Translator: transcendentwings
Editor: teaff
The intermittent sounds of killing and yelling from outside wasn’t scarce, and one could tell that the large turnout was completely incomparable to the forces from the first day Xu Xingzhi arrived in the savage wasteland.
. . . Fortunately, unlike that day, Meng Chongguang was part of the defensive force outside.
It wasn’t clear to Xu Xingzhi how strong the others were, but Meng Chongguang could be regarded as a blood-related son he raised within the novella. With him defending, even if half of the monsters in the wasteland surrounded the tower, Meng Chongguang would still be able to retreat unscathed.
Xu Xingzhi couldn’t tell where this sense of ease came from, but he couldn’t be bothered to investigate it too deeply right now.
After listening to the sounds of blades clashing for a while, he grabbed his clothing, draped it on casually, and then laid back down on the bed lazily: “The leader of Feng Mountain, is that the one who is detained in that small room?”
Zhou Wang nodded her head.
Xu Xingzhi had a rough guess.
The leader of Feng Mountain, the Beast Hide Person, only had one encounter with Meng Chongguang and was already thrashed into such a sorry state. Although he knew long ago that few people in the wasteland would be able to match up to Meng Chongguang, it was clear from this incident that Meng Chongguang was indeed not an easy bone to pick.
The shackles on his feet were already removed. Xu Xingzhi narrowed his eyes slightly and rotated his ankle around a few times before he asked thoughtfully: “What did you just say? Those people are risking their lives in order to come and save their leader?”
Zhou Wang replied: “According to my knowledge, before Meng-dage and my uncle entered the wasteland, Feng Mountain’s leader was the leader of this general area and reveled in respect from all. Ever since Meng-dage arrived in the wasteland and settled here, this leader of Feng Mountain was one upped by Meng-dage in all aspects. As such, Feng Mountain has always hated us deeply and often took advantage of Meng-dage’s absence to rally people to come kill us. But this time, they didn’t wait for Meng-dage to leave and blindly rushed over to attack, vowing to recover their leader. It’s quite a loyal and righteous act.”
Xu Xingzhi tilted his head back and looked up at the roof, murmuring amusedly: “. . . Loyal and righteous ah.”
Zhou Wang: “What’s wrong?”
Xu Xingzhi stated: “Everything is wrong.”
Zhou Wang was puzzled. She no longer leaned against the wall and approached the side of the bed instead. Crossing her arms while leaning against the carved bed frame, she gazed at Xu Xingzhi: “How so?”
Xu Xingzhi pillowed the back of his head on his hands: “Let me ask you, if any of you were abducted by the Feng Mountain group but the rescue required overcoming great trials and tribulations, would you carry out the rescue?”
Zhou Wang responded without thinking: “So what if harsh trials await? Going is only natural.”
Xu Xingzhi: “For what reason?”
Zhou Wang snapped back: “Does this even need a reason?”
Xu Xingzhi: “Why wouldn’t it need one?”
Zhou Wang: “What do you mean?”
Xu Xingzhi chuckled: “In a location with a sparse population, there will be fewer disputes; and the more people there are, the greater the number of disputes. Feng Mountain has anchored itself in the savage wasteland for many years. They are difficult to deal with, have numerous subordinates, and are well-connected. It’s unknown how many people covet the Feng Mountain’s leader position. If I were a member of Feng Mountain, I wouldn’t care whether the leader died or lived. I would reserve my strength to seize this opportunity and usurp the seat of power for Feng Mountain. This is the correct sequence of actions, isn’t it?”
Zhou Wang mulled it over. Although these words were a bit scoundrelly, there was some truth to it, so she followed up: “. . . And so?”
“You just said that those belonging to Feng Mountain left their nest to fight to the death?” Xu Xingzhi stated: “I believe that there are people in this world who value their relationships and are loyal, however, I don’t believe that this group from Feng Mountain that were scattered far and wide are sincere subordinates. For them to be so desperate, they must be scheming something.”
He turned over to sit up and came to a conclusion: “. . . That leader of Feng Mountain must have something that is worthy of them putting their lives on the line for.”
