It was Yan Fei who refined and drove the pagoda with his divine thoughts. Thus, it was closely linked with his spirit. Earlier, he felt his connection to his four holy mountains cut off after they were subdued by Junior Leopard's mirror. This time, when the mirror directly fought his pagoda, he felt a great impact on his divine thoughts.
Yan Fei was also a genius and a teen expert in his own right. Young as he was, he not only managed to achieve a Level Seven cultivation but also able to control the pagoda with ease. But his divine thoughts were subpar and he had never been truly tested. Perhaps he could withstand the force if he was like Junior Leopard who had practiced the Carefree Skill Thunder and had his divine thoughts brushed against the Nine Heavenly Thunder.
Unfortunately, he didn't have such an experience and his divine thoughts had never been impacted by such a great force.
Thus, the moment the mirror's golden light crashed into the pagoda's screen of light, his divine thoughts collapsed.
It was as if a massive hammer striking him hard on the head. He lost all ability to respond and was even close to fainting.
Without the support of Yan Fei's divine thoughts, the pagoda could only depend on its innate strength to resist the mirror. How could it win?
In a split second, the pagoda's defense collapsed and the screen of light transformed into four streams of light that entered Yan Fei's forehead all at once. Following the light, Junior Leopard found the true body of the pagoda as well as the holy spirit brand that Yan Fei made when he refined the pagoda.
"What an unfortunate fellow!" Junior Leopard sighed. Suddenly, the golden light of the mirror brightened. In the path of the light, he could see faint golden lotuses rushing toward Yan Fei's stiffened body and pinned themselves directly on his forehead.
Yan Fei's stiffened body shook violently and he woke up from his partially unconscious state with his eyes full of fear.
He wanted to get up and run but he couldn't control his body at all.
"Don't move and don't rush either, otherwise the one hurting will be you. I only want your pagoda," said Junior Leopard coldly. Yan Fei continued to tremble as the golden lotuses traveled along the path of light and landed on his forehead. Moments later, the mirror absorbed a faint cyan light from his forehead. A burst of red light flashed and transformed into a three-feet-tall bronze pagoda.
The ancient pagoda was carved with strange patterns and had eight sides that turned into eight poles.
It was none other than the Octupole Exquisite Pagoda, a Pure Yang Weapon.
In that short period of time, Junior Leopard manipulated his mirror to consume the spirit brand that Yan Fei left in the pagoda. The pagoda was then restored to its original unrefined state and was instantly absorbed into the mirror.
Once the pagoda was absorbed, the four streams of light moving around the mirror started shaking as if they were summoned by something.
"Go!" said Junior Leopard gently. The four streams of light broke free of the shackles posed by the mirror and vanished from sight after worming their way into the pagoda.
He reached out and grabbed the three-feet-tall pagoda. With a turn of his hand, the pagoda disappeared.
"I've got what I wanted so I won't trouble you any more. You can go now!"
"Hurry up and return my pagoda!" Like a dying ember, Yan Fei's face was pale. His handsome face was twisted into an ugly expression. It was a miserable feeling to experience the might of the pagoda only for it to be taken away from him.
"Do you think that's possible?" Zhou Bao merely sneered at his words. "I've already warned you but you wouldn't listen and insist on fighting me. Do you think I'll still return the weapon to you?"
"It's the Emperor who conferred the pagoda to me! You dare snatch it?" Yan Fei shouted.
"If you don't leave now, I'll kill you!" Junior Leopard retorted with a threat, with all his killing intention released.
Yan Fei shivered, sensing his killing intention. He glared at Junior Leopard and Li Xiu with obvious hatred and indignation before leaving.
Junior Leopard watched Yan Fei's disappearing figure and a small contemptuous smile appeared on his face. He turned to Li Xiu and guffawed. "You brought a really lavish gift for me this time! Why don't you do the same in our next meeting?"
"Next time? There won't be a next time! That lunatic nearly beat me to death!" Li Xiu touched his chest, fear still lingering after hearing Junior Leopard's playful words.
"You really kept your Pure Yang Weapon to yourself well. No wonder you didn't participate in the World Hero Competition!"
