Translator: AnubisTL
Just as Gu Feng instinctively wanted to counterattack, his heart skipped a beat—this bald monk wouldn't have the guts to ambush him.
Unless—
"Damn it, Hua Wenyue still hasn't given up!" Gu Feng cursed inwardly, suddenly realizing the situation. Frowning, he maintained his steady pace and forcefully met the Demon Subduing Pestle with his forehead!
Bang—
Gu Feng clutched his forehead, reflexively hopping back, and then shouted angrily, "You bald monk, how dare you ambush me!"
Bang—
The other party remained silent, delivering another strike with the Demon Subduing Pestle. This time, however, Gu Feng, now on guard, blocked it with his arm.
With a thought, a pill floated out from his Storage Ring. Gu Feng grabbed it, crushed it, and scattered a cloud of powder into the air.
The powder settled on the Kasaya, revealing a short, stout figure.
"You bald monk, it really is you!"
"Gu Feng, this place is remote, with almost no cultivators passing by. Unleash your true strength, or you'll be crippled by this monk!"
Monk Wu De snarled, knowing this was his last chance. Even though he was aware of the danger facing Gu Feng, he was determined to go all out.
However, Gu Feng remained unmoved, keeping his strength suppressed at the early stage of the third level of Nurtured Spirit, barely managing to fend off the monk's relentless attacks.
"You bald monk, you scoundrel! I've done nothing to you, why are you trying to kill me?"
Gu Feng shouted in anger, though his fury was feigned. The bald monk, on the other hand, was genuinely seething with rage.
The feedback from the Demon Subduing Pestle told him that even with his full strength, he couldn't break through Gu Feng's defenses. The other party wasn't injured at all—the blood at the corner of his mouth was likely from biting his tongue to force it out.
"Argh—damn it, let's see how long you can keep this up!"
Monk Wu De howled in frustration. He hadn't expected Gu Feng to be so cunning and quick-witted, instantly sensing something was off and hiding his true strength.
As Monk Wu De pressed his attack, Gu Feng fought while retreating, shouting loudly toward the Rosy Cloud Pavilion (the Sunset Glow Sect's residence at the Grand Harmony Academy), "Help! This bald monk is trying to kill me!"
Up in the pavilion, Chu Youhuan, who had been chatting with Yan Yexue, heard Gu Feng's desperate cry. She pursed her lips, looking exasperated. "What's Gu Feng up to now? That bald monk could never ambush him!"
"It's probably Hua Wenyue testing him. He doesn't dare show his true strength," Yan Yexue said with a faint smile.
"Wu Sheng and the others have already given up, but Hua Wenyue is still persistent. Gu Feng must have done something shameless to her!" Chu Youhuan gritted her teeth, fuming.
"His fighting style has two modes—shameless and not shameless—depending on the gender of his opponent. Like that time he fought you... Doesn't that make you understand Hua Wenyue's feelings a bit more?" Yan Yexue teased.
"I feel like your personality has changed. You weren't like this before!" Chu Youhuan rolled her eyes, casually remarking.
Yan Yexue paused for a moment, pretending nothing was wrong. "Let's wake everyone up and go save him!"
"Wake up! The Sect Master is being attacked!"
Boom—
In an instant, over a thousand beams of Mystic Light shot out from the Rosy Cloud Pavilion.
Behind a large rock not far from where Gu Feng and Monk Wu De were fighting, several female cultivators crouched in hiding.
"Senior Sister Hua, Gu Feng probably isn't that person. His fighting style is completely different!" a female cultivator whispered.
"I know. That damned monk dared to deceive me!" Hua Wenyue narrowed her eyes, feeling as if she had lost her mind to believe Monk Wu De's nonsense.
Seeing a Divine Rainbow flying in from the distance, she stood up and shouted, "The Grand Harmony Academy prohibits private disputes among students. How dare this bald monk openly violate the rules!"
With that, she charged forward, followed closely by several female cultivators.
Several dazzling attacks landed on Monk Wu De's back, leaving him grimacing and utterly confused. Why was Hua Wenyue attacking him?
Before he could react, he was pummeled by a rain of fists.
This time, Hua Wenyue held nothing back, venting her full fury on Monk Wu De. How dare he deceive her with such audacity!
Monk Wu De didn't dare to fight back. Instead, he chanted the Brahma Voice, his body glowing with golden light as he activated a Buddhist Defensive Skill. He crouched down, covering his head, and let Hua Wenyue and the others beat him. After all, they weren't using lethal techniques, so he wouldn't die.
Gu Feng chuckled inwardly, standing aside for a moment before shouting, "Thank you! Let me join in!"
He squeezed into the crowd, swinging his iron fists and delivering a brutal beating to Monk Wu De's head.
If Monk Wu De's earlier screams were feigned, his current cries were undoubtedly genuine.
Gu Feng's punches were too heavy, leaving swollen, dark bruises on the monk's bald head.
After a while, disciples from the Sunset Glow Sect also joined in.
Over a thousand legs and feet bombarded Monk Wu De, driving him into the ground.
Finally, Chu Youhuan stopped everyone's frenzy, "Stop! Any more and you'll kill him!"
By then, Monk Wu De lay in a deep pit, every inch of his skin bruised and swollen. His chubby face was twisted, blood and foam gushing from his mouth, and it seemed he had lost a few teeth.
His arms were twisted at unnatural angles, likely broken.
Of course, the brutal act of breaking his arms was done by Gu Feng amidst the chaos.
"Hmph, 'One Cloud Piercing Arrow summons a thousand troops.' Did you think I, the Sect Master, was just for show? If you dare do this again, I'll kill you on the spot!" Gu Feng panted.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Hua. Your great kindness is beyond words. If you ever need anything from me in the future, just say the word. I'll brave any danger for you!"
