Chapter 11

You Are An Immortal of the Outer Ninth Layer

The stone house was pitch-black, cold, and quiet.

Holding Wen Jing by his waist, Jun YanZhi dropped out of the sky. His face was expressionless: “…We’ve arrived.”

“Many thanks senior brother Jun.”

Wen Jing’s feet landed on the ground and he quickly headed towards the inside of the house.

Lighting a candle, he could see large bulge under the quilt on the bed.

Wen Jing softly and quietly picked up the large tortoise and stood with him in his arms.

Black round eyes looked at him. Neither helping nor resisting, his four legs waved in the air.

Firmly holding the tortoise, he headed out, then looked back. Within the house was already standing a single slender figure. The candle-light gave him a somewhat hazy expression as he slowly looked around.

Wen Jing handed the large tortoise over to Jun YanZhi. He patted its head: “This room is a bit empty.”

“It was originally meant to hold fifteen people. It’s only natural that it’d feel empty.” (2)

Jun YanZhi received the tortoise but remained still with no sign of leaving.

Wen Jing gave him a blank look. He wasn’t going anywhere, did he plan remaining as a guest?

He decided to feel him out and asked: “Senior brother Jun doesn’t need to go back home? Did you want to sit and chat?”

He had believed he would take his leave, he didn’t expect Jun YanZhi to say: “That would be good.”

Saying this, he sat down on the chair at the table with the tortoise on his lap.

Wen Jing sat down a little absent-mindedly. Although he was happy, he didn’t have anything to talk about. For a short while there was silence as he knit his brows trying to think of something to say.

Jun YanZhi calmly asked: “What are you thinking about? You seem distressed.”

Wen Jing quietly hung his head, saying: “I have something I can’t figure out.”

“What is it?”

“Wen RenMu of Tian Heng peak appears to be a very good person and an upright gentleman. Why would he be unable to distinguish right from wrong and support Wu Ying’s claims?”

Jun YanZhi lightly said: “…it’s not an issue with moral standing. It’s that he’s mediocre and incompetent. He arrogantly shields his shortcomings and extends this behavior to his subordinates. He was easily deceived by Wu Ying and was convinced by his one-sided story. With this partiality, he felt that we were the ones bullying Wu Ying.”

Wen Jing slowly nodded: “Then that means everyone from Tian Heng peak were also blinded?”

“… more or less. If Wu Ying had dared to speak the truth, very likely that there wouldn’t be too many people out to support him. Not being able to manage a spirit beast is a fault that’s easy to excuse. However to deliberately release the spirit beast so that it came to steal our spirit gra.s.s would be malicious and thus being injured would serve him right.”

“Unfortunately we have no evidence of his bad intentions.”

“Right, we don’t have any proof.”

Jun YanZhi lowered his head for a long time. It was unclear what he was thinking. Suddenly he picked up the large tortoise and slowly stood up, warmly saying: “It’s late. You still aren’t going to bed?”

“Eh, yes.” Wen Jing also stood up.

He had thought that Jun YanZhi was planning to leave but he remained motionless. Wen Jing looked at him, not knowing what he wanted to do. How would he sleep when his guest still hadn’t left?

They looked at each other when suddenly he began to feel somewhat sleepy. Wen Jing felt his eyes becoming heavy and he yawned, and said: “I’ll send senior brother Jun off.”

“No need, you’re sleepy, lie down. I’ll see myself out.” The sound of his voice was soft and mild.

“Um…that’s good. Take care senior brother Jun.” He vaguely felt that Jun YanZhi blew out the candle and the room became dark. He heard the sound of someone moving towards the door and then heard it open and close.

Wen Jing was so tired he couldn’t open eyes eyes. In a daze, he threw himself on the bed, covered himself with the quilt, and soon after there was the steady sound of breathing.

After a while, near the door, the shadow of a person stirred. Holding a large tortoise it slowly approached Wen Jing. He sat at the beside, his expression enigmatic.

“Lu Jing, are you asleep?”

The youth on the bed didn’t move but only uttered a vague sound: “Mm”.

“How old are you?”

“Thirteen…”

“Who is your eldest senior brother?”

“…. Liu QianMo.’

“Very good… …” Jun YanZhi’s eyes were half closed and his mood unreadable. With a gentle sound he softly spoke. In his voice was a thread of coldness: “Lu Jing, what is your purpose in approaching me?”

The person in the quilt was quiet for a good while.

“What is your goal? Tell me.” His voice was inviting and enticing, soft and slow.

“No goal, admire you… …”

Jun YanZhi looked slightly startled. Apparently he hadn’t predicted this answer.

His brows gathered together: “Do you know who I am?”

“Know…”

Jun YanZhi’s eyes showed a trace of pain. His hand traced Wen Jing’s neck. It seemed like it could be snapped with a gentle motion. He said in a soft voice: “Who am I?”

“You are….”

The slender fingers gathered slightly as he held his breath.

“An immortal of the outer ninth layer….”

Jun YanZhi frowned and slowly dropped his hand, his head bowed. His brows creased deeply: “…Other than this, do you have any other goal?”

“No…. ah, there is….”

“What goal?” His gaze fell on his body again.

