Chapter 11
On the back courtyard of the Village Head, the blood from nose of the three young masters flowed down like a mini river.
The sight of those dark red liquid numbed Hai Yunfan’s brain as he said to Wang Lu with a parched mouth, “… Brother Wang Lu, could you explain to me what just happened?”
Reasoning backwards from the end result, Hai Yunfan came up with ten or so possibilities, but the excessive shock of what had just occurred caused him to lose the ability to choose the best possibility.
While Wang Lu was looking around for a mop as he prepared to clean up the three pieces of “trash” on the ground, he replied, “What just happened? Wasn’t it obvious? The chivalrous hero living in the Peach Blossom Village came out and successfully crushed the evil plan of a handful of thugs, protecting the peaceful lives of the villagers of the Peach Blossom Village.”
“The chivalrous hero? Do you know that person just now?”
“He’s probably called Lei Feng [1]… To be honest, I don’t know nor is there a need for me to know.”
Hai Yunfan remained silent for a few moments to calm himself down, and then he asked, “Because you knew that this would be the case?”
“I knew it just in time. A few hours prior, when the Head of the Village said that there haven’t been any physical brawl in this Peach Blossom Village, I realized that this is a peaceful area [2]!”
“Peaceful area?” Hai Yunfan was clearly confused by this term as he tightly knitted his brows.
In his impression, it was rare for a sect to assign a “peaceful area” in their Immortal Gatherings. At least, in his Grand Cloud Empire, the third or fourth-rate sects there would have countless bloody fights during their Immortal Gatherings in order to determine which potential disciple had the most strength and talent, which was very effective.
Therefore, this act of sending someone to protect the participants of the Immortal Gathering held by the Spirit Sword Sect was utterly incomprehensible. For a moment, Hai Yunfan even suspected if the Spirit Sword Sect was truly looking for disciples… However, in the end, Spirit Sword Sect was one of the five great sects, so they would never joke with this kind of thing.
“Speaking of which, rumor has it that the Spirit Sword Sect was famous for being low key and was never known for its aggressiveness like the Shengjing Sect. Could it be that the Spirit Sword Sect was as righteous and kind as the rumors had said?”
“Righteous and kind? Little Hai, look at all this blood on the ground I’ve been cleaning up. You think this is righteous and kind?”
Seeing the three unconscious people lying in the pool of blood from their nose on the ground, Hai Yunfan was indeed lost in thought.
Seeing he still couldn’t think this through, Wang Lu continued to explain to him, “The rules in the Spirit Sword Sect are very simple: all idiots shall die.”
—-
“Ugh, where… am I?”
Feeling a cold chill on his forehead, the young master from the Xie family of the Hearing Rain Pavilion soon woke up.
His head hurt like hell, and his nose bridge felt like it was broken. He still felt dizzy, and his vision was fuzzy. But he could vaguely see a fat man sitting in front of him, splashing cold water on him.
“Who are you?”
“Ah? Me? I’m Wen Bao, the son of the teacher of the state of the Azure Billow Country, Wen Zhong.”
Although the man’s voice sounded a bit scared, it contained a hint of pride in his background.
Xie Qianlong felt absurd, “What is this fat pig so proud about? Who does he think he is, coming from such a third-rate country. Doesn’t he know that even the second prince of the Grand Cloud Empire treats us, people from Immortal Cultivator’s families, as his superiors? And yet he’s so proud of his background!?” The more he thought, the more angry he was; adding on to the humiliation he had just suffered from Wang Lu, he reached into his pocket to take out his family’s Magical Treasure.
As for Wen Bao, he was completely unaware of the impending danger. He splashed water on Xie Qianlong’s two companions as he cheerfully spoke, causing his double chin to shake.
“Just then, I came out of that smoky place while scratching my head, not knowing what to do. Then, I suddenly saw the three of you lying unconscious by the river. Is the next test really that difficult? I think it’s best if all four of us work together, maybe we will have a higher chance on passing this test. When I was walking in that smoky place just now, I thought that if I was with a group of people, I probably wouldn’t be trapped for so long.”
