Chapter 4796 — Misfortune Flows East

"Hmph. It's nothing but a single wisp of true qi—not some venomous art at all. The only peculiar thing is how that true qi is constructed. And you, who style yourself a master of both pills and alchemy, call yourself that? Aren't you ashamed to let such words out of your mouth?" Ren Tiansuo said irritably.

"Just a wisp of true qi? That can't be. Whose true qi could be so intricate? All five fundamental attributes are woven into it!" Ren Zhongyuan still refused to believe it.

"Which is precisely why I say you're a frog at the bottom of a well. You don't even understand the saying that there's always a taller mountain and a higher heaven. You deserve every bit of this suffering—you're lucky you didn't die out there!" Ren Tiansuo glared at him, then knitted his brows and carefully worked to dissolve the qi for him. It was still no use. He could only shake his head. "That young man called Wei Zhao is truly no simple matter. Even I cannot dissolve this wisp of true qi. The young are to be feared!"

"Then what do we do?" Ren Zhongyuan panicked at once. He had assumed that with his father's skill it would be dissolved with ease—who would have thought it so thorny? If it could not be dissolved soon, would he be a cripple unable to circulate true qi for the rest of his life?!

"It seems ordinary means won't do. We can only refine it away with the aid of pills. But you'd best prepare yourself—I reckon it will take a good month at least," Ren Tiansuo said after a moment's thought.

Only then did Ren Zhongyuan breathe a little easier—and at the same time his heart ached bitterly. Another man flicks out a wisp of true qi, and on his side it takes pills and his father's help and a whole month of effort to refine it away. Was this not simply monstrous?

"By the way, you said that fellow called Wei Zhao has come to our academy too?" Ren Tiansuo asked suddenly.

"Yes, yes! That wretch goes too far. Father, you must stand up for your son!" Ren Zhongyuan brightened at once. If he could prod his father into taking the field himself, then never mind one Wei Zhao—ten more of him wouldn't even know how they died!

"Stand up for you? Hmph. You went and provoked him, and he spared your miserable life—and now you want me to stand up for you?" Ren Tiansuo's brow furrowed again. He gave a cold snort and warned, "That boy is unfathomable. Watch yourself from now on. Stop thinking of stirring up trouble all the time—I haven't the leisure to keep wiping your backside!"

He was, after all, the chief alchemist, and Ren Tiansuo's vision far outstripped Ren Zhongyuan's. Though he too felt some displeasure toward Wei Zhao, the common failing of most parents was that no matter how great their child's mistake, only they themselves had the right to punish it. Still, it was merely displeasure—it had not reached the point where he would take the field against Wei Zhao himself.

Only by keeping a low profile can one live long. Such was Ren Tiansuo's philosophy of dealing with the world. Had he not held to this conviction, he could never have climbed step by step to his present station. He knew that the moment he ceased to keep his head down might well be the beginning of his ruin. So he endured whatever could be endured.

Hearing this, Ren Zhongyuan gritted his teeth in unwillingness. But faced with a father who had always been strict, he dared not say more. He could only silently press his hatred down into the depths of his heart.

He had none of his father's far sight. He had always repaid the slightest grievance in kind, and over these days hatred had completely blinded him. To ask him to let the matter drop now was simply impossible.

"Brother Ren, the venomous qi in you is dealt with, isn't it?" Yi Xiaotian and the others asked the moment they met.

"Don't even mention it. My old man says it'll take a month to refine away. Just thinking about it is damn unlucky!" Ren Zhongyuan curled his lip sourly.

The group exchanged glances. Even with Ren Tiansuo taking a hand it would take that long—this poison was truly tenacious!

"By the way, Brother Ren, I discovered something today. That wisp of Wei Zhao's—"

"What? Then what are they doing here?" Ren Zhongyuan asked, puzzled.

"I saw Ning Xuefei's name on the latest roster of disciples, but not Wei Zhao's. My guess is he's only come along with Ning Xuefei this time and will leave before long. So if we want revenge on him, we'd better move fast—once the brat slips away, it'll be hard to catch him." Yi Xiaotian stroked his chin.

"No! He's delivered himself to our door after all this trouble—we absolutely cannot let him get away like this, or I'll never be able to swallow this insult. Think of something, all of you, and be quick about it!" Ren Zhongyuan frowned and urged them on.

The men exchanged looks. Everyone present wanted Wei Zhao dead, but his strength was plain for all to see. The tale of him sending Scarface flying with a single slap had been repeated over and over—it was impossible not to have heard of it. And now Ren Zhongyuan himself was a cripple. How were they supposed to beat the man?

"Li Yuzhou, Sun Baolu—I stuck my neck out to save both your miserable lives, and now it's time for you to earn your keep. We've finally made it onto our own turf, and you still can't come up with a way to deal with Wei Zhao? Are you two good-for-nothings, or what? What are those heads on your shoulders for?" Ren Zhongyuan raised his hand and slapped each of them across the face.

Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu clutched their reddened cheeks and turned to Yi Xiaotian with aggrieved looks, pleading for help. Even you couldn't think of a good plan, Brother Ren—how can you blame us?

Yi Xiaotian paid them no mind. He frowned in thought for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up. "Brother Ren, if we challenge the brat openly, the few of us together likely aren't his match. But to rouse our backers over this would seem too much fuss over a trifle. It looks like there's only one way left."

"What way?" Ren Zhongyuan asked hurriedly.

"Misfortune flows east!" Yi Xiaotian said with a cold smile.

"How do you mean, misfortune flows east? Brother Yi, tell me in detail, quickly!" Ren Zhongyuan came alive at once.

"Never mind that for now. When I got back yesterday I heard something—it seems that fellow Leng is back," Yi Xiaotian said, changing tack.

"Fellow Leng? You mean Leng Rufeng? Didn't that wretch go off to the Mystic-Rank Sea? Why would he suddenly come back?" Ren Zhongyuan could not help but wonder.

At the mention of this man he ground his teeth again, for this too was a sworn enemy of his and Yi Xiaotian's. His background was not as deep as theirs, but the man's strength was outrageous—among the disciples of their generation in the academy he swept all before him, and neither Ren Zhongyuan nor Yi Xiaotian could get a grip on him.

Two years ago, though, the man had taken his woman and gone off to the Mystic-Rank Sea. Ren Zhongyuan and Yi Xiaotian had celebrated heartily at the time. Who would have thought the wretch would suddenly come back!

"I don't know the details, but I hear he took a heavy loss out in the Mystic-Rank Sea. He himself is badly hurt, and the worst of it is his woman—someone battered her straight down from the Mystic Ascension stage to the peak of Nascent Soul perfection, and ruined her looks to boot. These days she's been making scenes, threatening to die one moment and then to live the next—it's caused quite a stir. Fellow Leng is frantically asking everywhere after beauty-restoring pills!" Yi Xiaotian chuckled with gloating relish. (To be continued...)