The wind howled past his ears, the scenery on both sides blurring into streaks as he ran.
Only once he'd confirmed no one was giving chase did Gu Chengming slow his pace and let his breathing settle.
In that brief lull, he spared a glance at his system panel.
[The Hundred Bones Resonance is left wanting more! It feels that while the takedown just now wasn't exactly bloody, it was at least clean and efficient.]
[Its only regret is that he didn't finish them off on the spot, pull the weeds out by the roots, and relieve them of their storage pouches — but given that the enemy had accomplices nearby, it supposes it can understand.]
The Hundred Bones Resonance's reaction was entirely predictable.
What Gu Chengming hadn't quite expected... was the Qingxin Formula's.
By all rights, that kind of brawling — an ambush that was, frankly, a little underhanded — ought to have unsettled a cultivation method that preached "a heart still as water, untouched by the ten thousand things." That was the reasonable assumption.
And yet —
[The Qingxin Formula watched you deliver a perfectly earnest string of nonsense and then knock two people cold with swift, decisive efficiency. It felt a surge of delight.]
[It has never experienced this sensation before, and finds itself genuinely curious what you'll do next.]
[Qingxin Formula Affection +5]
"?"
Fine, the Hundred Bones Resonance going unhinged was one thing — that cultivation method was practically born unhinged. But you too? Really?
Still, grousing aside, free affection points were free affection points. No sense leaving them on the table.
Seeing both cultivation methods register approval of his performance, Gu Chengming's mood lifted by several degrees.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lu — who had been stuck in a state of blank, short-circuited bewilderment this entire time — finally started coming back to his senses.
A gust of cold wind did the trick. His stalled mind rebooted.
He stopped walking and turned to look at Gu Chengming beside him — standing there with an expression of total nonchalance, like a man who'd just come back from a routine trip to the market — and for a long moment, Jiang Lu's face cycled through a complicated sequence of emotions without finding any words to match.
The scenes from moments ago replayed through his mind like a slideshow.
Robbers. Disguises. Killing for treasure...
Now that he thought it through carefully, every bit of it had been riddled with holes.
Those were clearly Su He and Li Miao from Daoning Gate — two senior shimei who'd obviously heard the rumors circulating about Senior Brother Gu, and had come to block his path specifically to stir up trouble or demand an explanation.
Before they'd even gotten two sentences out, Senior Brother Gu had slapped the label of "robbers" on them and knocked them both unconscious.
The method was, admittedly, a bit... well. It had been an ambush, after all.
But regardless — Senior Brother Gu had taken on two opponents at once, both of higher cultivation than himself, and resolved the entire confrontation in an instant.
Within Wenjian Sect, while outright killing fellow disciples was forbidden, private scuffles and sparring disputes were hardly uncommon. As long as no one died and no one's cultivation was crippled, the Enforcement Hall generally turned a blind eye.
The real problem was the fallout.
Jiang Lu let out a slow breath, his brow creased with worry. "Senior Brother Gu," he said, "this time... I'm afraid you've made a serious enemy of Daoning Gate."
Gu Chengming raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How so?"
"There's something shixiong may not know." Jiang Lu gave a rueful smile. "Daoning Gate is technically a branch of our Wenjian Sect, yes — but the female cultivators there... ahem, they treat each other more or less like family."
"And they are fiercely protective of their own. Offend one, and you've more or less offended a dozen."
Senior Brother Gu had already made You Yuyao cry once. Now he'd knocked two more of their female cultivators unconscious. Old grudges and new ones piled together, and rounding up...
Gu Chengming, for his part, didn't seem particularly bothered. If anything, something else had caught his interest far more.
He tilted his head, genuinely puzzled. "Shidi, there's something I can't quite work out."
"Those two women just now — their cultivation was clearly above mine, and their spiritual energy wasn't lacking. But their reaction speed and swordsmanship..." He paused. "Forgive my bluntness, but they were thoroughly mediocre."
"Are the cultivators of Daoning Gate all this... easily dealt with?"
That gave Jiang Lu a start. He hurried to clarify: "Shixiong, please don't say that anywhere people might hear you. Daoning Gate is part of Wenjian Sect, yes, but their lineage doesn't center on sword arts — it centers on Dao techniques."
