Chapter 61 Doesn't Senior Brother Dislike Me? (3) Young Cultivator...
Having gained everyone's sympathy and incidentally stirred up hatred for Chongjing Pavilion, Fu Li made a graceful exit, feigning dejection as she left.
Back at his cave dwelling, Fu Li frowned and used a cleansing talisman to wash his mud-covered sword clean. He muttered discontentedly, "That cold-blooded fellow from Chongjing Pavilion really didn't give me any face at all. Does he cultivate the Path of Heartlessness...?"
Just as he was cursing, a sound transmission talisman flew from afar at great speed to his front, followed by a deep, clear male voice: "Come here within a quarter of an hour."
His words were concise, steady, and powerful, conveying an undeniable authority.
Fu Li could almost picture the indifferent expression on his face when he said those words.
Upon hearing the message, the boy's face fell. Despite his reluctance, he knew that disobeying the other party might lead to worse consequences. He had no choice but to fly away on his sword.
Half an hour later, Fu Li arrived at a bamboo house hidden in the bamboo forest behind the mountain. The bamboo house was divided into two courtyards, with a spacious open space in the middle for practicing martial arts. This was the residence of the senior disciple of Xiaoyao Peak.
Chongjingge was already waiting in the courtyard. He stood with his hands behind his back under a clump of low bamboo, his sharp eyes concealing his emotions, revealing only a calm indifference floating in his clear black and white pupils. Tall and slender, with a sharp yet composed demeanor, he exuded an aura of dignified detachment and otherworldly independence simply by standing there.
Because of his experiences these past few days, Fu Li was somewhat intimidated by him. She involuntarily shrank back when she first saw him.
He then took a breath and, forcing himself to speak, greeted her, "Senior Brother."
Chongjingge slightly raised his eyelids, his indifferent eyes staring directly at the boy's beautiful and delicate face, without any ripples.
He took a step toward him and said calmly, "You performed terribly on the dueling stage today, and you haven't been practicing seriously while I was away." His tone was a statement, implying certainty.
Fu Li gritted her teeth, lowered her eyes somewhat guiltily, but her expression showed more defiance than anything else.
"You know what I expect of you. If you are lazy in your cultivation and fail to get results despite my encouragement, you will be punished," the young cultivator said in a cold voice.
Fu Li curled her lips, her dissatisfaction reaching its peak, and said with a slightly sarcastic tone, "So today, does Senior Brother want me to swing my sword three thousand times, or should I abstain from grains and not let anyone bring me food?"
Chongjingge ignored the defiant tone in his words and pointed to the open space in front of him: "Your martial arts foundation was exposed during the competition just now, so you'll squat in a horse stance here for two hours. Starting tomorrow, you'll practice your swordsmanship three thousand times as usual, and then you'll start practicing swordsmanship again."
Upon hearing this, Fu Li's expression turned even more unpleasant—this was even worse than fasting!
He originally wanted to use his charm to get away with it, just like he did with his second and third senior brothers and sisters, to win their affection and have them withdraw their punishment. But when he saw the unyielding, cold gaze of Chongjing Pavilion, he had no choice but to give up and start squatting in a horse stance with a straight face.
Chongjingge nodded, then said, "Maintain this posture for two hours, and I will have Qintian supervise you here." After saying that, the long sword that had been quietly waiting in its scabbard at his waist suddenly sprang out and circled around Fu Li a few times. The cold white sword light made Fu Li's heart tremble, and he dared not make any more big movements.
Seeing this, Chongjingge left, leaving Fu Li squatting in a horse stance.
When Li Weiyan heard that Fu Li had been summoned by his senior brother for punishment, and after being appeased, he insisted on going to rescue his junior brother Xiao Yue, who was fighting desperately against Chongjing Pavilion, he thought about it and finally decided to go to Chongjing Pavilion to talk to him.
As soon as I stepped into the courtyard of the bamboo house, I saw a slender boy with his arms outstretched and his knees bent, struggling to maintain a horse stance in the open space between the two houses. Beside him, a long and thin sword was flying around, occasionally tapping the boy's body with its hilt to adjust his posture.
Fu Li had only been squatting in a horse stance for half an hour when he was about to give up. Seeing someone coming was like seeing a savior. With tears in his eyes, he shouted loudly, "Second Senior Brother! Come and save me!"
