Chapter 4796 — Misfortune Flows East
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"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.