Chapter 751: Ma Qianxiu’s History

Bai Zihan happily led Ma Lingfeng and his group toward the Bai Clan.

Ma Qianxiu followed quietly behind.

As he watched Bai Zihan’s attitude toward Ma Lingfeng, a thought gradually emerged in his mind.

Bai Zihan was no different from Ma Lingfeng.

He must be arrogant toward those who were weaker while trying to flatter those who were stronger.

Just now, he had practically been bowing to Ma Lingfeng.

That previous feeling of danger—

(Could it have simply been a mistake?)

He thought that there was no way a person like Bai Zihan could possibly give him that terrifying feeling.

Perhaps he had been too angry and made a mistake.

***

In the Bai Clan Estate!

The moment Ma Lingfeng saw the feast prepared for them, his eyes immediately lit up.

There were all kinds of delicacies.

Rare spiritual fruits.

Exquisite dishes and fine wine.

Even some foods that Ma Lingfeng had never tasted before.

He immediately sat down.

"Brother Bai, you really know how to treat guests!"

He laughed loudly.

Before long, cup after cup of wine disappeared.

The atmosphere became increasingly lively.

The other disciples also relaxed completely.

Several dishes were quickly emptied.

Ma Lingfeng’s face gradually became flushed.

Another cup of wine was poured.

He lifted it and gulped it down.

"Hahaha! Bai Zihan, you are truly my brother!"

He slammed the cup onto the table.

"Everything you prepared is comparable to those grand banquets in our Empire!"

He immediately poured himself another cup.

Bai Zihan smiled.

"As long as Brother Ma enjoys it, that’s good."

Ma Lingfeng laughed even louder.

"Of course I enjoy it!"

He raised his cup again.

"This is already one of the most enjoyable feasts I’ve had!"

Bai Zihan simply smiled and continued watching him drink.

Before long, Ma Lingfeng’s eyes were already somewhat unfocused.

He was clearly close to blacking out from the wine.

Among everyone present, there was one person who hadn’t touched anything.

Ma Qianxiu!

He was still sitting quietly.

Not a single piece of food had entered his mouth.

Not even a drop of wine.

His eyes quietly swept across the dishes on the table but showed no intention of taking a single bite.

Bai Zihan noticed this.

(This fellow is extremely careful.)

Bai Zihan looked at him for a moment.

"Brother Ma."

Ma Lingfeng, who was already somewhat drunk, raised his head.

"Hm?"

Bai Zihan smiled.

"I’ve noticed that this person hasn’t touched anything."

He pointed at Ma Qianxiu.

"Perhaps the food isn’t to his taste?"

He smiled.

"If he doesn’t like these dishes, I can have the chef prepare something else."

Ma Qianxiu’s expression changed slightly.

"Hmph!"

Ma Lingfeng scoffed.

"Just ignore him!"

He waved his hand dismissively.

"There’s no need to bother with him."

Bai Zihan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

He looked at Ma Lingfeng.

"Aren’t you from the same sect? Does Brother Ma have some kind of grudge against him?"

Ma Lingfeng laughed.

"There is indeed some history between us."

He glanced at Ma Qianxiu.

"Oh? What kind?"

"Since Brother Bai asked, there’s no harm in telling you."

He took another gulp of wine and casually began talking about Ma Qianxiu.

Ma Qianxiu actually wanted to stop Ma Lingfeng, but looking at how drunk he was and how eager he was to tell the story, he knew that he would only get beaten again if he tried.

So Ma Lingfeng began.

Ma Qianxiu’s parents had once been the Clan Leaders of the Ma Clan.

Using his parent’s status, Ma Qianxiu threw his weight around and bullied everyone including Ma Lingfeng.

During that period, all the Ma Clan’s resources were poured into Ma Qianxiu despite him having low talent.

However, Ma Qianxiu’s parents had been killed while fighting against the Demonic Cultivators, specifically against the Supreme Leader of the Demonic Cultivators.

After their deaths, Ma Lingfeng’s parents took over the position of Clan Leader.

From then on, Ma Qianxiu’s position within the Ma Clan changed.

Still then, Ma Qianxiu kept pushing others around.

Ma Lingfeng described it as though Ma Qianxiu had been unable to accept the death of his parents and was still making trouble.

Because of that, Ma Lingfeng has no choice but to constantly remind Ma Qianxiu of his place.

At least, that was how Ma Lingfeng described it.

He made it sound as though the clan had never intended to mistreat Ma Qianxiu and had only restricted his resources for his own good.

Though in reality, Bai Zihan could tell what might really have happened.

Ma Lingfeng had an inferiority complex toward Ma Qianxiu because Ma Qianxiu once had everything.

However, when Ma Qianxiu’s parents were alive, there was nothing Ma Lingfeng could do.

But after their deaths, which Ma Lingfeng claimed were caused by the Demonic Cultivators, Bai Zihan strongly suspected that Ma Lingfeng’s parents might have had a hand in it as such a setting was quite normal for a villain like him—

Ma Qianxiu was no longer able to bully others.

