue Xichen awakened it and gave it to Lin Fengfei. Countless people from the hundred immortal families coveted this weapon. A-Yin would be lying if he said he wasn’t envious.

If Master had given that sword to me…

Many nights, A-Yin had daydreamed like this, but the reality was that Yue Xichen hadn’t given him a single bottle of spiritual liquid or an elixir. All he had was a broken, rusty sword. Clenching his fists, A-Yin turned silently and slipped away from Zhan Ning’s side.

At the third hour of the Ox (approx. 2:45 AM), Lingyun Mountain was silent, the world vast and blurred by the night. A-Yin sat alone by the Mind-Nourishing Pond feeding the koi. He couldn’t sleep anyway, and the fish didn’t care about getting fat.

The pond water reflected the frost-white moon and A-Yin’s youthful face. The hideous scar on his left cheek was startling even in the reflection. A-Yin touched his cheek, shook his head of white hair, and pouted. “So my cultivation is bad, but even my looks are bad…”

Other than the fact that people in Peach Blossom Village told him his name was A-Yin, he knew nothing about himself. “Could I really be the son of Master’s enemy?” A-Yin murmured to himself seriously.

Perhaps that was why Yue Xichen took him as a disciple but never taught him, using peach blossom cakes to suppress his cultivation and letting him be bullied. “Mnh, that must be it.” A-Yin hugged his knees by the pond like a curled-up hedgehog and let out a lazy yawn. “I don’t want to be a Level 1 waste forever… I… I want to cultivate the Dao, slay demons, and become someone everyone respects…”

His eyelids grew heavy. Before he could finish his sentence, A-Yin fell asleep. The koi in the pond unfortunately had to listen to his snoring all night.

The mountain air was hazy. Just past the hour of the Tiger (5:00 AM), the east broke into dawn, and the mist began to lift like a beautiful woman peeling back a mysterious veil. A light breeze stirred the water, and a koi poked its head out, spotting the corner of a snow-white robe.

Yue Xichen had arrived at the pond at some unknown time, standing beside the fast-asleep A-Yin. He stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes clear as water and his face cold. He remained silent for a long time.

Between the options of carrying A-Yin back to his room or waking him up, Yue Xichen hesitated for a long while. Finally, he took off his own white outer robe and gently draped it over A-Yin’s body.