Coming in through the door was the unrestrained young master looking Chen Yuanhao and the normally taciturn, but bound to hit the nail on the head once he opens his mouth, Qiu Tu.<sup>1</sup>\n
The two people, both belonging as Qiguan Rui’s underlings, had come in to report their work today. \n
Gu Bai saw the two people, and felt a little strange.\n
Hey, Laozi<sup> </sup>doesn’t have any friendly relations with them, why have they come running here?<sup>2</sup>\n
Then he saw the two men salute towards Qiguan Rui, “Master.”\n
……Ah shit. \n
Gu Bai suddenly understood.\n
Fuck! The psychopath had long already entered a secret liaison with them!\n
Gu Bai sighed, and felt his own stupidity.<sup>3</sup>\n
He had naively thought that while the psycho was Gu Xiao Shan, he had been inseparable with him everyday as a body with a shadow, but he didn’t expect that when he wasn’t paying attention the plot had already developed to look so wretched. \n
—— Does he still think that the psychopath really hadn’t done anything?\n
Think about how he slept like the dead every night! Then think about all that time during his two months of retreat, aye!\n
That period of time was enough for the plot to salvage itself.\n
In the past, Gu Bai never thought about it carefully, so he inevitably disregarded many things, but now that he was pondering it carefully, those things were just too obvious.\n
—— In the end he was still the author who wrote the original work, with a slight comparison of experiences after coming to the academy, everything became perfectly clear!\n
For example, that large, meticulously constructed bed, the psycho definitely must have made his own underlings expend their labour to prepare; for example, some operation funds……the psycho may not have, but before they had discovered the cave containing Qian Kun’s Martial Emperor heritage ah!<sup>4</sup>\n
Gu Bai felt that Gu Xiao Shan would obediently listen to him, but if it was the psycho, he was sure to outwardly comply agreeably, but secretly oppose him behind his back. \n
However, he had originally wanted to leave it for the psycho protagonist he wrote under his pen after all, although this progress didn’t come as no surprise, the final result was evidently correct, and it didn’t really matter……right. \n
Within just a few short seconds, Gu Bai’s big brain was already functioning at lightning speed after restarting, and he thought through and understood many things clearly.\n
But even if he understood clearly, what could he do?\n
Scraping by life in the hands of a psychopath was truly not easy ╮(╯▽╰)╭\n
It was Chen Yuanhao and Qiu Tu’s first time coming to this courtyard after taking refuge under Qiguan Rui.\n
They naturally knew that this was the residence of City Lord Ziche Shubai of Tiandu City, a city which appeared to set itself high above the masses, with a military value that was considerably outstanding, moreover they didn’t know for what motive the master they followed had to always follow behind with the identity of a personal bodyguard, so they also didn’t come over to cause trouble. \n
But in the past few days they received an order from the Master, saying that in the future they should come here to report if there was anything important……\n
The two people looked towards the seemingly intimate Gu Bai and Qiguan Rui, then met each other’s eyes. \n
It always seemed like the feeling they gave off now was different from before.\n
That Ziche Shubai……seemed to be very docile towards the Lord?\n
Could it be that the Lord had also conquered this one!\n
Quickly suppressing his thoughts, Chen Yuanhao spoke first, “My Lord, this subordinate has important things to report.”\n
Qiguan Rui responded, “Speak.” But he himself picked up some food with chopsticks, and placed it in Gu Bai’s bowl, “Gege, eat some of this .”\n
Gu Bai then ate that piece of food, there wasn’t a single wave on his face.\n
But from this one action, Chen Yuanhao saw the chain revealed around Gu Bai’s wrist.\n
—— How could he not recognise the Spiritual Restriction Black Iron<sup>5</sup> chains which he personally searched the materials for and personally requested craftsmen to forge!\n
Once again looking at the expression in his master’s eyes……it truly made one’s blood run cold.\n
Silently, a thought flashed through Chen Yuanhao’s mind.\n
Then the next moment =口=\n
Was he thinking too much!\n
