Inside Zou Fang's spiritual sea of consciousness, Wei Long was already boiling over with frustration.
No, frustration wasn't enough.
He was seething.
He was furious.
He was outraged.
He was so angry that if his spiritual form could breathe fire, Zou Fang's entire consciousness would have been set ablaze by now.
"YOU HAVE TO SAY SOTHING!" Wei Long bellowed. "YOU CAN'T JUST LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
Zou Fang flinched at the sheer intensity of the roar inside his mind.
"H-he's an elder," Zou Fang muttered. "I can't just—"
"CAN'T JUST WHAT?! CAN'T JUST CALL HIM OUT FOR HIS LIES?! CAN'T JUST POINT OUT THAT HE'S TRYING TO STEAL MY WORK?! CAN'T JUST—"
Wei Long's claws sank into the air, as if trying to physically hold himself back from lunging at sothing.
"HE'S A SHALESS OLD GOAT! A SHALESS, GREEDY, LYING OLD GOAT! A FRAUD! A SCAMR! A—"
Zou Fang's head hurt just listening to the endless string of insults pouring out of Wei Long's mouth.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Okay, okay, I get it, but—"
"NO! YOU DON'T GET IT! HE'S GOING TO MILK THIS FOR EVERYTHING IT'S WORTH! HE'S GOING TO STEAL MY SUCCESS AND TURN IT INTO HIS ACHIEVENT! HE'S GOING TO ACT LIKE HE 'FIGURED IT OUT' WHEN ALL HE DID WAS MAKE EXCUSES TO DISCREDIT FIRST!"
Zou Fang hesitated.
He knew Wei Long was right.
He knew.
But still…
"But… what can I even say?" Zou Fang asked cautiously.
Wei Long stopped.
For a brief second.
And then—
"WHAT CAN YOU EVEN SAY?! YOU CAN SAY EVERYTHING! YOU CAN SAY HOW HE'S THE MOST TWO-FACED, BACKSTABBING, HYPOCRITICAL, OPPORTUNISTIC OLD MAN IN THIS ENTIRE SECT! YOU CAN SAY THAT HE'S USING YOU AS A TOOL TO BOOST HIS OWN STATUS! YOU CAN SAY—"
Wei Long went on and on and on—
And Zou Fang's head spun.
"Wait, wait, wait—slow down! If I actually say all of that, I'll be thrown out of the sect for disrespecting an elder!"
"SO WHAT?!" Wei Long snapped back. "DO YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR LIFE BEING USED BY SO OLD FRAUD?!"
Zou Fang hesitated again.
His fingers clenched.
His mind raced.
Then, finally—
"No way."
Wei Long paused.
"What?"
"No way." Zou Fang's voice grew louder.
Wei Long's eyes widened.
"NO WAY!" Zou Fang suddenly shouted aloud—his actual voice, not just in his mind.
The entire room turned silent.
Dead silent.
Every disciple, every breeder, every onlooker froze.
Elder Fan Ming, who had been basking in his own self-congratulatory thoughts, narrowed his eyes.
"What did you just say?"
Zou Fang stood up straight.
His breathing was heavy.
His heart pounded.
But his resolve was firm.
"I SAID—NO WAY!"
The stunned silence lasted a heartbeat longer.
Then, whispers started spreading.
"What is he talking about?"
"Why is Zou Fang suddenly shouting?"
"Is he… opposing Elder Fan Ming?"
Elder Fan Ming's smile stiffened.
"Elaborate," he said, voice deceptively calm.
And Zou Fang did.
Oh, he did.
"YOU'RE SHALESS!" Zou Fang roared. "ABSOLUTELY SHALESS!"
The room gasped.
So disciples stepped back, as if trying to physically distance themselves from what was about to unfold.
"First, you said the recipe couldn't be completed!" Zou Fang continued, voice booming. "You MOCKED ! You treated it as a joke! You LAUGHED at , as if I was just so clueless idiot wasting my ti!"
Elder Fan Ming's expression remained unchanging.
But the air around him… shifted.
A quiet, almost imperceptible pressure settled into the atmosphere.
But Zou Fang didn't care.
He was too far gone.
"THEN, WHEN I PROVED YOU WRONG—WHEN I SHOWED YOU THE COMPLETED VERSION—SUDDENLY, YOU CHANGED YOUR TUNE! YOU SAID IT WAS 'LACKING!' YOU SAID IT WAS 'STILL INCOMPLETE!' YOU MADE UP EXCUSES—ALL TO AVOID ADMITTING THAT I, ZOU FANG, ACTUALLY DID SOTHING YOU COULDN'T!"
The murmurs in the crowd grew louder.
"Wait… is that true?"
"It… kind of sounds like it..."
"Did Elder Fan Ming really do that?"
Elder Fan Ming's lips pressed into a thin line.
He could feel the shift in montum.
The growing doubt in the eyes of the disciples.
He had to end this now.
