Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – You Can’t Have Both Brains And Face, That’s Why He Chose To Forgo Face.

Translator: THISBRO

Editor: Mimishijie

Proofreader: Bubbles

The first thing He Ku did when he came out of seclusion was to change the palace name to that sort of name. So naturally, the disciples would gossip.

However, the Palace of Bliss was different from other sects. In the beginning, these demonic cultivators had entered to be closer to He Huan, but later they slowly began to realise that the peaceful and domestic life here was much happier than the life of slaughter outside. For them, as long as He Huan could keep the sect safe then they wouldn’t even care if he directly named it the Xuanmen Righteous Sect.

The majority of the demonic side was already filled with questionable characters, but who told Bu QingYun that he would one day be among them, the number of enemies he had were endless right from the get-go. The moment he entered, he was frequently attacked by several major demonic sects. Although the odds of him surviving were miniscule, he still ended up on top and naturally wiped them all out.

Fortunately, He Huan also exterminated all the righteous sects that later tried to capture him, forming a shaky power balance, only then was the demonic side not subjected to a slaughter.

A difficult few decades passed and the demonic side welcomed a new generation of youths. They amassed enough of an army to try and force He Huan to attack the righteous side, but were shut down through sheer power. Gradually, the demonic cultivators realised that He Huan didn’t care about anything other than cultivating and enjoying his life so they couldn’t rely on him to lead them in their fight to defeat the righteous side, they finally began to settle down and got used to this life where righteous and demonic minded their own businesses.

By himself, He Huan had delicately tweaked the power balance of the Jianghu many times and became known as the current strongest demonic cultivator.

However, although he was the only Calamity Crossing expert on the demonic side that could oppose the Xuanmen Righteous Sect’s zhangmen, his unclear affiliation caused the other demonic sects to only remain at a safe distance. Even if they somehow became closer to him, they still didn’t dare to offend him in fear that this guy would one day lose it and go on a killing spree.

However, even if others weren’t able to guess his intentions, He Ku knew. He Huan had said that back then Bu QingYun’s dao heart was for the world to be at peace. Although he didn’t go by the name Bu QingYun anymore, he was still using his own way to achieve his ‘world peace’.

In the years since He Huan joined the demonic side, not a single great war between good and evil had broken out. Those few tyrannical and sadistic sects had also been suppressed because they made his ‘mood’ sour. Oddly enough, the world was more at peace now than when He Huan was still on the righteous side.

It was exactly because of this that He Ku felt even more indignant for both He Huan and Bu QingYun. Clearly, they were one of the only ones who truly sought to protect the people, yet because of others’ power struggle and schemes, they had to carry the entire world’s hate. While He Huan was able to brush it off and not care about what the people say, He Ku couldn’t.

Although a small part of why he changed the sect’s name was because it was funny, the largest reason was to anger those self-appointed righteous sects that scoffed at He Huan.

They said that He Huan was a shameless demon lord?

Then he just had to put that ‘Mingmen Righteous Sect’ plaque on his front door. Within the next two days he also wanted to counterfeit a batch of Xuanmen Righteous Sect’s uniforms to assign to everyone in the palace. He’d see how those righteous cultivators could flaunt their nobleness and honour then.

He Ku knew that his set of actions was childish, like resorting to spitting on the other children to make trouble because they were unable to fight. He Huan was an adult and wouldn’t do something so classless, but He Ku was still young. Whoever dared to bully his friend would end up with a face of spit, thoroughly disgusting the other party.

A tree without its bark would inevitably die; a person without their face was invincible. Today, he would discard his face and fully play with the Jianghu’s righteous side.

Just thinking about it helped the stuffiness alleviate a bit. He Ku earnestly listened to Xiu Niang as she recited all the information she had on the major sects. Suddenly, he heard that the Heaven’s Pavilion Library offered free medical advice and diagnostics to the normal people on the fifteenth of every month and he ordered, “Go and tell the disciples that know how to use poison and medicine to learn carefully and have them open a free hospital with a poster that says ‘Public Health is Important’.”

Most of the famous doctors in the Jianghu were terrified of demonic cultivators and therefore weren’t willing to offer any aid. This caused quite a few demonic cultivators to know how to heal. But looking at He Ku’s conduct today it was hard to tell whether this was Bu QingYun’s instinctive righteous behaviour or his provocation towards the righteous side. After thinking closely, since the disciples didn’t have anything else to do, she allowed it.

