Chapter 2
After a day, a little junior brother came running to tell Luo Jianqing that the mistake at Leiting Road was a complete accident.
As the cultivation’s world number one sect, Tai Hua Mountain accepted disciples from anywhere under the sun once every ten years. Ten years to cultivators was nothing more than one bout of seclusion. This manner of accepting disciples naturally made it impossible to have the sect elders handle it directly, so they handed all of them over to the younger generation of disciples.
Luo Jianqing was Tai Hua Mountain’s chief disciple, but was also the only disciple of Tai Hua Mountain’s seventh peak, Yu Xiao Peak. Ten years ago, he had also handled these matters at one point, but this time he was fortunate enough to be out traveling. Thus, this mission fell to Tai Hua Mountain’s third senior sister, Wei Qiongyin.
However, a mishap occurred at Leiting Road.
The disciple in charge of activating Leiting Road with spiritual stones was careless and put in medium-grade spiritual stones to serve as low-grade spiritual stones. This led to the sudden increase in danger and nearly turned it into a disaster.
Wei Qiongyin knew that she had made a mistake in her direction, and for her punishment, she had to run to Siguo Cliff to meditate for a month, and thus the matters of the all-peak examinations were given to Luo Jianqing.
Listening to Wei Qiongyin’s voice transmission (1) that had traveled across a thousand miles, Luo Jianqing didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.
“Senior brother Luo, of Tai Hua Mountain’s seven peaks, your Yu Xiao Peak is the most idle. This time was my mistake. I must be punished. According to our head martial uncle, I ask you to help me with the all-peak examinations. Many thanks. Wei Qiongyin.”
Who would tell someone “you are the most idle” and still ask for help?
It seems that Wei Qiongyin was just like the one in his past life – she still only knew how to cultivate and not how to conduct herself.
Luo Jianqing didn’t reject this matter. In fact, he had handled the all-peak examinations in his past life. He stared blankly at the child with ordinary constitution that seemed to have saint-like generosity. In just a short ten days, his strength had progressed enormously. In the end, one move had turned him into the second ranked in the all-peak examinations and directly stepped into Yu Xiao Peak, becoming Yu Xiao Peak’s second disciple.
Three days ago, Luo Jianqing had woken up in the middle of a pile of carcasses.
All over his body, his bones felt like they were going to be crushed, his head felt like it weighed a thousand jin (2), the white robe on his body was covered in mud and soaked in thick blood, and he was surrounded by hundreds of dead beasts. Luo Jianqing had thought that he was in hell, but when he found his spiritual energy starting up automatically, he was overjoyed. At the same time, he suddenly remembered where this place was—
The Wan Shou Mountains.
Many years ago, he often liked to come to the Wan Shou Mountains and kill demons, so much that he wouldn’t return for two or three years at a time.
There was no one to punish him if he killed demons at the Wan Shou Mountains. Demonic cultivators also came here to hunt and kill human cultivators, as it was an unregulated area. Also, there were often human cultivators and demonic cultivators that came here to settle grudges. Massacres occurred here, and no one was likely to show any self-restraint.
After waking up, Luo Jianqing didn’t get up right away, and sat in the middle of the pile of beast carcasses, while thinking about what happened in his past life. He already knew that he had gone back eighteen years in the past, when Li Xiuchen still hadn’t joined Tai Hua Mountain or become his junior brother yet.
And now, he was just in time for that important week when Li Xiuchen joined the sect!
After realizing this point, Luo Jianqing hastily moved to prepare his return to Tai Hua Mountain, to prevent Li Xiuchen from joining his sect. Who would’ve guessed that one step after he got up, not having gotten on his sword yet, that he suddenly felt like something was falling from the sky, which smashed directly into his body.
Luo Jianqing raised his hands and grabbed what he thought was some kind of secret weapon. He glanced downwards. “Seeking Immortality?”
After opening up the book, Luo Jianqing’s entire life was completely turned upside down.
His world was a book! And it was a stallion novel devoid of the rules, logic, or any of the three views (3)!
When Li Xiuchen raised his head, he received a blessing. When he lowered his head, there was a spiritual beast. Ever since he first stepped into Tai Hua Mountain, he was like a fish back in water. He had practically snatched all the luck under the heavens. In this book, when every young lady met him, they treated him unfavorably. But there was always an opportunity for Li Xiuchen to heroically save the beauty, making their opinions change so drastically that they pledged their hearts to him.
After finishing the book, Luo Jianqing did not feel well. His beautiful elegant face was filled with rage, and his phoenix eyes were squeezed tight. Then he took his sword and killed a demonic cultivator who had been secretly preparing to attack him. Afterwards he hurried to fly back to his sect on his sword.
