SHIZUN RECEIVED GIFTS

Chu Wanning disliked gatherings. The New Year banquets were the only banquets he tolerated enough to attend. Otherwise, he disliked to mingle with others. That was why attending a banquet to specifically celebrate his resurrection made him extremely uncomfortable.

As the star of the evening, Chu Wanning was at the receiving end of curious gazes, especially from the disciples who joined Sisheng Peak in the past five years. They knew that this respectable man in white was the renowned shizun of Young Master Xue, Shi Mei shixiong and Mo Ran shixiong, but they had never personally met him.

They were only able to quench their curiosity by listening to stories about Yuheng Elder. Stories that praised his strict moral character and also his ruthlessness in whipping wayward disciples.

"When Yuheng Elder is enraged, all you see is a flash of beautiful golden light before you are drowned in pain."

The younger disciples trembled from fear.

"No way. Yuheng Elder looks so gentle!" One of them refused to believe his shixiong. "Shixiong, you are just scaring us!"

The Shixiong heaved a deep breath. Might heaven have mercy on this skeptical youngster. "Just you wait and see. Yuheng Elder does not have a good temper, he will..."

Before the young man finished his speech, he was interrupted by a very unhappy voice.

"He will what?"

Mo Ran held a cup of wine in his hand while propping his head with the other arm. The scorching glare that he gave the shrieking disciples was no less than the glare of the King of Hell himself.

"M-m-mo shixiong!"

"Sorry, we did not mean to gossip!"

"Watch your tongue," Xue Meng chimed in, a frown formed on his forehead. "Go report yourselves to Yanluo Hall tomorrow."

"O-of course!"

"We will, Young Master Xue!"

The disciples quickly scurried away to sit at another table.

At the Platform of Sin and Virtue, Chu Wanning did not even hear a word of the altercation.

He was busy accepting gifts from Xue Zhengyong and the other elders. Xue Zhengyong gave him a set of silver clothing accessories. The elders gave him something according to their specialty. Tanlang Elder for example gave him a bottle of nourishing tonic to improve his complexion.

After the elders were done showering Chu Wanning with gifts, Xue Meng sheepishly stepped forward with a box of souvenirs that he, Shi Mei, and Mo Ran had allegedly collected over the years to give to their shizun.

It was full of childish items such as expensive hair bands, hairpins, and bracelets. There were also some lucky charms from foreign lands and high-grade spiritual stones. All of those were worth a lot. They cost quite a fortune.

Jiang Xi chuckled when he saw the content of the box, inviting a glare from Xue Meng.

Chu Wanning, "Thank you, Xue Meng. But they are too precious. I can't accept it."

Jiang Xi sneered.

Xue Meng looked as if he had just been rejected by his first love. "But... But Shizun! I collected these just for you!"

Right after he said it, his cheeks turned red. Chu Wanning raised an eyebrow. It turned out that most of the items inside came from Xue Meng.

Shi Mei respectfully bowed and said, "Shizun, please don't blame Young Master. He was worried that Shizun won't accept his gifts, so he insisted to put our names together."

Shi Mei rummaged inside the box and pulled out a bottle with red balm inside. "Shizun, this is this disciple's gift for Shizun. It is fire salamander balm that this disciple made himself. When applied through a massage, it can warm up the body."

Chu Wanning nodded. "Mn, thank you."

He accepted the balm from Shi Mei and put it on the table.

Xue Meng looked like he was about to cry. Chu Wanning accepted Shi Mei's gift but not his!

Looking at his pitiful disciple, Chu Wanning decided to search for the cheapest thing inside the box of treasures and take it as Xue Meng's gift. He stumbled upon a very plain wooden box.

"What is this?" He asked with a frown.

Xue Meng's face lit up with joy. It was quickly filled with horror when Chu Wanning tried to open the box. "T-that... Shizun, please don't open it here!!!"

Too late.

Chu Wanning already opened it. Inside the box lay four clay dolls that were made very roughly.

Jiang Xi leaned closer to take a look before he humphed and leaned back in his seat. Unimpressed.

Xue Meng was mortified. He rushed to close the box. "Sh-shizun already saw it. Let's put it away."

Xue Zhengyong was rather interested in these weird dolls. "What? Why? Let me take a good look. Wow, look at this one. So ugly..."

Xue Zhengyong picked a buff-looking doll out of the box, and the doll began to speak.

"Hands off, Uncle."

"..."

"..."

Everyone gaped at the doll and then at Xue Meng who was completely red in the face.

"I... I..."

Xue Zhengyong burst into laughter.

"HAHAAHAHAH!!! This is Ran-er, right? Wow, you made him the ugliest of all! And did you put a voice spell on them? Wow, this white one is Yuheng? He is the cutest of them all!"

As soon as Xue Zhengyong picked Chu Wanning's doll, it furrowed its tiny brows. A tiny golden whip appeared and smacked Xue Zhengyong on the fingers. Xue Zhengyong roared with laughter.

Chu Wanning took both clay dolls from Xue Zhengyong's hand and looked at them fondly. When Xue Meng became his apprentice, Chu Wanning had initially wanted to teach Xue Meng how to make mechanical dolls. Alas, Xue Meng's lacking talent was glaringly obvious from day one. That was when Chu Wanning made him practice swordsmanship instead.

