Chapter 342: Chapter 329: One of the 3 Great Fierce Men

Yan Qi was just an Outer Disciple with average aptitude, but his reputation in the Profound Dao Sect was anything but small.

Wang Dashu, the Peak Master of Songdu Peak, once described him as "sincere."

But everyone else felt a different word was more fitting: stupid!

Just look at the ridiculous things he’s done, and you’ll understand exactly what kind of person he was.

Su Rong and Mo Ge were childhood friends, and everyone in the Profound Dao Sect knew she liked him. However, Su Rong was the Sect Leader’s daughter, and Mo Ge was terrifyingly murderous. Because of this, most people didn’t dare gossip about them.

But then there was Yan Qi. The big-mouthed idiot ran into a crowd during a gathering and whispered conspiratorially, "I’ve discovered something! Junior Sister Su and Mo Ge are having an affair!"

Who would have thought Su Rong was nearby? She stormed over, grabbed him, and gave him a savage beating. He was beaten so badly he looked like a pig’s head; even his own father didn’t recognize him when he got home.

After being beaten once, Yan Qi seemed to have learned his lesson. He decided to find an opportunity to clarify things and apologize.

At another gathering, he declared with great earnestness, "Actually, I was mistaken last time! Junior Sister Su and Mo Ge are *not* having an affair! I can guarantee it!"

Su Rong was furious. This time, she was even more vicious. After a flurry of WHACKS and THUMPS, Yan Qi had to be carried back to Songdu Peak.

Yan Qi felt so unbelievably wronged, a grievance worthy of making it snow in June.

He couldn’t figure it out. What the hell was going on? Did Su Rong have no sense of reason at all?

Say she and Mo Ge were having an affair, and he gets beaten. Say they weren’t, and he gets beaten even harder!

’You really can’t guess what a girl is thinking. The more you guess, the less you understand...’

Rumor has it that Yan Qi fell into a deep depression over this for a long time. He only emerged from his funk after much counseling from Tian Hao. He finally started to forget the whole affair and turned his attention to a matter of life and death for all humanity: in this world, which came first, the chicken or the dog?

Mo Ge hardly spoke two sentences all year, but he was the type to think before he acted.

Cai Chaoqun talked a lot, but he was the type to act before he thought.

As for that buffoon Yan Qi, when he wasn’t talking, he could go days without a word. But when he did talk, he could lie on the ground and chat with ants all day. He was the type to act without ever thinking at all.

"Better to get in a fight with a smart person than to have a conversation with an idiot." This was the private consensus on Yan Qi among the tens of thousands of disciples in the Profound Dao Sect.

Many people suspected: was this guy kicked in the head by a donkey as a child?

Otherwise, how could his brain be such mush? And how could he be so tactless, speaking without thinking, able to choke a whole crowd with a single sentence?

One day, Yan Qi was coming back down the mountain when he came across a senior brother cultivating in the woods.

That senior brother was practicing a Wood Element Technique. He wore a hat and was handsome, dashing, and debonair, his Fist Technique exquisite.

Upon seeing him, Yan Qi immediately went up and said, "Senior Brother, your Wood Element Technique is amazing! But when you use it, all that green light is a bit tacky. Especially when you’re wearing that hat... It’s not a good look, not a good look at all."

The senior brother’s face turned green when he heard this. "Come, come, Junior Brother Yan Qi. Let’s have a word in private."

BANG! POW! BAM!

He got a beating.

Ah, what a refreshing feeling!

Elder Leng Hui of Purple Stream Peak and Elder Liu Zongdao of East Screen Peak would argue every time they met. Whenever they started, Elder Leng would scold, "Liu Zongdao, you’re a dumb ass!"

Elder Liu Zongdao would immediately retort, "And you, Junior Sister Leng, are a stubborn mule!"

Anyone else would have avoided them like the plague, but Yan Qi, with the best of intentions, went over to mediate. "You’re both donkeys, so you’re family! Why hurt each other’s feelings?"

