Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World

Chapter 291: Chapter 166 I Really Am a Menial Disciple!_2

Gu Sheng spoke convincingly, weaving his words with such confidence that it was hard to tell where the truth ended and the lies began. Even Mo Buwen, somewhat muddled at the moment, gradually felt Gu Sheng’s reasoning was sound.

Mo Buwen stopped dwelling on the issue and instead inquired about Gu Sheng’s attire: ”Junior Brother Gu, isn’t it a sect rule that we must wear sect uniforms when venturing outside? How come you’re not wearing one? As far as I know, even core disciples don’t have this privilege, right?”

Gu Sheng, blessed with extraordinary talent and with elders in his family having ties to the Great Elder, seemed to Mo Buwen to have likely been directly arranged by the Great Elder to join the Cloud Saint Peak as a core disciple!

When Gu Sheng heard this, he could only let out a helpless bitter smile—not that he didn’t want to wear the uniform, but simply because he didn’t have one!

”The sect attire you’re referring to is something only formal disciples receive. I’m just a servant disciple—why would I have that?”

Mo Buwen’s face filled with disbelief upon hearing this: ”A servant disciple? Impossible! The Great Elder...?”

By all logic, since Gu Sheng had already met the Great Elder, his status was beyond question. His family’s elders must undeniably be on good terms with the Great Elder. If not, the Great Elder wouldn’t tolerate someone deceiving him, let alone admit them to the sect without meting out grave consequences. Mo Buwen couldn’t understand why, since the Great Elder accepted Gu Sheng, he would still have him start as a servant disciple.

Truthfully, even Gu Sheng himself couldn’t figure out the answer to this conundrum.

After returning to the Holy Pill Sect, Gu Sheng arrived at a three-way intersection. ”Let me take you back first! I also need to head to the Merit Hall to submit my task.”

Carrying Mo Buwen on his back, Gu Sheng reached the midsection of War God Peak, where the dense cluster of small huts served as the living quarters for War God Peak’s outer sect disciples. Following Mo Buwen’s directions, they arrived at one of the huts.

Mo Buwen pulled a jade token from his sleeve and handed it to Gu Sheng. ”Junior Brother Gu, this is my identity token. Place it in that slot, and the door will open.”

”Huh? Xiao Mo, what happened to you? Who beat you up like this?”

Just as Gu Sheng was about to open the door, Lin Miaomiao’s voice echoed.

When Lin Miaomiao saw Mo Buwen’s disheveled and beaten appearance, she immediately rushed over in concern.

Gu Sheng placed the identity token in the slot on the door and pushed it open, saying, ”Senior Sister Lin, let’s talk inside!”

Once inside the hut, Gu Sheng set Mo Buwen down onto the bed and proceeded to recount everything that had transpired in the Red Cloud Mountain Range.

Upon hearing the story, Lin Miaomiao shot to her feet in rage and began cursing: ”Once again, it’s those damned bastards from the Thousand Poison Sect! They’re too much! They dare to openly sneak into our Holy Pill Sect’s territory! Clearly, we’ve been far too lenient with them recently!”

Mo Buwen’s expression turned somber. ”Senior Sister Lin, you must avenge Xiao An! His body was even hacked into pieces by those bastards and dumped in the Red Cloud Mountain Range.”

The ”Xiao An” Mo Buwen referred to was An Xin, another member of their small group who typically followed Lin Miaomiao’s lead.

Upon hearing the news of An Xin’s death, Lin Miaomiao trembled with anger. Her fists clenched, and it seemed as if she would charge into the Red Cloud Mountain Range on the spot to settle scores with the Thousand Poison Sect.

”Senior Sister, Brother Mo is seriously injured. The pills I gave him and the medicinal powder I applied are just to stabilize his condition. You should find a professional to treat him properly to avoid any lasting damage.”

Lin Miaomiao snapped out of her rage upon hearing Gu Sheng’s reminder and immediately nodded. ”Yes, yes! I’ll go find someone right away! I also need to report this to the officials. I believe the sect will respond swiftly!”

After Lin Miaomiao left, Gu Sheng, seeing that Mo Buwen was temporarily in no serious danger, also left the room to head to the Merit Hall.

At the side of the first floor of the Merit Hall, there was a dedicated counter responsible for logging and settling tasks.

Gu Sheng handed over his task slip, then opened a wooden box to display the head of a hallucinogenic porcupine and two hundred of its quills, placing them on the counter.

”Hello, I’m here to submit a task.”

The person in charge of task submission was a middle-aged woman with a dignified appearance.