As he spoke he winked at Zhou Wang: “How about it? Want to join me in taking a look at that leader of Feng Mountain and see what sort of cards he has up his sleeve?”
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.
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. . . Yesterday Xu Xingzhi spent half the night as meat on a chopping block. His prestige was still present, but his waist was extremely sore.
Zhou Wang coughed and covered her mouth with her palms that were wrapped in layers of bandages to hide her amusement.
Xu Xingzhi was thick-skinned and didn’t feel very embarrassed. He stretched out a hand in Zhou Wang’s direction and waved it, motioning for her to help him up.
Zhou Wang gave him a hand and pulled him up by grabbing his rosewood right hand.
Xu Xingzhi’s right hand was cut off neatly at the wrist so when she helped him up, Zhou Wang couldn’t help but cast a few extra glances at the breakpoint, seeming very interested in the story behind his missing limb.
After analyzing so much for Zhou Wang, in fact, Xu Xingzhi knew in his heart that there was only one thing that would force these people from Feng Mountain to come forth in waves without regard of their life.
. . . One of the key fragments for the gateway to the savage wasteland was on Feng Mountain.
The leader of Feng Mountain was a position anyone could have taken, but if they lost the precious key then for these people, the only hope for them to see the sky again would be to commit suicide or what would be waiting for them would be endless suffering.
So what would be the point of occupying the leader of Feng Mountain position? It would only be a means to survive while waiting for death.
Xu Xingzhi knew where the four key fragments were hidden. According to his original intentions, he wanted to conceal the matter of the key for a prolonged length of time lest Meng Chongguang gain the chance to walk out of the wasteland.
However, the rescue efforts of the gang from Feng Mountain were so fierce and Meng Chongguang was not a foolish person. If his deduction went further by one step then he would be able to guess that there was something precious that the leader of Feng Mountain had that was worthy of everyone risking their lives for.
Instead of waiting for Meng Chongguang and the others to discover this point, it was better for Xu Xingzhi to interrogate in advance.
It would be best if he could successfully fish out the whereabouts of the key fragment, but if he was unable to, at the very least he would be able to gain some valuable information. No matter how you calculate it, it would be his gain.
After relieving the soreness and numbness of his waist and legs, Xu Xingzhi and Zhou Wang proceeded to the small room where the Beast Hide Person was imprisoned together.
Probably because the Beast Hide Person had a vague premonition, but he was actually already awake.
Hearing the sound of the door, he tilted his head and looked over, then his expression distorted momentarily before he smirked ferociously: “And who do we have here, it turned out to be Xu Xingzhi who committed magistricide and betrayed the righteous path!”
Zhou Wang glanced at Xu Xingzhi and remained silent.
No matter how you look at it, these words were meant to scold the original owner so Xu Xingzhi acknowledged it nonchalantly.
He approached the Beast Hide Person and graciously squatted down: “You can speak now? That’s good, can you hear me?”
The Beast Hide Person glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
Xu Xingzhi pointed out the small window: “Listen, your subordinates are here to save you. Say it ba, first, you aren’t handsome, and second you also seem like a jinx who would bring calamity upon your wife, so why would they put their lives on the line to rescue you?”
The Beast Hide person spat a mouthful of saliva at them without saying a word.
Xu Xingzhi was long prepared and deliberately dodged when he saw the other’s Adam’s apple twitch, so the Beast Hide Person’s bloody sputum ultimately missed its target and landed on the ground.
Xu Xingzhi held the fan in his left hand and tapped on the back of his right hand: “It’s better to save some saliva to moisten your throat and quickly fess up.”
The look in the Beast Hide Person’s eyes became fiercer, but unfortunately his spine was already damaged and he was completely paralyzed. Although his spiritual power was still present, he couldn’t utilize it at all. He was already infuriated and affected mentally, and when he saw Xu Xingzhi’s face, raging anger stained his eyes red: “What kind of thing are you? Full of wild and evil schemes, betraying virtue and lacking in manners. First you killed your respectful master and then you acted as a Lord Rabbit and copulated with the shidi in your sect, doing those immoral things. Did you think that all of your various achievements in the real world were unknown to those of us in the wasteland?”
