Greed

Within the Wenjian Sect, a rumor spread like wildfire.

It is said that a disciple personally witnessed a female cultivator from Jingshui Pavilion competing against Gu Chengming from Huiyuan Gate in the training grounds, and she lost.

The name "Gu Chengming" actually held a certain notoriety among the disciples of Wenjian Sect, and even throughout the entire Outer Sect.

A "lunatic" who, after three years of entering the sect, remained at the First Realm, Third Level, yet deluded himself into wanting to become cultivation partners with that peerless dao seed from Daoning Gate, would be excellent gossip anywhere.

Only this time, the content of the gossip had changed slightly.

"Have you heard? That Gu Chengming, he actually defeated the senior sister from Jingshui Pavilion?"

"Pfft, you believe such nonsense? Jingshui Pavilion is responsible for sect patrols; aren't all of them masters at the late stage of the first realm? Someone at the First Realm, Third Level probably couldn't even touch their clothes."

"Exactly, it's probably just some idle disciple making up a story to grab attention. Why not say he challenged an elder with a single sword?"

Most people listened to this as a joke.

Except for Jiang Lu.

The moment he heard the news, Jiang Lu was wiping his personal sword, and his hand movements suddenly paused.

Others found it unbelievable, but that was because they hadn't seen Gu Chengming's sword.

For someone at the First Realm, Third Level to surpass someone at the First Realm, Ninth Level in swordsmanship... while it did sound outrageous, Jiang Lu recalled Senior Brother Gu's exquisite "Fuhai" sword intent that day in the courtyard, and he felt a sense of certainty.

Hadn't he, a dignified First Realm, Seventh Level cultivator, also been decisively defeated a few days ago?

If Senior Brother Gu's swordsmanship had improved further in recent days, and if that senior sister from Jingshui Pavilion was careless and underestimated him, only competing with sword moves without using spiritual energy, then for a third level to defeat a Ninth Level... it didn't seem entirely impossible.

Of course, Jiang Lu also understood that this was only in terms of swordsmanship.

If it were a life-or-death battle, the huge gap in cultivation realms would be insurmountable.

What puzzled him was that he had been with Senior Brother Gu for the past few days, always leaving and returning together. Except for occasional trips to the latrine or to the Scripture Repository to consult materials, the two were almost inseparable.

When exactly did Senior Brother Gu compete with someone? Was it while he went to buy food?

Feeling genuinely curious about this rumor, and to confirm his suspicions, Jiang Lu took the opportunity during his visit to Gu Chengming today to tentatively ask a couple of questions.

At this moment, the two were sitting by a stone table in the courtyard.

Gu Chengming held an ancient book, casually flipping through it, his expression relaxed.

"Senior Brother Gu, there have been some rumors in the sect recently..." Jiang Lu carefully chose his words: "They say you had a confrontation with someone in the training grounds?"

Gu Chengming's reaction was quite calm; he didn't even lift his head, casually responding:

"Ah, yes, I did have a match with someone yesterday."

Oh, it seems it's true!

Jiang Lu's heart trembled, and the flames of gossip burned brightly.

He quickly leaned closer, lowering his voice to ask: "Was it that... Senior Sister You Yuyao from Jingshui Pavilion?"

Gu Chengming's finger, turning the page, paused slightly. He looked up, a hint of realization on his face:

"So her name is You Yuyao?"

"..."

So, you finished competing with someone, and you don't even know their name?

Jiang Lu was somewhat speechless, but he had completely confirmed that the rumor was not groundless but indeed true.

After confirming the facts, another layer of worry surged into his heart.

He looked at Gu Chengming's demeanor, hesitated for a moment, then cautiously spoke:

"Senior Brother Gu, when you were competing, you didn't do anything... excessive, did you?"

Although because of his swordsmanship, Jiang Lu had long since changed his view of Senior Brother Gu, even feeling admiration.

But recalling that the other party had genuinely performed the "feat" of publicly proposing to become cultivation partners with that dao seed junior sister, it was clear his personality was somewhat "unconventional," even abnormal.

Jiang Lu was afraid that Senior Brother, on a whim, might have done something reckless, like verbal teasing or physical contact.

