Face-Slapping the White Lotus Merman (3.1)
Editor: ghost
The Devil King remained expressionless. His silence could intimidate people but when he talked, Zhou Xu felt that this person’s aura of stupidity would manifest. In fact, it could be understood why he helped Zhao Shuxuan.
“I came solely to find you, Second Prince. I had someone stare at the southern ocean for a year yet never saw you.”
Zhou Xu coldly looked at Ming Chi and asked, “And?”
“I feel that I especially like you.”
An Si and the Spirit Turtle went silent. Zhou Xu continued to answer him coldly, “What does this have to do with me? Scram.”
Zhou Xu really did not want to pay attention to this person. He had always disliked this kind of stiff and straight-forward person, just like Ye Qi of the previous world. There was no sense in talking to them.
Moreover, they never did anything bad. Like Ye Qi, for example, he never made a mistake; Zhou Xu always could not beat him up. Zhou Xu briefly pondered about Ming Chi; it seemed that he also would be unable to beat him up.
“Zhou Xu ah, I’ve lived for three thousand years. I have confidence in my own intuition. I must have been waiting for you.”
Zhou Xu smiled lightly, “It’s a pity that the one I’m waiting for isn’t you.”
That person had a common characteristic – his personality was very cold; it was absolutely not this Devil King. If the Devil King’s personality had to be described in a word, it would be “stupid”.
“Then who are you waiting for?”
“Please shut up.”
Currently, Zhou Xu was truly annoyed.
He turned his head to look at An Si who was standing at the side. His voice was like a frigid winter as he said, “An Si, I don’t feel like killing you now. You should leave.”
An Si did not expect that Zhou Xu would let him go. The Thousand Year Chi could only be put off for now. At least he could return to Zhao Shuxuan’s side; this was already very good.
The Spirit Turtle disagreed and stretched out. He said, “Second Prince, he may cause disasters if we let him go. Why don’t we tie him up and send him to An Miao in the eastern ocean to take charge of him?”
Zhou Xu shook his head, “Let him go, I don’t want to care about this anymore.”
“Ai, then forget it.” The Spirit Turtle sighed. An Miao and him could be considered old friends. Although this old friend’s son was kind-hearted, he always employed the wrong methods, making people worried for him.
An Si left. Zhou Xu and the Spirit Turtle wanted to continue talking, but the Devil King interrupted them.
“Zhou Xu, do you want to cultivate? I can help you.”
Zhou Xu turned to hit Ming Chi in the chest with his palm, but the Devil King simply caught Zhou Xu’s hand seemingly with great ease.
This must be the strength of the Devil King, Zhou Xu thought. However, he was indeed not in the mood to continue playing with this esteemed Devil King; he still had work to do.
Zhou Xu faintly laughed. He flicked his wrist and a pre-prepared spell shot out from his palm to hit Ming Chi’s palm.
“Godspeed. I won’t see you out.”
The Devil King’s body unexpectedly started to float in the air. No matter how he used his devil energy to neutralize the spell, his body continued rising.
“What did you do?” The Devil King remained expressionless but Zhou Xu knew he was panicked.
Zhou Xu ignored him and turned to continue speaking with the Spirit Turtle. However, the Spirit Turtle looked at the Devil King who was slowly floating away. He spoke worriedly, “Second Prince, offending the Devil King like this, I’m afraid it won’t be too good.”
“Don’t worry, he won’t do anything.”
“How do you know?”
Zhou Xu did not answer that question. His perception of danger and ill will was very sharp. When the Devil King had arrived, he completely had no killing intent. Even when he was carried away by Zhou Xu’s spell, he was still only a bit depressed. The Devil King had no thoughts of revenge and so did not have any killing intent.
Zhou Xu thus did not hate the Devil King as much as he did at the start. Perhaps, he thought, the Devil King may have really fallen in love with him and it was not a momentary infatuation.
Zhou Xu did not like this kind of world where his lifespan was thousands of years. This life was too long and it made it especially easy for him to become serious. It was different for humans; a short lifespan of several decades. Even if he wanted to get serious, there was no time for him to do so.
“Let’s change the topic. Tell me how to use this Thousand Year Chi. I don’t wish for the human world to have a great flood after the drought.”
