Junior Brother Pays Respect to You: Chapter 9 - Unending Conflict
Chapter 9: Unending Conflict
The Tianque Sect had one annual day called the Day of Fasting.
On this day, everyone in the sect bathed and changed into clean, proper clothing in the morning, preparing for the noon ritual.
At that moment, Qin Zheng was leading Qin Su toward the sect’s communal bathhouse.
After spending some time with Qin Su, Qin Zheng realized that his junior brother wasn’t very demanding. He just liked holding hands while walking, asking for the occasional hug, and insisted on sleeping together at night.
As long as Qin Zheng was a bit tolerant, these were easy enough to accommodate. After a while, it didn’t even feel all that bothersome.
Plus, the boy would be very obedient whenever he gave in to Qin Su’s small requests.
This reminded Qin Zheng of Xiao Bai’s shadow.
The bathhouse at Tianque Sect was a communal hot spring.
Surrounded by wooden fencing with a single entrance.
When Qin Zheng arrived at the entrance with Qin Su, he noticed a familiar face crouched by the door.
“Qin Shuang, what are you doing standing here?”
Hearing his name, Qin Shuang looked up and saw Qin Zheng approaching, his face lighting up with joy. He opened his mouth as if to speak but said nothing.
Qin Zheng shifted his gaze from Qin Shuang to the bathhouse entrance. Because of the curtain hanging over it, they couldn’t see inside.
But even on a special day like today, it shouldn’t be crowded to the point of being inaccessible—especially since the hot spring was quite large.
“Qin Ke’s in there?”
That was the only possibility Qin Zheng could think of. Qin Ke had always been dissatisfied with Qin Zheng becoming the sect leader’s senior disciple and constantly picked fights. Now that he couldn’t bully Qin Zheng, he’d turned to soft targets like Qin Shuang, who was close to him.
Just as he asked the question, Qin Zheng lifted the curtain and peeked inside. He immediately understood the situation.
A row of wooden basins blocked the entrance. To get in, they would have to move them.
Inside, sitting directly opposite the door in the bath, Qin Ke was watching them with a smug expression, as if daring them to touch the basins.
Qin Zheng dropped the curtain and glanced at Qin Shuang, who stood off to the side frowning, clearly frustrated but doing nothing.
“You’re scared off by a few wooden basins?”
“You’re the second disciple of the sect leader!”
He couldn’t help but think to himself: Weren’t you a lot more gutsy before?
Qin Shuang quickly defended himself, “I just don’t want to cause trouble. I can wait until they leave.”
Qin Zheng yanked the curtain aside and said coldly, “There’s no time to wait! We still have morning lessons after this.”
“Follow me!”
With that, he marched forward and kicked away all the basins blocking the way, leading Qin Su and Qin Shuang to a free spot and putting their things down. He then shot a look at the others, who were clearly angry but didn’t dare speak up.
Qin Ke was only bold with petty tricks. He wouldn’t dare go too far—he still had to keep up appearances as the "obedient disciple" in front of the masters.
After undressing, Qin Zheng helped Qin Su take off his clothes as well, and the three of them entered the hot spring together.
With Qin Zheng around, Qin Shuang no longer acted like a pushover. Watching Qin Zheng carefully help Qin Su with his clothes, he grinned and teased, “Senior brother, why do you look more and more like a doting mother?”
Qin Zheng tossed a piece of clothing at his face.
Even in the water, Qin Zheng didn’t forget to lecture Qin Su: “Don’t learn to be naughty like your senior brother, okay?”
Qin Su obediently nodded.
Qin Zheng told himself: Building rapport is one thing, but Qin Su is supposed to become the sect leader. If I end up leading him astray and ruin his chances.
All my effort will be for nothing.
While soaking in the warm water, Qin Zheng asked curiously, “By the way, why do we cultivators of the scattered immortal path need to hold rituals? Aren’t the elders already ascended immortals?”
Qin Shuang looked surprised. “After all these years of attending the rituals, you’re just now wondering why?”
Qin Zheng gave him a sideways glance and didn’t answer.
Even though he hadn’t pressed for more, Qin Shuang took it upon himself to explain, “The sect leader says the ritual is for worshiping the mountain god of Yuqing Mountain.”
“That’s even weirder. Are we actually asking for blessings from him?”
“That, I don’t know.”
After the bath, Qin Zheng took Qin Su to class. Even though there was a ritual at noon, classes still went on as usual.
Qin Shuang didn’t live in the same area, but he still chose to take a detour to walk with them.
By the time they reached the outdoor training ground, many disciples had already gathered. It was a ritual day, so everyone wore formal robes.
Even those sparring were noticeably more cautious than usual.
From afar, Qin Zheng spotted Qin Ke surrounded like the center of attention and sneered. “What’s someone at mid-stage second tier doing here?”
Qin Shuang was not pleased. “Senior brother, if you think like that, you’ll never see me here again. We come here to train our techniques—even if we’re second tier, we still need to practice swordsmanship and spellwork.”
Qin Zheng looked at Qin Shuang and said sharply, “I almost forgot you were Tier 2.”
“Getting bullied like that—you sure talk big.”
While Qin Zheng was still scolding Qin Shuang, Qin Ke suddenly broke away from his crowd and approached them.
He stopped a few feet away.
