Chapter 61: The Cunning Super Boss
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Right after the video finished playing, the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor’s soft voice came through, “Well, why didn’t I make a move, despite having three chances to do so? Does anybody want to share their thoughts?”
Right after he finished the question, a man in a black shirt raised his hand.
“Shi Xin, stand up to speak.” The Elder Ancestor’s tone when he spoke was laced with affirmation and glee.
Bai Shixin then said, “Based on the topic of Elder Ancestor’s PowerPoint, it is obvious that Elder Ancestor is aiming to warn us that we should not depend on him for everything. We must be like when we first descended – careful and cautious. We must treat the people of this world cautiously and we must never be arrogant, as hubris will only lead us to our deaths. Other than Elder Ancestor, nobody else in this room is strong enough to face this Vigilante A. What the Elder Ancestor has done is suspend the humans’ Sword of Damocles (TL Note: Damocles is a figure featured in a single moral anecdote commonly referred to as “the Sword of Damocles”, an allusion to the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power) over our head as a constant reminder.
The Bai family’s Elder Ancestor nodded his head, ordering Bai Shixin to sit down.
As he did, he glanced towards the dark classroom to see if anyone else had raised their hands.
Another person really did.
“Shi Fu, go ahead and speak.”
“I don’t agree with Elder Brother Shi Xin’s statement. I don’t think this Vigilante A is the sword of Damocles. In fact, he’s the exact opposite. He’s a whetstone that was handpicked by the Elder Ancestor for us. Defeating him would mean that the person has perfected their cultivation.”
“Alright, you may sit as well.”
The Elder Ancestor waved his laser pointer, indicating that nobody else needed to raise their hands anymore.
He then spoke, “They both made very compelling statements. When I had first heard of the death of Shi Ping’s entire family, I was absolutely devastated. The five of them had followed me into this world; they were a cautious and conscientious bunch, but whenever I ordered them to do something, they obeyed without hesitation. Who would’ve expected that such a tragedy would befall them in the midst of our developments!”
Everyone listening in the room had somber expressions and heavy hearts. Everyone except of course, the young man in the white shirt, who was still busy with his phone.
His expression was a nonchalant one when he heard what the Elder Ancestor said, causing him to huff through his nose. He murmured under his breath, “From the looks of things, it seems more like their sins have finally caught up with them…”
The Elder Ancestor continued speaking as if he hadn’t caught those words, “Thank god Shi Ping and his parents figured out Vigilante A’s true identity early. They committed suicide to protect their souls, which I have collected and stored. Once our plan is complete and our clan is established in this world, they will be crowned as gods!”
Everyone’s moods lifted upon hearing those words, along with their morale.
However, the white-shirted young man still had a nonchalant expression on his face as he continued to busy himself with his phone, his body shuddering slightly.
“After finding out the truth about what happened from the couple’s souls, I made a few more files; I even yielded to the Association of Spirit Kings, that our alliance may be formed as soon as possible! Doing so gave me a chance to ambush Vigilante A. However, at the most dire moment, I gave up!”
“Were you afraid of Vigilante A, Elder Ancestor? You must be joking, nobody in this world can strike fear in your heart, Elder Ancestor!”
“What Shi Xin and Shi Fu said just now are both true. Before I made my move, a thought occurred to me suddenly: Shi Ping’s family had led smooth-sailing lives, so why was the entire family eradicated when faced with a single, strong person? No matter how strong Vigilante A was, the trio of sisters could have committed suicide, just like their parents, so that their souls may be preserved for when they’ll be crowned as gods!”
Everyone in the room knew the reason, but nobody dared to answer as they listened with bated breath.
“I believe you all know the reason clearly in your hearts. It was because they were spoiled! In the past, I had to settle any difficult matter that blocked my path, be it with legitimate or illegitimate means. Every time they met a strong opponent, the enemy would be merciful on behalf of my reputation and would give them another chance at life. But I’m afraid that Vigilante A has no idea who I am at all. They were too careless, and were probably even planning to ask for my help in getting back at Vigilante A, which was probably why they didn’t commit suicide immediately! Sadly, the world doesn’t revolve around me!
“All of you here would do well to remember that you cannot be too cautious or too careful! Although I may be powerful and my reputation may precede me, I cannot protect all of you forever. Be humble and cautious; be proud of your work but not yourself!”
The Elder Ancestor’s inculcation inspired everyone in the room to silently vow that they would eat more people to strengthen their magical abilities, so that they would one day be able to kill Vigilante A on their own accord, and avenge their fallen clan members.
The white-shirted young man in the back, on the other hand, took the opportunity to sneak over to the back door of the classroom.
“Sh*t, why won’t it open?” The white-shirted young man struggled to open the door. It was opened with just a tug before, but it seemed to be stuck now.
“Cang Er, not only are you not paying attention to me, you’re even thinking of playing truant?” The Elder Ancestor’s calm tone made the white-shirted young man’s heart drop.
At the Elder Ancestor’s words, everybody turned to look at the man. Some had gazes of slight envy, while some seemed to be waiting for a good show.
The white-shirted young man forced his lips into a smile, “Elder Ancestor, Cang Er needs to pee urgently.”
“You need to pee? The humans always say that it’s possible to pee your pants in fright, is that what’s happened to you? Was it because you heard that your cousin sisters’ souls have been obliterated? Or was it because you know your uncle and aunt committed suicide?” The Elder Ancestor’s tone shifted to one of warmth and care.
Bai Ruocang immediately nodded his head, “That’s exactly so. Cang Er is slightly timid, so hearing those terrible things happen had given me quite the fright.”
