Chapter 20: This Boy Has Gone Too Far

These past few days, Li Zhenyu had felt a burning urge to teach Jiang Ning a lesson.

He ground his teeth with frustration.

At this moment, he was sitting in his mansion, enjoying a simple lunch in the manner of his revered Supreme Dao. With plain tea and unadorned fare, he managed to evoke the grandeur of a sect’s great banquet. The maidservants nearby exchanged helpless glances, but he remained blissfully unaware.

Just as he was about to compose a poem, feeling wholly attuned to the profound mood he had conjured, a commotion arose beyond the mountain peak.

His enjoyment spoiled, he scowled, took to the skies on a streak of rainbow light, and went to see what had happened.

A graceful figure swept over the mountaintop, her violet robes ethereal in the wind—it was Lin Qian, the prodigious senior sister of Idle Cloud Sect.

Following behind her was a young man in white, clear-eyed and refined, his bearing otherworldly. They laughed and chatted easily, but it was the smile on the boy’s face that made Li Zhenyu deeply uncomfortable.

No matter how he looked at it, from every angle, there was an inexplicable sycophancy in that smile.

“That brat…” He really wanted to hit him.

Clearly, these days Jiang Ning had all but attached himself to Lin Qian.

The two brewed tea and discussed the Dao together, or swaggered openly through every spiritual ground within Idle Cloud Sect, watching the sunset amid wildflowers atop the peaks, enjoying the leisurely company of a beauty.

But the disciples of Idle Cloud Sect were far from at ease.

From their initial shock, they soon found themselves all wanting to pummel Jiang Ning.

Especially when they saw that fawning, ingratiating smile of his—it left them utterly disgusted.

At first, the news was explosive.

Everyone was saying, “Senior Sister Lin Qian and Jiang Ning are walking together as a pair!”

No one wanted to believe it.

After all, Lin Qian was hailed as the sect’s most talented figure, rarely associating with ordinary inner disciples. Now Jiang Ning had taken advantage of the situation.

Soon, rumors began: this guy had become a personal disciple, earned a name for himself, and shown his strength—of course he’d immediately latched onto the sect’s goddess.

Everyone felt a swirl of odd emotions—part jealousy, part disgust.

In any case, they found Jiang Ning insufferable.

Li Zhenyu shared their sentiment.

He’d even shamelessly tried to approach them, only to be completely ignored by both Jiang Ning and Lin Qian, left standing there in awkward silence—nearly tumbling from his pedestal as “the most mysterious inner disciple of Idle Cloud Sect.”

“That brat’s doing it on purpose to spite me!”

Li Zhenyu’s eyes blazed with anger, but there was nothing he could do.

The others were even more powerless.

As the sect’s prodigious senior sister, Lin Qian could walk with whomever she pleased. Though they cursed Jiang Ning under their breaths, none dared confront him; all they could do was whisper maledictions behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, the junior sisters who used to fawn over Senior Brother Jiang Ning had vanished.

Seeing that their rival was Lin Qian herself, they were left desolate and heartbroken.

“That brat’s gone too far! He’s just showing off!”

“So what if you’re a personal disciple? Who are you trying to impress?”

Everyone wanted to beat Jiang Ning.

On the third day, Jiang Ning was still inseparable from Lin Qian.

On the fourth day, someone claimed to have seen Jiang Ning at the First Peak, his face glowing with delight—a picture of smug triumph.

“I can’t take it anymore—I’m going to challenge that brat to a duel!”

Though such declarations were common, no one ever followed through.

Everyone knew Jiang Ning could defeat the likes of Wang Shuo in an instant. Wang Shuo was still in seclusion; though his injuries had healed, he hadn’t fully regained his peak, perhaps even benefiting from the setback and making a breakthrough. In any case, he hadn’t reappeared.

As for Zhao Feng, he had vanished without a trace.

Rumor had it his disappearance was linked to Jiang Ning, yet oddly, the law enforcement team hadn’t come looking for Jiang Ning at all.