Chen · the Supreme God of the Actual Facts · Heavily Burdened · Yuanhao took a deep breath in, and said in a clear loud voice, “This subordinate has heard some information, in ten days, Haoyang City’s City Lord will hold a Python Slaughtering Conference, outstanding figures from all walks of life have received an invitation, any master above Martial Lord stage can participate. This incident has also alerted the head of Qingtian Academy, in order to encourage people with powerful martial arts force at the Academy to enthusiastically participate, if someone can seize first place, they will be bestowed with handsome rewards. Now, there are already a lot of seniors from the Academy vying for a placement in the quota, wanting to enter the competition.”\n
Qiu Tu added on to him, “There are only a hundred placements in total for the Academy.”\n
In other words, even if one signed up as early as possible, they would still need to be selected to go or pull personal connections and all that.\n
So after the two loyal underlings inquired about this piece of news, they immediately came over to report.\n
Gu Bai looked at Qiguan Rui, feeling that he was looking at a huge heap of rewards.\n
——Of course he didn’t want to compete for this reward, but felt like this situation was slightly amusing.\n
Psycho protagonist, Laozi wants to ask for an interview about how you felt when your own subordinates asked with twinkling eyes whether you wanted to enter the troops to slaughter yourself right to your face?\n
Qiguan Rui’s facial expression was very natural, he just raised his eyebrows lightly, and said, “Go get two placements.”\n
His gaze flashed across Ziche Shubai’s body, as if he understood something.\n
It looks like, Master truly really cares about this person \n
Qiu Tu tugged at the somewhat mind-wandering Chen Yuanhao.\n
Chen Yuanhao shot a glance at him: Huh?\n
Qiu Tu’s eyes flickered towards Qiguan Rui’s direction.\n
Chen Yuanhao looked over: “……”\n
Master, does your possessive desire have to be so strong? Don’t tell me what I was just thinking about just then was correct! But falling in love isn’t done like this ah!\n
Chen Yuanhao retracted his gaze honestly, and took his leave of Qiguan Rui with Qiu Tu.\n
With one word from big brother, the little brother broke his legs running → This is talking about them.\n
<sub><sup>translated at niceexistence.wordpress.com</sup></sub>\n
After the two people left, Gu Bai wiped his mouth.\n
Just now, he seemed to see a big wave of plots run across madly like a wild horse with a prolapsed anus.\n
The Python Slaughtering Conference……this thing genuinely shouldn’t have appeared at this time ah!\n
He especially remembered how in the original plot, the psychopath protagonist played the pig to eat the tiger, brushing along the plot and obtaining happy encounters for fooling around with girls on one vein, and on another vein, also two-facedly raising the wind, rain and all that in the Demon Realm<sup>6</sup> for some sort of great plan for a war between cultivators and demons, later it was eventually revealed that the Demon Lord was a descendant of the Sky-Devouring Python, only then did it spark the Demon Suppression Gathering of cultivators all over the realm.\n
And to establish the foundation to unify cultivators for the purpose of slaughtering the Sky-Devouring Python Demon Lord, the Python Slaughtering Conference was held.\n
Moreover the leader of the Python Slaughtering Conference……was undoubtedly the already High-Level Martial Ancestor at that time, Qiguan Rui → One step further and he would reach Martial Venerable.\n
From this, it can be seen that it was basically the greatest plot point of the original work’s conclusion, it connected all the loose threads of the entire text together, and also let the psychopath protagonist become the biggest winner of that Great Cultivator Demon War, surpassing his original level in one swoop, transforming into the rank of the unprecedented Martial Venerable.\n
At this time the entire world no longer held any challenges for the protagonist, numerous high-level masters were swallowed and killed, achieving great harmonious<sup>7 </sup>unity across the entire world.\n
At the same time, the Demon Lord was naturally killed by the Martial Venerable, resulting in the Martial Venerable winning the title of the most legendary person in the world. \n
