Plundering the Heavens

Chapter 6

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Everyone -- including the two daotong that Yu had brought along with him -- was stunned at what they were seeing; the Qing-Yun Sect had never seen a daotong beating on an outer court disciple. Not only was there a strict hierarchy and rules in place, but all of the outer court disciples had Qi fluctuations they could use to fend them off. With just a single flick of Qi, even the strongest daotong would be sent flying.

"Let go of s.h.i.+xiong Yu!" The two daotong were so dazzled by what they were seeing that it took them several seconds before they came back to their senses.

"Don"t you dare!" Fang Xing stood straight up and resonated his Qi, sending a coercive pressure over those two daotong. One of them even began to shake uncontrollably in terror.

"w.a.n.g, Ghost-Face, Freckle-Boy, go tie those two up," Fang Xing ordered while grabbing as many magical herbs as he could from the field, throwing them right into the arms of the plump Taoist. "Mousy and Bowlegs, you two go to the Herb Department and tell them that we"ve caught three thieves trying to rob our herb field in the middle of daylight."

"Are… are you sure?" w.a.n.g asked, hesitating.

"What are you afraid of? Not only are they not even from the Herb Department, they weren"t ordered to come here, either. How dare they come here and mess around when it"s not even their place of power? I bet those s.h.i.+xiong from the Herb Department won"t be very happy about someone else b.u.t.ting into their business.

Oh, and -- who was it…-- Mousy! Don"t you have that gold hairpin? That keepsake between you and your fiancé? Pa.s.s it to him, too! Just tell them that they came here demanding some magical herbs and we refused, so they decided they would just take it anyway and wanted us to bribe them!"

"I… okay… but I can still have it back later, right?"

Finally understanding what Fang Xing had planned, all five daotong took no delay in tying them up while Mousy went to grab his gold hairpin. Bowlegs -- the fastest of them all -- was just getting ready to take off towards the Herb Department before Yu let out a sound.

"W-- Wait!"

In fact, hearing what Fang Xing"s plans were caused Yu"s heart to sink; not only did he not belong to the Herb Department, there was no good reason for him to be there at all. Though framing Yu and his two daotong to be thieves wouldn"t be very believable -- n.o.body was stupid enough to rob within the sect under daylight -- Yu knew that bribery was commonplace among the disciples and daotong.

The rules in the Qing-Yun Sect stipulated that there was a chain of command to be followed, and those lower in the hierarchy had to provide for those higher up when ordered. However, this was only within their individual departments or areas of responsibility; one couldn"t just throw out an order just because they were higher up in the hierarchy overall.

Even if Yu was to tell them the truth, would they really believe him? Would they believe that a ten-year-old daotong had the brains to think up such a complicated plan, tie him up like a roast pork, and then beat him so badly that he was covered in blood? Besides, what would those s.h.i.+xiong from his Miscellaneous Department think of him if they heard this?

"I must not let this turn into a big deal!"

Yu had come to their herb field in the first place on the a.s.sumption that Fang Xing wouldn"t dare to make a big scene out of this, but who would have thought that not only did Fang Xing not mind making a scene, he had almost beaten the life out of him as well. And all of those precious magic herbs, Fang Xing hadn"t hesitated at all when he pulled them out...

"What a scary kid. He"s definitely way out of my league, ah well."

Yu knew that it was almost impossible to get out of his predicament and it took only a few minutes for him to completely change his tune. "It was all a misunderstanding! We were only joking around with you. Let"s not worry those s.h.i.+xiong from the Herb Department; they must all be very busy."

Everyone -- aside from Fang Xing who had been waiting for this -- was surprised at what they"d just heard.

Perhaps everything Fang Xing had ordered to the gang earlier had been purposefully aimed at Yu.

As if he had already known this was going to happen, Fang Xing suddenly gave a broad smile, untying the plump Taoist and even going so far as to dust him off. "Oh dear, my bad s.h.i.+xiong Zhu, I didn"t know you were just playing around! You should have said so earlier! You"re not really hurt, are you?"

"My name isn"t Zhu, it"s Yu…"

Now seated upright and freed from the ropes, the plump Taoist had a sudden thought: "None of my wounds are really bad… I only lost last time since he sneak-attacked me, but if I attack him now…"

"You stupid fat pig, don"t get any funny ideas. If you do, we"ll see who will have the last laugh." Yu suddenly heard a bone-chilling murmur in his ear.

