Chapter 29: I Am a Night-Soil Collector

Zhou Zihao’s face no longer bore its usual playful and cynical expression. His sharp, piercing gaze swept over the disciples of the Dan Ding Sect on the stage before he hurried to examine the injuries of his fellow disciple.

The injured disciple, Qian Hong, was an outer sect disciple of the Alchemy Peak, currently at the final stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. Having been provoked by Senior Brother Wang of the Dan Ding Sect, he had impulsively rushed onto the sparring stage, only to be left severely wounded by his opponent within a few exchanges.

After the examination, Zhou Zihao’s brow furrowed deeply. It was clear that Qian Hong’s foundation had been damaged; if not treated properly, his future cultivation would undoubtedly be compromised. Earlier, other outer sect disciples had fed him healing medicine, but those pills were of too low a grade to be effective. Without a second thought, Zhou Zihao produced a fourth-grade healing pill from his robes and forced it down Qian Hong’s throat.

Meanwhile, Wan Yi lowered his voice and asked Zhou Tong, who stood beside him, "Girl, what is going on here? Why does it seem like the people from the Dan Ding Sect are deliberately targeting our Alchemy Peak?"

Zhou Tong was clearly infuriated as well. Pouting with indignation, she suppressed her anger and explained, "The Dan Ding Sect claims to be the orthodox path of alchemy and forbids other sects from refining pills privately. To put it bluntly, they are just afraid that others will steal their business. Some smaller sects, under pressure, have had to play along. But our Haohan Sect’s strength is on par with the Dan Ding Sect, so we have never taken their words to heart. Knowing they can't confront us head-on, the Dan Ding Sect resorts to underhanded tactics, smearing our Alchemy Peak everywhere. They claim that the pills refined by our Alchemy Peak are heterodox and will hinder one’s cultivation if taken long-term. They even seek out occasions to trip up our disciples under various pretexts. If they can’t handle those with high cultivation, they target the ones with low cultivation!"

Wan Yi had not realized there was such deep-seated animosity between the two. Regardless, he felt the people of the Dan Ding Sect were being far too overbearing—not just arrogant, but despicable and shameless. Frowning slightly, Wan Yi whispered, "Don’t your father and the Sect Master do anything about it?"

Zhou Tong replied with a touch of helplessness, "There is an old saying: you can guard against a thief for a day, but you cannot guard against one for a thousand days. The Alchemy Peak cannot always have inner sect disciples protecting the low-level outer sect disciples, can it? Furthermore, whenever we catch those Dan Ding disciples smearing us outside, their sect just dismisses it by saying their disciples are young and ignorant. It leaves you feeling like you've punched a pile of cotton—all your strength has nowhere to land."

My father and the Sect Master are also quite troubled by this. Since we are all orthodox sects, it wouldn't be appropriate to tear off the mask and go to war, would it? The other side realizes this, which is why their actions have become increasingly excessive. Taking the opportunity of forming the Orthodox Alliance to come up the mountain, they naturally would not miss this chance to humiliate our Alchemy Peak."

As the two spoke, Zhou Zihao stood up and glared at Senior Brother Wang, who was still shouting on the stage. "You were the one who injured my Alchemy Peak disciple?"

Seeing that his opponent's cultivation was higher than his own, Senior Brother Wang remained unafraid and replied with arrogance, "Injuries are inevitable in a sparring match. He wasn't skilled enough yet insisted on showing off—who can he blame for that?!"

The words were blunt and rude. Zhou Zihao let out a cold laugh. "Good, very good. Today, I shall teach you a lesson on behalf of your masters at the Dan Ding Sect, so you may learn that there is always someone better, and a heaven beyond our own!"

As he prepared to strike, three figures suddenly appeared and blocked his path. The leader spoke to Zhou Zihao with a sneer, "Zhou Zihao, you’re becoming quite bold! This is a sparring match for Foundation Establishment disciples; why is a Golden Core stage cultivator like you interfering? Do you intend to bully the weak with your strength?"

After he finished, the man beside him added with a cold laugh, "Zhou Zihao, if you want to fight, the three of us brothers can play with you. We won't bully you; you can pick any one of us. If you win, you can discipline Wang Peng however you like. If you lose, you will kneel, kowtow, admit your mistake, and acknowledge that your Alchemy Peak’s techniques are nothing but low-class, heterodox trash!"

These words were effectively holding Zhou Zihao over a fire. He knew the strength of the three brothers: the eldest, Li Guang, was at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, while the second, Li Ming, and the third, Li Liang, were both at the early stage. He wasn't certain he could easily defeat any one of them. If he refused, not only would his anger remain unvented, but with so many junior disciples watching, he would never be able to hold his head high in the Haohan Sect again. However, if he fought and lost, the consequences would go far beyond his personal honor. He was caught in a deadlock.

Just as he was at a loss, Wan Yi suddenly spoke up. "Second Senior Brother, since they claim this is a match for Foundation Establishment disciples, why not let me face this Senior Brother Wang on the stage? Please calm yourself and stand guard for me; these pieces of trash aren't worth you taking action yourself."

Upon hearing this, the three Li brothers and Wang Peng on the stage were furious. "Kid, you are too arrogant!"

Wan Yi raised an eyebrow and sneered, "The feeling is mutual!"

Meanwhile, Zhou Tong and Zhou Zihao both grabbed Wan Yi, whispering, "Don't be impulsive. He is at the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment realm, and you have only just reached Foundation Establishment. You are no match for him."

Wan Yi gave them a wry smile. "Is there any other way?"

The two were stunned into silence. Wan Yi continued, "Don't worry. Although my cultivation realm is lower than his, don't forget my movement techniques. I can at least hold him off for a while. You two should hurry and send word to the Sect Master and the Peak Master to get them here immediately. Without the big shots showing up, I'm afraid this won't be resolved."

Zhou Tong had previously seen the strange movement techniques Wan Yi used against Zhu Peng, and Zhou Zihao had clearly heard of it as well. Both of them gave Wan Yi a look of uncertainty.

Wan Yi smiled slightly. "Trust me."

With that, he leaped onto the stage. Zhou Tong and Zhou Zihao hurriedly pulled out their sound-transmission jades to send messages to Zhou Shuo and the Sect Master, Lin Qiaosheng.

The Li brothers observed their actions but said nothing. The moment they turned away, Li Guang gave a signal to Wang Peng on the stage, then drew his fingers across his throat in a slicing gesture.

Wang Peng nodded in understanding. As he looked at Wan Yi, who had just stepped onto the stage, a trace of murderous intent entered his eyes. He said coldly, "Kid, who are you? State your name, and don't become a nameless ghost beneath my sword!"

Wan Yi raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "You're asking me? I'm the one who shovels manure at the Alchemy Peak! My surname is Qin, and my given name is a repeated character—'Die'. You can call me Qin Die!"