The next morning, Wen Xuan sat inside his abode and finished his morning exercises. Recalling what happened last night, he couldn’t help but sigh.
The discontent and obstinance still hovered over his thoughts, but he could only suppress it in his heart, hoping one day he’d find peace. Maybe after they spend more time together, Jian Yi would be willing to tell him more. Right now, he could only wish this.
As he thought about this, a letter flew in from outside. Wen Xuan fetched it to take a look. It was from Jian Yi. In the letter, Jian Yi said that he had to complete the assignment that Qi Jibai gave to him today so he might not have time to come visit Wen Xuan.
This kid, it’s only one day of not visiting, yet he felt the need to send a message. If people didn’t know, they might even mistake Jian Yi running over here constantly as official business. Where’s his so-called diligence in cultivation? Wen Xuan unconsciously shook his head with a smile.
Nevertheless, with the situation as it is now, without Jian Yi’s presence, this place where Wen Xuan lived was really completely without another sign of human life. This reality made Wen Xuan feel a sense of helplessness.
Yet, he didn’t even have a chance to lament how lonesome, hollow, and cold this place was, when a spiritual presence cut through the air outside. Someone had arrived on a flying sword and was purposely announcing their presence extremely obnoxiously. People could feel it even 800 meters away.
Feeling this rampant presence actually landing outside of his abode, Wen Xuan really was extremely surprised.
Other than Jian Yi, someone else would actually come here? Wen Xuan headed outside with a silent complaint to take a look. As soon as he saw the person who was arrogantly crossing their arms outside, he immediately ‘oh’d and understood.
Who else was he expecting. Of course it’s Luo Qingquan.
“Wen Shixiong,” Seeing Wen Xuan exit, Luo Qingquan’s eyes clearly brightened up as he said with an ambiguously cold smile: “You’re finally back. Hmph, and you’re finally reached yuan gathering again.”
Wen Xuan was already used to his strange hostility and ignored it with ease. In Wen Xuan’s eyes, Luo Qingquan was a bratty shidi that really gave him a headache, but his thoughts were simple and not especially hard to deal with. Wen Xuan only needed to learn to disregard him.
Yet at a time like this, for Luo Qingquan to actually still come to find him, this fact made Wen Xuan feel extremely complicated.
In the end, Wen Xuan greeted this rare visitor with a smile and then led Luo Qingquan to a stone seat inside his court yard. Then he asked: “Luo shidi, is there something wrong?”
“What could be wrong with me?” Luo Qingquan didn’t actually sit down. His eyes were like knives, a sharp gaze stabbing into Wen Xuan: “Wen shixiong, are you not aware?”
Wen Xuan was stumped by his question. He really wasn’t aware. Was Luo Qingquan here to force him to admit that he was colluding with demons? Wen Xuan accidentally overthought by a lot.
Fortunately, before all these random nonsensical guesses left Wen Xuan’s mouth, Luo Qingquan already pulled out something from his clothes and slammed it violently on the table with a ‘pa’, blowing up a layer of dust.
It was a letter of challenge.
What made Wen Xuan surprised was that this letter of challenge was crumpled and wrinkled, looking like it’s been carried around for about half a year.
“Wen shixiong, I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.” Staring at that letter of challenge, Luo Qingquan grinded his teeth, like he was staring at an irreconcilable nemesis: “You’ve finally returned to yuan gathering!”
Wen Xuan lowered his head and swept his gaze across this letter of challenge, sighing.
“Duel with me again, Wen shixiong!” Luo Qingquan yelled loudly: “I will let the entire sect know just which of us is the strongest. Last time you only won against me by luck, but you’ll still face defeat by my hands!”
Sometimes when a competitive spirit was too strong, it really made people feel exasperated.
Wen Xuan shifted his gaze away from the letter of challenge. After looking at Luo Qingquan for a moment, he asked with a complicated expression: “You want the entire sect to come observe the match again?”
“Of course!” Luo Qingquan replied decisively, without any hesitation.
“Are you aware of…… how people in the sect view me nowadays?” Wen Xuan laughed bitterly, expression caring a bit of anguish as he said: “Did they not tell you? That I colluded with…”
“Why would I care who you collude or don’t collude with!” Luo Qingquan impatiently interrupted his words, slamming his palm heavily on the letter of challenge: “Did you think that just by working with demons, you can avoid fighting me to determine a victor!”
No. Hearing these words, Wen Xuan was only stupefied, completely unable to follow this thought process.
“Even if you work with demons, you still have to face defeat in my hands!” Both eyes red, Luo Qingquan was like a wild beast, staring fixed at Wen Xuan: “I will let everyone in the sect know that in the end, you were beaten by me!”
