Chapter 71: Creeping Vines Hard to Uproot
Inner sect, Tongchen Peak. Under the slanting sun, the shadows of the eaves of the Hall of Affairs stretched long.
Shan Zifeng sat carelessly in the hall, holding a small booklet in his hands, flipping through it page by page.
Standing in the middle of the hall was a cultivator dressed as an outer disciple.
Seeing that Shan Zifeng did not speak, he grew rather flustered and ill at ease.
“…”
The atmosphere in the room was oppressive. Perhaps the disciple could endure it no longer, for he finally spoke in a trembling voice.
“Senior… Senior Shan…”
Shan Zifeng suddenly spoke, cutting him off: “Last month, you sent back a considerable amount of spirit grain and spirit tea to the sect, didn’t you…”
“So why is it that when it reaches my Hall of Affairs, only this much remains…”
“That’s thirty percent less than usual.”
Shan Zifeng spoke very slowly.
But every word struck the outer disciple’s ears with heart-pounding terror.
Shan Zifeng walked up to him and seized him by the hair.
“You skimmed it, didn’t you?”
A jade slip in his hand cracked against the outer disciple’s face with a sharp smack, producing a chilling sound in the deathly silent Hall of Affairs.
“That’s not it…”
“I would never do such a thing, Senior Shan…”
The outer disciple trembled all over, his forehead bruised purple and seeping blood.
“According to reports, North Fort was attacked by spirit beasts last month…”
Boom!!
Before he could finish, a porcelain cup shattered against the coiled dragon pillar just beside his ear.
Porcelain shards flew in all directions.
Shan Zifeng suddenly erupted, delivering a kick to the outer cultivator’s knee.
The outer cultivator cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground.
A pair of python-patterned boots ruthlessly ground against the fingers that had been bracing against the floor: “Negligent in your duties, and you still dare to argue?”
“Oh, right…”
He suddenly leaned down and grabbed the outer cultivator by the collar.
“Young Hu… I hear you have a younger sister working in the kitchens?”
Pupils contracting violently, the disciple surnamed Hu let out a whimper from his throat. Before any sound could escape, a kick from Shan Zifeng struck him square in the chest, sending him flying backward to crash heavily onto the ground.
“Tomorrow, tell her to come to the Hall of Affairs to receive her punishment.”
“Senior Shan…”
“What?”
Shan Zifeng turned his head, his expression vicious and cold, staring down the disciple surnamed Hu until he dared not speak again.
“Rest easy…”
“When your sister arrives, I’ll have her personally apply medicine for you.”
An inner disciple at the seventh level of Qi Refining daring to lord over others in such a manner—if word got out, people would find it absurd.
But Shan Zifeng was indeed somewhat different.
Shan Zifeng’s clansman, Shan Jiugao, had been a nominal disciple taken in decades ago by Wang Lin, the peak master of Tongchen Peak.
During a chaotic battle pursuing and suppressing demonic cultivators, he had died shielding Wang Lin from a lethal strike.
To fulfill his moral obligations, Wang Lin had placed Shan Zifeng’s father—who possessed no aptitude for cultivation—into the outer sect as a messenger.
Later, a prodigy with dual spirit roots emerged from the Shan family’s distant relatives and was sent to the inner sect, where he established his foundation.
These many connections became the stepping stone for Shan Zifeng to curry favor with Wang Lin, the peak master of Tongchen Peak.
Although it was merely a nominal title, the person truly guiding him was Elder Li Jianping.
But the identity of being a peak master’s disciple was already enough to make many people fearful.
How many disciples did the Eastern Abyss Sect have?
Excluding the mortals with no spirit root aptitude who worked at various locations within the sect, the sect’s disciples numbered over ten thousand.
Add to that the children of immortal cultivation families affiliated with the sect, and the number was innumerable.
Among them, those who could establish connections with the peak masters of the various peaks were exceedingly few.
And what was the status of each peak master?
They were the strongest figures in the entire Eastern Abyss Sect, second only to the sect master.
Many of them stood at the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment, rising talents with hopes of reaching Golden Core…
There were also no shortage of great cultivators at the False Core stage who had failed their Golden Core tribulation and settled for the next best thing.