"This guy is definitely crazy!" Yu thought to himself as the feeling of a cold, sharp blade pressed in against his stubby neck, forcing him to relent under his breath. "Fine, you win this time. But if I see you again…"

"Ah, yes, you will see me again, and pretty soon too. It"s all thanks to you that I know I can definitely become an outer court disciple now."

Recalling how he couldn"t fend Fang Xing off even with his Qi, the plump Taoist"s heart sank further as he carefully asked, "You… you"ve managed to circulate Qi as well?"

"That"s right, it"s not like it"s hard or anything," Fang Xing openly boasted. "Tell me, what do you consider to be Spirit Stage tier one?"

The plump Taoist bitterly closed his eyes, sighing out his regret shortly after. "How did I get myself into this…? Well, once your Qi has habituated itself to your meridians and you can easily circulate a full cycle without any blockage, you"re considered to have reached the first tier of the Spirit Stage."

"WHAT?" Fang Xing loudly exclaimed; he had already reached this well over a month ago.

In fact, the path of cultivation was at its hardest before actually obtaining Qi and at the so-called "bottlenecks" found in the later stages where the difficulty would suddenly peak. Once Qi had been obtained and initiated, it was actually much easier than without; as long as someone got used to the movement of Qi, completing a full cycle was only a matter of days.

All daotong in the past would usually notify the sect as soon as they had managed to open their pores to Qi, but Fang Xing had seen the strength belonging to a core disciple and overestimated the abilities of someone only at the first tier of the Spirit Stage.

Unfortunately, his [Book of Revelation] was of no use here either; the only appraisal it could not do was on himself.

"Argh, I need to wash my face…" The plump Taoist"s eyes were so swollen that he had trouble even just opening them.

As if only just now remembering the plump Taoist was there, Fang Xing kicked w.a.n.g next to him and gave an order: "What are you doing still standing here! Can"t you see that s.h.i.+xiong Zhu is in need of some water to wash his face? Freckle-Boy, don"t just stand there, go and grab some meat for us! Oh, and there should be a few jugs of good wine beneath w.a.n.g"s bed; grab them too. I"m going to celebrate with s.h.i.+xiong Zhu tonight!"

"My name is Yu… Not Zhu…"

Once w.a.n.g returned with water for the plump Taoist, he turned to Fang Xing, confused. "How did you know that I had four jugs of wine under my bed?"

"You mean three jugs?" Fang Xing sneered in return, silently thinking, "Who in their right mind hides good stuff under his bed?"

Understanding beginning to dawn on him, w.a.n.g released a howl before running towards his room to check on his precious collection of wines.

The only thing the plump Taoist wanted to do after was.h.i.+ng his face was to leave, but Fang Xing and the rest of the daotong had already prepared all the meat and wine for him. Though they almost had to force him to sit down, it didn"t take too much time before Yu gave in to all of the food and wine laid out in front of him.

The plump Taoist may be a bully but he wasn"t stupid; he knew that though Fang Xing was just a little kid, having the ability to become the laoda of this Herb Field in a matter of days -- coupled with the fact that he had completed the first cycle of Qi -- meant he would become an outer court disciple anytime now. Since they would be seeing each other more often, it was pointless to stay on his bad side any longer.

"Relentless and bold, no one wants an enemy like that."

With these kinds of thoughts, the plump Taoist had actually decided to take this chance to befriend Fang Xing instead, and after all three jugs of wine had left the two of them red-faced and cheerful, it almost looked as though they"d been best friends since the day they were born.

The magic herbs used to frame Yu were now somehow planted back in the field. Though they looked only half-alive, it wasn"t always unusual to have dead herbs each month; as long as the vast majority was still well and alive, there wouldn"t be a problem.

By nightfall, Fang Xing had learned as much as he needed to know and confirmed it with the plump Taoist once more. "So, as long as I ring that bell at the top of that peak, I"ll be able to become an outer court disciple?"

"That"s right, my brother! Do it first thing tomorrow morning; I will be waiting to celebrate it with you right after!"

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