This discussion really made Wen Xuan not know if he should laugh or cry. Looks like this Luo shidi didn’t care at all about what those people in the Sect thought. Nor did he care about the status that he’d gain from fighting a battle with Wen Xuan. Even more so, he didn’t care about whether Wen Xuan was good or bad. The only thing he cared about was the result of fighting against Wen Xuan.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Momentarily, Wen Xuan actually felt somewhat touched.
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“Tbe klii mgs.”
Ktfrf kfgf jirb atgff kbgvr atja mbeiv lcoegljaf Oeb Hlcudejc.
“Tbe……” Cr fzqfmafv, Oeb Hlcudejc fcvfv eq qlrrfv boo, qgjmalmjiis ublcu wjv klat oegs. Llr fsfr uijgfv klvf ilxf mbqqfg yfiir, fnfc mjggslcu yibbv nflcr klatlc. Snfc atf olcufg atja tf erfv ab qblca ja Qfc Wejc rtbbx ecmbcagbiijyis. Lf jiwbra mbeivc’a ygfjatf qgbqfgis: “Tbe…… sbe ilaaif…… sbe……”
“Don’t believe me?” Wen Xuan smiled, actually revealing a rather confident and proud expression: “On the contrary, I find it kind of strange. Just where did you gain the confidence to think you can still win against me? You even lost against the past me, the me right now is even stronger.”
Luo Qingquan’s anger completely obliterated his intelligence. With a whoosh he pulled out the sword on his waist: “Watch as I cut you down right now!”
Were they going to fight a match here? This was fine. It’s not like there was a third person in this place anyways.
Wen Xuan got up and jumped backwards, watching the light from the blade flash across the front of his nose precariously with a calm expression. He was never the type of person to boast. The reason why he could say such arrogant words was because he was very clear of both his and Luo Qingquan’s strength. Luo Qingquan wasn’t a match for him at all. Perhaps he was before, but at that time, Wen Xuan was only partially yuan gathering. Ever since he obtained Ye ShengGe’s cultivation method and finally walked on the correct and proper path, he obtained all of the strength of a true yuan gathering cultivator. Luo Qingquan was no longer capable of becoming his opponent.
Wen Xuan didn’t even have much fighting spirit.
He only summoned that divine sword of his and leisurely blocked Luo Qingquan’s attack.
Clang, clang, clang!
The first left to right move blocked Luo Qingquan’s thrust. The second bottom to up move parried Luo Qingquan’s violent swing. The third move, Wen Xuan directly suppressed Luo Qingquan’s sword downward and struck at his left side.
This third move was actually a feint. Luo Qingquan was currently casting magic with his left hand, but Wen Xuan interrupted him forcibly, using defense as means of attack. Luo Qingquan was completely caught off guard and got thrown off his momentum instantly.
However, Luo Qingquan was someone who was used to fighting with others. Decisively retreating backwards, he quickly readjusted his stance and regrouped for a comeback.
Yet just at this time, Luo Qingquan suddenly felt a
pressure surrounding his body.
This pressure came out of nowhere, pressing down from above. First, it crushed all of the surrounding spiritual energy practically to freezing point. Then, in a mere moment, Luo Qingquan felt so heavy that he couldn’t even raise a finger.
“Luo shidi, did you know?” Wen Xuan stood there, the tip of his fingers shining with sword light as if he was a sharp unsheathed sword himself: “Before…… When I reached yuan gathering last time, I didn’t obtain any techniques from the enlightenment stage during the breakthrough. That’s because I actually didn’t reach enlightenment at all.”
Luo Qingquan still couldn’t move. He could only feel sweat gathering on the tip of his nose.
He’s heard of related rumors about it before. After reaching yuan gathering, Wen Xuan pretty much used all of the same techniques he had in foundation gathering. Luo Qingquan also saw this happening, but he never thought about how terrifying it was for that kind of Wen Xuan to still be able to win once, lose once against him in battle.
“Don’t use the past me to measure the current me.” Wen Xuan gave Luo Qingquan a smile: “Because the difference is pretty much heaven and earth.”
Saying this, the sword light in Wen Xuan’s hand raised. The pressure that was crushing down on Luo Qingquan finally dissipated.
With a stagger, Luo Qingquan almost fell to the ground. He took a moment to stand steady.
He looked at Wen Xuan, unable to speak even after a good while.
“What do you think?” Wen Xuan asked him: “Want to cry now?”
Luo Qingquan didn’t cry in the end. Perhaps it’s because the difference was really too big, he actually couldn’t feel a bit of discontent or disappointment from the defeat. He only felt incredulous and inconceivable.
“Don’t compete with me in the future anymore.” Wen Xuan recalled the divine sword back into his sleeve. Turning around, he walked back to his abode: “No matter how much we fight, you’ll only be humiliating yourself.”
Stunned, Luo Qingquan stared at his back, not moving for quite a while.