“That brat’s just unusually lucky!”

“I don’t know why, but I just want to hit him.”

Jiang Ning, ever composed, could actually hear the curses whispered about him.

He sighed inwardly—he hadn’t wanted to stand out like this.

“But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I must get close, obtain the concealment technique, and then slip away before anyone notices. Let them grumble all they want.”

Previously, he’d kept a low profile to avoid revealing his strength, and also to prevent others from discovering his Celestial Spirit Physique by getting too close.

But now, the arrow was nocked and could not be held back.

It wasn’t that he didn’t fear having his special constitution discovered, but as long as he obtained the concealment technique, he could safely leave the sect and wouldn’t have to worry about Elder Yang tracking him down. He could simply disappear.

For now, his strength was already public knowledge, but no one suspected the truth about his constitution.

No one would even imagine someone among them possessing the legendary Celestial Spirit Physique.

This meant Idle Cloud Sect was still relatively safe, though not for long—after all, Elder Yang had said he would seek him out in ten days…

If Jiang Ning could obtain the concealment technique, he could leave within this window, and, out in the wider world, he wouldn’t be in such dire peril.

He’d once worried that leaving the sect would only make things worse—that there would be even more danger of his constitution being exposed.

He had come down from the Tianshan Mountains, caught the attention of Idle Cloud Sect’s leader, Yang Zhengfeng, and entered the sect directly.

Altogether, he’d been here just over half a year.

He still couldn’t fathom the true nature of this world—the vastness of the land, the myriad families and sects. It was all beyond Jiang Ning’s imagination.

“I mustn’t be careless,” Jiang Ning constantly reminded himself.

Even now, there were a few he had to be wary of.

The enigmatic Li Qiaochan, the exceptional Li Zhenyu…

And Lin Qian herself—if she got too close and sensed too much of his aura, and if she were clever enough to suspect the Celestial Spirit Physique, things could become very complicated.

“What’s on your mind, Junior Brother Jiang Ning?” Lin Qian turned and flashed him a radiant smile, stunning both Jiang Ning and the inner disciples spying from afar.

“Is the finest cabbage really to be rooted up by a pig?” the onlookers lamented, wringing their hands.

They’d long been fed up with Jiang Ning.

They forgot his good looks, ignored his strength.

“Just having some insights,” Jiang Ning replied, shamelessly.

Lin Qian smiled without answering, drifting through the clouds before landing atop a distant peak.

Jiang Ning hurried to follow.

“Junior Brother Jiang Ning, you really don’t need to keep following me. As I’ve told you, I truly cannot give you the concealment technique. It’s not because you stood me up last time—I wasn’t lying.”

Lin Qian had already refused him once.

“My reason for accompanying you on these outings isn’t that,” Jiang Ning protested, feeling guilty.

Lin Qian only smiled.

“Ahem…” Jiang Ning cleared his throat. “Is it really that obvious?”

“What do you think?” Lin Qian shot him a sidelong glance, full of charm, making his heart skip a beat.

“They’re all fox spirits—every woman, once she lets down that frosty guard, becomes an enchantress,” Jiang Ning thought.

Who could have imagined that the usually aloof Senior Sister Lin Qian had this other side to her?

“Junior Brother Jiang Ning, it’s truly not that I’m unwilling.” Lin Qian sighed softly. By now, the sun had already set, bathing the 108 peaks of Idle Cloud Sect in a golden afterglow. The palaces and towers suspended in the distance glimmered with silvery light, intertwining with the sunset’s rays as if absorbing its very essence.

“In truth, the concealment technique is merely the prologue to my own cultivation method. I cannot give it to you.”

Jiang Ning was silent for a long moment.

Lin Qian turned to look at him, only to see his eyes wide in shock, staring straight ahead as if he’d seen a ghost.

“This… this is…”

Cold sweat broke out on Jiang Ning’s brow, a chill rising from his toes to the crown of his head.

He was seized by an almost irresistible urge to run.