Chapter 271: Scheming Fourth and Fifth Senior Brothers
“Since you have such talent in the Dao of Talismans, there’s no need to follow my teaching plan. Let your senior sister take you to meet the other senior brothers.”
“Yes.”
…
Jiang Li followed Yu Feng invisibly while opening the system shop to check what was available in the Tongu World.
The system shop couldn’t bypass the Dao of Time, so it only sold items from this world to Jiang Li. But by looking at what was being sold, Jiang Li could roughly infer what existed in this world.
“Nothing related to the Celestial Realm at all? How amusing.” Jiang Li sneered. Items from the Celestial Realm should remain intact through time. Wear and tear was normal, but for them to vanish entirely—even thirty-six thousand years wasn’t enough for that.
…
“This is your Fourth Senior Brother.”
“Greetings, Junior Brother.” Fourth Senior Brother was a burly man, seemingly loud and careless, like someone who couldn’t keep a secret.
Only Yu Feng knew—he wasn’t bad at keeping secrets. He was too good at it.
Back then, Yu Feng had exhausted all efforts to take down Third Senior Brother, thinking he could save his master and senior sister. But then he discovered Fourth Senior Brother was also plotting against their master—secretly poisoning him and inviting enemies in, cleaning out all of Master’s possessions.
“Hello, Fourth Senior Brother. You’ve also been studying the Dao of Talismans with Master?”
Fourth Senior Brother laughed heartily. “No talent for it. I can’t learn the Dao of Talismans. I just follow Master and study cultivation the old-fashioned way.”
Yu Feng thought, Old-fashioned way, huh. Back then, when you said ‘better to die by our hands than let outsiders benefit’ after betraying Master, I didn’t see any of that honesty.
“How’s your talent in the Dao of Talismans, Junior Brother?”
“Nothing special.”
“Work hard, then.” Fourth Senior Brother patted Yu Feng’s shoulder encouragingly.
“Senior Sister, does the sect issue robes? Mine’s a bit torn.” Yu Feng asked.
Wu Lian slapped her forehead. “Ah! I totally forgot. I’ll get you a new set when we get back.”
Fourth Senior Brother smiled and saw them off, but his face turned dark afterward. A faint mark remained on his palm—a tracking seal—which he had planted on Yu Feng’s robe.
He might look like a straightforward brute, but he was meticulous inside. He liked having everything under control. Even a new junior brother had to be monitored.
He just didn’t expect Yu Feng to change clothes.
“Did he notice?” Fourth Senior Brother didn’t think so. His methods were seasoned—Yu Feng couldn’t have seen through it.
“Coincidence? Or is there something odd about Junior Brother’s technique?”
For safety’s sake, neither Wu Lian nor Daoist Tongchen had told anyone that Yu Feng’s technique could avert disaster.
…
“This is your Fifth Senior Brother.”
“This is the little junior brother Master just took in? Here, first meeting gift.” Fifth Senior Brother was a generous man. He was squatting on the ground tending to spiritual plants. When he saw Wu Lian and Yu Feng arrive, he stood up and handed Yu Feng a tattered copy of the Spiritual Plant Manual.
“Thank you, Senior Brother!” Just like every time he met Fifth Senior Brother, Yu Feng received a worn-out copy of the Spiritual Plant Manual.
Yu Feng knew this manual contained a hidden technique. It offered rapid progress during initial cultivation, luring people in. But once practiced, the cultivator would fall under Fifth Senior Brother’s control.
The truth was, Fifth Senior Brother was a disciple of another Nascent Soul cultivator, planted within Daoist Tongchen’s sect to wait for the right moment to collaborate from within and eliminate Daoist Tongchen.
Fifth Senior Brother was cautious. He didn’t want to risk direct contact with his real master, so he needed someone under his control to relay information.
Yu Feng had practiced this technique once, thinking his luck had finally turned, that he’d stumbled on a legendary fortuitous encounter—only to find he’d become a puppet of Fifth Senior Brother.
When Yu Feng resisted control and leaked Master’s weaknesses to outsiders, Daoist Tongchen discovered it and crushed him with one palm. Yu Feng would never forget the look of disappointment in Senior Sister Wu Lian’s eyes.
Later, Yu Feng learned his lesson and stopped touching the Spiritual Plant Manual. Fifth Senior Brother began using other ways to pass messages. In the end, Daoist Tongchen and Wu Lian still didn’t survive.
“Fifth Senior Brother’s into spiritual plants?” Yu Feng asked curiously.
“Yeah, your Fifth Senior Brother just loves messing with these plants and flowers,” Wu Lian replied sarcastically. She thought Fifth Brother had some talent in the Dao of Talismans but gave it up too early to study spiritual plants instead.
Yu Feng thought, He’s not just messing around. He used plant root systems to build a grand formation that weakened Master’s talisman power. Whether it was Third Senior Brother calling in Master’s enemies or Fourth Senior Brother luring wolves in—Master’s defeat always traced back to that formation.
Yu Feng had died dozens of times before he realized Fifth Senior Brother’s hidden moves.
“Do people in this world even think about cultivating? They’re constantly scheming. Do they even have the heart for it?” Bai Hongtu was shocked. He’d never imagined someone using plant roots to build a formation.
Wouldn’t it be better if everyone just focused on cultivation instead of plotting every day?
Can schemes defeat Jiang Li? If they could, count him in.
“Sounds like a great idea.” Inspired, Bai Hongtu suddenly had a new plan. He hung up the Remote Communication Talisman and rushed off to experiment.
Bai Hongtu wasn’t paying attention to Yu Feng anymore. With Jiang Li watching over him, what could possibly go wrong?
Jiang Li didn’t know what wild idea Bai Hongtu had come up with, but as long as he didn’t flip the Nine Provinces upside down, it was fine.
“With Immortal Elder Changcun keeping watch, nothing should happen.” Jiang Li muttered to himself. He didn’t entirely trust Bai Hongtu, but he trusted Changcun.
As long as it didn’t involve the Mortal World Celestial, Immortal Elder Changcun was, in Jiang Li’s mind, a reliable and all-knowing old immortal.
“You’ve met your three senior brothers now. They’re all pretty decent, right?” Wu Lian brought Yu Feng back to her courtyard and took out clothes that would fit him.
“Yes, they’re all good people,” Yu Feng said insincerely.
The first time he met the three senior brothers, he too thought they were warm and friendly. Later, he learned the true meaning of you never really know someone.
“What about Second Senior Brother? Why haven’t I seen him?”
“A thankless traitor. Don’t mention him!” Wu Lian’s face turned cold, and for once, a rare flash of killing intent surfaced in her eyes. She clearly didn’t want to talk about him.
Yu Feng actually knew what Second Senior Brother had done. He had seen Third, Fourth, and Fifth Senior Brothers, so he deliberately asked the question to appear natural.
“What did your Second Senior Brother do?” Jiang Li asked.
“He was once Master’s most valued disciple, expected to inherit his legacy. But he had a twisted heart. He practiced a devouring technique that could absorb others’ cultivation for his own use. During one of Master’s breakthroughs, when Wu Lian and Second Senior Brother were standing guard, he tried to devour Master.”
“Master was strong and blocked the technique, so the plan failed. But he still suffered internal injuries, damaging his foundation beyond recovery.”
“Seeing things turn bad, Second Senior Brother fled and never came back.”
“Senior Sister Wu Lian’s always blamed herself, saying if she’d reacted just a little faster, things might’ve been different.”
“…Your Master and Senior Sister being this normal is what throws me off the most,” Jiang Li muttered.