“Ai, this is precisely why I would never give An Si the Thousand Year Chi. Thankfully the Second Prince expected this to happen early on, otherwise he would have brought greater calamity to the human world.”
“En.”
“Pass the Thousand Year Chi over to me. I will teach you exactly how to control the amount of water.”
After learning from the Spirit Turtle for a whole three days, Zhou Xu could finally grasp how to control the Thousand Year Chi. In the previous world, An Si was completely clueless and had immediately used it the moment he got his hands on the Thousand Year Chi. It was precisely due to his rashness that the human world experienced another calamity.
Sometimes those who unintentionally make mistakes make people even more annoyed, just like An Si.
He made such a big mistake but later complained tearfully to everybody that his initial intentions were good and that he did not want to harm anyone. However, what about those who died? Who could they complain to?
An Si was indeed the protagonist, but why did other people have to cover up for his mistakes?
Could it be that a cannon fodder’s life was not still a life? Zhou Xu did not know how to ridicule this world’s so-called rules. Was everything just to serve the protagonists?
Zhou Xu originally wanted the Spirit Turtle to help him, but since he was too old and the mortal world’s spiritual energy was too sparse, he would be unable to do as much as he wanted. Hence Zhou Xu needed to personally learn how to control the Thousand Year Chi.
Leaving the Dragon King’s palace, Zhou Xu went to find Xu Yuan. However, once he emerged from the surface of the southern ocean, he met someone. This person was precisely the Devil King Ming Chi whom he had thrown out the other day.
He soared into the sky. He changed directions midway to cast aside Ming Chi and leave.
However, Zhou Xu did not expect that at the instant he changed direction, Ming Chi already flew to him and grasped his wrist, not giving Zhou Xu any time to react. He quickly pulled Zhou Xu into his embrace, tightly hugging him.
Zhou Xu was not a vegetarian. Although it was in an instant, Zhou Xu already understood Ming Chi’s power, but he would never admit defeat.
Hugged by Ming Chi, Zhou Xu directly transformed within his embrace.
In an instant, an enormous dragon flew up.
The dragon circled around above the southern ocean. In comparison to the dragon, Ming Chi looked unusually small and insignificant.
In this moment, Ming Chi was still a small figure but in the next moment, he became a black fog, shrouding the sky above the whole southern ocean.
The world became gloomy. The transformed Zhou Xu suddenly lost control of his body; he was a dragon and Ming Chi unexpectedly could block off all spiritual energy.
in the gloomy sky, Zhou Xu slowly fell. The black fog that blotted out the sky and earth gradually dissipated and became a black cloud. It lightly supported Zhou Xu.
Transforming into a human, Zhou Xu asked, “What are you planning to do?”
The black cloud was Ming Chi’s current body. Zhou Xu heard him answer, “I want to see you, follow you, talk to you and hug you.”
“It seems like we’ve only met once.”
The black cloud paused for quite a while before replying, “It should be two times. The first time you didn’t see me, but I saw you. It was because of that time that I realised that you were the one I was waiting a few thousand years for.”
“What gave you that feeling?” Zhou Xu wanted to say “misconception”, but decided against the verbal abuse. He always felt that since Ming Chi was the king of the devil world, he should not be such a neurotic person. Perhaps he really had his own reasons.
“I don’t know either. When I saw you, I felt like my entire being was different. I’ve lived for a few thousand years; I’ve never had this feeling before. I believe that you are the person I needed to wait for.”
Zhou Xu had already recovered somewhat hence he stood up from the black cloud and flew away to keep some distance from it. Ming Chi also transformed into his human form.
Their eyes met. Zhou Xu suddenly realised that if he did not consider Ming Chi’s personality, he seemed to really have a similarity to the previous world’s emperor. His appearance, for example, was similarly bright and good-looking.
“I have matters to do so I don’t want to waste time with you. If you have nothing to do then you can follow, but please do not disturb me.” Zhou Xu said.
“Okay.” Ming Chi smiled. This time Zhou Xu realised that Ming Chi’s smile was also similar to the previous world’s emperor: bright, warm and loving.
He interrupted his train of thought and went to find Xu Yuan.
