T/N: This chapter was translated by Elysian Pit. I DO NOT own the translation and all credit goes to the original translator. I’ve picked up this novel to continue from where the previous translator left. Thank you ❤️❤️
“Master, this is a good thing!”
666 was quick to find a reason to quench Jian Xingzhi’s boiling anger, “Don’t you remember your second task? You have to let the Female Lead and Qian Liu fight each other, and then let the Female Lead defeat him so she can get the treasure ‘Thousand Faces’. Both of you will be discovered if you participate in the Sword Test Conference without ‘Thousand Faces’. Wen Xin Sect was blown up not long ago, and both of your appearances are eye-catching. Look, since you get to find Qian Liu, you can deliver a message to Qin Wan to save you and defeat Qian Liu. Isn’t this just your task being delivered to your steps?”
“The important question is, will she save me?” Jian Xingzhi scanned his surroundings. He was sure, “She won’t.”
666: “……”
She couldn’t deny his words. According to her observation, if the Female Lead heard about this, most likely, the course of action she took would be reporting the situation to the official.
One person and one system were in deep sorrow.
The man in charge of the workers started to assign the people one by one.
“Mining.”
“Mining.”
“Mi…” The man in charge stopped when he saw Jian Xingzhi, whose face was sculpted of three-point coldness, three-point disdain, three-point contempt, and one-point arrogance. His eyes lit up instantly, “Ah! Isn’t this the one that Lord Qian Liu specifically mentioned before? Hurry up! Inform the Lord that the person has arrived!”
“What do you mean?” Jian Xingzhi frowned, “Did he know in advance that I was coming here?”
Two men with sharp features ignored him and rushed up to tie him firmly.
For Jian Xingzhi, there was no difference between being tied up or not. He only cooperated to let their guard down. Thus, these men lifted him up effortlessly into the cave.
The disparity between the cave and the outside was great. The cave was basically a luxurious palace. These servants sent him to the bath and then changed him into a red silk brocade and tied it with a belt, which essentially covered nothing. His chest and thighs were exposed as soon as he walked. They put his face with heavy make-up and painted a flame line on his forehead. Soon, he was transformed into what people imagined an enchanting demon was like.
Jian Xingzhi let them dress him up to see the trick in their hands. After it was all done, he was blindfolded and thrown into a room. Before leaving, they stuffed his mouth with a pearl and made him kneel on the ground.
The room was quiet. He couldn’t see anything and was too lazy to waste his Divine Sense to examine the room. He waited in the dark room for a while before the sounds of footsteps came from outside. Soon, a familiar voice greeted his ears, “Gentleman Zhang.”
As that person called his name, he pulled off his blindfold. Jian Xingzhi squinted from the light and began to look around.
The place was a rather dark cave. There was a big bed with red sheets in the center, covered with a red quilt embroidered with the word ‘Xi’* in gold thread. Candles were lit around it. Aside from that bed, the place was like what you can expect from a cave, a gloomy look.
[T/N: Basically a traditional Chinese wedding room. The word 喜 means happiness but can also refer to wedding bc wedding is a happy thing]
Jian Xingzhi noticed many shadows swaying on the ground. He raised his head and saw people in wedding robes hung above with their hands tied. He couldn’t tell whether they were alive or not.
There was one man who caught his attention, the man who usually wore a white brocade and white hat. His eyes were closed and his face was pale. Jian Xingzhi recognized him at a glance—
Bai Suiyou.
“How is it?”
The familiar gentle voice entered his ears once again. Jian Xingzhi turned his head and saw ‘Bai Suiyou’ reclining on the golden seat beside him in a wedding robe. He smiled. “Are you that surprised to see This Venerable One*?”
[T/N: 本座 – běnzuò. lit. This Seat. This Venerable One; This Honourable One; This Noble one. A self-proclaimed status. Zuo refers to a noble position(seat), Zuo Wei. Ben is used to referring to themselves. So it’s like, “I, This Venerable One,”. A prideful way to call oneself.]
