Ch47 - Confrontation

Looks like I’ve got some major scenes coming up.

Since this was probably his only chance to be cool in the novel, Xie Zhiwei didn’t dare slack off. He was 120% focused as he curled his lips into a grin. “I am indeed that surnamed Xie.”

With everyone in the righteous faction fallen or weak, he was the only one dominating the limelight.

Oh right, and Mu He beside me, who looks a little out of it.

Actually, Mu He could count as one of the world’s top-level experts with Black and White Lotus, but he still felt an inexplicable sense of pressure when suddenly faced with such a strange and legendary figure.

This was even his first time.

Xie Zhiwei might be a world-class cultivator, but he never used his strength to pressure other people. This weirdo was clearly showing off his aura in full. Seeming to sense something, Demon Lord Chi Yan looked askance at Mu He who was pondering him.

Abruptly, the pressure increased.

Mu He couldn’t even look away in time. Xie Zhiwei pulled him behind him and actually put on airs. “You cannot be disrespectful. Why do you keep staring at the demon lord?”

Mu He gave him a grateful look and lowered his head. “Disciple was only…was only…”

Before he could think up an excuse, Xie Zhiwei was already prepping one. “The mask of the demon lord is cast in pure gold and painted with the Twenty-Eight Mansions of the constellation system. It’s the symbol of the Demonic Sect, understand?”

Mu He lowered his head even further. “Disciple understands now. I’m not curious to see anymore.”

Xie Zhiwei’s expression changed as he said to Chi Yan, “This child is inexperienced, I hope Demon Lord won’t find fault with him.”

Chi Yan sneered and broke eye contact to stare at Xie Zhiwei like ice. “On what basis?”

Chu Zhishi was helping Yan Zhifei sit back down when he snorted at these words. Looking up, he declared, “What do you think? I’d like to know on what basis you came to act atrociously at our daoist sect.”

Chi Yan swept his gaze over him. “Too weak. This Seat doesn’t care.”

Chu Zhishi had always regarded himself as a pillar of the daoist sect and flared up after being called “weak” in public. “If you have the skills, don’t use any tricks! Do you have the guts to fight me at full spiritual power?!”

Xie Zhiwei silently shook his head. Still too young. There would be years to go yet before the hero’s gold-medal followers endured humiliation to pave out a long future.

Again, today’s Ascension City was Xie Zhiwei’s stage.

He relied on the lax restrictions of four Presence Point stars to take a step forward. “Then this surnamed Xie would like to act on the basis that the demon lord is too weak.”

“You say this Seat is too weak?” Chi Yan’s mask hid his features, but his eyes were filled with rage as his knuckles cracked. “Xie Zhiwei, are you this confident just because this Seat lost that year?”

“I dare not,” Xie Zhiwei was very humble in the face of Chi Yan’s aggression. “It was fortunate that Demon Lord entered closed door cultivation after incurring heavy injuries that year. Otherwise, this poor daoist would have to trouble all the disciples of the prison building.”

Chu Zhishi arched his brows and nodded in agreement. “That’s right, and he’d waste the daoist sect’s grain too.”

“You…” Chi Yan narrowed his eyes before managing with gritted teeth, “Your verbal sparring skills have improved. Fine, this Seat wants to see if your cultivation has, too.”

Chi Yan was obviously irked by Xie Zhiwei’s skillful wordplay. Mu He suddenly realized what was going to happen next. But before he could come up with any countermeasures, he was already stepping in front of his master. Xie Zhiwei dragged him back and said, “Go stand by your father.”

Mu He finally recalled his father and turned to search for him in the crowd. That man—the King of the Nine Provinces—was sitting next to Du Sheng. Although he wasn’t doing well thanks to the forced de-powering, his aura was no less impressive. Currently, his eyes were filled with anxiety as he looked at Mu He and said two words.

They seemed to be: “Come back.”

Although the message was simple, it seemed to carry a deeper meaning. As if Mu He never belonged to the daoist sect and would never mingle with it in the future.

Was that the truth?

