Chapter 20: Bai Li, How Should I Punish You?

Heavenly Origin Sword Sect, Heavenly Sword Peak

Clouds churned like a sea, sword qi piercing the heavens.
Heavenly Sword Peak stood like an inverted giant sword, thrust into the sky, its summit perpetually shrouded in a hazy sword intent.
From afar, an invisible sword qi barrier seemed to isolate the peak from the mortal world.

For a Great Vehicle cultivator with powers like moving mountains or filling seas, altering a dragon vein’s position wasn’t difficult.
For a Tribulation Crossing cultivator, it was even easier.
Long accustomed to the peak’s layout, Chu Huaizhou, after becoming sect leader, forcibly relocated a dragon vein to its base, vastly expanding the peak’s scale.
Though this provoked complaints from other sects, none dared protest loudly, cowed by his overwhelming strength.

With Bai Li’s help, Chu Huaizhou toured the sect to refamiliarize himself. As dusk fell, he finally returned to his cozy abode.
The moment he stepped inside, he collapsed onto his bed in a starfish sprawl, sighing contentedly, “Ahh, nothing beats the comfort of my own bed.”

Regarding Ye Feng, since the entrance exam was ongoing, directly approaching his ring grandpa might cause offense and stir trouble.
Better to show goodwill during the exam, let Ye Feng secure first place, and reward him with one or two soul-replenishing elixirs.
That would lay a foundation for future talks.
So, Chu Huaizhou had calmed Ye Feng, promising him free access to the sect’s library below the third floor to choose a technique as compensation.
He also punished that scum Gu Chengyu, sentencing him to a deadly seclusion.
To avoid disrupting the exam further, he’d left under the pretense of business, wandering the sect to reacquaint himself with the Heavenly Origin Sword Sect, transformed over three centuries.

But he wasn’t used to his sect leader status.
He just wanted to enjoy the scenery, but vice sect leaders and hall masters kept saluting him with grave respect.
Seeing those he once looked up to now defer to him felt awkward, leaving him mentally drained from maintaining his dignified facade.
Still, it had perks.
When he casually steered a conversation with a passing elder toward the Great Vehicle demon, the elder spilled everything, giving him the info effortlessly.

“Alright, human, why’ve you been sighing since you woke up, meow?”
“You were like this before amnesia, and still are after. Truly you, meow.”
Seeing Chu Huaizhou sprawled exhausted, Bai Li volunteered to knead his back with her paws, making soft puff-puff sounds to ease his tension.

Unaware of his purpose at the exam site, she thought it a whim, still worrying about the Great Vehicle demon.
“What’s your plan for that demon, meow? If it comes to it, me and Qingqiu and the others can gang up on it, meow.”
“Four of us can’t lose to one, right, meow!”
Her face puffed up angrily, showing two sharp fangs, but her drooping nine tails betrayed her lack of confidence.

She wasn’t foolish. Though unaware of the demon’s identity or strength, its survival through sealing rather than death marked it as formidable.
A Great Vehicle peak demon against her and Chu Huaizhou’s three disciples—only early to mid Great Vehicle—left her uneasy.

But Chu Huaizhou, eyes half-closed in comfort, waved dismissively.
“I’ve got some ideas for dealing with it. Not sure if they’ll work.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just be a good mascot.”

On the demon, Chu Huaizhou was confident.
Not a flag, but with its weaknesses known, numerical advantage, and the demon still sealed and weakened, victory was assured.
How could they lose with every advantage?
As for its identity, Chu Huaizhou could strip it bare with a glance.

Calamity Plague Emperor Lord.
A demon clan title for a Great Vehicle peak demon hostile to humans, fond of feasting on them.
Good news: Chu Huaizhou had fought it in the game.
Bad news: It was a near-final boss.

The Calamity Plague Emperor Lord, true to its name, wielded the Daos of calamity and plague. Thousands of years ago, its resilience and threat led the seven immortal sects to seal it in a forbidden zone with the Heaven’s Ruin Suppression Array, grinding its plague powers with the Eight Ferocities Plague-Devouring Array, hoping to wear it down.
Yet, in the game’s later stages, it survived, breaking free when the array faltered, wreaking havoc and regaining full strength.
Chu Huaizhou had reloaded saves countless times, fighting it over a hundred battles, memorizing its skills, cast animations, and movement patterns to finally defeat it.
He could predict its every move.
But with no combat power himself, even knowing its actions, he couldn’t stop it.
He’d have to rely on his three disciples and one fox.

Eating soft rice was shameful, and Chu Huaizhou didn’t want his disciples cleaning up his mess.
But what choice did he have? The eighth-grade Nine-Revolving Rosy Essence Dew only restored Tribulation Crossing strength for a moment.
Expecting him to master that fleeting power and kill the durable Emperor Lord with Golden Core techniques?
Yeah, a bit tough…

Higher-grade elixirs? Sure, but locked in his Nine Luminaries Mysterious Abyss Ring, inaccessible.
The sect’s treasury? Elixirs there required layers of approval, likely no better than the dew.
Eighth-grade elixirs matched Great Vehicle level—hard to come by. No sect, not even Heavenly Origin, hoarded them casually, especially since they weren’t alchemy experts.
Maybe the all-capable Myriad Laws Immortal Sect or the alchemy-and-crafting-focused Taixuan Creation Sect had them, but that was it.

Forget it. Worst case, he’d pop an elixir and go all out.
Maybe everything would go smoothly, and his disciples would handle it.
For now, he’d rest and tease Bai Li.

Her well-meaning concern brushed off, Bai Li bared her teeth, arching into “spiky dragon mode.”
“Human, what’s that supposed to mean?! I’m worried about you, and you call me a mascot?! Am I some evil fox, meow?!”

“Is that so? My bad, you’re not evil at all. Just, who was it that used a charm spell on me today?”

Bai Li, ready to argue, deflated, her gaze darting nervously.
“Uh, well… it’s not what you think, meow. Let me explain… meow…”

Chu Huaizhou only meant to tease her, but her reaction was bigger than expected. He chuckled, then put on a stern face.
“If Qingqiu hadn’t come in time, I might’ve been devoured clean.”
“I’ve been good to you, right? And you do this? Tell me, little Bai Li, how should I punish you?”

Bai Li: “Meow meow meow…”