I Might Be a Big Shot — Chapter 14
Before long, Rang Cencen came out holding a jade gourd, her anger already gone, and she gave Changkong Zhuoyu a radiant smile. “Sect Master Xue, this is the face-changing Gu. Whenever this young master is ready, I can begin applying it at any time.”
At her words, Changkong Zhuoyu’s fingers paused slightly. He suddenly remembered that at first he hadn’t wanted Li Xinglun to use the face-changing Gu. This Gu inflicted great pain — altering one’s appearance, shaving bone, stripping flesh, and the torment of Gu insects crawling under the skin — and Changkong Zhuoyu couldn’t bear for him to suffer.
Li Xinglun was, after all, the disciple he’d worked so hard to take in. Changkong Zhuoyu figured he was the type who treated those under his wing especially well, and of course he couldn’t stand to see Li Xinglun in pain.
So he gripped Li Xinglun’s hand and said, “Little Xing, are you ready? It will hurt.”
The use of “Little Xing” made Li Xinglun’s whole body uncomfortable; he involuntarily shuddered — which, in Rang Cencen’s eyes, was him being afraid.
“Little Xing,” Changkong Zhuoyu continued, “with my strength, no matter how many enemies, I can protect you. There’s no need to punish yourself like this.”
What he meant was, no matter how formidable Li Xinglun’s enemies were, Changkong Zhuoyu feared none of them — so why should Li Xinglun torment himself for that?
“No.” Li Xinglun glanced at Rang Cencen, who was barely suppressing her smile, and firmly said, “I can’t trouble you.”
Although Rang Cencen couldn’t see his face, the pretense in his voice was obvious enough to make the Sect Leader nearly grind her silver teeth to pieces.
Changkong Zhuoyu’s facial muscles barely changed. Though he was clearly lively by nature, maintaining this rock-solid expression was easy for him — and what amazed Li Xinglun even more was that he could convey heartache, joy, anger, and arrogance, all without changing his expression, just through his eyes and the subtlest shifts in demeanor. Ninety-nine percent of his facial muscles didn’t move, yet the different shades of emotion were unmistakable.
Right now, Changkong Zhuoyu looked outwardly nonchalant, but in his eyes lay hidden pain — truly a picture of someone pretending not to care while actually treasuring you dearly.
Li Xinglun couldn’t help but admire this mastery of expression control.
He felt that following this master, he could actually learn a few things — like this composure and acting skill, which he greatly respected.
“Fine then.” Changkong Zhuoyu displayed, with no change in expression, a mix of “helplessness, resignation, indulgence, and what am I to do with you” emotions, then turned to Rang Cencen and said, “I’ll trouble the Sect Master then.”
Rang Cencen’s heart bled with hatred, her smile twisting slightly. As she thought how she’d make him suffer when she activated the Gu, she reached to lift Li Xinglun’s bamboo hat.
“Wait,” Changkong Zhuoyu suddenly said. “Does the Sect Master have to see my disciple’s face to change it? Since he wishes to change his appearance, I don’t want anyone but me to know what he originally looked like.”
Although the massacre of the Li family probably had nothing to do with the Hundred Flowers sect, given the deep blood feud involved, it was better to be cautious.
“This…” Rang Cencen’s thoughts spun between truth and lies countless times — she wanted to lie whenever she saw Li Xinglun, but under the gaze of “Xue Qianjie, who saw through everything,” she dared not.
Fortunately, Rang Weiran appeared in time to rescue her. “Of course that’s possible. The mother Gu that records the appearance has no real sense of human features; it can’t transmit that image to the Gu master. What’s more, the parent and child Gu can work even thousands of miles apart — this young master can complete the process alone in a room. I also have a method for guiding the child Gu; with this technique, he can control it according to his own wishes.”
“Excellent.” Changkong Zhuoyu nodded.
Rang Weiran took the jade bottle from Rang Cencen and prepared a room for Li Xinglun.
To ensure no one could see what happened inside, Changkong Zhuoyu lightly tapped his wooden sword at eight points around the room, leaving behind his own true essence. Spiritual energy of heaven and earth immediately converged, forming a profound and mysterious formation.
The Rang master and disciple were dumbfounded.
Because of differences in personality and cultivation methods, cultivators specialized in different things — some in techniques, some in combat, some in alchemy, some in crafting, some in formations. But no matter what, even the best formation masters had to bring out spirit stones and magical treasures and survey the local spiritual veins before setting up a formation. Who had ever seen someone like Changkong Zhuoyu — needing nothing, merely drawing on his true essence to summon spiritual energy spontaneously? He used the spiritual energy of heaven and earth directly, without support from stones or treasures, without probing the veins — just a few taps to leave true essence behind, and the formation was complete? And not just any formation — it was exquisite. Rang Weiran tried to break it with his own power and couldn’t even scratch it.
Truly worthy of being the Xue Qianjie who once spent twenty years trapped inside the Kunlun divine formation before breaking out — perhaps he had comprehended the most powerful ancient god formations of all and gained deep insight into formation techniques?
That was what the Rang master and disciple speculated.
Had Li Xinglun been able to see this, he would certainly have noticed — it was exactly like when Changkong Zhuoyu helped him cultivate. He only circulated a tiny bit of true essence, and the spiritual energy surged forward uncontrollably, draining the area dry.
It was precisely for this reason that Changkong Zhuoyu suspected he might be a demonic cultivator.
While Li Xinglun was undergoing the appearance change, Rang Weiran activated the mother Gu to assist him. Meanwhile, Rang Cencen kept trying to strike up a conversation with Changkong Zhuoyu, but with his disciple absent and afraid of accidentally breaking character, Changkong Zhuoyu dared not speak to her. He simply lowered his eyes in silence, presenting her with a cold profile.
It seemed that the “Sect Master” only showed emotion when facing that fox spirit; at all other times, he was like this.
Rang Cencen’s heart was devoted to Xue Qianjie. To see him in her lifetime was worth her very soul. As a young woman, she had fantasized that the cold-blooded, cold-faced Xue Qianjie would smile only at her, would single her out. But now the Sect Master truly did smile for only one person — yet that person was a worthless, scheming fox spirit. How could she endure that? She secretly resolved: no matter what, she had to make the Sect Master see that man’s true nature.
A thorough transformation was no easy matter. Disguising oneself was simple, but to become completely unrecognizable — cutting flesh, shaving bone — that was no easy feat. And Li Xinglun had to stay awake through the pain, controlling the child Gu according to his will as it reshaped his appearance — an incredibly difficult task.
It took a full three days before Rang Weiran stopped channeling the mother Gu and said to the utterly motionless Changkong Zhuoyu: “Sect Master Xue, it’s done.”
Only then did Changkong Zhuoyu stir. He found it strange too — given his supposedly lively personality, he should have grown impatient long ago, yet he could endure it without discomfort. Truly puzzling.
With a flick of his wooden sword, the red tassel traced a streak of bloody light, a few threads of true essence scattered, the spiritual energy returned to its natural flow, and the formation easily dispersed.
Once again, the Rang master and disciple were speechless. Formations were hard to set up and equally hard to dismantle. If a formation master wasn’t careful when breaking their own formation, they might even suffer backlash. Yet for the Sect Master it was…
Forget it, forget it — he was the Sect Master after all.
Just then, the door opened, and Li Xinglun stepped out, having removed his bamboo hat.
Everyone’s gaze immediately fell on him.
~ Chapter End ~
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