Mu He glanced at Xie Zhiwei, who couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. There was no time to think so he murmured, “Be good and listen.” Then he lowered his voice even further to give Mu He instructions.

“Disciple obeys.” Mu He was a little stunned, but still left for the crowd of cultivators despite his reluctance to part from Xie Zhiwei’s side. He remembered daringly asking Xie Zhiwei the night he met his father, if he could come back in the future. But Xie Zhiwei had only shrugged off the question.

His shizun wasn’t a heartless man, so what were his reasons?

Under the eyes of all present, Mu He walked towards the King of Nine Provinces. The king’s appearance here had already caused a stir. No one expected a simple discussion conference to end up with Du Sheng being accompanied by royalty. Now their gazes on Mu He were filled with questions and incredulity—this young man actually looked a lot like the monarch.

Mu He looked straight ahead and went down on one knee before the King of Nine Provinces. “Greetings to Royal Father.”

The king nodded and pointed at a seat beside him. “Rise, sit here.”

Although everyone had guessed his identity, the King of Nine Provinces’ actions publicly acknowledged his son before the crowd. Bai Jianzhu and Mu He had never interacted in this life, so he only glanced at the boy before shifting his gaze back to the center of the cliff. On the other hand, Bai Yu had bullied Mu He like a dog. He never expected the teen to have such status. Shocked and furious, he couldn’t help stepping back a couple of steps to diminish his presence.

In Mu He’s eyes, the father and son duo were simply a pair of walking corpses. Taking their lives was only a matter of time. His lips curved into a grin. After being reborn, he had fulfilled half of his revenge. He gave another bow to the king before rising to sit by his side, where their sitting positions might have been carved out of the same mold.

Mu He was quite calm before the crowd’s exclamations and stares. Slowly, he activated White Lotus in his consciousness to blanket the air with invisible power.

No one sensed a thing.

Just then, Xie Zhiwei had told him, “Since you trust Master, don’t worry about the Demonic Sect. Use White Lotus to help Master save the people behind us.”

Of the Five Treasures, the White Lotus was weakest, yet most important. It was capable of curing hundreds of poisons in the world and protecting tens of thousands of beings. But despite its might, using it would consume much of the owner’s spiritual energy. Even bystanders wouldn’t be able to replenish his reserves if he ran out, so he had to pace himself.

Mu He realized that this was probably the first time Xie Zhiwei had ever asked him for help. His eyes stared at the center of One Step Cliff without blinking. There, Xie Zhiwei and Chi Yan were beginning their confrontation, the qi surging around them in increasingly more powerful waves.

I’ll do my best so shizun won’t be distracted.

Chi Yan was a high-level expert who quickly perceived the strange fluctuations in the air. The stars on his mask suddenly blossomed into blinding radiance while his star-dotted cloak shook violently. In a flash, the swirl-patterned glow expanded around him in ripples, each one matching the colors painted on his mask and looking bizarre and creepy.

Xie Zhiwei remained within the circles of light.

“Senior brother, be careful,” Chu Zhishi blurted out.

Mu He’s heart seized as well, but he quickly calmed down. Xie Zhiwei showed confidence because of his strong cultivation base and not from some empty boasts that ordinary humans liked to make.

As expected, the waves of power from Chi Yan elicited no reaction from Xie Zhiwei. Even his grin remained intact. He only closed his eyes before the onslaught of brilliance, but didn’t budge a step. The colorful circles of light surrounded him before rapidly constricting, causing his crow gray robes to flutter violently. Just before the light closed in like a vise, Xie Zhiwei slowly raised a clenched hand and spread open his palm.

With this careless gesture, he said one word: “Spread.”

As if understanding his order, the circles of light around him immediately dissipated. The air grew calm and still while Xie Zhiwei’s robes fell back down. Around him, the dissolving lights were like huge fireworks shining against the gray, obscure skies.

They also reflected against Mu He’s eyes.

Chi Yan’s first attack failed, so he quickly dashed at Xie Zhiwei, who didn’t avoid him and simply raised his blade to meet the charge head-on.

“Qingping Sword.” Chi Yan’s eyes shone with greed. “Xie Zhiwei, it seems you possess a lot of items.”

