Chapter 12: Yuxian’s alertness

The hall was eerily silent.

Those elders with weaker cultivation were already trembling under the oppressive aura of two Liaoxu-realm experts clashing.  

“…D—”Mo Yan looked at Ren Bin with a complicated gaze.  

“Where did you learn painting?”  

The Taiheng Sect had no painting cultivators.

The nearest painting sect was the Tianyi Painting Studio in the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom.  

Even Tianyi Painting Studio only had two painting cultivators at the eighth level of Painting Intent.  

As for the ninth level of Painting Intent—no one had reached it in a hundred years.

Legend had it that a ninth-level Painting Soul could even bring the dead back to life.  

“If I want to learn something, finding a way isn’t difficult.”  

Ren Bin shook his head, dismissing the question.  

How did he learn painting?

Where did he get the manual?  

From the system shop, of course.  

Now that the script was over, there was no point in hoarding exchange points.

Ren Bin had long cleared out all the manuals and techniques in the shop.  

With his sword intent inexplicably gone, living alone in the mountains was boring.

To pass the time, he dabbled in other cultivation paths.  

Painting was just one of them.  

Surprisingly, without the constraints of sword intent, learning other paths was surprisingly smooth.  

“Liaoxu mid-stage…”Gongsun Yu muttered in disbelief.  

What shocked him most wasn’t just Zhu Yuan—but Zhu Yuan’s strength.  

As Ren Bin had asked earlier, “How much strength did you use?”—Gongsun Yu roughly estimated that Zhu Yuan had exerted at least 70%.  

Meaning… just the painting itself had the power of a Liaoxu mid-stage cultivator.  

Then what about Ren Bin?  

As the creator of the painting, what was his current strength?  

To control a painting of Liaoxu mid-stage power, he must at least be at Liaoxu late-stage.  

Had he… already returned to his peak?  

Gongsun Yu swallowed hard, unable to speak.  

After a long pause, he finally realized how pathetic he looked and scrambled to his feet, hiding his right hand behind his back.  

But he couldn’t just give up on that pill.  

“Sect Master… please uphold justice for me…” He could only turn to Mo Yan, hoping she would retrieve it for him.  

“Enough.”  

Mo Yan snapped out of her shock.

After a moment of conflicted emotions, her voice turned cold with anger.  

“Attacking without provocation in public—Elder Gongsun, I saw very clearly who struck first.”  

“Ren Bin is still the Peak Master of Huazhu Peak. As an elder, not only have you repeatedly overstepped with your words, but you also resorted to violence. And now you want me to punish him?”  

Mo Yan’s aura flared—Liaoxu late-stage—forcing Gongsun Yu to bow his head in fear, trembling.  

Liaoxu late-stage…Even Ren Bin was surprised.  

The last time he saw Senior Sister Mo Yan, she had just entered Liaoxu.

Yet in just over five years, she had reached late-stage?  

Excluding Ren Bin and Yuxian (who were practically cheaters), her talent was undoubtedly the best in Taiheng Sect—rare even in the entire Great Yan Kingdom.  

“Peak Master Ren…”Mo Yan took a deep breath and turned her gaze back to Ren Bin.  

“While you acted in self-defense, Elder Gongsun only attacked because you took the pill from him.”  

“And you went too far.”  

Body cultivators had skin and flesh as tough as iron.

For Ren Bin to reduce Gongsun Yu’s fist to such a state, the brutality of his strike was evident.  

“…First time using a painting. Didn’t control it well.”  

Ren Bin brushed it off, though inwardly, he scoffed.  

Too far?

He hadn’t even used half of the painting’s power.  

Gongsun Yu, that old fraud, was a Liaoxu cultivator propped up by pills.

Though he was on the verge of mid-stage, his actual combat power might not even match a solid early-stage Liaoxu.  

“You may keep the pill.”  

Mo Yan hesitated for a few seconds.  