However, “Seeking Immortality” didn’t seem to be very complete, and only told the story of Li Xiuchen replacing Luo Jianqing and turning into Tai Hua Mountain’s beloved little junior brother. Luo Jianqing knew that after that, he would be framed by Li Xiuchen time and time again. Then he lost his temper and impulsively hacked Li Xiuchen’s only spiritual beast to death, and also caused Li Xiuchen to be injured critically in the Hidden Realm, and so he was driven out from Tai Hua Mountain.
—Obviously there was a guarded treasure in the Hidden Realm, because this matter had come up during his huge fight with Li Xiuchen. In the end, he had unexpectedly turned it into a sneak attack against Li Xiuchen!
The entire time he was traveling from Wan Shou Mountains back to Tai Hua Mountain, Luo Jianqing had read “Seeking Immortality” front to back twelve times.
The feeling of being stabbed through the heart in his past life still remained in his memory, but this time he refused to let something like that happen again.
Before he arrived at Leiting Road, Luo Jianqing recalled Li Xiuchen very quickly, who had killed him with his sword. But this was merely a thought, and there were many junior brothers and sisters at that moment watching him at Leiting Road, so he couldn’t slip and behave strangely in that manner. Thus Luo Jianqing changed the course of the story so that guileless little girl who would’ve been struck by lightning, wouldn’t die a tragic death.
Although…
“Senior brother Luo, this is the roster of this year’s new disciples. Please look it over.”
Luo Jianqing looked down at the dozens of names, and upon seeing the words “Li Xiuchen” his lips twitched slightly. Smiling as he raised his eyes to meet the little junior brother, he said genially, “I remember that this Li Xiuchen’s constitution is quite ordinary, yet he entered this sect?”
Looking at his fair and elegant face and that smile that was cold as wind, the little junior brother couldn’t help but swallow. His voice quivered as he said, “Although Li Xiuchen’s constitution is not good, he passed Leiting Road. Senior brother Luo, after you took it upon yourself to stop the lightning, Leiting Road was quick to close itself. Therefore you have received 14 junior brothers and sisters altogether.” He had received nearly all the last ones who took the trial.
Luo Jianqing raised his eyebrows, not saying anything else. The little junior brother watched him with a reverent and admiring gaze. By the time he had left Luo Jianqing’s room, he had turned his head six times. What he said was: Three days after the all-peak examinations, he would come ask Luo Jianqing to take charge of them.
Luo Jianqing agreed to his requests one after another. When his junior brother left, the smile on his lips swiftly vanished.
He sighed heavily and got up to leave Yu Xiao Peak. It had only been half a day since he came back, and already he had more business to settle.
After three days, the examinations started on schedule.
24 newcomers stood in the arena below, sizing up their peers around them with curious eyes. Out of these 24 newcomers, there were no more than eight girls, including the most lovable one, Liu Xiaoxiao, who was also very eye-catching. Next to her, a boy who had been dragged to her side the entire time, was talking and not really paying attention to the people next to him.
Even if this boy may be outstanding, Li Xiuchen actually had an ordinary constitution, which was reflected in his looks.
This made many people pay attention to his arrival, wanting to see how this guy had such good luck with women, what made this new female disciple with a third degree constitution like him so much.
“Big brother Chen, did you practice your techniques well enough? I feel like you don’t know them very well. Don’t you think something might go wrong today?”
Li Xiuchen carelessly nodded. “Mn.”
Seeing how the other person didn’t seem to care, Liu Xiaoxiao’s little face frowned sadly. “Big brother Chen, didn’t you say that if we joined Tai Hua Mountain, we could become immortals, and then my parents could live happily? But yesterday that senior brother said we couldn’t go home whenever we wanted to.”
Li Xiuchen said unhappily, “You’ll be able to go home sooner or later.”
When Li Xiuchen spoke those words, he didn’t spare any glance for Liu Xiaoxiao, making this little girl, who wasn’t even 10 years old yet, feel very hurt.
Liu Xiaoxiao didn’t know what was going on with her Chen-gege. Before Leiting Road, Chen-gege had always treated her with special care. In the past three years, he would always care about and cherish her. But nowadays, Li Xiuchen seemed like he never wanted to pay attention to her. She followed Li Xiuchen so she could let her parents live out their days comfortably, but she didn’t recognize this person at all.
In a moment, every kind of bitter emotion sprang up from her heart. After all, she was only an eight or nine year old little girl. Liu Xiaoxiao blinked, and tears fell from her eyes. But once she opened her eyes, she saw that lively white-clothed beautiful person, and widened her eyes in surprise. She shouted loudly, “Big sister! Big brother Chen, come look! It’s the big sister who saved us!”
Though Liu Xiaoxiao’s voice wasn’t quiet at all, most of the disciples there had refining levels higher than hers, so their hearing was excellent, hearing her words very clearly.
“Big… big sister? This little girl called senior brother Luo a big sister?”
“Hahahaha, really, our senior brother Luo is that charming and carefree. Indeed he is the man of countless women’s dreams, in all thirty six prefectures.”
