“The Hidden Cloud Peak isn’t too bad, and they don’t have that much to do. It shouldn’t be too tiring for you guys.” The disciple rambled on and then paused, turned his head to look around. When he was sure that there was no one else around, he turned to them and whispered: “Remember this. When you get to the Hidden Cloud Peak, do not go against Elder Ke.”
Jun Wu Xie looked up at the disciple of the Qing Yun Clan. She had heard from Bai Yun Xian about the ominous dangers of the Hidden Cloud Peak, but she had not expected to hear the well intended warning from a disciple of the Qing Yun Clan.
Noticing Jun Wu Xie’s eyes on him, the disciple turned away consciously.
“Our altercation had instead brought us together and made us fellow disciples. If I had offended you before, I hope my junior fellow disciple would forgive me.” The disciple went on.
“From which peak is my senior?” Jun Wu Xie asked suddenly.
“Me? I’m from the Cloud Treading Peak, but not a direct disciple of Elder Mu. I am only assigned odd jobs and menial tasks there. My name is Rong Heng.” Rong Heng laughed good naturedly and hesitated before he went on: “I would like to thank you for earlier. I have noted down everything you said, but might not be able to get all the herbs you mentioned. I would have to hand the prescription over to my Master.”
The sudden change in Rong Heng’s demeanour was not entirely without reason. What Jun Wu Xie had said earlier could drastically improve his veins and arteries and allow him to break his current stagnant progress and maybe achieve a breakthrough. That would change his life completely and for that, he was eternally grateful.
Jun Wu Xie nodded and was silent for a moment before she said: “If my senior can find the time in half a month’s time to come to the gates of the Hidden Cloud Peak, wait for me there an hour before noon, I have something to give you.”
Jun Wu Xie did not feel that Rong Heng owed her anything, as her actions had been only meant to attract Mu Chen’s attention and it had inadvertently brought her Rong Heng’s gratitude as well. Rong Heng’s kind intentions behind his warning to the two of them was about to win him a real reward nevertheless.
Jun Wu Xie would never forgive a wrong done upon her, but would also repay any kindness showered upon her. If she were to benefit from others, she would definitely repay in folds.
Rong Heng was not aware of the great fortune he was soon to reap, and did not know what Jun Wu Xie wanted to give him. He simply nodded and continued to lead the way.
At the gates into the Hidden Cloud Mountain, they met with another group of candidates.
They had not been selected and were supposed to leave the mountain, but a disciple of the Qing Yun Clan had led them here instead. There were about twenty to thirty of them and when they saw Jun Wu Xie and her group, their faces showed that they were pleased at their unexpected fortune but still harboured a deep resentment for Jun Wu Xie.
“Isn’t that our distinguished senior fellow disciple? Being so distinguished, he could not afford to walk as fast as us can he?” A youth in the group sneered at Jun Wu Xie and Qiao Chu.
Volume 3
Chapter 267: “Hidden Cloud Peak (3)”
Those youths had been overcome with jealousy when the two Elders had fought over Jun Wu Xie at the selection assessment. They had given up all hope when they did not get selected and were about to leave from the summit when they met with a disciple of the Hidden Cloud Peak. He selected several tens of them and told them that Ke Cang Ju had picked them to be admitted into the Hidden Cloud Peak and they would become disciples of the Hidden Cloud Peak henceforth.
What a turn of events!
They were pulled out of their despair and were elated at the news. Now that they met Jun Wu Xie again, the one who had won the envy and jealousy of every single one of them in their group, they could not contain their disdain for her.
So what if two different Elders had picked her? She was admitted into the Hidden Cloud Peak just like they were. They had wondered what ability she possessed but now it seemed she was just like anyone of them there.
Teenagers were prone to having a rebellious streak and they had already disliked Jun Wu Xie and Qiao Chu for being selected during the assessment. Now that they are facing the two of them, everything about them displeased the bigger group of youths.