"Let's go!"
After the large group of Sunset Glow Sect cultivators left, Hua Wenyue and the female cultivators glared fiercely at Monk Wu De.
"Do you have anything else to say?" Hua Wenyue's voice was icy, like a chilling winter wind.
"Fellow Daoist Hua, you've all been deceived by Gu Feng. He..." Monk Wu De trailed off, feeling utterly helpless and wronged.
Only he knew that Gu Feng had played a significant role in his brutal beating.
He was almost certain that Gu Feng was the person from the examination hall, but what good did it do? No one would believe him even if he shouted it from the rooftops!
"Bastard, do you think I'm a three-year-old child?" If it weren't for the Grand Harmony Academy, Hua Wenyue would have killed the bald monk on the spot.
"Gu Feng may seem utterly defeated, but it's all an act. In truth, I couldn't even break his defense!"
"Don't hit me, give me another chance! Didn't you just record everything with the Image Stone? Let's go back and study it again, we're bound to find something unusual!"
Seeing that Hua Wenyue and the others were about to strike again, Monk Wu De's survival instincts kicked in, allowing him to narrowly escape disaster.
"Let's go back, and bring this bald fool with us!"
Hua Wenyue was extremely frustrated. She had an opponent right beside her, yet she couldn't seem to find them.
During this period, aside from cultivating, she had been tirelessly searching for the culprit in the examination zone.
Out of the 15,000 new students in Spirit Nurturing Examination Zone One, she had excluded female cultivators, disciples from the five major sects, and those in the first and second levels of the Spirit Nurturing Realm...
Logically, at this point, the true culprit should have been revealed. Yet, the more she excluded, the more confused she became. Everyone seemed suspicious, yet no one stood out.
In desperation, she had agreed to Monk Wu De's request to test Gu Feng again, but the result was just this?
"Senior Sister Hua, don't worry, we'll definitely find him!"
The comforting words from the female cultivator beside her only made Hua Wenyue frown more deeply. She knew that as time passed and the new students grew stronger, the chances of finding the culprit were becoming increasingly slim!
"Am I, Hua Wenyue, just going to let myself be violated without any explanation? Absolutely not!"
If it had just been a simple robbery, she might have given up by now. But this matter was something she could never let go of!
...
"Ha, don't look at me like I'm some thief, it's creepy!" Back at the Rosy Cloud Pavilion, Gu Feng was cornered in his room by Chu Youhuan and Yan Yexue.
"Tell me, why is Hua Wenyue so fixated on you?"
"She's just crazy!"
"Did you do something to her?"
"No, absolutely not!" Gu Feng firmly denied. "You all know how petty women can be. I stole her belongings, how could she just let it go?"
"Really?" Chu Youhuan looked skeptical.
"Youhuan, that's not the point. The point is he said 'women are petty'!" Yan Yexue said calmly.
"Oh, you dare—"
"Are you two women rebelling? I'm the Sect Master here!" Gu Feng's domineering aura flared as he pinned both women to the ground, and the sound of 'slaps' echoed through the room!
After a while, Gu Feng walked out of the room with a proud expression. "I'll show you who's in charge!"
"Sect Master is amazing!"
"Sect Master is mighty!"
"Sect Master is awesome!"
"Giggle, Sect Master, I want to 'slap' too!"
"..."
As he stepped out of the room, a large group of people came into view, their eyes filled with ambiguity.
Gu Feng's face darkened. "Get lost, what's wrong with your heads! It's so late, shouldn't you be sleeping or cultivating?"
The crowd laughed and scattered.
Gu Feng leaned against the railing of the pavilion, gazing at the bright moon in the sky, and sighed softly. "It seems Hua Wenyue's determination to destroy me hasn't waned. I can't let my guard down."
Just as he was leisurely sipping from his wine jug, he noticed a familiar figure on a rooftop a few buildings away, bathed in the brightest moonlight.
"This little girl sure has a lot of free time, admiring the moon!"
Gu Feng chuckled softly, then with a flash, he leaped into the air and landed on the nearby rooftop.
"Xi Xi, you're in a good mood!"
Hearing the gentle call, Yan Xixi turned her head, revealing a bright smile. Her lively eyes sparkled even more under the moonlight.
"Gu Feng, are you okay?"
"Ha, do I look like something's wrong?" Gu Feng struck a handsome pose and spoke with pride.
"It's good that you're fine, but I'm not!" Yan Xixi rested her chin on her hands, gazing at the full moon in the night sky, and spoke softly.
Gu Feng was slightly taken aback. He leaned closer to her face, scrutinizing her for a moment. "Did you fail in pill refining?"
"No!" Yan Xixi shook her head with a smile, her dimples looking utterly adorable.
"Then are you upset because you haven't broken through to the Spirit Nurturing Realm?"
"That's not it either!" Yan Xixi continued to smile without answering.
"Then I have no idea," Gu Feng said, spreading his hands.
"Gu Feng!"
"Hmm—"
"Forget it, just keep guessing!"
With that, Yan Xixi blinked her eyes, her figure as light as a red swallow, gracefully drifting away.
Watching the girl's retreating figure, Gu Feng shook his head with a bitter smile.
The moment he turned and looked up, he was startled again.
At some point, under the moonlight in the distance, another figure had appeared on the rooftop.
First the younger sister, now the older sister?
Could it be that these two sisters had a fight?
(End of the Chapter)
📚 Read [FD] on Patreon.com/AnubisTL – Up to c304. [+2]
☕ Support me and Read Ahead for just $5/mo.
🎯 Translated [2] Novels [745k+] Words and counting!