Zhou Xu clarified their situation with Xu Yuan and Xu Yuan expressed his agreement. However, he did not agree with every achievement credited to himself.
“Then it’s up to you. But do not use my name. I’ve said before that I am doing this for selfish reasons.”
Xu Yuan pondered and nodded his head.
A day later, the Zhanlan troops that Xu Yuan led prayed for rain at the peak of a mountain. That night, a heavy rain fell.
The vast dried up land received moisture. The farmers finally had a glimpse of hope. The entire mortal world that had been plunged into turmoil at last had some breathing space.
The farmers did not know of Zhou Xu, but knew that it was the Zhanlan troops that brought such plentiful rain for them.
In a single night, the Zhanlan troops’ prestige and reputation exceeded Zhao Shuxuan’s troops.
An Si looked at Zhao Shuxuan with tearful eyes, “Shuxuan, it’s my mistake. I didn’t obtain the Thousand Year Chi.”
“It’s alright, An Si. Your safe return is more important than anything else.”
“Shuxuan…” An Si threw himself into Zhao Shuxuan’s embrace.
Zhao Shuxuan said that he did not care but after all, the Zhanlan troops’s reputation had exceeded his own troops’, so he still had some frustration.
However, seeing An Si’s delicate appearance, he could not say any words; he could only find his good friend Ke Yuanlin while An Si was resting.
After Ke Yuanlin listened to Zhao Shuxuan’s complaints, his expression was unexpected, leaving Zhao Shuxuan puzzled.
Ke Yuanlin coldly snorted, “An Si already did all he could. Not only are you not grateful, but you came to find me to complain that the Zhanlan troops’ fame has spread far and wide? Brother Zhao, I’ve misjudged you.”
“Brother Ke, I wasn’t…”
“You were not what? More importantly, we have been blessed by the heavens with rainfall; shouldn’t we celebrate for the people? Why is it that you only focus on the Zhanlan troops’ fame?”
“Brother Ke, I am too short-sighted.”
Ke Yuanlin swung his sleeves, “Brother Zhao, I’m leaving. People who walk different paths cannot work together*.”
“Brother Ke…. Brother Ke…..”
Ke Yuanlin simply left, not giving Zhao Shuxuan any time to react. This sudden and unexpected blow made Zhao Shuxuan’s troops drop to half their original number in half a month.
The troops’ initial rapid expansion was largely due to Ke Yuanlin’s reputation. At present, the great general was no longer there, hence those who came out of admiration for him naturally followed him to leave.
However, Ke Yuanlin did not bring away all the troops. The people who left were largely those who saw that it had rained and had hope for the future, thus they returned to being farmers. Since they could farm, who would be willing to fight in a war?
Ke Yuanlin’s departure made Zhao Shuxuan think deeply for a long time. He realised that he had indeed changed a lot and maybe it was due to experiencing death once or obtaining a slightly higher position that he thus forgot his original intentions.
After he recognised his mistakes, he looked at An Si who was always by his side and became even more grateful for him.
The farmers began to bustle about after the rain. For a period of time, the human world was extremely peaceful.
However, in the period of peace, the imperial court had sent out assassins especially to target leaders of the rebellion. The imperial court’s policy was to kill a thousand rather than let one escape, hence the world that had become slightly more peaceful was once again thrown into a reign of terror.
An Si could not follow Zhao Shuxuan all the time thus in the end, the pursued Zhao Shuxuan was separated from An Si.
However, Zhao Shuxuan had drunk An Si’s blood before, thus An Si could follow this familiar scent to find him. But despite finding him, An Si realised that the killers were unexpectedly demons instead of ordinary mortals.
At present, An Si genuinely regretted being so negligent and lazy in the past. If he had put in effort to cultivate, it was possible that he could directly save Zhao Shuxuan. But now he could only watch as Zhao Shuxuan was tied up by a group of assassins and carried away.
An Si silently sat on the ground and dejectedly pondered over what he should do.
He could go and find his father and older brother, but if he went, he would definitely be severely scolded.
This idea would not work.
Then what else could he do?
Translator’s Note:
sorry for such short chapters recently >< promise things will pick up in a week or so! thank you for your constant support and comments the arc chapters have been updated in the description for anyone who wants to wait for the arc to finish before continuing!
