Chapter 101: Senior Brother

“Senior Brother?”
“Senior Brother?”

As the figure’s face gradually became clear and he stopped before them, Zhou Yi and Song Hai almost shouted out in surprise simultaneously, then their faces lit up with excitement as they looked at him.

“Senior Brother, why have you come?” Song Hai, the more lively of the two, looked at Wen Renying with great enthusiasm.

Zhou Yi was more reserved in his emotions—after all, he had lived two lives—but even if he didn’t say it aloud, his eyes betrayed his excitement upon seeing Wen Renying.

In the past few years, the two of them had been training in a secret realm. On the rare occasions they emerged, it was this ‘senior brother’ who took them out, wandering around the sect’s gates to relax and unwind, helping them become familiar with the sect they had joined.

At other times, when they were in the secret realm and bored, it was this ‘senior brother’ who took care of them. Especially for Song Hai, it was Wen Renying who did the groundwork of teaching him the basics.

Although Zhou Yi could have done it, spending such precious cultivation time on that seemed a waste. Zhou Yi didn’t mind, but in the end, Wen Renying took on this responsibility.

It could be said that in the past few years, besides each other, the person they had met the most was this ‘senior brother,’ and their bond with him was the deepest after their own.

Indeed, Wen Renying was both brother and teacher to them, and their feelings ran deep.

“Why have I come?” Wen Renying smiled slightly, looking at the two with an almost teasing expression, and asked in return, “What do you think? Why have I come?”

“You two have done such a huge thing, almost—no, you’ve already turned the entire martial world upside down. So, how do you think I came?”

“Ah! Senior Brother already knows!” At this, Song Hai’s face flushed with a hint of embarrassment as he lowered his head bashfully.

“Senior Brother!” Zhou Yi smiled in reply.

“I know, I know! They started it first!” Wen Renying smiled wryly at Zhou Yi, then shook his head at Song Hai: “Look at you, you’re so grown up, yet still acting like a child!”

“Senior Brother!”

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“But this time, what you’ve done is right and commendable!” Suddenly, Wen Renying’s expression turned serious, a murderous gleam flashing in his eyes as he looked toward the mist-shrouded mountain peak. His voice was cold: “How dare they treat the disciples of our Baoshanknife Sect like this? It’s utterly outrageous!”

“This time, they got off lightly.”

Zhou Yi and Song Hai exchanged a glance, seeing the smile in each other’s eyes. As expected, their ‘senior brother’ was still on their side.

“You don’t need to worry about their retaliation—they wouldn’t dare!” After a moment of indignation, Wen Renying’s expression softened, and he looked at the two fondly. “Actually, this time, I truly have to thank you.”

“Huh?” Zhou Yi’s eyes flickered with confusion as he looked at Wen Renying. “Senior Brother, what do you mean?”

“Yeah! Yeah! What do you mean?” Song Hai nodded repeatedly, his eyes full of curiosity.

How had the topic suddenly turned to thanks? They hadn’t really done anything—why would he thank them?

“I really mean it!” Wen Renying’s eyes gleamed with a hint of admiration. “If it weren’t for you two, I wouldn’t have known that beyond the Celestial Realm, there is another level called the False Core!”

“If you hadn’t caused such a stir this time, how would I have known that the Celestial Realm isn’t the pinnacle? Even beyond it, the False Core exists in the martial world in considerable numbers!”

“What? Senior Brother didn’t know there was a False Core beyond the Celestial Realm?” Zhou Yi exchanged a suspicious glance with Song Hai, then turned to ask.

“No, I didn’t!” Wen Renying nodded firmly. “I only just found out that our Baoshanknife Sect is different from other sects!”

“In other sects, there are elders, then the sect leader, followed by the retired supreme elder, and finally the founder. Among them, only the founder reaches the False Core realm; the rest are Celestial Realm cultivators!”

“When one reaches the elder position, the sect informs them of the path beyond the Celestial Realm!”

“But our sect is different. Besides elders and the sect leader, we have no supreme elder. Instead, we have a mountain peak master council, whose members possess False Core strength!”

“Mountain Peak Master Council?” Zhou Yi repeated in disbelief, deeply shocked. “All of them are False Core?”

“How is that possible?” Song Hai was also filled with doubt. They had sealed many sect gates recently, all belonging to major factions in the martial world. Yet in each case, he sensed only one False Core cultivator per sect—without exception!

But now, their ‘senior brother’ was telling them that in their own sect, there was a whole council of mountain peak masters—all with False Core strength!

This sounded utterly incredible, especially when combined with what they knew so far.

“Could it be that the council isn’t very large? It’s called a council, but actually only consists of a few members?” Suddenly, a thought struck Zhou Yi. After all, other sects only had one False Core founder, but their sect had an entire council—it was hard to believe!

“But even if it’s just a few, that’s terrifying enough—since other sects only have one!” With that thought, Zhou Yi became more certain, though his shock remained undiminished.

“The Mountain Peak Master Council is divided into the Twelve Heavenly Stems, the Twelve Earthly Branches, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, and the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends,” Wen Renying said with a mysterious smile, as if seeing through Zhou Yi’s thoughts. “Among them, the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends are fully staffed, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits have eleven members,”

“The Twelve Heavenly Stems have three, and the Twelve Earthly Branches have five.”

Zhou Yi was stunned, his face blank. After a long moment, he regained composure and asked Wen Renying with difficulty, “Are all of these False Core?”

“That’s right!” Wen Renying smiled and nodded, then, as if fearing he hadn’t explained clearly, continued: “According to strength ranking, the Mountain Peak Master Council is divided exactly as I said: Twelve Heavenly Stems, Twelve Earthly Branches, Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends.”

“Among them, the weakest are the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, with strength at the first level of False Core.”

“Oh!” Suddenly realizing, Wen Renying slapped his forehead and laughed, “I forgot—you probably don’t know the divisions of False Core strength yet, right?”

“We know!”
“We know!”

Zhou Yi and Song Hai replied almost simultaneously, still in a daze.

“You do?” Wen Renying looked at them curiously, then suddenly understood, “Right, once you reach this level, it’s not surprising that you know.”