Chapter 63: Fake It Till You Make It
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Gui Qi slowly turned his head. He started searching for some words of honey to say in his head, but a hand rushed out to grip his throat tightly.
He subconsciously loosened his hold on the grey rat before both his hands flew up to claw at the vice-like grip on his throat.
He realized then that the hand at his throat was shielded by wisps of vital energy that flowed constantly around it. His hands were blocked and he couldn’t touch the hand at all.
Gui Qi subconsciously prepared to cast magic before he realized that the vital energy shielded the entire body of its captive. With Gui Qi’s capabilities, he would never be able to hurt the person at all.
Once the grey rat landed on the ground, it escaped with its tail between its legs. It knew that the visitor had no need to bother it.
“Say, you’ve insulted me so, Gui Qi. How should you be punished for that crime?” Vigilante A paid no heed to the grey rat that scurried away hastily. It wasn’t speaking to Gui Qi either, but Gui Er, who had been standing by the side all this while.
They no longer had the support of the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor being nearby. Gui Er knew in his heart that one wrong answer could spell the end for both him and Gui Qi. Vigilante A would take all past and present grudges into account and they would be dealt with in the blink of an eye.
“It would only make sense for you to decide, great hero,” answered Gui Er cautiously.
Vigilante A then answered, “Oh, is that so? Then if next time someone were to claim they were innocent despite plotting against me with evildoers, do you think I should destroy their souls and their entire existence until nothing is left?”
Gui Er was incredibly shocked; so Vigilante A already knew that the Elder Ancestor was hiding nearby that day. It was no wonder the Elder Ancestor didn’t dare to make a move that time. He still had no idea if he could guarantee his victory against Vigilante A, which was definitely why he had no choice but to wait until after his clan develops before he kills Vigilante A.
Gui Er immediately fell to the ground in a kneel, “I only have myself to blame. I don’t listen to Buddha’s teachings enough, so I was temporarily blinded by greed, which made me plot against you with the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor. Gui Er knows that this the most terrible crime a person could commit, but I beg you for mercy on me, great hero. I am willing to be executed for my crime, all I ask for is that you leave my soul so that I may be reincarnated and allowed to turn over a new leaf in my next life.”
Gui Qi, on the other hand, thought he still had a sliver of hope for surviving this. He had worked so hard up to this point; his eyes were glazed over with fatigue. He was going to be promoted soon, so why would he want to sacrifice his life?
Gui Qi then spoke up determinedly, “Vigilante A, let me go. I’m from the Association of Spirit Kings, we are led by the Buddha Spirit King, who has connections beyond your imagination. I’m his most favored underling; if you kill me, it’ll be equal to you angering another Elder Ancestor.”
Hearing this, Vigilante A was silent.
Seeing Vigilante A’s reaction, Gui Qi thought his situation had taken a turn for the better.
At the same time, Gui Er’s expression remained unchanged as he crushed a written charm hidden in his grasp.
The System Space.
The System spoke up, “The pair of them simultaneously mentioned this Buddha, could it be a new Super Boss? What do you humans call this again? What you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts?”
Unlike the System’s enthusiastic view on the whole thing, hearing what Gui Qi and Gui Er had said made Fang Ning feel a tad bit uneasy. He felt that they shouldn’t be farming another monster. There was already one Boss they had to deal with, why should they add more onto their plate?
After he fully processed that thought, Fang Ning’s uneasiness only grew; all the monsters they were meeting now seemed to be coming from quite a background; none of the monsters were wild anymore. Instead of walking a path of chivalry, were they going to go down a path of attaining nirvana? Did they have to let go all monsters with a background while only killing monsters with no background?
Could you even call that being a great hero? Over time, the System’s chivalrous rules would definitely run out. That would also spell the end of Fang Ning’s Gold Finger. It would definitely be better if they continued training until they were overwhelmingly powerful, or they would have to say goodbye to life as a vigilante.
Fang Ning’s eyebrows furrowed in worry; the System only knew of farming monsters, it didn’t know how to worry about anything else. How worrying. As long as Fang Ning knew how to make his brain turn, making the System work for him would be simple. However, what was most important was that the System had learned a new way to bully Fang Ning into doing things – it had learned to cut his Internet and electricity simultaneously.
Suddenly, a lightbulb turned on in Fang Ning’s head, which prompted him to say, “Sh*t, this isn’t good at all. Let me ask you something in return. If you were to trigger two Elder Ancestor-like Bosses at the same time, would you be able to farm them both successfully?”
The System finally showed a sense of cowardice, “That can only be handled by shape-shifting into a dragon and fleeing, abandoning Vigilante A’s identity at the same time.”
“Thank god I was smart enough to tell you to assume another identity when farming monsters. I was afraid something like this would happen so having another identity would be the perfect cover-up, because even if we failed, we could just reassume our original identity and restart from scratch.”
“If you’re so smart, think of a way to solve this problem.”
“Of course, but on one condition – I want my electricity and Internet back.”
“I’ll have to think about it. I’ve come to realize that your cultivation efficiency when I cut off your electricity and Internet is extremely high. Maybe I should wait until after you’ve cultivated “Dragonization Ability” to the extent where it is possible to configure an Elementary Dragon Form before I give you your electricity and Internet back…”
As if on cue, a System Notification appeared, [The System is processing…]
Fang Ning vomited three liters of blood; he had been shut in the dark System Cyber Café for two days. If it weren’t because of how hard it was to cultivate the “Dragonization Ability”, he would have lost his mind. Completing the System’s request would take him at least half a year too, what with how difficult it was to cultivate the ability.
[Warning, the Host’s consciousness is slowly collapsing…]
“Stop that nonsense. After this whole thing is over, I’ll give you your electricity and Internet back.”
