Behind one of the windows in the pagoda of talisman crafting stood a man and observed Qiu Ling and Jing Yi. Seeing Jing Yi's hands in Qiu Ling's he snorted. "Hmph. Some people are really too lucky, enticing the Grandmaster's disciple with their cute looks."
Behind him, in the room, another man lifted his head from the half-finished painting on the desk. "You're talking about Zhong Jing Yi?"
"Zhong Jing Yi?" The man at the window furrowed his brow. That name somehow seemed familiar …"
"Mn. Ah, right. Shouldn't you know him? As far as I know, he is from the same region as you." The man picked up his brush again, held onto his long sleeve with the other and continued to paint.
"The same region?", the man behind the window repeated. Who could it be? Zhong, Zhong … This name didn't really ring a bell. There hadn't been any children with that name back when he was still in the village.
"He should be quite a few years younger than you", the other man pointed out without lifting his gaze from his painting. "He should be around fifteen years of age now. You've already been here for twenty years. It's to be expected that you don't know him very well. But I seem to have heard that you returned home once?"
Suddenly, the expression of the man behind the window darkened. Indeed. He had once returned and now that his Senior martial brother spoke of it he finally remembered where he had heard that name before.
Zhong Jing Yi. That was the name of the child of the Zhongs. The child that had been born through the help of a demonic practitioner. The one that had led to him being humiliated in a village of commoners that should normally be looking up to him.
Yes, indeed, that man who had observed Qiu Ling and Jing Yi through the window was none other than Qiguan Cheng Da, the son of Madam Qiguan that had been called when the whole village believed that Jing Yi was the product of some dark magic. And yes, he was still furious about that incident. Since coming to the Yun Zou sect he had always felt superior in regards to the common people. Being ridiculed by them didn't sit well with him.
He clenched his fists and leveled a dark glare at Jing Yi. You just wait. I'll pay you back for what your family did to me. Don't think you'll have any chance of marrying the Grandmaster's disciple or even getting into the inner sect. I'll make sure you're not able to!
The man at the table looked up with a pensive gaze but finally turned back toward his painting.
Qiguan Cheng Da turned around and hurried to the table, sitting down beside the man. "Senior martial brother Yu, say, do you believe that Zhong Jing Yi will accept the proposal?"
"Who knows? There are certain benefits for cultivators to get together with a practitioner. And he is young. It wouldn't be strange if he actually fell in love with him."
"Then … do you believe Grandmaster Zhangsun's disciple loves him?"
The man paused with the brush in his hand. "There is no doubt about that, is there? There might be benefits to a practitioner, too, in that kind of relationship but as far as I know, Zhong Jing Yi has full spirit veins and hasn't been able to draw in spiritual energy even after five years of being in the sect. If this was only about benefits, that Senior martial brother Qiu would certainly look for somebody else."
"Senior martial brother Yu said it right. I wonder what he likes about him, though. He's quite young, not really talented …"
"Sometimes, people are just fated to be together."
"Mn." Qiguan Cheng Da paused for a while. That senior martial brother Yu, Yu Jin, was someone with a high status in the sect, too. It was his luck that he had been able to meet him early on. Only because of that had he been able to further his cultivation by such a large margin. He had nearly managed to attain the next realm thanks to his help. Thus, he couldn't risk to anger him. The problem was that this senior martial brother Yu's thoughts were extremely hard to gauge.
"As the Grandmaster's disciple, Senior martial brother Qiu Ling will certainly still have to consider his image. Being with someone from the outer sect, especially someone who still can't cultivate … Wouldn't that implicate him?"
"He'll certainly find a way to help him."
"Mn. I also think that's quite likely. I just don't know how he would do that. He himself is a practitioner, the Grandmaster, too. How could they help a cultivator?" He tried to observe the other man's face but there wasn't really anything he could see. Like most of the time, Yu Jin had a calm expression. It was as if nothing could move him. Those mortal worries that weighed others down were nothing to him.
"Does one need to be a cultivator to help one? The easiest way would certainly be to fix his aptitude. With full spirit veins, his path to ascension would be hard. They might find some mystic pill for him to remodel his spirit veins."
Qiguan Cheng Da's eyes glinted. There were a few pills that could remodel spirit veins. Considering the ones helping Zhong Jing Yi would be the Grandmaster and his disciple it should be one of the best pills available.
He pursed his lips. The best pill for remodeling spirit veins was called the Amethyst Lightning Pill. Just as the name suggested it was an amethyst-colored pill with a pattern like dark violet lightning running over its surface and just like a strike of lightning it enlightened everything in its surrounding and set things ablaze. Even someone with trash spirit veins like Zhong Jing Yi could be turned into a genius with heavenly spirit veins if he consumed such a pill. And there wouldn't even be any kind of backlash. Getting such a pill … Was he worthy?
"Ah, Senior martial brother Yu, I just remembered I still have something to do. Please, excuse me."
"Mn." The man only nodded, neither did he stop painting nor did he look up. But Qiguan Cheng Da didn't care. That Senior martial brother Yu was always like that. He had already found out what he wanted anyway. For the following things that Senior martial brother wouldn't be of any help. He had to do it alone.