Translator’s Note: This chapter is quite painful. Here is a short summary for readers who feel it would better prepare them to read the chapter.
Chapter 2: Problem Solving by Elimination
Scholar-Tyrant Song sat in the examination room, his back ramrod straight. He had his head down in embarrassment and his mind was a complete blank.
This question presented at the Banquet of Beauties was more terrifying than Goldbach’s conjecture. At least he wouldn’t feel so flustered at being quizzed by the professor on Goldbach’s conjecture.
The Langgan Terrace of Golden Phoenix Manor was a display of wanton extravagance. There were countless beautiful celestial youths and maidens, dancing in all directions. Guests arrived one after another with beauties in hand. There were impetuous laughter and jumbled obscene language everywhere.
Song Qingshi silently recited his lessons on topics such as the human body structure, physiological hygiene and mouse breeding before finally recovering the calm of a talented medical student. Thinking about the tragic wipe out of the lab mice he had painstakingly bred for three years, he instantly felt nothing of the spectacle before him.
There were two kinds of sacred fires in the original body. One was the Red Lotus Fire for refining pills and the other was the Underworld Ghost Fire for killing people.
Song Qingshi assumed an expression that could drive other people thousands of miles distant. He released the Underworld Ghost Fire onto the palms of his hands, letting the flames continuously jump around his fingertips, changing into all sorts of different shapes.
Fen Shen and He Ti ancestors were the greatest treasures of every sects and they did not easily involve themselves in secular affairs. Nascent Soul cultivators were then all big shots that walked about wantonly in the immortal realm. Moreover, the path of cultivation was dangerous; no one could say for certain that they would not need the help of a god-level doctor to save their life. As a result, neither proper cultivators nor devil cultivators dared to rashly offend the Medicine King Xianzun, let alone pay any mind to his eccentric character.
The cultivators saw the Underworld Ghost Fire. Knowing that he was in a bad mood, they all kept well away. Even the maids and servants did not dare to approach, lest they carelessly provoke the honorable lord and be set ablaze by that murderous fire.
Song Qingshi successfully managed to carve out a large area of peace and quiet around him. He cut off all thoughts the other cultivators might have had of sucking up to him. He then released the powerful mental probe of a Nascent Soul cultivator and quickly enveloped all the beauties at the banquet, looking carefully, trying to find the protagonist shou among them.
However, Yang Yuhuan was plump while Zhao Feiyan was slender; each beautiful woman was beautiful in her own way. Everyone had different standards of beauty. Song Qingshi was the unreliable sort and his eyes were quickly dazzled. He felt that all of them at the Banquet were beautiful. Even the maid who poured water was lithe and graceful. She was more beautiful than the stars on TV. He simply couldn’t tell who was a cut above the rest.
But this stubborn scholar will never admit defeat!
Song Qingshi tried to use the elimination method to solve the problem. First, make sure that the protagonist was a man, exclude all the female beauties at the Banquet. Then he must list the key observations, make bold verification and careful assumptions and one by one remove the beauties that do not meet the standards.
The twin brothers brought by the Sect Master of the Blood Demon Sect were extremely beautiful. Tender-bodied, warm and fragrant, passionately devoted, they were just like twin lotus flowers on one stalk.
Ktfgf mjc’a yf akb qgbajubclra rtber. Jgbrr bea.
Ktf sbecu wjc ygbeuta ys lwwbgaji fivfg bo atf Obcute Vfma kjr jirb reqfg meaf. Lf kjr mtlivilxf jcv jvbgjyif. Lf tjv tlr jgwr jgbecv atf lwwbgaji fivfg jcv jmafv ilxf j rqblifv mtliv. Ktf lwwbgaji fivfg vbafv bc tlw nfgs wemt jcv byfsfv tlr fnfgs klrt, fnfc tjcv offvlcu tlw ogela. Lf xfqa mjiilcu tlw ‘yjys’ jcv ‘vjgilcu’.
The protagonist shou suffered a miserable fate. Cross out.
The foreign monk from the northern continent used black iron chains to lead along a handsome man covered in wounds. He staggered along, seeming to follow the monk obediently. But underneath, he exuded an unyielding aura, like an eagle with both wings bound but still wanting to break free and fly away.
The protagonist shou was regarded as a beauty, so he wouldn’t be that strong-willed and unyielding. Cross out.
