A ferocious roar echoed through the depths of the forest. The cage, made of golden string, rattled horrendously. The swirling black mass within the cage smashed continuously against its restraints; the horrific noise only grew louder and louder each time the creature smashed into the cage.
“Release me, you insolent child!”
A youth who couldn’t be older than eighteen, watched the monster with vague amusement mixed in with irritation. He took a big bite of the banana and chewed quietly as the monster continued its rampage. He picked up his sword and tapped it against the cage.
“Can you quiet down? Let me finish my lunch first.”
The monster floated down to the floor and watched the youth with an air of irritation. It fell silent and remained so as the youth finished the remainder of his snack. The peel was thrown into some bushes and the youth stood up, his hands brushing together.
“Isn’t it better to be obedient?” Liang Jun grinned happily. He reached out and shrank the golden cage until it fit into the palm of his hand. “Now, let’s go back and get you nice and heated.”
After taking a few steps, Liang Jun paused. He looked down at the monster in his hand and rattled the weaved cage. The monster released a displeased hiss. Liang Jun lifted it so that he was at eyelevel with the monster and narrowed his eyes with a frown.
“Why are you suddenly so quiet?”
“Didn’t you tell me to be quiet, little daozhang?” the monster asked, its voice dripping with sarcasm.
Liang Jun smirked and shook it once more. “If you’re planning on escaping, then forget it. My Immortal Binding Chord isn’t that easy to break out of. The more you struggle, the tighter it’ll pull.”
The monster spat at Liang Jun and began to scream curses again.
Liang Jun smiled happily and turned on his heel to leave the scene of capture. As he ventured down the dirt path, listening to the monster vent out his feelings as he went, he suddenly felt that something wasn’t exactly right. Although the monster had begun screaming again, it wasn’t attempting to break free as it had been before. Perhaps it was Liang Jun’s warning, but instincts told Liang Jun that wasn’t it.
There was a faint rustle of leaves to Liang Jun’s right. He jumped out of the way just as a long sword was thrust into the ground at where Liang Jun had been standing. The sword flew back into the shrubbery, leaving behind a small crater.
Liang Jun drove his heels into the dirt to settle himself. He unsheathed his sword and strung the miniscule cage to his belt.
“Who was that? Show yourself!”
An arrogant snort met Liang Jun’s ears as a group of cultivators, not much older than himself, stepped from the shadows. The group of five all wore delicate turquoise robes with careful silver detailing. At their belts hung a jade badge that told Liang Jun just exactly which sect these disciples were from. His expression of guardedness fell. It was replaced by a look of annoyance.
Liang Jun smiled in a sarcastically sweet way. “To what do I owe the honor of Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect’s sudden arrival? May this humble servant do anything for you young masters and misses?”
The girl at the front scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Please, you know full well what you did.”
Liang Jun continued his own charade, but raised an eyebrow. “I’m so sorry, Miss, I don’t believe I do.”
The girl looked at him with utter disgust as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re in our territory.”
The smile faded from Liang Jun’s face. He looked around at the forest, dense with foliage. Even when he was chasing the demon spirit from the skies, he could see that the forest spread for miles and miles in every direction. The scenery remained unchanging even as Liang Jun flew. The only other difference was that he was now much closer to a mountain range, yet even that was far away from their view right now.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Liang Jun turned back to them. “What do you mean your territory? When I was flying above, I didn’t see any villages or cities.” He crossed his arms over his chest as well. “The rules clearly state that the boundary starts at the next inhabited area. I might be on the border, but I haven’t crossed into your territory.”
“Oh, you don’t know?” the girl quirked an eyebrow. She pointed a slender finger past Liang Jun’s shoulder. “That village all the way back there is under our jurisdiction.”
Liang Jun followed her finger and turned around. He thought for a moment before look back at the little miss with an incredulous expression. “That village? That place with only sixty people?” Liang Jun let out a disbelieving laugh. “Do you even know what that place is called?”
“It’s called Rong Village,” one of the male disciples beside the girl answered.
