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Chapter 20: Not Happy At All — A Mere Child of Fortune...
"I'll accept the concession."
A clear and pleasant voice drifted across the silent training ground with the wind.
On the high platform, Duan Ya crushed the armrest of his chair. Below the stage, Xiao Jibai lay face-down on the ground, his mind completely blank.
He had lost to someone in the Qi Refinement stage? In front of everyone, he had been thrown off the stage by a low-ranking disciple from a lower prefecture sect?
"I..." Xiao Jibai stumbled to his feet, blurting out without thinking, "I wasn't ready yet!"
It shouldn't have been like this! A mere Qi Refinement, whom he clearly could have crushed with a raise of his hand——
"Indeed."
He saw the black-robed Qi Refinement cultivator standing on the stage, his eyes warm as a spring breeze: "I moved too fast just now, how about we go another round?"
Xiao Jibai's face burned all at once, as if someone had slapped him hard across the face several times.
He heard sounds, rustling and murmuring, coming from all directions... those lower prefecture people who had just been cheering for him were now loudly discussing his defeat.
"Hard work pays off, congratulations on becoming an inner sect disciple."
He also saw his so-called master float down from the high platform, not sparing him a single glance, walking straight up to the victor with an exceptionally warm and amiable smile.
"You don't have a master yet, why not become my disciple?"
Everyone's eyes turned toward the Qi Refinement cultivator who had defeated him, and at that moment, that person was the center of attention for the entire crowd, while he had already been forgotten in the corner.
How could this be?
Was he not the protagonist of this world?
Was he not supposed to claim first place, basking in everyone's admiration and praise?
How could he have lost... again and again?!
.
In the small courtyard deep within the bamboo grove, Chen Moqing held the snow-white little beast and walked through the green bamboo to the eaves.
"Elder."
The wooden door had not opened, yet Yun Buwan's voice came from within: "You lost?"
Chen Moqing: "I have become an inner sect disciple."
The courtyard fell silent for three seconds. The wooden door opened, and Yun Buwan walked out step by step.
She looked at Chen Moqing, her expression blank, and muttered something quietly.
Chen Moqing heard it clearly. What she said was: he actually managed to win.
He smiled slightly: "Didn't you say that if I failed to claim first place, I should leave on my own?"
Yun Buwan clasped her hands behind her back: "I was just saying that, and you actually took it seriously."
Cang Shun: "?"
He stared at that Nascent Soul cultivator, his fluffy head gently brushed by a slender hand.
Chen Moqing: "May I continue to follow Elder in cultivation?"
Yun Buwan turned away: "As you wish."
The wooden door closed, and her voice came from within once more: "Take your cat and go live outside, stop digging up my courtyard every day."
Chen Moqing silently lowered his head and looked at a certain Demon Emperor.
The snow-white little beast sat on his arm with an air of complete self-righteousness, holding its fluffy head high.
Just gonna dig.
So what.
Chen Moqing reached out and flicked the snow-white little beast's soft little ears: "Next time I'll go buy some seeds."
Following behind this Demon Emperor, dig a hole and scatter a few seeds, and a whole patch of ground could be planted in no time.
Cang Shun: "?"
The snow-white little beast covered its ears and leaped yowling onto the person's head.
Inner sect disciples of the sect were each granted an independent courtyard.
Chen Moqing passed through the quiet little courtyard and pushed open the door to enter. The Demon Emperor on his head had already jumped to the ground and was leisurely wandering about to inspect the room.
He casually pushed open the window. A breeze swept through the courtyard's bamboo grove and passed through the room. When he turned back around, a little fluffy ball was rolling about on the soft, neatly made bed.
Cang Shun, who had slept on a hard wooden plank for three months, was in excellent spirits, rolling back and forth, his little paws scratching at the fluffy corners of the quilt.
Chen Moqing extended his hand. The snow-white little beast glanced at him, then leisurely ambled back to his side and hopped into his palm.
"Senior Brother Chi!"
"Greetings, Senior Brother!"
"Junior Brother Chi Fei, where are you headed?"
Walking through the sect once more, quite a few disciples came forward on their own initiative, enthusiastically striking up conversations with him.
At first Cang Shun lay lazily on Chen Moqing's shoulder, but as more and more people crowded over, he flipped himself upright and stared ahead with cold indifference.
