Chapter 19 : Let This Senior Brother Teach You Properly
Chapter 19: Let This Senior Brother Teach You Properly
At this moment, inside a certain pavilion on the great lake of Moon-Washing Peak, Long Tao and Nan Yuchen were sitting opposite each other at a round table.
The latter felt a little embarrassed by what the former was saying, yet still did not want to speak that person’s name.
“Senior Brother Long, it’s not that I’m defending him, it’s just that… that senior brother has a very good reputation among the Inner Sect disciples. If we really went to report him to Master and the others, it would… it would be very troublesome.”
At this moment, Long Tao instinctively sensed an opportunity to break the deadlock.
If he could successfully guide the conversation here, then he might be able to stay on Moon-Washing Peak tonight.
Thus, after gathering his thoughts, he said,
“Ah… I know you’re kind-hearted and unwilling to stir up trouble over personal matters. Then let this senior brother take a guess. No need for more—just once. If I can guess who that person is in one try, you just nod and admit it. How about it?”
Nan Yuchen nodded in a daze, but inwardly he was certain that he had not revealed even half a clue.
Senior Brother Long had absolutely no way of guessing correctly! That person’s disguise—even he himself, the one directly involved, would not have believed it without irrefutable evidence.
How could an outsider possibly see through it?
“Mm… if I’m not mistaken, that person has refined features and a gentle voice, the ideal image of a senior brother in everyone’s eyes. It’s Senior Brother Zhou… am I right.”
Looking at Nan Yuchen, whose eyes were widened like bronze bells, Long Tao felt a huge weight drop from his heart.
He knew he had guessed correctly.
The first hurdle of tonight’s task had been cleared.
“Senior Brother Long! You… you… how did you know? I never told you! I didn’t even mention Senior Brother Zhou’s appearance to you at all!”
“It was just a coincidence. When I was helping out at Spirit Spring Garden today, that Senior Brother Zhou was there as well. I crossed paths with him a few times.” His tone carried a trace of mockery.
“How should I put it… that kind of person has no problem deceiving kids like you, but anyone with a bit of experience can tell he’s a hypocrite.”
Nan Yuchen did not know how to describe his feelings at this moment.
The senior brother before him was clearly only at Qi-Refining Fifth Layer, yet he seemed to radiate an unfathomable brilliance, standing protectively in front of him!
“But… Senior Brother Zhou… his words and behavior really had no flaws at all! To be honest… if I hadn’t checked those mission records, I still wouldn’t believe he was a bad person. He really… was just a perfect senior brother.”
“Ah… that’s why I say you’re a silly kid. But if I were to explain it to you in detail, it wouldn’t be something that could be made clear in just a few words. It’s also getting late today, and as an outsider it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to stay long on Moon-Washing Peak. Let’s find time tomorrow or later, and I’ll explain it to you then.”
Later?!
This immediately made Nan Yuchen anxious.
The truth he cared about most was right in front of him, and suddenly the other party was about to leave—who could tolerate that? It was like a story being cut off right at its most exciting part!
“Senior Brother Long! Don’t go! It’s fine if you just stay. As Master’s disciple, I can invite you to stay as a guest. There’s a clean guest room right next to mine. You can stay here tonight.”
Success!
On the surface, Long Tao remained calm, but inwardly he let out a triumphant shout.
The first step of this mission—staying overnight on Moon-Washing Peak—had been accomplished.
And just as he had expected, Nan Yuchen really was the key to breaking the situation.
“Then… that works too, as long as it’s not a bother. But since we’ll be discussing other fellow disciples, it’s somewhat inconvenient outside. Let’s just head back to your residence first.”
Nan Yuchen immediately agreed and led Long Tao away from the small island in the middle of the lake.
After leaving that great lake via the Cloud Path, Long Tao once again returned to the outside of the firmament.
Only then did he realize that the sun had not yet set.
Turning back to look, not only had the firmament and the fake moon disappeared, even the lake itself now looked like nothing more than an ordinary pond, reflecting the real setting sun.
“This… this is?!”
“Oh, the place we were just at—‘Moon-Viewing Lake’—is actually a small pocket realm,” Nan Yuchen explained casually.
A pocket realm!
This startled Long Tao once again.
In the Cultivation World, this was a supreme treasure sufficient to serve as the foundation of a small or medium-sized sect! Countless Nascent Soul old monsters sought it yet could not obtain it! And True Person Mingzhu… a mere Golden Core… actually used it as a private scenic lake…
However, after leaving the pocket realm, Moon-Washing Peak also returned to the normal size befitting a floating immortal mountain.
Nan Yuchen’s residence was located beside a scenic little cliff.
Streams, spiritual plants, ponds, medicinal gardens, and a small pavilion—everything was present.
It was practically Long Tao’s ideal dwelling.
Upon entering the small pavilion, Long Tao noticed many treasures he had dreamed of but never obtained, from clothing and accessories to weapons and talismans, all casually placed about.
Yet he had no mind to focus on these at all, still pondering that deadly peeping task awaiting him tonight.
“By the way, forgive me for asking something presumptuous.
Your master cares about you so much—would she have installed something like… that… eavesdropping devices in your room? For example, Listening Insects or something?”