Anyway, after Ma Lingfeng gained his status while Ma Qianxiu lost his, Ma Lingfeng should have begun tormenting Ma Qianxiu.

As for Ma Qianxiu coming with him here despite not being on good terms with him—

In his words, they were relatives who shared the same blood, and even though Ma Qianxiu had repeatedly bullied him before, he was still willing to tolerate him.

Ma Qianxiu had allegedly begged for several days to be allowed to come with them and had promised that he wouldn’t cause trouble or interfere with their affairs.

After seeing his sincerity, Ma Lingfeng had finally agreed to bring him along.

In his version of the story, Ma Lingfeng was the magnanimous cousin willing to give Ma Qianxiu a chance to redeem himself.

Bai Zihan calmly listened.

"Brother Ma, you are familiar with the saying that some people can never change. Honestly, why bother keeping such a person around?"

"Isn’t it better to cripple him and let him suffer?"

Ma Lingfeng’s eyebrows rose slightly.

Then he laughed.

"Brother Bai is truly ruthless. Hahaha! I’ve thought about it too, but we share the same blood. As long as he doesn’t cause any trouble, we should be magnanimous when we can."

While Ma Lingfeng said those words, he couldn’t fully hide his killing intent.

Bai Zihan concluded that the reason Ma Lingfeng spared Ma Qianxiu’s life until now shouldn’t be because they shared the same blood.

If that were the case, he wouldn’t have humiliated Ma Qianxiu and treated him worse than a servant.

Most likely, even though Ma Qianxiu’s status had fallen, Ma Lingfeng couldn’t simply kill him back in their clan.

So, Ma Lingfeng might want to use this opportunity, while they were far away from their clan, to kill him.

Of course, this was purely Bai Zihan’s own assumption.

Bai Zihan nodded.

"Brother Ma is truly a good person."

Ma Qianxiu remained silent.

His expression didn’t change.

But deep inside, he almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Good person?

The entire conversation sounded absurd from his perspective.

Ma Lingfeng was lying through his teeth while Bai Zihan was praising him as though he truly believed it.

From what he could see, it was a villain praising another villain for being kind-hearted.

However, the truth was completely different from what Ma Lingfeng had described.

It was not Ma Qianxiu who had been bullying others.

It was Ma Lingfeng.

When they were younger, Ma Lingfeng had repeatedly relied on his status and bullied the weaker members of the Ma Clan.

And Ma Qianxiu had been the one who stopped him.

As for Ma Lingfeng’s claim that Ma Qianxiu had been greedily consuming the clan’s resources—

That was also far from the truth.

Ma Qianxiu’s parents had contributed far more to the Ma Clan than they had ever taken from it.

The resources they had brought back to the clan and the wealth they had accumulated through their efforts were far greater than what had been spent on Ma Qianxiu.

Ma Lingfeng suspected that he took many resources from the clan because of the difference in cultivation between them.

However, the reason for the difference in the cultivation is only because he was very talented while Ma Lingfeng wasn’t talented.

But in Ma Lingfeng’s eyes—

Ma Qianxiu cultivation was only higher because of more clan resources he got.

He had always believed that Ma Qianxiu had only been able to surpass him because his parents were Clan Leaders and had given him better resources.

Yet he conveniently ignored one important fact.

His own parents had been doing exactly the same thing for him that he assumed others were doing.

His parents were elders with high status and would take much of the clan resources to raise Ma Lingfeng.

After becoming the Clan Leaders, they had drastically increased the amount of resources allocated to Ma Lingfeng.

In fact—

The amount of resources Ma Lingfeng had received over the years was far greater than what most members of the Ma Clan could even imagine.

And only with all of those resources, he had managed to reach the Earth Immortal Realm.

Without the enormous amount of resources his parents had provided him, Ma Qianxiu believes that Ma Lingfeng might not have even reached the Immortal Ascension Realm by now.

The real reason behind Ma Lingfeng’s hatred was much simpler.

He was bitter.

When Ma Qianxiu’s parents were Clan Leaders, Ma Qianxiu had always been the center of attention.

Everyone praised him.

Everyone looked toward him.

His talent had naturally attracted the attention of the entire clan.

Ma Lingfeng, on the other hand—

Was simply not that impressive.

No matter how hard he tried, he could never surpass Ma Qianxiu.

That had always been a thorn in his heart.

Then everything changed.

his parents died.

Ma Lingfeng’s parents became the Clan Leaders.

The resources that once belonged to Ma Qianxiu began decreasing.

At the same time, the resources allocated to Ma Lingfeng increased drastically.

His position within the clan rose.

And with the authority of his parents behind him, he finally gained the opportunity to trample the person who had once stood above him.

From then on, Ma Lingfeng began tormenting him.

He could finally stand above him.

And after years of being overshadowed, Ma Lingfeng clearly wasn’t willing to let that opportunity slip away.

That was the real reason behind everything.

Yet now, he had casually turned the entire story upside down.

He portrayed himself as the one who had endured injustice.

And Ma Qianxiu as the arrogant villain who had once bullied everyone.

Ma Qianxiu lowered his head.

He silently endured.

There was no point arguing.

However, he would definitely get his revenge one day!