Days passed one by one.
In the blink of an eye, He Pingsheng had been on Xiuzhu Peak for more than half a month.
During this half-month, nothing special happened, but He Pingsheng himself had grown in weight and stature due to the half-month of meat and spirit rice refinement, coupled with daily water carrying.
He had become much sturdier.
When carrying water, it naturally wouldn't be so strenuous anymore.
To put it this way, he could now easily carry water twenty times a day.
However, to hide the effect of the golden rice, He Pingsheng still had to pretend to be exhausted every day.
On this day, the weather was clear, and the sky was azure.
He Pingsheng, as usual, carried water from the mountain spring to the entrance of the dining hall, and before he even reached the large vat, he saw a crowd gathered in front of the dining hall from afar.
They were colorful and eye-catching.
He Pingsheng took a look; many strangers had suddenly appeared here.
There were Personal Disciples wearing the special Dao robes of the Tai Xu Sect, and also Utility Disciples like He Pingsheng.
Everyone gathered together, pointing and discussing animatedly.
Occasionally, one or two stern female voices could be heard.
He Pingsheng originally didn't want to get close, but before he could pour his bucket of water into the vat, he heard a female voice say, "Hey... you, the one carrying water, come here!"
Only then did He Pingsheng turn around to look, and the dense crowd parted, revealing a gap. He saw a female wearing a pink Dao robe, with wide, angry eyes, glaring at him.
In front of this female wearing the pink Dao robe, Zhang Laoda lay on the ground like a dog, with a good deal of blood still on his mouth.
What…
What happened?
Zhang Laoda was beaten?
"Young Lady... Young Lady," He Pingsheng put down his carrying pole and respectfully approached the female, cupping his hands in greeting.
Rules within the Tai Xu Sect were strict. Utility Disciples had to bow and even kowtow when they saw Inner Sect Disciples.
Upon seeing a Junior Apprentice Brother, regardless of whether they knew him or not, they had to respectfully call him "Great Master"; upon seeing a Junior Sister, they would call her "Young Lady."
"Are you the Utility Disciple responsible for carrying water?" The female wearing the pink Dao robe looked at He Pingsheng with a frosty expression.
He Pingsheng took a deep breath and cautiously said, "Yes, this one is solely responsible for carrying water!"
"Clang..." Without another word, the female directly waved her hand and drew the treasured sword from her waist. With a flick forward, the sword's edge pointed at He Pingsheng.
Before the sword even arrived, a sharp gust of wind blew over.
He Pingsheng was so scared that he stumbled back three or four steps.
The female said, "Young Lady has a question for you. If you dare to deceive, I will not spare you today!"
"Yes, yes, yes..." He Pingsheng lowered his head again.
The female said, "The mountain spring of my Xiuzhu Peak has always been clear and sweet, the best among the Tai Xu Sect's nine peaks, even Heaven One Peak can't compare to us. I ask you, why has this water become increasingly turbid and unpleasant recently?"
"It's ordinary, and difficult to swallow!"
He Pingsheng's Face immediately fell: That's right!
When he first arrived, he also thought the water tasted very good, but recently it had become increasingly unremarkable.
He Pingsheng himself wanted to know the answer!
"This... this one doesn't know!" He Pingsheng didn't know, so he could only speak the truth.
"Hmph!" The female snorted coldly, two sharp rays of light shooting from her eyes: "You filthy, dirty fellow, did you perhaps go bathing in the spring water while carrying water, thus defiling our Xiuzhu Peak's immortal spring? If so, watch me kill you!"
He Pingsheng immediately panicked and said, "Never so, please investigate thoroughly, Young Lady!"
Before the female could speak, Zhang Laoda, who was lying on the ground, suddenly jumped up. He ran to He Pingsheng and kicked him.
With a bang, He Pingsheng was kicked to the ground.
Zhang Laoda raised his fist and smashed it hard on his head a few times, saying, "You damned bastard, I told you to carry water, but you were resentful and dared to pollute the water source! Watch me beat you to death, you ignorant fool!"
Bang, bang, bang...
Zhang Laoda hit him a few more times.
Seeing He Pingsheng bleeding from his nose and mouth, he finally stopped his hand fiercely and said, "Young Lady, rest assured, I'll chop this dog-like thing up later and feed him to the dogs!"
After speaking, Zhang Laoda fiercely kicked He Pingsheng several more times.
Although He Pingsheng had become somewhat stronger recently, he was still just a fourteen-year-old boy. How could he compare to Zhang Laoda, who was over thirty and full of fierce muscles?
He naturally couldn't fight back and could only curl up.
The female's expression also softened a bit, and she said, "Chopping this dog-like thing up is fine. Go back and get a sensible one over here, but this is all your Utility Disciple class's business!"
Upon hearing that these people were truly deciding his life and death, He Pingsheng immediately panicked. He crawled up from the ground and quickly said, "Young Lady, please be clear, this one carries water every day and simply has no time to go over there to bathe. Please investigate thoroughly, Young Lady, this matter truly has nothing to do with me!"
At this moment, another female wearing a green robe approached from a distance, looking flustered.
"Junior Sister, what are you doing?" The green-robed female said, "Are you going to cause trouble again?"
The pink-robed female said, "Second Senior Sister, you're here..."
"It's nothing major, it's just these filthy, disgusting Utility Disciples who dared to bathe in the spring water in the back mountain, polluting the immortal spring. That's why the water has tasted different these past few days. I'm here to uphold justice and kill this dirty thing!"
"No!" The green-robed female's expression changed in surprise, and she said, "Absolutely not!"
He Pingsheng saw hope for salvation and quickly took two steps towards the green-robed female, saying, "Young Lady, please be clear, this one has never bathed in that pool!"
"I usually drink this water too, how could I possibly disgust myself?"
The green-robed female nodded, then withdrew her gaze from He Pingsheng and looked at the pink-robed female: "Junior Sister, if someone bathed in the pool water, the taste of the water probably wouldn't change much. To find out what really happened, it's better to go to the mountain spring and see for yourself!"
"We can't wrong people for no reason. Although these people are all lowly Utility Disciples, they don't have it easy either!"
"Hmph..." The pink-robed female snorted coldly, feeling very much like she had lost Face.
The green-robed female said, "How about this, I'll go with you to the mountain spring to take a look... You few also follow along and see what exactly is strange about this water?"
He Pingsheng didn't know how to address these two females, but it was clear that the green-robed female's words carried more weight.
Everyone followed the two together towards the back mountain.
As they walked, He Pingsheng still limped, his whole body aching.
His Face was also bruised.
But even so, He Pingsheng still carried two empty buckets.
After all, he still had work to do later!
Otherwise, the consequences would be even more severe.