“Was I talking to you?” Liang Jun asked. He turned his attention back to the girl. “You righteous sects never bother with places with less than three hundred people—why are you suddenly taking notice of that tiny village? Clearly, they’ve sent more requests to us than they have to you since you turn the other cheek even when they’re plagued with evil spirits.”
“You unorthodox sects sure are good at slandering, aren’t you?” the girl asked, tilting her chin up. “How do you know that we haven’t paid attention to them? Do you have eyes everywhere on the continent? So, what if we ignored them once or twice? It was only because our hands were full. After that, we’ve been taking them up on their missions.”
“There are more than fifty righteous scattered in just the south east alone,” Liang Jun said. “Each sect has over hundreds of disciples! What do you mean your hands were full? Don’t bullshit me. Tell me the real reason you’re here?”
“This is the real reason we’re here,” the girl said, not wavering a second. Her eyes flickered down to the monster in the cage. “What’s that thing?”
“A demon spirit,” Liang Jun shifted his body away from them.
“A demon spirit?” the girl narrowed her eyes. She held out her hand. “Give it here.”
“Why? I caught it!” Liang Jun said.
“If you caught it, then why don’t you just kill it now? Why did you bring it all the way over here?” the girl questioned. She scoffed. “Oh, I know! You didn’t come here to catch spirits; you came here to set them!”
“What?!”
“Since you know about that little village back there, then you obviously knew that you were entering Xianping Province. You traveled all the way here to bring over that high leveled evil spirit to set it loose in our territory!” the girl accused.
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.
Liang Jun stared at her. His gaze traveled over the other few disciples that accompanied her. An outraged laugh left his mouth. “Wow, you—you shouldn’t be a cultivator, xiao meimei! You should be a storyteller instead! You make up lies so fluidly, I almost believed you.”
“Ktfc afii er, kts jgf sbe tfgf klat atja atlcu jcv kts tjnfc’a sbe xliifv la?”
Oljcu Aec abbx lc j vffq ygfjat jcv ifa la bea ribkis. “P uba jc bgvfg ogbw Kjlmtfcu Jlas ab fzafgwlcjaf jc fnli rqlgla atja ilnfr lc atf gfwbaf wbecajlcr. Pa tjv yffc afggbglhlcu atf reggbecvlcu abkcr jcv mlalfr obg atf qjra kffx. Fcobgaecjafis, la frmjqfv, rb P mtjrfv la ecali la kjr jii atf kjs bnfg tfgf. Ugbabmbi wfjcr P tjnf ab mjqaegf la jilnf lo P mjc jcv yglcu la yjmx ab mbcolgw atja atlr kjr atf atlcu atja tjv yffc ybatfglcu atf mbwwbc qfbqif.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“What do you mean you don’t believe me?!” Liang Jun’s grip tightened around his sword.
“Then what’s that thing you have it contained in?” the girl asked.
Liang Jun shifted away once more. “It’s called Immortal Binding Cables.”
“Liar. Immortal Binding Cables don’t shift shape like that,” the girl said. She held out her hand. “Hand it over so I can examine it.”
“Are you crazy?” Liang Jun laughed disbelievingly. “This is a spiritual weapon my shizun personally crafted for me. Why the hell would I give it to you? Who knows where your hands have been?”
One of the other female disciples scoffed. “Her hands are definitely cleaner than yours. WuYe trash.”
Liang Jun’s gaze shifted to the disciple behind the girl. He clenched his teeth tightly and breathed out slowly. “What did you just call me?”
“I called you WuYe trash,” the female disciple repeated. “Isn’t that what you are? You were born in the slums and you have a poor spiritual root. That’s the only reason you ran off to an unorthodox sect like Screeching Sparrow Sect.”
The disciples laughed, voicing their agreement.
“If you had any real skill you would have joined the righteous sects,” another laughed. “Instead—what? You have to rely on a flimsy piece of string to catch a spirit?”
Another one of the disciples snickered. “I hear the one who uses Hong Xian is a whore too.”
“They just let anyone into Screeching Sparrow Sect. Their sect leader is a coldblooded killer anyway—what else can you expect?”