……
As the night grew deeper, the music at Banquet of Beauties had long been replaced by the sounds of debauchery. Many people have left the table with beauties in tow. The scenes became more and more unbearable.
Song Qingshi did not want to peep into other people’s private affairs, for fear of seeing something dirty and getting an eye stye. He narrowed the scope of his mental probe and limited it to only within the banquet. He then heard the foreign monk show off the man he had brought with him to the young master of the Hidden Moon Sect, “He was even a general in the mortal world. After he was defeated and captured, he was sold to me. He is proud and unyielding and would not comply even at the threat of death. Playing with him is particularly exciting.”
The young master of the Hidden Moon Sect introduced a soft and coquettish young man. He said with a smile, “A proud person has its own flavor and well-behaved has its own as well. Should we exchange and give it a try?”
The foreign monk hesitated and the Young Master of the Hidden Moon Sect directed a meaningful look towards the young slave.
The charming young man immediately snuggled up against the monk’s chest and coquettishly implored, “I actually love a strong body like master’s. Please bestow love upon this slave, master.”
Fan Seng was aroused by the youth’s sweet and lewd words. He readily threw the chain in his hand to the Hidden Moon Sect’s young master and took the young man to the side hall. The Young Master of the Hidden Moon Sect pulled the chain fiercely and dragged the gray-faced man toward the secluded part of the garden.
There were many scenes like this during the banquet and no one spared any pity for these tragic beauties.
……
Song Qingshi had already learned from the memory of the original body that the spiritual energy of the mortal realm was thin. The life span of mortals was short and the occasionally spiritual roots were extremely weak. Being able to reach Foundation Building stage was already akin to ascending the summit. There were some benevolent immortals who would accept mortals as disciples and give them the opportunity to ascend to immortality. Ten thousand years ago, there was a mortal named Mo Yuan who was extremely talented. Relying on his sword skills for cultivation, he managed to reach the Nascent Soul stage. He created a peerless sword technique enough to rival a Fen Shen Elder. He thus became known as the Sword Sovereign.
But the path of immortality was to fight against the Heavens. Each step was difficult, to meet with calamity and failure was a common occurrence. Killing someone to rob them of their treasures occurred from time to time. It was difficult to restrain their behavior with morality and ethics.
Weakness was the original sin. Mortals were like mole crickets and ants, allowing the cultivators of the immortal world to have the power over their life and death, playing with them recklessly.
Even if Sword Sovereign Mo Yuan decided to take care of them, he could only lay down rules among the famous and righteous sects of the immortal realm. He managed to secure that mortals who have successfully reached Foundation Building stage could no longer be used as slaves and playthings. But demon sects and demon cultivators never cared about the rules. Not to mention the mortal cultivators, even cultivators in the immortal realm would suffer a terrible fate should they fall into their hands. Their evildoings were too many there simply weren't enough bamboo slats. there were too numerous to tell.
Golden Phoenix Mountain Manor was regarded as a famous and illustrious sect in the immortal realm and all the cultivation furnaces within the manor were of mortal origin who had been purchased.
So while Song Qingshi found the things happening here to be utterly intolerable, he couldn’t interfere. He was a little grateful that the identity that the system had arranged for him was not that of a mortal’s, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to survive two chapters, let along save the protagonist shou.
Fortunately, it was just a virtual world…
Novels were works of the devil and textbooks were the righteous path of the world! It was only right that the professor confiscated his Senior sister’s novels in class! If he ever becomes a professor, he will not allow his students to read novels! So as to avoid having their Three Views poisoned!
Song Qingshi lamented silently.
Suddenly, a swearing voice came from the garden. It was the Hidden Moon Sect’s young master who dragged in the stubborn man’s corpse and returning with a disappointed face. The man’s shirt was torn open, revealing his body riddled with scars. He had used a silver chopstick stolen from the banquet to pierce his throat severely and kill himself.
The silver chopsticks were very blunt. It must have been extremely difficult to use it to commit suicide. It wouldn’t have pierced through without exhausting all his strength. It clearly displayed his determination.
When everyone at the banquet saw this, they made fun of the Hidden Moon Sect’s young master, joking that he couldn’t even look after a mortal.