It wasn’t until Wen Xuan already opened the door and was just about to enter that Luo Qingquan abruptly reacted and yelled loudly: “Stop! You think you can run just because you won? Don’t even think about it!”
Wen Xuan paused, the corner of his lip twitching unconsciously.
Luo Qingquan swiped the letter of challenge off the table swiftly, caught up to Wen Xuan, grabbed Wen Xuan’s sleeve, and slammed the letter of challenge in Wen Xuan’s hand: “You better save this. Just wait, I will win against you sooner or later! When that time comes, I’ll let the entire Sect see!”
“What if I still win?” Wen Xuan asked him: “You want the entire sect to see that also?”
Luo Qingquan choked, and then continued to say: “No matter what the outcome is, there must be an audience to witness it as proof.”
“Forget it.” Wen Xuan smiled rather exasperatedly. Even for this match today, he only agreed because he saw no one was here. If he really won against Luo Qingquan in front of an audience, who knows what would happen.
His reputation was down the drain right now, but Luo Qingquan’s was still high like the midday sun. Why should he make an appearance at this time? If a commotion resulted in the Sect, he didn’t want to see that.
“What do you mean forget it!” Luo Qingquan was completely unappreciative and only persisted in asking: “Are you scared!”
“If you really insist on others observing, then I’ll……” Saying this, Wen Xuan paused, as if deliberating a good threat.
“You’ll what?” Luo Qingquan didn’t fall for this and immediately scoffed in return.
Then he heard Wen Xuan say indifferently: “I’ll purposely lose to you.”
Luo Qingquan’s cold smile immediately stiffened on his face.
Wen Xuan pulled his sleeve out of Luo Qingquan’s hand, finally able to push open the door, enter inside, and close Luo Qingquan outside.
He heard Luo Qingquan curse under his breath outside.
“If you don’t want an audience, then I won’t get an audience!” Then Luo Qingquan finally yielded and yelled loudly outside the window: “I will come find you again! I will definitely win against you!”
Wen Xuan couldn’t help but rub his forehead.
This kid was hopeless. Really completely hopeless. Was he unable to tell the difference between their strength? What’s he so persistent for?
But Luo Qingquan said that he’d come find him again……
At this moment when everyone was alienating Wen Xuan, this one sentence actually made Wen Xuan somewhat happy.
After Luo Qingquan left, Wen Xuan looked at the scenery outside the window. He suddenly felt like walking around the Sect again. Abruptly he realized that even if the attitudes of all of these people towards him have changed, there were still plenty of things inside the sect that still remained the same.
For example this mountain and river, these grass and trees.
Really quite surprising, after encountering this kind of thing, Wen Xuan would actually still stroll around inside the Sect. He completely ignored the peculiar gazes from the bystanders along his trip and only focused on enjoying the scenery. However, after experiencing those peculiar gazes for a while, in the end, Wen Xuan’s mood was still somewhat ruined.
Coincidentally, Wen Xuan was just ready to head back when he passed Qi Jibai’s alchemy school. Thinking about how Jian Yi also capitulated to his shifu’s pressure nowadays and was currently cultivating earnestly inside, Wen Xuan couldn’t help but get an idea. He lifted his foot and started walking inside the alchemy school.
He suddenly really wanted to see what kind of cute, well-behaved appearance Jian Yi displays before his shifu.
The disciples inside the alchemy school saw him, and naturally, just like the others, revealed peculiar expressions. However, Wen Xuan only wanted to see Jian Yi and completely turned a blind eye to these gazes. He asked them to report his arrival. Good thing these people didn’t deliberately make things difficult for Wen Xuan. Very quickly, someone went to find Qi Jibai.
At this time, Qi Jibai was currently refining a stove of medicinal pills, carefully guarding the stove fire.
Hearing Wen Xuan’s arrival, Qi Jibai raised an elegant eyebrow, clearly somewhat surprised. However, recalling the incorrigible brat in the courtyard, Qi Jibai’s surprise quickly turned into understanding. He unconsciously shook his head.
Meanwhile, that messenger disciple saw Qi Jibai was busy and said voluntarily: “This disciple will go reply to Wen shixiong and have him look for Jian shidi himself.”
“Don’t, please don’t.” Unexpectedly, Qi Jibai immediately opposed this suggestion.
Still befuddled, that disciple saw Qi Jibai actually get up from before the stove. He stared so hard his eyeballs almost fell out. Who didn’t know that when Qi Jibai refined pills, he never left half way. Was the sun rising from the west?
“I will go see this Wen shizhi of mine,” Qi Jibai turned a blind eye to this surprise and said calmly: “I’ll leave this place for you to manage momentarily. Careful not to let the fire burn too fiercely. Try to keep it steady as is.”
