Chapter Five: Brothers for Life

Fang Che finally understood everything after hearing the whole story.

He felt a bit speechless; the matter, while seemingly complex, was nothing more than two families calculating against each other with schemes and intrigues. Yet, to say it wasn't complex would be to ignore its convoluted twists.

"The arrangements made by your Su family are truly... colorful. You advance with caution and retreat with contingency plans. I am impressed." Fang Che praised, "If you hadn't crossed paths with me, you might have actually succeeded. Alas, what a pity."

He then asked the questions that piqued his interest: "That envoy from the so-called Heart-Devoted Sect, the guy who uses the Five-Spirit Gu—what is his name? What does he look like? What is his cultivation level?"

"Oh, Sun Yuan? Above the Grandmaster level? White robes? Thin? Sharp-faced? A mole on his upper lip? Tsk, this guy has a decent disguise; he actually walks the continent with such brazen confidence."

Fang Che let out a scoff. He understood clearly that the Heart-Devoted Sect, as a subordinate unit of the Egoistic Orthodox Sect, must be involved in things that could never see the light of day. For this "Sun Yuan" to walk freely across the continent, the name must be a well-hidden fake identity—perhaps even one that held a positive public image.

That made the situation quite interesting.

"Brother Su," Fang Che sighed, sounding somewhat regretful, "it is time to say goodbye."

"Don't kill me, I beg you, please don't kill me..." Su Yue was sobbing uncontrollably, begging desperately.

"Brother Su, depart in peace. Do not worry about the family business; as your best brother, I will take good care of everything for you."

Fang Che drove a blade into Su Yue's chest. He twisted the knife inside the heart, using his wrist to churn it, and spoke with earnest, parental instruction: "A real man must learn to let go. People are born to die; what difference does it make if you die a little earlier or a little later? You need to look on the bright side."

Su Yue’s eyes bulged with rage as he stared fixedly at Fang Che, blood frothing from his lips as he struggled to speak: "Even as a ghost, I will never—"

He breathed his last before he could finish.

"As a ghost..." Fang Che sighed. "Why are you so optimistic? Where would you even get the chance to be a ghost?"

A milky-white shadow circled in the air—the spirit of the Golden-Horned Flood Dragon. It inhaled the soul-energy particles of the Su family members one by one, then let out a satisfied burp. For humans, this near-dissipating soul energy was impossible to grasp, but for a unique spirit entity like the Golden-Horned Flood Dragon, it was a potent tonic.

"Are they all cleaned up?" Fang Che asked. "Are you sure none of the one hundred and twenty-four are still alive? This is important."

The Golden-Horned Flood Dragon nodded obsequiously, its body still trembling slightly. The "great devil" before it was capable of crushing it to death even at its peak. Seeing him again, it found him just as terrifying. Over a hundred people had died without a sound—it was horrifying!

"Check again. Especially the soul of this Su Yue; it must be completely extinguished. After all, he still has to be my good brother for a lifetime."

Fang Che gave his orders, then began collecting the spoils. Gold and silver notes were set aside, monster spirit cores were stored separately, and as for the weapons... he found a place to bury them. Those items were bad luck. Anything that could prove their identities was buried together.

Then, he disposed of the bodies.

"Damn, this is exhausting." Fang Che shoveled the last bit of dirt and stomped on it with his foot, then jumped on the grave a few times.

"Come to think of it, you guys were arrogant enough to make me bury you myself. I must say, that is top-tier treatment! How fortunate. If I were to die one day, let alone you coming to bury me, you wouldn't even send a wreath. Thinking about it, that’s quite a loss."

"Besides, having your whole family together—that’s a form of happiness in itself."

"Now, let's see what this Thousand-Poison Demon King actually left behind!"

With the help of the turncoat Golden-Horned Flood Dragon, Fang Che thoroughly inspected the Thousand-Poison Demon King's hidden cave.

"Quite a lot of treasure!" A pile of spiritual crystals for cultivation, a pile of secret manuals, and a pile of rare heavenly treasures and exotic metals.

"It's a shame that, except for the lowest-grade spiritual crystals, there isn't much here that I can actually use at my current cultivation level," Fang Che said with a wry smile. Even the lowest-grade crystals were pushing his limits for now.