Moreover, Shan Zifeng’s natural talent was mediocre, but he excelled at scheming.
Even when he was still in the outer sect, he had bribed the outer sect supervising disciples to gain various conveniences for himself.
In conversations, he would often mention how his clansman had died in battle for Wang Lin, the peak master of Tongchen Peak.
After entering the inner sect, he had that Foundation Establishment relative pull strings to have him assigned to Tongchen Peak.
When fellow disciples inquired, he would fall silent on the matter of Wang Lin, claiming only that his Foundation Establishment relative had a deep relationship with him.
This aura of influence reached its peak when he took over the affairs of Tongchen Peak’s Hall of Affairs. Fellow cultivators assumed his background was sky-high, that he was watched over by multiple high-ranking inner sect cultivators.
He had fashioned himself into a chosen favored by a peak master’s protection and nurtured by a Foundation Establishment inner sect cultivator.
Furthermore, he only targeted those outer disciples whose aptitude was average or below, and who had no connections or relationships.
As long as they still wished to cultivate peacefully within the Eastern Abyss Sect…
They had no choice but to submit to the false image of power and authority that Shan Zifeng fabricated through various means.
Some even eagerly became his lackeys, joining him in his wrongdoing.
In just a few short years, he had somehow amassed a small faction of his own.
Shan Zifeng was well aware in his heart that these people were not truly working for him.
Among them, some merely wanted to avoid being oppressed.
Some, like Shan Zifeng himself, wished to squeeze benefits out of the lower-ranking cultivators.
But did that matter?
He only wanted power and resources.
Everything else was none of his concern.
Did the lower-ranking cultivators receive many spiritual resources through the Hall of Affairs?
Not necessarily.
A single cultivator indeed received little, but when the numbers accumulated, the amount of spiritual resources he could siphon became quite substantial.
Among these were quite a few cultivators with extremely poor aptitude whose progress was already slow.
Having their resources embezzled by Shan Zifeng, their hopes of progressing on the immortal path extinguished, they left the sect.
In the past, some had once caused a scene in the Hall of Affairs out of desperation.
But for Shan Zifeng, such fools were the easiest to deal with.
No strength and no background.
Just crush them and be done with it.
Those lower-ranking cultivators, one or two at a time, could never contend with these bone-gnawing parasites already entrenched in the sect.
“Senior Shan.”
Behind the Hall of Affairs, a square-faced disciple handed over a jade slip with an obsequious smile.
“These two knew their path was hopeless and left the sect today. I’ve settled all the matters… These are the things they ‘left behind.'”
Shan Zifeng let out a cold snort: “Hmph, these trash—why waste these natural spiritual resources on them.”
“They knew what was good for them…”
“…”
The square-faced disciple hesitated for a moment before speaking: “Senior Shan…”
“Hm?”
“That Song Yan…”
Shan Zifeng paused and turned his head to look at him.
The square-faced disciple felt a chill run through his heart.
“Speak.”
“This person is retracing his cultivation, and his progress is abnormally fast…”
“I fear that if he breaks through to the seventh level of Qi Refining and enters the inner sect…”
The square-faced disciple did not finish, but the implication of his words was self-evident.
Entering the inner sect meant it was possible to become a disciple under an elder.
If that happened, no matter what excuse or pretext they used to delay, that batch of spiritual resources sent by the Profound Abyss Sect would eventually have to be handed over.
The square-faced cultivator was naturally thinking on Shan Zifeng’s behalf. When Shan Zifeng ate meat, they could at least drink some soup.
If the resources were gone, they would receive nothing.
“Hmph…”
Shan Zifeng let out a cold laugh: “He’s just a dog being kicked around by others…”
Recalling the scene in the Cultivation Court that day, he could not help but feel a surge of anger.
Ever since entering the inner sect, had anything not gone smoothly for him?
And here was a mere outer sect cultivator…
“Go investigate thoroughly whether this person has any kin within the sect.”
“If he truly is all alone…”
“Then notify Zheng Bo and the others. Find a time…”
A flash of viciousness crossed Shan Zifeng’s eyes.
“To cripple him once more.”