As the two chattered away, You Jiang suddenly barged into the room. The moment his eyes landed on He Ku, who was currently chewing seeds while sitting on the daybed with Xiu Niang, he immediately became excited. “Palace Master, God Thief Kong Kong has been captured. As long as you say the word, I can guarantee that he will never be able to take a single step into our territory ever again!”

This god thief had already repeatedly infiltrated the Palace of Bliss without being discovered. Last time, he even made his way into He Huan’s QingYun Hall, simply looking down on the palace security, but it just so happened that this defensive arrangement was designed by You Jiang. Since being singled out by He Huan in the Main Hall, he had regarded this incident in great shame. In the past month he had practically dug three feet into the entire Jianghu before finally capturing Kong Kong. He’d just finished throwing him into the dungeon before immediately making his way to the Palace Master to report. It was only unfortunate that the one currently reclined on the daybed wasn’t He Huan, so he couldn’t wash his shame away entirely.

Naturally, He Ku didn’t know about the conflict between You Jiang and that God Thief; after all, he didn’t know much about Kong Kong. He could only nod his head and reply, “First lock him up a few days. When He Huan comes out, we’ll talk about it again.”

He Huan had asked him to manage the palace in passing and he really did manage it a bit. All in all, a day’s worth of work really didn’t amount to too much and dealing with it wasn’t that troublesome. Actually, to be honest, how many things under the world could actually be called troublesome as long as he had He Huan’s power supporting him?

He Ku was just thinking this, when suddenly a matter which was actually troublesome was laid in front of him.

He only saw Qian Ren hurry inside, then look slightly surprised at You Jiang for arriving before him, before bowing down. “Palace Master, this subordinate has received word that the Xuanmen Righteous Sect, Myriad Treasures Hall, and Water Moon Manor are currently assembling a Demon Extermination Campaign in Sky Veil Town.”

Demon Extermination Campaign? He had only just finished saying that the world was at peace, when suddenly this situation cropped up. Wasn’t this clearly slapping his face?

The second He Ku heard this, his seeds scattered all over the floor. All the questions circulating through his brain weren’t able to get answers. According to He Huan, all the righteous sects that dared to make problems had already been destroyed. This Myriad Treasures Hall was only focused on business, while the Water Moon Manor was also rarely involved in things like this. How were they suddenly preparing to knock on their doorsteps? They even pulled in the secluded Xuanmen Righteous Sect who had been trying to avoid suspicion these past few decades.

No matter how he thought about it, these days he and He Huan were both busy cultivating in seclusion. Neither of them had gone out to make trouble, so there was no reason for them to suddenly garner public anger. He Ku could only put the blame on the name change he made yesterday and disdained, “The Three Great Sects are only worth this much? Even putting up a plaque is enough to declare war?”

You Jiang’s eyes lit up the moment he heard the Demon Extermination Campaign, even his voice was coated in ambition. He immediately agreed, “Palace Master, these righteous people are just like this. Quickly summon the disciples. We must go and create a bloodbath!”

After a day of interaction, He Ku had realised that fighting and making trouble was all this second enforcer knew. It could be said that he was a model patriot. So naturally, he didn’t take his words seriously, only looking towards the most reliable person, Qian Ren. Sure enough, the head enforcer quickly reported what actually happened, “The Three Great Sects are obviously not stupid enough to fight with a Calamity Crossing cultivator over such a small matter. They said Palace Master has captured the son of the Myriad Treasure Hall’s Patriarch and the Water Moon Manor’s Deputy Manor Lady, Lin Xuan.”

This… He Ku could guarantee that he had never done such a thing, but just thinking about He Huan’s black history of kidnapping Yun Ce, it would still be reasonable to say that he had also kidnapped this Lin Family’s young master.

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

Although his opinion of He Huan was extremely good, with a sense of camaraderie like they had fought against a common enemy, he was also very conscientious towards He Huan’s outrageous acts. So he doubtfully began, “What does that Lin Xuan look like? If he’s a little ugly then I’m definitely innocent.”

“The Lin Family’s young master was born with a beautiful face. In the Jiangnan region, he is rather famous for being an elegant gentleman.”

In just one sentence, He Ku became more and more suspicious of himself. Qian Ren watched as Xiu Niang and You Jiang each revealed a ‘then it’s definitely the Palace Master’ expression, and sighed before continuing, “I heard that this Lin Xuan didn’t like the Myriad Treasures Hall’s techniques and so entered into the Xuanmen Righteous Sect to become Yao JianKe’s disciple. Last month, he suddenly disappeared near Sky Veil Town during his travels. It wasn’t until a few days ago that the Heaven’s Pavilion Library revealed that Palace Master had taken him along with one of their disciples.”

