Surprisingly, having a bit of alcohol in his system worked wonders. Because Jiao Ziyu found that he was a whole lot calmer now – a whole lot calmer; incredibly calm as a matter of fact.

Youming Jun meanwhile was regarding him quietly, visibly perturbed. He wasn’t pushing though, clearly wary of what he likely conceived to be Jiao Ziyu’s fragile mental state – something that he was probably pretty used to dealing with, considering Yue.

That said however⸺ “How much do you know about the previous generation of Peak Lords, Youming Jun?”

“Uh...” The Demon Prince seemed somewhat thrown by the question. “I guess I’ve heard a thing or two.”

Of this, Jiao Ziyu had no doubt. Still⸺ “Those words I said earlier – Penalty, Points, and all that – my... Master Jiao was a bit... well...”

Former Peak Lord and onetime spymaster of the Windward Sect, Jiao Zilei had been a lot of things.

For the most part, people remembered the former Peak Lord as a rather friendly individual – though perhaps a bit too friendly when it came to female cultivators, nobles and commoners alike.

Another thing that he was remembered for was his vast qi reserves, as well as his relative lack of restraint when it came to showing them off. Other than that though, there were primarily two words associated with the man: The first was ‘carefree’, the other ‘careless’.

To be fair, this wasn’t an entirely unfair assessment. As the man’s chosen successor, Jiao Ziyu could very well attest to it – to former Peak Lord Jiao’s work ethic, or rather lack thereof.

As such, one might ask: Why did this person decide to become the Peak Lord tasked with dealing with the whole trade, logistics and intelligence bit when he seemed to abhor the very thought of doing most of the paperwork associated with the position?

Jiao Ziyu had rather wondered about that, and now he found himself asking that very question for himself. What choice had he really had though, when it came to accepting the position? Things had after all been rather tumultuous at the time, leaving them with empty positions to fill and few additional candidates to act as stand-ins.

Besides, while Jiao Ziyu’s former master had perhaps not bothered with his administrative duties quite as much as he probably should’ve, he had displayed keen judgement in when and how to delegate – which really just meant him giving Jiao Ziyu a pat on the shoulder and a “Little Ziyu, I have great faith in you” before absconding to wherever.

However, questionable work ethic aside, Jiao Zilei had gotten the job done. The man had always been extremely good at digging up information in spite of all the time he genuinely spent fooling around.

And sure, in recent years, Jiao Ziyu had unfortunately fallen into habits similar to those of his old master.

However, he had definitely been doing his fair share of work behind the scenes – on top of an increasingly lucrative side gig as an artist – but he had definitely dumped a whole lot of his other Peak Lord duties onto his two most head disciples, much like the previous Peak Lord Jiao had done to him at one point. And while this was definitely certainly not the nicest thing he could’ve done, how else was he supposed to prepare them for the future?

Besides, with them being so much smarter and more talented than he’d been at that age, Jiao Ziyu hadn’t actually worried – not until quite recently, that is.

Also, what Jiao Ziyu worried about wasn’t primarily their abilities but rather their judgement – that of Little Yu in particular, given that Yu Xiyu had apparently been the mastermind behind that whole rumour mill.

Little Yi obviously possessed better judgement – however, this by no means changed the fact that Yi Yixuan hadn’t managed to stop Xiyu from setting this whole thing in motion. She also noticeably hadn’t informed him, and Jiao Ziyu wondered if she might have refrained from it simply because if he found out, then he’d undoubtedly expel Xiyu, which would in turn make Yixuan his only viable successor.

Jiao Ziyu would be having words with them later – much, much later, possibly. Because as things were, he didn’t really want to go back there. Like sure, Mingyue was there, but Jiao Ziyu could still keep in touch with Mingyue – and now that neither of them were suffering from any qi-related issues, they could obviously meet up somewhere other than the Green Jade Peaks.

Of course, if such a thing really came to pass, then the rumour mill would undoubtedly come to spin with even more fervour. Granted, Jiao Ziyu probably wouldn’t become quite as notorious as his onetime master, but still.

Besides, as far as the supposed similarities in-between him and his onetime master went, at least Jiao Ziyu hadn’t picked up his old mentor’s persistent habit of flirting with ‘the fairer sex’. Then again, in Jiao Ziyu’s world, while women could certainly be called beautiful, the greatest beauties he’d encountered had all been men.

Speaking of fame and notoriety however, another had them all beat. Because the former Peak Lord Bai, Bai Jixue, was a legend – and definitely not just for his skills as a medicinal cultivator.

It might’ve seemed like a great exaggeration, but Jiao Ziyu remembered this very well: The former Peak Lord’s looks and diminutive size, providing a stark contrast to the stark white hair. Without the official Peak Lord robes, one might’ve conceivably mistaken for a much younger disciple – and depending on the severity of the transgression, people had suffered for it.

Then, of course, there had been Master Jiao, who’d always had a special sort of relationship with the former Peak Lord Bai – a special sort of friendship or rivalry, one might even say. It had all been woefully one-sided however.

Former Peak Lord Bai had clearly found the other annoying, and Master Jiao in turn had clearly found it annoying when he’d been openly ignored by Bai Jixue, who he’d once referred to as ‘the Killjoy of All Killjoys’.