Jian Xingzhi ignored him. After a moment of musing, he eventually understood.
“You are Qian Liu.”
The Lecher Qian Liu, the owner of the treasure ‘Thousand Faces’ that could be used to transform faces at will into the appearance of other people they have seen.
Qian Liu smiled at his words, “Correct. That is This Venerable One.”
“Bai Suiyou is already dead in your hands.”
Jian Xingzhi stated with affirmation. Qian Liu shook his head, “Wrong. This Venerable One does not kill beauties.”
He stood up from his seat and shook the feather fan in his hand, “This Venerable One only likes to collect beauties, especially you and Miss Li,” He used the feather fan in his hands to caress Jian Xingzhi’s face and whispered, “This Venerable One really likes both of you.”
“Miss Li?” Jian Xingzhi narrowed his eyes at him, “What did you do to her?”
“Nothing, yet.”
Qian Liu drew a circle towards the mirror not far away. A picture of Qin Wanwan sleeping peacefully in the carriage appeared in the mirror. “Soon, my clone will deliver her to me.”
Jian Xingzhi stayed silent. He stared at Qin Wanwan who was sleeping soundly in the carriage and wished so bad that he could run into the mirror and kick her hard.
Is this the time to sleep?! Sleep, sleep, sleep, bah! You only know how to sleep!
Perhaps because his resentment from the other side was so deep, the sleeping Qin Wanwan woke up from her doze.
Qin Wanwan yawned. ‘Bai Suiyou’ next to her raised his head from the book in his hands and greeted Qin Wanwan, “Miss Li, are you awake?”
“Ah, Fellow Daoist Bai,” Qin Wanwan rolled up the curtain and looked around. She found that there were only tall trees nearby as if they had entered a deep mountain. Her brows furrowed, “Where are we now?”
“The regular road to Tian Jian Sect is blocked,” explained ‘Bai Suiyou’. “So I took a detour to a small road in this mountain.”
“So it’s like that.”
Qin Wanwan smiled at ‘Bai Suiyou’,” It has been hard for you, thank you for the hard work.”
“It’s nothing.”
‘Bai Suiyou’ poured water for Qin Wanwan, “Have a drink, Miss. We will arrive soon.”
Qin Wanwan accepted the water from him and took a sip.
Jian Xingzhi angled his head to look at Qian Liu after he watched ‘Bai Suiyou’ and Qin Wanwan interacting in the mirror.
“You can cultivate a clone in just a Golden Core stage,” Jian Xingzhi frowned, “You are quite capable.”
“As a mortal, to speak in that tone to This Venerable One, you are quite courageous, aren’t you.”
Bai Suiyou leaned down and pinched Jian Xingzhi’s chin, “Do you think your Master is here to protect you?”
“If it wasn’t for your Master,” Qian Liu’s hand slowly brushed Jian Xingzhi’s cheek, “You would have been mine that night.”
“It was you that night?”
Jian Xingzhi’s eyes turned sharp. The contempt on his face had not diminished in the slightest.
Qian Liu tilted his head, “Oh? Did your Master tell you? It seems that you and your Master have a good relationship. This Venerable One planned to make a move on you for a long time, but who knew that your Master has some skills on her sleeve. When you were separated from us, I planned to get rid of her. For that, I specially prepared a lot of Soul Shattering Grass* and lied to her that it was Fire Spirit Grass. Who would have guessed that she is quite crazy? I let her smell so much Soul Shattering Grass but she wasn’t affected at all. If it hadn’t worked when I tried it on fifty dogs yesterday, I would have thought that I bought a counterfeit.
[T/N: 断肠 – duàncháng. Lit. heartbroken. In classical Chinese, it refers to breaking the soul; as painful as cutting your limbs.]
Jian Xingzhi: “……”
“Then, by sheer luck, I discovered that.” Qian Liu tenderly looked at Jian Xingzhi, “Isn’t it just because she has a Dragon Core in her body? It’s hard to poison her with that thing in her body. However, if one were to dual cultivate with her, one can get a huge benefit from it.”
