9.Peers

As Wang Feng often showed his face in sermons, he, as the new guy, attracted curious gazes. The inner sect disciples mostly consisted of established cultivation families and their members. Everyone belonged to a clique. The newest members were fifteen- to sixteen-year-olds who had long established themselves and carved out a place for themselves.

They couldn't take it anymore. This guy hadn't gone through the selection process. He had skipped the outer sect phase. He hadn't begged to be backed by one of the families. This was a huge opportunity for him—an exclusive opportunity to suck up to them. He just didn't knock on their door.

"Hey, who are you supposed to be?"

Wang Feng answered.

"My name is Wang Feng."

The fifth young master of the Su clan, Su Yi, was angered.

"I didn't ask your goddamn name! How come you are an inner sect disciple? Are you the illegitimate son of the sect master or something? Which family do you actually belong to? "

Su Yi was green with envy. How come this guy became an inner sect disciple right away? Everyone else rightfully bribed the exam elder. It was unfair for this guy to just waltz in. Even penniless geniuses went through rigorous selection procedures so they could gain the opportunity to suck up to clans.

Wang Feng smiled. Then he said, "I belong to no family, have no backing, and have no desire to join any clan. Clans are more trouble than they are worth." He paused for a second. "Yours included." Clans were an oligopoly of spiritual resources. Normally, a cultivator's martial career would be cut short if they offended the clans. Buying and selling would be nigh impossible unless that cultivator left the country. By controlling the supply, they would hold immortality-obsessed cultivators in an iron grip. Sometimes people would sign their lives away for a realm-breaking pill. For a guy like Wang Feng, it was an attitude problem. He simply refused to be reared like a chicken, even if it was dazzlingly auspicious.

Su Yi was actually desperate. His mother was a hooker. Not a nasty backstreet one, but a high-class one that sophisticated men liked to use. His father, to protect his son from his three wives, sent him to the sect. He, with all his disadvantages, naturally lost the game of intra-familial politics. Before returning to the family, he had to amass a small army to become his force; otherwise, he would die.

Even this punk rejected him.

"I don't think so. You just don't have what it takes. I don't know what your deal is, but I doubt you are anything much."

Wang Feng put the book he was reading back into his bag.

"Alright, let's go to the battle hall. Chop chop. I don't have all day."

Su Yi was shocked. This pipsqueak was too bold. He was just in the body-nourishing realm.

"Alright, bring it on."

A crowd was forming in the battle hall as preparations were taking place. According to sect rules, during every fight, there has to be a medicine hall disciple present.

The gong rang, and Wang Feng, using spiritual Qi jets, launched himself into the air within seconds. Mid-air, he amassed an intense amount of centrifugal force using jets, landing a heel kick on Su Yi's chin.

Su Yi wheezed, then faceplanted to the ground.

Wang Feng landed. Using the sticky gecko art and contortionist art, he slithered to Su Yi and put him into the rear naked choke.

"Boy, I squeeze, you die!"

A stream of tears flowed down Su Yi's face.

"Kill me! I am dead anyway! I'm not afraid of dying."

Wang Feng was offended.

"Boy, you don't know what death is. Let me tell you about death. You just stare at black nothingness forever. There is no rest, no respite. There is nothing but you and your thoughts. You should screech in terror if you feel death is near instead."

Wang Feng got up and declared,

"I shamefully and in a humiliated manner admit defeat!"

Su Yi was shocked. What was happening? Why? What? Why did he admit defeat?

Wang Feng left the arena, sat on a wall, and started drinking a spiritual elixir. Su Yi approached him again.

"Hey, what happened back there? Why did you admit defeat?" Su Yi asked.

Wang Feng sneered. "Your Su clan is too overbearing. If I declared victory, they would seek revenge to save face. Why are you trying to impress those scum anyway? Why don't you abandon the surname Su so you can survive? The world is far larger than just the Su clan."

Su Yi froze in place. Why hadn't he thought of that before? What did he really gain from the Su clan? He was a Shoushan sect inner disciple, but he was struggling to keep up. Thanks to his father's wives, his stipend was getting lower every time he received it. His father defended him from outsiders, but he was silent during family matters, where the real dangers lay.