Wen Bao had obviously not realized the true purpose of the Cloud Wave Map, so he thought that he was very smart. However, his behavior caused Xie Qianlong to despise him more and more.
As he was speaking, Wen Bao noticed that Xie Qianlong’s two companions had also woken up.
“Ah, you’re all awake now?”
Wen Bao was beaming with a smile. If he could successfully join hand with these three people, it would be much easier to pass the next test… Back then, in a moment of hot-headedness, he had rejected the offer from the Carefree Peak and had decided to continue on the Immortal Path. However, he had regretted this decision many times in the Cloud Wave Map, and had no choice but to walk forward.
However, his joy immediately disappeared. Wen Bao clearly noticed the look that the three people gave him was not pleasant at all. Although their faces were still pale and all of them looked half-unconscious, their malicious intent were still quite evident in their face.
“What’s… the matter with you guys? You don’t want to work together? Then, I’ll just take my leave now.”
Although he wasn’t very bright, Wen Bao felt that something didn’t seem right, so he immediately decided to leave.
“You want to leave? You think it’ll be that easy?”
Xie Qianlong stood up, intending to use his Frozen Seal Shower Talisman held between two of his fingers to take out his resentment on Wen Bao. His two companions, Young Masters Yun and Li, were the same, ready to spring into action.
Previously, the Carefree Peak disciples had clearly said that life or death on the Immortal Path was already determined by one’s destiny. If a small fry messed with someone that he shouldn’t mess with, even if he died as a result, then it would be his own fault. Moreover, fighting with and killing one’s competitors in the Immortal Gathering was something very common in the Immortal Cultivation World, even for the Immortal Gathering from righteous sects within the Union of Ten Thousand Immortal. Even if Young Masters Xie, Li and Yun all died in this Immortal Gathering, it would not be a big news; so what was the difference between stepping on an ant and killing the son of the teacher of the state of a small country?
The activation of the three Magic Treasures caused Wen Bao to instinctively feel the presence of death looming closer and closer. This teacher of the state’s son didn’t have the superb psychological qualities of Wang Lu, so he began to scream in fear,
“Help, help, help me!!”
Hearing Wen Bao’s hysterical cry for help, Xie Qianlong felt a bit better. If there was no resistance from the prey, then this game would be pointless… Even so, his killing intent did not diminish even a little bit.
“Call all you want, I don’t believe someone is going to stop me here!”
Xie Qianlong coldly sneered as he began to grip the talisman tighter in his hand, ready to release its power. But at this moment, a black shadow descended from the sky.
“Papapapapapapapapa!”
—
Wen Bao, who had survived, felt his back, as well as his pants, were completely soaked.
The black shadow went away as fast as it came; before Wen Bao even had a chance to say thank you, it already disappeared without a trace. Looking at the three unconscious young masters lying by the side of the river, Wen Bao still felt quite frightened.
Just now, he was one moment away from death. Those three people had no grudge nor hatred against him, and yet somehow, they wanted to kill him. Wen Bao wondered what exactly did he do to deserve this? Was it because he was too ugly? Was that why he was bullied by the proprietress of the Ru Family Inn, stepped on by the crowds of young masters at the Golden Bridge, and also looked down on by the two Carefree Peak disciples?
Or was this the real face of the Immortal Path? Killing, looting… the reason why he came to the Spirit Sword Mountain was so that if he became an Immortal, he would be able to help his father. However, before leaving, no one had been optimistic with his future, and he vaguely began to realize why.
As the son of the teacher of the state, not only did he lack the knowledge of his father, he was also oblivious in the ways of the world. The only thing he could rely on was a sentence a Daoist Master, who passed by his Azure Billow Country, had said to him when he was young, “This boy has affinity with immortality; he could become one of us.”
However, it was a pity that the Daoist Master had quickly disappeared, and as Wen Bao grew up, he became a disappointment to his father…
While he was still lost in his thoughts, the sounds of footsteps behind him suddenly caused Wen Bao to start trembling again, and his legs, which had just recovered enough energy, began to feel weak. Having just received the “baptism” from Young Master Xie, Wen Bao was extremely nervous and panicky; he thought that he did not even have the strength to truss a chicken. Let alone another few young masters, if even a wild pig appeared, he would certainly be finished today.
