From Yong City to Yunhua Sect didn’t require much time. During the journey, Zhou Cang tried several times to inquire about his brother’s situation from the two Yunhua Sect direct disciples, but whether these two were playing dumb or were too young to understand hints, they didn’t bring up this matter from beginning to end.

Upon arriving outside Yunhua Sect’s main hall, the group descended from their flying artifacts. Zhou Cang finally couldn’t hold back and directly asked what was on his mind. “You two young friends, I wonder if my useless brother has shown any signs of remorse recently?”

Kong Hou, who was leading the way ahead, turned around upon hearing this and gave Zhou Cang a brilliant smile. Those large, dark, luminous eyes made Zhou Cang unconsciously feel more favorable and trusting toward her.

“Please rest assured, Sect Leader Zhou. Although this Nascent Soul elder committed a great error, Master Uncle the Sect Leader has always handled matters impartially. He merely confined him in a quiet room and did nothing else.” When Kong Hou smiled, there was baby fat on her face that hadn’t yet matured, giving her an air of innocent charm.

“Sect Leader Heng Yan is noble and virtuous—I didn’t mean that at all. I’m just worried that my useless brother has disturbed your esteemed sect.” Zhou Cang breathed a sigh of relief. As long as no private punishment was administered, that was good. This time when he returned, he would lock this bastard in the courtyard and not let him go anywhere.

Seeing Zhou Cang like this, Kong Hou didn’t say anything more, but her impression of him had faded considerably. Over these years, she had received many spirit stone exchange vouchers from Yuxiao Sect, so she had a natural favorable impression of this sect. She hadn’t expected the newly appointed sect leader to be so…

It wasn’t that this Sect Leader Zhou was bad, but such indulgence of relatives without proper discipline was tantamount to aiding a tyrant in his tyranny. That Nascent Soul cultivator named Zhou Xing dared to be so arrogant and domineering precisely because he relied on this elder brother of his.

Stepping into Yunhua Sect’s main hall, Kong Hou stood to the side listening to her master exchange pleasantries with Peak Master Song He. The two were perhaps old acquaintances and chatted quite pleasantly, but neither of them first mentioned the matter of Nascent Soul Elder Zhou Xing violating Yong City’s rules.

As they chatted, the conversation turned to the topic of teaching disciples.

“How can they compare with your Liuguang Sect’s disciples? These three disciples of mine are all useless.” Wang Tong shook his head, belittling himself. “My eldest only broke through to Core Formation cultivation two years ago, and my second is in closed-door cultivation recently—I don’t even know if he can successfully break through.”

“Brother Wang Tong is being modest. Cheng Yi and Tan Feng are so young yet already have such cultivation. Looking across the entire cultivation world, they’re outstanding talents.” Song He’s mood was like tea leaves in a teacup, being steeped by water until they tumbled up and down uncomfortably.

Everyone in the cultivation world knew that Wang Tong had taken two excellent disciples, and a few years ago had even accepted a genius disciple with five spiritual roots. Now he was running to his face saying his disciples were useless—wasn’t he just wanting to be praised? They were all old men who had lived for hundreds of years—who didn’t understand who?

Song He was very indignant internally but had to maintain a smile on his face, praising Wang Tong’s several disciples from head to toe.

“Not at all, not at all. They’re still young and can’t bear your praise.” Though Wang Tong’s words were modest, his pride was written all over his face.

Zhou Cang, sitting to the side, wanted to join the conversation but didn’t know where to start. Now hearing Song He praise Wang Tong’s disciples, he quickly followed suit with praise. “Peak Master Wang Tong teaches disciples excellently, which I greatly admire. Your youngest disciple, at such a young age, already has Foundation Establishment cultivation and acts with propriety, making me extremely envious. I failed to strictly teach my brother and have caused trouble for your esteemed sect.”

Wang Tong, who had been talking with Song He for quite a while, snorted coldly. “Sect Leader Zhou is too modest. Your useless brother claimed he wanted to take my youngest disciple as a concubine.”