"Ah Li, you..." Li Weiyan looked at this scene and couldn't believe that his senior brother would actually be so cruel as to punish his junior brother.
Fu Li hurriedly said, "Second Senior Brother, I can't hold on much longer! But Eldest Senior Brother insists that I squat for two full hours before he'll stop. Can you help me?!"
Seeing his junior brother's weak and pitiful appearance, Li Weiyan immediately agreed: "Don't worry, Ali, I will definitely plead with my senior brother."
After saying that, he quickly walked towards the bamboo pavilion in the back room.
He passed through a curtain made of dried tree fruits and entered the room. The furnishings inside were sparse, just enough to meet the daily needs of quiet cultivation. A simple table and chairs were set up with stacks of books and bamboo slips, all of which were manuals of internal cultivation techniques and swordplay. On the other side was a rosewood bed, where Chongjingge sat to meditate and cultivate.
A white-glowing spiritual energy swirled around him, as if he had reached another realm.
Li Weiyan coughed, and Chongjingge opened his eyes.
"Senior Brother, I've come to talk to you about your attitude towards Junior Brother---"
"What's wrong?" Chong Jingge's voice remained calm and indifferent.
Li Weiyan said, "Since you came out of seclusion, you have paid special attention to your junior brother's cultivation, but isn't your approach a bit too radical? Although your junior brother is lazy and loves to play, he is quite talented and has high comprehension. There's no need to discipline him to such an extent."
“Not only me, but my junior sister and fourth junior brother also think you are too harsh on your junior brother. Like today, you made him suffer such a crushing defeat on the dueling stage, completely disregarding his dignity. This is not good for the relationship between the brothers in the sect.”
“I know that Senior Brother has been in seclusion for the past few years, so it’s normal that he’s not close to Junior Brother. But that doesn’t mean he has to target him at every turn. Treating his fellow disciple so harshly will only harm Senior Brother’s reputation.”
At first, Li Weiyan's words were rather tactful, more like advice, but in the end he couldn't help but be blunt.
He had watched his junior brother grow up, but Chongjing Pavilion showed no mercy to anyone, even being harsh. How could he, the second senior brother, stand by and watch? It was better to talk things out once and for all. If all else failed, he would ask his master to come out of seclusion and make a decision.
Li Weiyan spoke earnestly, his words filled with concern and worry for his junior brother. Chongjing Pavilion remained silent for a moment, then calmly gazed at him and asked, "Junior brother, do you really think this is for his own good?"
“When Fu Li first entered the sect, he was able to draw in Qi into his body in less than a month and establish his foundation in half a year. Before I went into seclusion, he was already close to breaking through to the Golden Core stage. I originally thought he would be the fastest person in history to reach the Nascent Soul stage. But in recent years, Fu Li has been lazy in his cultivation and no one has supervised him. After I came out of seclusion, I found that his cultivation method and swordsmanship had become rusty. If this continues, it will be a complete waste of his talent.”
Li Weiyan sensed some truth in this, but still said, "Ah Li... he's still young, and it's understandable that he's playful. We can restrain him gradually, why resort to such a multi-pronged approach that makes him suffer so much?"
Chongjingge interrupted him, saying, "I'm doing this for his own good. If he goes out like this and faces the enemy, he won't even have the strength to protect himself and will perish. What will we do then?"
Li Weiyan's face showed a sense of calm, as if he thought that he was worrying unnecessarily. "With us senior brothers and sisters protecting Ah Li, who outsiders has the ability to hurt him? Senior brother's sense of crisis is too much."
Chongjingge coldly said, "Second Junior Brother, if you want him to survive in the cultivation world, he has to rely on his own strength. If he relies solely on our protection, what if all four of us were to perish unexpectedly one day? Who would protect Fu Li then? Only by giving him the ability to protect himself can we truly do him a good job. Otherwise, is it really beneficial for his cultivation to deliberately lose to him in every competition, like Xiao Yue did?"
Upon hearing this, Li Weiyan couldn't help but defend Xiao Yue: "Fourth Junior Brother was only trying to protect Junior Brother's pride, not wanting him to lose in front of others..."
But he also sighed.
