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Ch144 - Wendao Festival Competition 2. Zhuang Dog




Su Hansheng was very worried for Zhuang Lingxiu.
The four sacred relics had vanished from heaven and earth, and Zhuang Lingge had returned to human form. If Zhuang Lingxiu got jumped and beaten until his limbs broke, he wouldn’t be able to use dragon blood to reshape his body like before.
Zhuang Lingxiu showed no fear whatsoever, using actions to prove: his dog-like behavior wasn’t because dragon blood backed him up.
This was just his nature.
The crowd cursed even more vigorously.
A Dao cultivator bellowed loudly, “Zhuang Dog, if you’ve got the guts, get on stage with me and fight to the death!”
Zhuang Lingxiu carried himself like an immortal sage, his eyes crinkling gently. “This fellow Daoist, I believe you’re competitor C-37?”
The Dao cultivator sneered coldly. “So what if I am?”
“Perfect,” Zhuang Lingxiu said, methodically straightening his robes with a smile. “In this Wendao competition, you’re disqualified.”
The Dao cultivator: “?”
Everyone: “…”
The Dao cultivator was completely stunned. “On what grounds? I haven’t even competed!”
Zhuang Lingxiu slowly turned half a circle, letting people on three sides see the adjudicator robes on his body, saying gently and elegantly, “On the grounds that I’m an adjudicator appointed by the Ten Great Academies’ deans, and I have this authority.”
The Dao cultivator’s neck turned red with anger. “You!”
Zhuang Lingxiu smiled with crinkled eyes again. “Are there any others who wish to greet this senior brother?”
Everyone was choking with anger but didn’t dare speak out.
The entire arena fell silent as a grave.
Zhuang Lingxiu nodded with satisfaction. “It seems all the junior brothers greatly respect this senior brother. I’m deeply comforted.”
Everyone glared angrily, their lungs about to explode, yet no one dared make a sound.
“Good, the Ten Great Academies Wendao Competition begins,” Zhuang Lingxiu said. Unlike other adjudicators who gave long ceremonial speeches, having intimidated everyone, he opened with a single short sentence and walked leisurely away.
Just as he was about to reach the door leading from the competition stage to the adjudicators’ spiritual retreat, Zhuang Lingxiu suddenly turned back, pointing at the disqualified Dao cultivator.
“Oh, by the way, adjudicators don’t actually have the authority to disqualify someone before competition.”
Everyone froze.
“Fellow Daoist, don’t take offense,” Zhuang Lingxiu said. “I was just joking with you earlier. I wish you great success in winning the championship.”
With that, before anyone could react, he strolled leisurely into the spiritual retreat.
The next instant, resentment from the entire martial arena nearly shot into the clouds. A pile of miscellaneous objects were simultaneously thrown toward where Zhuang Lingxiu had disappeared—if he’d left a moment later, he’d definitely have been buried under that pile of debris, beaten black and blue.
“Zhuang Dog, I must kill you!”
Zhuang Lingxiu listened with satisfaction to those sky-high curses, smiling as he walked from the spiritual retreat toward outside the competition stage, planning to find a safe place to lay low.
Just as he emerged, he heard a familiar voice calling him.
“Senior Brother! Senior Brother Zhuang!”
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“Since Senior Brother Zhuang is here, is Senior Brother about to arrive too?”
Zhuang Lingxiu put on a pitiful, heartbroken expression. “Xiaoxiao and I haven’t seen each other in so long, yet your first words are asking about Bubei? I’m hurt.”
Su Hansheng made an “oh” sound and dutifully asked after him. “Senior Brother Zhuang, why are you so deserving of a beating? Aren’t you afraid those people will gang up and really beat you up?”
Zhuang Lingxiu: “…”
Might as well not have asked.
Zhuang Lingxiu tapped his head, saying calmly, “A bunch of kids who haven’t even grown all their hair—how could they hurt me?”