Afterward...

It’s said that Yan Qi was bedridden for three months, spending his days washing his face with tears. "What did I do wrong? I get beaten for trying to stop a fight! Is there any justice in this world?"

Once, Yan Qi went to the Celestial Palace City auction house and came back gleefully, saying, "Dad, I think I saw my long-lost brother today! The Jade Pendant in his hand was identical to the one on my waist... Holy crap, where’s my Jade Pendant?!"

You can’t talk about Yan Qi without talking about Tian Hao.

Tian Hao was Yan Qi’s partner; the two were inseparable.

Almost no one in the entire Profound Dao Sect would bother with Yan Qi, but Tian Hao, sharing his foul tastes, considered him a kindred spirit.

Tian Hao was a lecher, looked down upon by most of his martial brothers. All the girls in Celestial Palace City knew him and the popular saying: "Guard against fire, guard against thieves, and guard against Tian Hao."

Furthermore, the guy had a bizarre quirk: he loved to eat animal testicles. Now, nearly all the pigs, cattle, sheep, and horses on Songdu Peak were eunuchs. Those usually ferocious and untamable Demon Beasts would clamp their legs shut and become as docile as kittens upon seeing him. If anyone’s Spirit Beast was out of control, all they had to do was call him over, and the Spirit Beast would instantly become perfectly tame.

His prestige in the Beast Realm was far greater than that of the Sect Leader, Su Wenxuan.

Besides women, he also loved wine, but he was a lightweight. The moment he drank, he’d go wild.

When he wasn’t drinking, he was incredibly sharp. But once he had a drink, he became just like Yan Qi.

Give him a woman, and he could create a nation.

Give him a bottle of wine, and he would lead them to conquer the entire continent.

This was the story of the untouchable oddball duo from Songdu Peak.

Getting on the wrong side of two people like that was simply asking for endless trouble.

Zheng Donghong had heard all these stories. So, after having his "protection fee" extorted that morning, and thinking about Shen Lang’s temper, he had immediately taken off, running as fast as he could toward Shen Lang’s place.

But he was a step too late...

"What are we going to do? You beat them to a pulp! Those two won’t let you off. Not only are they at the Spirit Martial Realm, but they have a ton of lackeys and powerful backing. If something really happens, you’ll be the one to suffer... Hey, Junior Brother, are you even listening?"

"Oh, they’re tough guys. I’m listening," Shen Lang said, his fingers tapping a slow, steady rhythm on the table as if he were pondering something.

’It’s over. I’ve been talking for ages, and he hasn’t heard a single word,’ Zheng Donghong thought, a headache coming on.

Shen Lang suddenly looked up. "Brother Donghong, with your Celestial Profound Order, you could have entered the Profound Dao Sect’s Inner Sect directly. To be stuck in the Outer Sect for my sake, isn’t that a huge loss for you? To put it bluntly, a place like the Outer Sect offers basically no chance for advancement. All the menial chores in the Profound Dao Sect are handled by Outer Disciples. The difference in status between an Outer Disciple and an Inner Sect Disciple is like heaven and earth."

Zheng Donghong smiled and scratched his head. "It’s no loss at all. The Inner Sect... as long as I cultivate diligently, disciples from any peak can still get in. I believe that as long as I work several times harder than everyone else, I’ll definitely make it."

"Why did you come to the Profound Dao Sect? And why do you cultivate?" Shen Lang asked with a smile. "This touches on personal matters, so I’m just asking casually. Don’t mind me."

"I..." Zheng Donghong’s face suddenly turned red, and he stammered shyly, "You’ll probably laugh, but my childhood playmate, Ying Xin, joined the Profound Dao Sect two years ago, so... I cultivate because I want to become strong enough to protect her and keep her from any harm!"

Shen Lang stared at Zheng Donghong for a long moment before speaking. "Brother Donghong, is your Martial Soul a Flower Martial Soul?"