Liang Jun bowed his head. His knuckles slowly turning white as his forehead pulsed. He listened to the disciples of the righteous sect’s mockery until he heard a faint rattle in the cage.
It’s a trap. The last sliver of reason in Liang Jun’s head sounded out clearly, but he no longer had the patience to listen to it.
He tore the golden cage from his belt and threw it up onto the air. The cage quickly unraveled and allowed the monster to escape its restraints, however, before it could go too far, Liang Jun catapulted himself from the ground and drove his sword straight through the monster, pinning it to the ground. The golden thread anchored itself around the tree and shot towards Liang Jun. He snatched the end of the flailing thread from the air and gave it a hard yank, thus strangling the monster and confining him to this one spot.
The demonic spirit’s pained screeches echoed throughout the forest, reaching as far as the mountain range. The disciples shrank back as they watched the monster shrivel into ashes, crumbling like a burnt piece of paper.
Liang Jun’s grip on the thread loosened. It unraveled from the tree and coiled itself around Liang Jun’s palm once more. The youth slowly stood up. He brushed the dust from his robes and pulled his sword from the ground.
“W-what are you doing? Are you threatening us?” the girl asked, her voice trembling.
“…What did you say about my shizun?” Liang Jun asked.
The disciples felt a chill run down their spine.
Liang Jun had always been described as a sunny child. More than handsome, people would say he is cute and likable. His smile was enough to brighten up anyone’s day and even when he was irritated, the most he would do around his shijie and shixiong was scrunch his nose and pout. He enjoyed acting cute in front of his family, even if they were all fully aware of what he was capable of. After all, the name “Golden Prodigy” wasn’t given to him without rhyme or reason.
However, in front of strangers and idiots like these, the warmth that Liang Jun normally radiated had dissipated without a trace.
“I asked you,” the golden thread shot out from his palm and wrapped tightly around the five disciples. When Liang Jun looked up, his eyes carried a murderous glint. “What did you say about my shizun?”
“W-we—we—”
The thread retracted and yanked the five disciples closer to him. Startled yelps escaped their lips, but didn’t dare move. Every movement they made caused the thread to tighten just a little more.
“A whore? Is that what you called them?” Liang Jun’s voice was dangerously low. He let out a soft chuckle, devoid of any sweetness that had been present before. “You kept talking about WuYe City earlier, so that must mean you know a lot, don’t you? To be honest, it’s a lot nicer now since Screeching Sparrow Sect arrived. But you’re right—the slums will always be the slums. And just what kind of kid do you think all that craziness can raise?”
“W-we’re sorry! We didn’t mean it! We—”
“Oh. Now you don’t mean it?” Liang Jun murmured. His grip on the golden thread tightened. “But I think it’s too late.”
Before Liang Jun could give the thread one last tug, a strong pressure shoved him back. His grip on the golden thread loosened and freed the disciples, who quickly scrambled away from him. Just as Liang Jun registered what had happened, a pair of sleek black boots appeared in his line of sight, accompanied by a skull crushing pressure.
Liang Jun clicked his tongue as he quickly recalled Golden Thread to him. The thread obediently coiled around his neck and the glowing stopped.
“What were you doing?” a cold voice asked from above.
“…Honorable Cultivator, I think you know exactly what you were doing,” Liang Jun said, his temper slowly cooling down with each breath he took.
He nearly made a mistake.
A pause. “What are you saying?”
Liang Jun smiled sweetly; his head still tilted towards the ground. “Honorable Cultivator, if you keep pressuring me like this, I’ll implode.”
The pressure eased off bit by bit until Liang Jun could sit comfortably. He fell back onto his butt and, without bothering to fix his posture, looked up at the man dressed in similar robes to the disciples behind him. He flashed a charming grin.
“May I ask what this Honorable Cultivator’s name is?”
“Surname Li, given name Ran.”
An understanding flashed through Liang Jun’s eyes. He let out a joyful laugh before standing. He brushed the dirt from his robes and clasped his hands together as he bent into a low bow. “I would have never expected to meet Sect Leader Li. When I left home a few days ago, I thought I was just on my way to catch a demon.”