Su Hansheng covered his forehead, muttering quietly, “But they curse pretty viciously. You heard it just now, right?”
“So what if they curse?” Zhuang Lingxiu raised an eyebrow. “If it doesn’t hurt me one bit, isn’t it just wasted effort? Why should I take it to heart?”
Su Hansheng was in awe.
“Your senior brother should arrive this afternoon,” Zhuang Lingxiu said, roughly tousling Su Hansheng’s head and raising an eyebrow. “So, do you have confidence in today’s competition?”
Su Hansheng said loudly, “Absolutely none!”
Zhuang Lingxiu: “?”
So boldly honest?
Su Hansheng was ready to give up: “There are thirty or forty classmates and junior brothers ahead of me, all with higher cultivation. I can’t even make the top ten.”
Zhuang Lingxiu asked uncertainly, “But I heard from Bubei that the Immortal Lord personally taught you sword forms…”
“My father’s sword forms are nothing special. If I go up there, I’m guaranteed a loss,” Su Hansheng replied, swinging his sword nonchalantly.
Zhuang Lingxiu looked skeptical: “The Immortal Lord is a sword cultivator—there’s no way he’d teach you ordinary sword forms.”
Su Hansheng had lost hope and quickly put the topic aside, deciding to let fate take its course.
He grabbed Zhuang Lingxiu’s arm, curiously asking, “Senior Brother, what exactly did you do over these years training outside? All the students from the Ten Great Academies seem to resent you.”
Zhuang Lingxiu raised an eyebrow, a hint of puzzlement in his eyes: “I’m baffled too. I haven’t done anything bad in these years—Bubei can vouch for me.”
Su Hansheng looked skeptically at him, not quite believing, but he knew any further questions would just get innocent protestations, so he gave up.
The Ten Great Academies’ competition had already begun in earnest. The morning belonged to the Alpha and Beta groups; with Su Hansheng’s lesser cultivation, he was sorted into the Delta group and figured he wouldn’t go up until tomorrow.
Bored, Su Hansheng watched the matches from the stands, drowsily nodding off.
The last year at the academy was grueling; classes packed every day and the instructors’ homework assignments kept everyone scrambling into the night, leaving them all miserable.
The Wen Dao contest was a rare chance to finally catch a break.
As adjudicator, Zhuang Lingxiu announced the winner after every match—no matter how tense the battles were, they never stirred as much excitement as when he took the stage, prompting scornful roars from the crowd.
Zhuang Lingxiu just kept smiling, completely unaffected by the insults. His composure was the envy of many.
Lounging on Yuan Qian’s tail tip, Su Hansheng yawned and said lazily, “…Why do all these students hate Senior Brother Zhuang so much?”
Yuan Qian was equally puzzled: “No idea.”
Wu Baili just frowned, staying silent.
A Wendao Academy classmate sitting in the front row overheard, turning with a shadowed expression: “Something big happened—Young Lord, you don’t know? It’s all over the listening wall.”
Su Hansheng blinked sleepily, confused: “What?”
He never paid attention to the listening wall, spending his time either in class, causing trouble, or carousing, and lately dual cultivation, never minding other gossip.
“If the Young Lord knew…” the classmate sneered, “you’d join us in wanting Zhuang Dog’s death.”
Su Hansheng woke up instantly, frowning: “Senior Brother Zhuang has always treated me well—I absolutely wouldn’t…”
The classmate cut him off coldly: “From this year on, all Ten Great Academies have suffered heavier workloads. It’s because he slandered us to the academy heads.”
Su Hansheng: “???”
A while later.
Zhuang Lingxiu sauntered out of the spiritual retreat, calculating he’d have thirty minutes before his next match. He carried the wine Zhuang Qu wanted sent to the Immortal Lord.
Just as he reached the Immortal Lord’s spiritual retreat door, a furious voice called out: “Senior Brother!”
