If I hadn't sown such good karma, how could I be reaping such a great reward today?"

Ouye Feng's eye twitched. "Do you have the nerve to say that? Back then, if Luo Binglan hadn't threatened that Armor Puppet of yours—the one your Manipulation Sect spent five hundred years studying—with an axe, would you have ever agreed to give her that coffin?"

Gongshu Wumao boasted proudly, "You don't know shit. That's called strategy. If I didn't act a little heartbroken, how would Junior Sister Luo have ever known how precious that coffin truly was?"

When a man is successful, even his farts seem to smell sweet. Just like Gongshu Wumao. Ouye Feng had seen with his own eyes how wretched he used to be, how hard his days were. But now, the utter nonsense he spouted somehow seemed to hold a sliver of truth. But Ouye Feng knew better. There was no truth to it. It was pure, dumb luck!

At this thought, Ouye Feng grew even more irritated.

Gongshu Wumao was still gloating. "And look at your Artifact Sect! For all these years, you've turned your noses up at the Divination Sect, too arrogant to see anything clearly! Even with the Immortal Sect Loan that Martial Nephew Wang Xiu came up with, you all acted so high and mighty, pretending you didn't need the money and refusing to support him!"

"How does it feel? Like you've been slapped right across the face, doesn't it?"

"If I were Martial Nephew Wang Xiu, how much would I have to hate you? Teach you the Primordial God Refining Technique? In your dreams!"

With each word, Ouye Feng's heart grew a little colder.

Finally, his face turned livid, and he hefted the artifact cauldron once again.

Gongshu Wumao paled.

"Talk is talk, let's not get physical!"

"You're coming at me again?"

"Do you really think I won't fight back?"

"Ow! I was wrong, Brother Ouye, be gentle! That's a top-quality Renmian Kui..."

...

After a sound thrashing, Gongshu Wumao sat collapsed on the ground, rubbing his rear with a look of utter despair.

Ouye Feng's mood improved considerably.

He set down the artifact cauldron, pondered for a moment, and said, "You just said the coffin Junior Sister Luo snatched—or rather, the one you *gifted* her—was an important reason that Martial Nephew Wang Xiu taught you the Primordial God Refining Technique. Are there any other reasons?"

Gongshu Wumao said with a blank expression, "Weiwei seems to like him!"

Ouye Feng was stunned. His pupils shrank as he said with exasperated disappointment, "Brother Gongshu, how could you do something so depraved? Selling out your own Closed-door Disciple for a secret technique? Is there no shame? It's a disgrace! Where is the integrity of the Immortal Sect? Where is your dignity as the Chief of the Manipulation Sect?"

Gongshu Wumao glanced at him. "I know your Artifact Sect doesn't have any female disciples, but the Alchemy Sect should have plenty of excellent ones. You could try borrowing one!"

Ouye Feng shot to his feet. "Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Without another word, he stormed out of the room.

Gongshu Wumao looked at the mess in the secret chamber and sighed helplessly. But when he glanced at the Space Ring and the newly forged materials within, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably curled upward as a sinister chuckle escaped him.

...

Gongshu Wumao had just finished tidying up the chamber when Ouye Feng returned.

His face was flushed with anger. "That Old Man Lu is so damn stingy! All I did was ask him for a female disciple, and he just had to keep asking me why..."

Gongshu Wumao was speechless.

Ouye Feng looked at him. "Is there any other way?"

Gongshu Wumao thought for a moment and said hesitantly, "Why don't you try... becoming his disciple?"

Ouye Feng's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "What did you just say?"

Gongshu Wumao tried to persuade him, "In learning, there is no seniority; he who is accomplished is the teacher. Martial Nephew Wang Xiu created such an unprecedented, divine technique all by himself. You won't lose out by becoming his disciple. Moreover, for you, in your esteemed position as the Chief of the Artifact Sect, to personally kneel and ask to become his disciple would show the utmost sincerity! He'll most likely agree!"

Ouye Feng scoffed, turning his head and tilting his chin up in pride. "I began my cultivation at seven and started Artifact Refining at twenty. I have endured eight hundred and thirty-six years—three hundred and five thousand, one hundred and forty days and nights—to achieve what I have today! Now, you want me to kowtow and become the disciple of a wet-behind-the-ears brat who's barely twenty?! Where would my dignity be? Where would the honor of the Artifact Sect be?"

Gongshu Wumao spread his hands. "Then I'm out of ideas. Your Artifact Sect already has a strained relationship with the Divination Sect. If you aren't willing to sacrifice a little more, not even the gods can help you!"

"Humph!" Ouye Feng flung his sleeve. "It's just one Primordial God Refining Technique! I can do without it! I, Ouye Feng, would rather die than cast away my dignity and integrity for a mere secret technique!"

With that, he strode away, his back as straight and unyielding as a proud, solitary pine on a cliff's summit.

...

「That night.」

「Spirit Turtle Peak.」

In front of Wang Xiu's little courtyard, a voice, filled with the utmost sincerity, echoed through the mountains.

"This disciple sincerely seeks to learn. Please, Master, accept me!"

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