"Even if I don't have one, I wouldn't join anyway." Zhou Bao waved his hand. "What's going on? Why was the guy hunting you down like a lunatic? What did you do?"
"It's a long story. Let's find a place to rest and I'll explain," Li Xiu suggested.
"No problem. There are many places to rest. It's my turf after all!" Junior Leopard smiled and led the way to the heart of the town by flight.
"Satisfied now?" Golden Rooster squinted at the man beside him with a smile. "You still have the thing on you, don't you? Don't tell me you have to go back and retrieve it for me."
That man harrumphed without a word. He fumbled for an emerald thumb ring and tossed it to Golden Rooster.
"It's finally mine after dreaming about it for so many years! I didn't think I'd be able to get on my hands on it before my death," said Golden Rooster. To spite the man, he even put the emerald thumb ring and took a closer look at it as if he was examining a piece of treasure.
This irritated the man and he left with a flick of his sleeves and a snort.
"To think I finally gained something good out of the old fool!" Golden Rooster laughed happily as he watched his friend depart. "But really! Since when Zhou Bao get his hands on a Pure Yang Weapon?" He continued, "And it isn't the Air-frozen Bead either! He really knows how to keep a secret! No wonder he has always been so confident! His backing turns out to such a powerful weapon." He shook his head, snickering, before turning to leave.
Junior Leopard led Li Xiu to his small courtyard and yelled, "Take a seat! Renzhen Cuo, make a good pot of tea for me!"
"So this is your turf? How simple and crude."
Li Xiu had always been candid with Junior Leopard. He frowned as he carefully looked around the courtyard.
"You brat, of course you'd look down on this small place. You come from the Li family in Pingzhou," scolded Junior Leopard jokingly. He called three men standing outside the courtyard over, including Jiang Xiao. "Meet these people. They're all my right hand men."
Li Xiu hugged his fist at the three men and smiled. "I'm Li Xiu from Pingzhou. Nice to meet you."
The men humbly replied, "We're not worthy of this courtesy!" They stared at Junior Leopard oddly, wondering since when he befriended the young expert from the Li family in Pingzhou. It seemed like they were close too.
"Listen up. Li Xiu is my friend. You should treat him like you treat me from now on. Understand?"
"Yes, Your Excellency!" they replied in a chorus.
"That's enough. Are you trying to make it so that the members of our Li family will treat you like they treat me?"
"Exactly! I'm so happy that you understood me." Junior Leopard laughed. "You're a clever person indeed! You got it from just a hint!"
"F*ck you!" Li Xiu laughed. Just then, Renzhen Cuo came in with the pot of tea that she prepared.
"Okay, you can all leave. I have something important to discuss with Young Master Li. Renzhen Cuo, you can leave as well. Just leave the teapot here."
Everyone obeyed and left them alone. Junior Leopard waited until they left the courtyard and said with a smile, "There's only the two of us now. You can slowly start your story."
"What story? I can only say it's my bad luck!" Li Xiu wryly smiled. "I don't know what's wrong either. I inexplicably came across Yan Fei and was inexplicably hunted by him. Then I inexplicably met you. Everything is too inexplicable!"
"Impossible. Yan Fei wouldn't want to kill you for no reason. With your strength and status, he'd need to put in a lot of effort to chase you down over thousands of miles. He wouldn't dare to either. Speak! What kind of vile things you've done to make him hate you that much?"
"Well, it's actually a misunderstanding!"
Junior Leopard was confused when he heard the hesitation in Li Xiu's words. Sure enough, Li Xiu stammered as he explained, "I accidentally s-s-slept with h-h-his fiancee!"
Junior Leopard spat out the tea in his mouth and looked at the handsome teen before him in surprise. He grinned and said, "F*ck. You really made yourself Yan Fei's nemesis this time!"
This enmity was past the point of return!
It was still understandable that he lent Li Xiu a hand if it was just a common enmity. He was still acting self-righteously to help a friend and it didn't matter even if he stole Yan Fei's Pure Yang Weapon. But now his friend had slept with Yan Fei's wife and he even stole his weapon. It seemed this enmity could never be solved amicably.