The Elder Ancestor smiled, “Ah, what a kind-hearted boy. I heard from someone that once you found out about their deaths, you stayed up the whole night burning spirit money to mourn them. You sobbed the entire night, it must’ve been hard on you.”
“Yes, yes. I’ve always been close to uncle’s family, so once I heard of the tragedy that befell them, I was riddled with painful grief. Maintaining myself was difficult.”
The Elder Ancestor’s smile shifted, “Are you sure you weren’t mourning someone else? Say, the family of your true uncle?”
Bai Ruocang’s face paled immediately, “What, how, how can there be another family belonging to my uncle?”
The Elder Ancestor shook his head, “Alright, enough with the acting. I’m tired. Ping Er’s soul told me that you were the mole that exposed them and their three daughters! The three sisters’ deaths may not have much of a relation to you, but nobody else other than you could’ve told Vigilante A about the hidden valley that Shi Ping and Ping Er escaped to!”
Hearing those words, Bai Ruocang couldn’t help the doubts that arose in his head. He hadn’t told Vigilante A about the couple’s whereabouts at that time; it was only after their deaths that he finally had the opportunity to notify Qiao Zishan and company on the change in their positions. Therefore, it couldn’t have been Qiao Zishan that told Vigilante A, either. Bai Ruocang then came to the conclusion that Vigilante A must have a method of his own. However, he didn’t refute the Elder Ancestor’s claim.
Instead, he threw his head back to laugh out loud, “Hahahahaha! Bai Yunsheng! You’re such a vicious and cunning evildoer! The Bai family has been a family of cultivators for centuries. We have never deviated from the good and just. Yet after you suddenly descended into this world, you’re acting as if you’re some celestial being! You took over my ancestor’s body and also caused the downfall of our family tree! I detest myself for how useless and weak I am, for how I wasted all my time in the past playing and skipping cultivation training, wasting my Cultivation Proficiency. If I had stopped you from taking my ancestor’s body, your entire clan of rats would have gone extinct!”
The Elder Ancestor shook his head, “You’re wrong.”
Bai Ruocang’s smile disappeared, “What do you mean?”
“A few of your peers in the Bai family are weaker than you in terms of Proficiency, but they’re much more hardworking than you are. Their Cultivation Bases were much more stable than yours, and they all won in the battle of willpower. They killed a few of my descended underlings, but I had to kill them all. The fact that you’re weak, useless and have the worst Cultivation Base was exactly why I picked you as my son’s Descended Body. My Cang Er is kindhearted, although he managed to restrain your consciousness with my help, he didn’t have it in him to destroy you completely. He merely suppressed you, giving you the opportunity to continue living so that you could retaliate against me. Because of your actions, I had to expose everything in advance, causing tragedy to befall Shi Ping and his family!”
Hearing this, Bai Ruocang laughed dryly, “Well then, don’t you want to know where your precious son is now?”
Unfazed, the Elder Ancestor chuckled, “What are you trying to say? My son has the Revered Treasure for his spirit protection that I had personally gifted him. Even the True Dragon wouldn’t be able to destroy him, much less someone like you.”
Bai Ruocang smirked, “Yes, you’re right. With such a treasure on him, I cannot destroy his spirit, but he’s easy to bluff! I merely had to sob about how you’ll find out about me soon, and that the bloodline of the Bai family would be severed because of that, before he gave me the treasure for protection instead!”
The Elder Ancestor’s expression wavered, “That’s impossible!”
“Then take a look at this!” Bai Ruocang hit the crown of his head with an open palm, killing himself where he stood.
The Elder Ancestor was by Bai Ruocang’s corpse in the blink of an eye. He held the lifeless corpse with one arm and prepared to cast an incantation with the other.
However, a ray of light suddenly emitted from Bai Ruocang’s corpse. It curled around a white soul, which drifted away from the underground classroom, entirely unfazed by any obstacles in its way.
The Elder Ancestor raised his hand and cast some magic, which caused a huge palm to follow the ray of light. It attempted to grasp the light, but the light passed through it directly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
…
The ray of light traveled past the underground rocks.
“Young Master Cang, where are we going to escape to? Right now, the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor is extremely powerful and influential; I doubt anybody in China would want to provide us with refuge. I also do not want to set foot near the Truth Department, how can I face her when I look like this? She hates demons and monsters the most.”
“There’s another place where he would never appear.”
“Where?”
“Qi City.”
“Why? I understand what you mean; that’s where Vigilante A is. But didn’t the Elder Ancestor mention that Vigilante A is no match for him? He’s just a whetstone the Elder Ancestor left for the nest of giant rats, the Sword of Damocles, as he put it. I doubt he would care about Vigilante A while he was focused on catching you.”
“Haha, you believe the words said by my crook of a father? We royals of the giant rats have the ability of death intuition. Yes, he may have a 99% guarantee that he’ll live, but that 1% is probably his intuition hinting that Vigilante A might have a way of killing him!”
“I get it now! That old fart really is cunning! He was afraid of his plan backfiring, which was why he gave up on ambushing Vigilante A. However, what he said was used to inspire the members of our clan. Not only did he speak with a prestigious aura, his words inspired the members of our clan to work harder and strive for greater heights. What a formidable person.”
“Aih, it’s just an act that he puts up, he pulled a trick like this in the previous world too. People who don’t know his background can’t usually see through it. Everyone that descends into this world was handpicked by him. He picked most of the youngsters and none of the older generation because he wanted to conceal his background.”
“From the looks of things, he must be waiting until after his clan of giant rats to develop more before destroying Vigilante A.”
“You’re right. From what I understand, he never does it himself. It’s always done by those youngsters that he has managed to manipulate.”
“What a sly old fox.”
