Volume 1, Chapter 56: Comparing Swords with Lu Chen

He frowned as he looked at the female cultivator. If he had been capable of harvesting his own resentment, he would surely have reaped a bountiful harvest at this moment.

"This won't do. Gathering resentment this way is far from sufficient. I need to think of another way..."

Zhou Xiao began to rack his brains. After all, having previously served as a disciple of a demonic sect—and specifically as the young master of that sect—he had never once needed to resort to methods to gather resentment.

He only needed to stand before ordinary people, and resentment would pour in by the cartload.

To expect him to devise a method for gathering resentment now was truly putting him in a tight spot.

Just then, an idea struck Zhou Xiao, and his eyes instantly lit up.

"I've got it!"

Without further ado, Zhou Xiao sprinted straight toward the Pill Peak, and upon arriving, dashed right into the medicinal herb garden.

Looking out over the vast expanse of herbs in the garden, Zhou Xiao planted his hands on his hips and let out two cold hums.

"I refuse to believe that if I pull up all your herbs, I won't be able to harvest even the tiniest shred of resentment?"

With that, he squatted down and began intently pulling the herbs out of the ground one by one.

At that very moment, the Master of Pill Peak happened to walk past. Upon seeing a diminutive figure actually squatting in his medicinal herb garden and pulling up his herbs, his face turned green with rage.

"Who are you?! What do you think you're doing?!"

He immediately rushed forward and hoisted Zhou Xiao up by the collar. Zhou Xiao, entirely unsurprised, stared back at the Pill Peak Master with a sneer.

*Yes, get angry. Hurry up and get angry. Quickly contribute your resentment to me,* Zhou Xiao thought to himself.

Recognizing Zhou Yao, the Pill Peak Master frowned slightly. "You're Peak Master Lin's disciple."

"Even if you are Peak Master Lin's disciple, you still have no right to pull up my her—huh?"

The Pill Peak Master picked up the plant clutched in Zhou Xiao's grip to take a closer look, and his previously resentful expression instantly melted into one of gentle benevolence.

Sensing that something was amiss, Zhou Xiao felt a sudden surge of foreboding in his heart.

The master set Zhou Xiao back down on the ground, then gently patted him on the head and said,

"Good boy, to think you even knew to help clear out the weeds in my garden. I haven't been tending to it much lately, so I had no idea weeds had started growing."

"Though, aren't you a bit too introverted, child? You should have just told me when I was scolding you a moment ago."

"Sigh... To think this whole thing happened, this old man feels quite embarrassed."

The triumphant expression Zhou Xiao had worn a moment earlier now turned into sheer astonishment. He stared at the lush green weeds and was momentarily rendered speechless.

Having lived a life of pampered luxury since childhood, he spent all his time either cultivating or fighting; how could he possibly have had the leisurely refinement to learn about medicinal herbs?

This consequently resulted in Zhou Xiao being completely unable to tell the difference between weeds and medicinal herbs, thus causing the misunderstanding.

Zhou Xiao felt like crying without tears. After all, when other people meant well but ended up doing harm, why was it that when it came to him, the exact opposite happened?

The Pill Peak Master fell into deep thought, and as an idea struck him, his eyes lit up.

He retrieved a small medicine vial from his robe and shoved it into Zhou Xiao's arms.

"These are three Spirit-Condensing Pills. For your current level, they are more than enough to sustain your cultivation all the way to the Foundation Establishment stage. Consider this this old man's expression of gratitude for helping me weed the garden, as well as an apology."

Zhou Xiao's mouth twitched. With a look akin to madness, he made as if to storm back into the herb garden and tear out the actual medicinal plants.

Seeing this, the Pill Peak Master quickly grabbed him by the arm and comforted him,

"There, there, child. You don't need to keep helping this old man weed just because you feel the pills are too valuable. My, what a courteous boy you are."

"Well then, if you have nothing to do normally, come visit this old man. My cultivation might be average, but when it comes to the principles of pharmacology, I can still offer you quite a bit of guidance."