“You want to attempt to dual cultivate with her?”
The way Jian Xingzhi looked at Qian Liu was like looking at a dead man.
Qianliu laughed heartily, “Do you think I can’t succeed? Women are all fickle. Look.”
Qian Liu pointed to Qin Wanwan in the mirror, “She and my clone have a good atmosphere. Believe it or not, if I want to make her tempted, it is just a matter of snapping my finger.”
“Is that so?”
Jian Xingzhi was not impressed, “I don’t believe it.”
“You are so devoted to that woman!” Qianliu gnashed his teeth, “Just you wait!”
With that, Jian Xingzhi focused back on the ‘Bai Suiyou’ who looked at Qin Wanwan all the time in the mirror.
Qin Wanwanw sipped her water and noticed ‘Bai Suiyou’s’ heavy gaze on her. She was embarrassed at the attention, “Fellow Daoist Bai, is there something in my face?”
“Nothing. It’s just, Miss is an incomparable beauty,” Bai Suiyou moved to sit beside Qin Wanwan, “Has no one told Miss these words before?”
He was half an arm away from Qin Wanwan.
Qin Wanwan didn’t shy away from his words and sheepishly answered, “No one ever told me that.”
“Miss is so beautiful as to cause the flowers to blush and the moon to hide. It is the first time in my life to meet such a beautiful person like Miss. Now there are only you and me, this humble one doesn’t know if my words have offended Miss or not, but…”
“Fellow Daoist Bai’s words did not offend me in the slightest.” Qin Wanwan tilted her head and smiled at a pretty angle.
Jian Xingzhi on the other side of the mirror was shaking from the sight.
“She eats this kind of set?” Jian Xingzhi was furious, “What kind of shitty taste does she have!”
“How is it?”
Qian Liu fanned his fan as he stared down at Jian Xingzhi with a smile. “How does it feel to watch your beloved fall for someone else?”
“What do you care about how I feel?”
Jian Xingzhi lifted his gaze, “If you like her so much, then why do you catch me here?”
“This Venerable One likes her?”
Qian Liu chuckled, “Mediocre body with heavy make-up, how can she be compared to an exquisite person like you?”
Jian Xingzhi was stupefied when he heard Qian Liu’s words.
Qian Liu squatted down and gazed at him affectionately, “Zhang San, I don’t love her, the person that I love is you.”
Jian Xingzhi held back the urge to punch the nasty face in front of him.
Seeing that Jian Xingzhi did not react, Qian Liu cupped his cheek, “I want to dual cultivate with her only because of her Dragon Core, but when it comes to you, I want to do it because of love.”
“My patience is at its end.”
Jian Xingzhi grounded his teeth but 666 had no courage to persuade him to endure. Either way, she couldn’t persuade him even if she tried.
Nevertheless, she gathered courage for a long time and shivered as she attempted to persuade him, “Master! Remember, it is all for the task!”
“Zhang San!”
Qian Liu held Jian Xingzhi’s face, “Let the three of us live together happily!”
“Live together happily?” Jian Xingzhi smirked as he stared at Qian Liu, “In your dream.”
Jian Xingzhi moved his hand and an array appeared in his palm, absorbing the Qi in the surrounding area. He created a spiritual sword in his hand and cut off the silk tying his hand, before slashing the sword straight at Qian Liu!
Qian Liu retreated quickly. But Jian Xingzhi was as swift a ghost. With a stroke of his sword in the air, dozens of spiritual swords appeared. He dashed toward Qian Liu, and,
Bang一
Nailed him to the wall.
His original body was injured, and the clone in the carriage, who was talking with Qin Wanwan, suddenly showed a painful expression. Qin Wanwan worriedly checked on him, “Fellow Daoist Bai, what’s wrong with you?”
Just after she spoke, Jian Xingzhi created another sword and stabbed it into Qian Liu’s stomach.