“And instead, you caught my sect’s disciples.”
Liang Jun’s smile stiffened. “Sect Leader Li, I have a perfectly fine explanation for this.”
The man lazily raised a brow. His lips quirked at the corners as he tilted his head. “Oh? Do tell.”
Liang Jun slowly eased his posture and glanced at the disciples who had recovered their cocky appearance. “If I remember correctly, gossiping is something that is punishable in Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect, is it not?”
Li Ran frowned. “It is.”
Liang Jun clasped his hands together and pulled on a pitiful face. “Then, Sect Leader Li, you must help me. I believe I have been framed.”
Li Ran scrutinized Liang Jun in silence.
“Let me first explain to you my situation,” Liang Jun let out a helpless sigh. “It all started a few days ago when I accepted a mission in Taicheng City. I did not want to go at first, but none of the other disciples wanted to go. Not being able to stand seeing the common people suffer, I decided that I would go by my lonesome. The evil spirit was cunning. At first, I did not see anything wrong with it. But slowly, it felt as if it were moving as instructed, getting closer and closer to the borders.”
Liang Jun pouted at Li Ran. “The situation was out of my hands! I tried my best to stop it before it crossed the borders, for I did not want trouble. I thought I had done a good job, but it turns out that miniscule village—the one called Rong Village—just over yonder was part of Xiangping’s jurisdiction! How could I have known? I thought it was still our Jianshi Province’s jurisdiction. After all, we have accepted so many missions from th—”
“And so?”
“So, I believe that I have been framed.”
“How so?”
Liang Jun smiled cleverly. He was petite for his age due to malnutrition from when he was young. When faced with Li Ran, who was nearing 190cm, Liang Jun appeared to be a small rabbit facing a ferocious white tiger, but he didn’t cower in the slightest. Instead, he hopped a little closer and put on an even more pitiful expression.
“Sect Leader Li, you are a clever person. I have heard of your valor many times in the cultivation world—how you were number one in your generation, how you are so great at making pills, and how amazing you are at fighting,” Liang Jun sighed. “You should know the situation, should you not?”
Li Ran continued to watch Liang Jun.
Liang Jun got on his tiptoes and whispered: “Between the discourse our two sects have had the past week, and me crossing into your territory with my weapons out—doesn’t it seem like someone was trying to set me up?”
Li Ran’s gaze flickered down to Liang Jun’s bunny-teethed smile.
“Sect Leader Li, you should know what I’m implying, do you not?”
“What was your name? How old are you this year?”
“Surname Liang, given name Jun. I just turned eighteen at the start of summer,” Liang Jun said with a breezy smile.
Li Ran watched Liang Jun for a moment longer before turning back to his own sect’s disciples. “Then what was that fight?”
Liang Jun glanced at the disciples who seemed to have lost their confidence again. “Well…”
“Speak.”
“Well, it seems they were gossiping,” Liang Jun sighed dramatically. “Not only that, they slandered me.”
“Oh?”
“They said that my shizun is a…Sect Leader Li, a scholarly man like you should not have to hear such a word,” Liang Jun turned away, seemingly scandalized.
“…Say it.”
“They called my shizun a whore,” Liang Jun sighed, the corners of his round eyes starting to redden. “They also said…they also said I am just a bastard who grew up in the slums of WuYe.”
“We didn’t—”
“Silence,” Li Ran glared at the disciples.
Liang Jun sniffled. “Sect Leader Li, I know that our two sects have had some difficulties in the past, but is it really okay to allow your disciples to slander me and my shizun like this?”
Li Ran fell silent.
“What would the cultivation world think if you allowed your disciples to brazenly walk over an innocent party?” Liang Jun glanced at the disciples. “And it was something as atrocious as five against one at that.”
Liang Jun’s squishy voice slowly turned sly. “Wouldn’t it just be embarrassing, Sect Leader Li?”
Li Ran glanced at Liang Jun.