And just like that, Zhou Xiao was escorted down the Pill Peak by its master.

He stood alone in the wind, a clump of weeds in one hand and a small medicine vial in the other, completely disheveled by the gale.

After a long while, Zhou Xiao finally snapped out of his daze. Gritting his teeth, he threw the weeds onto the ground, but he tucked the vial containing the Spirit-Condensing Pills safely into his robes with utter lack of hesitation.

With a cold snort, he gritted his teeth and declared,

"I refuse to believe it! Today I am going to harvest at least a sliver of resentment if it kills me!"

...

Over the next period, Zhou Xiao wandered continuously among the major peaks of the sect, his sole purpose being to cause trouble.

Yet without exception, every single bit of mischief he stirred up would mystically and bizarrely turn into a good deed done with clumsy intentions.

After going through the entire routine, not only did he fail to harvest a single shred of resentment, but he instead received a mountain of gratitude and gifts.

At the foot of the blazing Sun Peak, Zhou Xiao returned carrying an armful of gifts.

Meanwhile, Lu Chen, who was practicing his sword forms in the martial arts arena, looked over and blinked in astonishment as Zhou Xiao staggered back under a massive pile of presents.

"Well, I'll be. Goodness gracious, what bandit camp did you go raid, kid? How did you manage to score so many good things?"

Zhou Xiao's heart was currently brimming with resentment. Facing Lu Chen's inquiry, he replied with a darkened face,

"Get lost, none of your business."

Seeing Zhou Xiao's poor attitude, Lu Chen let out a scoff and turned back to resume his sword practice.

Just then, as Zhou Xiao was preparing to head back to his cave dwelling, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"If I can't gather resentment from those adults, surely I can't fail to harvest resentment from an eight-year-old child like Lu Chen, can I?"

Gathering resentment from a young child was simple: first, make him cry by beating him; second, snatch away his most treasured possession; third, snatch away his most treasured possession and then beat him until he cried.

With this thought in mind, he spun around to face Lu Chen and called out, "Hey, Lu Chen!"

Lu Chen hissed through his teeth, a look of extreme displeasure crossing his face. "Who are you calling Lu Chen? Address me as Second Senior Brother."

Though feeling somewhat helpless, Zhou Xiao had no choice but to comply. "Fine, fine, Second Senior Brother."

"Second Senior Brother, how about we have a sparring match?"

"A spar? You?" Lu Chen looked Zhou Xiao up and down skeptically, then asked with a puzzled expression,

"You don't have a single ounce of cultivation. What am I supposed to spar with you about?"

Zhou Xiao thought for a moment, finding it a bit tricky, before his eyes lit up.

"I know! The two of us can spar in swordplay—pure swordplay, without using any spiritual energy."

He simply refused to believe that after practicing swordsmanship for decades, he couldn't even defeat a child.

Hearing that Zhou Xiao wanted to compare sword techniques with him, Lu Chen wore a quirky, mocking smile.

"Are you sure? You want to spar in swordplay with me?"

Zhou Xiao nodded matter-of-factly, immediately resorting to reverse psychology.

"What's wrong, Second Senior Brother? Don't tell me you're scared?"

Lu Chen burst out laughing. He glanced at the treasures weighing Zhou Xiao down and asked,

"Very well, a spar it is. But a spar has to have some kind of stake."

Without a moment's hesitation, Zhou Xiao replied, "If I win, I won't ask for anything from you. If I lose, I'll hand over every single treasure on my person to you."

In any case, all Zhou Xiao wanted was resentment, and besides, there was no way he could possibly lose. The matter was thus settled in this hasty fashion.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Lu Chen finally walked over to the martial arena, picked up an iron sword, and tossed it to Zhou Xiao.

"Don't say I, as your senior brother, bullied you. I'll use a wooden sword, and you can use the iron sword."

"If you can even manage to scratch me once, I'll count it as your win."