However, there were surprises. Inside the cave, he discovered a spiritual spring. While not of high quality, it was sufficient for his current needs. The biggest surprise was a Heavenly Pulse Vermilion Fruit growing by the spring. The fruit was already ripe, showing a deep purple-red hue, and was perhaps even slightly overripe, with fine lines appearing on its surface.

"At least a thousand years old. This is the good stuff I can actually use—cleansing the marrow and improving my aptitude!"

The Heavenly Pulse Vermilion Fruit was the perfect item for laying foundations and improving talent. He assumed the Thousand-Poison Demon King had prepared it for his descendants or successors.

"Killing you last time was truly the right choice, Thousand-Poison. Otherwise, how would this ever fall into my hands?" Fang Che sighed and plucked three of them.

***

One Heavenly Pulse Vermilion Fruit could improve one's aptitude, but that usually required the assistance of a powerful cultivator to guide the energy. Without that, Fang Che decided to take the maximum safe dose: three. Any more would be useless.

Six remained on the tree. He channeled the *Boundless True Scripture* and consumed them.

The first one went down, and his body began to itch as it secreted impurities. With the second, the secretions became like paste. By the third, it formed into long, strip-like shapes, as thick as a finger and seven inches long. The smell suddenly became quite pungent.

"Ugh!"

...

Fang Che sat cross-legged, absorbing the medicinal power. A quarter of an hour later, he took a bath in the pool outside the cave. The spirit entity of the Golden-Horned Flood Dragon watched the black, strip-like filth settling at the bottom of the pool with a complex look in its eyes.

...

Fang Che finished his work and was surprised to find his cultivation had increased by one rank, reaching the Third-Rank Warrior level.

"This Heavenly Pulse Vermilion Fruit clearly isn't meant for raising cultivation..." Fang Che sighed. His cultivation was so low that any minor benefit triggered a breakthrough. He was simply too weak.

However, when he checked his aptitude, he was stunned. The *Boundless True Scripture*, combined with the fruit, had amplified the medicinal effects several times over. He couldn't find a single flaw in himself.

"But with this top-tier aptitude, I should be enough to catch the eye of that Envoy Sun Yuan, right? Tsk tsk, top-tier aptitude, having survived the trial of the Five-Spirit Gu, a survivor of a desperate situation... to the Heart-Devoted Sect, I am the dream candidate they’ve been praying for."

...

Fang Che began camouflaging the cave, as it had been disturbed by the Su family. He couldn't carry all the loot with him.

"I really wish I had a spatial ring, but unfortunately, I don't have one in this life." Fang Che felt a bit melancholy. "I didn't have one in my last life either."

Seeing Fang Che about to leave, the Golden-Horned Flood Dragon felt reluctant. Even though this was the enemy who had killed it, it was the first human it could communicate with since becoming a spirit entity. It had been lonely for far too long.

"It’s not convenient for you to follow me now. If you enter the city, you'll likely be captured by the Guardians, as spirit entities are considered heretical," Fang Che consoled it. "Stay here, cultivate well, and watch over our home. Make good use of that spring. When you’ve achieved success in your cultivation, your soul is condensed, and you can hide perfectly, I’ll find a way to get you a weapon to inhabit. Then you can follow me."

"You’ve already begun to condense your spirit body; you must reach the 'formless' state as soon as possible."

The cultivation of a spirit body starts by turning from void to solid to manifest, but the next step is to become "formless." Only by returning from a manifested state to a formless one can one be considered to have entered the gate. A manifested spirit body was too easily discovered and shattered. Only by becoming formless could it ensure any degree of safety.

The Golden-Horned Flood Dragon tumbled about with joy. *Wow, I have a master again! And he's stronger than the last one!*

"As for those poisonous bugs and such, raise another batch to guard the place. The more, the better. Don't let anyone raid our nest."

The Golden-Horned Flood Dragon nodded frantically.

...

Fang Che dragged a deer down the mountain. The deer had been gutted, and inside, he had stuffed his spoils: six Heavenly Pulse Vermilion Fruits, a bag full of fingernail-sized low-grade spiritual crystals, a bag of low-grade monster cores, and the gold and silver notes. That was all. There were higher-grade crystals in the cave, but he didn't want them—not only were there too many, but before reaching the Innate realm, his meridians couldn't handle the innate spiritual energy contained within them. The same applied to the monster cores.

