Black Journey to the West: The Imposter Star Lord

Chapter 54: Courtesy First, Then Force? Human nature has changed!

People tend to fill in the blanks with their own minds; ten sentences from one person are not as effective as one sentence from Gu Su herself.

This tactic was something I learned within the system. It's the way of officialdom: you can't say everything; leave some room for maneuver, both for yourself and for others.

It's just that it leaves itself a way out and others room to maneuver; to paraphrase that famous saying, let the bullets fly for a while.

"You bastard!"

Sure enough, seeing that Cao Xing remained silent, Gu Su stared at him for a moment, her expression changing repeatedly. Suddenly, she kicked Cao Xing to the ground and abruptly stood up from the soft couch: "Where are they? Who are they?!"

"At the mountain gate, there were only novice disciples. I didn't recognize them, but I heard them all call that person... Senior Brother."

"call!!"

As soon as Cao Xing finished speaking, a cold wind swept in, and the next moment Gu Su had already walked out the door. Before leaving, she didn't forget to say to Cao Xing, "I won't see you off tomorrow. Just don't die when you get to Qionglou Xianghui."

After saying that, Gu Su disappeared. Cao Xing stood up, wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, looked in the direction Gu Su had left, and sighed.

"Senior brother, when you're in this world, it's not about strength, it's about connections."

The next day, Cao Xing packed his things early and, carrying two large packages filled with the Corrupting Spirit Ointment, happily went to meet up with Wu Peng.

Upon meeting, Wu Peng couldn't help but boast to Cao Xing.

Wu Peng, hands on his hips, shook his blue Taoist robe, his face wrapped like a mummy, and said, "Junior Brother Cao, we entered the sect together. Now I have already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, but Junior Brother Cao still needs to continue to work hard."

Cao Xing kicked Wu Peng in the butt: "You bastard, you don't want your goods anymore?"

"Father, I am an unfilial son, please don't hold it against me." Wu Peng immediately knelt down.

"Good son, here you go, your New Year's money."

Cao Xing casually tossed a package to Wu Peng, who opened it with a grin, only to be immediately stunned. He looked up at Cao Xing and asked, "What's this??"

"Rotten Spirit Ointment"

Cao Xing roughly told Wu Peng the price of this product. According to the normal price, this pack of Corruption Elixir could sell for around two thousand taels.

After deducting the principal of one thousand taels of silver and interest, as well as his own 100 taels for running errands, this guy could definitely earn more than he would have made selling paulownia flowers.

Moreover, Cao Xing estimated that the phoenix flowers were currently being snapped up by other fellow disciples, and would be harder to sell by the time of the Qionglou Fragrance Gathering.

As for things like morning glory and black-boned eggs, when Wu Peng learned that the Chen family had already bought them all, he could only angrily curse them as heartless rich people.

When the Chen family was mentioned, Wu Peng leaned close to Cao Xing with a mysterious look and whispered, "Do you still remember Chen Xiang?"

"The young master of the Chen family, how could I forget?"

Speaking of which, Cao Xing had never seen this person since he joined the sect. According to Zhuang Duyou's assignment, this young master should have been assigned to the Baofu Palace.

"Sigh, comparisons are odious," Wu Peng sighed. "After I became an apprentice, I found out that this guy had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage in less than half a month. It's said that Elder Jin Yuan personally took him as his last disciple, and that this young master of the Chen family has a Fire Spirit Dao Body that is rare in a hundred years."

"oh."

Cao Xing nodded calmly, his composure making Wu Peng suspect that the guy hadn't even heard what he was saying.

In fact, Cao Xing had already made some guesses about the Chen family.

In the original Journey to the West, the Yuanhui Chen family was a very special place. On the one hand, they were incredibly wealthy, but on the other hand, they were the designated food source for the carp spirit under Guanyin's command.

That's right, it's designated food rations. With the Chen family's wealth, buying a few children wouldn't be difficult.

But the carp spirit specifically wanted to eat only the children of the Chen family.

The lottery was conducted in turn, and even the wealthiest man in Chenjiazhuang, Master Chen, could only watch helplessly when his lot was drawn.

Is it simply because eating children can grant immortality?

Cao Xing thought that wasn't entirely true; perhaps the Chen family had some other secrets.