“Elder Gongsun… is injured and unfit for a breakthrough. Wait a while longer. This pill will go to Peak Master Ren for now.”  

“Sect Master!”  

Gongsun Yu’s face twisted in outrage, but a glare from Mo Yan silenced him.  

“Elder Gongsun, focus on recovering. And review the sect rules while you’re at it.”  

“The earlier punishment is waived. I’ll order the Alchemy Pavilion to speed up refining another sixth-grade Meridian-Cleansing Pill.”  

Ordered—but no guarantee on timing.  

The quality of a pill depended not only on the herbs but also on the alchemist’s skill, the ambient spiritual energy, even the weather.  

The next Meridian-Cleansing Pill could take anywhere from a month to a year or two.  

“…Understood, Sect Master.”  

Though resentful, Gongsun Yu had no choice but to comply.  

“Everyone, dismissed. Peak Master Ren—stay.”  

She took a deep breath, ready to question Ren Bin—only to see him slipping out of the room before anyone else.  

Mo Yan: “…”  

If not now, when?  

Ren Bin heard Mo Yan call after him but chose to play deaf.  

He could already guess what she’d say—ask him to explain the past, or pressure him to abandon Huazhu Peak and take a different position.  

He couldn’t be bothered to listen.  

His own disciple was still unconscious, yet he had the leisure to make awkward small talk with Moyan?  

Before nightfall, he finally returned to Huazhu Peak.  

“Maybe I should just buy a spirit boat.”  

Ren Bin had been traveling for over half a day.

The peaks were far apart, and relying on horses for transportation took far too long.  

He thought back to when he was still practicing sword techniques—flying on his sword, the round trip would take barely an hour.

Why waste so much time now?  

This was exactly why he hated going down the mountain. 

“You’re back?” 

The moment he pushed open the door, he heard Yuxian’s voice.  

Seated in the center of the main hall, Yuxian was holding Shuyao in her lap as they looked through an illustrated book together.  

Chen Boyu sat to the side, his brush never stopping as he copied texts.  

Could this girl really be so diligent? 

Not that she never slacked off, but she usually found excuses or sneaked out to laze around for a while.  

Ren Bin looked closer and noticed a bamboo stick on the table.  

It looked familiar…Wasn’t this the same bamboo stick his master had used to whip his backside back in the day?

He had stuffed it away in storage…The corner of Ren Bin’s mouth twitched.

He glanced at Yuxian’s expressionless face, then at Chen Boyu’s numb expression, and seemed to understand everything.   

“Did you get the Clear Vein Pill?”  

Yuxian interrupted his thoughts.  

“Yeah.” 

Ren Bin took out a wooden box and opened it.

A faint medicinal fragrance spread through the room.  

“Good that you got it…”Yuxian patted Shuyao’s head, and the little girl obediently climbed down from her lap and moved aside.  

“If you hadn’t gotten the medicine, I was planning to go to the black market.”  

“The black market?” 

Ren Bin was surprised.  

“Before going to the Cold Pool, I happened to meet two people from the black market. They owe me a favor.”  

“Never mind that. I’ll go grind the medicine now.” 

“Huh?” 

Ren Bin didn’t understand.  

“Crush the pill before feeding it to her.”

Yuxian sighed.  

“Or she can let it dissolve in her mouth. Unless… you’d prefer I feed it to her mouth-to-mouth?” 

Ren Bin couldn’t help but imagine the slightly suggestive scene—then quickly shook the thought away.  

One was his wife, the other his disciple.

That would be… strange. 

“Tch… You lecher.”  

Seeing Ren Bin lost in thought, Yuxian knew exactly what kind of indecent images were running through his mind. She couldn’t resist a quiet scoff.  

Holding the wooden pestle, she ignored Ren Bin’s attempts to explain and turned to prepare the medicine.  

“Ren Bin! Open the door!”

Just then, a woman’s shout came from outside.  

“Hm?”  

Yuxian paused, her gaze darkening as she looked toward the door.