“Who doesn’t have a past they’d rather not mention?”
Hong Shan sighed, looking up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, his face full of tragedy and nostalgia.
“Back then, your Master, me, was afraid of being robbed! See this bald spot on the back of your Master’s head? It’s not because I’m old, but because someone grabbed my hair from the back of my head and forced your Master, me, to hand over my treasures! This patch of hair was forcefully pulled out!”
Hong Shan’s face was filled with indignation, as if he was about to cry at any second.
“Then… what happened to Master later? Did you hand everything over?”
“How could I not hand them over? If I didn’t, the hair on the front of my head would have been pulled out too!”
Ye Xinning shivered.
Since Hong Shan had given a personal account, she had to believe him somewhat, and Hong Shan was indeed doing it for her own good…
“Oh, the notorious great villain Hong Shan, now acting like a little lamb?”
Hong Shan’s expression immediately froze on his face.
“Zhang… Zhang Jie.”
He slowly turned around and looked at the woman behind him. Ye Xinning also saw her and realized that she actually knew this person; it was Zhang Jie, their first customer for cosmetics.
“Just call me Senior Sister. Zhang Jie sounds a bit old, mainly because you don’t even bother to take care of yourself, insisting on looking like an old man.”
Today, Zhang Jie looked a bit younger than last time. Her face was made up, and her skin appeared fairer and more supple.
It was clear she really liked using the cosmetics she received last time.
But Ye Xinning was more focused on something else.
“Hello, Auntie Zhang.”
Zhang Jie also saw Ye Xinning and immediately beamed with joy.
“It’s little Ye Xinning.”
Zhang Jie smiled and patted Ye Xinning’s head, asking:
“Going into the Secret Realm too?”
Zhang Jie had been there more than once. The last time she went to get cosmetics, she saw Ye Xinning behind the counter and chatted with her for a while, so they were acquainted.
“Yes.”
Ye Xinning nodded.
“What your Master said is true, the Secret Realm is very dangerous. There are almost no Qi Refinement Stage cultivators at the fourth level. You must protect yourself!”
For a Qi Refinement Stage cultivator at the fourth level, it was almost impossible for a Loose Cultivator to afford a ticket to enter the Secret Realm. After all, the Qingfeng Sect’s tickets for the Qingfeng Secret Realm cost two thousand Spirit Stones, which was twice as expensive as the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection.
Those who could afford this money were all Sect Disciples.
With Ye Xinning’s current strength, entering the Qingfeng Secret Realm was like a lamb entering a tiger’s den.
“Especially be wary, don’t run into someone like your Master!”
“My Master…” Ye Xinning looked at Hong Shan suspiciously. “Wasn’t my Master bullied?”
Hong Shan turned his head away and whistled nonchalantly.
“Your Master, back then, wasn’t someone who was bullied; he was the one who led the bullying of others!”
Zhang Jie snorted and immediately gave Hong Shan a kick.
“You tell her yourself, what did you do back then?”
Hong Shan shook his head.
“I will resist to the death!”
“Heh, you’re getting tough now?”
Zhang Jie sneered, then turned and looked at Ye Xinning with a smile.
“Back then, when he was at Nine Heavens Academy, there were some Secret Realms within the Nine Heavens Academy. During the Secret Realm trials, he gathered a bunch of people, claiming that there was strength in numbers, but in reality, they were just bandits, robbing everywhere and beating fellow Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters to the ground.”
“Wasn’t he afraid of retaliation from others?”
Ye Xinning was greatly shocked.
They were all acquaintances; they would definitely get beaten up after coming out.
And would Nine Heavens Academy approve of such robbery among fellow Disciples?
“Fighting among fellow Disciples is naturally not allowed in ordinary circumstances, but in the Secret Realm, Nine Heavens Academy not only doesn’t interfere but also highly encourages it.”
Zhang Jie explained, then pointed a finger at Hong Shan.
“The Academy’s original intention was to enhance the students’ practical combat experience and cultivate individual fighting ability, but this guy was clever. He brought in the gang-forming tactic. Your Master, relying on his good speaking skills, gathered a group of people to rob. No matter how strong one person is, they can’t beat a group, can they?”
Hong Shan had already turned away, but he still buried his head.
“Isn’t this also a kind of approach! Senior Sister, just tell me if it was useful or not!”
“Useful, of course it was useful. At that time, countless people were beaten by him until they cried for their parents, and he was naturally one of the few people with the most abundant harvest in the Secret Realm, and his final score was also very high.”
Ye Xinning nodded, half-understanding, and then glanced sideways at Hong Shan.
So, this old man wasn’t hoping she wouldn’t get wet because he had been drenched himself.
Hong Shan clearly tore up other people’s umbrellas and then poured water on their heads.
“Then Master’s bald spot on the back of his head…”
“That’s what I’m going to talk about next.” Zhang Jie’s face showed a hint of cunning and mischievous smile that shouldn’t belong to her age, and she looked at Hong Shan teasingly.
Hong Shan immediately turned his head, wanting to rush over and cover Zhang Jie’s mouth.
“Senior Sister, leave a little room for maneuver, so we can meet again pleasantly in the future!”
But Zhang Jie slapped Hong Shan’s arm away, sidestepped, and gave Hong Shan another kick on the backside.
“Heh, why didn’t you think of that back then?”
“I didn’t rob you, Senior Sister!”
“I don’t care.”
Hong Shan pounced again, but in front of Zhang Jie, who was in the Returning Void Stage, Hong Shan was no match at all. Zhang Jie clamped Hong Shan’s right arm with one hand, pulled hard, and then pushed hard when Hong Shan stumbled forward, almost dislocating Hong Shan’s arm.
“You cut it out. If you really want to fight, let’s go outside the city. I don’t mind teaching you another lesson.”
Hong Shan slunk back, pulled Ye Xinning, and tried to leave.
But Hong Shan suddenly hit an invisible wall.
“Don’t go, listen.”
“Senior Sister, is this necessary!”
The space around Hong Shan was confined. He knocked on the invisible wall, but Zhang Jie had also isolated the inner and outer space, so not even sound could get out.
Therefore, no matter how angry Hong Shan was, Ye Xinning and Zhang Jie could only see him indignantly banging on the wall.
Zhang Jie walked directly to Ye Xinning’s side, put her arm around her shoulder, and whispered to her, a faint smile on her lips.
“Let me tell you what happened. Your Master was indeed arrogant for a while, but later, when he entered the Secret Realm again, those people he had robbed secretly united and formed groups when entering the Secret Realm.”
Ye Xinning secretly looked back and found that Hong Shan was now banging his head against the wall, but it was still no use at all.
“If these people encountered your Master, they would first assess the strength of both sides. If they didn’t have the advantage, they would immediately run and find other people to strengthen their forces. If they had the advantage… hehe!”
Zhang Jie giggled.
“And that patch of hair on the back of your Master’s head was indeed pulled out by someone. That person rode on his back, pulling and cursing. It was quite a story within the Sect back then…”