Before the Scripture Pavilion, Chen Moqing handed his identity token to the guard. The guard, who had been inattentive just a moment before, immediately replaced his expression with a respectful smile upon seeing the inner sect marking: "Right this way, please!"
Those who were not official sect disciples, even with the token given by Yun Buwan, could only enter the outer layer of the Scripture Pavilion and stay for the duration of one incense stick each day. Inner sect disciples, however, could enter the inner layer directly and remain for one full hour daily.
In his days at Tianshu Sect, he had once read through all the scriptures in the pavilion there. Although Wanhua Sect was far inferior to Tianshu Sect, it still had deep foundations—and when it came to nourishment for the path of cultivation, he turned nothing away.
Thousands of jade slips hovered between the wooden shelves. Before long, Chen Moqing stopped in his tracks and picked up a jade slip before him.
Soul path texts.
Cultivation techniques concerning the soul path had always been rare, so he hadn't expected to find any here.
He lowered his eyes and glanced at the little fluffy pancake sprawled shamelessly in his arms.
To undo the contract between him and the Demon Emperor, perhaps approaching it from the angle of the divine soul was a possibility, and he might be able to find some clues within these soul path texts.
He sent his divine sense into the jade slip and found that the soul path texts within were exceptionally complex, so he found a spot in the Scripture Pavilion and began to absorb that vast body of knowledge.
Soul path?
Cang Shun, as he had grown accustomed to doing, hopped onto his shoulder and stared with puzzlement at that calm and focused profile.
Why had he suddenly taken an interest in this, and with such focus at that.
—Due to its special nature, the soul path was one that very few in the cultivation world had ever ventured into, and over the course of tens of thousands of years, those who had cultivated the soul path to the level of Deity Transformation or above were few and far between.
Cang Shun toyed with the dark hair tail that had fallen before his eyes, thinking to himself that the path this person had studied before did not seem to involve the soul path either.
No, what was he even bothering to care about this for. Once the contract was undone, he would be gone anyway.
Cang Shun slowly lay down and curled himself into a small bundle.
Let this person read whatever he wanted.
An hour later, Chen Moqing came out of the Scripture Pavilion and, carrying the lazily draped Demon Emperor, made his way toward the training room. Across the sect's training ground, he spotted Chu Luo from a distance.
Chu Luo noticed him as well, but his expression immediately darkened, and without a single word he turned and walked away.
Chen Moqing lowered his eyes slightly.
The snow-white little beast happened to raise its paw and stretch out a long, languid stretch, going from a small fluffy ball into a strip of white rice cake, shook its fur, and met his gaze with round demon eyes.
What.
He hadn't done anything to that person.
Chen Moqing: "I know."
"Senior Brother."
A figure stood before him—a female cultivator from the sect. Chen Moqing recognized her; she was the senior sister who had greeted Chu Luo last time, someone he had met briefly once before.
Cang Shun cast her a casual glance. The female cultivator's eyes shimmered like flowing autumn water, her expression shy, as she tossed a thin slip of paper onto Chen Moqing and turned and ran.
Cang Shun: "?"
The Demon Emperor, who had been lazily lounging just a moment before, suddenly straightened up, shot out a paw with lightning speed, and smacked down on the slip of paper with a thwap.
Chen Moqing raised his fingers slightly and pinched the edge of the slip, giving it a tug. It wouldn't budge.
"Perhaps it's a challenge letter."
【You're not allowed to read it either!】
Cang Shun was fuming, both paws gripping the slip tightly, refusing to let go, like a dangerous leopard coiled and ready to spring, letting out a continuous low "mew".
Chen Moqing looked at him.
Cang Shun met his gaze and let out a loud "mew".
Not giving it to you!
Over at the training ground, Chu Luo noticed this scene. His expression grew even more sour. He fixed his gaze on the senior sister's retreating figure, clenched his fist, and walked away in a hurry.
After sparring practice, when they returned to the quiet little courtyard, Chen Moqing finally retrieved the slip of paper from beneath the Demon Emperor's paws.
His gaze swept over the few lines of delicate small characters on the slip, his eyelids lifting slightly. A large fluffy ball sat huffily beside him, its fur puffed up and bristling with indignation.
Chen Moqing set down the slip without a word and began to cultivate.
