The Legend of Fangren

"Elder, you are mistaken."

Suddenly, Fang Shi straightened his back, completely abandoning his previous panic, and said frankly, "Am I that kind of person?"

Qianshaoyun was taken aback, then glanced at the backpack on his back that was bulging as if it were about to burst, and was so angry that she laughed: "Isn't that right?"

Her face was even more frosty, and she landed directly in front of Fang Shi, towering over him and looking down at him.

But Fang Shi was unfazed by the stares: "Elder, you heard it down the mountain too. I am but a mortal with exceptionally poor aptitude. Climbing here has already exhausted all my strength. How could I possibly have the energy to destroy the spirit tree?"

"Then how do you explain so many spiritual fruits?"

"Putting aside the fact that some of them were brought by myself, even those I picked up from the mountain were because I saw the spirit fruits scattered all over the ground and felt it was a pity to waste them."

"Hmph, then how do you explain your presence here?"

All along the way up the long steps, there were large trees and saplings on both sides, but there are none here.

"I am exhausted, I will rest here."

You weren't even out of breath, yet you were completely exhausted.

Fine, Qianshaoyun had no more patience to argue with him. With a flick of her slender fingers, she released a cloud of mysterious energy and said coldly, "Since you claim to be innocent, let me search your entire body and see if you are truly innocent."

"Huh? This...this is indecent assault!"

Fang Shi felt as if the mist was agile fingers that could penetrate his clothes and search his entire body in an instant.

This...this is indecent assault!

"strangeness……"

When the clouds dispersed, the slender cloud eyes looked puzzled.

She initially thought that the boy was either hiding his cultivation level or had a magical artifact on him, otherwise a mortal would not be able to do such a thing. However, after searching him, she found that apart from knowing that the boy was indeed a cultivation failure, there was not a trace of a magical artifact on him.

Could it be...?

Qianshaoyun's gaze towards Fang Shi suddenly turned dangerous. Just now, the clouds and mist had only searched the surface of his body; to be honest, there were still some places that hadn't been explored in depth.

"You...you...what else do you want to do?" Fang Shi's eyes shifted from resentment to terror.

This isn't right. Shouldn't the usual process be that he's eloquent and persuasive, and the beautiful woman can't do anything to him but also won't let him go, and then the two of them begin their tragic love-hate relationship?

Who would start by making a move?

Hey, you know what, the elders really do have the right to search you. You can't escape, kid.

However, a body search also has its advantages. At the cost of "losing his virginity," at least Fang Shi can prove his innocence without resorting to clever words.

"Fine." Qianshaoyun thought about it for a moment, then felt a bit nauseous and lost interest.

Even if a magical artifact is hidden in such a place, it's impossible that no amount of profound energy can be detected. Judging from how this kid struggled when he was searched, it doesn't seem like he has any foreign objects inside him, so let's assume he wasn't lying.

"But what do you plan to do with this spiritual fruit?"

With that matter over, Qianshaoyun set her sights on Fangshi's backpack.

These spiritual fruits were originally intended for the disciples climbing the mountain, but this guy has taken them all. Although we haven't even reached the mountainside yet, it wouldn't be good if the sect left a harsh impression on the new disciples from the very beginning.

But when Fang Shi saw her look, he immediately protected his backpack: "Elder, I picked this myself. It's only a few centimeters high in the mountains. It's really not much for me to eat this little bit."

"Keep it for yourself." Qianshaoyun rolled her eyes at his possessive manner. She wasn't stingy; the fruit along this mountain path at the foot of the mountain was of poor quality anyway, so it wouldn't matter if she didn't have any.

Since the boy was innocent, Qian Shaoyun naturally stopped labeling him as a greedy person and her attitude immediately improved.

Compared to Elder Liu Yiyuan, who values ​​qualifications, she doesn't care much about this aspect, since she's not in charge of the pharmacy.

