THIS MASTER RECEIVED A GIFT

Before daybreak the next day, Chu Wanning and Mo Ran went to the northern part of the city to pluck the golden feathers from the owls that were returning into the Ancestral Abyss. All the cultivators who stayed at the Peach Blossom Springs were there, waiting to harvest golden feathers for the day. As soon as they arrived, Mo Ran started to look around to search for someone.

Chu Wanning did not need to be a prophet to know who it was that Mo Ran was searching for. As soon as he caught a glimpse of that person, his eyes lit up. And then a sour expression was shown on his face when he saw who Shi Mei was with. Hua Binan and Shi Mei stood side by side, chatting amiably with each other.

Mo Ran started to walk toward Shi Mei and Hua Binan. Chu Wanning gazed at his retreating back and moved in an opposite direction. Before Mo Ran even reached the two people, the disciples around them started to shout.

"Look! The owls!!!"

Mo Ran abandoned his plan to talk to Shi Mei abruptly. He turned around to tell Chu Wanning to stay back. He could impossibly make such a small child harvest golden feathers on his own. What if he fell into the sea of fire? Unfortunately, he could not find the little Shidi at all.

Hundreds of thousands of violent, giant owls appeared like tiny dots that gradually became bigger. The gruesome beasts gave a warning screech at the disciples who dared to come close. Many first-timers were immediately discouraged that they missed the timely opportunity to pluck the feathers.

Jiang Xi elegantly flew toward the owls without the slightest hesitation. He swung his sword, Xuehuang, at a group of owls. His attack caused a few owls to slow down with their movements. This allowed the Guyue'ye disciples to quickly pluck the golden feathers from the stunned owls.

Hua Binan lightly headed toward another group and murmured a few spells before tapping a few owls at select acupuncture points. The sluggish owls did not resist at all when a bunch of Guyue'ye disciples flew over to grab a bunch of their feathers.

Chu Wanning had a tiny branch with him. He stood at the end of the cliff just over the raging fire beneath. Thinking that this little boy looked like a delicious snack, the owls swooped down to drag him into their nest. That was a huge mistake. The first owls were pitifully beaten up with the tiny branch instead, and the other owls quickly abandoned the ideas. Golden feathers fell down as the terrified owls hastily escaped back into their nest.

Mo Ran and Xue Meng almost bumped against each other when they both used their light footwork to grab some feathers from lone owls alongside many other cultivators.

"You dog! Watch where you go!"

"Stupid peacock! Don't make me pluck your feathers instead!"

Mo Ran and Xue Meng went to harvest feathers separately after the short exchange of insults. Not so with two other people who literally started to fight right over the Ancestral Abyss and did not bother to pick the scattered golden feathers on the ground.

At the end of the scuffle, all the owls had returned to their nest and the two young cultivators landed on the ground. Blood was dripping from one of them.

Nangong Si lowered his bow and stared at Ye Wangxi with disdain.

"I told you to never get in my way."

Ye Wangxi held onto his injured shoulder that was scraped by Nangong Si's arrow.

"A Si," he softly called. Blood trickled down from between his fingers as he supported himself with his sword.

"Don't blame me the next time if I accidentally kill you," Nangong Si said before leaving.

Chu Wanning looked at Ye Wangxi and remembered who he was. This was the strongest hero of the cultivation world, the best from Rufeng Sect in his generation. It was a pity that he had to die during the fall of Rufeng Sect in Chu Wanning's past life. At the moment, Ye Wangxi looked beyond pitiful. He not only failed to get his golden feathers but he also got injured by Nangong Si.

Chu Wanning wanted to approach him, but Ye Wangxi mounted his sword and left in a flash.

Mo Ran was chatting with Shi Mei, so Chu Wanning left on his own to buy some breakfast. When he returned to the courtyard residence, Jiang Xi was already waiting for him in the common living room. The first thing Chu Wanning did was repay his debt. He took out a bunch of golden feathers and handed them over to Jiang Xi.

"Twice of yesterday's amount," he said.

Jiang Xi raised an eyebrow at Chu Wanning.

"If you want to repay me so badly, why don't you buy me something of value?"

Chu Wanning frowned.

"What do you want?"

"Surprise me. By the way, I have something for you."

Jiang Xi went into his bed-chamber and came back with a light-colored wooden box. Inside was a white robe made of a special kind of silk. When Chu Wanning touched it, he could almost feel the robe come alive.

