Ch9 - Surrounded

The vague and obscure events in the original novel could finally be demystified. Just what were the origins of Shen You and that dead soul? How did the hero avenge him at Ashen Cloud Sword Sect? He would know all that very soon. Xie Zhiwei was eager to witness it with his own eyes. But the original Xie Zhiwei preferred to remain aloof from the world, so his character settings would collapse if he agreed immediately. He adjusted his expression and silently lowered his head.

Chu Zhishi set his peeled bamboo shoot back in its basket. “I knew second senior brother wouldn’t want to leave, so I said I wanted to go instead.”

Xie Zhiwei sucked in a cold breath and looked at him. “You go?”

Chu Zhishi crossed his arms smugly. “How’s that? Aren’t I considerate?”

Considerate my @!^#34, who told you to be a busybody? You haven’t read the original novel. How would you know the bitter sufferings of a reader? You’re not an actor either, so you wouldn’t understand the meaning of “stealing the show!”

“Did Sect Leader Senior Brother agree?” Xie Zhiwei asked.

“That he didn’t,” Chu Zhishi’s gaze flickered.

Xie Zhiwei silently exhaled, but Chu Zhishi insisted, “Second senior brother, you can pretend to be sick or say you’re too busy. Sect Leader Senior Brother definitely—”

“No need,” Xie Zhiwei raised a hand. “Sect Leader Senior Brother must have his reasons for such arrangements.”

Chu Zhishi was shocked. “Are you really going down the mountain? You’ve never traveled far from the sect.”

Xie Zhiwei gave a long sigh and murmured, “I thought about many things last night. Since I’ve accepted a disciple, I can’t just do what I want like in the past. Mu He is an otherworldly talent. Not only am I going to teach him everything I know, I’ll take him off the mountain and show him some of the world.” Using the hero as a shield is really convenient.

“It can’t be easy bringing along a disciple.” Chu Zhishi sighed back. “Second senior brother treats a single disciple this way. Imagine how hard I must have it with tens of thousands of them.”

Tch, you don’t know how carefree you are. All you do is act in front of your sect sibling while ordering around your disciples everyday! Don’t be so smug! It could even be a narcissistic forum post: “Everyday I wake up in a city 50 kilometers squared, surrounded by tens of thousands of strong male disciples. But that doesn’t make me happy…”

Xie Zhiwei’s face only showed sympathy. “It truly is hard.”

Chu Zhishi gazed at a distant cloud. “But I’m still satisfied with what I have. See, I’m amazing.”

Xie Zhiwei’s mouth twitched. What a faker. You get 10 points, but lose 9,990 for your ego.

A few daoist novices emerged from the grove with two loaded baskets. Chu Zhishi was quite pleased with their large and tender shoots. “Not bad. I might as well bring them with me while escorting you to Sect Leader Senior Brother. Someone, come.”

He’d hardly finished when they heard the sound of swords flying through the air. These were Chu Zhishi’s disciples who showed up after being summoned. Xie Zhiwei only felt envious. Why couldn’t he transmigrate to someone like Chu Zhishi and just follow the plot normally? All Chu Zhishi did was pretend and hug the hero’s thigh, but in the end he even got a good ending as the book’s second biggest winner. Xie Zhiwei’s rundown house and a few errand-running novices were almost too tragic to bear. Even the solely outstanding Mu He had run off somewhere to walk Dog.  I wonder if he’s run into… His thoughts trailed off.

Chu Zhishi’s disciples landed and paid their respects to their master and Xie Zhiwei. One said, “Second Martial Uncle, bad news. Junior Brother Mu He got into a fight outside Summit City.”

A second smaller voice added, “You’re wrong. He’s getting beat up.”

“Then why didn’t you guys stop them?” Chu Zhishi scolded him before Xie Zhiwei could speak.

The disciples hesitated before answering, “We disciples don’t dare. The one beating him up…is Pill Furnace City’s Senior Brother Bai.”

Chu Zhishi creased his brows. “That fellow’s getting more and more outrageous. Second senior brother, what say you…”

Without a word, Xie Zhiwei had already summoned Qingping Sword and flown off.

Not bad, not bad, the hero’s getting beat up. Let’s see the colorful aftermath on He Zheng’s face.

But he quickly reconsidered his mental state. This is wrong. The hero’s my disciple now and they all say you have to consider its master before beating up a dog. Instead of feeling sorry or angry, I’m actually celebrating his misfortune. That’s more villainous than the villains.

Still…it’ll only be the hero making others suffer in the future. Stuff like this won’t happen again, so I might as well watch while I can!

—

Outside Summit City. Xie Zhiwei hid behind a layer of clouds to watch a group of people in the distance surrounding a figure collapsed in the center. At the fringes of the circle stood one male and one female.

Without a doubt, the hero was the figure on the ground. As for the two presiding over it all, one was Bai Yu and the other a girl with a waist like a water snake: Cheng Daoxiu. Mu He was sprawled on the ground and not moving much. Still, the circle of figures didn’t stop kicking and beating him up.

Bai Yu smiled coldly. “Our Bai Clan was the one who raised up Xie Zhiwei in the first place. Are you hoping for him to save you?”

Mu He was wearing a lightly colored daoist robe that Xie Zhiwei gave him yesterday. It was currently covered in dust and grime and had already turned gray, to say nothing of the bloodstains on the fabric.

Motherf****, they beat him that badly? He could lose his life.

