Chapter 12: The Hengxue Sect Forbids Master-Disciple Romance

“How do you know it wasn’t?” Meng Baixu pressed forward step by step.

Wen Tingshu fell silent. Perhaps he felt that silence was not right, so he poured another cup of water for Meng Baixu.

Meng Baixu was indeed thirsty, so he took it and drank.

The demonic sect leader had easily made the righteous Sect Master so flustered he was full of holes. It was truly a loss that no one had witnessed this scene.

He did not even dare admit to sleeping with him. In the future, when the child called him “Daddy,” wouldn’t Wen Tingshu feel so ashamed on the spot that he would announce he was entering seclusion to reflect on his mistakes and pass the position to the little cub?

The more Meng Baixu drank the cooling forsythia tea, the happier he became. Thinking of that scene, he laughed so hard his hands trembled, his black lashes fluttering up and down.

Wen Tingshu did not understand what he was laughing about, and he did not ask.

Wen Tingshu sat unmoving like a mountain. Meng Baixu held the teacup in one hand and casually rested his other hand on Wen Tingshu’s left shoulder, standing without proper posture. His hand shook, and he accidentally spilled some tea on Wen Tingshu’s lap. The thin fabric immediately clung wetly to his body.

That spot was neither too far nor too close. Meng Baixu blinked, suspecting he had seen wrong, and was just about to reach out and wipe it.

At that moment, a swallow dragging flowing light flew over and circled around the viburnum tree.

This was Zhongli Yun’s signal that he had something to discuss with Wen Tingshu.

Wen Tingshu immediately said, “Lanshe, Head Zhongli is looking for me. Go sleep a little longer.”

Meng Baixu knew when to stop. He would tease this old-fashioned man again next time. He glanced at the dim morning sky outside. It was almost time for the morning patrol. Since he had skipped duty last night and let Shen Luoyan lead the team, he could not be late again this morning.

During the annual visitation period, patrols had to be strengthened, because no one could predict what so many people would do inside the Hengxue Sect.

He returned leisurely to the eastern palace, changed into white clothes, took a flatbread from the warm stove in the kitchen, and ate it as he went down the mountain.

Wen Tingshu watched Meng Baixu’s departing back, then reached out and let the swallow land in his palm.

The swallow stayed for a moment before flying away. After a while, Zhongli Yun came up the heavenly stairs.

Unless there was an important matter, Zhongli Yun generally did not go up Hengxue Mountain. Wen Tingshu liked quiet and had entrusted all sect affairs to him. Zhongli Yun lived up to this trust. Any minor matter below the level of peak master, he decided on his own.

Zhongli Yun arrived on the wind. “Good morning, Sect Master.”

Meng Baixu went to school at the last possible moment every day. Zhongli Yun had thought this master-disciple pair woke up very late every day.

“Sect Master, do you know that among the cultivators, there is a female cultivator named Chu Bingyu who is pregnant?”

Wen Tingshu said, “Lanshe mentioned it to me. Speak directly.”

Zhongli Yun said, “When she applied to me for the spirit stone subsidy, I asked who the child’s father was. At the time, she was unwilling to say. But yesterday, two of Chu Bingyu’s sisters came to the Hengxue Sect for visitation, and she finally could not help telling them the truth. It turns out she is carrying the child of Zhao Tianhen, the peak master of the Ninth Peak.”

Strictly speaking, any peak master and cultivator were in a master-disciple relationship. Although the Hengxue Sect had no explicit written rule, under the greatest premise of “respecting teachers and honoring the Dao,” generally, no one would fall in love with a peak master.

Under one peak master, there were at least a hundred cultivators. Romance involved issues of fairness in resource distribution.

Of course, for someone like Wen Tingshu, who only accepted one disciple, he could pour all his effort wherever he liked.

Wen Tingshu said calmly, “The fault in this matter lies with the peak master.”

Zhongli Yun said, “Exactly! The reason Chu Bingyu has been so troubled recently is because she does not want this child, but Zhao Tianhen coerced her into keeping it.”

The child might not have spiritual veins. Chu Bingyu had a clear mind and did not want to face future separation by life and death. But Zhao Tianhen wanted to gamble.

If he won the gamble, he would have a successor. If he lost, he could give them money and send the mother and child away, out of sight and out of mind.

This was what many black-hearted cultivators did. They sowed affection everywhere in the mortal world, using sweet words to coax girls into giving birth to their children. They promised they would treat mother and child well. But once the child was born, if the one-in-ten-thousand chance of spiritual veins appeared, they would snatch the child away. If there were no spiritual veins, they would kick them aside, leaving behind an orphaned child and widowed mother to struggle through life in the mortal world.

Such scams were common. Thus, Chu Bingyu had long seen through Zhao Tianhen’s intentions. It was just that a superior’s control over a subordinate existed in all aspects. Because she had once benefited from being in a relationship with Zhao Tianhen, she could not withdraw completely.

Chu Bingyu hesitated and worried over everything, but her sisters did not care about such things and directly exposed it to Zhongli Yun.