“If I remember correctly, we only have one Xuanmen disciple, right?”

Hearing this, He Ku also understood. His eyes couldn’t help looking out of the window. Just thinking about that Xuanmen disciple’s appearance while scolding him, he lamented, “This really is a case of the wealthy landlord’s idiot son. Just that can be considered an elegant gentleman? It couldn’t be that Jiangnan’s standards for elegance were a little low, right?”

Hearing this, Xiu Niang immediately smiled as she flattered him, “If we’re talking about elegance, then Palace Master is naturally number one in the world.”

He Ku choked when he heard the term ‘elegance’ used to describe himself and saw Qian Ren earnestly look at him before acknowledging, “Palace Master just needs to imagine Yun Ce to know how you were when you were young. Sometimes, you can’t have both brains and face.”

Although the head enforcer was an extremely competent and reliable subordinate, that didn’t affect He Ku’s urge to periodically want to beat him. Did he think he wouldn’t catch the ridicule by saying it this way!? Just which part of him did this murderous disciple of his find irritable? Why was it that with He Huan he would be completely obedient, but when it changed to him he would occasionally poke fun at him? Who could tell him how to inspire a heart of respect in his disciple!? Urgently waiting online!

Although Qian Ren’s occasional barbs would make him depressed, He Ku was still someone who had survived interacting with He Huan’s strange personality on a daily basis. So he was extremely magnanimous, believing that as the elder he needn’t argue with his disciple, it was enough to scold him in his heart. His eyes turned and he suddenly thought of a new idea. “Say, if I were to go, how many righteous cultivators could I beat?”

Qian Ren was extremely familiar with that expression. In the past, whenever his trouble-making shifu would think of any strange ideas while they were out playing he would reveal this expression. Fortunately, over the last few years He Huan had become a lot calmer, so he didn’t have to exhaust himself by running everywhere just to clean up after his shifu.

Now, seeing that this fake shifu was clearly more troublesome than his real shifu, just thinking of all that clean up he would have to do made his face darken. “Forgive me for being blunt but with Palace Master’s current level of cultivation, it is only enough to bully other people’s outer court disciples. If you were to meet any Golden Core disciples…”

Qian Ren believed that his pointed omission at the end was enough to deter this fake shifu, but who knew that he’d unexpectedly ask, “Then what would happen if it were changed to your real Palace Master?”

“This… then other than the Xuanmen-zhangmen, you can bully whoever you want.”

Knowing that he already couldn’t stop them anymore, Qian Ren resignedly answered. Sure enough, when he heard this, He Ku instantly beamed as he slapped the table to show that it was decided. “Good, then we will also go to this Demon Extermination Campaign!”

He just knew that it was going to be like this. Qian Ren massaged his aching temples and attempted his last deterrence, “If I remember correctly, you said that the Palace Master needs to heal for three days.”

He Ku returned a look of doubt at that comment. “Don’t tell me that you enforcers can’t even hold on for two days and even the fodder needs to be taken care of by the Palace Master himself?”

How could You Jiang willingly miss the prospect of going to the Demon Extermination Campaign to make trouble? He immediately vowed, “Palace Master, I didn’t misjudge you! The current you is definitely destined to do great things! This You Jiang will guard you through the journey and eliminate these righteous lackeys!”

Qian Ren knew that, with these two’s personalities, it was impossible to stop them, so he completely stopped trying. Although he had also intended to go to this Demon Extermination Campaign to destroy the righteous alliance, he couldn’t even begin to imagine the headache-inducing mess the unreliable fake Palace Master and over-the-top You Jiang would create together.

As for He Huan, according to his understanding of his shifu, he’d definitely be happy to watch the show. And furthermore, he would unhesitatingly add even more work to his plate.

Finding his situation increasingly grim, Qian Ren knew in his heart that putting He Ku, He Huan, and You Jiang together was going to be much more troublesome than the Three Great Sects. Immediately, he began to seriously bark out orders.

“Xiu Niang, tell Yun Ce to bring along those two, then pick 15 disciples according to their cultivation level. You Jiang, split the disciples that can fly into three groups and have them lay in ambush at the Sky Veil Town. If worse comes to worst, the moment you receive my signal they are to release poisonous gas into the town and kill all the cultivators inside.”

Fortunately, although he was a little too bloodthirsty, You Jiang’s ability to do proper work was good. At once, he began to arrange everything as he had been commanded. Qian Ren’s heart was finally somewhat calmed, before raising his gaze to look at the other big problem currently sitting on the daybed, decisively advising, “As for Palace Master, no matter which you are, please stay here obediently, don’t casually move about.”