The Carefree Sect Is Founded

"Strange. Why is the classroom so hot now that Zhou You has left?" a classmate muttered. "It's hot if we stay in the classroom anyway. Why not follow Zhou You and take a look?" proposed Wei Hang, one of the Class Three students. He was president of the school newspaper club, and the biggest gossip of them all. Before Zhou You left, his left hand had been dragging Su Tingxue and his right hand Chu Xiaoyao. Wei Hang was unbearably curious about what would happen next. Wei Hang's proposal quickly won broad agreement from the classmates. Even the few quiet ones in class were stirred. "Count me in." "Count me in too." Voices rose high as the classmates vied to raise their hands, nothing like the lifeless hush of class. "All right, all right, not too many." Seeing so many hands, Wei Hang hurriedly stepped in to stop them. "Too many and we'll be spotted easily. Keep it small." Wei Hang picked two classmates and followed Zhou You's route to the stairwell on the second-year floor. He suddenly thrust out a hand and barred the pair. "Stop. One more step and they'll see us." It was the first time those two had done anything of the sort. They dared not speak, and only nodded again and again. The three of them stealthily poked out half a head each, and happened upon a shocking sight. Su Tingxue dropped to her knees before Zhou You with a thump. "What is going on?!" The three nearly dropped their eyeballs on the floor. Gasps rose one after another, disbelief written all over their faces. They were only a minute late. What had happened? "Are you all right? I thought you were pretty strong." Soft where a beauty was concerned, Zhou You hurried to help Su Tingxue up. His concern looked genuine, not put on. Then he shot a glare at Chu Xiaoyao beside them. "You didn't hold back at all." Chu Xiaoyao said nothing. "I get it." Understanding broke over Wei Hang. As president of the school newspaper club he had seen a great deal, and from the faintest traces he easily worked out the truth. "How so?" the other two classmates asked at once, curiosity itching as if a cat were scratching them. "Chu Xiaoyao and Su Tingxue must have fought over a man. Zhou You stood by and watched, and Su Tingxue lost to Chu Xiaoyao." "When it was over he fussed over the loser and blamed the winner. A fine bit of playing both sides." "Rotten to the core." The other two burned with righteous anger. On ordinary days Zhou You seemed honest enough, yet in secret he was playing a game this big. Their hearts ached for Su Tingxue. Poor Su Tingxue, they thought. Two years ago Zhou You had taken advantage of her. After two years she had finally resolved to make him take responsibility, and now she was bullied by Chu Xiaoyao and schemed against by Zhou You as well. "Don't talk, don't talk. They're talking again." The two classmates were cursing Zhou You under their breath, so what Wei Hang heard afterward came only in fragments. He faintly caught words such as "Mount Longhu," "self-taught," "cultivation," and "realm." The three ahead of them exchanged ancient rites, every gesture in place, just as in the martial-arts and cultivation dramas on television. "Could Su Tingxue have chuunibyou too?" "Or has Chu Xiaoyao infected Su Tingxue this quickly?" Wei Hang turned it over, unsure which it was. In any case, Zhou You had certainly caught it from Chu Xiaoyao. ... Su Tingxue had no idea her image had changed yet again. She was still pondering what sort of realm the half-step Qi Refining stage was. Half-step Qi Refining—wasn't that simply short of the Qi Refining stage? He had not even reached Qi Refining. How had he seen the ghost? Could he have been born with yin-yang eyes? Zhang Daoling, founding patriarch of Mount Longhu, had been born with yin-yang eyes. Drawing on his own condition, he had created the secret art Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye, and it became Mount Longhu's exclusive secret art. Did that mean Zhou You possessed the same yin-yang eyes as the founding patriarch? Ring-ring— The bell for class cut through Su Tingxue's thoughts. The three of them had no choice but to go upstairs and return to class for now. After Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao got back to the classroom, they felt the way everyone looked at them was odd—different again from the scumbag looks before they left. Did he seem even more of a scumbag? What did I even do? "Do you feel that everyone's looking at me strangely?" Zhou You asked the all-knowing Carefree Empress. The Carefree Empress had ample experience in such things. Teaching from her own example, she instructed Zhou You, "For an immortal cultivator, state of mind matters most. One must neither delight in things nor grieve for oneself. How can you care what others think?" Zhou You nodded, only half understanding, yet feeling there was sense in what she said. During class, Zhou You noticed that Chu Xiaoyao's brows stayed knit the whole time, and wondered what she was thinking. At the break, he got his answer. "Zhou You, when Su Tingxue asked about our backgrounds just now, didn't you feel the presence we showed in introducing ourselves was weak?" Chu Xiaoyao asked gravely. The question had nagged at her through the whole period. "Put that way, yes." Zhou You admitted it. Out in the world, never mind the other party's origins, one line from him—"I trained under my deskmate, Chu Xiaoyao"—and his presence was weaker by three parts at least. "On the Hongmeng Continent, when immortal cultivators introduced themselves, the first thing they named was their sect. A strong sect meant full confidence and a strong presence. Then, whether meeting someone or fighting them, one held the upper hand!" "Back when I founded the Carefree Sect, on the day the sect was established, enemies