Xu Xingzhi stared at the Beast Hide Person, furrowed his brow, and stopped talking.
Zhou Wang was only in charge of standing by and spectating. She had never participated in such interrogations.
This little room was built for the purpose of conducting interrogations. Every three or five days, Meng Chongguang would bring some people from the wasteland and interrogate those people alone behind everyone’s back.
No matter how arrogant and bossy they were before they entered or how they flapped their gums, as long as they spent time with Meng Chongguang in the same room for more than a short while, when they came out again, they would all be as obedient as young chicks.
Noticing Xu Xingzhi’s silence, the Beast Hide Person’s arrogance was ignited again.
“Did you think that because I was in the wasteland, that I didn’t know about all of your dirty deeds?” The Beast Hide Person snickered suggestively, “I have a beautiful concubine by my side. If I told you her name, you would probably jump in surprise. She is also your acquaintance, and is more than knowledgeable about your scandalous. . .”
Before he could finish his words, he was abruptly picked up by Xu Xingzhi and his face was viciously pressed against the wall.
He was originally seriously injured, and now he was caught off guard with his hair grasped and his head slammed against the wall. There was no way for him to fight back. His dark-colored face was pressed against the wall until it was deformed and it could be said that his angry glare was livid to the utmost degree.
Xu Xingzhi squeezed his head tightly, the corner of his lips curved up into a mocking smile: “. . . You need to have some awareness about your current situation. Is this your Feng Mountain? Who are you trying to crack jokes and speak in circles with ne?”
Zhou Wang was surprised and whistled.
. . . She began to understand where Meng Chongguang’s methods came from now.
The Beast Hide Person was almost crushed until his head was about to burst and became completely enraged: “Xu Xingzhi, I swear I’ll tear. . .”
Xu Xingzhi shot back: “Tear what?”
He pressed on the Beast Hide Person’s head and knocked it against the wall a couple of times like he was cracking an egg.
The Beast Hide Person could still be regarded as to having some level of cultivation so of course, just relying on the strength a mortal’s arm produced wouldn’t split his head open, but he was already provoked into anger when he was being played with like this: “Xu Xingzhi, you f*cking. . .”
Xu Xingzhi was already too lazy to listen to his unbearable nagging and pointless words and turned to Zhou Wang to ask: “Do you have a dagger?”
After watching this lively show for so long, Zhou Wang naturally wanted to add some more fuel to the fire. She drew a dagger from her leg bindings and headed over. Holding the blade part in her hand, she motioned to pass it to Xu Xingzhi.
Xu Xingzhi said: “You don’t need to hand it to me, just wave the dagger around in plain sight.”
Zhou Wang did as suggested and twisted the dagger fluidly to draw flowers in the air. Arcs of light swirled around in response like sprinkled snow as she aimed it at the Beast Hide Person’s face.
Xu Xingzhi gripped the Beast Hide Person and yanked him away from the wall, positioning his eyes directly in front of the tip of the dagger.
The Beast Hide Person immediately shut up. Sweat oozed from his forehead; his hemming and hawing deflated until he couldn’t squeeze out another word.
Xu Xingzhi stated: “Answer whatever I ask. Spout less of that unnecessary nonsense, do you hear me?”
The Beast Hide Person’s eyes were only a hair’s breadth away from the tip of the dagger. His pupils trembled wildly and he didn’t dare to struggle at all as he gulped a few times loudly and distinctively.
Although his body was already disabled, but a pair of eyes were precious after all. Since a dagger was right in front of them, he ultimately didn’t dare to make a rash move.
Seeing that he learned to keep his mouth shut, Xu Xingzhi got straight to the point: “Why did you want to capture me?”
The Beast Hide Person answered obediently this time around sans the redundant fillers: “As an offering to Jiu Zhideng. . . While threatening Meng Chongguang.”
