THIS MASTER'S DISCIPLE

At the backside of SiSheng Peak's mountain area, there was an ancient barrier separating the ghost and the mortal realm. This barrier was originally created by Emperor Fuxi. After much time had passed, it had grown old and ruptured every now and then, allowing ghosts to invade the mortal realm. When that happened, the lower cultivation world served as the frontline and the common folks living there were at the ghosts' mercy. That was why SiSheng Peak as the protector of lower cultivation world built their base near the weakest point of the barrier, so they could repair the barrier in time in the event of a breach.

Chu Wanning leapt on top of the bluestone staircase which extended all the way down to the ghost realm. He stationed himself right before the crack, blocking the ghosts' entrance to mortal realm.

Xue Meng knew that he should not follow. Instead he shouted, "Shizun, be careful!"

Under normal circumstances, this kind of breach would pose no problem at all for Chu Wanning. Unfortunately, despite his strong cultivation base, he had spent many years in imprisonment after his spiritual core was destroyed. It took Chu Wanning some time to get used to using his spiritual power again. Longer than the time it took for the rift to broaden. Chu Wanning gritted his teeth as evil energy slowly permeated the back mountain area.

He turned to Xue Meng and yelled, "Xue Meng, leave! Find your shidis!"

"Yes, Shizun!"

He left obediently, sparing Chu Wanning the embarrassment of having to get used to wielding spiritual power again and also the efforts to find Mo Ran and Shi MingJing. Immediately after fixing this rift, he needed to work on accomplishing a few goals : One, get rid of the Eight-Sufferings-Long-Hatred Flower in Mo Ran's heart. Two, keep Shi MingJing alive and use him as the anchor to stop Mo Ran from blackening, should Chu Wanning somehow fail to extract said flower from his heart.

After a few hours had passed, he finally managed to summon Huaisha and beat back the ghost force steadily. As Chu Wanning slashed at the intruders, horrified screams could be heard coming from the annihilated ghosts. Another flick of his sleeve created a huge rift in the stone staircase, sending debris down the mountain along with the entities that tried to sneak into the mortal realm.

Chu Wanning was so focused in his task that he did not notice that Xue Meng already came back with Mo Ran in tow, captured like a prisoner. After the rift closed with a huge bang, Chu Wanning lightly descended on the ground and came face-to-face with Mo Ran again.

"…"

"…"

Chu Wanning's grip on Huaisha tightened. For a split of second, he saw fear in Mo Ran's eyes. For all that Mo Ran had done to him in the previous life, Chu Wanning was very much interested to strike him down then and there. But still, time turned back. He had the chance to make things right. Chu Wanning did not plan on letting things take the same course as in the previous life. This time around, he would make sure to protect his disciples well. Chu Wanning put Huaisha away.

It turned out that Xue Meng had a very good reason to drag Mo Ran before him. While Chu Wanning could not correctly place the thievery accusation, he clearly remembered the period when Mo Ran had been toiling around in pleasure districts and disappearing from SiSheng Peak completely. Chu Wanning had visited him once there in his previous life, when he created and crossed a tiny space-time gap to fix things. When his previous self split his soul between his current self and the current Mo Ran, it might have triggered a resonance and brought about space-time distortion, allowing him to come back.

Chu Wanning only replied with a curt "I see." after hearing what Xue Meng had to say. Xue Meng asked him to punish Mo Ran. Mo Ran was standing there, shivering. And Chu Wanning? Well Chu Wanning had more than enough reasons to punish Mo Ran. Then he reminded himself that he had to reduce the amount of negative memories that would feed the Hatred Flower, and that current life's Mo Ran should not already be made responsible for previous life's Mo Ran's transgressions.

The headache came again in form of stabbing pain. Chu Wanning knitted his brows and closed his eyes. Xue Meng looked at him with concern.

"Shizun? Is everything fine?"

Chu Wanning restrained the urge to rub his temples and replied flatly, "Everything is fine."

Despite everything, he still needed to discipline Mo Ran. Otherwise he would grow up to be unruly. Planting a little sense of fear was good; it kept the disciples' head down and their hands properly folded. Also, current life's Mo Ran seemed to be even worse than previous life's Mo Ran. Why did a Young Master of SiSheng Peak such as himself even need to steal? The idea itself was so ridiculous.

Mo Ran woefully glanced at him and said, "Shizun, Xue Meng is mistaken. I really did not commit debauchery and thievery. "

Xue Meng's eyes grew big. This… this shameless person. Never mind the debauchery offense, did Xue Meng not just see Rong Jiu's life treasure dropping from Mo Ran's sleeves???

Chu Wanning's eyes calmly landed on Mo Ran.

"You did not steal and commit debauchery?"

Mo Ran acted like the very image of purity, indignantly answered, "I would never!"

Very well then.

Before Mo Ran could say anything else, Tianwen sprouted from within Chu Wanning's palm and bound itself around Mo Ran.

"Mo Ran, did you commit theft?"

"I never…! AH…!!"

Chu Wanning stared at him. Mo Ran squirmed for some time, giant beads of sweat falling from his forehead. At the end, he fell on his knees and confessed, "I.. I did steal."

Chu Wanning did not even need to ask the second question but asked it nonetheless, "Did you commit debauchery?"

This time Mo Ran had the good sense not to waste his time and confessed directly, "I HAVE! I HAVE! PLEASE STOP, SHIZUN!"

Theft, debauchery and deceit. Chu Wanning's eyes flashed with fury. Unruly!

What followed was a lash across Mo Ran's cheek. Mo Ran fell to the ground from the impact, blood flowing from the gash on his cheek. Chu Wanning turned to Xue Meng solemnly.

"Xue Meng,"

"Yes, Shizun?"

"Mo Ran had trespassed against three mandates : theft, debauchery and deceit. Bring him to Yanluo Hall to receive his penance. Tomorrow morning, he shall be punished in front of everyone at the Platform of Sin and Virtue."

Xue Meng gaped at him.

"Wh-What, in front of everyone??"

His two disciples showed completely different reactions.

Xue Meng was surprised. After all Mo Ran was a Young Master of the SiSheng Peak! The Sect Leader – his father, Mo Ran's uncle – coddled Mo Ran the most because Mo Ran lost his parents early. Doing this kind of thing was equal to splattering mud at the Sect Leader's face, wasn't it?

Mo Ran's face, on the other side, turned into a sneer. Still gripping the end of Tianwen in his hand, Chu Wanning asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Mo Ran's face turned pale instantly. For a while he did not answer. At the end he could not win against Tianwen's interrogating power after all, and screamed out brazenly, "CHU WANNING! YOU THINK YOU ARE SO TOUGH?? I WILL FUCK YOU TO DEATH!"

"…"

"…"

Chu Wanning glared at Mo Ran for a long time. Forget the insolent remark, did Mo Ran already plan to humiliate him since young age??? Maybe he should really kill Mo Ran and spare himself future problems.

Fighting the urge to murder this beastly disciple, Chu Wanning withdrew Tianwen. Mo Ran disgusted him. He was not even worth being interrogated by Tianwen. Chu Wanning did not plan to waste another second on Mo Ran. He had better things to do.

"Tianwen is broken, I am going to fix it."

Chu Wanning turned to leave, but Xue Meng, the naïve child actually had the gall to question him, "Shizun, h-how could Tianwen be broken?"

Chu Wanning turned to look at him, pinning him with a glare. Xue Meng immediately shut up.