“Sorry, I’m late!” Ding Hao finally couldn’t help but speak. He walked over and gently patted on the shoulders of the two men. That was his habitual action.
“No. It’s just in time.” Zhang Fan scratched his head.
At that moment, Zhang Fan who was not afraid of Sword Indignant became a shy inarticulate young hunter who had just entered the Swordsmans.h.i.+p-seeking Sect.
“Senior Brother Ding, it’s really good that you showed up. Haha! This time, that contemptible scoundrel, Lu Pengfei, will be doomed!” Fang Tianyi grinned. That cold swordman laughed like a child.
“Why did Lu Pengfei become so powerful now?” Ding Hao asked with surprise. “What happened in the Sect these days?”
“Alas, it’s a long story. We all look down on Lu Pengfei. He is really something. Since a few months ago, Li Lan was chosen as a core disciple of the inner six peaks by Fish Homecoming, the leader Fish Hiding Peak. Li Lan then resigned from the position of the first disciple of our academy. Lu Pengfei began to win the support of our academy’s disciples,” Fang Tianyi frowned and said, “Now he is already the head disciple of the Eastern Academy of green s.h.i.+rts.”
“He is the new head disciple?” Ding Hao asked with amazement. “No Way! w.a.n.g Juefeng, our teacher-in-charge, should not approve of such a bad man!”
Zhang Fan smiled bitterly and added, “If w.a.n.g Juefeng were still our teacher-in-charge, that would be better. But unfortunately, nowadays, our teacher-in-charge has changed.”
“w.a.n.g Juefeng was replaced?” Ding Hao was shocked. “What the h.e.l.l is going on?”
“Three months ago, our Sect had a large-scale conflict with the Tranquility Academy in the Heavenly Valley. All the people fought fiercely and many people died. In the beginning, we had the upper hand. Unfortunately, as Mu Tianyang appeared in the valley, he killed all the masters of our Sect, even Martial Uncle Ma Yifei, who was killed because of covering other disciples,” Fang Tianyi bit his teeth and said.
Ding Hao nodded.
When he was in the Taotie[1] Restaurant, he heard discussions of others and knew that Ma Yifei had died. Note: Taotie is a mythical ferocious animal in the legends of ancient China.
He was originally hoping that it was a piece of misinformation, but just then, the last glimmer of Ding Hao’s hope was shattered.
During the experience inside the site of that ancient Sect on the Western Rock Mountain Range, Ma Yifei left a deep impression on Ding Hao. He was a silent man who cared for the listed disciples and shared the same master with w.a.n.g Juefeng. However, in only a few months, he…
“Mu Tianyang!”
“Mu Tianyang again!”
“You’ve laid another weight on our grudge.”
Fang Tianyi continued, “The death of Ma Yifei upset w.a.n.g Juefeng. He was missing for 11 days and finally, he was carried back to our Sect by other martial uncles. Later, I heard that w.a.n.g Juefeng went to challenge Mu Tianyang but lost. However, our former teacher brought honor to himself because he was the only man who was still alive after challenging that Child Prodigy. It was said that Mu Tianyang was also injured in that battle.”
“Challenging Mu Tianyang?”
Ding Hao was silent. That was w.a.n.g Juefeng’s style. It seemed that the death of Ma Yifei was a big blow to him. Their relations.h.i.+p was definitely not so indifferent as implied on the surface.
“w.a.n.g Juefeng returned with serious injuries. Naturally, he could not teach us anymore. The high-levels of our Sect named a new teacher-in-charge for our academy. Our new teacher is Lu Qi, who was one of the ringleaders during the first compet.i.tion between the five academies.”
Lu Qi?
Ding Hao was slightly surprised. “Why him?”
Ding Hao had argued against Lu Qi and Yin Yifei and they hated Ding Hao all the time. Currently Lu Qi had actually become the teacher-in-charge of the Eastern Academy of green s.h.i.+rts. Ding Hao thought that things were not that simple.
“After Lu Qi replaced w.a.n.g Juefeng, everything changed. Many of the rules that w.a.n.g Juefeng had set down were overthrown, and Lu Qi seemed to dislike the disciples who had a good relations.h.i.+p with you. Lu Pengfei became his most admired person. Under the support of Lu Qi, Lu Pengfei’s strength has advanced by leaps and bounds, and he has been the winner of the five academies’ compet.i.tion three times,” Zhang Fan continued.
Ding Hao nodded.
Lu Pengfei’s moral standing was bad, but he had a good apt.i.tude of martial arts. Otherwise, he would not be in the experience of Western Rock Mountain Range. Now with Lu Qi, an inner core disciple as his backer, and the absence of Li Lan, Liang Feixue, and Li Muyun in the compet.i.tion, it was not surprising that Lu Pengfei could win first place.
“After Lu Pengfei became the head disciple, he dismissed dissidents and manipulated the distribution of cultivation resources. Anyone who flatters him will be treated with preferential treatment. Those who disagree with him and are unwilling to join him will get poor resources. What’s more, Lu Qi indulges him… Alas, today’s Eastern Academy of green s.h.i.+rts has been completely messed up by Lu Pengfei. It has completely changed!” Fang Tianyi sighed.
Zhang Fan nodded. “Yeah, Tianyi and I have not received any cultivation resources for two months. We did not even get the cultivation method for the third layer of the “Taixuan Sword-seeking Scripture”. Thanks to Ximen’s help, otherwise, our Young Pioneers would have had no money to eat in the past three months. People are changeable. Those disciples you’ve helped have now become Lu Pengfei’s men, but Li Canyang, the head disciple of the Western Academy of red s.h.i.+rts has helped us a lot secretly. And so did Yu Jueyao and Murong Yanzhi. Even Lyu Kuang, the Crazy Kuang of the Southern Academy of purple s.h.i.+rts has also helped us many times.”
You knew which horse was strong when the road was long and you knew who was nice to you during the hard times.
Li Canyang, Murong Yanzhi and other people Zhang Fan had mentioned were all helped by Ding Hao, and they were grateful and returned in kind due to Ding Hao’s help. However, Ding Hao was surprised that Lyu Kuang had lent his help. Ding Hao remembered that Lyu Kuang did not say thanks to him after being saved in the inn of the Dark Ghosts Illusional Formation. His timely help was out of Ding Hao’s expectation.
“The dark clouds can’t cover the sun. Everything will pa.s.s,” Ding Hao sneered and said. “Lu Pengfei? I will personally have a look at him and figure out how powerful the winner of the five academies compet.i.tion is.”
“Senior Brother Ding, this man is full-fledged, and he also has the support of Lu Qi. He cannot be underestimated. Besides, it seems that he is at the Full Closure of the Martial Soldier Realm, but I have fought against him and I’m afraid that he is actually at the Martial Mentor Realm,” Fang Tianyi quickly said.
“Haha! That’s OK. He’s just a clown before me.” Ding Hao was not blindly arrogant. He had absolute confidence in his own strength.
After Fang Tianyi said those words, he immediately thought that he was wrong and he should have place his confidence on Ding Hao.