Chapter 25
“Have you heard? Second Senior Brother burned the Book Pavilion and reached Earthly Origin overnight!”
“F*ck, for real?”
“It’s true. Peak master was personally guarding Second Senior Brother when he had his epiphany, and he reached Earthly Origin overnight and even alarmed the Sect Master to come in person!”
“If I’m not mistaken, Second Senior Brother must have given up on the literary path for martial arts. With his Innate Dao Bone, he is naturally beyond our comparison.”
“But I heard that Second Senior Brother seems to have gone mad!”
“Nonsense! Second Senior Brother didn’t go mad after studying in seclusion for over a decade, nor did he go mad after being repeatedly beaten up by Eldest Senior Brother. How could he go mad after reaching Earthly Origin overnight? That’s absurd!”
“That’s right!”
“Regardless, this is absolutely great news for our Ninth Peak!”
“Indeed, Second Senior Brother is amiable and detests evil. Previously, his cultivation was not as high as Eldest Senior Brother’s, but he still stood up for us many times. Now that Second Senior Brother has reached the Earthly Origin realm, Eldest Senior Brother can no longer act arrogantly.”
“Haha, do you think Eldest Senior Brother will get beaten up by Second Senior Brother?”The next day, Ninth Peak was extremely lively, with the disciples’ discussions heard everywhere.
Zhang Hu.
As the disciple of the Great Elder of Ninth Peak, his status was definitely the highest in the entire Ninth Peak, aside from true disciples like Jiang Chen.
But no one knew that he lived in fear every day!
The reason was simple. Among the many disciples, Jiang Chen disliked him the most!
Whenever they met, at the very least he would be ordered to do a bunch of chores, and at worst, he would be beaten up!
This made Zhang Hu want to cry.
Was it easy for him?
When he first joined Ninth Peak and became a disciple of the Great Elder, he thought his good days had come. But now, he worried every day that he might be beaten to death by Jiang Chen!
Facing Jiang Chen’s menacing presence, Zhang Hu dared not speak out in anger.
But this… this would become a thing of the past!
Because his always caring Second Senior Brother had an epiphany and reached Earthly Origin overnight!
That was the Earthly Origin realm, a top existence even among true disciples!
Zhang Hu was certain of this.
From now on, he would cling tightly to Lin Mubai’s coattails and then become the true… Number one person under the true disciples of Ninth Peak!
“Humph, times change. Jiang Chen, don’t bully the poor!”
Zhang Hu crossed his arms and muttered to himself proudly.
“Eldest Senior Brother! Someone is cursing you!! I heard it!”
A loud voice suddenly rang out.
Zhang Hu jumped in fright after hearing this! He turned his head abruptly, and what he saw was a fellow disciple with a sharp chin and monkey cheeks.
Zhang Hu remembered this person, one of the lackeys who often followed Jiang Chen! This also proved…
Thinking this, Zhang Hu swallowed hard and stiffly turned his head to look into the distance.
Sure enough!
It was him, Jiang Chen, who took pleasure in bullying his fellow disciples during his leisurely strolls.
Zhang Hu instinctively thought to run, but he was ultimately a step too slow.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen quickly approached while saying menacingly.
“What did you just say?”
“Uh…”
Zhang Hu was at a loss for words, and after struggling for a while, he finally managed to utter a complete sentence.
“I said, Eldest Senior Brother is wise and powerful, open-minded and modest! Truly an example for us at Ninth Peak! A paragon of virtue!”
“Is that what he said?” Jiang Chen turned to ask his lackey.
“No, he said, ‘Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side of the river. Do not look down on the young for being poor!’ He also said that you, Eldest Senior Brother, are not even worth one of Second Senior Brother’s fingers and that he will eventually beat you down and take your rightful inheritance!”
The lackey immediately replied.
(TLN: Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side of the river. Do not look down on the young for being poor: It means fortunes or circumstances can change over time (from the East side to the West side), so don’t underestimate people based on their current condition (being poor) cmiiw)
Zhang Hu’s face instantly stiffened!
Shameless, truly shameless!
Eavesdropping was bad enough, but to exaggerate as well?
Although he had thought those latter words, he had never said them!
At that moment, Zhang Hu made the most correct decision of his life.
After taking a deep breath, there was a ‘plop’ sound.
He knelt down!