After hearing the disturbance, the monk abandoned the charming young man and hurried back from the side hall. He saw that the person he had brought was dead, he scowled and his eyes turned cold, his face was full of anger. The young master of the Hidden Moon Sect was even angrier than he was. He turned the dead man over, revealing a back covered with lashes. He questioned the monk, “Why didn’t you place an Acacia Seal on this little slave of yours? You actually just let him commit suicide and die?”
The foreign monk was stunned by his question. “What’s an Acacia Seal? Some new toy of yours in the Central continent?”
Seeing that he was completely ignorant of this, the other cultivators couldn’t help but mumble how the Northern continent was a truly uncivilized place. They didn’t even know what an Acacia Seal was, this thing that was known in every corner of the world. The foreign monk was completely perplexed by their mutterings. The young master of the Hidden Moon Sect though had already vented his anger. He pulled the monk over and hating iron for not becoming steel, narrated the wonders of the Acacia Seal: “The Acacia Seal was a method created by Huanxi Xianzun. The master can brand it on the back of a cultivation furnace and control of the furnace’s body and soul transfers into the hands of the master, allowing for manipulation at the master’s convenience. No need for orders and they cannot die without permission.”
Song Qingshi had found important information. He quickly concentrated his mental probe and listened carefully.
The young master of the Hidden Moon Sect took out a red bead from his space bag. He suddenly had an idea. He turned the bead in his hand. The charming young man who was standing next to the monk immediately knelt down and barked like a dog.
The monk waved his hand and said with disdain, “The occasional taste of this kind of obedience is good enough. If I raised them like this, I’d get tired of playing with them after a few days.”
“There’s a lot of uses to it. You wouldn’t know until you’ve used it for yourself. This young master can’t list them all.” The Hidden Sect’s young master withdrew the spiritual thought he had imposed on the bead. The young man laying on the ground, stood up. He had long become used to being disgraced in front of a crowd and after a momentary reddening of his face, he cast away his sense of shame and stood next to his master with his head down.
Seeing that the monk still didn’t understand, the young master educated him patiently: “The most important thing is that unless you allow the cultivation furnace to die, the furnace will never be able to go against your wishes and die. Wouldn’t it have been more amusing if you had branded your little slave with the Acacia Seal and once he’s unable to commit suicide, you then take your time to grind down that pride of his?”
The monk had an epiphany. He nodded repeatedly and agreed with him.
The young master erased his spiritual thoughts from the cultivation furnace’s bead in his hand and threw it to the foreign monk. He said graciously, “Since this young master has killed your beauty, then let me compensate you for your loss. Take this with you and study for yourself the wonders of the Acacia Seal. I can guarantee that you will want one for yourself.”
The monk was overjoyed and continued to praise, “The people of the Central continent are indeed bold. This Black Vulture has made you a friend!”
The charming young man’s face instantly turned pale. He looked desperately at his original owner as though wishing to speak, as though he wanted to beg. But in the end he didn’t say anything and went with the monk in tears.
The jewels have been corrupted. The bright red hairpin was now like a broken piece of jade.
This extravagant banquet finally reached its climax.
The disciples of Golden Phoenix Mountain Manor covered the luminous beads above the hall and let the darkness envelop the entire Langgan Terrace.
The guests raised their heads in astonishment. They saw fireworks from several spells flash across the darkness, blooming in the air in a rich display of lights and color, turning into a golden phoenix, dancing lightly and gracefully, announcing that the performances for the banquet was about to begin. Jin Feiren raised his wine glass and invite guests to admire it with him.
Song Qingshi marveled at the beauty of the Phoenix Dance and remained looking up for a long while. Afterwards, he discovered that a young man in white clothes had appeared beside Jin Feiren. The young man had very clean and delicate looks, like green bamboo within the mountains, a bright moon in the sky. A layer of cold frost covered in his features, as he kept his head hung low. He had fine black hair falling down like a waterfall, tied back with a ribbon. He had no other adornment on his entire body and yet he very easily caught the eyes of everyone, causing their looks to linger.
The tall and handsome Manor Lord held a smile as he gently scratched the hollow of the young man’s palm. In a gentle and soft voice, he praised his treasure, coaxing him to smile.
The young man turned his head away. Despite being coaxed and teased, he refused to even look at the other.
Jin Feiren twisted his head forcefully. With one hand, he clamped both of the youth’s hands behind his back and forcibly embraced him. He carefully kissed his forehead, the bridge of his nose…and then he repeatedly bit down on his lips, as though he wanted to swallow him into his stomach. The youth struggled while bearing with the pain. Jin Feiren smiled and let him go. He leaned in close to the youth’s ear and asked softlym “Do you want to be taught the rules again?”
