It’s true, how could a fourteen-year-old prepubescent boy, much less sentenced with layers of crimes, be compared with the only twenty-eight-year-old yet highly regarded Imperial Preceptor Shen Jun Qing?
Shen Jun Qing chuckled, his expression turning somewhat perplexed, “You’re right, he’s only a child. Comparing myself with him, I must be going crazy…”
He paused for a second, the smile on his face speedily fading away.
He asked, “Then tell me, I am clearly superior compared to Qin Jue in all categories. So then why is he so adamant on following Qin Jue, rather than being here with me?”
This was a question Wen Ling couldn’t answer. As she saw it, Xie Lin Lang was completely looking for trouble for herself. If it was her, she would never pick what Xie Lin Lang had picked!
“Forget it.” Shen Jun Qing hadn’t expected her to answer anyway. He simply lowered his eyes, rubbing his temples, murmuring to himself in a troubled tone, “If he wants to repay the favors himself that badly, then so be it. It’s just…I was originally going to let Qin Jue keep his life, but it seems like there’s no such need anymore.”
*
Qin Jue quickly jumped over a boulder, evading the tiger’s attack! But the opponent was too fast. Even if Qin Jue’s body was in its top condition, he wouldn’t have been the tiger’s match, much less with the body full of injuries!
Xie Lin Lang held onto a piece of rock in her hand, bouncing it up and down on her palm. During the duration of the battle, Qin Jue’s movements have already become faster and faster. His face was flushed due to his fever, yet his eyes only grew clearer. She was very familiar with this type of situation, he was very close to reaching his enlightenment.
Seeing that Qin Jue slipped through his grasp once again, the spotted-tiger fumed!
Its movements became more and more impatient, and his bites also became quicker and quicker!
Qin Jue’s stamina was slowly being worn down. If he’s unable to finish the battle soon, this place will be his grave!
Thinking thus, he backed up towards a giant boulder, trapping himself into a corner. Seeing this situation, the tiger lowered its body and without letting go of this opportunity, it pounced towards Qin Jue!
At a hair’s breadth away, with one hand, Qin Jue propelled himself onto the giant boulder. And with no time to react, the tiger ran straight into the boulder!
This time, the impact had been severe on the tiger. While it was still standing, it shook its head constantly.
Qin Jue, who had now been forced to the extreme by the tiger, kneeled down on the boulder and laughed. The moment his laugh sounded, the tiger lifted its head. Then, taking this opportunity, Qin Jue forcefully scattered the powder that he had prepared in his hand a long time ago!
Out of all of his sneak attacks, this had been his only chance. Qin Jue’s powder scattered into its eyes, directly blinding the tiger’s eyes…
An ear-piercing howl immediately rang in the air and throughout the ravine. Qin Jue watched as the tiger ran left and right in disarray, directly collapsing dead on the ground in a short while. Qin Jue’s body finally relaxed seeing this, because he had already run out of any sort of poison in his possession…
The running blood had completely soaked into his attire. Once again, he had forced himself into an extreme situation and had managed to escape death by a hair’s breadth again.
This time, his strength was completely drained and he laid on top of the boulder, not able to move even an inch. Originally, he had even wanted to go down and skin the tiger, then give it to Xie Lin Lang as a gift… But it was no use, he truly was way too tired…
Just when his head became dizzier and heavier and he was about to pass out, the bush behind him suddenly shook! He lifted his eyes in alarm, only to see a huge black tiger pounced into the air, heading straight for him!
The sound of the tiger’s roar was almost deafening to the ear! He should have been moving to avoid the attack, but his body was completely drained of strength! He could only watch as the tiger’s bite became closer and closer, and then even closer!
At this moment, a piece of rock came flying through the air, soaring past the side of his face and hitting straight onto the tiger!
Originally, even if the rock had landed on the tiger, it still would have reflected onto Qin Jue’s body due to inertia.
