9.13 – My martial brother is the most beautiful person in the world
translator: xiin
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug
Clans were a very broad concept. Shangdu’s Chi Clan was very good at magic techniques, especially fire magic. Most of the elders and the powerhouses in Chi Clan specialized in fire, but there were also some unexpected geniuses that were talented in other areas.
For example, Chi Lan cultivated on the lightning and fire path. His attack power was explosive, and anything in his hands could become his weapon. He did not purposely cultivate the sword or any other skills, and only used power to break through all techniques. When one stood in front of Chi Lan, they would understand that these things were nothing but external props. In the face of absolute power, they were just that weak.
Another example of this was Chi Jian.
Chi Jian was also considered a genius within the clan, but because the previous generation was too brilliant, it seemed very normal for him to have such a cultivation at his current age. Of course, his low-key personality was also a factor – he was the kind of person who did not pay attention to anything other than cultivation. He only had eyes for his sword, and everything else was nothing but wooden blocks to him.
Perhaps only when he saw an opponent would his eyes shine brightly, and then his intent to fight would rise up.
When the two sword cultivators met, there was really just a few things they could do. Yu Shaofeng and Chi Jian looked at each other for a moment, then turned to the sparring venue that Wang Clan had set up. During the inter-sect competition, other than the battle arenas, the sparring platform was the only place where cultivators were allowed to fight as they liked.
Both of them were of the younger generation, and their cultivation levels differed by a rank, so they had no intention of fighting directly. They competed against each other with sword intent alone, comparing their understanding of the meaning of the sword.
For sword cultivators, to be able to meet another person who understood sword intent, let alone one who felt like old friends upon first meeting, was a very rare thing. Even if there were so many sword cultivators in Sky Sword Sect, there were only a few who understood their own sword intent, and most of them were leaders of their own groups. Even fewer were as young as Yu Shaofeng.
He was still a young boy. His little steamed bun face had not yet grown up and still carried traces of softness, but he had already gotten much taller in the past two months, his figure relatively tall and upright. Coupled with the Sky Sword Sect’s blue and white sect uniform, he looked very proper and good looking, and when he smiled, dimples loomed in the corners of his mouth, making him look as bright as a small sun.
Chi Jian, like his name, also had a fire spiritual root. But for some reason, the sword intent that he had developed was just like an ice crystal, and his spiritual root and sword intent were like two extremes.
Unlike his appearance, Yu Shaofeng’s sword intent was fierce and violent, and carried a compelling momentum. It was aggressive, like thunder and lightning falling in succession, refusing to stop until their opponent was cut down.
These were two very different types of swordsmanship, but in the later stage of their sparring, they seemed to strangely blend together. The feeling that they were at odds with each other lessened considerably. Their gazes met again, and they could see the surprise in each other’s eyes.
Things like sword intent were very vague and unpredictable. Yu Shaofeng had only recently understood the meaning of his sword. A few days ago, when he met Chi Lan, perhaps because the violent lightning contained in his sword intent was similar to his power, Chi Lan had also given him a few pointers on his sword intent. With those one or two sentences from Chi Lan, Yu Shaofeng’s sword intent was not the slightest bit weaker than Chi Jian’s despite not having his own sword.
Chi Jian’s sword intent was not in harmony with his own spiritual roots, but this did not prevent him from cultivating along his own path of the sword. He learned many ice and fire sword techniques over the years, and his sword intent already had a specific direction. If nothing untoward occurred, he would definitely become the most outstanding sword cultivator from Chi Clan in the future.
It was difficult to say if they were lucky or unfortunate to meet under these circumstances. Their sword intents were compatible, which was to say, if their two swords joined forces, their attack power would soar to a very terrifying level…
Well, this would only be in the later stages, when they had become more powerful.
It was very rare to meet a compatible sword cultivator, so when the two of them looked at the other party, they were really quite surprised.
If Xue Ling was there, he would probably understand what was happening now. Chi Jian had a very important role in the later stages of this novel. It was precisely because of his existence that the likelihood of Yu Shaofeng going against Chi Lan doubled.