Zhou Cang’s expression stiffened. He felt both his face and dignity burning intensely—utterly humiliating. He knew his brother had harrased two Yunhua Sect direct disciples, but he hadn’t expected one of them to be Wang Tong’s youngest disciple.

Turning to look at the girl with bright eyes and white teeth standing behind Wang Tong, Zhou Cang bowed with a bitter expression. “Miss Kong Hou, my younger brother was rude. I apologize to you on his behalf.”

Kong Hou quickly dodged this bow, her face full of surprise. “Sect Leader Zhou, what are you doing? You are you, and others are others. Though Kong Hou is young, she knows the principle of not transferring anger to others. Please, Sect Leader, absolutely do not do this.”

What did it mean for an older brother to apologize for his younger brother’s mistakes?

“Sect Leader Zhou, my disciple is still young and cannot accept your bow.” Wang Tong stood up, blocking the space between Zhou Cang and Kong Hou, absolutely refusing to let Zhou Cang complete this bow. “Since this matter has already been brought up, let’s sit down and discuss it in detail.”

Zhou Cang’s heart filled with bitterness, but he had no choice but to comply and sit down.

Song He sat to the side savoring Yunhua Sect’s special tea, maintaining an absolutely neutral stance, prepared to remain silent from beginning to end.

A plate of pastries was placed before him. He turned his head and saw it was Wang Tong’s young disciple Kong Hou.

Kong Hou pointed at the pastries, smiled at Song He with narrowed eyes, covered her mouth, and retreated to stand behind Wang Tong. Song He sighed helplessly. This old fellow Wang Tong had such excellent fortune in taking disciples that it made his peers envious.

Though Liuguang Sect didn’t lack talented disciples, taking direct disciples emphasized fate and affinity. He had stayed in the sect for so many years but hadn’t picked out two disciples who suited his heart.

“Sect Leader Zhou, you should know our Yunhua Sect’s rules. Those who oppress innocent common people without cause and harrass women can be killed without it being excessive.” Speaking of serious matters, Wang Tong’s expression became much more serious. “Whatever he does in your Yuxiao Sect’s jurisdiction, our Yunhua Sect can’t and doesn’t want to manage. But when he arrives in Yong City territory, he must follow our Yunhua Sect’s rules.”

“Peak Master Wang Tong, my younger brother committed such a grave error—this is my failure in teaching. But considering we’ve known each other for many years, please be lenient.” Zhou Cang stood up and bowed deeply to Wang Tong.

Wang Tong’s cultivation was higher than Zhou Cang’s, so he accepted this bow with peace of mind.

“Zhou Cang, whether ordinary people or cultivators, all have emotional biases. Protecting your brother isn’t wrong in itself. But the common people he bullied—they’re also someone else’s brothers or sons. Who will give them justice?”

Zhou Cang knew Wang Tong was speaking reasonably. He was in the wrong and felt inadequate, not daring to refute a single word.

“This time he harrassed female disciples of our Yunhua Sect, and they have Yunhua Sect backing them. But if he had harrassed ordinary women, who would back up those innocent women?”

Kong Hou discovered that her master, who usually smiled broadly before her, had extraordinary intimidating power when serious. She was merely standing behind her master, yet she already didn’t dare breathe loudly, let alone Zhou Cang standing before her master, who was now drenched in cold sweat and unable to form coherent sentences.

“Is your Zhou Cang’s brother human while others aren’t?” Wang Tong sneered. “If I were you, I wouldn’t apologize for him today, because I’d have no face to say it.”

Zhou Cang knew Wang Tong was right, but he only had this one brother—could he really watch him die at Yunhua Sect’s hands? In desperation, Zhou Cang could only cast a pleading gaze toward Song He. However, at this moment Song He was savoring tea and eating pastries, completely not noticing his gaze.

“Please, Peak Master, spare my brother’s life.” Zhou Cang bowed deeply to Wang Tong once more.