“I understand what you mean, senior brother. I have failed as the second senior brother all these years. Master has been in seclusion for many years, and junior brother is young and ignorant, and has been spoiled by us, especially the fourth junior brother. Senior brother’s current approach is the right one.”
Through this conversation, Li Weiyan understood that Chongjing Pavilion's strict requirements for Fu Li were for Fu Li's sake.
Having said that, thinking of Fu Li's current situation, he couldn't help but plead one last time: "Junior Brother has been squatting for half an hour, it's about time to let him get up, there's no need for him to actually squat for the full two hours."
Chongjing Pavilion remained unmoved, his voice cold and deep: "If you can't even endure this little bit of hardship, how will you be able to endure the real hardships if you want to attain the Great Dao in the future?"
Li Weiyan's plea for leniency was rejected with a single sentence.
Now that things have come to this, Li Weiyan has no reason to interfere anymore.
Upon seeing the tall, jade-like figure emerge from the bamboo pavilion, Fu Li's face immediately lit up with joy, her eyes blinking like stars as she gazed at Li Weiyan.
Under his expectant gaze, his second senior brother, who had always shown him favoritism, wore an apologetic expression and gently comforted him:
"Ah Li, you should practice your skills diligently in the future. Only when you have the power to protect yourself will your senior brothers feel at ease."
The boy's expectant expression hadn't faded when his smile froze on his lips, and shock and confusion surfaced in his eyes.
Seeing this, Li Weiyan stepped forward and affectionately patted his head, adding, "Senior Brother said he will let you leave in two hours. As long as Ah Li cultivates well in the future, he won't make things difficult for you."
After saying that, he left without looking back.
Fu Li didn't understand what had happened, but no matter how much she called out to her second senior brother, he never turned around again.
Only then did he understand what it meant to be filled with indignation and to find reality cruel and unbearable.
When the appointed time arrived, Fu Li had trouble even standing up, let alone walking.
He was unable to fly back to his cave on his sword. Unexpectedly, Chongjing Pavilion, which had previously been extremely reluctant to let Fu Li stay overnight, actually agreed to let him stay for one night and arranged a room for him to use in seclusion.
Fu Li loved luxury, and his cave dwelling was almost entirely filled with silks, satins, and rare treasures given to him by his senior brothers and sisters. In comparison, Chongjing Pavilion was quite shabby. There wasn't even a hot spring behind the courtyard; one had to boil water to take a bath.
He couldn't even imagine why he had ever wanted to live with his senior brother.
Late at night, the exhausted boy lay asleep in bed. A figure silently entered his room.
A faint light emerged from the fingertips, enough to illuminate the bed without waking the person from their dream.
A handsome face stood by the bed, his indifferent eyes silently reflecting the figure of the person on the bed. Compared to the stern indifference he showed when facing Fu Li during the day, the young man's eyes now held a silent gaze, as if it were a deep affection that lasted for a thousand years. But if you looked closely, you could only see the restrained indifference on the surface of his eyes.
In the silent interplay of light and shadow, Fu Li's fair face was as smooth and delicate as jade, and the red mole between her brows was eerily beautiful, like a beautiful demon woman who had stepped out of a painting. She could attract the attention of countless men simply by closing her eyes.
Chongjingge stood by the bed for a while, and after confirming that Fu Li would not wake up, he used levitation magic to lift the bedding off Fu Li's body, lifted the loose trousers, took out the prepared ointment, and gently applied it to Fu Li's legs with his fingers.
The coolness of the ointment made the sleeping person move slightly. In order to prevent him from aggravating his muscle pain, Chong Jingge held his legs in place with his hands.
Once Fu Li stopped moving, he placed his palm on the young man's leg and channeled spiritual energy into his meridians. The ointment he had brought already had a soothing effect on the muscles and tendons, and with the help of the spiritual energy, its effects quickly took hold. Even if Fu Li moved again, he would not feel any muscle soreness or pain.
Then, Chongjingge lifted the sleeve of his inner garment and repeated the above operation on his arm.
After doing all this, he tidied the boy's clothes and put the bedding back in its place, but did not leave immediately.
The light from his fingertips lingered for a long time, illuminating Fu Li's serene face as he slept. The young cultivator stood by the bed, gazing at him for a long time, until dawn broke before leaving.
Only the faint smell of ointment in the air proves that someone was here.
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