Zheng Donghong’s face instantly turned deathly pale. He was silent for a moment before saying, "Yes... it is. Many people say the Flower Martial Soul is a Wasted Martial Soul. It’s useless for attack, useless for defense, and its Recovery Power is slower than others. Even the speed at which it absorbs Spiritual Qi during cultivation is far slower than other Martial Artists..."

"Huh? How did you know I have a Flower Martial Soul?"

"Who says the Flower Martial Soul is a Wasted Martial Soul?" Shen Lang didn’t answer Zheng Donghong’s last question, instead raising an eyebrow and posing his own.

"Any Martial Soul, any power, when developed to its absolute peak, can cause mountains to collapse and the earth to split. So-called strength isn’t just about the power you can see on the surface. If a Flower Martial Soul is paired with a matching Cultivation Technique, the power it can burst forth with is by no means inferior to other Martial Souls. Moreover, a Martial Artist with a Flower Martial Soul can communicate with flowers, plants, and trees after reaching a certain level. They grow closer to the Natural Dao, and their late-stage cultivation will be much smoother than other Martial Artists."

"In the vast Great Desolate, some Royal Families of the Natural Races consider those with a Flower Martial Soul or a Tree Martial Soul to be geniuses. They take pride in the Flower Martial Soul, which has given birth to countless supreme experts."

"Such a thing exists?" Zheng Donghong’s eyes went wide as saucers, as if he were listening to a Celestial Book.

This was completely different from everything he’d ever known...

’Never mind how rare a matching Cultivation Technique for a Flower Martial Soul must be. Even with one, could a Flower Martial Soul really become *that* powerful?’

While Zheng Donghong was still in a daze, a sharp glint flashed in Shen Lang’s eyes, and his Spiritual Power began to circulate with incredible speed.

"Flowers fade, flowers fly, flowers fill the sky; crimson fades, fragrance ends, for whom is there to sigh?"

Suddenly, the small wooden hut flickered with light, and countless pink flower petals began to drift down.

"Th-this is..." Zheng Donghong was even more dumbfounded.

"Flower Dance, Bind."

Following Shen Lang’s soft murmur, a hurricane seemed to erupt. All the flower petals began to spin rapidly, instantly wrapping Zheng Donghong up tight, leaving only his head exposed!

"How can this be..."

Zheng Donghong was startled and struggled to break free, only to find the petals were pressed together as tightly as a wall of bronze, an iron fortress. No matter how much force he used, he couldn’t move them in the slightest!

"The power binding you is only equivalent to about the Qi Martial Realm Fifth Heaven, yet you are still unable to break free. In fact, if this binding technique is successful, even a Martial Artist several realms higher, at the Sixth or Seventh Heavens of the Qi Martial Realm, would have to expend considerable effort to escape... and this is with me having spent basically no effort cultivating it," Shen Lang said calmly.

"If you cultivate this technique diligently, and one day master it, binding a Spirit Martial Realm Martial Artist with the strength of the Qi Martial Realm’s Sixth or Seventh Heavens won’t be out of the question."

"What! Bind a Spirit Martial Realm Martial Artist?" Zheng Donghong exclaimed in shock.

Shen Lang smiled faintly and murmured again, "Flower Dance, Blade."

Shen Lang spread his five fingers, and all the petals enveloping Zheng Donghong immediately shot out in every direction, slicing into the walls like Flying Sabers. The sound of SHINK SHINK SHINK was endless!

As Zheng Donghong stood there, stunned, all the petals were embedded like blades in the walls all around the wooden hut!

Shen Lang placed a Jade Scroll against his forehead for a moment, then pushed it across the table to Zheng Donghong. "This Cultivation Technique was tailor-made for Martial Artists with a Flower Martial Soul. If you can cultivate it diligently, your future achievements will be limitless."

"..." Zheng Donghong still hadn’t processed what had just happened.