Didn't people often say the two most unforgivable crimes were killing one's father and stealing one's wife?
He bet Yan Fei now hated him and Li Xiu to the core. No wonder he felt Li Xiu acted as though he couldn't lift his head up in front of Yan Fei. So this was why.
"You brat, you were still reserved when I saw you several years ago. You didn't look like a womanizer. With your looks, you're prettier than even women. What kind of women couldn't you get? Why must you sleep with Yan Fei's woman?"
"Do you think I want to do that?!"
Li Xiu was close to hears when he heard his friend's words and his fair face was already red. "Listen! I didn't do it on purpose. The entire thing was too inexplicable!"
He then told Junior Leopard the whole story. The latter wore a puzzled expression and said, "Something like that happened? There must be some conspiracy against you!"
"I thought that too. There's definitely a conspiracy but before I can even investigate, Yan Fei has already coming to hunt me down! It didn't matter if I try to explain or not."
"What is there to explain? I'd be surprised if you can clear up the matter!" Zhou Bao smiled. "Never mind Yan Fei. Even if it's me, I would've already stabbed you to death. I'll first kill you before considering any conspiracy!"
"You're right. I would've done the same thing in his place. Though I'm innocent, it's not something I can explain either. That's why I was so irresolute when fighting against him. But the guy was bent on killing me and even used his Octupole Exquisite Pagoda to attack me and render me helpless! I could only run away desperately. But fortunately, I somehow made it here and met you. I think I would be really killed by his pagoda otherwise!"
"Can't believe you got into such trouble. If you really did sleep with his woman, then you'd at least deserve it. But if you didn't even sleep with her and got killed, then wouldn't that be too unjust?"
"Why are you like this? I've already explained myself but you're still laughing at me!" Li Xiu's face was so red that it was nearly purple. He picked up his teacup and swallowed tea, glaring at Junior Leopard.
Junior Leopard was embarrassed by his glare and didn't dare to make fun of the teen any longer. "Fine, let's stop here. You've already made yourself Yan Fei's nemesis but he's now a toothless tiger without his pagoda. Don't tell me you're still afraid of him."
"I'm not scared but the explanation…"
"What more is there to explain? You can't explain away things like this. Even if you manage to find the person responsible, you can't clear it up!" Junior Leopard waved his hands. "The feud already exists now and it's already beyond repair. It won't do if you keep that mindset. Think this way instead. You didn't sleep with his woman. It's he who wrongfully blamed you and even wanted to kill you. It's his fault and arrogance. You've done nothing wrong. If you don't correct your mindset, you'll continue pulling your punches the next you meet him. Though you won't be killed, it's still not worth being defeated by him!"
Li Xiu pondered over this and when he raised his head, the red had faded from his face. There was only determination in his eyes. "You're right. I did nothing wrong. Damn Yan Fei! He wronged me and even wanted to kill me. It's all his fault. If I encounter him next time, I won't pull my punches and lose the battle!"
"That's right!" Zhou Bao happily tapped him on the shoulder. "This is a small thing and not worth remembering. If your mind is that narrow, it'll be difficult for you to make any breakthrough in the mental state."
"Right! I'm narrow-minded and can't compare to you. Even when you snatch things, you do so self-righteously!" Li Xiu replied humorously, his mood much better now that he unloaded the burden in his mind. "Including this Pure Yang Weapon that I brought you, you have two now! That's awesome. Never mind a tiny vassal like you, even those millennium families and Jin royalty aren't a match for you. You know, the Jin royalty only has one Pure Yang Weapon left after losing the Octupole Exquisite Pagoda!"
"Humph, the Pure Yang Weapon is indeed powerful. But I wouldn't believe if you tell me your family doesn't have one!" Zhou Bao scoffed. "Besides, the Jin royalty must have more than one Pure Yang Weapon!"