“Tell her,” Jian Xingzhi glanced at the picture of ‘Bai Suiyou’ spitting blood on the mirror next to him, and the increasingly worried look on Qin Wanwan’s face. His Xingzhi’s expression was callous, “that I was caught by you and tell her to come to save me.”
The spiritual sword on his stomach disappeared and Qian Liu sank to the ground. He floundered to cover his wound and tried to stand up.
Jian Xingzhi drew his other sword from the wall beside him and strolled to Qian Liu step by step. “I said…”
Qian Liu vomited blood as he answered with difficulty, “I understand! I’ll say it right away.”
In the carriage, Qin Wanwan was wiping the blood from ‘Bai Suiyou’’s lips. She asked him again with worry clear in her voice, “What’s happened?”
‘Bai Suiyou’s’ countenance was grave. He lifted his head to look at Qin Wanwan, “Miss Li, this is bad. I just got the news that Gentleman Zhang was caught by Qian Liu.”
“What’s the relation between him being caught and you vomiting blood?”
Qin Wanwan was confused amidst her worry. ‘Bai Suiyou’ swallowed the blood that he nearly coughed up, “I was worried that something would go wrong on Gentleman Zhang’s journey. So I sent a clone to stay next to him. Something must have happened to Gentleman Zhang and my clone is injured. I got the lashback from that and thus vomited blood. Miss Li, you go first. Gentleman Zhang is only three miles away from our……”
A shard dagger ran through ‘Bai Suiyou’s’ stomach before he could finish his words. ‘Bai Suiyou’ stared at the dagger in disbelief. He looked up to see it was Qin Wanwan who stabbed him.
Qian Liu couldn’t believe what was happening. Qin Wanwan still acted worried, “So you cloned yourself? You tricked me into the carriage, why?”
“You… you know…”
“That you are Qian Liu? Of course, I know.” Qin Wanwan grinned, “I’m not stupid. I can tell the difference between Soul Shattering Grass and Fire Spirit Grass.”
Qian Liu’s eyes widened.
On the other side, Jian Xingzhi pulled Qian Liu’s hair and stabbed him in the stomach again, “Find a way to get her over!”
“My words are true…”
‘Bai Suiyou’ spat another mouthful of blood. He lifted three fingers and vowed, “I swear, Gentleman Zhang is really held captive by me. I kidnapped him… you… go and save….”
Without hesitation, Qin Wanwan also stabbed him in the stomach again, “Sorry,” Qin Wanwan’s eyes narrowed from her smile, “I don’t believe a word you said.”
“Make her believe you!”
Jian Xingzhi stabbed him and twisted the sword, “or I will kill you.”
“What’s the real situation,” Qin Wanwan delivered another stab, “Tell the truth, otherwise, I will kill you.”
The two went back and forth, one after another, repeatedly stabbing him. The sword and dagger pierced him as the two made their demands on him.
Qian Liu’s body trembled. His original body and his clone were severely wounded at the same time. He could endure these stabs for so long just because of his Golden Core. Eventually, before the two could make another demand, Qian Liu closed his eyes and slumped to the ground.
Jian Xingzhi was startled when he realized Qian Liu had breathed his last.
“He died?”
“It is more surprising if he is still alive. No one can survive these stabs,” 666 lamented, “Master, I have applied a pledge to the Main System to delay the progress of the task for a quarter of an hour. After that, if you can’t find a solution, the task will be judged as failed and you will be punished with electric volts. Please prepare yourself.”
Jian Xingzhi: “……”
Prepare himself? What preparations can he make in front of thousands of volts of electric current?
The task requirement was to “push the Female Lead to fight the lecher Qian Liu and obtain the treasure ‘Thousand Faces’ from the lecher’s hand.” Now that Qian Liu is dead, who would fight with Qin Wanwan?
Jian Xingzhi was in a daze. He gazed at the mirror and found that Qin Wanwan had jumped out of the carriage after watching Qian Liu’s clone dying.