Cang Shun watched him.
He didn't seem to have any intention of going out.
So the fur settled down somewhat. He slowly made a round of the room and, very casually, gave the slip of paper a swat and sent it flying.
At night, the lake mirrored the crescent moon. Among the shadowed trees along the lakeside, several sect disciples shoved a person to the ground and set upon them with fists and feet.
The senior sister who had intercepted Chen Moqing during the day stood to one side, her brow tightly knitted.
"Enough!" At last she stepped forward and grabbed one person by the arm, "The sect forbids private fighting, don't go too far!"
Before she had even finished speaking, she was slapped to the ground by that person.
"Two outer sect disciples dare to defy me? Beat them! Beat them hard!"
Duan Shou wore a savage grin, spat, and let the spittle land beside Chu Luo.
"I told you to get Chi Fei to come out, and you can't even handle something this simple! A useless wretch like that has no place in the sect anyway!"
Chu Luo curled up with both hands over his head, rolling about, and shouted amid the rain of blows: "You... you'll all get your comeuppance!"
Duan Shou laughed: "Comeuppance? I'm standing right here, let's see what heaven can do to me!"
Boom!
Thunder descended from the open sky and struck down upon him!
Duan Shou and his followers were instantly swallowed by lightning, convulsing as they collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious, giving off a faint scent of something scorched.
Chu Luo and his senior sister stared with their mouths agape.
Within the blazing lightning, a black-robed cultivator stood suspended in the air, his gaze cool and indifferent.
Chu Luo: "Chi... Senior Brother Chi?!"
Chen Moqing walked up to him, holding the snow-white little beast in one arm, and extended a bottle of healing medicine: "You should have come to find me."
Chu Luo chewed on the medicine in a daze. His injuries recovered in an instant. He was somewhat taken aback, looked at Chen Moqing, then let out a sigh, his expression dejected.
"Senior Brother Chi... cultivation is really hard."
Because of his close friendship with Chi Fei, ever since Chi Fei had entered the inner sect, he had also received quite a bit of care from the sect. But just two days prior, Duan Shou had sought him out and asked him to secretly lure Chi Fei to a secluded spot outside the sect.
He had known the intentions of these people and refused on the spot, and had not dared to go near Chi Fei again. He had originally thought that as long as he stayed within the sect nothing would happen, but to his surprise Duan Shou had directly brought people to drag him out anyway.
The senior sister beside Chu Luo wore an equally conflicted expression. She glanced at the unconscious Duan Shou and the others on the ground and said: "I didn't intentionally mean to lure you here, it's just... Duan Shou has great power and influence, and I had no other choice."
"Now that you've offended him, even if your master is Elder Yun, once the Grand Elder comes out of seclusion, she won't be able to protect you."
Chen Moqing said lightly: "You're right, it's time to settle this."
"Go back, what happened tonight has nothing to do with you."
Chu Luo climbed up from the ground in a daze and watched as the black-robed cultivator turned and left with the snow-white spirit cat, his robes drifting faintly as he vanished beneath the moonlight.
As the younger brother of the sect's Grand Elder, Duan Ya's residence occupied an entire hilltop, lavish to the extreme.
He was passing through the jade-carved covered walkway, just about to return to his room and enjoy himself, when he suddenly turned his head.
"Who's there!"
The solitary moon cast its light over the courtyard. A cultivator in a black robe with a covered face stood silently upon the pavilion in the middle of the lake.
Duan Ya's expression shifted slightly. To have slipped in before him without a single sound?!
He shouted sharply: "Who are you! Do you know my elder brother is a Deli Transformation cultivator who is about to come out of seclusion any day now!"
The black-robed cultivator said nothing, only raised a hand. Between his slender fingers, a talisman flickered with concealed lightning.
—A Thunderstrike Talisman worth 280,000 spirit stones!
Duan Ya's pupils contracted sharply. He turned and fled.
Boom, boom, boom——!!
Tens of thousands of bolts of thunder surged like silver dragons, pouring down and transforming into trees of light connecting heaven and earth, turning the dark night as blazing as broad daylight. A vast torrent of lightning swallowed the entire hilltop whole. The silver-white sea of thunder rose in towering waves, and amid the howling blaze of lightning, the residence that had occupied an entire hilltop was reduced to ash and rubble!