gathered like clouds. I rose to heaven to cross my tribulation, broke through in realm under every watching eye, and by my strength alone slew those enemies until blood ran like a river, laying the foundation of the Carefree Sect!" "After that the Carefree Sect became the foremost sect under heaven. The moment the Carefree Sect showed itself, the heroes of the world gave way and dared not contend. A Carefree Token envoy bearing the Carefree Token was as if this seat had come in person, and even the patriarchs of great teachings and ancient kingdoms had to come out to receive us!" "Alas, with this seat's fall, the glory of the Carefree Sect will never be seen again." Chu Xiaoyao sighed, recalling those extraordinary years on the Hongmeng Continent. "So?" "So this seat has decided to rebuild the Carefree Sect, and make the name of the Carefree Sect resound through the cosmos!" As Chu Xiaoyao said this, her spirits soared, as if a beam of light shone upon her, dazzling beyond measure. "Zhou You, you be the sect master." Zhou You started. Since when was Chu Xiaoyao this generous? In the past, he would only have been fit for deputy sect master. "I'll be the Grand Elder." "Hah! On what grounds!" Zhou You had known she would not be so generous. Before, she had only stood half a head above him; now she stood a full head above him, and she was pushing it further. Of course he refused. Chu Xiaoyao made her case as if it were perfectly sound. "When this seat was on the Hongmeng Continent, I was the Grand Elder. Since this is a rebuilding, naturally everything stays as it was." "Bah. On the Hongmeng Continent you were the Carefree Empress too, and now you can't even beat me." In the end Chu Xiaoyao bribed Zhou You with two packs of latiao, secured the post of Grand Elder, and Zhou You reluctantly agreed to be sect master. Chu Xiaoyao found an exam paper with writing on only one side; the other was blank. She got double-sided tape from Zhou You, folded the paper into a triangular prism, wrote the large characters "Carefree Sect Grand Elder" on the blank space, and traced them over and over with a black pen until they stood out. Zhou You copied her as best he could. He too folded an exam paper, into a triangular pyramid, and wrote "Carefree Sect Master." Only his characters were nowhere near as fine as Chu Xiaoyao's. Chu Xiaoyao wore a look of disdain. "Look how ugly your writing is. I'll write it for you." Zhou You scoffed. "Why didn't you say that when you were copying my summer homework?" As he spoke, he handed Chu Xiaoyao a fresh blank sheet. "Done." The two identity plaques were finished and set on their respective desks. Zhou You happened to have a very cheap empty mineral water bottle at hand—one yuan, and the body was very soft. Taking the middle as the line, he twisted the bottle left and right, then opened the cap halfway. There was a muffled bang. The cap flew off, and white mist rushed from the mouth. At the sound of the salute, Chu Xiaoyao applauded warmly, celebrating the founding of the Carefree Sect. Zhao Zhuo, at the desk in front, heard the two of them and looked as if he had nothing left to live for. He had given up playing house like this at the age of eight. The desk behind him used to hold only one lunatic, Chu Xiaoyao. Now, just perfect—there were two. "Only two people. That's too few." Even in her joy, Chu Xiaoyao was planning the sect's future. A sect of only two had no standing worth speaking of. "Ask Nuomi if she wants to join our sect." The Grand Elder of the Carefree Sect was broad of mind. She held that all should be taught without distinction, and that all beings were equal. Human or ghost, either could join her sect. "Do you want to join the Carefree Sect?" Zhou You turned and asked Nuomi, who was clapping beside him. "Yes, yes!" Nuomi thought it great fun and agreed at once. "You'll be deputy sect master." In the space of two sentences, the Carefree Sect's numbers grew by half. Its rise was plainly swift. Once the Carefree Sect had been founded and expanded, Chu Xiaoyao decided to lead the sect master and the deputy sect master to meet Mount Longhu's fine disciple again. Two people and one ghost came to the door of Class One, caught someone at random, and asked where Su Tingxue was. That person gave Zhou You two pointed looks. So this was the fellow with those murky ties to Su Tingxue, and he had brought another beauty to her door? This brazen? "Zhao Cancan, someone's looking for Su Tingxue," the person called. Zhao Cancan was Su Tingxue's close friend. "You're looking for Su Tingxue? She asked for leave and went out," Zhao Cancan said, eyeing Chu Xiaoyao and Zhou You as if they were up to no good. The moment the two drew near, she felt a wave of chill dread—a cold from the very bone, so cold she wanted to shiver. To feel this in the blazing heat of summer, she did not believe it was an illusion. "Might we ask what she took leave to do?" "Don't know." Zhao Cancan shook her head. Su Tingxue often asked for leave and went out. Two people and one ghost had no choice but to leave. Zhao Cancan noticed that once the two were gone, the chill faded, confirming her guess. "Did you notice that person's eyes? When she looked at me, they showed fear." Chu Xiaoyao went over the change in Zhao Cancan's gaze with Zhou You and Nuomi. "Though this seat's realm has fallen to a mortal's, the presence remains. Leak even a little of it, and others cannot bear it." Nuomi was shocked by Chu Xiaoyao's words. Her realm had fallen to a mortal's—and then Nuomi recalled how, in the inner world, Chu had called herself the Carefree Empress and split her with one axe blow. Could this person be a great power reborn, the kind whose realm was high beyond imagining? This was a backer! Joining the Carefree Sect had been worth it.