Instead of patting her butt and leaving like it was none of her business as he expected, she ran in the direction where the men and women captured by Qian Liu were caught and blended with them.
Jian Xingzhi was unable to figure out Qin Wanwan’s plan. The biggest problem he urgently needed to figure out was not that Qin Wanwan didn’t come to fight Qian Liu, but that Qian Liu was already dead.
He racked his brain. Fight… Fight… Fight…? A strike counts as a fight, right?
On this thought, he shortly put Qian Liu’s body straight. He searched for armor to put on him and set him on the bed with his legs crossed. Then he painted a puppet talisman on Qian Liu’s back with his own blood. The talisman would make Qian Liu’s body obey his order.
Then, he hid in a corner and squatted down, watching ‘Qian Liu’ sitting cross-legged with hunched back and bowed head.
Jian Xingzhi was pleased with his work and waited for Qin Wanwan’s arrival.
Sometime later, someone from outside informed him respectfully, “Lord Qian Liu, all the beautiful women are here.”
“Let them come.”
Jian Xingzhi activated the talisman and let ‘Qian Liu’ speak.
The door opened and countless women came inside in tears. The steward pointed in the direction of Jian Xingzhi and yelled, “What the use of you crying! Squat there and wait for the Lord to summon you!”
When he heard the steward’s words, Jian Xingzhi searched for Qin Wanwan in the crowd and found her mixed in. The two stared at each other. Qin Wanwan was dumbfounded at first, then quickly stepped up. She pushed the other women away and sat beside Jian Xingzhi before whispering, “What are you doing here? And dressed like that?”
Jian Xingzhi sat on the ground with one of his hands on his knee, his unconcerned appearance was incompatible with the dress he was wearing.
He sneered and flung his face away from Qin Wanwan, ignoring her.
Qin Wanwan glanced around and urged him, “It’s extremely dangerous here.”
“You sold me here,” Jian Xingzhi sent her a sharp glare, “Yet still care about my life or death?”
“Wanshifang didn’t send you to Xiangsi State?”
Qin Wanwan understood at once, “Are they black intermediaries?! They scammed me?! Ai, my ten spirit stones!!”
Jian Xingzhi rolled his eyes and remained silent.
Qin Wanwan measured the place and felt a little flustered in her heart.
From the moment she saw Bai Suiyou, she had sensed something amiss and the night after that, she sensed someone watching her, but the other side had retreated quickly before she could catch him. Later, Mu Yi and Mu Qing ‘disappeared’, and she began to suspect Bai Suiyou.
The time in the forest, when ‘Bai Suiyou’ tricked her to believe Soul Shattering Grass was Fire Spirit Grass, she came to the conclusion that he should be the wanted criminal Qian Liu.
She had seen the information about him at the city gate. Qian Liu was skilled at changing faces and liked beauty. With her and Jian Zhiyan’s beauty, it would be strange if Qian Liu didn’t make a move on them.
Qian Liu was at the Golden Core stage, so she armed herself with magic weapons. She planned to settle Jian Zhiyan first, then try her luck to find Qian Liu’s lair. She would report the lair to the Tian Jian Sect’s people and rescue the people Qian Liu has harmed.
In any case, she was a person from the Upper Realm. In the face of a Golden Core cultivator, as long as she was careful, she was certain she could beat him.
Meeting Jian Zhiyan in this place was not within her calculation.
Jian Zhiyan absolutely couldn’t meet any mishap, otherwise, how could she live up to Qin Wan’s last wish?
Qin Wanwan’s mind was in a mess.
Jian Xingzhi had been observing the steward. The moment the steward was gone, he turned to Qin Wanwan, who was pulling her hair in frustration. Then he nudged her.
“Look there.”
“Don’t talk. I’m thinking right now.”
“Look there, at Qian Liu.”
Jian Xingzhi pointed at Qian Liu’s position, “Don’t you think there is something wrong with him?”