“Ah, who’s this Marshal Tian Peng?” [3]
The voice that sounded in his ears contained three parts surprise and seven parts mocking, and was very impolite. However, it inexplicably gave Wen Bao a peace of mind and strength.
When Wen Bao let out a breath of relief, the voice sounded out again.
“How could this guy be here? Arguably, shouldn’t he be eliminated on the Golden Bridge?”
“Ah, Brother Wang, there’s still much you don’t know. The words ‘affinity to immortality’ have always been fantastic and unpredictable. Many exceptionally bright people have no affinity at all with immortality, but yet there are many useless and stupid mortals who are mediocre but have a good aptitude with the Immortal Cultivation. It seems that Wen Bao belongs to the latter category.”
“Hmm, what you say is reasonable. Those three trash from before all have melon-seed-sized brains, and yet they were descendants of some aristocratic families or something. If we’re counting on them only, the future of the Immortal Cultivation World is grim.”
“Haha, they’re just from the third or fourth-rate families, so there’s nothing great about them.”
From the distance, the two people walked closer and closer, talking and laughing together. When they arrived in front of Wen Bao, they sized him up and down.
Wen Bao also looked back at them. Although his memory was not that wonderful, Wen Bao still recognized the two people.
One of them was the second prince of the Grand Cloud Empire, and the other was the only person who had been able to live in the best room of the Ru Family Inn, that countryside youth… In short, he could not afford to mess with them.
Fighting back his dry his throat, Wen Bao asked, “Excuse me, you guys…”
However, Wang Lu and Hai Yunfan completely ignored him and just kept talking amongst themselves.
“Little Hai, this guy is the seventh person to enter the Peach Blossom Village, so his result is fairly good, right?”
Hai Yunfan thought for a while, “Seventh isn’t that good, but then considering that you and your errand boy took two places, the order itself serves no purpose. However, if we look at the time, it only took him twenty or so hours to get out of the Cloud Wave Map which is actually great. In contrast to his stupid appearance, his good personality is pretty commendable.”
“Ahh, Little Hai, you’re too na?ve. Just because someone can quickly get out of the Cloud Wave Map, it doesn’t mean that they have a good character. I’m guessing this guy had a nervous breakdown after he got lost, so he closed his eyes and just kept running and running until he finally got out.”
“… That’s impossible!?”
“What do you mean impossible? Don’t you know about the ancient saying of ‘a pig will charge forward and attack when it’s back into a corner’ [4]? Charging forward in a single direction should be his special skill.”
Wang Lu’s conjecture was simply him bullshxting, but when Hai Yunfan saw Wen Bao’s expression, he had no choice but to admit that what Wang Lu said was probably the truth.
It turned out that this kind of making-people-speechless method really did exist. But then again, come to think of it, this was the very definition of “affinity to immortality”. In the Immortal Cultivation World, there were indeed many people who did not have much talent, a very good character, and even had IQ that was below average, and yet they had the astonishing accomplishment of becoming Immortals.
Then… could it be that this Wen Bao in front of them have the opportunity to become a peerless master in the Immortal Cultivation World one day?!
While he was thinking, he heard Wang Lu say, “Little Hai, weren’t you always curious about the strategy for this Peach Blossom Village? Now we’ve got a top notch demo material.”
“… You mean Wen Bao?”
“Of course, this guy has no intelligence and no guts… so he’s precisely the best candidate to test the strategy for this Peach Blossom Village.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
“Because even if we play with him until he broke, we wouldn’t feel too sad, hahaha.”
…
[1] TL: Lei Feng is a ‘chivalrous citizen/model citizen’ of the Communist party
[2] TL: Non-PVP area
[3] TL: Wang Lu was making a reference to Zhu Bajie the pig in the Journey to the West who originally held the title Marshal Tian Peng, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Bajie
[4] TL: A desperate man is not afraid of death