Then again, Master Jiao had said a lot of things – some of which Jiao Ziyu had understood and a lot of which he hadn’t.

Words such as ‘Penalty’, ‘Points’, and ‘Ridiculously OP’ had featured quite heavily in Jiao Zilei’s rants though, alongside ‘Fucking OOC restrictions’. Jiao Ziyu hadn’t really paid all that much attention to them though, since they hadn’t seemed very important at the time. Besides, he’d sort of figured that he’d rather not know – like when his master had taken to shouting utterly ridiculous and mysterious things such as ‘No zuo, no die’ and ‘Use the Force, Frosty!’.

The latter statement would always be directed at a former Peak Lord Bai who’d typically raise his middle finger for his fellow Peak Lord to see. And upon seeing it, Master Jiao would sputter and then laugh before continuing his habit of goading Bai Jixue.

One of said methods had been to hum a certain melody whenever the other walked briskly down some path, robes fluttering dramatically behind him.

Bai Jixue in turn would typically continue walking. When passing Jiao Zilei however, he would throw his arm out to the side and send off a wave of qi with enough force to knock his fellow Peak Lord off of his feet, usually also over some nearby ledge as well.

Because yeah, Jiao Ziyu had definitely seen that happen – more than once, even. It was all coming back to him now.

His onetime master would say even more interesting things when he was drunk. A particularly memorable rant had been the one about how Bai Jixue had managed to become the youngest Peak Lord to date.

“I admit, I was in a pretty tight spot there for a sec, but I had it under control, really... But before I could start fighting back for real, that Frosty showed up like some deus ex machina and took down a calamity-class demonic beast with just a wok – a fucking wok! And the bastard wouldn’t even share the spoils. He just took the carcass and left!”

Naturally, Jiao Ziyu had immediately gone off to learn more about this particular event and had managed to uncover that yes, Bai Jixue had indeed taken down a calamity-class demonic beast with a cooking implement.

However, such a feat had obviously not been without consequence.

Breaking through some bottleneck in his cultivation, Bai Jixue's cultivation level had risen significantly in a matter of hours, stalling his physical aging with the exception of his hair, which had turned completely white overnight. The new hair colour had undeniably suited him though, going very well with his typically frosty attitude.

And some time after that, Bai Jixue had taken up his seat amongst the Peak Lords of the Green Jade Peaks, making himself both an asset and a nuisance, if rumours were to be believed.

Because while the venerable Peak Lord Bai had been a powerful cultivator with a great deal of self-control, no one else could’ve really been said to have had much control over him.

The previous Sect Leader had certainly tried though; tried asserting his authority over Bai Jixue. He hadn’t proven particularly successful though, as far as Jiao Ziyu was aware.

As for Bai Jixue, there was but a single thing – but a single person – who’d aroused anything other than ire and cold disdain in him, and that was his disciple, Bai Mingyue.

The former Peak Lord Bai had been awfully protective of Mingyue, and way back when, the now immortal had made it abundantly clear that, in case Jiao Ziyu ever took any sort of liberties with his protégé, then he would turn Jiao Ziyu into a human stick.

Like sure, at this point, Jiao Ziyu and Bai Mingyue were both Peak Lords in their own right and by no means too young to have cultivation partners. But⸺

Master Jiao had smiled awkwardly when first informed of the situation at hand, and then clumsily attempted to reassure him, claiming that this was ‘just shovel talk’ and that Peak Lord Bai was ‘a freaking prude’ but that he ‘probably wouldn’t attempt to sever Ziyu’s limbs’, as long as Ziyu didn’t make Mingyue ‘cry’ – as if Jiao Ziyu would’ve even be capable of such a feat!

Also, if Jiao Ziyu’s own recollections could be trusted, then the former Peak Lord Bai had delivered this alleged ‘shovel talk’ while leaning his chin against the handle of an actual shovel.

In addition, the shovel had by no means been as pristine as the cultivator leaning against it. In fact, said shovel had been covered with these stains that might very well have been dried blood.

Jiao Ziyu had been scared then, and for good reason at that. But that fear had always been accompanied by awe, because Mingyue’s master had always been so freaking cool – absolutely terrifying, yes, but also extremely⸺

Well, it hardly mattered now. Because right now there were other, far more urgent matters to address, like the issue of Master Jiao.

“⸺I don’t know what happened to him after. I mean, he had a tendency leave and to stay gone for long periods of time, but... that day, he went out, and he never came back. I mean, he never did, but he did send in some sporadic reports, but then... nothing. I’d say he’s either dead or somewhere else, because had he been around, then my network would’ve found him.”

And indeed, they would’ve, had he been around. Master Jiao had been the one to start the thing after all, and while the operatives were obviously not the same as back then, it was still⸺

“Another dead end, huh?” the Demon Prince said.

Well⸺ “As far as I know, yes. Although I guess it’s possible that he’s ascended, not dead. I mean, if so, then we could technically try to call him down, but⸺”

But Jiao Ziyu wasn’t sure that he wanted that – for various reasons. Still⸺ “What do you want to know?”