In his mind, two choices had become three. He didn't have to either die or gut his family. He could just leave.

Su Yi skipped some steps and made his way to the main hall. He slammed the front door open and declared, "I'm promoting myself to outer sect disciple!"

Elder Wei, who looked after petty sect affairs, was so startled that he started shaking. Wei Bo hadn't seen such a development in the 30 years he had been an elder.

"Did you mean demote?" Wei Bo asked.

Su Yi sighed with the supreme happiness that stems from having the knot in his heart unraveled. "No, I meant it when I said promote. It's a promotion for me, from an inner sect loser to an outer sect winner."

Wei Bo winced in disdain. "What a shameless bastard!" Do you want to bully the less fortunate? All you clan bastards are the same. All despicable…"

Su Yi loudly declared, "Time to pay my family a visit. I have to denounce my name!"

Su Yi was loudly declaring what he would do, so he couldn't back down afterward. It took a lot of guts to do this.

He leaned on the desk. "Elder Wei, listen to me. Change my name to Yi the Bastard in the sect records. My father bribed me into the inner sect anyway. Don't feel bad about putting me into the outer sect."

Wei Bo understood what was going on. Tears streamed down his face as he kissed the young lad on the forehead and hugged him. This was the young hero he had dreamed of being back in the day.

Yi the Bastard made his way toward his former clan. Wei Bo watched as Yi's valiant back walked further toward his future.

Meanwhile, spies planted by Shi Hong reported to him that the formerly named Su Yi, now Yi, and Wang Feng had fought in the arena. Afterward, Su Yi demoted himself to an outer sect disciple and went home to denounce his family name. This was a huge blow to Shi Hong. He had been taking massive amounts of spirit stones under the table just to keep the kid safe and within the inner sect, away from family affairs. Since Yi denounced his family name, he is not part of Su family politics anymore.

Shi Hong, in one fell swoop, lost a potential asset within the Su family, lost the yearly payment of a massive amount of spirit stones, and also lost a promising young peon talented in the sword arts.

Thousand Puppet Venerable was depressed. Was he the puppet all along? Was he just a chess piece in Wang Feng's grand game?

Yi the Bastard showed up at the Su family headquarters. "I wish to talk to my father!"

He was told his father was busy and he was to wait at the guest house. The servants brought some tea, and Yi the Bastard reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver needle. The needle turned black upon contacting the tea. Yi, the bastard, sneered.

Yi said, "It never disappoints.".

He threw his teacup at the servant, who fell to the ground, bleeding. Yi then pulled out his sword, causing the servants to scatter like rats. He blasted the guest house to smithereens and sheathed his sword before making his way toward his father's office. No one dared stop the son of the Su clan, even though he was the bastard son of a whore.

As Yi approached his father's office, he pulled out his sword and, with a cross-slice, shredded the wooden door in front of him into splinters. His father, Su Yuan, was startled.

"Su Yi? Why are you here? Why did you do this to my door?" his father asked.

"I've been here for a day. In the guest house," Yi replied.

He threw a blackened silver needle at his father. "They never informed you of my arrival. You will never chase after the culprits. You will find out its family and cover it up."

Su Yuan didn't answer.

"No matter. I'm here to denounce my family name," Yi continued.

An audible gasp could be heard as other family members showed up.

"You ungrateful brat! After all the things I've done for you!" Su Yuan exclaimed.

Yi, the bastard, was enraged. "What do you want me to do? Die at the hands of my own family members? Or perhaps you prefer I cut them into ribbons instead! Su Ning is only five years old!"

Yi calmed himself down. "I hereby denounce my Su name and all the rights that come with it. I am hereby known as Yi the bastard!"

One of the wives, Su Fan, laughed. "All my brothers and sisters, hear me! Either you will die or you will kill your siblings. Even if you survive, you will never be the same. I, Yi the bastard, with nothing but a sword to my name, will live a happier life. Thank your mothers for that."

He turned his back on his family, never to return again.