The young man froze for a moment. He stopped struggling and sat obediently into Jin Feiren’s arms.
Was this the protagonist?
Song Qingshi secretly watched for a long time and finally suppressed his instinctual social fear and prepared to speak when Ling Bao Xianzun, who had a close relationship with Jin Feiren, walked over and asked with a smile, “Is this the Manor Lord’s new treasure? A pure Yin constitution, single water-type spiritual root? Would you consider letting me have a taste tonight?”
Jin Feiren glanced at the embarrassed and indignant expression of the youth in his arms. He squeezed him and refused with a smile, “Although he is a plaything, he does suit my tastes. I cannot hand him over as a present. Later, I will send my friends some top-quality products, all of them newly branded beauties with superb constitutions and very clean.”
Ling Bao Xianzun gave the youth a careful, measuring look. “This furnace of yours is still a virgin?”
Jin Feiren said, “I do not wish to treat him as an ordinary furnace.”
Tonight, Song Qingshi has amended his knowledge with a lifetime’s worth of obscene language. He now understood everything that should be understood and even those that shouldn’t be understood. He now understood clearly what they meant by a furnace.
He watched Jin Feiren personally pouring wine for the young man during the banquet and he was a little unsure whether this was the protagonist or not. Although the boy in white seemed to be more attractive than the other beauties present, the system has explained that the protagonist needed to be rescued because of a miserable fate. Right now, Jin Feiren was very fond of the boy. Every beauty in the Banquet of Beauties was many times more miserable than him.
Song Qingshi began to fret as he considered this problem…
At this time, the phoenix in the air had finished dancing and fell amongst the guests in a shower of light.
The light faded away and a huge, golden, ornately carved bird frame appeared on Langgan Terrace. On the bird frame sat a beauty lovely enough to cause the fall of a city.
The gold fetters inlaid with jewels encircled his pure white ankles. They were tied to both sides of the bird frame with long thin golden chains. His upper body was covered with almost transparent gauze, making faintly visible the magnificent scenery decorated with gold and jewels underneath. On his lower body was a long skirt made of golden red feathers in the shape of phoenix tail feathers. His slightly swept up long hair hung down loosely, with pearls like mermaid’s tears adorning it. The enchanting Acacia Seal on his back was hidden by his long hair. As his hair swayed with the wind, it became faintly discernable. He was as beautiful as a phoenix with its rich colors; the human world’s peony of riches and honor.
He held a jade flute in his hand. His thin lips were slightly open, creating a naturally enchanting appearance. The dark golden phoenix eyes seemed to be smiling yet not at the same time. He looked around and then greeted the audience. The small red tear-shaped mole at the corner of his eye made everyone feel unbearably tempted. Song Qingshi sat up straight and he recognized this as the beauty in red that he had seen by the river bank.
When the beauty in red glanced over at Song Qingshi, his eyes stayed on him for a while and then slid over him as though he didn’t recognize him.
Song Qingshi looked to his left where there was the young man in white clothes, who looked like a clear and bright pearl and then he looked to the right, at the beauty in red, who looked like a peony in its flourishing age. He panicked. He could not tell who was more beautiful and more like the protagonist!
The exam question of Professor System was too tough…
Was Scholar-Tyrant Song about to fail this course?
Translator-sama, I think you put some part of the story in the foot note
Thanks for the chapter la~~
You are absolutely correct. So sorry about that. Thank you for pointing it out.
The language is quite complicated. So challenging. I need to sharpen my English comprehension. Thank you for the story though. This is gonna be tough, but I like it.
i cannot. now who will you choose Scholar Tyrant Song??~ thank u for the chapter!!
Thank you for the chapter and your consideration for giving a short, quick summary of the chapter in the beginning. I would also like to notify you that your, “human world’s peony” t/n broke and that the last few paragraphs of the chapter are inside the t/n instead of outside of it. This includes the “pearl” t/n as well.
Thank you for letting me know. Corrected with thanks!
Yes I accidentally realised that after I sent my comment, my page was unfortunately in the unedited version so soon after I posted my comment I realised the t/n had already been fixed. Apologies for that, and thank you for the reply.
