I Might Be a Big Shot — Chapter 16
Before leaving, Changkong Zhuoyu praised the Hundred Flowers tea as delicious, and thus “as he wished,” received a bottle of poison that could be applied to a treasured sword, leaving the valley with a “satisfied” smile.
Li Xinglun saw how his master, having tried several times to get tea but failing, ended up with a bottle of poison that cultivators all over the world couldn’t dream of obtaining. He looked as though he wanted to cry but had to smile instead, and Li Xinglun thought his master was simply adorable.
This truly wasn’t the Hundred Flowers sect’s fault. In the cultivation world, cultivators favored spirit tea, the kind that boosted cultivation when drunk. But Changkong Zhuoyu was at least at the Great Ascension stage (even he himself couldn’t say for sure, just comparing roughly), and normal spirit tea was useless to him. To give him spirit tea would’ve seemed inadequate to the Hundred Flowers sect — how could they have known that all he really wanted was just tasty tea?
Changkong Zhuoyu maintained a calm, aloof expression in front of Rang Cencen, as if worldly things didn’t matter to him, but inside he was probably weeping.
Li Xinglun really wanted to irreverently pat his master’s head to comfort him. Truly, the visit to the Hundred Flowers Valley had been hard on Changkong Zhuoyu.
And now they even had Rang Cencen following them. Until they found Xue Qianjie’s hidden stash, they couldn’t shake her (they needed her to foot the bill), so it seemed they’d have to endure a little longer.
Rang Weiran watched enviously as Rang Cencen walked alongside Changkong Zhuoyu. Xue Qianjie was a legendary figure in the Hundred Flowers sect’s history — just to accompany him, even for a while, was enough to make later generations envious.
Once outside the valley, Rang Cencen wanted to fly straight to the mountains of the demonic sect, but Changkong Zhuoyu waved her off, saying: “No rush. Little Xing hasn’t reached Golden Core yet. We’ll just walk there.”
“Sect Master Xue,” Rang Cencen, eager to prove herself, said, “I can use my status as sect master of the Hundred Flowers sect to take you into the mountains. Having a Foundation Building-stage attendant at my side is reasonable enough; the demonic sect will still give me that much respect.”
This both flattered Sect Master Xue and belittled the fox spirit Pei — Rang Cencen couldn’t help but praise her own cleverness. She didn’t like the cunning ways of the Central Plains people, but before leaving Scholar Bai had warned her again and again that Pei Xingchen was a deeply calculating man, and if she acted too straightforwardly, he would take advantage of her. So Scholar Bai hastily taught her a few tricks, and Rang Cencen, being bright, learned them quickly.
Just… the direction of her learning was slightly off.
“No need,” Changkong Zhuoyu glanced at Li Xinglun. “Retrieving the items is meant to improve Little Xing’s strength. If he grows stronger, those worldly possessions mean nothing to me.”
Li Xinglun suppressed his laughter, leaned against Changkong Zhuoyu at the right moment, and even gave Rang Cencen a triumphant look.
Rang Cencen: “…”
“Master, do you still wish to return as sect master of the demonic sect?” Li Xinglun suddenly asked.
Changkong Zhuoyu thought for a moment, then answered seriously: “Doing something again that’s already been done… is boring.”
“Then Master should stop using the name Xue Qianjie. From now on, you are Changkong Zhuoyu. The sect master need not address you as ‘Sect Master’ — you have no such intention. The demonic sect is just something you could take with a wave of your hand, unworthy of bearing your name.”
“Very well.” Changkong Zhuoyu nodded slightly.
At first he thought he still had subordinates waiting for him, but after some calculation, he realized that in the thousand years he had disappeared, they had either self-destructed or died. The Hundred Flowers sect’s devotion was merely due to the sect master’s personal admiration. Realizing no one was waiting for him, Changkong Zhuoyu felt disheartened and lost interest in stealing others’ followers.
Rang Cencen: “…”
The art of war in the Central Plains was profound… she hadn’t learned enough yet!
The three of them continued on their way, exchanging hidden barbs, and leisurely arrived at the small Miaojiang town where they had first come.
The teahouse where they’d drunk before was actually an enterprise of the Five Poisons sect, which was under the Hundred Flowers sect. The Five Poisons sect had quite a few businesses in the Miaojiang town and paid tribute to the Hundred Flowers sect every year, so Rang Cencen naturally wasn’t short on money. After spending the night at an inn owned by the Five Poisons sect, Li Xinglun suggested buying horses.
For cultivators to buy horses was almost laughable — they flew wherever they went, who needed horses? But during the day, Li Xinglun had seen Changkong Zhuoyu happily wandering through the Miaojiang town. Though Miaojiang’s trade wasn’t very prosperous and the town wasn’t lively at all, completely unlike the bustling scenes of the Central Plains, Changkong Zhuoyu still couldn’t take his eyes off it, almost blowing his cover in front of Rang Cencen.
Li Xinglun wanted to buy horses for Changkong Zhuoyu. As he said, he wasn’t in a hurry for treasure now. Instead, he wanted to consolidate his late Foundation Building stage and then find a place rich in spiritual energy to break through to Golden Core. Since that was the case, why rush? Better to buy a few horses and let Changkong Zhuoyu savor the vicissitudes of life.
Just like his name — Zhuoyu. Having forgotten his past, Changkong Zhuoyu was like a piece of raw jade, needing the world’s carving to slowly become a fine, polished gem.
When buying horses, Li Xinglun pretended to take out money and insisted that he was being willful and couldn’t let his master spend. At such a moment of showing off, how could Rang Cencen let him steal the credit? She immediately paid for three excellent steeds and shot Li Xinglun a provocative look.
Li Xinglun: “…”
That the Hundred Flowers sect people could survive this long despite being so naïve was a miracle.
And Changkong Zhuoyu, wanting to have fun but unable to say so to maintain his image, was absolutely delighted that Li Xinglun stepped up to “take the blame.” The look in his eyes toward Li Xinglun was as gentle as water.
Rang Cencen: “…”
The group wandered idly for over a month before finally entering the territory of Mount Shu.
Mount Shu was a very special sect among the righteous sects of the cultivation world — it was a sword sect.
Sword cultivators followed the path of the sword. To achieve true attainment, they had to walk a path of blood. The souls lost under the Mount Shu sword were no fewer than those of the demonic path. But the Mount Shu sword sect strictly adhered to its rules, never harming a good person. All who fell to their swords were heinous villains. Thus, though Mount Shu disciples had killed countless people, they all carried a righteous air, and their swords were fierce but not evil, sharp but not wicked.
Sword cultivators relied on their swords to make their way through the world. The deeper their understanding of the sword, the farther their path went. But standing atop a mountain of corpses and seas of blood while maintaining one’s original heart was extremely difficult, so their progress was slow. However, when comparing two people at the same cultivation stage, sword cultivators were the strongest. A Nascent Soul-stage sword cultivator could take on two or three late Nascent Soul cultivators and remain undefeated. Among the entire cultivation world, whether righteous or demonic, sword cultivators’ combat power was the highest.
But precisely because of this cultivation method, sword cultivators were more prone to falling into demonic ways.
Mount Shu’s fallen disciples had long been recorded in the history of the cultivation world. It seemed that every thousand years or so, a perfectly upright heir to the sect master would fall and become an immensely powerful demonic cultivator — as if Mount Shu were cursed.
These fallen disciples were ultimately all slain by Mount Shu, their demonic nature stripped and sealed forever in Mount Shu’s forbidden ground. To this day, no one knew how much demonic energy had been sealed there — it was already more than just the aura of demonic cultivators. Some said the forbidden ground was actually connected to the demon realm.
The demons of the demon realm were different from demonic cultivators. Demonic cultivators simply chose a different cultivation method, which might violate natural laws and couldn’t be accepted by the world, but they still had their own path and hadn’t completely fallen. But demons were neither human nor beast — they didn’t belong to any living beings of heaven and earth. They had no life of their own, just amalgamations of demonic energy, with instincts only to plunder and invade, constantly trying to enter the cultivation world.
There were rumors guessing that Mount Shu’s frequent demonic cultivators had nothing to do with their sword cultivation, but rather that demons periodically escaped from the forbidden ground and tempted Mount Shu disciples into falling.
Some even said that the Xue Qianjie who appeared out of nowhere two thousand years ago was a Mount Shu traitor.
Hearing this, Changkong Zhuoyu’s eyes suddenly sparkled, as if the stars and seas were hidden within.
Li Xinglun, knowing his master well, looked helpless yet forced himself to say, “Master, I think the spiritual energy here is good. I want to break through to Golden Core here.”
All along the way, Rang Cencen had disliked Li Xinglun but had never directly clashed with him. Now she couldn’t hold back anymore. “Three demonic cultivators cultivating in the righteous Mount Shu Sword Sect — are you trying to get us killed?!”
But Changkong Zhuoyu simply nodded, his face full of indulgence. “As you wish.”
Rang Cencen: “…”
~ Chapter End ~
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