9.11 – What are you looking at me for? I didn’t do anything
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug
“Martial brother, is it really okay like this? Master ordered me to cultivate properly, but then you went ahead and dragged me out…” Yu Shaofeng turned his head and watched as Still Peak faded into the distance. His expression was worried as he asked his martial brother this question.
Xue Ling knocked on his head: “Don’t play around with your martial brother. If you really didn’t want to come, you could’ve opened your mouth and said so when I brought you out. If you keep pretending, now that we’ve already left, I’ll toss you down.” They were riding on a sword. It would probably not be pretty if Yu Shaofeng dropped down now.
Yu Shaofeng laughed awkwardly and said shyly, “I just think that I more or less need to express this reluctance. I can’t seem too happy about running away.”
“Come on, Master doesn’t really care if you’re on Still Peak or not. As long as he doesn’t know that I brought you along with me to run away, it should be all right.”
“But isn’t Master’s perception really vast? … Why won’t he know if we’re running out?”
“Probably because he doesn’t dare to look at me.” Xue Ling was too lazy to bother himself about what that man was thinking. Until the point where he shut him up in a little black room, he didn’t really want to deal with him. “I brought you out this time mainly to let you experience the inter-sect competition.”
In the original novel, Yu Shaofeng had gone with his martial brother, another one of Ancestor Thunderbolt’s disciples who had a fire spiritual root with high attack and explosive power. They fought their way into the finals and obtained the map fragment to the Sishui Secret Realm. Then, that disciple brought Yu Shaofeng with him into the secret realm, and Yu Shaofeng picked up a pretty good harvest there. It also foreshadowed how he would be able to grow and develop on his own after being kicked out of the sect. There was a special material there that catalysed his mutated lightning root and later on allowed his strength to develop to a level comparable to Chi Lan.
As long as he ate that thing, his spiritual root that had been taken away would be able to completely evolve and revitalize his entire body. Only, Yu Shaofeng had been unclear about what it was at the beginning, and only took it as an ornament that he kept by his side. He never expected that it would ultimately open up another path for him.
“You have only joined the sect for a short time, and are not strong enough yet to have been assigned a place in the quota of people that can compete in this time’s inter-sect competition, so I’m only bringing you there to see the world.”
“But didn’t elder martial brother also not participate in the sect competition?” Yu Shaofeng thought it was strange as he continued to ask. Even so, he had a very clear understanding of his own strength.
Xue Ling smiled widely as he turned his head back, laughing as he petted his little martial brother’s dog head. “Still Peak has a total of two disciples. You’re still a little turnip head. In that case, having just me attend the sect’s grand competition isn’t too outrageous at all. Understand?”
As though sensing his martial brother’s ‘love’, Yu Shaofeng shivered and was forced by his martial brother’s abuse of authority to obediently nod and say, “Oh…”
“Younger martial brother.” Although Yux Shaofeng had already shrunk his neck back, Xue Ling continued to stroke down his neck. It was as though he was petting him, but the more he did it, the more terrified Yu Shaofeng felt…
QAQ Did his remark just now provoke his martial brother? This version of him was really scary…
“Still Peak only has the two of us, and there is no way that Master will accept another disciple. So you are my only martial brother. Understand?”
“… Understood… ” To be precise, he wasn’t even Master’s disciple. Master only allowed him to call Xue Ling ‘martial brother’, but didn’t let him call him Master at all…
“I am your only martial brother, and in Still Peak, you are not allowed to question your martial brother’s words.”
“… When did this we start to have this rule?
“Just now.”
“… Oh… ” Yu Shaofeng was now quite certain that he had provoked his brother, and the main reason for it was that he had refuted his martial brother’s words and questioned his strength.
Heavens, when had his IQ and EQ become so low? It was too scary. If he wanted to survive under his Master and martial brother, he couldn’t keep making low-IQ mistakes.
“This time, you will meet people from other forces during the inter-sect competition. I won’t prevent you from interacting with them, but you need to polish your eyes well, and not make any mistakes.” Seeing his little martial brother cleverly keep his head lowered, Xue began to explain the rules for going out this time to him. “Among the packages I have just given you is our school’s uniform. In a bit, you should change into it so that you won’t be ignored by the sect’s protectors.”