The Hengxue Sect had twenty-seven peaks. Management could not cover every little detail. If cultivators hid things and did not speak, it was difficult to notice the fine branches and small details.

Zhongli Yun said, “Chu Bingyu explained that from Peak Master Zhao’s words, this was not the first time he had used threats and temptation to pressure female cultivators into bearing children for him. I’m afraid he is no longer suited to remain on Hengxue Mountain.”

Wen Tingshu said, “Summon him here.”

When Meng Baixu was leading patrol, he brushed past the peak master of the Ninth Peak. His expression did not change, but in his mind, he remembered the Fuguang Sect’s records.

Zhao Tianhen had once paid a high price ninety years ago to obtain a secret realm, where his magic power greatly increased.

In the records, Meng Fuguang had written in small characters that at the time, Zhao Tianhen had deceived a woman from a cultivation family into bearing him a child and then abandoned her. The woman’s father beat away half his cultivation, so Zhao Tianhen urgently needed to rely on a secret realm to make up for it.

Old records—Meng Baixu never forgot anything he had seen.

Ridiculous. Someone who had entered a secret realm actually held a high position in the Hengxue Sect.

If not for the fact that the Fuguang Sect could not reveal its customer list, Meng Baixu would have told Shizun long ago.

Wait…

Why was Zhao Tianhen heading toward Hengxue Mountain?

This hypocrite could not be going to ambush Wen Tingshu, right?

Meng Baixu stopped, suspiciously looked twice, then continued patrolling with heavy suspicion.

A short while later, he still stopped and said apologetically to Shen Luoyan, “The Sect Master assigned me an important matter. I have to go handle it immediately.”

Shen Luoyan said warmly, “Leave the patrol to me. I definitely won’t betray Da-shixiong’s trust.”

“Thanks.”

Meng Baixu hurried back. Just as he reached the foot of the heavenly stairs, there was a rumbling sound, and a black-clothed figure fell straight onto the ground in front of him.

“Pfft—”

Zhao Tianhen, who had been perfectly fine just now, spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. He clutched his stomach and rolled around, as if heavily injured.

Meng Baixu’s gaze sharpened. This bastard must have ambushed Wen Tingshu and been struck down!

He immediately went over and kicked him. “You dared ambush my Shizun!”

Oh. This man had no yuan core anymore. Wen Tingshu had crippled his cultivation!

Someone who had forced Shizun to act and seriously injure him definitely deserved death.

“You—”

Zhao Tianhen clutched his stomach and half-knelt. When he saw Meng Baixu, anger first surged up, then the corner of his mouth curved into a contemptuous arc. His eyes were bloodshot.

“What a good disciple of the Sect Master. I’d like to see, after Wen Tingshu treats me like this today, how he will face himself in the future!”

Meng Baixu frowned. What nonsense was he muttering about Shizun?

He sneered and lowered his voice. “A third-rate scum like you, who relied on a secret realm to increase your power, is worthy of being compared to my Shizun?”

Zhao Tianhen’s eyes widened. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Silver Kite in Meng Baixu’s hair, and his eyeballs nearly bulged from their sockets. He had seen that thing once on Meng Fuguang’s head.

“You… you are—”

Meng Baixu raised his hand and took back the cultivation Zhao Tianhen had borrowed from the secret realm. A cultivator without a yuan core was already an arrow at the end of its flight. Now he aged rapidly. After a while, he would be so old and weak that he could not even speak.

Meng Baixu waved his hand and sent him one hundred and eight thousand li away to feed the wolves.

***

Zhongli Yun watched with his own eyes as Wen Tingshu crippled Zhao Tianhen.

He was not surprised that Wen Tingshu acted decisively. What was strange was that Wen Tingshu had not used his supreme cultivation to suppress the other party. Instead, he used equal power to deal Zhao Tianhen a fatal blow.

After acting, Wen Tingshu’s face also became quite pale. He stood there quietly without speaking. Was he punishing Zhao Tianhen while also punishing himself for failing to manage his subordinates properly?

People were not saints. Zhongli Yun’s realm was inferior to the Sect Master’s, but he would not follow him in self-punishment. The atmosphere was a little awkward, so Zhongli Yun joked, “In my opinion, the Hengxue Sect really should explicitly prohibit teacher-student romance.”

After he said this, he felt the temperature of Hengxue Mountain seem to drop to freezing point.

That was not strange. Hengxue Mountain was originally icy and snowy, and it relied on the Sect Master’s spiritual power to change heaven and earth. If Wen Tingshu wanted to take a breath, the weather would turn colder.

But for the temperature to drop this quickly meant the Sect Master did not quite agree with this matter.

That was also true. Students could be eighteen years old, but they could also be one hundred and eighty years old. Could the latter still not be considered mature?

Zhongli Yun changed his words. “But thinking about it, there’s actually no need. Zhao Tianhen is only an extreme individual case. Most are still like Peak Master Dongyang, whose heart is as clear as a mirror. Since he looks too bewitching, he never shows his true face and never talks with cultivators.”

As soon as the words fell, Wen Tingshu said coldly, “Ban it.”