Jun Wu Xie ignored the jeers and sneers and Rong Heng just sighed and said to Jun Wu Xie: “I can only escort you up to this point. From here on, the Hidden Cloud Peak disciple will lead you. Take care.”
Jun Wu Xie nodded at Rong Heng and walked with Qiao Chu to join up with the group who still looked at the duo with daggers in their eyes but Jun Wu Xie and Qiao Chu were totally unaffected as they stepped into their midst.
“You must think yourself really great! You think you are better than all of us?” A slightly older youth among them was irked by Jun Wu Xie’s cold and distant attitude and charged at Jun Wu Xie with his heavier body.
Alas, he did not even manage to even touch any part of Jun Wu Xie before Qiao Chu stepped in suddenly and grabbed his shoulder, reversed the grip of his other hand to grab the forearm, and raised his foot and kicked down forcefully!
A loud snap sounded and the youth’s arm had been broken in a flash!
And a screeching wail burst out from the youth.
A malicious expression surfaced on Qiao Chu’s usual lazy look, and he narrowed his eyes dangerously, looking at that moment, like a totally different person from Qiao Chu’s usual laidback and carefree attitude.
“Stay away or I’ll do worse.”
The youth with the broken arm continued to wail and the others turned pale and sweat ran down their backs at Qiao Chu’s brutal attack. The Qing Yun Clan’s disciple nonchalantly glanced at Qiao Chu and did not say anything.
Qiao Chu’s expression changed back like a switch, as he went back to stand beside Jun Wu Xie, his malicious expression before had disappeared without a trace. He then said with a laugh: “My fists are tough enough to fight off any who dares bully you in the Hidden Cloud Peak.”
Jun Wu Xie noted with interest Qiao Chu’s quick change in demeanor but did not see anything wrong with it.
She did not think Qiao Chu’s attack was brutal, if they were not at the Qing Yun Clan’s Cloudy Peaks, she would have told Qiao Chu that you need to root out the evil and not allow them to live to come back and haunt you. But since they were going to the Hidden Cloud Peak, that youth would not live long anyway, it did not make a difference if Qiao Chu left him alive or not.
“If you have finished playing then come with me.” The Hidden Cloud Peak disciple muttered disagreeably as he looked at the group with impatience.
Qiao Chu’s attack had frightened the youths who treated them with disdain, and no one dared utter a single word against them as they walked through the gates of the Hidden Cloud Peak.
The Hidden Cloud Peak was the second largest among the twelve peaks, after the Sovereign Qin Yue’s, and it boasted a large surface area. Upon entering the Hidden Cloud Peak, fog hung heavily in the air, and dense forests stood on both sides shrouded in the fog. Peering into the fog, beds of herbs that were planted lining both sides of the path could faintly be seen.
The Hidden Cloud Peak was well known to people externally to specialise in the planting and cultivation of herbs. It was even said, the one could find every single rare herb in the world within the Hidden Cloud Peak.
Volume 3
Chapter 268: “Hidden Cloud Peak (4)”
The youths had been jittery ever since they’ve entered the Hidden Cloud Peak. When they saw the expansive beds of a multitude varieties of herbs everywhere around them, they became overcome with awe. They started to look around for rare herbs that they had heard of, exclaiming loudly as they identified them, seemingly trying their best to impress the Hidden Cloud Peak disciple of their “wide knowledge”.
Besides childish and moronic, Jun Wu Xie could not find any other words to describe these lambs on their way to slaughter.
The disciples of the Hidden Cloud Peak were well treated, and each disciple was assigned an individual room. Not even disciples of Qin Yue himself enjoyed such privileges in their living quarters. In Qing Yun Clan, besides for Elders and the privileged few specially granted by the Sovereign himself, a single room was usually shared by two or three disciples.
Walking into their own rooms, the group of youths were laughing at the luxurious quarters they were to enjoy, silently thinking their fortunes had really turned around.
