Chapter 27: Scheming

  After a simple practice, Shen Cong closed his eyes to rest and didn't wake up until the next day when the sun was high in the sky. His physical injuries had almost fully recovered, and the nourishing power of the Nourishing Life Classic was truly remarkable, allowing him to recover from injuries that would take an ordinary person half a month to heal in just one night.

  He walked out of the yard and headed towards the location of the Men's Gate in the city. The pressure inside the gate was even greater than outside, and Shen Cong did not allow himself to have too much rest time. Now that there were no more problems, he naturally had to start preparing for his cultivation.

  "What's needed is something, just take a look." The shopkeeper in the pharmacy raised his eyes to glance at Shen Cong, then continued to fiddle with the abacus.

  "Is there water in the dead bone?"

  "What's the use of Corpse Water?" The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow, looking at Shen Cong seriously. Corpse Water wasn't something extracted from a person's corpse; if it were that kind of thing, it would have been considered an evil object long ago, and Shen Cong wouldn't have dared to mention it so openly.

  In this world, although good and evil are not necessarily at odds with each other, the cultivation methods of many evil Taoist characters are still despised by some people.

  Corpse Water is a type of spiritual grass that grows in the tomb and is refined, because it emits a bright light at night, it is mistaken for a ghost, and has some connection with corpses, so it is called Corpse Water.

  "Just doing some experiments." Shen Congwei smiled faintly.

  "The demand for Corpse Water is low, so the store's stock is also limited, and the price may be a bit high." The shopkeeper didn't think much of it when he asked earlier. He took out a bottle from the back cabinet and placed it in front of Shen, "One hundred taels per bottle, how many do you want?"

  "Bring ten bottles." Shen Cong didn't know how much was needed, but he thought that bringing ten bottles should be enough for cultivation. As for the price, Shen Cong didn't have many opinions; this kind of almost useless item had always been priced like this.

  "You wait." The shopkeeper did not expect Shen Cong to open his mouth and order ten bottles, which was a transaction worth over a thousand taels of silver. He took a serious look at Shen Cong's attire and found the inner door waist card, and suddenly felt a little surprised. Just now, Shen Cong looked young, and the shopkeeper thought he was an outer disciple.

  "There are ten bottles in total, you want more, just give 900 taels and it's fine." The inner door disciple was unwilling to haggle, the shopkeeper didn't want to be taken advantage of. Heaven knows what kind of state this inner door disciple will grow into in the future, it's not worth arguing over a few taels."

  Shen Cong smiled slightly, placing the silver ticket on the table, and then put the Corpse Water into the Qiankun bag. He turned around and walked out of the store directly. To cultivate the first stage of Jingzhen Gong, apart from the most important Corpse Water, there were some other auxiliary materials that could make the cultivation smoother. Anyway, Shen Cong had enough money now, even if it wasn't enough, he could just go up to Luluo Mountain Range again. When it came to cultivation, Shen Cong never bothered about the cost.

  Jianwang Peak

  "What I said earlier, can you understand?" Zhao Wu's face was somewhat pale, but the few people below didn't dare to think much and just waited there honestly.

  "It's easy to beat him up, but how are we going to explain it to Master? Especially if we use brute force as you said. If something goes wrong, Master's wrath is not something us disciples can bear. You need to give us a clear answer so we can respond accordingly." Nie Xiao said calmly, unfazed by Zhao Wu's aggressive tone.

  "Master, I'll explain. Even if the formal disciples can't beat the registered disciples, Shen Cong will be the one to take the blame. You may be punished, but as long as you win in the end, it's just a minor warning, no big deal. Moreover, if that kid loses too badly, we brothers won't let him off easily, and we might even jointly request Master to expel him from the formal disciple ranks!" A cold glint flashed in Zhao Wu's eyes.

  Nie Xiao's eyes narrowed slightly, "What benefits do we have? What you said earlier is not enough, it must be added with some more, only then will we dare to take the risk."

  "Boom!"

  Zhao Wu slammed his hand on the table, "Isn't what I gave you enough? Don't open your mouth too wide, or else things will get stuck in your throat, and that's not a good thing!"