Turning, Zhuang Lingxiu saw Su Hansheng running at him with watery, indignant eyes. “I trusted you, Senior Brother, and you did this to me?!”
Zhuang Lingxiu was momentarily lost, though he didn’t know what he’d supposedly done wrong, he quickly switched to his best gentle smile for damage control.
“Then Senior Brother will apologize to Xiaoxiao, okay?”
Su Hansheng’s anger at the accusation dissipated, awkwardly swallowing his original complaint.
Bending down, Zhuang Lingxiu patted his head, smiling: “Alright, why get so worked up?”
Su Hansheng realized he was impulsive and said sullenly, “I heard everyone say the Ten Academies only got busier because you spoke badly of us to the heads.”
Zhuang Lingxiu solemnly replied, “Utter nonsense! I’d never do such a thing—I’m a student too; why would I make things harder for others?”
Su Hansheng, quickly convinced, soothed him: “I shouldn’t have been swayed—I wronged you. But their stories sounded so believable, I thought that’s why everyone resented you.”
Zhuang Lingxiu sighed: “No worries—people can turn white black with their tongues. Senior Brother has long seen through their ugly faces.”
That made Su Hansheng both angry and sympathetic.
“But…” Zhuang Lingxiu mused, “I never did understand why they hated me so much. Now I think I get it.”
Su Hansheng was keen to learn: “How come?”
Zhuang Lingxiu explained in detail.
“After graduation, as I traveled, I found all sorts of fascinating people and events. Thinking others might enjoy it, I sponsored a small listening wall and had friends spread spirit notes, attracting lots of students to come, discuss, and learn.”
“Uh huh.”
“Later, more and more people came, and I even earned a few spirit stones from the hubbub—wait, I mean, from the fun and stories I posted—to help with expenses.”
“Uh huh.”
“But before long, students became addicted, spending all hours immersed there. The elders caught wind and shut it down.”
“Uh… huh?”
“Then the day I was caught by Chu Fenghan—the elders of all Ten Academies were gathered for the Wen Dao Festival. They asked why so many students were obsessed with my listening wall, and I casually replied…”
A familiar voice intoned, “He said, ‘I see students at the Ten Great Academies have plenty of free time, only thinking of discussing Dao.’ That enraged the heads, so they piled on extra homework to keep us busy.”
Su Hansheng was listening intently when he turned and saw Xu Nanxian had arrived at some point, standing with arms crossed and a strange expression, watching them.
“Senior Brother!”
Seeing Xu Nanxian, Zhuang Lingxiu coughed guiltily.
Xu Nanxian hugged Su Hansheng, then gestured at his head. “Mm, you’ve grown quite a bit taller.”
“Senior Brother flatters me,” Su Hansheng said, beaming—he loved being told he’d grown taller.
Zhuang Lingxiu rubbed his nose awkwardly.
Noticing the tension between them and recalling Xu Nanxian’s earlier words, Su Hansheng asked in confusion, “But the Ten Great Academies’ deans decided this—what does it have to do with Senior Brother Zhuang?”
Xu Nanxian didn’t answer directly, but sneered and asked Zhuang Lingxiu, “Fascinating people and events?”
The jig was up. Zhuang Lingxiu couldn’t sugarcoat things anymore, so he solemnly bowed his head and translated his earlier words: “Just gossip.”
Xu Nanxian: “Coming to observe, discuss, and learn?”
Zhuang Lingxiu: “Coming together to gossip.”
“Earned a little spirit stone to help with expenses?”
“I made a million spirit stones in three years!”
“Students discussing the Dao late into the night?”
“I set up bounties—for any big figure in the Three Realms, whether deans, elders, sect leaders, or sword venerables—their secrets, scandals, love affairs, embarrassments—as long as the money was right, I’d dig up everything, with juicy details that kept people hooked.”
“Casually mentioned?”
“I viciously threw all the students under the bus to successfully escape.”
Su Hansheng: “…”
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