Standing behind Wang Tong, Kong Hou watched Zhou Cang humble himself so completely, her emotions extremely complex. When that Zhou Xing was arrogant and domineering outside, had he ever thought about his elder brother losing all face for his sake?

Did Zhou Cang, as an elder brother who blindly indulged his younger brother, ever think that one day this brother, spoiled by him until lawless, would cause a great disaster?

She secretly glanced at Wang Tong and silently made a decision. In the future, she would definitely cultivate properly and not cause trouble outside, lest she implicate her master and senior martial brothers into bowing and scraping for her sake. Just imagining such a scene, she couldn’t accept it.

Therefore, she absolutely couldn’t become someone like Zhou Xing.

Noticing his young disciple’s emotional abnormality, Wang Tong said, “Have you memorized today’s mental cultivation method? Master doesn’t need you to accompany him here. Go back and cultivate properly.”

“This disciple takes her leave.” Kong Hou bowed to Song He and Zhou Cang before withdrawing, her manner still carrying traces of noble bearing cultivated in the imperial palace.

Song He’s eyes brightened slightly. This young martial niece actually had a faint trace of dragon energy on her—she truly had an immeasurable future ahead.

“Why did you come out?” Seeing Kong Hou emerge from the main hall without much enthusiasm, Cheng Yi asked, “Did that Sect Leader Zhou say something unpleasant to you?”

Kong Hou shook her head, looking at the undisguised concern on her eldest senior martial brother’s face. “Senior martial brother, I’ll definitely never be like him in the future.”

“Which him?”

“The one locked in the prison.” Speaking of the prison, Kong Hou recalled the fates of those evil people who committed many crimes and couldn’t help but shudder. “I can’t bear to have Master and senior martial brothers bow and scrape for my sake.”

“No ambition, comparing yourself with such a person.” Cheng Yi chuckled. “Why not compare yourself with people like Zhong Xi and Lingbo?”

Kong Hou shook her head repeatedly. She didn’t want to grow nine feet tall—then she couldn’t wear beautiful flying immortal dresses. “I won’t compare, I won’t compare.”

“Truly no ambition.” Cheng Yi laughed. “You’ve been completely led astray by those senior martial brothers and sisters of yours.”

“Senior martial sisters and brothers are all very good.” Kong Hou said quietly. “Shh, eldest senior martial brother, keep your voice down. Don’t let others hear.”

Cheng Yi laughed aloud again, making Kong Hou glare wide-eyed. What kind of person spoke badly of others with such a loud voice? Could they even properly gossip anymore?

In the end, no one knew how Wang Tong communicated with Zhou Cang, but Zhou Cang paid Yunhua Sect a large sum as a gratitude fee and posted a public apology letter at the entrance of Yuxiao Sect’s shop stationed in Yong City.

The day the Zhou brothers left Yunhua Sect, Kong Hou didn’t even meditate and cultivate. She specifically got up early to “see them off.”

Zhou Xing, who had been confined in the prison for several days, was extraordinarily docile. His chin no longer jutted up, his eyes no longer wandered about, and even the hair on his forehead hung obediently, covering half his face that looked like old tree bark. What shocked her most was that Zhou Xing’s cultivation had actually dropped to Foundation Establishment stage.

However, watching Zhou Cang’s grateful and indebted appearance, Kong Hou used sound transmission to ask Linghui, who was crowded beside her watching the excitement, “Senior Sister Linghui, why did that Zhou Xing’s cultivation drop so much?”

“Oh, after serious discussion and consideration, Liuguang Sect and our sect felt that though Zhou Xing could be spared the death penalty, he couldn’t escape punishment, so they destroyed half his cultivation to prevent him from relying on his cultivation to bully people again.” Linghui shared half her snacks with Kong Hou. “This time when he goes back, Zhou Cang will have to give up the sect leader position he just assumed.”

From now on, Zhou Xing would probably tremble at his knees and take detours just hearing the three words “Yunhua Sect.”

**Author’s Note:** Warmly congratulate Zhou Xing for winning the cultivation world’s Best at Ruining His Brother Award. Applause.