Since Qin Ke was a bit older, he looked more imposing. He sneered at the three and said, “I used to think you kept to yourself because you were proud. Turns out, I overestimated you.”
He paused, glanced at Qin Su, then continued, “Now I see—you’re just insecure.”
“Pathetic. Two weaklings clinging to each other for warmth.”
“And to think you still try to act all arrogant in front of others.”
As soon as Qin Ke finished, the surrounding crowd burst into laughter.
If Qin Zheng really were sixteen, he probably would’ve lashed out in anger—whether or not he could win.
But inside his body was a man nearing fifty. Faced with someone like Qin Ke, he simply showed a look of “how childish,” then pulled Qin Su away from him.
He even pretended to whisper to Qin Su, “Let’s move further away. Immaturity is contagious.”
But he said it loud enough for the whole crowd to hear.
“You—!”
When it came to verbal sparring, Qin Ke was no match for Qin Zheng.
Just as it looked like Qin Ke was about to lose his temper and charge over to start a fight, Qin Xuan beside him quietly reminded, “Senior Brother, the Martial Uncle is coming.”
Qin Ke quickly turned his head and saw the instructor approaching from the distance, immediately reining in his arrogance.
The others, upon noticing the arrival of the Martial Uncle, automatically lined up in two rows as usual.
The Martial Uncle stepped in front of them, cleared his throat, and went straight to the point. He raised his hand and pointed in front of him.
Everyone followed his gaze—it was a lotus pond.
“Today, we will be practicing the art of telekinesis. Try your best to use your spiritual energy to lift the water from the lotus pond into the air.”
“Like this.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire pond's water lifted into the air, even the fish inside floated up with it. Yet the fish swam freely as if nothing had changed, as if the pond had been placed in an invisible box.
The Martial Uncle only held the water in the air briefly before letting it return to the pond.
“Of course, to reach my level, you all need much more diligent cultivation.”
“No amount of talk beats doing it yourselves. Go try it out and let me see how your cultivation is progressing.”
“You don’t need to come up one by one. Practice more and you’ll improve faster.”
After his instruction, the disciples scattered around the pond and began trying to replicate the technique.
Even Qin Ke, who had been standing in line with Qin Zheng, walked over to try.
As a first-stage novice, Qin Zheng felt there was no real need for him to try.
Still, he looked down and asked Qin Su, “Do you want to give it a try?”
Seeing Qin Su nod, Qin Zheng reluctantly led him to the edge of the pond.
After several attempts by the other disciples, water droplets gradually began to rise from the surface of the pond.
Excited shouts erupted from the crowd.
Qin Zheng smiled and said to Qin Su, “Why don’t you give it a shot?”
Suddenly, a splash of water landed directly on Qin Zheng’s face.
It wasn’t much water, but it definitely wasn’t rain.
Qin Zheng’s expression darkened as he turned toward the crowd, only to see Qin Ke grinning smugly at him.
Seeing Qin Zheng looking at him, Qin Ke quickly put on a fake innocent look and said, “Sorry, my magic was unstable and I lost control.”
He even glanced innocently at the supervising Martial Uncle to show he hadn’t done it on purpose.
The Martial Uncle waved it off and said, “Mistakes happen when you’re learning. Qin Zheng, don’t take it personally. Go change into a dry set of clothes.”
This time, Qin Zheng had no choice but to admit defeat. When it came to underhanded tricks with magic, he couldn't beat Qin Ke. And Qin Ke was cunning—while Qin Zheng was seen as a troublemaker, Qin Ke had everyone fooled into thinking he was a model disciple.
Qin Zheng swallowed his anger, wiped his face, and turned to leave and change clothes, knowing he needed clean attire for the midday ritual.
[Splash!]
Just as Qin Zheng turned, another splash came from behind him.
Was Qin Ke really going to go that far, even in front of the Martial Uncle?
Qin Zheng swore to himself: if Qin Ke dared throw more water, he'd toss him into the pond—punishment or not.
But instead of feeling water land on him, he noticed the Martial Uncle in the distance staring in shock.
Curious, Qin Zheng turned around—only to see Qin Ke, who had been dry and smug just a moment ago, now soaking wet as if he had just been fished out of the pond, staring wide-eyed at Qin Su.
And there was Qin Su, whom Qin Zheng had left behind, standing a short distance away, quietly looking up at Qin Ke.
Qin Zheng wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but it looked like his junior brother’s eyes were burning with rage.
Could it be… Qin Su did this?
How had he managed to move so much water?
While Qin Zheng was still stunned, Qin Ke, now furious, raised more water from the pond, clearly intending to dump it on Qin Su.
But Qin Su didn’t even try to dodge. He just stood there, staring.
Without thinking, Qin Zheng rushed forward and shoved Qin Ke straight into the lotus pond.
The water Qin Ke had been controlling crashed onto the ground a full meter away from Qin Su.
The whole training ground fell into chaos.
Qin Zheng grabbed Qin Su and stormed off toward their quarters, completely ignoring the flailing Qin Ke in the pond.
The pond wasn’t deep—he wouldn't drown.
Maybe this would cool him off.
Still, Qin Zheng figured he’d probably end up in solitary confinement again for this.
----------
If you like my translation, please support me by buying me a coffee:
0 comments: