I Might Be a Big Shot — Chapter 44
They came to Heaven-Shaking Peak for two purposes: first, to find the person cultivating the Blood-Guiding Art and to search for Li Xinglun’s cousin; second, to eliminate any possible demonic creatures, inform the people of Heaven-Shaking Peak of the impending calamity, and have them temporarily join forces with the righteous sect to resist the coming disaster.
Now that both purposes had been achieved, and Changkong Zhuoyu had even restored Heaven-Shaking Peak’s protective formation along the way, one could say the mission was fully accomplished. It was said that the vice sect master still had a few confidants out on business; Changkong Zhuoyu suspected they might also be demonic creatures, so he instructed Heaven-Shaking Peak to be vigilant — to eliminate any demonic creatures immediately upon discovery and burn away the demonic energy with alchemic flames.
He also gave guidance on how to use the four Sacred Beast immortal artifacts, and even wrote down a few methods to merge the four immortal artifacts into one, turning them into a divine artifact, and handed them to the four Protectors on a jade slip, asking them to try it, as it would surely be useful one day.
Before departing, Xuan Minglie came out to see them off despite his injuries. His face was deathly pale, and he looked as though a single gust of wind could blow him away with each step. Changkong Zhuoyu swept him a glance indifferently and said nothing. Li Xinglun, however, stepped forward, cupped his hands, and very politely said, “This time we are truly grateful for the sect master’s great assistance.”
He didn’t say anything like ‘I will surely repay this favor someday,’ but simply uttered a quiet thanks. With his cultivation, perhaps Xuan Minglie would never need his help in this lifetime, but at least Li Xinglun kept it in mind — if Xuan Minglie ever did need him, Li Xinglun would lend a hand.
After stirring Heaven-Shaking Peak into chaos, this pair of master and disciple simply patted their backsides and flew away. As they rose into the sky, Li Xinglun asked, “Where are we going next, Master?”
“Now that you yourself can also use the Blood-Guiding Art, can you sense your cousin’s whereabouts?” Changkong Zhuoyu asked.
“No.” Li Xinglun shook his head. “The trail ends here, and there’s no rush. If they really do harbor malicious intent against me or seek to seize the Time-Space Wheel, they’ll come looking for me sooner or later.”
Li Xinglun, who had reached Nascent Soul in a short time, now spoke with more confidence than before.
“Then where shall we go next?” Changkong Zhuoyu asked.
Seeing his master’s expectant expression, Li Xinglun said, “Why not go to the Hundred Flowers sect? I remember the sect master once mentioned that the Hundred Flowers sect guards the entrance to the Mystic Fog Yao Valley, and the Twin Serpents also said you are the heir of Nüwa. Let’s go to the Mystic Fog Yao Valley and see what connection you have with the yao clan.”
“Sounds reasonable.” Changkong Zhuoyu nodded. “Moreover, although the Mystic Fog Yao Valley is a small isolated realm that Nüwa opened in the human world back then, it still belongs to the human world. In the face of calamity, every cultivator is entangled in it — even the yao cultivators are no exception. They should also contribute. And now, we’ve only found six of the nine divine artifacts — three more should still be scattered in the human world. Perhaps there’s a divine artifact in the Mystic Fog Yao Valley.”
Over the year or so they had traveled the cultivation world, they gradually realized that the key to stopping the human world’s calamity lay in the divine artifacts. It seemed the ancient gods had foreseen today’s calamity eons ago and left a glimmer of hope for the human world. But now, just among the righteous sects there were countless factions, not to mention demonic cultivators, spirit cultivators, yao cultivators, ghost cultivators{?}, Buddhist cultivators — to seize that glimmer of hope, all these cultivators had to be united.
If Changkong Zhuoyu really was the heir of Nüwa and could command the Mystic Fog Yao Valley, then it would indeed make things easier.
Once decided, this time it was Li Xinglun who led Changkong Zhuoyu and flew directly toward the Hundred Flowers Valley.
Blood cultivators were different from ordinary cultivators. Having already shed their human flesh, their escape light {a swift personal flight technique} was much faster than sword flight. Li Xinglun didn’t need any artifact at all and could fly very swiftly.
With someone leading him, Changkong Zhuoyu was happy to relax. In midair, leaning against Li Xinglun’s back, his blood cloak shielding him from the rushing wind, he comfortably squinted his eyes and watched the white clouds drifting past.
“When the calamity is over, let us roam the world together, Master and disciple,” Changkong Zhuoyu said. “Taste all the delicacies of the human world, experience all kinds of lives, temper ourselves in the mortal dust and refine our minds — what do you say?”
Listening to Changkong Zhuoyu’s description, Li Xinglun curved his lips slightly. “But Master, you still have the Heaven-Shaking sect, Kunlun, Tianyin temple, the Mystic Fog Yao Valley, and even the Jade Pond to manage.” {He forgot Mount Shu.}
Changkong Zhuoyu fell silent for a moment, then said, “Ah, at my level, being a leisurely elder is enough. The affairs of the sects can be left to the young and ambitious disciples.”
Li Xinglun laughed heartily. His master…
Truly charming to the depths of his heart.
The Hundred Flowers Miasma guarded the Hundred Flowers Valley year-round. Last time it had withered because of Changkong Zhuoyu, but after a year, the myriad flowers had bloomed again. This time, Li Xinglun no longer needed Changkong Zhuoyu’s conical hat for protection.
With his current cultivation method, he was already strong enough to resist the Hundred Flowers Miasma.
The two of them strolled hand in hand through the sea of flowers, walking leisurely toward the Hundred Flowers sect’s grounds — but they failed to notice that the flowers trampled by Li Xinglun did not straighten back up as those under Changkong Zhuoyu’s feet had. Instead, they slowly withered.
An intrusion into the Hundred Flowers Miasma naturally alerted the guards of the Hundred Flowers sect. Scholar Bai rushed over with a group of people to the edge of the miasma. When he saw the master and disciple pair, he immediately retracted his artifact, his heart bleeding, but he still had to bend low and respectfully greet them: “So it’s Venerable Changkong and…”
He was about to say fox spirit Pei, but when he looked at Li Xinglun, he was dumbstruck.
Li Xinglun did not conceal his cultivation. Even though Scholar Bai’s cultivation was now lower than his, he could still tell that Li Xinglun had already reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Scholar Bai’s jaw nearly hit the ground. Last time he saw him, he was only late Foundation Building — and in just a year he had reached Nascent Soul? Even eating immortal pills wouldn’t be so fast!
The first time they met, he only needed to salute Changkong Zhuoyu, and his courtesy toward Li Xinglun was just out of respect for Changkong Zhuoyu. But now… Li Xinglun himself could already be called a Nascent Soul ancestor. Ancestor what — he was only twenty-one!
Scholar Bai couldn’t say a word, just stood there gaping at Li Xinglun, all manners forgotten. But to Li Xinglun, this expression was the best kind of welcome. He cast Scholar Bai a glance as if looking at an ant, then followed Changkong Zhuoyu into the depths of the flowers, head held high.
Last time his respect was borrowed from his master. This time, it was earned by his own strength.
The two of them walked straight into the main hall. The Hundred Flowers sect master and the elders who weren’t in seclusion had already received the news and came out to greet them. This time, with Li Xinglun dressed in blood-red and Changkong Zhuoyu in flowing white, from a distance Rang Cencen almost mistook the two of them. Not until they came closer did she blurt out without even thinking to be courteous: “Fox spirit Pei, you’ve reached Nascent Soul stage?!”
Rang Cencen herself, bearing the accumulated inheritance of the Miao clan and cultivating for over a hundred years, was only at Nascent Soul stage — what kind of Miaojiang miracle pill had Pei Xingchen taken to jump straight to Nascent Soul?
Rang Weiran, at least, was a little more composed. After carefully observing Li Xinglun, he first saluted Changkong Zhuoyu before saying, “If this old man is not mistaken, young master Pei is now a blood cultivator?”
Rang Weiran was, after all, at Soul Transformation stage, and Li Xinglun was not the kind of person to bully others. He respectfully returned the salute and said, “Elder Rang speaks truly — this junior has indeed already become a blood cultivator.”
Rang Weiran sighed in admiration. “Worthy of being Sect Master Xue’s disciple — just like your master, able to cultivate such a difficult method. In the eyes of the righteous sect, blood cultivation is seen as heretical, but in practice it is exceedingly difficult. Countless cultivators have died just on the Blood-Severing Art alone. That young master Pei could form a blood Nascent Soul is truly remarkable. Your future is boundless.”
Li Xinglun: “…”
Changkong Zhuoyu: “…”
Clearly, after returning to the Hundred Flowers sect, Rang Cencen had never mentioned that Changkong Zhuoyu was not actually Xue Qianjie. No — that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that no one had told them that Xue Qianjie was also a blood cultivator!
Li Xinglun immediately shot Rang Cencen a look. But when Rang Cencen saw fox spirit Pei winking at her, she completely missed his point and instead darkened her face and said, “Fox spirit Pei, even if you’ve reached Nascent Soul stage, you’re still only at the early stage — still lower than me. You’re in no position to flaunt yourself before me.”
Li Xinglun: “…”
Forget it — he couldn’t overestimate Rang Cencen’s intelligence. So he politely asked, “That my master is a blood cultivator seems to be something very few in the cultivation world know. How did Elder Rang come to know this?”
He wasn’t trying to trick him. Ever since Changkong Zhuoyu assumed himself to be Xue Qianjie, he had been digging for information in all directions. Of all the rumors he’d gathered from the cultivation world, he had never heard that Xue Qianjie was a blood cultivator. Very few people must know.
Rang Weiran smiled proudly. “I once received guidance from Sect Master Xue, and he let it slip inadvertently. Sect Master Xue’s cultivation is profound, and he never used blood cultivation techniques. Indeed, very few in the cultivation world know of it — I was just lucky.”
It was over… A bad feeling rose in Li Xinglun’s heart. He turned and saw Changkong Zhuoyu looking terribly, terribly dejected — staring at Rang Weiran with a face full of disappointment.
No matter how memory faded, no matter how many times reincarnated, the identity of a blood cultivator could not be shaken off. If Xue Qianjie really was a blood cultivator, then that identity… could never belong to Changkong Zhuoyu.
~ Chapter End ~
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{Changkong Zhuoyu was definitely created for, or tasked with the prevention of the calamity in the human world. The deadly tribulation which he subverted by losing his memory might have been either his fate as a sacrifice. Alternatively, or connected to that, is a love tribulation, if Changkong Zhuoyu chose to forsake his position and duty for the sake of a human, and was punished for that. He seems to be kind-hearted enough to sacrifice himself despite everything, so perhaps it was Xue Qianjie who caused him to fall asleep. In any case Xue Qianjie most certainly carries the burden in his place.}
{Let's take a trip to the past, and reread the strong foreshadowing in previous chapters.}
---
[chapter 21]
Though he was a demonic cultivator, he charged into the Kunlun divine formation — showing he harbored deep longing for Kunlun. After breaking out of the formation, he didn’t harm a single blade of grass of Kunlun, but instead ascended Heaven-Shaking Peak, defeated the entire demonic sect, and became its master — proving he cherished Kunlun.
---
[chapter 11]
But Xue Qianjie did not die — for some reason, the great formation did not attack him, only trapped him, leaving him unable to enter or leave. He remained trapped in the formation for twenty full years. After twenty years, he broke through the heavens with one sword, shattered the great formation, and advanced to mid-stage Great Ascension in a single stroke.
{He managed to deduce that barrier-braking technique from chapter 1.}
No one knew what he experienced inside the formation. They only knew that twenty years earlier, he had been a manageable demonic cultivator, but after spending twenty years inside the formation, his sword was no longer crimson — just an ordinary iron sword, devoid of blood essence core and the wails of fierce souls.
{He finally managed to transcend his blood cultivation path within the array.}
---
[chapter 11]
The first thing Xue Qianjie said when he arrived at the Hundred Flowers sect was: “I just came to taste the Hundred Flowers tea.”
The sect master served him tea. The Hundred Flowers tea was useless to him, but as recorded in the jade slip, the icy Xue Qianjie revealed a faint smile when he drank it — a smile no one had ever seen before. He nodded at the sect master and said, “Good tea,” then departed.
---
[chapter 11]
In the painting stood a figure in blood-red robes, among withered flowers, death at his feet and graceful green mountains in the distance, making his loneliness even more striking.
[chapter 43]
Most importantly, the path of cultivation was long and cold. Without his master, it would be too lonely.
---
[chapter 11]
When Li Xinglun turned, he saw tears streaming down Changkong Zhuoyu’s face.
“Master?” Seeing his tears, Li Xinglun’s heart ached.
“It’s nothing.” Changkong Zhuoyu seemed to regain his senses, used his true essence to evaporate the tears, and shook his head. “I just, just…”
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but glance back at the painting, and murmured: “I just feel that I must have had a hard time before — no wonder I severed my past.”
---
[chapter 22]
By then, Xue Qianjie had reached the tribulation stage. If he wished, he could ascend at any time.
“I’ve suppressed my cultivation for centuries. Lately, I feel it slipping beyond my control,” Xue Qianjie sighed. “But I don’t want to go to the immortal realm. There’s nothing I seek there.”
[chapter 22]
“Sect Master Xue,” Master Lin cupped his hands, “only today do we realize how you’ve labored all this time. We truly misjudged you.”
“No need,” Xue Qianjie replied lightly. “I didn’t do it for you.”
---
[chapter 27]
For some reason, Li Xinglun’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, his chest tightening. He remembered that man on the mountaintop, when entrusting his iron sword to guard the mortal realm, had looked at him as if entrusting him personally.
---
[chapter 33]
“Then it’s settled. Master, you mustn’t abandon me,” Li Xinglun said. “If you leave me behind, then even if I must ascend to heaven or descend into the Yellow Springs, I’ll find you.
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