The tumultuous roar of thunder did not cease until a full tea's time had passed. A figure in tattered clothes knelt on the ground, vomiting blood without end.
A single strike—and a mid-Nascent Soul stage cultivator had been knocked straight down to early stage!
Had he not possessed the peak Nascent Soul treasure gifted by his elder brother, he would surely have perished on the spot!
Every last trace of arrogance was shattered from Duan Ya's face by the lightning, leaving only terror: "Senior! When did I ever offend you! Can I kowtow and beg for mercy?!"
Seeing no reaction from the other person, he trembled all the more violently, and indeed knocked his head against the ground several times with great force, his forehead instantly swelling up in a mass.
The commotion just now had been so tremendous, yet not a single person from the sect had come, which meant the spiritual energy of this place had certainly been sealed off!
This person's cultivation was absolutely at peak Nascent Soul... or possibly even Deity Transformation!
The black robe stood motionless beneath the solitary moon, a clear and cold voice drifting over with the chilling night wind:
"Do not touch those who should not be touched. Otherwise, I will come for you again."
Those who should not be touched... was that Chi Fei?!
Duan Ya was stupefied.
He had indeed been displeased with Chi Fei for repeatedly offending him, and had instructed Shou'er to go and teach him a lesson, but... a mere Qi Refinement cultivator actually had such a powerful backer?!
Duan Ya kowtowed again repeatedly, assenting in a panic over and over.
Dark clouds drifted across the moon. The night was still and hushed. The black-robed cultivator had already vanished beneath the moonlight, leaving no trace behind.
Duan Ya collapsed to the ground, cold sweat soaking through his tattered clothes. At this moment, all he wanted was to grab Chi Fei by the collar and shout—why didn't you say so sooner!!
In the darkened mountain forest, a black cloak rustled, and a small fluffy head squeezed its way out.
The snow-white little beast nestled against Chen Moqing's fair neck, tilting its head up to look at him.
【Why did you not let me act again?】
That had been 280,000 spirit stones after all.
Chen Moqing said nothing, only lowered his head to look at the little fluffy ball that was absolutely determined to squeeze out through his collar, and extended two fingers to press against that fluffy head, attempting to gently push it back in.
It wouldn't budge.
Cang Shun curled up against his neck, pressed close to his warmth, letting the night breeze ruffle its snow-white fur.
He seemed to be in quite a good mood. His round, soft ears perked up slightly, and the slender tail beneath the cloak swayed back and forth, occasionally brushing against the side of Chen Moqing's neck, leaving a faint ticklish sensation.
Amid the night wind, he heard the young human open his mouth unhurriedly: "Is Your Majesty the Demon Emperor in such good spirits because that letter was fake?"
Cang Shun: "......"
【It was not!】
The little fluffy ball at the collar opening quickly retreated back inside.
Chen Moqing's expression remained calm as he straightened his collar.
Two seconds passed, and the little fluffy ball squeezed back out through the same spot.
"?"
Chen Moqing lowered his eyes.
Cang Shun looked at him with an air of complete self-righteousness.
He was not happy about any fake letter.
He was not happy at all.
This round little fluffy ball continued to nestle between the young human's collarbones, its fluffy head poking out, softly pressed against that warm neck, occasionally giving a gentle nuzzle, then pretending it hadn't been the one nuzzling at all, and turning its fluffy little head away.
.
"Host, a shift in the fortune of this place has been detected. It would appear a new child of fortune has been born."
In the dim room, Xiao Jibai, hunched in the corner, jerked his head up at the system's words: "Is it Chi Fei?"
"The host must determine that independently."
"...There's no mistaking it, it must be him!"
Xiao Jibai leapt to his feet.
"A child of fortune, yet another child of fortune... so he was never an ordinary person at all! Ha, so I didn't actually lose!"
His eyes blazed bright, as if they could tear through the darkness of night.
"What does the host intend to do?"
Xiao Jibai let out a loud laugh: "Hehehe... I love nothing more than crushing these so-called geniuses. After all, I am the protagonist of this world!"
"Even Chen Moqing was crushed underfoot by me, so what chance does this Chi Fei stand, who can't even measure up to a single strand of Chen Moqing's hair?"
"System! I want points— on a ten-year installment plan!"
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