Jun Wu Xie’s room was next to Qiao Chu’s, situated at the northern edge of the quarters. Their rooms were next to a pond and it was decorated with artificial mountains, and it looked rather elegant.
Sitting on a chair in the room, Jun Wu Xie’s eyes scanned the room. The beddings were new, although they were of rather bad quality, they were at least clean. She had not sat down for long before a slight frown appeared on her face.
A light familiar scent of blood swirled below her nose. The smell was very faint, almost too faint to be noticed. If not for her unusually keen sense of smell, she would not have noticed it at all.
Following the hated scent, Jun Wu Xie came to stand before the table next to the bed. The paint on a corner of the table was new, its colour a slightly brighter shade than the rest. Jun Wu Xie retrieved a small dagger from her cloth bag and scraped off the paint in that corner. The orange paint flaked off bit by bit and the original wood was revealed. Looking at it closely, within the wood itself, it was stained with the darker shade of blood. The bloodstain looked rather recent when blood had dripped on the table and seeped into the wood staining it a dark shade of red, and it was impossible to wash off.
“This is interesting.” Jun Wu Xie sat back on the chair and stared at the carelessly covered bloodstain and her cold eyes flashed.
The Hidden Cloud Peak was as dangerous as she had heard. The previous occupant of this room did not die too long ago, or the scent of blood would have completely dissipated.
Ke Cang Ju accepted a large number of disciples on the fifteenth of every month. But she had secretly observed earlier within the living quarters of the disciples, there were less than two hundred of them when added up. According to Ke Cang Ju’s acceptance of thirty disciples every month, the numbers did not add up, not even when you multiply it by ten.
Judging from Ke Cang Ju’s way of accepting disciples this time round, he had accepted her and Qiao Chu openly, but he had also secretly got his disciples to gather almost another thirty rejected candidates after the assessment and brought them back to the Hidden Cloud Peak.
If Ke Cang Ju had done it the same way all this while, others would not see anything suspicious about the Hidden Cloud Peak.
After all, from what many on the outside can see, the Hidden Cloud Peak did not have that many disciples.
All traces of their existence were erased, they were thorough in their deceit.
Jun Wu Xie got up, and took out a sealed porcelain bottle. She heaped the scraped paint together into a tiny heap and poured a tiny bit of the liquid from the bottle onto it. The dry paint dissolved gradually and Jun Wu Xie smeared the paint across gently with the bottom of the bottle, and recoated the corner she had scraped off with the paint. In a moment, it was restored to look as it had before.
Volume 3
Chapter 269: “Dream turned Nightmare (1)”
[Mistress, it seems bad in here.]
Black mist seeped out of Jun Wu Xie’s body into a ball and coalesced into the agile little black cat. It jumped onto the soft bed and swished its furry tail furiously, looking like it was trying to dispel the bad smell in the air.
“It’s just the heavy smell of death.” Jun Wu Xie said dismissively, a smell she was extremely familiar with. Dissipated from the rotting bodies under the surface, the scent of death gradually blossomed here. The Hidden Cloud Peak looked on the surface to be a place exalted and revered, but hidden underneath, was mysterious deaths, unseen, unknown.
[That hideous monster must have been up to no good.]
The little black cat had seen Ke Cang Ju clearly when it hid within Jun Wu Xie’s body, and he had looked absolutely horrendous.
Jun Wu Xie was silent and sat quietly in the chair.
They had just come to the Hidden Cloud Peak and they were led straight to the living quarters by the disciple. No one else paid them any attention and the excited youths in the group had gathered in the courtyard all afternoon. They did not dare stray or wander without any instructions given as they highly treasured this opportunity given to them.
When night approached, several Hidden Cloud Peak disciples were returning to the quarters. The newcomers had grown hungry and they watched as their senior fellows passed them. One of them gathered his courage and approached the seniors to ask for food, but were sent crawling back with cold stares.
Only when night had fully fallen, and the youths were ravenously hungry, the disciple who had led them to the quarters earlier in the day ambled in slowly and shouted for all the new recruits to gather.