Saying this, Qi Jibai walked past that disciple who just received the weight of a mountain, and left the alchemy room.
Wen Xuan only waited a moment in the hall when he saw Qi Jibai come out. Instantly he got up and bowed in greeting.
“Wen shizhi, no need to be so polite.” Qi Jibai asked: “What brings you here for a visit?”
With the current situation inside the Water Cloud Sect, it was strange to see Wen Xuan outside. However, Wen Xuan didn’t explain and only said with a smile: “This disciple heard that Jian shidi was currently cultivating studiously so I couldn’t resist coming over to take a look.”
“You’re rather considerate. That brat is really blessed to have a shixiong like you.” Qi Jibai said: “Unfortunately, that brat probably has no free time right now.”
Wen Xuan was surprised.
“He’s been really too tired these days. Clearly he’s been foundation building for this long, yet his basics are still a hot mess. If it remains this way, the results will be bad.” Qi Jibai said with a hint of a cold smile: “If he gets even the slightest distraction today, he probably won’t be able to complete the task I have assigned him.”
Looks like this shifu was very strict. Wen Xuan unconsciously felt a bit of sweat gathering on his forehead.
But seeing how much Qi Jibai cared about Jian Yi’s cultivation, Wen Xuan also couldn’t help but feel much more relieved for Jian Yi. He promptly bowed politely to Qi Jibai, then said he won’t be bothering Jian Yi’s cultivation and bid his farewell.
Before he left, he still couldn’t resist saying: “Jian shidi really has great potential, but his thoughts aren’t only on cultivation. It’s past due for him to make a change. However…… I hope Qi shishu won’t be too strict with him. When it’s time for rest, please let him get his rest.”
Qi Jibai acknowledged his words with a smile, but this smile was extremely complicated.
When Wen Xuan finally left the alchemy school’s gates, Qi Jibai furrowed his brows. With a twitch of his lips, Qi Jibai was no longer in the mood to return to the alchemy room and immediately turned to head to the back.
He walked all the way to Jian Yi’s room and looked at that tightly closed door.
Jian Yi had placed another magic array that blocked all spiritual presence. Qi Jibai’s cultivation was at the same level as Wen Xuan at this moment. Because of his previous injury, just in terms of strength, perhaps he was even a little worse. Wen Xuan was unable to feel the spiritual energy through this magical array. Naturally, Qi Jibai was the same. He completely didn’t know what Jian Yi was doing inside.
Qi Jibai knocked on the door and stood outside, yelling loudly: “Your shixiong came to see you.”
After these words sounded, there was some noisy activity inside the room like Jian Yi was startled.
Qi Jibai waited for a moment, estimated that Jian Yi had already prepared enough and opened the door. Entering inside, he looked around. At the moment, Jian Yi wasn’t doing anything strange. He was only lying limp on the bed, looking completely like a dead, dehydrated fish. The noisy movement from before was Jian Yi attempting to get up, but ending up knocking over a table by the bedside.
Seeing Qi Jibai entering, Jian Yi’s expression was like he was looking at the end of the world.
Then seeing that the only person who entered was Qi Jibai, Jian Yi instantly let out a breath of relief, as if he escaped from a calamity.
“Don’t worry,” Qi Jibai said: “I already sent away your Wen shixiong.”
Jian Yi nodded: “Many thanks, shifu.”
These words sounded extremely weak and hoarse. Qi Jibai unconsciously frowned. He walked closer to Jian Yi and complained: “You still know to call me shifu? You’re really something, you brat. In order to not let your Wen shixiong know what you’re up to, you actually used me as a shield and even have me acting this play with you, making it seem like I’m such a terrifying teacher or something.”
Jian Yi laughed dryly and didn’t reply.
At this time, Qi Jibai already walked behind him, grabbed his arm and placed two fingers on his pulse.
After a moment, Qi Jibai furrowed his brows: “What exactly are you doing?”
Facing him, Jian Yi actually answered honestly: “Deciphering what will happen in the next few days and seeing if there will be anything that would hurt Shixiong. Also deciphering a cultivation method that’s most suitable for me.”
Qi Jibai said this brat was really something. He wasn’t wrong at all. Jian Yi actually was decoding the cultivation method he wanted from the Will of Heaven.
For this extraordinary feat, Jian Yi really tormented himself terribly. Before when he was with Wen Xuan, he had restrained himself somewhat in order to act normal during the day. Now that he was here, with Qi Jibai as a shield, he completely released all inhibitions, looking half dead all day long.
“This is only temporary.” Jian Yi said: “As long as I can decipher it, I can cultivate at full strength.”
Thank You for the chapter ♡ (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
boy you be killing yourself but yo man gon find out… let’s see what you will do then…
So Ye ShengGe was the only decent person n he passed 🙁
I’m starting to quite scared and worried about homie’s death wish