Prepare for a rainy day

"Long Chen is a real man, but you're not bad either, kid."

Cang Ming patted Ling Yunzi's shoulder with an expression of admiration. The first thing he did upon returning was hear about the 36th Branch's challenge.

Upon hearing the news, just as Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang had anticipated, Cang Ming's explosive temper flared up, and he immediately wanted to go settle the score with them.

However, Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang forcibly held him back and hurriedly explained the outcome of the incident, which finally made Cang Ming calm down temporarily.

Only then did Cang Ming have the patience to listen to them explain the full sequence of events. Hearing that Long Chen and the others had ruthlessly thrashed the guys from the 36th Branch, he couldn't help but dance with excitement.

Watching Cang Ming, who showed not a shred of the demeanor expected of a Senior, Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang looked rather strange. Especially Ling Yunzi; it seemed that in his memory, this was the first time he had ever seen Cang Ming so happy.

It took a while for Cang Ming to calm his excited emotions. "Little Ling, let me tell you, this is the first time I've been this happy since your Master passed away."

"The reason I'm happy isn't just because the branch produced a Genius like Long Chen, but even more so because of you, kid."

"Do you know? Your heart has actually been locked away, which means your sword has also rusted. As a Sword Cultivator, you are effectively crippled."

"In the past, no matter how much your Junior Martial Uncle yelled at you or scolded you, you just wouldn't wake up. You spent every day thinking about how to raise the branch's ranking to fulfill your Master's dying wish."

"Is fame really that important? Because of this, I specifically went to your Master's grave and cursed at him for several days."

Ling Yunzi's expression was a bit strange, but he was deeply moved. Although this Junior Martial Uncle had a fiery temper and was somewhat unreasonable, he was truly good to him.

Cang Ming continued, "Later, seeing you sink into this pit, unable to extricate yourself, I saw it in my eyes and felt anxious in my heart, but I was helpless."

"That's why whenever you saw me later, I never gave you a good look. Seeing your talent go to waste like that was truly heartbreaking."

"Junior Martial Uncle… I, I'm sorry…" Ling Yunzi thought back to his childhood and the care Cang Ming had shown him, and he couldn't help but choke up.

Back then, this Junior Martial Uncle protected him even more than his Master did. Even if his Master punished him, Cang Ming would stand against his Master.

"Good child, it's a good thing all of that is in the past. Seeing you regain your confidence and return to being the arrogant Ling Yunzi from before, your Junior Martial Uncle is happier than anything," Cang Ming said, patting Ling Yunzi's shoulder.

"All of this is thanks to Long Chen. If it weren't for Long Chen, I wouldn't have known that I had developed a Heart Demon," Ling Yunzi sighed.

Thinking about it, he was truly foolish. As a dignified Sect Leader and a generation of Innate realm experts, to develop a Heart Demon and not even realize it.

Ever since his Master entrusted the branch to him before passing away, telling him to manage the branch well and shed the shame of being ranked last for three thousand years.

He had unknowingly placed a shackle upon himself. This shackle became increasingly firm with each failure.

It tightly bound Ling Yunzi's Dao Heart, and at the same time, bound his precious sword. He didn't know when it started, but he only remembered that he was a Sect Leader, and had forgotten that he was a proud Sword Cultivator.

It wasn't until Long Chen appeared that he finally woke up. Long Chen had walked his path by stepping over the corpses of countless experts, creating one miracle after another.

He didn't know if he was an anomaly, and he didn't know if he was destiny, but he dared to resist and dared to challenge.

Among the things Long Chen did, how many were things a normal person would dare to do? But when Long Chen did them, he wouldn't even frown.

At first, Ling Yunzi didn't like Long Chen's methods, thinking it was foolish and reckless, something a wise person would not do.

At first, he thought this was the fate of an anomaly—challenging the Heavenly Dao would only lead to a fall.

But as Long Chen personally created one miracle after another, Ling Yunzi finally realized he was wrong, and terribly wrong at that.

What is a Martial Artist? A Martial Artist should forge ahead without hesitation; no matter if there is a mountain of blades or a sea of fire ahead, one must charge through it. Otherwise, why bother cultivating?

If you don't have that courage, why cultivate so diligently? Wouldn't it be better to just be a Mortal with a lifespan of less than a hundred years?

Since you have chosen the path of cultivation, you cannot care about how long this path can be walked, but rather whether you can walk out your own brilliance.

From Long Chen, Ling Yunzi suddenly realized that he was not just a Sect Leader, but also a Sword Cultivator. Being so obsessed with this empty title, how could he be worthy of the sword in his hand?

A Sword Cultivator's most cherished companion is the longsword in their hand, yet he had let his companion gather dust for so many years, which finally brought him to a great Awakening.

Thus, Ling Yunzi recovered his identity as a Sword Cultivator and became the high-spirited Ling Yunzi he once was.

If Luo Bing had refused to bow her head and admit she was a pig back then, Ling Yunzi would have absolutely slashed off her head with one strike; he wasn't scaring Luo Bing.

Now, he was not only a Sect Leader but also a Sword Cultivator. Having broken through the shackles in his heart, he would no longer act timidly; this was the true him.

Cang Ming looked at Ling Yunzi. At this moment, Ling Yunzi was like a divine weapon Awakening, his energy soaring to the heavens. He was happy from the bottom of his heart.