As for what happened down the mountain, the body search just now was quite satisfying, and I felt I had gotten my revenge. My mind is at peace now.

And just like that, the wispy clouds vanished in a flash.

"Just like that, you left?"

Fang Shi patted himself and stood up. He hadn't expected cultivators to be so casual. He had thought he would at least face some discrimination and sarcastic remarks about their aptitude.

Fang Shi plopped down, took out two spirit fruits, and continued to gnaw on them.

He was just eating snacks.

The thought that hundreds of people were climbing up the mountain towards him didn't bother him.

In short, as long as he's incompetent, the matter has nothing to do with him.

He had considered making it a little more secluded, but apart from the trees on both sides of the long steps, the terrain in other places was too steep, and he didn't know if there were any powerful monsters around. For safety, he had no choice but to do it this way.

His words weren't entirely unfounded; this was a mountain ten thousand meters high, and without so many spiritual fruits to help him, he really didn't have the confidence to climb it.

However, going all the way to baldness is a bit excessive.

So Fang Shi decided to pay a little more attention when chopping down trees from now on; he would keep the trees with fruit on them and dissolve the rest that didn't have fruit.

Then, instead of throwing away the fallen straight sticks, they were broken off and tossed into the grass, while the saplings were still planted.

And so… two hours later… Qianshaoyun reappeared before Fang Shi.

"...Elder, why are you here again?" (Panic)

"I've been thinking about it," Qianshaoyun tilted her head thoughtfully. "You must have cut down this tree, right? The trees in front of you are still lush and green, but the ones behind you have become sparse."

"Ugh."

Fang Shi stopped talking, lay down on the long steps with his limbs spread out, and let out a long sigh.

What are you doing?

"Prove your innocence."

Qianshaoyun rolled her eyes: "Since you're at least somewhat sensible, I'll only ask you, what methods did you use?"

Fang Shi knew this was an unavoidable issue. Previously, Zhang Kongming had only said that he was blessed with good fortune because he hadn't seen the felled trees. Now, he had to search for the fruit while climbing the mountain, so he couldn't avoid it.

So he thought about it for a full three minutes.

Fang Shi closed his eyes.

Slender Cloud: "?"

"Go ahead and search."

The idea that the protagonist can come up with an explanation in no time is a lie.

Slender Clouds: "..."

If that's how you put it, then I'm going to have to use my strength.

"Ah~!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed down from the mountain, startling the disciples who had climbed up below.

Could there be even more difficult trials ahead?

However, compared to her disciples, Qian Shaoyun was much more puzzled.

She considered that the fourth rank was not an extremely high level of cultivation in the sect, but it was still a world apart from ordinary people. So why couldn't she find out what this kid was capable of?

Could it really be a coincidence, or is someone using this as a cover-up to frame someone?

After much thought, Qianshaoyun decided to keep a close eye on Fang Shi one-on-one, and just like him, she would climb the long steps up the mountain step by step.

I refuse to believe that I could be wrong even if I stared at it so intently.

Fang Shi: "..."

With no other option, he had to prop up his broken body and continue climbing.

Although having a beautiful woman accompany him on a mountain climb has its own charm, his climbing posture, which involves using all four limbs, doesn't seem to match the beauty at all.

Especially since he was crawling a little ahead and Qianshaoyun was walking behind, he always felt that there was only a rope separating the two of them.

He couldn't even say who got the better deal.

But things had already come to this point, and so the individual and the story unfolded as they climbed the mountain.

"Can't you stand up and crawl?" With the help of her profound energy, Qian Shaoyun didn't have to exert any effort at all. However, Fang Shi's posture was really hard to maintain, and she couldn't even keep her composure while walking behind him.

"It's much easier if you save some effort, Elder. You can fly, I don't understand."

Before cultivating, everyone was just an ordinary person.

"You've climbed long stairs before?"

"No, I used to be a Heavenly Rank disciple."

"..."

Then what are you talking about?