Seeing Gu Chengming cast a puzzled look, Jiang Lu quickly explained:

"Senior Brother, you might not know this, but Jingshui Pavilion is a patrol department under Daoning Gate, specifically in charge of sect discipline. The female cultivators in this pavilion are often... quite eccentric. Although our Huiyuan Gate is usually not under their jurisdiction, if you truly offend them badly and get targeted, there will be endless trouble in the future."

To put it plainly, they are a group of "disciplinary committee members" with real power and strong personalities. If you can't afford to provoke them, can't you at least avoid them?

Gu Chengming listened, then said "Oh," and smiled:

"Junior Brother Jiang, you worry too much. I didn't actually make her do anything excessive."

Jiang Lu breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, that's good."

However, Gu Chengming immediately followed up:

"I just made her apologize to the Huiyuan Sword Manual, that's all."

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Jiang Lu choked, almost suffocating himself.

"Ap... apologize? Apologize to whom?"

"To the Huiyuan Sword Manual," Gu Chengming said matter-of-factly, pointing to the wooden sword in his hand: "She insulted this sword art, so I made her apologize. Isn't that reasonable?"

Jiang Lu opened his mouth, making a series of meaningless "uh-uh" sounds in his throat, but in the end, couldn't say anything.

"But then again," Gu Chengming shook his head, "this Jingshui Pavilion disciple has a terrible mentality... she started crying after losing the match."

Hearing this, Jiang Lu's hand, holding the teacup, trembled violently, spilling half a cup of tea.

Not only did you defeat her? You also forced her to apologize to a cultivation technique?

And finally, you made her cry?!

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Jiang Lu's expression, Gu Chengming asked somewhat strangely.

Jiang Lu took a deep breath. He thought to himself, "It's fine. As long as Senior Brother Gu can display his astonishing sword dao talent in the upcoming assessment, Master and the other elders will surely cherish him. Even if Jingshui Pavilion wants to cause trouble then, Master will find a way to protect him."

Geniuses, after all, always have some eccentric quirks.

He waved his hand, awkwardly changing the subject: "Um... Senior Brother, are you still going to the training grounds today? I heard that some Inner Sect senior brothers are giving lectures there today."

"No, not today. Maybe another day."

Gu Chengming smiled, casually pulled out a black token from his embrace, and placed it on the stone table.

"I still need to go to the Skill Pavilion today to return this item to Elder Yu."

"?"

Jiang Lu subconsciously looked, his gaze falling upon the token.

Cast from black iron, with an ancient character "Qiu" engraved on it, it subtly exuded a faint pressure.

Jiang Lu's pupils constricted, and he immediately recognized the origin of this item.

This was clearly Elder Yu Wenqiu's personal token.

"This item... why is this item in Senior Brother's hand?" Jiang Lu's voice had changed pitch.

Gu Chengming didn't hide anything, simply explaining to Jiang Lu how he went to collect resources that day, but because the resources were withheld, Elder Yu gave him this token as compensation.

However, upon hearing that this was compensation given by Elder Yu Wenqiu because the resources were withheld, Jiang Lu's expression became extremely strange.

He almost subconsciously waved his hand, saying with certainty:

"Senior Brother, you've misunderstood."

"Misunderstood what?" Gu Chengming was taken aback.

Jiang Lu lowered his voice and explained: "That Elder Yu, in our sect, is famously... ahem, she doesn't like cultivating, nor does she like managing affairs. Although she is an elder, what she likes most on a daily basis is sleeping and sunbathing in her own courtyard."

At this point, Jiang Lu paused, seemingly organizing his words, then continued:

"Moreover, Elder Yu comes from a cultivation family, with terrifyingly abundant wealth. How could she possibly embezzle your meager cultivation resources? To put it bluntly, your few pills probably aren't even enough to cover the cost of the spiritual tea Elder Yu drinks daily."

"She herself is too lazy to collect the sect's offerings, so how could she possibly care about such petty gains from an Outer Sect disciple?"

Gu Chengming was also slightly startled upon hearing this.

If Elder Yu didn't embezzle the resources, then where did my resources go?

As Jiang Lu spoke, he also realized something.

That's right! If Elder Yu didn't embezzle those resources, then why would she give Senior Brother this token?

Jiang Lu stopped speaking, his gaze circling Gu Chengming's face twice.

His expression turned strange.