Chi Jian was a character no less pitiful than Yu Shaofeng. According to the plot outline that the author provided, Chi Lan became a devil, and his clan was destroyed. Chi Jian escaped from this disaster, but Chi Lan became his heart knot. If he wanted to ascend and become an immortal, he would need to defeat Chi Lan. After Chi Lan fell into the devil’s path, it would be very odd if Chi Clan remained on the righteous path, and later on, they suffered a great tribulation. Chi Jian had gone out to cultivate and escaped the disaster, but when he returned, he no longer had a home.
Chi Clan had been labelled as traitors to the righteous path, colluding with those on the devil’s path. Chi Clan’s members either had to forsake their surnames, or else they would be captured and persecuted by the other sects and clans. They had the choice to be killed, or to join the other sects, and in a short time, the entire clan completely disappeared. In order to investigate this matter, Chi Jian joined hands with Yu Shaofeng, who had lost his cultivation and been chased out of his sect, and the two of them broke through many barriers and escaped many dangers by virtue of their combined swords.
If Chi Lan had not unexpectedly flown up to enter the devil world, the two of them might have joined hands to challenge the Venerable Devil.
In a sense, Chi Jian was the second protagonist of the novel, but even before he appeared, the author had dropped the story.
Unexpectedly, Xue Ling’s movements had set off a butterfly effect, and the ripples made it so that the time when the two of them met was brought forward.
If the author really wrote about their meeting, it would probably be pretty much exactly like the scene that had just occurred in front of them.
It looked more like… .
Chi Jian was Yu Shaofeng’s first friend, and he was also from Chi Clan. Given that master of his who refused to acknowledge him, at the very least, they still had some kind of relationship. The two of them stopped sparring, and Yu Shaofeng pulled Chi Jian out of the venue, saying that he wanted to invite him for dinner.
His cultivation was not high, but he could survive without eating or drinking. However, after following his martial brother for so long, he would always want to eat something when there was nothing else to do. Since his elder martial brother was now cultivating in their room, he would naturally drag along his new friend to hang out.
Chi Jian had begun cultivating when he was very young, and this was not his first inter-sect competition. Yu Shaofeng was so full of enthusiasm that he felt moved, too. At the end of the day, the two of them were still young, and two of them wandered around the boundaries of Wang Clan’s lands.
During this period, Yu Shaofeng also interacted a lot with the other party, and although it was mostly one-sided, he still conveniently understood the relationship between the two of them.
If they calculated it, the two of them truly had a relationship. Although Yu Shaofeng was one level of seniority under Chi Jian, the two of them could still be considered as peers.
Because Chi Jian needed to call Chi Lan ‘uncle’, and Yu Shaofeng called him ‘Master’.
Oh. Chi Lan still hadn’t allowed him to call him that for the time being, but who cared? He wouldn’t be able to hear it if he spoke about it outside.
Chi Jian knew that Chi Lan had received a disciple some time ago, but had never expected that he would be able to see him. It was only later on, after Yu Shaofeng explained, that he realized Yu Shaofeng was only a little disciple that had been brought along by that disciple, and was not actually valued by Chi Lan at all.
There was no expression on his face, but he still tried hard to make himself appear comforting. He opened his mouth and said to Yu Shaofeng, “Uncle has always been cold to people. The fact that he was willing to talk to you is already a very good thing.”
Yu Shaofeng smiled and expressed that he didn’t mind at all.
The one he liked was his martial brother, not his Master.
Who cared about how that Master usually treated others?
They chatted happily and made appointments to meet up several days in a row, and were either chatting together or exploring. Even Xue Ling noticed the change in Yu Shaofeng, but he had said early on that he would allow Yu Shaofeng to make friends by himself. His original intention of bringing him out was so that he could participate a little more in the plot.
Although it seemed that he had been cheated by the man a few times, Xue Ling still believed in his words. As long as he let the protagonist go out and about, the plot would smash directly onto his head. All he needed to do now was wait.
Sure enough, after going out for five consecutive days, Yu Shaofeng excitedly rushed back to find Xue Ling with his new little companion in tow.
“Martial brother! Martial brother!” Because of how quickly he had run and how excited he was, his face was a little unnaturally red, and his eyes were bright and sparkling. He had grown quite a bit of meat during this period, which made him look even more like a cute little youth. “Hurry and take a look at what we managed to buy!”
He was holding a small stone in his hand. It was a dark, round thing that was not attractive in any way, the type of thing that would definitely be ignored at a glance.