Xu Xingzhi: “You calculated it pretty well ah. Did you think you could leave the wasteland by offering me to Jiu Zhideng?”
The Beast Hide Person: “. . . Yes.”
Xu Xingzhi: “Couldn’t you have left by yourself?”
The Beast Hide Person hesitated briefly and panic flashed in his bloodshot eyes: “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
Xu Xingzhi: “Do you really not understand or do you not want to understand? What is so precious that your subordinates would recklessly try to break you out even if they might die?”
The Beast Hide Person shouted with all of his might: “I don’t understand!”
Xu Xingzhi also didn’t want to debate about this with him and breezily revealed the card up his sleeve: “Let me take a guess, it’s the key to the wasteland, is it not?”
The Beast Hide Person’s throat clenched and he forced himself not to say another word.
Zhou Wang’s body suddenly stiffened and the fingers holding the dagger couldn’t help but tighten.
She had initially thought that the Beast Hide Person had some sort of treasure like a spirit stone. She never expected for it to be the key to the wasteland that they have expended so much effort and time to find where even a shadow of its presence proved elusive.
However after contemplating it again, it actually made sense.
If what that group of people came to seize was the key to the wasteland, then their madness and desperation would all be explained.
Zhou Wang lifted her gaze and directed it at Xu Xingzhi, her eyes full of surprise and admiration: “How did you guess it?”
. . . My bad, I have the script in my hands.
Xu Xingzhi didn’t answer at first and just hauled the Beast Hide Person up by his collar. He brushed aside his slightly damp hair and placed his lips by the other’s ear, softly analyzing the status quo for him: “. . . Your body is now disabled. Even if your subordinates can snatch you back, once they take the key, do you expect them to take care of you? Your best ending is to be abandoned by them in the wilderness, eaten by monsters, and die without an intact corpse. . . If you hand over the key to us, then at the very least you can die a little more straightforwardly. What do you think about this deal?”
The Beast Hide Person panted exaggeratedly, cursing in despair: “Xu Xingzhi, you b*stard!”
Xu Xingzhi wasn’t contrite and responded: “The fact that I’m a downright b*stard, didn’t you already know that long ago? So why are you so surprised?”
The Beast Hide Person ground his teeth until they creaked. He closed his eyes for a long time, so long that only when Zhou Wang thought that he was overwhelmed with anguish and anger to the point that he had fainted, did he suddenly snap his eyes open again.
“Only. . . fragments. . .” The Beast Hide Person spit out miserably. “I only have fragments of the key. . .”
The author has something to say:
The first line of the couplet: Warm and gentle as a spring willow to the younger generation
The second line of the couplet: Cruel like the autumn wind sweeping leaves away to the enemy
The flanking, horizontal scroll: The first line isn’t righted the second is crooked
Author's Chapter Summary:
Interrogate, novella, downright b*stard
The translator has something to say: Sorry for being late! Merry Belated-Christmas~ Xu Xingzhi seems to be tailor made for his role and I missed Meng Chongguang and Zhou Beinan’s antics with Xu Xingzhi this chapter, the two are much more childish than Zhou Wang
The editor has something to say: Xu Xingzhi’s beauty is also dangerous!
Thanks for the chapter ❤️ Merry Christmas!🎄
Thank You for the new chapter! I forgot why XXZ is sore and was confused for a while XD Merry holidays and best wishes!
Thank you for the chapter!
i think XXZ forgot the information given by that tb ghost that he had taken blame for ml and was exiled from sect and his spiritual roots were demolished or he doesn’t want them to know but won’t it more secure than saying that he was his shidi’s side and can make an excuse that he came to find him as soon he knew it or that someone disposed him here and met him by chance , is what i think……
“…Yesterday Xu Xingzhi spent half the night as meat on a chopping block. His prestige was still present, but his waist was extremely sore.”
How come Xu Xingzhi never gets suspicious of Meng Chongguang whenever he feels his body to be sore after sleeping on the same bed with him?
He knows that Meng Chongguang uses vine magic, and those vines appear on Xu Xingzhi’s dreams.