"Zou Fang," he said, tone sharp. "Mind your tongue. You are speaking to an elder."
"Oh, I know exactly who I'm speaking to!" Zou Fang snapped back.
The whispers intensified.
"He's actually talking back!"
"Has Zou Fang gone mad?!"
"Does he have a death wish?!"
Zou Fang's blood boiled.
He had never felt so clear-headed before.
So sure of his words.
"I see it now," Zou Fang said, voice dripping with contempt. "You never actually planned to discredit outright. You just wanted to delay the truth. You wanted to drag it out just long enough for you to turn my success into your success."
The room was dead silent again.
Elder Fan Ming's smile returned.
But this ti—
It was cold.
"Are you accusing of stealing?" he asked.
"Yes," Zou Fang said imdiately.
Gasps exploded throughout the hall.
So disciples fell to their knees in sheer shock.
So clutched their heads as if they had just witnessed a heaven-shaking event.
So were too stunned to even move.
Elder Fan Ming's aura grew heavy.
"Be careful with your words, Zou Fang," he warned.
Zou Fang lifted his chin.
"Be careful with your actions, Elder Fan Ming."
And with that, the tension in the room snapped.
Elder Fan Ming had held the montum for too long.
The tension in the air had thickened. His smile had stiffened. The crowd had turned uneasy.
And then—
Another voice entered the fray.
"Elder Fan Ming," a calm but firm voice called out.
The room turned.
There, standing amidst the gathering, was Elder Fu.
The silent elder. The one who had previously asked to take Zou Fang in as his disciple.
The weight of his presence pressed down on the room. He had barely spoken before now—but now, his words carried weight.
"We are old friends," Elder Fu continued, staring directly at Fan Ming. "But the young man is right."
A shockwave of murmurs exploded throughout the hall.
"Elder Fu is speaking up?!"
"He actually sided with Zou Fang?!"
"Wait, does this an Zou Fang really is right?!"
Elder Fan Ming's eyes flickered.
His fingers curled ever so slightly.
Elder Fu… of all people…
"You should give him credit," Elder Fu said, unwavering. "I would like to see that, too."
The mont those words left his mouth—
Everything exploded.
The breeder disciples went wild.
Gasps, shocked whispers, frantic looks being exchanged—
It was chaos.
"Elder Fu is actually backing Zou Fang!"
"Is Elder Fan Ming really in the wrong then?!"
"If even Elder Fu thinks so, then… then… was Zou Fang actually telling the truth?!"
The energy in the room shifted again.
The younger disciples, the new recruits, the ones who had hesitated—suddenly, they were looking at Zou Fang differently.
Before, they had mocked him.
Before, they had laughed at him.
Before, they had seen him as a joke.
But now—
Now, there was uncertainty.
Now, there was hesitation.
Now, there was doubt.
Elder Fan Ming's eyes flickered. His face remained neutral, but Zou Fang could see the calculations happening in real ti.
He was cornered.
But he wasn't out yet.
Zou Fang's heart pounded.
Elder Fu really was friendly today.
Or maybe…
Maybe he was just fair.
Either way, Zou Fang wasn't about to waste this chance.
He took a deep breath—
And then—
He revealed it.
"Elder Fan Ming is shaless," Zou Fang declared, voice booming through the hall.
The whispers froze.
Eyes locked onto him.
"Do you know what this recipe actually does?" Zou Fang's eyes burned with determination.
No one spoke.
The room was silent.
Zou Fang took a step forward.
"It doesn't just improve a beast's growth."
Another step.
"It doesn't just boost their energy."
Another step.
"It can make a beast jump up to four cultivation levels."
The room detonated.
"FOUR LEVELS?!"
"IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!"
"That's unheard of!"
Breeder disciples were staggering back in shock.
So even gasped aloud.
So clutched their chests as if they had just suffered a heart attack.
So were even swaying, as if the sheer weight of that information was too much to handle.
Zou Fang didn't stop.
He pressed on.
"Think about it," he said. "What does it an for a beast to jump four cultivation levels?"
The murmurs continued.
"It ans…"
"It ans even a weak beast…"
"Could beco a powerhouse overnight!"
"It ans…"
"It ans this could change everything."
Zou Fang's smile sharpened.
And then—
"It ans Elder Fan Ming knew this."
Silence.
"It ans he saw the potential."
"It ans he recognized how valuable this was."
"And instead of admitting it…"
"Instead of giving credit where it was due…"
"He tried to dismiss it. He tried to downplay it. He tried to make it seem like nothing—until he could take it for himself."
The silence in the room was deafening.
Elder Fu was staring at him with newfound interest.
Elder Fan Ming's face remained still.
Too still.
A dangerous stillness.
Zou Fang's heart thumped.
But he didn't stop.
He wouldn't stop.
Not now.
"So tell , Elder Fan Ming," Zou Fang's voice dripped with sharpness.
He took one last step forward.
Stared directly at the elder.
"What do you say, sly old man?"
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