Outer yard of the Azure Cloud Sect

A figure could be seen walking while limping. His clothes were dusty and in tatters.

In his plain face, few bruises could be seen; even his flat nose was crooked. His thin lips were cracked, and there was a trace of dried blood that was ignored without being cleaned around them.

His already thin figure looked fragile and pitiful with his sorry appearance and limp walking.

Even so, no one came to help him. A few people who saw him even went so far as to back up when they saw him.

"Fack!" The sorry figure cursed under his breath, "It's not like I am a carrier of plague or something. They have gone too far."

Actually, he already knows the reason why everyone avoided him. He said that just to vent his emotions.

It all started a month ago; at that time, he was just an ordinary outer disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect like any other. He was average with nothing noticeable about him; maybe he was just a bit luckier than the others, or maybe more unlucky?

When he came back to his residence that day, he found a jade pendant on the street. As he didn't see anyone around, he quickly hid it inside his clothes and hurriedly left the place.

Finder keeper, right?

He thought the jade pendant was his lucky encounter, so he began studying it seriously after he arrived at his residence.

After all, which cultivator never imagined himself to be lucky and suddenly found something precious at the side of the road? Even mortals would imagine themselves finding money on the road.

And it was not just fantasy; there were many examples where great cultivators, when they were young, found some unremarkable object in some place that made their cultivation soar.

But reality slapped him hard; he didn't learn anything after studying the jade pendant for several days. Worse, when he went to the city to ask about the jade, every store had the same answer.

'It was just ordinary jade with some exquisite design', which made him depressed.

Just as he started to forget about the jade pendant, news quickly reminded him about it.

Chen Ling, a beautiful senior sister, lost her jade pendant, which was a keepsake from her mother. The news made the outer yard chaotic.

Many male disciples began searching for the missing jade pendant, just to earn a beauty's smile.

As if it were not enough, Li Yan, a senior brother of the outer yard who was already at level 8 Qi Condensation,offered 20 spirit stones to whoever found the jade pendant and offered it to him, making the one who was previously not interested join the farce.

20 spirit stones could be considered much, but they couldn't be considered little either. For an outer-yard disciple, they need to complete several tasks inside the sect to get it.

This farce even made Chen Ling the one who caused it to be embarrassed. Actually, she didn't want to make it public and just wanted to search for the jade pendant quietly.

But because of her unusual behavior, some of her friends asked about what happened. As the gentle person she was, she answered truthfully.

Who knew there was a blabbermouth?

So, not even one day after she told her friends, the news of her losing her jade pendant had already spread everywhere in the outer yard.

He, Wei Fang, immediately took out the jade pendant he found and went to meet his senior sister Cheng Lin.

As hotblooded as he was, he chose to give the jade pendant to Cheng Lin directly rather than use it to redeem 20 spirit stones from senior brother Li Yan.

What if senior Cheng Lin noticed him?

Just the thought of it made him jump with joy.

Although he was already 18 years old, his eight-grade syndrome is still not cured.

Even on earth, many people who are already adults still have it, let alone in the cultivation world, where what you imagine could become reality and not just fantasy.

But it was also the cause of his miserable end.

When he gave the jade pendant to senior sister Cheng Lin, she smiled at him and said, "Thank you!" Gently. 

He felt as if the world had faded in color in front of senior Cheng Lin's smile.

He didn't know how he got back to his residence or how he had a pouch with 20 spirit stones in his hand.

All he could think was his senior sister Cheng Lin smile, which stole his mind and heart.

Unknown to him was the information of him giving the jade pendant to senior sister Cheng Lin and receiving something from her had already spread to every corner of the outer yard.

Only the next day was he aware of it, but it was already too late.

His action of giving the jade pendant directly to Cheng Lin was like a slap to Li Yan.

As everyone knew, whoever gave the jade pendant directly to Cheng Lin would be offending him.

Maybe if it was someone with cultivation in level 8 or 9 Qi Condensation, Li Yan would let it go, but for someone at level 3 Qi Condensation to ignore his word, his anger would not subside before he taught the kid a lesson.

Of course, he would not personally take action; after all, he still had an image to keep.

And so, from then on, everywhere Wei Fang went out of his residence, he would always be beaten up for no reason.

Everyone avoided him; even his close friends who got accepted into the sect together with him also distanced themselves from him.

Luckily, even though the sect didn't prohibit fights between disciples of the outer yard, the sect strictly prohibited crippling and killing. If not, he didn't know how he would end up.

"Haaah!"

Wei Fang sighed, venting his frustration.

If he knew it would end like this, he would offer the jade pendant to senior brother Li Yan; unfortunately, it was already too late.

He was limping all the way until he arrived in front of a courtyard.

The courtyard looked dilapidated and in need of repair. But from a glance, it was clear that the courtyard was clean, meaning that there was someone who lived in it.

Its location was also far from the mountain peak, making the qi in the air thin.

Originally, it was an abandoned courtyard because its location was not ideal for cultivation, but now Wei Fang is the owner of it.

It's not like he wants to live in it, but he didn't have any other option.

Normally there would be 3 or 4 people living in one courtyard, and he also shared a courtyard before.

But because of his conflict with senior brother Li Yan, he was forced to leave.

It was the first time in his life he knew how the world worked, and it was also the first time he was forced awake from his eight-grade syndrome and faced reality.

Creak!

Even though the windows were closed, the inside of the courtyard still looked bright. It was because the many holes on the roof brought light inside.

Wei Fang sat on a worn-out matt and took out a jade bottle.

He popped out a green pill before swallowing it with a gulp without using water.

"That is the last one. If I am injured, it will take a long time before I can recover."

Wei Fang laments his circumstances. He felt that he was poor; originally, he had about 50 spirit stones, enough for him to cultivate for two months. In addition to the 20 spirit stones he got from senior sister Cheng Lin, it was enough for him to last another month.

But all of it was finished even before the month ended because he used it to buy a healing pill; he didn't even use it to cultivate.

"Maybe I really should just agree with it!"

He said as he looked in the air in front of him with some hesitation.

On there, there was a virtual screen only he could see.

[Would you like to bind the system?]

[Yes/No]