However, now is not the time to delve into this matter. Cao Xing and Wu Peng had already arrived at Phoenix Tail Peak while they were talking.

There were already quite a few disciples waiting at the summit.

Cao Xing glanced around and saw that there were few familiar faces; most of them were novice disciples wearing blue Taoist robes.

This made Cao Xing, a disciple dressed in a plain yellow Taoist robe, stand out from the crowd.

Once you start walking up the mountain, you'll attract a lot of attention.

When they saw that it was Cao Xing, many people had strange expressions and even immediately distanced themselves from him.

"Huh!"

Wu Peng clearly noticed this as well, and looked up at Cao Xing behind him, saying, "Why are they looking at me like that? Am I that scary?"

Cao Xing glanced at Wu Peng: "Perhaps he was intimidated by your domineering aura."

Upon hearing Cao Xing's words, Wu Peng instantly felt his back straighten up a bit.

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. When I first started learning, I hadn't even started practicing Qi cultivation yet. Now, in such a short time, I've already successfully established my foundation. Judging from this speed, I can be considered a prodigy.

"Walk!"

Wu Peng led Cao Xing inside, and wherever they went, the new disciples immediately scattered, as if avoiding a plague god. There wasn't a single person within three meters of them.

Sigh, is this the treatment of the elite? It really is... lonely.

Wu Peng smiled and winked at Cao Xing, meaning that from now on, with him by his side, no one else could interfere.

Just as Wu Peng was feeling smug, the surrounding noise suddenly stopped.

Cao Xing seemed to sense something and turned around, only to see his senior brother descending from the clouds behind him, staring intently at him.

Upon closer inspection, Cao Xing noticed that Hong Kaiyuan still had a slap mark on his face, and even his left eye socket was bruised.

puff!

Despite it being a very serious occasion, Cao Xing couldn't help but grin when he saw his senior brother's appearance.

This smile made the expressions of everyone present even stranger, and some people even silently retreated, not daring to look at Hong Kaiyuan's face.

"Junior Brother Cao!"

Hong Kaiyuan walked up to Cao Xing with a dark face. However, to everyone's surprise, Hong Kaiyuan actually took the initiative to cup his hands and said, "I was impetuous yesterday. There has never been a murder case in our Shangfang Temple in so many years. I was flustered for a moment. Please forgive me for any offense I may have caused."

After saying that, Hong Kaiyuan took out a silver note of one thousand taels from his pocket and handed it to Cao Xing: "Consider this my apology to my junior brother."

An apology? Are you planning to try diplomacy first, then resort to force?

Cao Xing stared at the silver note and immediately realized that it must have Hong Kaiyuan's mark on it. This guy was probably already prepared to kill him.

So what? I just beat you up, and you're planning to kill me?

Alas, the world is going to the dogs, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be.

After a moment of reflection, Cao Xing's face broke into a bright smile as he accepted the silver note: "Thank you very much, Senior Brother."

"Haha, you're too kind, junior brother." Hong Kaiyuan chuckled dryly. Just as he was about to leave, Cao Xing suddenly stopped him, handed over the silver notes in his hand, and also added a hundred-tael silver note.

Hong Kaiyuan was taken aback and looked at Cao Xing with a puzzled expression.

Cao Xing pulled Wu Peng, who was still in a daze, over and said, "My brother borrowed a loan from my senior brother before. Now that he has money, why not just pay it back?"

As Cao Xing handed back the silver note, Hong Kaiyuan's deep gaze once again swept over Cao Xing.

"No need," Hong Kaiyuan suddenly said with a smile. "Since he is Junior Brother Cao's friend, he is also my friend. We don't talk about money between friends."

After saying that, Hong Kaiyuan glanced at Wu Peng and asked, "How should I address this junior brother?"

Wu Peng stood there stunned. Although they were both at the Foundation Establishment stage, Hong Kaiyuan was the senior disciple of the introductory disciples and had already reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, just one step away from the Golden Core stage.

Even though she had borrowed money, she only knew that this senior brother had lent her the money, but she had never even met him. When Hong Kaiyuan asked her this question, she was at a loss for words.

"Wu Peng, the character 'Wu' has the radical 'mouth', but no bird 'peng'."

At this moment, Cao Xing spoke up and mentioned Wu Peng's name.