"I don't know about my family, but Jin does have one. Nevertheless, you two are tied. Jin's riches are the possession of all within the four seas, but they only have two Pure Yang Weapons. You, a vassal of a territory covering 28.26 square kilometers, also have one. What are you going to do? Do you want to fight against Jin?" Having calmed down, Li Xiu smiled at Junior Leopard with the temperament of a young aristocrat.
"What do you mean by telling me this?" Zhou Bao laughed, staring at Li Xiu. "Don't tell me you're also interested in the Pure Yang Weapon!"
"The Pure Yang Weapon is so powerful that everyone covets it!" said Li Xiu. "But ultimately, it depends on whether you're willing to share."
"Damn it! It's not my wife. Of course, I'm willing to share. But this weapon is so precious that I won't give you for free!" Junior Leopard smiled.
"That's for sure! Even if you give it to me for free, I won't take it without giving anything in return. Tell me what you want. If it's something my family can do, we'll do it!" Li Xiu patted his chest in assurance.
"Looks like you're the head of the Li family now?"
"If you're willing to give this Pure Yang Weapon to me, I'll have 80 percent chance of success." Li Xiu laughed. "If your request isn't too high, it'll be 90 percent."
"The way you bargain is quite novel. Well, I don't mean to trouble you. I'll give you a list of what I need. If you agree, the Octupole Exquisite Pagoda is yours!"
"Okay, I'll be waiting," Li Xiu said.
"Come, I will show you around. Though it's still a godforsaken place now, I believe it'll soon flourish!"
"Then I'll have to keep my eyes wide. I won't be able to witness you being poor and pathetic when you succeed in the future." Li Xiu sighed. "I thought I'd be able to fight you once I reached Level Seven, but looks like it's just a pipe dream!"
"You can't force cultivation and strength. I owe my current cultivation to my luck. Otherwise, I'd be thankful if I can even reach Level Four."
"Luck is also part of strength. Otherwise, I'd have just as much luck as you."
The two walked out of the courtyard, laughing. Jiang Xiao and the rest wanted to follow them but they were turned away by Junior Leopard. They began strolling along the streets.
"Zhu Ba, why is our Excellency so familiar with the young master of the Li family from Pingzhou? Why haven't I heard about this?"
Li Xiu's cultivation had exceeded Level Seven and he unleashed his might in the World Hero Competition. He was thus named of one of fourteen experts. He was trusted into the limelight, making him a familiar figure to Junior Leopard's subordinates.
"How would I know? His Excellency has always been mysterious. How could I know his friends or acquaintances!" Zhu Ba tilted his head and sneered. "But one thing's for sure. I've never doubted his decision, unlike you who like to be a smartass! When he wants to build a courtyard, you can't stop complaining like he's made some huge error! I'm embarrassed to even tell others that His Excellency lives in this shabby courtyard in this godforsaken place! See, here comes the Young Master Li. He's barely able to stay here out of friendship to His Excellency, but what if the head of his family comes in the next few days? We can't ask them to stay in that shabby courtyard! It's too shameful!"
Jing Xiao was silenced and sighed. "You're right. I didn't know he has so many friends back then. We must really speed up the construction of the courtyard, otherwise, His Excellency will be losing face because of us."
In the beginning, he advised Junior Leopard to give up the idea of building a courtyard out of worry that he would end up being an extravagant lord after being the head of the territory. He didn't expect Junior Leopard to have such a wide network of famous friends. Naturally, it was vital to build a courtyard now to preserve Junior Leopard's face.
He didn't know the only reason Junior Leopard wanted a courtyard was because it was the entrance to the Azure Secret Area.
Junior Leopard brought Li Xiu around for a few hours and even showed him the yard under construction. "The next time you come, you can stay here. It's going to be much better than the shabby courtyard earlier."
"I don't care where I live." Li Xiu shook his head. "Your place is too freaking small. We've barely walked around but we've already seen everything. Let's go back and discuss."
"I haven't decided the price!" Zhou Bao smiled. "If you're tired, let's go back now. You must be exhausted after being hunted down by Yan Fei for thousands of miles. We can talk about the Pure Yang Weapon tomorrow."
"Sure. The weapon is yours and the initiative is also with you. I have no objections," Li Xiu said, smiling wryly.