And then……and then it was that conclusion which was worth being said to have a godly unfolding. \n
Blood sacrifices collapsing the entire world into a void and whatever<sup>8</sup>……\n
But right now?\n
Although Gu Bai’s rank was lower than Qiguan Rui’s, it can also be found that Qiguan Rui’s wasn’t much higher than his\n
——Probably Martial King stage at most?\n
And even if the psycho Martial King-ranked protagonist had the lofty blessing of a gilded Buddha, it would still be impossible for him to reach the level of the original work within just a short few days.\n
Then of course he also couldn’t become the leader of the cultivator’s, and at the same time also couldn’t have a cent of connection with the Demon Realm.\n
So Gu Bai had a kind of “ah this book has skipped over countless incomplete plot points” illusion. \n
Moreover……there were so many high-level martial art’s masters in the world, if they really came over preparing to kill a giant python together, could the psycho protagonist really rely on the protagonist halo that he, this father author, created?\n
Perhaps because Gu Bai’s unintentional gaze was a little weird, Qiguan Rui turned his head over, and slightly smiled, “Didn’t Gege want to ride that giant python, this Python Slaughtering Conference is right at this time, I will get a placement for Gege, surely it can satisfy Gege’s liking.”\n
Gu Bai’s face was paralysed. \n
Can you fucking forget about this?\n
Naturally, obviously, inevitably, it was impossible. \n
After Qiguan Rui said this, he just went on with “Whatever Gege likes I will definitely get for Gege”, “If I can do it for Gege will Gege’s heart be happy”, “If Gege has anything else he likes tell me, once I know I will definitely let Gege satisfy it all”, and so on types of dialogue, from just this one keyword “giant python”, a tedious bombardment came like a repetitious mind-numbing train. And every time he could not go without hearing Gu Bai’s response, otherwise he would smile sinisterly → From Gu Bai’s perspective.\n
Gu Bai could only give him responses of “Mn”, “Happy”, “None”, as a result Qiguan Rui became even more addicted, and continuously prattled away for one hour.\n
How did Laozi never realise this psychopath was a chatterbox before ah!\n
……This couldn’t be because after ravaging his body …he wants to further attack his mentality to attain an unmentionable purpose!\n
You are still fucking going to ravage Laozi’s body! \n
Simply! Want! To! Collapse! \n
Qiguan Rui affectionately looked at Gu Bai, if he wanted to chat with someone, the conversation could definitely become an unending stream. \n
Especially when he realised Gu Bai was obviously already impatiently exercising patience for him, he just couldn’t help but……have even more to say.\n
What could be done? He truly really wanted to see where Ziche Shubai’s bottom line was……\n
Or rather, where Ziche Shubai’s bottom line for Gu Shan — that is, Qiguan Rui, was?\n
Every single time Qiguan Rui would discover that Ziche Shubai treated him very differently from other people. \n
And the more he discovered this kind of difference, the more he wanted to see even more differences. \n
Over and over again, he could see Ziche Shubai’s tolerance for him……it seemed like it was far above his expectations.\n
It has to be said, Qiguan Rui’s observation wasn’t wrong.\n
His previous tolerance for Gu Shan was because Gu Bai cared about this boy as his family, he treated him with the tolerance and pampering of treating a younger brother.\n
And now, his current tolerance for Qiguan Rui, was because Gu Bai’s understanding of the original work’s psycho protagonist unconsciously overshadowed his own lower limit. To put it briefly, he was scared of death, to the extent that he even feared the protagonist he personally wrote out, so in the face of life, he strived hard to have tolerance. And that tolerance was still yet to reach a degree where he was incapable of exercising patience. Furthermore, once in a while, on a rare occasion, he would still subconsciously regard Qiguan Rui as Gu Shan, at these times, it was as if it once again became a tolerance he was perfectly happy to bear. \n
But no matter what, in this world, whether it was Qiguan Rui, or Gu Shan, it goes without saying, to Gu Bai he was the only special exception. \n
After the two people fit their bodies together, they could only become one. \n
