Chapter 173: What Is Your Facial Regiment?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The fire dragon circled around the sky for a bit and was going to leave after realizing that there was nothing he could do.
Not far from him, an old man appeared in mid-air with his body slightly transparent.
The old man was dressed in white, his hair worn in the most popular style, and sporting a paper fan. Not only did he accessorize with a fan in the dead of winter, he even fanned himself with it. The four characters inscribed on the fan when opened up said ‘Eight winds cannot move me’ 1 .
Even though the old man was in mid-air, he walked as if he was on land as he approached the fire dragon.
Fang Ning blanked out. ‘What is this? Fanning himself during winter time, not even Vigilante A can look more ridiculous than you…’
“Haha, with such power, you must be the true identity of the Venerable Dragon God,” said the old man while he smiled. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ren Ruofeng, I just celebrated my eighteenth birthday a month ago. I am also the leader of the Truth Department’s Think Tank Group. Some people call me Sai Zhuge 2 , but I prefer the nickname Sai Pan An 3 ”
“Pfft!” Fang Ning almost puked blood. ‘Puh-lease, sir. It’s fine if you want to cosplay as Zhuge Liang since no one would be able to say that you don’t look similar, but with your wrinkly face, you dare claim to be eighteen years old and Sai Pan An?’
The fire dragon did not say a word, but a mirror materialized in his claw and levitated in front of the man.
“Brother Dragon, I’m so embarrassed to have you gift me the first time we meet…” Before Ren Ruofeng could finish, he glanced at the mirror and immediately yelled, “Old Hag Hong, I asked you to spiritually project me so I can meet with the Venerable Dragon God, why did you project my old face?”
A youthful female voice rang. “Ren Ruofeng, so you do know you’re an old fart. Isn’t this how you looked before your mastery of the technique?”
Ren Ruofeng could not speak for a long while. A long moment passed before he said, “Hong Yunjiao, change my appearance back immediately and I will let you direct our next operation.”
As he spoke, his appearance blurred and shifted.
A handsome, young face replaced the older appearance. However, gray hair strands littered across his head, shattering the mirage of the attractiveness…
Fang Ning mouth was hanging wide open as he witnessed the change. This guy was so obsessed with his looks, not even Sky Eagle or Vigilante A could compare, he might as well have gone into deviatory psychosis…
The System said, “I can’t communicate with this nitwit. Your turn to socialize, Host.”
Before Fang Ning could protest, the fire dragon form disappeared, replaced with Vigilante A, and he was back in control of his own body.
Seeing Vigilante A whose good looks outshine even Chu Liuxiang and Li Xunhuan 4 , Ren Ruofeng subconsciously touched his own face and silently sighed out of embarrassment. ‘The Evergreen Supreme Technique is not powerful enough. I can’t tweak the details on my face to the optimal ratio, such a shame…’
He approached Vigilante A and laughed. He twirled his fan around looking pleased. “I didn’t think Brother Dragon would look so elegant in human form, such willowy grace, so casually handsome… You can rival even me. I think both of us could count as Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang 5 of our contemporary. Our meeting in the winds and on the clouds today will be a legendary story of tomorrow.”
The youthful female voice that appeared earlier rang again. “Mister Ren Ruofeng, you’re too lenient on yourself. You even compare yourselves to Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang. I think it’s more Hu Tiehua and Chu Liuxiang. Of course, you’re Hu Tiehua, and he is Chu Liuxiang…” 6
Fang Ning thought, ‘What a twist. I don’t even have to speak, I’ll just watch them banter…’
Being called out, Ren Ruofeng was ashamed and yelled at the air behind him, “Enough, you old hag, stop fooling around. After taking care of the enemies, you should be making sure everything is running smoothly, especially the tuning up of the spiritually-controlled mechs.
“It’s less than two months before we need to publicly test the mechs for the arena mode. We’ve been working on this project for years. If anything goes wrong, not only will I lose face, even you as a vice-captain will be the same.”
As soon as he spoke, the lady stopped speaking. It looked like no matter how much she banters, she still understands her responsibility.
Finishing his sentence, Ren Ruofeng realized that he had overreacted, contrary to the inscription of ‘Eight winds cannot move me’ on his paper fan.
He feigned a little cough and said, “Haha, some people just don’t know how to behave, please don’t blame them for being immature.”
Fang Ning replied, “Don’t worry about it. Is there anything you would like to ask me?”
Ren Ruofeng smiled and waved his fan about. “Oh, it’s nothing huge. But if it’s not inconvenient, could I know if the spirit of the Indian powerhouse had been captured by you?”
Fang Ning saw the questions from miles away as he said calmly, “Mm, he dared to be insolent in front of me and bent the meaning of righteousness to serve his own purpose. I had already dispatched his to the Draconic Penitentiary to endure constant punishment without any chance to do over.”