  "It won't get stuck in your throat, don't worry about it." Nie Xiao said nonchalantly, picking up the tea on the table and taking a sip. "Add 30% to the original price! And there's one more condition, if you agree, I'll make sure Shen Cong is crippled."

  Zhao Wu's eyebrows didn't even twitch, "What conditions? Don't mention any excessive demands."

  "It's simple, I want that formal disciple quota. Get Shen Cong out of the way and vacate that quota for me. Now my strength is no less than yours, so-called formal disciples, and I naturally have the qualifications to be among them. If you agree to help make this happen, I'll accept it; otherwise, everything is off."

  "How dare you threaten me!" Zhao Wu's eyes flashed with a cold glint.

  "It's not a threat, just a condition. You can agree or not, if you don't, then it's as if we never had this conversation and everything will remain the same." Nie Xiao's eyes gleamed with ambition, for formal disciples and registered disciples received completely different treatment, and their future achievements would also be vastly different. For now, he could still barely keep up with a few of the formal disciples' pace, but as time went on, the gap between them would only grow larger.

  Now is an opportunity, a chance for him to squeeze into the formal apprentice ranks, even if the risk is great, and may even provoke the wrath of Gai Luobang, it's worth taking a gamble.

  Zhao Wu stared tightly at Nie Xiao, and Nie Xiao looked back. Their eyes met, and they both understood each other's meaning from the look.

  "Alright! As long as you handle this matter perfectly, I'll agree to all your previous conditions!" The pain in his abdomen was still throbbing, and Zhao Wu couldn't tolerate this tone no matter what. It was just that he couldn't say anything about it to others, or else his reputation would be completely ruined. Not only had he failed to snatch the item from his younger brother, but he had also been severely injured, which made him unable to hold his head up in front of everyone.

  Nie Xiao's eyes flashed with a fierce light, "Alright, since you agreed, I will definitely do my best to accomplish this matter. In the future, we can truly become master and disciple brothers, haha!" Nie Xiao came over with a hearty laugh, as if he had already squeezed into the formal disciple ranks. As for Shen Cong, being just an inner door disciple, what was there to fear? He could be easily killed with a casual strike.

  Zhao Wu walked out of Nie Xiao's residence, and suddenly the token at his waist became scorching hot, with a message appearing on it.

  "Master has summoned us, and since there's nothing else going on, it must be to make us acknowledge that kid Shen Cong. Zhao Wu's eyes slightly shifted, 'Previously, just letting Shen Cong be humiliated by the named disciples was still too easy for him. To make Master thoroughly disappointed in that kid, this is a better way to achieve our goal!'"

  It seems that he had thought of a way, and Zhao Wu's face couldn't help but reveal a cold smile. He was going to knock Shen Cong down and make sure he never got back up again. The first step was to strip Shen Cong of his official disciple status, after which he could manipulate him at will.

  When Shen Cong rushed back, in the hall, Shen Cong was the last to arrive. "I was still in the market earlier and received an order, so I hurried back, but unexpectedly it was already a bit late."

  "Not too late, not too late, just in time." A burly man with a thick beard laughed loudly and said, "This must be the young master, indeed a talented young man. At my age, I was still rolling around outside the gate, looking up to those inside."

  "Don't compare yourself to your younger brother, I've heard that he was the first to be admitted to the outer sect and then entered the master's door, his qualifications and roots are absolutely top-notch." A charming smile, another beautiful young woman stared at Shen Cong, as if she wanted to see a flower.

  "Elder brother and sister are overpraising, younger brother is just lucky."

  "Hehe, you're still humble, I like this kind of personality." The young woman couldn't help but smile, "Little brother, when do you have time to come to sister's place and sit for a bit, sister will show you some things."

  Shen Cong couldn't help but shiver, this senior sister was quite bold, directly teasing Shen Cong in front of Gai Luobang. This senior sister had a beautiful face and although her figure couldn't be seen clearly, her sitting posture also made people's imagination run wild, making Shen Cong's little heart move involuntarily.