“Yes.” Yu Shaofeng pulled out a set of white and blue clothes from the storage bag. Although he was a little curious about why his martial brother had waited until today before giving him the uniform that represented his identity in the sect, he still obediently got ready to put it on. “What about martial brother? Are you not wearing it?”
“No. Wearing it makes one look like an idiot. It’s silly to death.”
Yu Shaofeng: “…”
“And I won’t be able to sneak away from the group if I’m wearing it.”
“I think that, based on martial brother’s face, it’s practically impossible to sneak out without being noticed.”
“What rules did I tell you just now?”
“… Oh…” It was still better if he was obediently did as he was told. Martial brother had a bad temper, and it looked like he was in a bad mood. He should be a little more sensitive and try not to provoke him.
As its name implied, the inter-sect competition was a grand competition involving disciples from various sects. It was held every five hundred years, and generally any young disciples under the Yuanying stage were welcome to come and compete.
Although it was so stipulated, the younger generation of disciples who had reached the Yuanying stage were really rare. The large clans would also send people to compete, and elder martial brother had said that Chi Lan’s elder brother and sister would attend. Though, like Sky Peak’s elder martial brother, the person in charge of organizing the event, they were only responsible for leading their team, but would not participate in the event.
Xue Ling had kept his own cultivation level at the Yuanying stage, which just met the requirements for participation. However, he reported his cultivation level as being late stage Jindan, which seemed less conspicuous amongst the group.
When Xue Ling and Yu Shaofeng arrived, the group had already basically all gathered together. Xue Ling brought Yu Shaofeng with him and went straight to elder martial brother’s side. He smiled so broadly it seemed like a flower was blooming on his face, and it appeared like he was in a really good mood~ “Elder martial brother, didn’t I tell you early on? I would be able to make Master let me come out~”
The Unfettered Immortal was in the midst of ordering people about. When he saw Xue Ling and his younger martial brother heading over, he marked down their names. For Still Peak to only have their two names was really rather conspicuous. “It’s good that you came. I was worried that the Venerable would not let you go.”
“Actually, I rubbed Master the wrong way yesterday. He said that I shouldn’t show up in front of him for three months, so I was able to leave successfully.”
Yu Shaofeng stood behind his martial brother and really, really wanted to say that this shameless acquaintance was not his martial brother at all.
Elder martial brother patted Xue Ling on the shoulder: “The Venerable is just overly concerned about you. There’s no need for you to purposely make him unhappy. Just talk to him properly and he will also let you out. Your cultivation isn’t low anymore, it’ll be good for you to go out and travel around.”
“Sigh, you can even say that late stage Jindan is not low. Even a person like this can be Venerable Crimson Flame’s disciple – it shows the Venerable is also capable of making mistakes.” A discordant voice sounded out. Xue Ling raised his eyebrows and thought to himself that someone really wanted to make trouble. “You only know how to wave the Venerable’s flag around and try every trick to mislead the public. Disobeying the rules and causing disorder all day long; everyone is wearing the sect uniform, but you look like a vixen and still insist on wearing black robes. If you ask me, you should just wear red so that other people can’t keep their eyes away from you. I guarantee that as soon as you go up on stage, others will admit defeat. You can rely on your face to make it all the way to finals.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you saying that. In fact, I also have red clothes. Only, you’re blind, and even if I wore them for you, you wouldn’t be able to see them.” Xue Ling had never been merciful when insulting others. The other party said such ugly words, so nobody could blame him for not speaking politely. “Although we are contemporaries, don’t forget how old you are. Toeing the age line to take part in the inter-sect competition and relying on your Yuanying stage power must feel really great, right? You only have this last opportunity to feel cool. In this life, you’ll probably stay at Yuanying stage.” When he looked over coldly, his temperament changed completely. It was totally different from when he was smilingly angry, but it made people’s hair stand on end.
Yu Shaofeng always felt his martial brother’s current appearance was quite familiar. After looking a few more times, he discovered that this was almost exactly like their Master’s normal temperament… Yesterday, their Master had also spoken to him with a cold expression like this.
Uh… The cold Qi that was coming out was also a little similar.
The scene immediately turned awkward, but elder martial brother did not have any intention to ease the atmosphere at all. He saw that Xue Ling was not losing in the slightest bit, and turned to continue registering people. The people who had just come were people from Earth Peak, and if they were really counting, they were also from the same generation and would have to call him martial elder brother. But he found them irritating, and didn’t even want to look at this type of trash.