"Very good. With Long Chen and you around, our branch's ranking will change whether we want it to or not, hahah!" Cang Ming laughed happily.

"But things aren't that simple," Ling Yunzi shook his head and said. "After Luo Bing's defeat this time, I specifically had Tu Fang go to the branch to secretly inquire about some news…"

It turned out that after Luo Bing left that day, Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang discussed it and felt that this incident was a bit suspicious.

They had no enmity with the 36th Branch. Even if Luo Bing came to find fault because of the quota issue, she wouldn't have brought so many Disciples all at once.

One must know that in previous years, the 108th Branch's core-level Disciples didn't even exceed a handful, and Dao-Deriving experts only appeared once or twice every few decades.

Luo Bing brought four Dao-Deriving experts at once, among whom was even a Supreme-level Genius. Even if she wanted to show off, she didn't need such a huge formation.

Thinking about everything that happened before, for the sake of safety, Tu Fang still secretly made a trip to the branch to inquire about the news.

Just as Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang expected, with such a big incident occurring, even if they told the Disciples to keep their mouths shut, it was very easy for news to leak.

Because among the branches, competition for the top 50 was extremely fierce, and almost every branch had spies from others.

There was no way around it; those large branches had populations ranging from hundreds of thousands to over a million. Wanting to have zero spies was simply a pipe dream.

Although Luo Bing led everyone back to the branch quietly, the news still leaked out the next day: two Dao-Deriving experts of the 36th Branch were crippled, and one Supreme-level Genius was beaten to the point of being useless.

Once this news spread, all the branches were in an uproar and scrambled to ask for details. As it turned out, the power of people is infinite, especially when driven by curiosity; there was no wall that couldn't be breached.

As a result, the situation of that day's competition was spread out. It was unknown what magical power those people had, but they actually obtained the recording jade from that day.

Then it spread from ten to a hundred, until almost everyone knew. When the 36th Branch saw that footage, they were nearly driven mad with rage.

Because the angle of the footage was taken exactly from the position where they were standing, which meant that the recording jade had been leaked by their own Disciples.

Although Luo Bing had confiscated everyone's recording jade the moment they left the branch to prevent such a thing from happening.

However, there were so many smart people, and Luo Bing wasn't the only one. There was one guy who kept a trick up his sleeve; he had activated two recording jades at the time, handing one in and keeping one for himself.

As it turned out, opportunity is reserved for those who are prepared. That Disciple secretly sold the recording jade.

Just from selling that recording jade, he obtained enough resources to make him die laughing. What made him want to die laughing even more was that the 36th Branch would never be able to trace it back to him, even if they beat themselves to death.

For a time, the 108th Branch suddenly became a hot topic, and many branches sent Elders to visit.

They claimed to be visiting, but in reality, they were just there to scout for information about the 108th Branch and verify the truth of the rumors.

If it were the Ling Yunzi of the past, he would definitely have entertained them warmly; after all, building good relationships with more branches would be of greater help to the branch's future development.

However, Ling Yunzi had now recovered the aloofness of a Sword Cultivator. Anyone who came to visit was directly turned away, not even allowed through the front gate.

Some Elders were so angry they cursed, saying the 108th Branch didn't know how to appreciate favors and were typically acting like small-minded people who had gained power.

But Ling Yunzi didn't even pay them any mind. Wanting to probe the strength of our branch? See if I even bother with you.

Now, Ling Yunzi no longer cared about rankings; he only cared about the growth of his Disciples. He didn't want to delay their cultivation because of these petty, scheming matters.

Tu Fang hung around the branch for a while and finally exchanged some valuable information with a "powerful" insider.

That was that less than an hour after Luo Bing returned to the branch, she went to the 1st Branch with her brother.

Hearing this news made Tu Fang feel something was amiss. He quickly returned to report to Ling Yunzi, and both of them felt quite heavy-hearted.

"You mean to say that the mastermind behind this is the 1st Branch?" Cang Ming asked, frowning.

"Eight or nine out of ten," Ling Yunzi nodded and said.

The 108th Branch had no grievances with other branches at all. Even if they wanted to have grievances, they weren't qualified, especially not with those in the top 50.

The only thing was this time, regarding the application for Long Chen to become a Supreme-level Disciple, they had a tiny bit of friction with the 1st Branch.

Actually, it didn't count as much friction. The first application didn't pass, so he collected evidence and made a second application.

Then he was told that there were no more quotas, but the next day, news spread that the 1st Branch's fourth Supreme-level Genius had been born. Subsequently, the joke that the 108th Branch was trying to defraud a Supreme-level quota was spread around.

From beginning to end, other than looking grim, Tu Fang hadn't said a single bad word about the 1st Branch. Even as such a victim, they were still held a grudge against; it was enough to make one's lungs explode with anger.

"Damn it, this is too much. They are bullying us too far! Do they really think we're easy to bully?" Cang Ming couldn't help but fly into a rage after hearing this.

"Junior Martial Uncle, you also know that given Long Chen's personality, no one knows what he will do after entering the Secret Realm, so…" Ling Yunzi tentatively said.

"Rest assured, if anyone dares to bully this child when the time comes, I'll smash them to death with a hammer. Your Junior Martial Uncle, this old bag of bones, should get moving too," Cang Ming snorted coldly.