Xue Ling’s mind was full of nothing but “It’s happening, it’s happening! The protagonist’s exclusive ability to fill in the gaps!”
He reached out and closed the door, laid down a formation, and glanced at the quiet teenager who had come in with Yu Shaofeng. He noticed that the other party was wearing clothes from Chi Clan, and guessed that this boy was probably the one that his little disciple brother had been paying attention to and going out with recently. “Regardless of what you managed to buy, you still need to stay calm. Did you really run over the whole way with that foolish look on your face? Letting everyone know that you’ve bought something good?”
“Naturally not.” Yu Shaofeng put down the stone in his hand and introduced Chi Jian, who was standing behind him. “Chi Jian and I aren’t idiots. I was incredibly calm on the way back~ Martial brother, this is Chi Jian. He seems to be related to Master, and he says that he calls Master ‘uncle’.”
Xue Ling knew who it was as soon as he heard his name. Although he was surprised that he had appeared a little early, since he was the right person, he could rest assured.
It was just another unlucky child.
When these two were paired together, they were simply just a pair of unlucky goods.
“Master’s nephew?” Xue Ling’s lips were curved, and his attitude seemed quite mild. “I am Shaofeng’s martial brother, and your uncle’s senior disciple. If you don’t mind, you can just follow Shaofeng’s example and call me martial brother.”
Chi Jian made a very precise bow and cupped his hands together as he greeted, “Martial brother Xue.”
“Addressing me like that is fine too.” Xue Ling rubbed Shaofeng’s head. “This child Shaofeng is a little reckless, it must have been troublesome taking him around these days.”
“No, it’s fine. Shaofeng and I get along very well.”
“It’s great that you guys can get along.” After exchanging polite pleasantries, Xue Ling finally turned his eyes towards the dark stone. “Well, you can tell me now. What’s special about this stone?”
Yu Shaofeng laughed sneakily and said, “We went to visit a stone gambling stall today. This is something we picked and bought.”
Wang Clan had many jade mines, and stone gambling was a popular game for the people who lived here. Some people could make a fortune overnight because they chose some fine jade, while others lost their property and went bankrupt because of these stones.
“What, this is a stone you guys brought back from stone gambling? Are you so excited because there’s jade inside?”
“There isn’t any jade, but this stone is really mysterious.” Yu Shaofeng picked up the stone and waved Chi Jian over. “Martial brother, look. As long as Chi Jian and I put our sword intents inside…” As he spoke, the stone began to give off a faint light.
A line of light appeared in the dark stone along the place where the two people were holding the stone. Slowly, it drew out a miniature, incomplete map on the surface of the stone. “Martial brother, look! Isn’t this some sort of hidden map to a secret realm!”
Xue Ling mentally flipped through the confidential synopsis that the system had provided. This stone should be related to a very large secret realm that was written about in the plot. Only, this realm only opened relatively later in the plot, and by that time, Yu Shaofeng and Chi Jian’s strength was strong enough that they could escape most people’s pursuit. It was only then that they finally made a move and entered the realm.
And there were a total of five black stones. They would need to feed their sword intent into all five in order to see the entire map, and it would take time for them to find them all.
As a qualified elder martial brother, Xue Ling was not hesitant in putting his younger martial brother to work at all. “Yes, it should be. But there’s not much point if you only have one piece. If you can find all the stones, perhaps I can bring you and Chi Jian to go and take a look.”
“Good! Then it’s settled!” Yu Shaofeng did not ask Chi Jian for his opinion at all and immediately agreed. It looked like he had a mysterious attraction towards places like secret realms.
Perhaps his obsessive perseverance which made him appear like an undying cockroach also infected Chi Jian, making Chi Jian also willing to go through life and death with him. They were both all kinds of foolish…
At least, Xue Ling felt that way.
He did not know that after the two left, Yu Shaofeng pulled Chi Jian away sneakily, and asked, “Wasn’t I right? My martial brother is the most beautiful person in the world. Even Master isn’t as good-looking! You lost. When we spar later, you have to let me have three moves first.”
Chi Jian’s steps paused. His voice softened a lot, and he sounded rather helpless. “Good.”
Aren’t Chi Jian & Yu Shaofeng the cutest together?