Yes, the person who came to insult Xue Ling was the disciple brother who had originally brought Yu Shaofeng to attend the inter-sect competition. He was the only Yuanying stage cultivator on Earth Peak, and also the only cultivator whose age was right on the age limit for participation. The cultivation levels of his fellow disciple brothers had surpassed his, and his position on Earth Peak was pretty awkward. This was also the reason why he had brought along Yu Shaofeng whom their Master appeared to favour. Later on, when Yu Shaofeng suffered disaster, he also followed the plot and trampled him under his feet. And then, he never appeared again. He could also be considered as a big cannon fodder.
Even if the other party was trash, as long as he was unhappy, Xue Ling would still pick a fight with him. Every word that he spoke poked at the other party’s sore spots, and that kind of polite cursing made his face turn white, then red, and finally turn black. “Should we just go ahead and fight now? I can keep you out of the finals for the rest of your life.”
The other party was obviously angry to the point of rage. He immediately pulled his sword out, and taunted, “Come on, then! If you have the guts, don’t go crying back to the Venerable for support!”
Xue Ling sneered, but was pulled back by Yu Shaofeng’s grip on his clothing in the next second. He turned his head and unhappily looked at his younger martial brother, then heard elder martial brother say, “Everyone is here. I have already asked the elder in charge of transportation to come. You should all be quiet. Our sect does not allow personal fights.”
Yu Shaofeng gestured to Xue Ling with his eyes and said, “Martial brother, don’t be impulsive.”
Xue Ling didn’t really intend to fight the other party here. He just enjoyed seeing the other party upset, watching as he itched to fight but couldn’t, and finally could only stamp his feet. “Oh. It’s fine. Your martial brother’s words always count. When the competition arrives, I’ll definitely beat him up for you to see.”
Yu Shaofeng looked at the person over there who was once again jumping and stamping out of anger because of his martial brother’s words. His lips twitched and he asked, “Martial brother, have you been in a bad mood recently? … You’re about to blow up…”
“No~” Xue Ling blinked innocently as his expression changed more quickly than flipping a book. He instantly brought out a smile, and it was even a particularly attractive smile. “If I was in a bad mood, I would have killed a broken little child like you a long time ago.”
Yu Shaofeng: “…” How was this matter related to him? Why was he always getting shot at while lying down for no reason at all…
While they were talking, the elders had already arrived. This time, the Sky Sword Sect had supplied three elders for this competition, and they were all from Sky Peak. This had probably been arranged on purpose in the plot so as to better highlight the contradictions between Sky Peak and Earth Peak where the protagonist should have been at this time. So, Sky Peak was responsible for a lot of things in this competition.
These three elders were all of the same generation as Chi Lan even though their strength was not as high as his. Xue Ling had also seen them before, and he naturally went over to greet them when they arrived, and it was inevitable that some small talk would be made.
When he returned, he once again heard the sound of low laughter from the direction of Earth Peak’s people, saying that he only knew how to use his face to attract others. Xue Ling smiled and flicked his hand, but that smile made Yu Shaofeng feel extremely nervous. He was afraid that his martial brother would really become unhappy and rush over to scratch off the other person’s face. It wasn’t until after they flew to their destination on the flying artefact, were allocated their rooms, and finally prepared to sleep with nothing untoward happening that Yu Shaofeng finally let out a relieved sigh.
As a result, there was a scene the next morning over at Earth Peak’s side. It was because their disciple brother’s face had become disfigured, and was so wrecked that nobody could bear to look.
Yu Shaofeng silently glanced over at his martial brother.
Xue Ling was eating some snacks. When he felt Yu Shaofeng’s gaze on him, he raised his eyes and smiled, “What are you looking at me for? I didn’t do anything.”
Yu Shaofeng: “…” Martial brother, you have a strong sense of revenge. Anyone can tell that you did it, okay?!
Xue Ling continued, “I haven’t left all night. If you don’t believe me, you can go and ask those martial uncles.”
Yu Shaofeng: “…” Yes, yes, yes. You came and went like a shadow, right? … He just didn’t understand why some people would break out of character and act so childish…
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