"Come here." Jiang Chen pointed at the guy who had just opened the door, his sharp gaze boring into the man's eyes as though he intended to pierce straight through his soul.
"Talk. Where's Tang Hong?"
Locked in the gaze of Jiang Chen's Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil, the man's entire body shuddered and his teeth began chattering uncontrollably.
"I… I…"
Jiang Chen's voice was cold as iron: "You don't know?"
Another wave of pressure crashed down, and the inner sect disciple dropped to both knees with a thud, his legs giving out completely.
"I'll talk, I'll talk… Tang Hong went to do laundry."
Laundry?
Those words left Jiang Chen thoroughly bewildered. An inner sect disciple of the dignified Danqian Palace, reduced to doing chores like laundry?
Ye Chonglou sighed softly. "Jiang Chen, inner sect disciples aren't like you core disciples. They don't get any special treatment here — they have to handle everything themselves. They aren't even entitled to personal attendants."
Jiang Chen nodded, and after glancing at the behavior of those guys, he had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
He let out a cold laugh. "So Tang Hong isn't just washing his own clothes, is he?"
Just as he spoke, the familiar sound of Tang Hong's footsteps echoed from outside the courtyard — thud, thud, thud.
Tang Hong was a big man with a powerful stride. His heavy footfalls seemed like they might crack the floorboards.
The moment those footsteps were heard, the two inner sect disciples in the courtyard turned deathly pale, practically wishing they could sprout wings and flee the scene on the spot.
Watching this, Jiang Chen understood what was going on.
Tang Hong walked in carrying a shoulder pole with two baskets of freshly washed clothes. Seeing the courtyard packed with people, he was about to speak when his gaze landed on Jiang Chen's face — and his expression erupted into wild joy!
"Boss? What are you doing here? Hahaha!"
Tang Hong dropped the pole right there, strode forward in huge steps, and threw his arms around Jiang Chen in a bear hug, absolutely thrilled. "Boss, I heard all about how you showed off at Danxia Valley!"
Hearing Tang Hong call Jiang Chen "Boss" and seeing how close they were, the two inner sect disciples trembled from head to toe, their faces drained of color, their mouths filled with bitterness.
Jiang Chen nodded. "Tell me — was doing laundry your responsibility, or did someone force it on you?"
Tang Hong was now at the peak of the eighth level of the Spirit Realm, on the verge of breaking through to the ninth.
Those two pale-faced, awkward-looking inner sect disciples were clearly the bosses of this courtyard — both at the ninth level of the Spirit Realm.
Tang Hong flashed a broad grin. "Boss, don't worry about these little things. Sure, they forced it on me, but I've been using it to temper my mental state — you know, 'know shame, then find your courage.' This kind of opportunity, you'd never get at the Treasure Tree Sect."
Back at the Treasure Tree Sect, even though Tang Hong wasn't part of the Sect Master's faction or Supreme Elder Tie Long's faction, nobody would dare enslave him or push menial labor on him — not with his talent.
But after arriving at the Danqian Palace, with insufficient strength and coming from a minor background, Tang Hong had naturally become a target for bullying among the inner sect disciples.
Jiang Chen hadn't expected that Tang Hong was actually using this humiliation to temper his mental state.
He fell into thought for a moment. Tempering one's mental state — it seemed Tang Hong was preparing in advance for his breakthrough to the Origin Realm.
Breaking through to the Origin Realm required powerful mental fortitude.
And this kind of suffering and bullying served as a whetstone for that mental strength.
"Boss, really, don't worry about this." Tang Hong's grin turned confident, then his gaze went ice-cold as he fixed it on the two ninth-level inner sect disciples. "Zhang Lie, Gong Yue — you two bastards, remember this. The reason I'm washing your clothes isn't because I'm afraid of you. I'm using it to sharpen my will. Before long, I'm going to challenge you both and beat the hell out of you. Just you wait! Hahahaha."
In terms of talent, Tang Hong was actually no worse than these inner sect disciples. The only reason he had fallen behind was that he came from the Treasure Tree Sect while they came from the Danqian Palace.
Different backgrounds and different resources had slowed his progress.
But now, with Jiang Chen's backing, Tang Hong's conditions in every respect had already surpassed those inner sect disciples. All he needed was to break through to the ninth level of the Spirit Realm, and he could turn the tables — knocking down every single one of those bullies.
When that happened, all the previous humiliation and mistreatment would become his driving force, a tremendous harvest in the tempering of his mind.
Hearing Tang Hong speak this way, Jiang Chen knew that this brother of his, despite appearing rough, truly possessed inner wisdom. He decided not to intervene.
"Come on, Tang Hong, take a walk with me." Jiang Chen's calm gaze swept across the inner sect disciples, as though committing each one to memory.
The inner sect disciples averted their eyes, not daring to meet his stare.
Tang Hong burst out laughing. "Boss, now that you've shown up, my tempering plan is ruined! But I guess it's close enough anyway. I've got a feeling breaking through to the ninth level of the Spirit Realm is going to happen this month."
Leading Tang Hong, Jiang Chen strolled around Dagu Mountain in the inner sect for a while, then headed to Ye Chonglou's residence together.
Ye Chonglou wore a knowing smile throughout. He understood that Jiang Chen had deliberately shown up to back Tang Hong, making sure the inner sect disciples knew that Tang Hong was his, Jiang Chen's, brother.
This way, anyone in the inner sect who thought about bullying Tang Hong would have to think twice.
"Tang Hong, you mustn't let down the care Jiang Chen has shown you," Ye Chonglou admonished.
Tang Hong grinned from ear to ear. "Rest assured, Old Master. After arriving at the Danqian Palace, I realized I was just a frog at the bottom of a well. But I firmly believe that within one year, I'll break through to the Origin Realm."