Taking them back now wouldn't be wealth; it would be a disaster. Leaving them here was fine; he could retrieve them anytime. He had always been open-minded about worldly possessions—it was better they were stolen by someone else than to bring them back and invite trouble upon himself.

...

Descending the mountain, as expected, the horse was nowhere to be found.

"Good luck, horse. I wonder if you’ve been eaten yet." Fang Che offered a sincere blessing, then found a suitable target and, well, stole another horse. For Fang Che’s mindset, as long as the ultimate goal was correct, minor flaws in the process were nothing to worry about. Still, he left a hundred-tael silver note and a note: "Borrowed your horse."

...

He arrived back in front of Bibo City in the afternoon. Fang Che rode the horse, carrying the deer, and swaggered through the city gate.

"Young Master Fang, back from hunting? Which mountain is this deer from? It's really fat." The gate guard, round as a ball, clearly recognized this nephew of the Fang family and greeted him with a smile.

"Fat?" Fang Che looked thoughtfully at the guard's belly.

The gate guard paused, then decided he didn't want to say another word. With a dark face, he barked, "Pass!"

Watching Fang Che ride off, the guard spat on the ground resentfully, "That guy is so damn annoying!"

Those nearby: ...Who told you to say the word "fat"? You brought it on yourself and now you're blaming him.

...

Fang Che returned to the Fang family compound and headed toward his small courtyard.

"Young Master brought back a deer? Seems like everyone will have a feast tonight." The Fang family’s guard master smiled broadly. "Haven't seen you in a few days, where did you go..."

Before he could finish, Fang Che turned to look at him: "I caught the deer, so why are you talking about 'everyone' having a feast? Did I say I was giving it to you?"

The guard had said "we," but Fang Che had focused on the "you." This guard was the reason Su Yue had been able to enter the courtyard unnoticed whenever he was on duty. His predecessor had been grateful for this guy and indulgent, but the current Fang Che wanted nothing more than to run him through with a blade.

The guard had wanted to ask where he’d been for two days and how worried the family was—partly to report back to others—but this comment made his face flush red. He stuttered, "This... this..."

Fang Che scoffed, "Thinking about freeloading all day long. You're a grown man, can't you have a shred of shame?!"

He dragged the deer away, entered his courtyard, and slammed the door shut. The guard stood outside panting, feeling as if his stomach were about to explode from rage. Fang Che, however, felt quite relieved: *Ah, being bad-tempered has its perks. When I don't want to talk about something, I can just throw a tantrum.*

...

Entering the courtyard, Fang Che quickly moved everything into his room. The silver and gold notes went under his pillow, the spiritual crystals were tossed onto the shoe cabinet, and the Vermilion Fruits—stuck in six small jade boxes—were hidden under a pile of apples and pears in a fruit bowl on the table. The monster cores went into the cupboard; he could turn those in for family missions later.

Anyway, don't ask. If you ask, he’ll just throw a tantrum.

He changed his clothes and began processing the venison, hanging it in the courtyard to slice into strips for a barbecue. Since he'd brought it back, he might as well eat some, even if just for show.

He sighed while working. "Having to do all this myself... what a tragedy!"

As an in-law of the Fang family and the son of the eldest lady, Fang Che naturally had servants. But the two maids were his mother's people, and since she was away on a mission, the previous Fang Che couldn't stand their cautious, sycophantic, yet inquisitive preaching. He had sent them both home on "vacation."

"Don't come back until my mother returns. If you come back early, I'll break your legs!"

For the two maids, this was a great perk—they could stay home for a few days. So they left. Now, neither his mother nor the maids were back, so Fang Che had to do everything himself.

Just then, a voice filled with a smile said, "Do you need this old man to lend a hand?"

Fang Che turned to look.

*Oh?*

White robes? Thin? Sharp-faced? A mole on the upper lip? A middle-aged man in his forties or fifties?

Isn't this... the envoy from the Heart-Devoted Sect that Su Yue mentioned?