“The first day I entered Tai Hua Mountain I thought senior brother Luo was some senior sister who liked to wear men’s clothes, he is truly very good-looking…”
Upon hearing these words, Luo Jianqing immediately looked distracted. Astonished, he lowered his head to look at the young girl in the arena, only seeing the latter tightly hugging her Chen-gege’s arm, happily waving her arm continuously.
He was thin and a meter taller than her, yet this little girl who was like a small bean sprout, called him a big sister?!
A young man in black clothes chuckled, and moved close to Luo Jianqing to say in his ear, “Senior brother, this little girl has an excellent way of looking at things.”
Luo Jianqing glanced at him while his head was down. The black-clothed young man immediately spread his hands innocently, not saying another word. Luo Jianqing returned to calmly sweeping his eyes over the arena, and his junior brothers and sisters who had been whispering quietly quickly shut up as well.
However, there were still people who were secretly sending voice transmissions, conversing in stealth. Luo Jianqing could guess what they were saying even with his eyes closed. His lips turned up in a small smile, and walked up to the middle of the tall platform, accepting a white crystal into his upturned palm.
Beneath the glorious and brilliant sunlight, the tall, handsome young man wearing a silver-lined white chang pao surveyed his junior brothers and sisters with a mild gaze. His extremely fair face seemed as carefree as a bird, so beautiful that people couldn’t take their eyes off him. In reality, his powerful and dominating aura made people think twice about their actions, having no choice but to gaze at him with reverence.
Luo Jianqing lightly waved the white crystal in his hand, saying, “The six peaks of Tai Hua Mountain accepting disciples in the all-peak examinations is a major event during this important time. Therefore, you must avoid any secret underhanded behavior by all means. If this voice transmission stone lights up, don’t blame my ruthlessness when I put you under my sword. I’ll send you to see your gentlest senior sister Wei.”
The crowd of disciples shut up immediately. “…”
On the Siguo Cliff far away, Wei Qiongyin was silent as she was helplessly being ridiculed. “…”
The black-clothed young man next to him said, “Hehe, senior brother, you really abuse your position. We can’t even send voice transmissions? And our gentlest senior sister Wei? If senior sister Wei was so gentle, then no man under the heavens would be more infatuated than me.”
Luo Jianqing turned his head to look at his own junior brother, and said seriously, “Fourth junior brother, I could pass on what you just said to third junior sister.”
Xie Zizhuo’s face flooded with fright. “Senior brother Luo you’re a bully!!!”
Luo Jianqing smiled wordlessly.
This was just a brief interlude, as after a short period of time, the all-peak examinations officially began after Luo Jianqing’s announcement.
24 new disciples drew lots to fight on-stage one after another, as previously, to demonstrate their progress in cultivation over the past ten days to the senior brothers and sisters of the six peaks. The winner could continue in the next competition, and if they were talented enough, they could even be taken in by an elder as their last disciple.
The disciples that were accepted must not have any cultivation base, even if they were a young master or young lady of a large family. At most, they were allowed to learn self-defense techniques, but weren’t allowed to have even a bit of spiritual power. Thus, the all-peak examination this time was to see every disciple’s strength and their effort during the ten days, which was unusually fair.
Anyway, these disciples didn’t have any cultivation base, so fights like these weren’t anything interesting.
Most of the female disciples secretly looked at the platform towards the eminent white-clothed senior brother. Luo Jianqing was completely calm, playing with the sound transmission stone in his hands. His lips carried a smile, and his expression serene, as he looked at what was happening on the arena.
After a long time, it was finally time for the boy with ordinary constitution, the unexpectedly fortunate Li Xiuchen, to come up to the platform. Luo Jianqing’s hands suddenly came to a halt, which Xie Zizhuo keenly noticed. He turned to look at Li Xiuchen, and said with a low smile, “It seems that senior brother is very interested in that boy with the worst constitution out of everyone here.”
Luo Jianqing raised an eyebrow. “Do you think he can win?”
Xie Zizhuo laughed out loud. “If he won, I would practice seclusion for a year!”
Luo Jianqing waved a hand. “You don’t have to be so dramatic. Accompanying your senior sister Wei at Siguo Cliff is good enough.”
Xie Zizhuo’s eyes were wide open. “Senior brother Luo, you’re a bully!!!”
Luo Jianqing’s lips raised in a soft smile, seeming to be completely relaxed. However, even Xie Zizhuo didn’t know that Luo Jianqing’s gaze had always been fixed on Li Xiuchen. Watching this mediocre, ordinary boy walk up to the arena with a gloomy face, Li Xiuchen stared at the opponent across from him with a complicated look.
Luo Jianqing’s smile slowly dwindled, a dark glint flashing through his clear and limpid eyes.
“…You don’t have anything of that kind, Li Xiuchen. What will you do now?”