  "Alright, no more joking." Gai Bang sat above, watching the commotion and couldn't help but smile. "The purpose of calling you all here today is simple, it's to let you get familiar with your new junior brother, and also to bond a bit. In the future, if anything happens, we can also help each other out."

  Everyone chorused in agreement, and after the introduction, Shen Cong only then knew that the one who had just teased him was his Second Older Martial Sister, named Zhou Mengjuan. The big fellow who had spoken earlier was Shen Cong's Fourth Older Martial Brother, named Tie Yang.

  The atmosphere in the hall was very harmonious, and even Zhao Wu, the third senior brother, did not cast any resentful glances at Shen Cong. Shen Cong naturally wouldn't think that Zhao Wu had a guilty conscience, but rather it was Gai Luobang who was present. As a strong person above the sixth stage, he was extremely sensitive to his surroundings and would notice even the slightest abnormality. Even if Zhao Wu had a hundred times more courage, he didn't dare reveal any hatred directly.

  In the sect, generally speaking, the relationship between fellow apprentices under the same master is the best. Shen Cong didn't mind having a good relationship with several people. Relying on his experience from his previous life, although Shen Cong was not an old hand at socializing, he still understood some basic things, so the few of them had a pretty good impression of him.

  "Junior brother, you've just entered the inner sect and need to increase your strength. Don't know if you can go to the Martial Skills Pavilion? There are a few uncommon secret manuals there, take them back to cultivate, it should be fine." Eldest senior brother Lin Chao said, previously he had only heard Gaoyuan mention Shen Cong, now that they've really met and talked, they indeed got along very well, in his heart he had some good feelings towards Shen Cong.

  Lin Chao couldn't help but glance at Zhao Wu, guessing that Zhao Wu hadn't yet borrowed the Pangu Pearl from Shen Cong. If so, Lin Chao actually intended to dispel Zhao Wu's idea.

  "Wu Ji Ge's secret book is too ordinary, the best secret book is actually with Master. Little brother, quickly say something nice and maybe Master will reward you with a secret book." Zhou Meng Que joked from the side.

  "It just so happens that I have a few secret manuals that would be suitable for you to cultivate, Shen." Gai Luobang smiled, but didn't decline. As a sixth-stage expert, how could he not have good secret manuals? And as the elder of the Luoshui Sect, the secret manuals he had collected on his own could either be submitted to the sect or kept for himself, and the sect had no strict regulations about it.

  "Little brother uses a knife, but it's not as good as Master giving that knife book to little brother. I think it can be made great and become a legendary knife guest in the future, but it's not certain." Zhao Wu suddenly spoke out, looking at Shen Cong with a smile, but this smile was very cold.

  Several people around were stunned, Tie Yang patted his thigh and exclaimed excitedly, "I had forgotten that our master has a sword manual, which is of a high level. Unfortunately, none of us practiced the sword back then, otherwise it wouldn't have been collecting dust for so many years." The people around nodded in agreement, they had all seen that sword manual before, it was indeed extraordinary. However, they didn't like the sword technique, resulting in no one to practice it.

  "That sword manual is profound, I was planning to give it to you later." Gai Luobang furrowed his brow.

  "Little brother uses a knife, and rushes out from the outer gate. And now that he always carries his knife with him, he must love it dearly. Master will bestow the knife manual upon him, which is perfect for slow practice, and one day he will achieve success." Zhao Wu did not give up, continuing to speak there.

  Several others were unclear, but they felt that what Zhao Wu said was a bit far-fetched, but not entirely wrong. The knife spectrum was indeed not bad, and if one could understand some of the moves, it would definitely be beneficial. Even if temporary practice didn't work out, perhaps later there would be an opportunity for enlightenment to strike.

  Shen Cong couldn't help but smile as he listened to Zhao Wu's persuasion. The knife spectrum was definitely not bad, otherwise the other few fellow disciples wouldn't have reacted that way. Shen Cong didn't know what kind of idea Zhao Wu had in mind, but now that a free knife spectrum had been delivered into his hands, it would be foolish not to accept it. As for what other tricks Zhao Wu might have up his sleeve, Shen Cong was ready to take them on!