Jun Wu Xie and Qiao Chu stepped out of their rooms and exchanged a glance, and they did not see a sign of hunger on each other.
“Senior, it’s….. already so late into the night….., when can we ….. eat?” The ravenous youths held their bellies as they looked at the disciple.
The disciple cast them a glance and replied maliciously: “You want to eat?”
The youths nodded eagerly.
The disciple raised his hand and pointed outside, and said: “Look, there are a hundred large urns outside. Five miles to the east, lies a mountain spring. Everyone of you will have to fill up three large urns with water. If you do not complete it, don’t even think about dinner tonight, or even tomorrow’s breakfast.”
“What!?” The youths were utterly shocked. They had seen the huge urns earlier today when they had come in. They were larger in width than any of them with their hands stretched out and were as tall as they were. The distance of five miles was not too far away but a round trip would make it ten. They had starved for a whole day and had not even a drop of water and it was already so late at night, they did not have the energy to carry water treading through the mountains. Such huge urns to fill, and to fill up three at that, would require tens and tens of trips for them.
The uneven mountain paths did not make it easier, but even if the path was flat and even, none of them would be able to complete it.
“So, what is this? You guys are complaining? Let me tell you, the water in those urns will be used to water the herb beds tomorrow. If you cannot do it, then get out of here quick. The Hidden Cloud Peak has no use for useless wimps like that!” The disciple sneered and gave them a good tongue lashing.
The youths had been happily languishing around all day thinking that their dreams had finally come true, but they all huddled in fear together now, when they found out that their nightmare had actually just begun.
A dream of fantasy that suddenly fell straight into their hands, was actually a nightmare that could claim all their lives!
They stubbornly refused to give up this rare opportunity to have been finally accepted into the Hidden Cloud Peak, and pushed themselves to hang on. Even when the task given was impossible, they dragged themselves up and moved to carry it out.
Volume 3
Chapter 270: “Dream turned Nightmare (2)”
Dragging their tired bodies, the youths went out and picked up the buckets to go on their way to retrieve water from the spring.
Two lazy bodies trailed at the back of the group and watched the others drag their wretched bodies hobbling unsteadily to fetch
water.
“Hungry?” Qiao Chu asked after everyone else had left and the two of them were alone outside the quarters.
Jun Wu Xie shook her head. Her appetite had always been small and did not hold great interest in the desire for food, only ensuring that she ingested adequate nutrition and carbohydrates daily and not anything more than that. The elixirs she brought with her provided her with that sufficiently and she did not feel any hunger.
“Here, keep this with you. You don’t have to eat them today, just keep them for another time. This torment should still continue on for quite awhile longer.” Qiao Chu took out a packet of dried meat from his bag and stuffed it into Jun Wu Xie’s hands.
Jun Wu Xie raised an eyebrow and looked at Qiao Chu. He had chattered endlessly all this while, but his actions at times had revealed clues contrary to the mindless personality he projected. Qiao Chu’s initial aim had been to get admitted into the Hidden Cloud Peak, and his actions after had shown him to be familiar with the internal workings here. Dried meat were small and inconspicuous, they were most ideal as rations. People rarely kept any on themselves but for the well traveled, and Qiao Chu seemed to have prepared for the unexpected circumstances rather well.
Qiao Chu had hinted from the beginning that he would protect her in the Hidden Cloud Peak, so it seemed he knew a few things about things happening here. The dried meat was also prepared beforehand against tonight’s expected torment.
What was Qiao Chu’s objective here with the Qing Yun Clan?
Qiao Chu noticed that Jun Wu Xie did not accept the dried meat and he stuffed it back into his own bag. “If you get hungry, just let me know. I have more than enough. Let’s not carry water, the task is impossible to complete. Why don’t you just hang around out here? If you go back now, you would only get nagged at by the seniors.”
Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss Volume 3 Page 17