The other’s gaze towards him gained a hint of helplessness, “It’s not appropriate.”
“Then forget it. I never force others,” Ning Chengfeng was rejected repeatedly and felt unhappy. He turned around while talking, not paying attention to his feet, and was about to fall backwards after tripping on a tree branch.
Chu Jun reached out to steady him.
But he saw the young man’s slender waist bend backwards, quickly using his scabbard to prop against the ground. He used the force to flip to the side, hugging his sword and landing steadily on the ground. His jade-adorned hair ribbon swayed lightly in the wind as he raised an eyebrow at Chu Jun confidently.
His eyebrows and eyes carried a restrained smugness.
Chu Jun withdrew his hand, his voice flat, “Walk properly.”
Ning Chengfeng behaved for less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn before asking again, “What are you looking for in the Fuluo Secret Realm? Do you need my help?”
Chu Jun glanced at him indifferently.
Ning Chengfeng said defiantly, “I come to this realm often. I’m definitely more familiar with it than you.”
Chu Jun was silent for a moment before saying, “Fuluo flower.”
A look of confusion appeared in Ning Chengfeng’s eyes, “What does it look like?”
“Very familiar?” Chu Jun asked in return.
Ning Chengfeng choked, “…Describe it to me in detail. Maybe I’ll know then!”
Chu Jun looked like he was convinced, stopped walking, but said, “Go back to class properly.”
After saying this, he waved his long sleeve. Ning Chengfeng only saw a flash of white, and when he opened his eyes again, he was standing at the gate of Wanxuan Academy, staring at the gatekeeper.
As the gatekeeper was about to speak, Ning Chengfeng ran inside.
“Ning Chengfeng, it’s you again!” The gatekeeper roared, sending swords, spears, and all sorts of attacks at him without using spiritual energy. “Today I must catch you to set an example!”
Ning Chengfeng ran while grinding his teeth. That Chu Jun, he’d better not run into him again!
But he must have been unlucky. After being chased around half the island by the gatekeeper, Hao Zheng, who was teaching, suddenly appeared and slapped him from the roof into the bushes on the ground.
Ning Chengfeng lay dejectedly on the ground, spitting out mud, and was dragged to the Self-Reflection Pavilion. Soon, Wen Zaiye and Cui Ci were also brought in, not one missing.
Hao Zheng had an elder from the Self-Reflection Pavilion personally watch them. The three could only communicate with their eyes, making faces. Although no one could understand each other, they enjoyed it immensely, seizing every opportunity to avoid copying properly.
Ning Chengfeng pretended to flip through a book while quickly drawing a sleep talisman with his other hand. Then, taking advantage of the elder looking down, he rolled it up and threw it to Wen Zaiye.
Wen Zaiye, while copying, discreetly added a drowsiness spell and flicked it to Cui Ci.
Cui Ci raised an eyebrow at them, suddenly clutching his stomach, “Ouch—oh, my stomach hurts so much.”
Ning Chengfeng said solemnly, “Did you eat something bad this morning?”
“Could it be that you’re poisoned from an injury?” Wen Zaiye made a show of going to support him.
“Everyone sit quietly,” the elder rebuked, crouching in front of Cui Ci to take his pulse. Cui Ci discreetly attached the small paper talisman to the elder’s hem.
“It’s nothing, I’m fine, elder,” Cui Ci withdrew his hand, his expression brave. “I can still endure.”
The elder snorted coldly, “You’d better not try any tricks.”
Half an hour later, the three of them nimbly jumped down from the rafters of the library.
“Chengfeng, what did you say you were looking for earlier?” Cui Ci crouched and ran under the window.
Ning Chengfeng reached out to take a book, suddenly feeling dizzy. A flash of blood color passed through his pupils. His arm was suddenly patted, and he snapped back to reality, “What?”
Cui Ci clicked his tongue, “What are you looking for?”
“Fuluo flower,” Ning Chengfeng flipped through the book in his hand, completely disregarding his previous strange state. “I refuse to believe we can’t find it.”
However, after searching for nearly an hour, they still found nothing. As they were preparing to leave, he caught sight of a book that seemed casually placed on a bookshelf. As if possessed, he picked it up and flipped through it, stopping exactly on a folded page in the middle. A lascivious, deep red flower was printed on it, with “Fuluo Flower” written beside it.
‘Fuluo Flower, shapes the Dao heart.’
The book was suddenly snatched away. Ning Chengfeng, who hadn’t noticed anyone approach, abruptly looked up, only to meet that ugly mask, with those beautiful eyes beneath coldly staring at him.
“Why are you here?” Ning Chengfeng asked in shock.
Chu Jun put away the book, “You should be copying books in the Self-Reflection Pavilion now.”
Ning Chengfeng choked, saying defiantly, “That’s none of your business.”
If it weren’t for this surnamed Chu, he wouldn’t have been caught red-handed by Hao Zheng at all.
“Starting tomorrow, I will be teaching you swordsmanship,” Chu Jun’s gaze swept over the scrape on his jaw, pausing slightly.
“So you’re all in this together,” Ning Chengfeng suddenly realized, followed by a hint of anger in his eyes. He knew Hao Zheng couldn’t have come out so coincidentally. It must have been Chu Jun who tipped him off.
“Chengfeng, why aren’t you coming—” Wen Zaiye hung upside down from the window, poking his head in, but happened to face Chu Jun, startled by the mask.
Ning Chengfeng stood behind Chu Jun, gesturing for them to leave quickly. Wen Zaiye immediately flipped back up.
Chu Jun turned around to see Ning Chengfeng staring at him expressionlessly. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Skipping class privately violates academy rules. Now you’ve escaped from the Self-Reflection Pavilion, compounding your offense.”
Ning Chengfeng said defiantly, “If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have been discovered at all.”
After saying this, he turned to leave with an angry expression.
But he was blocked. Chu Jun said, “This was wrong from the start.”
Ning Chengfeng’s escape plan failed, and he began fighting rudely. Within three moves, his sword was taken and he was pinned to the ground.
Chu Jun released his hand and half-knelt in front of him, helping him up.
Ning Chengfeng, furious, sat cross-legged on the ground hugging his arms, glaring at the ugly mask of this person.
“Go back to the Self-Reflection Pavilion and admit your mistake,” Chu Jun said.
“I won’t!” Ning Chengfeng’s wrist was numb from being struck, and he hadn’t recovered yet. That last hit had almost brought tears to his eyes.
Chu Jun noticed his slightly reddened eyes and paused as he was about to lift him up, “Don’t cry.”
“I’m not!” Ning Chengfeng was angry and embarrassed. “You’re only teaching us tomorrow. You can’t boss me around today.”
This was very unreasonable.
But Ning Chengfeng had lost face completely today, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He began to find everything about Chu Jun irritating. He fiercely threw out a sentence. “Chu Jun, you just wait!”
He completely missed the helpless look in the eyes behind him.
Ning Chengfeng was clear about gratitude and grudges. The other saving his life was one thing, but betraying him was another. He believed “righteousness” was most important. Since Chu Jun was unkind, he couldn’t blame him for being unrighteous.
So first, he gathered all his possessions, and even scrounged some from Cui Ci and Wen Zaiye, piling them at Chu Jun’s door as a thank-you gift for saving his life. As a result, when Chu Jun opened the door, he was nearly buried by the miscellaneous items.
Chu Jun looked up, only to see a brash, fiery silhouette disappearing.
After repaying the life-saving debt, Ning Chengfeng began planning his revenge.
This included, but was not limited to, deliberately causing a commotion in Chu Jun’s classes, trying every possible way to remove that ugly mask from Chu Jun’s face, drawing funny faces on Chu Jun’s assigned homework, attempting to stick self-drawn little turtles on his back… and so on.
However, the enemy was too strong, and all plans failed.
Ning Chengfeng was once again dragged to the Self-Reflection Pavilion by Chu Jun.
The elder of the Self-Reflection Pavilion greeted Chu Jun with a smile, hands in his sleeves, “Master Chu, you’ve come.”
Chu Jun nodded slightly, with Ning Chengfeng following behind, his face dark.
The elder watched them enter with a joyful mood.
Since Chu Jun’s arrival, someone could finally control the little tyrant from the Ning family. Hao Zheng no longer lost his hair from anger, the gatekeeper didn’t have to practice eighteen kinds of catching skills, and the poor elder of the Self-Reflection Pavilion finally didn’t have to sleep for three days and nights every now and then… Master Chu was truly the light of Wanxuan Academy.
The light of Wanxuan Academy was now making someone copy sword manuals.
Ning Chengfeng had copied half a manual when he resorted to his old trick, drawing a talisman with extremely light movements. He was just worrying about how to stick the talisman to the other’s clothes unnoticed when he heard Chu Jun say coldly, “Ning Chengfeng.”
Ning Chengfeng’s back stiffened. He looked up, feigning calmness with an expression that said ‘I’m busy, what is it?’
“Have you been feeling unwell recently?” Chu Jun asked him.
Ning Chengfeng looked at him suspiciously, but still answered truthfully, “No.”
Chu Jun was silent for a moment, then walked to the desk and knelt opposite him, extending his palm. His voice carried no emotion at all, “Hand.”
Ning Chengfeng’s scalp tightened. He gritted his teeth and, extremely unwillingly, placed the crumpled explosive talisman in his hand onto Chu Jun’s palm.
Chu Jun: “…What is this?”
Ning Chengfeng glanced at him guiltily, “A talisman, of course.”
Chu Jun couldn’t be bothered with these little tricks, “Wrist.”
Only then did Ning Chengfeng realize he hadn’t come to confiscate the paper talisman. He grumbled internally, would it kill you to say one more word?
But as soon as he looked up, he met Chu Jun’s extremely intimidating eyes. He stared back defiantly.
Chu Jun looked at him oddly for a moment, then uncomfortably lowered his eyes. Ning Chengfeng’s wrist was ice-cold, completely unlike his usually lively demeanor.
Seeing Chu Jun’s prolonged silence, Ning Chengfeng became uneasy and tentatively asked, “Is something wrong? Is there a problem?”
Chu Jun didn’t answer.
The more he didn’t answer, the more uncertain Ning Chengfeng became. He looked at him with suspicion and fear, “I’m warning you, don’t scare me. My brother is very powerful, and he’s never said there was anything wrong with my body.”
Chu Jun withdrew his hand and said, “It’s nothing.”
Ning Chengfeng had a false alarm and became unruly again. He leaned on the table and asked, “Are you looking for the Fuluo flower to reshape your Dao heart? How do you reshape a Dao heart? What Dao did you originally cultivate? Why do you want to change?”
Although he greatly disliked this rigid, harsh person who always wore a mask and hid himself, he couldn’t help but be very curious about him, even subtly admiring him. He wasn’t aware at all that he was always trying to attract the other’s attention.
“Copy the book quietly,” Chu Jun stood up, not forgetting to take away his evidence of mischief. “Copy it one more time.”
Ning Chengfeng was left stunned.
Before the swordsmanship class, Cui Ci was very confused. “You used to either cultivate or think about playing around. Why are you now always bothering Master Chu?”
Ning Chengfeng sat in a tree, tossing a fruit in his hand, and said through gritted teeth, “I refuse to believe I can’t deal with him.”
“Give it up, Young Master Ning. Every time you end up thoroughly dealt with by him. Be careful, he might report to your brother,” Wen Zaiye caught the fruit thrown at him and took a bite with relish.
“Just you wait and see. I’ll make him lose fair and square,” Ning Chengfeng narrowed his eyes and jumped down from the tree with his sword. He then saw Chu Jun arrive on his flying sword, his figure tall and graceful like an immortal. Even with the mask, it couldn’t hide his outstanding elegance.
Chu Jun looked up towards them. Ning Chengfeng quickly lowered his eyes, then felt this lacked momentum and looked up to glare back.
But Chu Jun had already looked elsewhere.
Ning Chengfeng became even more annoyed, but he caught a glimpse of a flash of red on the other’s wrist. However, when he looked again, he couldn’t see it anymore.
“I’ve thought of a good idea,” Ning Chengfeng suddenly revealed a confident smile, but no matter how Cui Ci and Wen Zaiye asked, he wouldn’t tell.
Half a month later, early in the morning, as soon as Chu Jun opened the door, a lascivious, deep red Fuluo flower came into view. The faint fragrance of the flower enveloped him entirely with the morning breeze, carrying a restrained dominance.
Behind the Fuluo flower, Ning Chengfeng flashed him a provocative and arrogant smile.
“Here.”