Qin Wanwan followed Jian Xingzhi’s pointer and saw Qian Liu sitting cross legged on the bed with his head down as if he had fallen asleep in meditation.
“How about you sneak an attack on him now,” Jian Xingzhi suggested earnestly. “Strike him, and we can go out.”
Qin Wanwan was in a trance. She came to her senses and vehemently shook her head, “No! With Qian Liu’s strength, even if he fell asleep, it won’t be so easy to sneak an attack on him! Just wait for a sec, let me think for a solution.”
He is already dead!
Jian Xingzhi watched Qin Wanwan mulling over a solution and just wanted to yell at her with a magic weapon that can amplify his voice to make her ears bleed.
Just go! Strike him! The rest have been done by me!!
But he couldn’t voice it. He could only watch idly as Qin Wanwan kept thinking of a solution.
Qin Wanwan raised her gaze at him in solemnity.
“Jian Zhiyan, I may not be able to take care of you soon. You have to learn to protect yourself.”
“You don’t need to be worried about it.” Jian Zhiyan assured, “I can protect myself just fine.”
“I have seen you meditating lately. Your soul is clear, your breath is stable, and you are not confused by the Illusion Ants. I can see that your Divine Sense is strong. I have a secret technique that can help you absorb the Qi to your Sea of Consciousness and quickly advance. I will help you to break through. The situation will get messy soon, if something happens, you must protect yourself.”
“No…”
The word ‘No need’ was still on his lips and Qin Wanwan already scooped his face and touched their foreheads together.
Instantly, the vast mountains and rivers flashed before their eyes and waves of huge Spiritual Power crashed in their Sea of Consciousness.
The enormous Divine Sense was displayed in front of Qin Wanwan. She couldn’t see clearly what was in Jian Xingzhi’s Sea of Consciousness, and it made her expression change greatly.
How can an ordinary mortal have such enormous Divine Sense?!!
The Divine Sense was even stronger than her, an immortal in the Upper Realm. She had a weak constitution in the Upper Realm and thus, focused on enhancing her Divine Sense. She had practiced various advanced mental techniques for more than 200 years. Now she encountered someone stronger than her in the matter of Divine Sense, would she still believe that person is an ordinary mortal? She would be a fool to believe that!
How could Jian Zhiyan’s Divine Sense be like that?
Even if Jian Zhiyan was a genius with god-given talent and cultivated Immortality with various good luck superimposed on him, he still wouldn’t have achieved such a great Divine Sense!
And that left her with only one possibility, that an old Yao* occupied Jian Zhiyan’s body一
[T/N: 妖怪 – yāo guài. Yao, or youkai, is a being that is not human, but can cultivate into a human form and have consciousness. Nanfeng is such a yao. Yao will be referred to as Yao, while 魔 – mó, as in Demonic/Evil Cultivator, will be referred to as Demon, or Demonic Cultivator.]
Her Qi was channeled through Jian Xingzhi and was absorbed fully by him. Jian Xingzhi’s Divine Sense was overwhelming her, spilling into her from the secret technique she created. She stared at Jian Xingzhi in alarm and shouted sharply, “Who the hell are you?!”
[Mini Theater]
Qian Liu: “I want both of you together.”
Jian Xingzhi, Qin Wanwan: “Fine.”
*stab*
Jian Xingzhi: “Tell her to save me.”
*stab*
Qin Wanwan: “You think I will be deceived by your lie telling me to save him?”
*stab*
Jian Xingzhi: “Make her believe your words.”
*stab*
Qin Wanwan: “I don’t believe your words.”
*stab*
Jian Xingzhi: “Find a way to get her over.”
*stab*
Qin Wanwan: “What’s the real situation?”
————·————·————
Qianliu: “When I said ‘together’, it’s not this kind of stabbing me together! Is this how you guys should fight the Boss?! What kind of shit is this!”
Reader in the Comment Area: “Unexpectedly, Qian Liu was driven to death by the Female Lead and Male Lead.”