No need to apologize. I appreciate people letting me know. This isn’t the first time I’ve been pit-ted by the translator’s notes. =)
I mean, we already know who he’s going to pick, but can anyone blame him? Clearly the villain has suffered more. In fact, it seems like the original shou can still get some sort of ‘“happy” ending’?
Thanks for the chapter ~🌸
If he don’t meet villain I think. But who knows?
I agree, it’s seriously hard to tell when he was sent in when protag shou was still being pampered
For his pure soul it’s really difficult. You know you are no more pure when you can say who shou and who gong
thanks for the chapter~
Thank you for the chapter. 🌺🌺🌺
a lesson in physically stereotyping tops and bottoms
Wow, i thought that monk’s slave was the protagonist, now he’s dead, and there’s still two, and a lot to happen, it’s really difficult to find the protagonist!
Thank you for the chapter!
So the one in white is the original protag shou then? 👀 very curious what happens then to him
I do wonder though, what will happen to the real protagonist shou after MC makes off with the wrong protag. Feeling sorry for the real protag shou. ☹️
yeah i thought the same like save him tooo what will happen to him if he aint gonna save him?? im worried
I’m glad I chose this to read out of my long to-read list. SQS is quite a funny guy. 😍😍
Kudos to Translator-sama!!
Thanks for putting a summary at the top so I didn’t have to hurt my head and morals with the cultivation terms and the demeaning of humans respectively. 🤗😘 I just skipped the chapter entirely thanks to that. (Note: this is also someone who likes reading about Yandere males leads and kinky bdsm play) 😉🤪 Quirky is as quirky does
Any recommendations for Yandere novels? Please
Oh noe if the og shou doesnt get rescued, there is another gong for him ryt. Or is our MC supposedly the og gong?
I’ve read a lot of cultivation novels but there’s a lot of unfamiliar terms here lol
Save them both. Cover your bases. The system didn’t say you couldn’t. It didn’t say much at all in fact…..
WTF is this setting
It’s hard to read, because I want to jump inside of the novel and save every mortal in it, than slap this bunch of nasty immortal elitists to the end of the world.
Everyone seems to be having a hard time. I don’t blame the protagonist for not knowing who is the ‘shou’. I’d choose the villain too
Yeesh, the people in this world setting are scum. Hope Song Qingshi can rescue other slaves too 🥺
Thanks for the chapter 💕
Really dislike many immortals here. Now there’s the ancient time + immortal elitism. Thinking that mortals can be use for sexual pleasure + improve own cultivation. But having the acacia seal is so terrible. Seeing how a person can be totally control like a puppet is so scary. So sick to see that guy explaining how fun he felt tearing down a person’s pride and dignity. I want to abolish this place. Wish the novel MC will be ok even with the change in plot. His original life in novel is already terrible seeing that Song is sent to help him, hope won’t remain this way.
Ugh these disgusting immortals! Treating humans as worse than animals!
Thank you for the wonderful translation! Hope you have a nice day!
❤
The one he supposed to save is that new boy in white right??
Lol the last part is *cue gay panic
This chapter was quite painful to read. The system is trash btw
I really, really feel bad for the side characters—the furnace—in this story. The world was too cruel to them, it breaks my heart.
Oh yes. Is this where the ‘mistake’ would happen?😂😂
50/50 this is a hard question but I feel like the phenix may still be the right one
I hope MC is strong enough to freed all the motal
I really need to open my English knowledge this was quite the challenge…
I would read these books in mandarin but I wanna open up my English more so I’ll endure
Thanks for putting in a summary!
How can they call themselves righteous cultivators while abusing the weak? 😤
Thank you for the chapter!
Our scholar- tyrant is like a blind mole in the bamboo grove ..
The white pearl is without a doubt the og shou, but I feel like the villain maybe had an even harder life, so his choice will be correct in the “the one who has suffered the most” department. Though I agree with the other comments here: just save them both, why don’t you. Their fates are horrible anyways, being called “furnaces” instead of people and being treated as frigging cattle. Disgusting.
Thanks for the chapter! (I know I’m very late to this but still)
welp- this will be intresting?
maybe try to help them both?
Thank u translator-nim, the translation is so clean 🥺🥺
I am confused too buddy. Thanks for the translation.
This bizarre and scary story of how some cultivators evolve using innocent people as objects is quite realistic, I’m sure that if cultivation existed, evil would be as overwhelming as it is.💔