“Eldest Senior Brother, please spare me. I was just speaking without thinking. I meant no disrespect to you.”
Zhang Hu squeezed out tears while pleading.
He had thought that even so, he wouldn’t escape a beating today.
But who knew?
Jiang Chen, who usually looked fierce and malevolent, was unexpectedly amiable today.
Helping Zhang Hu up, Jiang Chen said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you. But I’ll need you to take a trip to the east of the river.”
The east of the river?
Zhang Hu was confused again!
Within a hundred li of the Jiuyan Sect, there was no place called “the east of the river.”
“Isn’t it ‘Thirty years in the east and thirty years in the west’?”
“…”
Jiang Chen asked with a smile.
Zhang Hu’s expression changed, sensing something was wrong.
“Since that’s the case, then I’ll just have to kill you in the east of the river!”
Jiang Chen’s tone suddenly changed, his eyes revealed a fierce light.
【The host’s actions conform to the villain’s character setting, reward: Third Junior Sister’s bellyband.】
???
Third Junior Sister? Qingning? What kind of bizarre reward is this?!
Jiang Chen was utterly speechless.
He had long known that the system’s rewards were not all desirable, but he hadn’t expected them to be this absurd.
And what made him even more speechless was yet to come.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu was so scared that his limbs went limp and his body trembled.
He grabbed Jiang Chen’s leg, shaking it desperately while begging for mercy: “Eldest Senior Brother, please spare me! I have an eighty-year-old mother above, and below…”, before he could finish his sentence.
Influenced by the shaking, a piece of green clothing slipped from Jiang Chen’s arms and fluttered to the ground.
The name ‘Qingning’ embroidered in red thread was particularly eye-catching.
Zhang Hu glanced at the clothing on the ground, then looked up at Jiang Chen.
“Uhh…”
He was thinking. Thinking about whether he should pretend not to see!
Jiang Chen, speechless, was about to quickly pick up the bellyband from the ground.
A graceful figure swiftly approached from a distance, pausing in surprise at the sight of the bellyband on the ground.
“…Eldest Senior Brother, is this Qingning’s?” Jiang Lianyue asked.
F*ck! Dog system! Jiang Chen felt embarrassed and cursed inwardly.
But the next second, he thought something was off.
Wait, why feel embarrassed?
He’s the villainous Eldest Senior Brother. As long as he’s not embarrassed, it’s others who should feel that way!
“Ahem.”
With a light cough, Jiang Chen casually picked up the clothing from the ground, sniffed it, and nonchalantly stuffed it back into his chest.
Jiang Lianyue, Zhang Hu, and even his two junior brothers looked at him with strange expressions.
He wore a cynical smile and declared.
“As the Eldest Senior Brother of the Ninth Peak, isn’t it perfectly reasonable for me to safekeep one or two Junior Sisters’ bellybands?”
Reasonable my foot! Zhang Hu complained silently in his mind.
Noticing Jiang Chen’s unfriendly gaze, he quickly took a stance, “Reasonable! Very reasonable!”
Hearing this, the two junior brothers beside Jiang Chen also nodded desperately, indicating that this logic was very meticulous and stood up to scrutiny without any issues!
Only Jiang Lianyue did not respond, her expression fluctuated.
‘Could it be that her madness has been cured?’ Jiang Chen speculated secretly.
But so what if it was cured?
At worst, she would just go and complain to Xiao Hongyi.
Jiang Chen was not at all concerned about this.
As the villainous Eldest Senior Brother, isn’t disappointing the master part of the job?
He figured Xiao Hongyi wouldn’t kick him out of the sect just for this.
“Eldest Senior Brother, what about mine?” Jiang Lianyue finally asked after a while.
“Yours what?” Jiang Chen was taken aback.
“Of course… this.”
She pointed to the bellyband peeking out from Jiang Chen’s arms, blinked her beautiful eyes, and said earnestly, “Eldest Senior Brother surely wouldn’t be so unfair as to only carry around Qingning Senior Sister’s personal clothing and not have mine, right?”
Diagnosis complete.
She’s still mad!
Jiang Chen instantly got his answer.
Seeing Jiang Lianyue looking at him with anticipation, he was torn inside.
In the end, adhering to the principle of not disappointing his Junior Sister, he pulled out another light blue bellyband from his arms to show her.
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