"Frozen Mist Silk," Chu Wanning concluded.

"Correct. This should be useful in your current state."

The Frozen Mist Silk was special silk that was used to weave clothes for the disciples of Kunlun Taxue Palace. These disciples were required to go into seclusion starting from an early age and were only allowed to leave after they managed to form spiritual cores. This process varied from individual to individual. During the years in seclusion, food was not a problem but clothing was. Frozen Mist Silk has the ability to adapt to the disciples' body size. It grew and shrunk with the wearer. This kind of valuable material was not sold outside of Kunlun Taxue Palace. Jiang Xi must have pulled some strings to be able to get his hands on a robe.

"I cannot accept this."

"Take it as a bonus," Jiang Xi said while reclining at his seat like an emperor. "I used some of the ancient poison to make a prototype of rejuvenation potion. I don't know who leaked it out, but buyers from all around the cultivation realm have been contacting me, asking to test the potion while paying me a huge sum of money at the same time."

At a certain level of cultivation, it was possible to stop one's aging process. Unfortunately once the age threshold had passed, the youth could not be reclaimed. This particularly applied to those whose cultivation reached the desired level in the later stage of their life. Many of them would kill to regain the youth they had lost. This was the agreement that Jiang Xi had with Chu Wanning. Half of the poison would be used to make an antidote to cure Chu Wanning while the other half would be used to make rejuvenation potions, marketed by Guyue'ye Sect.

"In that case, I will accept. Thank you, Sect Leader Jiang."

Mo Ran came back later in the evening, and the first thing he saw was Chu Wanning in the white exquisite robe.

"Shidi, where did the robe come from?"

Chu Wanning sipped at his tea.

"Sect Leader Jiang gave it to me."

Mo Ran glared at his little shidi in disbelief. He immediately acted like a husband whose wife just got a present from another man.

"What??? Return it, right away!"

Chu Wanning frowned at Mo Ran.

"Why?"

"Why??? Do you know what it means to accept clothes from a man???"

Chu Wanning could not care less, but he still replied with a sneer.

"This Shidi does not know. May Shixiong enlighten me."

Mo Ran was so angry that he could explode, but he could not say his thoughts out loud out of fear that he might taint his shidi's pure mind.

-When a man gives you clothes, that means he plans to take those clothes off you!

-How shameless!

-Oh my God!

-Shidiiii…!!!

Mo Ran scowled.

Just look at Jiang Xi. He is old and he is unmarried. He is clearly a pervert on the look for gullible victims. First Chu Wanning and then Xia Sini. This man is a dangerous predator! How can you not see that!

The only good thing about Jiang Xi being in the Peach Blossom Springs was that Chu Wanning was safe in Sisheng Peak. Else Mo Ran was really going to vomit blood.

The next few days, Mo Ran incessantly pestered Chu Wanning to take off that white robe and return it to Jiang Xi. He even went as far as splattering mud over Chu Wanning's robe but the robe remained miraculously clean.

"Shidi, it looks bad. It really, really looks bad."

"Don't you dare come back to Sisheng Peak wearing white."

"Horrible."

"White does not suit you."

"You look like Shizun."

That last sentence finally caught Chu Wanning's attention.

"What is so wrong with looking like Shizun?" he asked pointedly.

"Well…"

Mo Ran scratched his head. Originally he didn't want to say anything to offend Chu Wanning, but the little Shidi should not make the same mistake that his father did.

"Shidi, do you know why Shizun is called 'White Ghost'?"

"No, why?"

"Because he wears white all the time."

"…"

"Shidi, do you know why Shizun is called 'Little Widow'?"

"No, why?"

"Because he wears white all the time."

"…"

Mo Ran's grin became more and more shameless. It gave him a secret perverted joy to mock Shizun behind his back.

"Shidi, do you know why Shizun is called 'Little Napa Cabbage'?"

"…"

"Because he wears white all the time."

"…"

Chu Wanning's face turned cold, but his heart was burning like raging lava inside an erupting volcano. If he summoned Tianwen and beat Mo Ran up to the point of losing his consciousness, could he use some memory-altering medicine from Jiang Xi to cover it up?

In the end, the little shidi merely flicked his sleeves stubbornly and clung even more to that white robe just to piss Mo Ran off.

Their cultivation training was set to start the following morning.