Apparently, Xue Meng still remembered a little about making mechanical dolls. Chu Wanning's expression softened. The Mo Ran doll in his hand quivered in fear. "Shizun, this disciple is wrong. Please punish me."

The Chu Wanning doll humphed and turned his cute head away.

Everyone on the platform roared with laughter.

Chu Wanning packed the dolls inside the box and put it next to Shi Mei's gift on the table.

"Thank you, Xue Meng. Then, I will accept this box."

Xue Meng and Shi Mei already handed over their gifts. Everyone automatically stared at Mo Ran, waiting for him to give Chu Wanning what he had prepared. Unfortunately, Mo Ran had to let them down.

"Um... I am sorry, Shizun. I don't have any," Mo Ran said helplessly.

Xue Zhengyong frowned. "Ran-er, what are you talking about? You..."

Alarmed, Mo Ran quickly stopped Xue Zhengyong from speaking. "Uncle, I will give it to Shizun later."

Xue Zhengyong wanted to say something else on Mo Ran's behalf, but Mo Ran's pleading look made him stop talking.

Jiang Xi who sat next to Chu Wanning turned to Chu Wanning and smiled.

"As the only person up here with no gift, I feel rather out of place. Chu-zongshi, please do accept something from me as a token of our deep friendship."

Without waiting for Chu Wanning to answer, Jiang Xi took out a shimmering stone with the color of thousand shades of blue from inside his qiankun bag. Everyone's eyes unwittingly turned as round as pearl when they caught sight of this exquisite item.

A few elders even scooted over to take a good look at it.

"Sect Leader Jiang, is this...?"

"Nothing worth mentioning," Jiang Xi said dismissively, tossing the stone off his palm a few times. "It can be used as a paperweight."

The elders gaped at Jiang Xi, the richest man in the cultivation world. He was so rich that he would use the crystal that contained the spiritual essence of Heavenly Dragon as a paperweight!

Chu Wanning, the man who was being gifted said paperweight refused him outright.

"Sect Leader Jiang is too kind. I cannot use such a heavy paperweight."

The onlookers were about to go out of their minds. What paperweight? Stop referring to the expensive artifact as a paperweight!

Jiang Xi sighed upon being rejected. He sadly tucked the shining artifact back into his qiankun bag and took out another gift. This time it was a clay jar that looked rather common. The content, on the contrary, was not common at all.

When Jiang Xi took off the lid to show everyone what it was, a cold fragrance crept into everyone's noses, making their bodies feel light and granting them a sense of boundless peace.

"This is just a little something that Guyue'ye Sect members use regularly to help with their cultivation."

Shi Mei couldn't help but gasp upon looking at the translucent powder inside the jar.

Xue Meng scoffed. "What is with this jar of weird powder? Are the Guyue'ye disciples unable to cultivate without using some kind of drug? Hahahaha so pathetic."

Shi Mei pulled at Xue Meng's sleeves urgently and whispered into the latter's ears. Xue Meng's face turned ashen almost immediately.

Jiang Xi pulled a smirk. He turned to look at Madam Wang, whose face was tinted red after hearing her son's careless remark.

"Shijie's son truly opened my eyes. Truly, the Guyue'ye disciples have to learn a lot from the little phoenix. To think that Shizun's Five Element Core Strengthening Medicine would one day be called pathetic."

Those who had heard about the existence of the medicine had their jaws drop open dramatically. It was the previous Guyue'ye Sect Leader's prized creation, one of Guyue'ye Sect's most secret recipes! They refused to sell the medicine for any amount of gold!

Tanlang Elder's throat went dry. He would love to get some of the precious powder to investigate its properties. He gazed beseechingly at Chu Wanning. Please, please accept it.

Jiang Xi turned to Chu Wanning and acted pitiful, "Since it is only this jar of pathetic powder, I am sure that Chu-zongshi will give me some face and accept it."

Xue Meng, who was so ashamed of his words, earned himself a glare from Chu Wanning. The latter even had to apologize on his disciple's behalf, "My disciple has misspoken. I apologize for my failure in educating him. Sect Leader Jiang, this medicine is too precious. Please forgive me, I am unable to accept."

Jiang Xi sighed dramatically and tucked the clay jar back into his qiankun pouch. "I am sorry for not bringing a proper gift for Chu-zongshi. I shall make it up to you the next time we meet."

He might or might not notice the dark aura that emanated from Chu Wanning's three disciples. What next time? There would be no next time!

The banquet resumed right after. In the middle of the merriment, Chu Wanning spoke in a low voice to Jiang Xi, "Sect Leader Jiang, I need to speak to you alone."

Jiang Xi subtly nodded. The two elders left their seats without anyone noticing them. Anyone but Mo Ran who had been staring at them the whole time.

He waited for some time before he too left his seat to follow Chu Wanning and Jiang Xi.

Chu Wanning was very cautious. He took Jiang Xi to a lighting and checked the surroundings before he even began to talk.

The two elders were practically whispering. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder, very close to each other. Mo Ran wanted to eavesdrop badly, but he could not risk being found out by Chu Wanning. In the end, he was only able to watch them from a distance.

After a lengthy chat, Jiang Xi took out something from the folds of his chest. Mo Ran clenched his jaw and squinted at the thing in Jiang Xi's hand. It was something small.

What was it?

When Jiang Xi held it up in front of Chu Wanning's eyes, Mo Ran was finally able to recognize what it was.

It was a ring.