And so……\n
Although his chrysanthemum was forcibly burst, Gu Bai knew that he had been determined to have forsaken him, and yet even in such circumstances he didn’t need to fear for his life;\n
Although his spiritual energy had been restricted, Gu Bai knew that he actually hadn’t been parasitised by snake gu, so he was still him.<sup>10</sup>\n
They were the same in that he would suffer punishment, same in that his life would be controlled, but the two were very obviously different.\n
As the author, there wasn’t anyone more clear on this than him. \n
It was precisely because of this, that Gu Bai’s lower limit, was still far far away from reaching his bottom line. \n
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide">\nFOOTNOTES\n1. Previous translator had ‘Chou Tu’, but it is more likely Qiu (仇) for a surname, when pronounced ‘Chou’ it means hatred/enemy, when pronounced ‘Qiu’ it means spouse/companion, and ‘Qiu’ is also the default way the surname is pronounced. Also Qiu Tu just sounds better, but that’s just an opinion.\n
2. 劳资: literally labour and management, like for a payroll office, but it’s actually internet slang for 老子. On the Internet, labour and management generally refer to the word Laozi, which expresses the meaning of looking down on other people and making fun of them (it’s an arrogant way to refer to oneself). Because it is a bit too straightforward to say Laozi directly, and it is not very elegant, and many social networking sites will block some keywords, this Laozi is usually included, so netizens have turned it into labour and capital, representing the same meaning. – From Baidu\n木: mu (wood), kind of sounds like mei (没 – none) but mushy and like if a stupid bear was very dumbfounded (I think), or how it’s pronounced in a dialect that mandarin speakers find funny\n肿么: zhongme internet slang for 怎么 (zenme) same reason as above I think.\n
3. 赶脚 (ganjiao- transporting goods with a donkey/mule) is internet slang for 感觉 (ganjue – feel). Because it sounds funny and also reads funny, and some dialects pronounce it this way. I swear these little internet slangs will be the death of me.\n
4. Refer to Chapter 37. For a glossary of martial art skill ranks of this novel, go to the bottom of the footnote.\n
5. 禁武玄铁 (Jin Wu Xuan Tie): literally Black/mysterious iron which restricts the practising of martial arts\n
6. Mo ren (魔人) = Demon (I noticed previous translator preferred using pinyin to portray Wuxia terms, but I like just trying my best to translate them) \n
7. 河蟹 (river crab), a pun for 和谐 (harmony) because internet censorship. (I think it was because harmony was used as an innuendo for sex a lot, otherwise idk)\n
8. 神马 (mythical horse) internet slang for 什么 (what)\n
9. 特么（te me) euphemism for 他妈的 (fuck)\n
10. 武气 (wu qi): I have translated to spiritual energy\n蛇蛊: snake gu, poison in which a little snake goes into victim’s body, allowing QYR to control them\n
\n
Martial Art Levels\n
<ol class="has-small-font-size">
武者 (Wu Zhe) : Martial Artist (I don’t really like this but I can’t think of a less generalised term for something beneath ‘User’, if you think of one feel free to suggest it, but hopefully this term will stay irrelevant as the MC’s all have higher ranks)\n武使 (Wu Shi) : Martial User\n武师 (Wu Shi) : Martial Master\n武君 (Wu Jun) : Martial Lord\n武王 (Wu Wang) : Martial King\n武帝 (Wu Di) : Martial Emperor\n武皇 (Wu Huang) : Martial Sovereign \n武圣 (Wu Sheng) : Martial Saint\n武祖 (Wu Zu) : Martial Ancestor \n武尊 (Wu Zun) : Martial Venerable
</ol>\nI have tried to translate them so you would be able to somewhat tell which is higher and which is lower, and hopefully it will give more significance to the levels than just pinyin. By the way, it’s from lowest to highest ranked.\n
I probably will not footnote internet slang in the future, there’s more than I expected, and doesn’t really add much to the reading experience (unless it’s like funny or a relevant pun)\n
May be updating on a casual basis, picked up because I want to finish reading this in English (the MTL is a pain…why? internet slangs), my other project will be given more love though (after I finish exams, truthfully I probably shouldn’t have started this right now but it was just frustrating not being able to read it). Will be making it all pretty and <s>fixing up with hyperlinks later.</s>\n