Xie Zhiwei lost all interest in watching the show.

Looks like Bai Yu’s venting all his resentment on Mu He. After all, he’s never openly beat him in the novel before.

Mu He’s body was riddled with injuries, but he still looked up stubbornly. “It’s disrespectful to call shizun directly by name!”

Although bloody bruises and streaks of hair obscured his face, his eyes were still bright. Cheng Daoxiu had been playing the coquette, but Mu He’s stare made her suddenly feel like she was a nasty villain despite her pity act. She subconsciously broke eye contact and wiped away some tears. “Senior brother, it’ll definitely leave a scar on my hand.” A row of teeth marks still oozing blood stood out on the back of her palm. Her voice turned hateful. “Second Martial Uncle’s disciple has no sense of propriety at all! He actually butted heads with senior brother over a cat!”

Bai Yu was incensed by Mu He’s refusal to bow his head. Cheng Daoxiu’s words were simply fuel for the fire. “Stop,” he ordered and the lackeys halted their assault, wondering what he’d do.

Bai Yu strode over while Mu He cradled the animal in his arms even tighter. Slowly, he drew out his sword. At this, the others exchanged looks and even Cheng Daoxiu spoke up. “Senior brother, are you going to kill him? What if Second Martial Uncle finds out?”

Everyone grew uneasy as the stakes intensified. It was a crime to murder someone from the same sect, but the sect leader wouldn’t do much against someone of Bai Yu’s status. The rest of them, though…

Bai Yu sneered. “Will he dare fall out with the Bai Clan over a dead body?”

So speaking, he raised his sword. Mu He didn’t even blink as the Black Lotus within his body began to spin at high speeds and fill the air around him with strong killing intent. When the sword was only three inches from his neck, the hostile aura of the Black Lotus concentrated itself into a dot in the center of his forehead.

Suddenly, a stream of turbulent energy shot out at Bai Yu’s sword and sent him staggering back and reeling. He had never suffered such a blow to his pride as a self-proclaimed son of the heavens, much less in front of Cheng Daoxiu.

Eyes shone with murderous intent as his head whipped back. “Who’s there!” He refused to believe a fresh bumpkin like Mu He could have counterattacked so quickly.

In truth, Mu He didn’t have time to act. Instead, a figure landed in front of Bai Yu and intoned, “It’s me.”

“Ah, Second Martial Uncle!”

“Second Martial Uncle is here.”

“What do we do?”

The group began to panic. Mu He saw the crow gray daoist robes beyond his bloodshot eyes and tried to climb to his feet. “Shizun.”

Bai Yu had no fear. He was angry that Xie Zhiwei had lost him dignity and glared back. “So it’s you.”

Unexpectedly, Xie Zhiwei ignored him for the first time and looked back with a gentle tone. “Does it hurt?” [email protected]#^[email protected]# I’m going to throw up, do I have to act so nauseating, ah.

Mu He clenched his hands. “No. It doesn’t. Shizun, disciple doesn’t hurt at all.”

Xie Zhiwei saw his face full of injuries and sighed. “You still won’t tell master the truth while looking so beat up?” Holy crap, I’m gonna break character. Look at his swollen face! His nose! He Zheng’s fangirls would cry themselves blind hahahaha!

No, I can’t laugh. I have to be serious and respect the hero.

Mu He bit his lower lip and refused to whimper, but tears gathered in his eyes. The smudged bloodstains beneath his eyelids looked particularly wretched. Although Xie Zhiwei knew he was putting on an act, he could still enjoy the show. Turning back, he faced Bai Yu again with a faded smile.

“May I ask why these disciples are beating up a fellow student outside my Summit City?”

Cheng Daoxiu hastened to explain. “Second Martial Uncle, don’t be angry. Today we came with Senior Brother Bai to offer congratulations and ran into Junior Brother Mu along the way. I thought the cat in his arms was very cute and wanted to pet him, but he was naughty and bit me. The other senior brothers spoke up for me and it led to a fight.”

What fight? Girl, he almost lost his life!

The others quickly corroborated her story. “That’s right that’s right, it’s all a misunderstanding.”

“Second Martial Uncle, none of us did it on purpose.”

So you beat a person half to death by accident? What happens if you actually get serious? Would you destroy all of Summit City?

Xie Zhiwei wanted to mock them, but the System immediately cried, “Warning, Xie Zhiwei cannot argue with others. Please comply with the character settings!”

He gave up and asked Mu He at length, “Disciple, is this truly what happened?”

Mu He had already stood up, his arms protectively cradling Dog. Now he stroked the cat’s head and the creature licked his palm in return. If one could ignore his injuries, this would be a harmonious sight.

Xie Zhiwei was now all but certain that this was the cat mentioned in the novel who only favored the hero.

“That’s right,” Mu He murmured, “How could Senior Brother Bai have any grudge with this disciple? He is generous and wouldn’t touch a hair on this disciple’s head no matter how presumptuous or scornful I act.”

He’s the hero all right! Xie Zhiwei silently praised. See him looking all innocent, speaking for the other party while revealing exactly what he means.

Bai Yu was an arrogant fellow. He not only resented bystanders who ignored him, but held grudges against anyone who greeted him too slowly when he passed. Mu He’s last lines were subtly insinuating that he didn’t have the guts to actually hurt him.

As expected, his face fell as he pointed his sword at Mu He. “You think I won’t kill you right here, right now?!”