After taking the slip and noticing it was a two-star difficulty task, the woman glanced at Gu Sheng with furrowed brows. ”Why aren’t you wearing the sect uniform? If you can’t give me a reasonable explanation, I’ll deduct ten sect contribution points from you!”

Gu Sheng was speechless and internally cried out, ”This is daylight robbery!” Completing a two-star task with much effort only earned him fifteen points, yet not wearing the uniform would cost him ten? It felt absurd!

Fortunately, Gu Sheng had a solid reason that couldn’t be refuted.

With a look of resignation, he explained, ”I’m just a servant disciple. The sect hasn’t issued me a uniform.”

Due to the nature of the task, Gu Sheng hadn’t bothered to use the Snake Breath Skill to conceal his cultivation. The aura he emitted was clearly that of the Bronze Bone Realm.

The middle-aged woman, being a Golden Bone Realm cultivator herself, noticed his cultivation level, and her face filled with confusion as her tone sharply rose. ”A servant disciple?!”

Her expression turned stern as she continued, ”Do you take me for a fool? I’ve been with the Holy Pill Sect for years, and I’ve never heard of a Bronze Bone Realm servant disciple! Speak—what’s your name, and which peak are you from? I’ll look into it. If I find out you’re lying, I’ll deduct twenty contribution points as the price of deception!”

Gu Sheng was exasperated. In this day and age, it seemed nobody believed the truth anymore. Calmly, he answered, ”My name is Gu Sheng. I really am a servant disciple. In fact, it was Core Disciple Chen Ke who personally led me to claim my residence.”

The woman grabbed a jade token roughly forty centimeters long and twenty wide, manipulating it deftly. After a brief moment, her frown deepened. ”Huh, I can’t find your records at all!”

She looked at Gu Sheng and said, ”Chen Ke, huh? You wait right here—I’ll call him over to confirm.” She quickly instructed a younger girl standing nearby, who nodded and left the Merit Hall briskly, evidently heading to Cloud Saint Peak to retrieve Chen Ke.

The woman refused to process Gu Sheng’s task and kept a close eye on him, as if afraid he would flee.

The two stared awkwardly at each other for over twenty minutes before the girl returned with a slightly winded Chen Ke.

Chen Ke walked up with a respectful tone. ”Aunt Xue, you called for me?”

The woman gestured toward Gu Sheng and asked, ”Is he the servant disciple you personally brought in?”

Seeing Gu Sheng, Chen Ke nodded with a smile. ”Is that all this is about? You had me running in such a rush! Yes, he’s indeed a newly admitted servant disciple. His cultivation is decent, but it was the Great Elder who personally instructed me to bring him to the servant disciples’ quarters.”

”The Great Elder personally instructed this?”

The woman grew even more perplexed. For someone of Gu Sheng’s age to reach the Bronze Bone Realm, his martial arts talent was unbelievably exceptional. Such a talent would ordinarily be treated as an inner sect disciple at the very least!

Noticing the woman’s confusion, Chen Ke grinned. ”Aunt Xue, why the serious face? Sure, this kid’s cultivation isn’t bad, but haven’t there been servant disciples in the sect’s history who reached the perfected Blood Refining Realm? It’s not unprecedented.”

The woman gave Chen Ke a stern look.

Indeed, there had once been a servant disciple who reached the perfected Blood Refining Realm in the Holy Pill Sect’s history, but that person had already been twenty-eight years old at the time. Moreover, it was only because he married his sister off as a concubine to a steward in War God Peak’s outer sect that he was admitted.

The difference between Gu Sheng and that individual was like night and day. Gu Sheng was only seventeen! And he wasn’t a mere perfected Blood Refining cultivator—he was in the Bronze Bone Realm!

The woman snapped, ”Who told you he was at the perfected Blood Refining Realm? How can you call yourself a core disciple when you misread such a thing?”

Chen Ke chuckled awkwardly. ”Aunt Xue, what are you talking about? There’s no way I’d misread.” Though he spoke confidently, Chen Ke quickly extended his senses to examine Gu Sheng.

In the next moment, his smile froze, the laughter in his throat cut short—he stood there dumbfounded.

”Bronze Bone Realm?! How is that possible?!”

Chen Ke stared at Gu Sheng as though he had just seen a ghost.

Gu Sheng had never liked Chen Ke’s personality. Seeing him so startled, Gu Sheng adopted an indifferent demeanor, spreading his hands nonchalantly as he said, ”Maybe the Fire Bamboo Forest and I were just fated. Shortly after arriving there, I was struck with inspiration, and my physique-cultivation technique advanced unexpectedly. Before I knew it, I had broken through.”