novelraw Chapter 4: Who's the Fool, (2)
Chapter 4: Who's the Fool, (2)
When Jiang Man arrived, he saw a young man nervously watching a spiritual steed lying on the ground, completely flustered and at a loss.
The stables didn't just contain horses, but also some other people's mounts.
However, Jiang Man only needed to tend to a few horses from the Azure Cloud Pavilion.
For the other spiritual steeds, he only occasionally helped look after them.
The man calling him was a cultivator who shared the same small courtyard with him, and Jiang Man remembered his name was Fang Yong.
Lying at his feet was an expensive Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed.
Its entire body was date-red, with blue cold flames wrapped around its four hooves. It was said that when running, it left fiery hoofprints, but after being tamed, they wouldn't burn objects.
Only wealthy people could afford such a spiritual steed.
However, at this moment, the Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed lay on the ground, twitching weakly.
The blue cold flames wrapped around its four hooves were gradually dimming.It seemed the situation wasn't good.
When Fang Yong saw Jiang Man approaching, it was like he had grabbed onto a lifeline.
He immediately stepped back, pointed at Jiang Man and accused: "Jiang Man, what did you do to the Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed? Why did you make it so weak?"
Jiang Man stood in place, looking at the person before him, somewhat surprised.
Was he being framed?
Thinking back slightly, Jiang Man remembered that this Fang Yong came from a relatively wealthy family.
He would often talk about how his family was like this and that, had abundant cultivation resources, and was friends with so-and-so.
How could he be so good at twisting right and wrong?
Was he speaking so loudly because someone was nearby?
Sure enough, four people hurried over from the distance.
The moment he saw people coming, Fang Yong raised his voice again: "Jiang Man, I foolishly thought of you as my courtyard mate and specially let you look after the spiritual steed. I never expected you to secretly harm it, making the Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed so weak."
By the time his words finished, the group of four had arrived.
The leader was a tall, slender man with sharp facial features and quite handsome looks.
The three people beside him stood at his sides, consciously staying one step behind.
As they approached, Fang Yong finally looked at the leading man and said: "Young Master Cheng, sorry to make you witness this. The spiritual steed developed some problems while being cared for by my courtyard mate."
Cheng Moyang looked at Jiang Man with some surprise: "Did you make my Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed like this?"
Jiang Man looked at the other party and slightly shook his head: "No."
"It seems he's afraid to take responsibility and won't admit it." Fang Yong immediately said: "He comes from a remote village and can't even pay next month's cultivation fee. If he admitted it, even selling himself probably wouldn't cover the compensation."
Cheng Moyang narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Jiang Man with a smile: "Is that so? Then let's forget about this matter. It probably ate something wrong, isn't that right, Young Master Fang?"
Hearing this, Fang Yong felt delighted inside, then spoke to Jiang Man in a tone of bitter disappointment: "Aren't you going to thank Young Master Cheng?"
"No need. Who doesn't have difficult times? Since Young Master Fang rode the Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed out today, he should be responsible for sending it back." Cheng Moyang said while looking at Fang Yong.
Fang Yong immediately nodded, saying he would definitely send the spiritual steed back.
Afterwards, Cheng Moyang left with his people.
After pausing for a moment, he seemed to remember something and asked the person beside him: "By the way, what day is it today?"
"Mid-August." A short man beside him answered.
Hearing this, Cheng Moyang suddenly understood: "It must be the Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed's weak period. It happens twice every year."
After pausing, he looked at Fang Yong: "Didn't Young Master Fang say his family also has spiritual steeds? Haven't you encountered weak periods before?"
Hearing this, Fang Yong was momentarily stunned: "I probably wasn't around during its weak periods. The servants were always taking care of it."
Cheng Moyang nodded: "That makes sense."
After that, he didn't say anything more and left with his people.
On the way out, the short man beside Cheng Moyang asked curiously: "Young Master Cheng, why didn't you take the opportunity to make that stable boy compensate?"
Cheng Moyang glanced at the person beside him and said with a smile: "Didn't you hear what Fang Yong said? He can't even pay his cultivation fee. If we make someone like that compensate, what if he becomes desperate and does something? Even if he can't attack us directly, what if he harms the spiritual steeds? Is his life worth even one fright to the spiritual steed?"
After pausing, he said calmly: "He's just a country bumpkin. Outside, he doesn't even count as a person. We're too close to him—no need to drive him to desperation. It would dirty our hands. Besides, wasn't this just about having some fun with Fang Yong? Isn't it more entertaining to watch him and his courtyard mate fight like dogs?"
The short man immediately understood: "Yes, if we need to take action, we should have others do it. There's no need for Young Master Cheng to be resented. Afterwards, we just need to tell Fang Yong that the so-called weak period was fake, that we did it to save his face. Then we can gradually become colder toward him and stop bringing him along when we go out. He'll probably blame that stable boy. He'll think that if the stable boy had just taken the blame at the time, he could have continued following us and being admired by others."
Hearing this, everyone laughed.
This way, it became a grudge between Fang Yong and the stable boy.
They would blame each other and fight among themselves.
But they wouldn't blame them.
At this moment, at the edge of the stables, Jiang Man looked at Fang Yong.
He seemed to understand something.
Fang Yong and them didn't seem to be on the same level.
"You got lucky this time. If I weren't familiar with them, you would have been kicked out overnight." Fang Yong said.
Afterwards, he found a way to take the spiritual steed away.
Jiang Man watched the other party leave without speaking.
Only after he had completely left did he voice a question:
"Am I the fool, or is he the fool?"
"You're both fools." Old Yellow Ox walked over and said: "You should start cultivating already, otherwise you won't complete the hundred repetitions."
"Senior should worry more about yourself. That Immortal Maiden's revenge could come at any time." Jiang Man kindly reminded.
Old Yellow Ox didn't mind, instead saying: "The Flame-Treading Spiritual Steed does indeed have weak periods, but those who truly know how to raise them won't let Flame-Treading Spiritual Steeds experience weak periods."
"Does Senior know how?"
"Of course."
Jiang Man was somewhat surprised: "How do you raise them?"
"You should worry about yourself first. If you don't complete the hundred repetitions, you'll lose all your cultivation." After saying this, Old Yellow Ox turned around to eat grass.
Jiang Man: "..."
I don't have any cultivation yet.
Thinking of this, Jiang Man became quite curious—would he be unaffected as long as he didn't cultivate?
But he didn't dare to test it.
After all, he still had that wisp of Technique Purple Qi.
If his fate backlash consumed this wisp of Technique Purple Qi...
That would be...
Gaining little while losing much.
Although he didn't know what use this wisp of energy had, it definitely didn't seem simple no matter how you looked at it.
Checking the time, Jiang Man headed toward the front courtyard.
That was where the teacher taught.
The Azure Cloud Pavilion had front, middle, and rear courtyards, corresponding to the first, second, and third years of entry respectively.
Jiang Man was in his third year at the Azure Cloud Pavilion, currently in the rear courtyard.
The rear courtyard had seven small courtyards, and Jiang Man was in the sixth one.
The teacher was a middle-aged man named Zhao Leming.
Unfortunately, when Jiang Man went to the sixth courtyard, he encountered this teacher.
As soon as they met, the other party said bluntly: "You have fifteen days left. If you can't pay the cultivation fee, you can start packing your things early."
Jiang Man thought for a moment, remembering this morning's events. Perhaps he could stay without paying. After some hesitation, he tentatively asked: "Teacher Zhao, are you familiar with Flame-Treading Spiritual Steeds?"