Zhongli Yun said, “Hm?”

When he looked again, Wen Tingshu had already entered the west palace. Truly impressive. The east was the place of honor, yet the dignified Sect Master lived in the west palace.

“Where is my Shizun?” Meng Baixu returned to Hengxue Mountain, saw Zhongli Yun, and asked.

He had come too late. Wen Tingshu had finally gotten angry for once, and he had not seen that thunderous method.

Zhongli Yun said, “In the room. Let’s go.”

Meng Baixu did not want to go with him. “No.”

Zhongli Yun said, “I’m going to hold a Hengxue Sect cultivator assembly. According to reason, you have to attend.”

Meng Baixu rolled his eyes.

Here it came again. Every time there was an assembly, nothing good happened. It meant Zhongli Yun had thought of a new sinister trick to restrain cultivators.

A quarter of an hour later, the cultivators had gathered. Zhongli Yun first announced that Zhao Tianhen, peak master of the Ninth Peak, had failed in teacherly virtue and was expelled from the Hengxue Sect. The Ninth Peak would be temporarily managed by Zhongli Yun.

Just as everyone was discussing in whispers, not knowing where the Ninth Peak’s master had failed in virtue, Zhongli Yun issued a new rule—

Master-disciple romance was forbidden!

When Meng Baixu heard this, his heart fell back into his stomach. Fortunately, it was not “forbidden to eat during class.” It was not aimed at him.

Wait—

It was aimed at him!

He quickly connected the dots. It seemed that this bastard peak master of the Ninth Peak had used some threatening methods to coerce a cultivator into being with him.

Master-disciple romance was of course wrong!

But—

Meng Baixu could not say what the “but” was, but he just felt uncomfortable inside. So he stood up and said, “Head Zhongli, cutting everything with one knife is wrong.”

Zhongli Yun smiled at Meng Baixu. “May I ask, where did I cut everything with one knife?”

Meng Baixu raised a brow. “The Sect Master is old. In this cultivation world, anyone who sees him has to call him Shizun. Does that also count as master-disciple romance? Head Zhongli, are you trying to use this chance to cut off the Sect Master’s descendants and prevent a little Sect Master from competing with you for power?”

The surrounding cultivators nodded repeatedly. As expected, Da-shixiong considered things thoroughly for the Sect Master. Once the Sect Master’s interests were involved, even the usually gentle Da-shixiong became anxious.

Zhongli Yun smiled. “Cultivators who are not from the Hengxue Sect naturally do not count as master-disciple romance.”

Meng Baixu said, “Even if they are cultivators of the Hengxue Sect—”

Zhongli Yun raised his hand to stop him. “This matter was personally decided by the Sect Master. If Lanshe still has objections, please discuss them with the Sect Master.”

Meng Baixu froze.

Good, Wen Tingshu. So he was deliberately warning him.

“Then I’ll go find him.”

Zhongli Yun watched Meng Baixu leave angrily and sighed.

A cultivator presented a document. “Head, please stamp it.”

This document was the Hengxue Sect’s sect rules. If the regulation was carved onto it, then it would be strictly enforced, and no one could be exempted.

Zhongli Yun said, “Let’s wait a little.”

Meng Baixu had gone to find Wen Tingshu for an explanation. Based on past experience—if Meng Baixu was dissatisfied with something, Wen Tingshu would most likely change it.

Stamping it consumed a lot of spiritual power, because it had to engrave the regulation into the prohibition array.

If they had to modify it later, it would be troublesome.

Meng Baixu felt anxious in his heart, yet his footsteps slowed down instead. The things Wen Tingshu decided were like his Dao heart, not easily shaken. He had to think carefully about his wording.

“Lanshe-shixiong.”

Someone called him.

“Lin Yao? Why didn’t you go to the assembly?” Meng Baixu stopped and wondered whether he should ask Lin Yao if there was any method to quickly confirm whether one was pregnant.

The physique of the Fuguang Sect leader was special. The fetus would naturally have spiritual veins. Therefore, as long as he sensed that there was an extra yuan core inside his body, he would know the plan had succeeded.

But for a yuan core to form, he still had to wait ten days.

Lin Yao said, “The Sect Master asked me to deliver something.”

Meng Baixu asked, “What thing?”

Lin Yao said, “A secret mission.”

Meng Baixu sniffed.

First of all, he really was not intentionally prying. It was just that the Hengxue Sect’s pills each had their own smell. Someone who had gotten full marks in pharmacology could tell with one sniff.

What Lin Yao had in his hand was abortion medicine!

He hurriedly jumped a step away. “Who are you giving abortion medicine to… Is it Bingyu-shimei?”

Connecting this with what Zhongli Yun had announced, and Chu Bingyu’s hesitant expression, Meng Baixu immediately understood.

The child’s father was Zhao Tianhen.

Lin Yao said, “Shh!”

Meng Baixu said, “Don’t worry. There’s no one around. Tell me, did Shizun ask you to deliver this?”

Lin Yao said, “Mn.”

Meng Baixu’s feelings became complicated.

Wen Tingshu was actually quite good at arranging abortions.