But it was as if that tiny piece of rock held onto an unimaginable massive amount of energy, the moment the rock struck the tiger, the two forces collided, causing the giant tiger body to stop in midair and both fell straight down!
Seeing the danger of death instantly come and go, Qin Jue, gasped desperately for breath, not having expected that he would survive yet another threat!
Who was it that rescued him? Was it Xiao Xi?
He wanted to look, but his vision blacked out and he collapsed on the boulder. Only after a while did Xie Lin Lang finally gradually walk out.
An unusual flush appeared on her face. There was white smoke coming from the hand she shot out the rock with. But under the usage of Buddha beads, it soon returned to its original state. She jumped onto the boulder and checked Qin Jue’s situation.
She had to admit, being able to kill a tiger under his current condition, she had a whole new level of respect for Qin Jue.
Thinking as such, she lifted him in her arms while muttering, “As expected, a human’s potential is limitless. As the saying goes, one would rather pick on the aged old people than pick on the poor youngsters…”
* (This translation was brought to you by LeafInBloom on Patreon and Sleepy Translations.)
The next time Qin Jue opened his eyes, he was already in a cave. His awareness was originally vaguely dazzled, but instantly jumped up after hearing the sound of movement!
Not bad. Having been through almost ten days of training, he’s had major improvements as expected.
“You’re…Xie Lin Lang?”
Seeing Xie Lin Lang carrying a bunch of firewood and walking into the cave, Qin Jue couldn’t wrap his mind around it. Strange…before he lost consciousness, he clearly remembered someone being able to kill the second tiger in only one move. That person, could it have been Xie Lin Lang?
But if it was her, having such a powerful force, why hasn’t she displayed it before? Since they had grown up together, he originally thought that he had more or less understood her. In the end, were all of the appearances she had shown before a facade?
Then how much of what’s left was the truth?
As all sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind, his expression became more and more disturbed.
And Xie Lin Lang, after placing down the firewood, seeing the still expression that Qin Jue looked at her with, she quickly lifted her hand and flicked his head!
Her action caught Qin Jue completely off-guard. Then he watched Xie Lin Lang put her hands on her hips.
“Take those dark thoughts in your brain and keep them hidden away! If there’s something you’re not understanding then voice it out! If I’m able to answer then I will answer. I hate it so much when people keep problems bottled up in their mind and then form a misunderstanding on their own! Rather than guessing random possibilities by yourself, you might as well ask me now!”
Having said that, she crouched down and added wood to the fire. Then she placed the already-cleaned wild chicken onto the skewers, ready for roasting!
After being flicked on his head, the paranoid and sensitive mood he originally had slowly faded away. He wrinkled his brows and looked at her.
“You killed the tiger?”
“Yep.”
“You have so much power, so why have you never shown it before?”
Now this question was a little complicated to answer…
Xie Lin Lang thought for a bit, furrowed her brows, and only spoke after a while after having found the right words.
“My power, in actuality, is very mediocre. Very mediocre, just as I have shown it to be.”
Hearing this, Qin Jue clearly didn’t believe her words.
“But…my internal force is very strong. However, this internal force doesn’t belong to me. So if I use it recklessly, it’s easy for me to lose control. That’s why I won’t use it usually if I don’t need to. And even if I use it, I will only use it momentarily.”
Qin Jue couldn’t understand, what did she mean by if she can’t use it but can use it momentarily?
Seeing him like this, Xie Lin Lang unfolded her hand and gave him an example, “Okay, let me phrase it in a different way! Let’s just pretend that there’s a monster living inside my body. I’m able to use its powers, but if I use it, I will become a monster too. That’s why I either don’t use the power, or I have to use it carefully so that it doesn’t detect me…
We’ll use the tiger today as an example. A single tiger is no problem for me since I finished the battle very fast. Killing two tigers is a larger stretch for me, but the monster in my body could possibly awaken. But if I were to kill three or even four tigers, then it will definitely not make it past the monster. Once it has woken up, the tiger is done for, and I am also done for. If I phrase it like this, does it make more sense now?”