He had heard of this teenager before. Liang Jun, the Golden Prodigy. When compared to the five disciples behind Li Ran, this child was much more gifted than they were. At a young age, he had already shown a spiritual understanding. Not only that, Ren Yizhou had deemed him ready for a magical weapon of his own at only fifteen. In just another couple of centuries, Liang Jun was sure to be one of the cultivators at the helm of it all. But it wasn’t only because of his talent—it was also because of his craftiness.
“Sect Leader Li?” Liang Jun prodded him. He sighed and shook his head. “If you do not believe me, then what can I do? If you really think I intruded on your territory and harmed your disciples for no reason, I suppose I can only accept punishment.”
Li Ran’s gaze hardened. “Punishment?”
“I will return with you,” Liang Jun said. He blinked innocently at Li Ran. “There is no need to alert the sect leader and go all the way back to Screeching Sparrow Sect. Trespassing without permission should be…a hundred lashes, correct?”
Li Ran clenched his jaw and slowly looked away. “No, you are right. This case of an evil spirit flying so far truly is suspicious. And the matter of you attacking our disciples—it is our sect’s fault for not educating them thoroughly enough. You were only threatening them a little. They are otherwise unharmed.”
Liang Jun’s eyes sparkled. “So, Sect Leader Li, you are saying…”
“No need to follow us back for punishment,” Li Ran said through a clenched jaw. He looked at Liang Jun, an obvious distaste in his eyes. “You may go.”
Liang Jun smiled. He bowed low. “Thank you, Sect Leader Li. When I return, I will tell everyone how thoughtful and understanding you are.”
Liang Jun pulled out his sword and was just about to mount it when he paused and turned around. He looked at the girl. “What’s your name?”
“Wh—why should I tell you!?” the girl asked, glaring at Liang Jun angrily.
Li Ran glanced at her.
The girl shrank back slightly and angrily huffed. “My name is Xiù Lán (秀蓝)..”
Liang Jun laughed. “What a stupid name.”
“You—”
Before Xiu Lan could say another word, Liang Jun had already taken off to the skies, leaving the members of Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect speechless.
“Shizun!” Xiu Lan turned to Li Ran. “Why did you just let him go? You saw us tied up and everything. You could have just grabbed him and taken him back to—”
“Silence,” Li Ran glared at Xiu Lan. “If we had done that, what would that make us seem like?”
Li Ran stared off after where Liang Jun had flown and threw his sleeve. He got onto his sword and flew off without another word.
Xiu Lan was left steaming. Li Ran was the one that told them to lure a Screeching Sparrow Sect disciple over, and now that they did, it just ended up being them that got in trouble!
“Shijie, what do we do now?”
“What else do we do!?” Xiu Lan snapped. She pulled out her sword as well. “Go back.”
↳ Taicheng City – 台呈(Tái chéng)城
↳ 道长 (Dàozhǎng) – Taoist priest. “Little daozhang“ is because Liang Jun is technically a Taoist priest, but he is Child.
↳ 小妹妹 (Xiǎo mèimei) – little sister. It felt too weird to call her “little sister”, so I put it in pinyin lmao
↳ 红线 (Hóngxiàn) – means “red string”. It’s Ren Yizhou’s weapon.
A/N: Just wanted to make a note, Ren Yizhou (Liang Jun’s shizun) is nonbinary and goes with he/she/they pronouns. In an ancient world setting, it’s a bit difficult to pull that off, so characters will usually refer to RYZ as he/she but in the story as a whole, they will be refered to with they/them pronouns.
Drifting Cloud Mountain Sect acts like they can use any means to achieve their righteous judgment
Liang Jun is a smart cookie
Thank you for chapter
The righteous sects are seemingly only righteous in name
sometimes prestige makes one arrogant 😔 thanks for reading 😀
( ꐦ °᷄ д °᷅ ) I’m gonna transmigrate just to beat some a**
Thank you for your hard work! ♡
Aww I already liked the monster better than the Drifting Clouds Mountain disciples.
Liang Jun and Ren Yizhou my beloveds ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ
Love to see the nonbinary representation 🥹🥹