Ren Ruofeng continued his questions. “Where is the Draconic Penitentiary?”
Fang Ning replied without expression, “All who offended the might of the true dragon shall be sentenced to an eternal suffering of the Penitentiary, enduring spiritual tortures daily. True dragons guard the area, so even gods, celestials, immortals, and Buddhas’ would have their powers stripped away if they were sentenced, eternally suffering the fruits of their actions.”
Ren Ruofeng was shocked. ‘As expected, all the Descended Ones of nobler heritage would each have their own trump card.’
His face did not betray any of his thoughts. Instead, his face was one of thankfulness. “I see. Since that person’s location is known, I shall thank you for helping out in this. The reward will be calculated along with the help you’ve given at the Land of Heritage.”
The System said, “How long more until the transfer? What are the rewards? Can you be faster?”
‘Sir System, your attitude changed so quickly…’
Words escaped Fang Ning. ‘As soon as money was involved, you would immediately take over my body. Can you ever play nice? Do you even care about Vigilante A’s face- oh right, that’s gone for a long time.’
Ren Ruofeng was not shocked. As the captain of the Think Tank Group, he had access to most of the information. He knew exactly how Vigilante A behaves.
He smiled as if everything was under control and said, “Both the services you have done for us has exceeded money. Internally, it was difficult for us to reach a consensus on how to reimburse you for your trouble, which was why we had delayed your reward. Now, seizing this opportunity, I would like to ask if you need anything within our capability to provide. With the Truth Department’s power, it should be easy enough to find most things in the world.”
Confidence seeped out of his words.
Fang Ning had no words. ‘Idiot, you would die if you pretend to be generous in front of the System. Who was the last guy who did this? I think it was Qiao Anping, one of the leaders of the Truth Department…’
The System said, “Hm, you’re the most generous person I’ve met. Mm, I want a flying sword like Xue Feng’s, as well as… actually, there are quite some things, let me give you a list.”
Ren Ruofeng spaced out slightly as he heard the first sentence. Following the dozen-meter-long item list that appeared out of thin air, he was completely stunned…
‘I knew Vigilante A is a very money-minded person, but I grossly the lengths he can go. He was so stern and awe-inspiring, but now… are they the same people?’
Ren Ruofeng thought for a while and said, “Brother Dragon, I’m so embarrassed. Even though the Truth Department is rich and full of resources, the time now is unstable. We’re short of manpower. We will be able to procure most of these things, but we may need several decades to grow or to search for it. Do you think you can wait?”
The System said, “I can’t… I’m fine with just the flying sword like Xue Feng’s then.
Ren Ruofeng patted his own chest. Vigilante A was still a righteous person and can bargain without losing his temper.
He knew many things. Some evil beings who were far lesser than a true dragon would have been able to do as they wish in smaller countries and would not hesitate to kill if their requests were not fulfilled. GASATO was only a coordinating agency operating in the name of justice, but without real power. Only a few of the stronger nations kept it running by providing manpower and fund their operations.
That flying sword also expended much of their resource, or else there would not only have Xue Feng with it. Fortunately, this was still within their budget.
He said, “Brother Dragon, there’s much that you don’t know. We would need to prepare more than one portion of the materials to smith the flying sword, in case the smithing failed. It would take us about fifteen years to make one, and we just started on our second sword.
“I’m afraid that wouldn’t be thinkable for Brother Dragon as well, would it? What if we exchange that for cash? That’s still a huge amount of money, even with just the materials and the formations would cost up to ten billion.”
Fang Ning finally understood. ‘It already uses up so much money just for the materials and formations, and that’s not considering the more expensive salaries and time it needs.’
‘No wonder that idiot System was trying to borrow money from the penniless me… Now it should be happy that it no longer need to save up to buy the flying sword.’
As expected, the System immediately requested for it. “The reason I wanted money was to buy the materials, otherwise the money had no meaning to me. Since your progress will be slow, then give me the materials and the related formations, I will smith it myself.”
Ren Ruofeng’s eyes brightened. Nodding, he said, “That would be the best. I will immediately return and relay the message to them, asking them to exchange the two rewards into the materials and formations needed to make the flying sword. Once it’s ready, I will inform your butler to receive them.”
The System said, “That’s it then. I want to return to my cultivation. If there’s anything you need, look for my butler. Goodbye.”
Ren Ruofeng beckoned with his hand as if trying to say something else, but Vigilante A had already left…
He looked at the direction to which Vigilante A left and hollered, “Hold on, Vigilante A, I have something else to say. I want to know what your facial regimen is. It’s been half a year, and in all the videos of you that I’ve seen, there was no blackheads, no spots, no freckles. What products are you using? I can exchange my allowances with your secret…”
He heard a sound from the side of his ears as Vigilante A appeared in front of him once again.
A voice rang beside his ears. “You could’ve told me earlier… Let me tell you.”