“Want to know, who you finally end up with….” He had bought the VIP chapter but hadn’t been able to read it. In his dream he felt wronged.

Jun YanZhi silently stood up and looked intently at Wen Jing, his expression enigmatic.

He stood for a long time in the dark and in the end he walked out while holding the tortoise.

♦

After that night, Jun YanZhi didn’t reappear, but on the contrary someone else from Hui Shi peak began to gradually become familiar with him.

Gui XinBi frequently sought him out to practice together. Although he had a poisonous mouth and often lectured him, he nevertheless showed him a few moves including a wind technique.

When Wen Jing was criticized, Mo ShaoYan hadn’t said a word, but later suddenly sent a technique manual without any explanation.

Liu QianMo still met with Wen Jing every fortnight. His pointers were different than Gui XinBi and often caused him some confusion.

On a winters day early in the morning, heavy snow floated down like goose feathers. At that time, Wen Jing was cultivating within his stone house. From outside came the sound of Mo ShaoYan’s slow voice: “Lu Jing, come out. I’m here to bring you out to play.”

Wen Jing looked at the large tortoise on his bed. This tortoise had spent ten days with Jun YanZhi and then had run back. It had been here for the last two weeks with the seeming intention to occupy his bed for the long term. He wrapped the large tortoise in a quilt, placed a plate of food in front of him and walked out.

Once he came out, he saw fifth senior brother Gui XinBi, second senior brother He Ling, and eighth senior brother Mo ShaoYan, each wearing only an unlined garment while not appearing at all concerned with the cold.

Gui XinBi said: “What are you doing all day long in that house? Today we’ll be taking you out to find spirit gra.s.s.”

Wen Jing promptly put on his jacket: “What spirit gra.s.s are we looking for?”

Gui XinBi said: “Xun Yan mountain range has many kinds of spirit ginseng that only runs around during the winter. We’re going out to see if we can catch any.”

Snow mountain jade ginseng? Wen Jing was a little excited.

“Snow mountain jade ginseng has a dark green body, is about five or six inches long, is fond of playing in the heavy snow, and moves very fast. When catching it, one must not injure its body and if used to make tea it promotes great improvement in cultivation.”

——taken from 《A Calamity for All Living Things》Chapter Eight.

Gui XinBi and the two others used the wind technique to rise into the air. Wen Jing also used the same technique to make a wobbly ascent.

The mountains extending into the distance were covered with snow. Beneath their feet were deep ravines tens of thousands of fathoms deep. A stimulating and refreshing cold wind blew.

Four individuals flew into the mountains. Suddenly the snow rippled, it seemed there were a few small animals moving under the snow as they swept past. He Ling quickly threw himself down and rummaged within the snow.

He brushed the snow from his body as he stood up. In his hand was a dark green looking mountain ginseng struggling to bite him.

He Ling asked: “Who wants it?”

Wen Jing promptly raised his hand.

He Ling coldly threw the mountain ginseng at him and then once again flew up to look for more.

Wen Jing packed the mountain ginseng into a small bottle. Listening to it strike the jade bottle ‘dong dong‘ with an echoing noise, he asked: “Second senior brother didn’t want what he caught?”

Mo ShaoYan said: “Second senior brother caught this mountain ginseng in order to practice his accuracy, not to consume it.”

Gui XinBi said: “Do you think everyone is like you who hasn’t seen anything of the world?”

Mo ShaoYan said very slowly: “Fifth senior brother, will it kill you to say a little less? Behind his back senior brother praises him for being honest and charming, but when you meet with him you find him bothersome. Can’t you be consistent?”

Gui XinBi’s face turned to stone and decided to ignore the two individuals.

The three people flew somewhat slowly, He Ling had long ago disappeared from sight. Suddenly from the depths of the forest came the sounds of a few people making a commotion accompanied with the sound of breaking branches.

“He Ling, are you s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around again!”

“Needless to say, it really is Hui Shi peak making an appearance!”

Gui XinBi tensely thought: ‘We’re at the border of Hui Shi and Tian Heng. It might be another incident.’

They promptly flew over only to see He Ling facing three individuals. Among them was Wu Ying. At this moment he really seemed as if he’d been given a huge shock, his eyes were lifeless as he wordlessly stared at He Ling.

Hanging from He Ling’s hand was a golden spirit beast. His face was cold without saying a single word.

Author mentioned making changes to the previous chapter due to reader feedback.

Translator notes:

The chapter t.i.tle was my best guess. It definitely had the words ‘you, of, nine, and immortal’…. and a couple others. As to how they fit together…I don’t remember if they specified Jun YanZhi’s cultivation level but I was thinking it may refer to that.Either one could be talking and responding. I couldn’t really tell which.I did a quick scan of the chapters to see who’s who. Here’s what I came up with.Eldest: Liu QianMo (good personality)

Third: Peng Shao

Fifth: Gui XinBi (poisonous mouth, tsundere?)

Seventh:Gu JinPing (quarrels with Mo ShaoYan)

Ninth:?

Tenth:Lu Jing (Wen Jing/MC)

Surprise chapter! The beginning was interesting to I just kept going. It helps that it was a smaller chapter and I kind of wanted to make up for the long wait.