“How could that be!” Nan Yuchen shook his head immediately, his tone resolute.
“Master personally said that one’s living quarters are the final pure land of a cultivator, that privacy outweighs the heavens! There would absolutely be no such prying! Senior Brother Long, put your heart at ease a hundred times over! What you and I say tonight—heaven knows it, earth knows it, you know it, and I know it!”
Hearing this, another heavy stone fell from Long Tao’s heart.
He was willing to trust Nan Yuchen, and even more willing to trust the basic moral integrity of a Golden Core True Person.
If True Person Mingzhu really used her divine sense to recklessly spy on her disciples’ residences, then his task tonight truly would have no hope at all.
And at the very moment Nan Yuchen finished speaking, inside True Person Mingzhu’s room within the pocket realm, the four people secretly listening all lowered their heads in unison.
The air was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
“Um… should we continue eavesdropping… uh… listening?”
Third Senior Sister Chen Qianyun turned her head toward the curtain.
This question was, in fact, directed at her master.
There was a moment of silence behind the curtain.
Then, True Person Mingzhu’s light, girlish voice came through.
The three female disciples could even hear a trace of anticipation and gossip within it.
“In urgent circumstances, one must act expediently. It is understandable. There’s no need to fuss over minor details.”
With their master’s golden words of “not fussing over minor details,” the three disciples, faces flushed red, raised their heads again.
The atmosphere was no longer as stiff as before.
And very soon, the Listening Insect transmitted the voice of that Outer Sect disciple surnamed Long.
“Alright, I won’t waste words. I’ll first go over everything again—my interaction today with that Senior Brother Zhou. I’ll try to restore every single sentence as much as possible. Junior Brother Nan, listen carefully. All of that person’s flaws are hidden in the dialogue.”
Accompanied by Nan Yuchen’s excited response, Long Tao began recounting his experiences after entering Spirit Spring Garden that day.
His speech was not fast, but the level of detail was just right, like a professional storyteller.
Though it was all mundane matters, there was not the slightest sense of tedium.
After he finished speaking, the reactions of the four women in the room were not the same.
Chen Qianyun and Zhu Huaisu, the two junior sisters, looked confused.
They did not hear where Senior Brother Zhou was acting as a hypocrite in that segment.
However, Senior Sister Su Muzhi frowned slightly, clearly having noticed something.
As for the master behind the curtain, her reaction could not be seen.
Nan Yuchen’s reaction was naturally the same as most of theirs.
“Senior Brother Long, I… listening to it like this, wasn’t Senior Brother Zhou always speaking up for you? He didn’t say anything extra to frame you, did he?”
“Mm… this is where so-called conversational manipulation comes in. When I was being made things difficult for by that Senior Brother Su, and he said I entered through connections, how did Senior Brother Zhou step in to smooth things over?”
As a genius, Nan Yuchen’s memory was naturally top-tier.
He immediately gave the answer.
“According to what you just said, he said, ‘Where in the sect are there no personal connections.’ Is there something wrong with that?”
“Alright, let’s change perspectives. If you were him at the time, how would you have helped me smooth things over?”
Nan Yuchen froze for a moment.
After thinking it over for a while, he gave a straightforward answer.
“I probably would’ve said… ‘Without evidence, one shouldn’t speak recklessly’… or something like that.”
“Exactly. Normal people would say that. But look at that Senior Brother Zhou—he opened with ‘Where in the sect are there no personal connections.’ On the surface, he was speaking up for me, but in reality, he was hinting to everyone else that I really did get in through the back door. It sounded fair, but was actually fanning the flames, and he didn’t even give me a chance to defend myself.”
“Ah! So that’s how it was! I… I really didn’t think of that.”
At this moment, Nan Yuchen suddenly felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.
It was like the first time he had drawn in qi under his master’s guidance—clear and unobstructed!
Seizing the momentum, Long Tao continued,
“Then he went on to say, ‘He lacks ability, so naturally he gained nothing. If he truly could contribute a bit, what would be wrong with receiving a large reward?’ Look—again, it sounded fair on the surface, but in reality it put me over a fire. First he hinted that I was incompetent, then he talked about ‘contributing a bit’ and ‘a large reward,’ making others think I could casually do a little work and still get more Spirit Stones. Combined with the earlier hint about taking the back door, it instantly made everyone think I was an incompetent, greedy freeloader. Do you think that was helping me?”
Nan Yuchen was now filled with admiration.
Details he would never have noticed were completely exposed once Senior Brother Long explained them like this.
If he had still harbored even the slightest bit of trust in Senior Brother Zhou before, then at this moment, the image of that hypocrite had become thoroughly entrenched.
But there was still one thing he did not understand.
“But Senior Brother Long, why would he do this? You don’t even know him. You’re just in the Qi Refining stage—there’s nothing about you worth his effort.”
“Mm… first, this may simply be that person’s nature. His habit is to dig pits for others like this. Second… he may also have been gathering subordinates. Think about it—if he had succeeded today, and I ended up isolated and bullied by everyone, then he, the one who ‘spoke up for me,’ would definitely have been the only person I could rely on. As long as he helped me just a little, I would surely follow his lead completely, effectively becoming his man.”