"Spell cultivators like them are versed primarily in techniques, talismans, and formation discs. The sword in their hands is less a weapon and more a medium for channeling their arts — what you'd call a spell-sword."
"When it comes to close-quarters fighting, they naturally can't match sword cultivators like us, who spend our days tempering flesh and bone."
"That said, shixiong shouldn't underestimate them either. Daoning Gate's mastery of the spell-sword — blending Dao techniques into the sword path — ranks second in the entire sect."
"If you give them room to breathe and let them deploy their sweeping technique-sword formations, the destructive power they can unleash is genuinely terrifying."
Gu Chengming nodded slowly, turning this over in his mind.
But then —
"They cultivate Dao techniques, and their spell-sword mastery is still only second?" He'd caught the gap in the explanation. "Then who's first?"
Jiang Lu blinked, looking slightly puzzled that his senior brother didn't already know this, but answered readily enough: "First is naturally Guizang Gate."
"The disciples of Guizang Gate don't cultivate Dao techniques. They don't refine pills. They don't even bother learning how to navigate ordinary human interactions. In their eyes, there is only the sword."
"They eat with their swords. They sleep with their swords. Some have reportedly sealed themselves inside a sword tomb for over a decade without ever coming out — all in the name of their practice."
"What they pursue is the most absolute, unadorned sword path — the philosophy that a single sword can shatter ten thousand techniques. In their view, everything in the world except the blade in one's hand is mere illusion."
"So Guizang Gate disciples tend to be solitary and extraordinarily difficult to deal with. If Daoning Gate is the second faction that ordinary disciples least want to offend within Wenjian Sect, then Guizang Gate is, without question, the first."
After finishing his explanation, Jiang Lu unconsciously glanced sideways at Gu Chengming.
That utterly unhesitating draw. That decisive, ruthless strike. And that swordsmanship talent that had left Jiang Lu genuinely humbled...
A peculiar thought surfaced in Jiang Lu's mind, unbidden:
Actually... with Senior Brother Gu's temperament, if he'd gone to Guizang Gate instead, he might've thrived there quite spectacularly.
The two of them walked on, their pace easing, the conversation meandering — and without quite noticing, they found themselves in the vicinity of the outer disciples' residential quarter.
As the atmosphere settled, Jiang Lu thought back to the earlier incident. Assuming Gu Chengming was still fretting over possible retaliation, he offered some reassurance:
"Come to think of it, shixiong doesn't really need to worry too much."
"Think about it — one of those shimei was at the Fifth Layer, the other at the Sixth. The two of them together, and they lost to a Fourth Layer shidi. Lost instantly, at that..."
"If this gets out, the ones who'll be embarrassed are them."
"Never mind whether they'd have the face to spread this around — even if they took it all the way to the Elders, it still just comes down to skill. Wenjian Sect has always revered strength. If they make a scene, they'll only embarrass themselves further."
He was genuinely rattled on the inside, but he bore Gu Chengming no ill will over it.
After all, it had been his own suggestion to bring Senior Brother Gu to the disciple market. If not for that, they never would have stumbled into this mess.
When it came down to it, the fault lay with his own lack of foresight.
Jiang Lu let out a sigh and cupped his hands in a small bow. "Still, this matter remains... unresolved. I doubt it'll settle itself easily. I'd better head back and report to my master at once — see what he thinks, and whether there's any room to mediate."
"You've gone to a lot of trouble, Shidi."
Gu Chengming returned the bow, his expression carrying a measure of genuine gratitude.
Whatever else one might say, Jiang Lu was a solid person.
"Thank you for taking me to the market today. I came away with quite a haul." Gu Chengming patted the storage pouch at his waist with a grin. "Don't worry — as for what happened back there, I know where the line is. I won't let any of it fall back on you."
Jiang Lu shook his head with a tired smile. "Shixiong, don't talk about 'falling back on me' — we're all fellow disciples. We look out for each other. Besides, today's trouble started with me."
"I'll take my leave now. Once I've spoken to my master and have something to report, I'll come find you."
With that, Jiang Lu wasted no more time. He turned and hurried off, his retreating figure carrying the unmistakable energy of a man rushing to put out a fire.
Gu Chengming stood where he was, watching Jiang Lu disappear into the distance, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
This junior brother of his — genuinely a good sort.
Just a little short on nerve.
............
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