[The Host’s consciousness has returned to normal.]
After obtaining a definite answer, Fang Ning’s mood returned to normal and he immediately spoke up, “Then we’ll kill Gui Qi and let Gui Er go. Gui Er is smarter, and a worry-wart to boot.
The grey rat’s careless words gave him enough distress to swallow his greed and let it go. It’s obvious that he is an incredibly indecisive person, which doesn’t make him much of a threat.
Gui Qi on the other hand, is filled with greed and is ruthless to the bone. If he were allowed to thrive, the consequences would be terrible. Besides, only killing one of them would be saving the face of the Association of Spirit Kings. They were in the wrong first, so it doesn’t make sense for them to argue with us. Despite the fact that our prestige has already been advocated by the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor, we cannot let that get to our heads. We must maintain our usual brutal and unreasonable self, as anything else would be uncharacteristic of Vigilante A.”
“How troublesome.”
As long as Fang Ning’s suggestions were logical, the System still did as it was told.
And so Gui Er could only watch as a flame dragon emerged from Vigilante A’s hand to submerge Gui Qi entirely in fire. It wasn’t long before Gui Qi’s screams of agony could be heard from his burning body.
Not long after, a ray of white light appeared from within the flames. Gui Qi hadn’t been turned into dust by the flames just yet, but he was already too far gone from the pain of being burned alive to notice the ray of light.
Gui Er had been watching the scene unfold before his very eyes, so when the ray of light appeared, his attentiveness didn’t miss it. He knew he couldn’t warn Gui Qi of it, though, as that would be the same as spelling his death.
Fang Ning too had noticed the appearance of the white light, but he had noticed because of the System Notifications that had appeared.
[The System attacked Gui Qi. The System used Esoteric Skill “Flame Dragon’s Body Incineration, Second Level Aggro Bar was consumed.
Gui Qi has been inhibited by the Dragon Force and suffered the inhibition of Middle-Level “Deterrence”. Gui Qi’s mentality has been lowered. Gui Qi has entered a Burned state.
Buddha Spirit King has cast Defense Spell “Bodhi Mantra” 1 on Gui Qi. Gui Qi has obtained Spiritual Protection Mode, Enhanced Fire Resistance Mode, Health Restoration Mode.
Gui Qi has resisted damage from fire. Gui Qi has suffered damage from fire, Gui Qi is currently restoring Health…]
Gui Qi suddenly extended a hand outwards despite his agony. He pointed at Zhu Sanmei, who was hiding nearby, “Come here, you! Help your master put out this fire!”
The female ghost Zhu Sanmei shook her head in denial vigorously. She was in her true form, not her double; if she dared to go near her burning master, Vigilante A could destroy her soul in a single move.
“If I die, you won’t be able to stay alive either!” roared Gui Qi.
However, Zhu Sanmei remained rooted to her spot. Vigilante A’s prowess was branded into her bones; so her master’s empty threats on the brink of his death could barely compare to Vigilante A’s power. She would rather be destroyed later than to have to suffer a hit from him.
Gui Qi’s struggles didn’t last long, as he soon came to realize that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape agony the flame dragon’s fire was causing him. He finally slipped into utter despair as he roared once again, “How detestable! I have thousands of plans and strategies locked inside my head; I’d painstakingly spent three years to collect a spirit on par with the Spirit King without getting a single drop of blood on my hands. I could’ve been the mastermind behind the Spirit King. I’ve already humored Buddha so much that the Association of Spirit Kings could have been all mine! How could I die so soon? I will not be resigned to this fate!”
Hearing this, Gui Er came to the realization that something terrible was going to happen. As expected, once Gui Qi’s voice faded out, the white light that had been fighting the flames immediately disappeared!
Without the white light’s resistance, the flame dragon tightened its hold on Gui Qi. A single scream could be heard before Gui Qi dissipated into dust. Not even his soul was left.
Gui Er was horrified and shocked at Gui Qi’s hubristic ambition. ‘Despite his terrible ability, his ambition was through the roof. I’m the self-proclaimed think tank of the Association of Spirit Kings, and even I dare not wish for such things. How dare you hide your ambition of overthrowing Buddha? Have you any idea what an amazing opportunity you just missed out on? That was Buddha offering you the last chance at life!’
However, Gui Er knew that if Gui Qi had just persevered for a little longer, the leader of the Association of Spirit Kings would definitely be him. If he hadn’t started spouting nonsense because of the extreme pain and had instead begged for Buddha’s protection, he wouldn’t have had his soul destroyed completely. At least, Buddha could have saved his soul to become a Spirit Cultivator.
However, his ambition was too much/ for his own good. He wasn’t as smart as Gui Er, which meant that he had no idea that you had to fake it till you make it! In the end, he still exposed what he was truly thinking, which caused him to die in vain.
Fang Ning’s face was one of realization when he read the System Notifications.
[Buddha Spirit King has withdrawn “Bodhi Mantra”, Gui Qi has lost Spiritual Protection Mode, Enhanced Fire Resistance Mode, Health Restoration Mode.
Gui Qi has been burned to death by the Flame Dragon’s fire.
The System has gained fifty thousand experience points.
The System has obtained some Heroic Fame.]
Seeing Gui Qi’s soul being obliterated, Vigilante A’s expression remained unmoved. He looked as if he had merely crushed an ant. He then calmly spoke, “The Bai family’s Elder Ancestor has been chased to the ends of the earth by me. Do you think I would be afraid of some Buddha knockoff? Can this Buddha reassemble your soul and revive your body?”
Right after Vigilante A finished speaking, a loud voice thundered throughout the valley.
“Hey Brother Dragon, no need for such hostility.”