“This poor daoist is destitute. Why would Demon Lord say that?” With a slight wave of Xie Zhiwei’s hand, glittering cold light bloomed from the four petals inlaid on the sword hilt to slash towards Chi Yan.

Chi Yan laughed and halted, the shades of his cloak flashing red as if dipped in blood. Then piece by piece, the colors lifted themselves off like a page in a book to form itself into the shape of a flower.

Chu Zhishi was a latecomer to cultivation and had never seen this before. “This is…” he trailed off doubtfully.

Xia Zhiqi disdained his lack of knowledge. “The Demonic Sect’s Red Lotus,” she said simply.

Already, people were unconsciously holding their breath. This was not only a battle between experts, but a face-off between two secret treasures. The King of Nine Provinces recovered his senses to ask Du Sheng, “Between these two items and the Aureate Sect’s Golden Lotus, which is superior?”

Du Sheng rattled the prayer beads in his hands and sighed. “The secret treasures of the world encompass the four kalpas of creation, stasis, destruction, and emptiness. Golden Lotus holds the power of creation and births life, White Lotus holds the power of stasis and protection, Red Lotus holds the power of destruction and injury, and Black Lotus holds the power of emptiness and elimination. My Buddhist sect’s Golden Lotus isn’t a tool to kill and has never entered the mortal realm, so it’s hard to say…”

The King of Nine Provinces nodded and remarked, “Legend says that the Qingping Sword and Four Lotus, when combined, can merge with the flesh and give its owner a thousand years of cultivation. Why doesn’t the Buddhist sect hand over the Golden Lotus and end things once and for all to prevent the countless bloodshed that comes from fighting over them?”

“That’s only a legend. Even if someone collects all the treasures one day, it would be a sinful act. That would be a person without compassion who could only bring misfortune to the world. It must never happen.”

“There’s sense in that. The Buddhist sect has an elevated view of the matter.”

Mu He didn’t put such high-level sounding words in his mind. His vision was filled with sparks and bursting lights from the interplay of attacks between Red Lotus and the Qingping Sword. It was already impossible to see Xie Zhiwei or Chi Yan amidst the fireworks. Only the clash of battle helped him faintly guess the duo’s movements. However, he was certain that Xie Zhiwei maintained the upper hand.

Because no matter how they fought or released spiritual power, it was always the turquoise light of the Qingping Sword suppressing the Red Lotus’s flames.

Abruptly Chi Yan said, “I heard that Shen You of Ashen Cloud Sword Sect is already dead and that Ashen Cloud Mountain is ruined.” He was panting as he spoke, the repeating duel sapping much of his strength.

Xie Zhiwei’s tone remained unaffected as he replied, very steadily, “Indeed, it’s true.”

Chu Zhishi was completely lost. “Why is the demon head bringing this up all of a sudden?”

Yan Zhifei’s expression changed before he lowered his voice. “Zhishi, Zhiqi, try raising your spiritual energy.”

The two did as told before their faces immediately shifted. Chu Zhishi looked around him before scooting over to murmur, “The Demonic Sect bastards sabotaged the ritual wine and had the guts to admit it too. They would never let us recover so soon…what’s going on?”

Xia Zhiqi pondered for a moment before she ventured, “Sect Leader Senior Brother, I heard White Lotus is capable of curing multiple poisons. It couldn’t be that…” she looked at Xie Zhiwei, who was wreathed in turquoise light, and stopped.

Yan Zhifei’s brows creased even further.

Chi Yan only laughed coldly. “No wonder I couldn’t find White Lotus. You happened to pick it up. That means you must have taken Black Lotus too?”

The light on both sides weakened before Xie Zhiwei and Chi Yan’s figures reappeared in front of the crowd.

Mu He tensed up. He fulfilled shizun’s good intentions to rescue everyone but forgot that it would expose the existence of White Lotus. If anyone knew he possessed two treasures on his body, he would become a target of the entire world. There would be no more peace in his days. But how could he be willing to give them up?

Pandemonium had already risen up in the crowds around him. People had fought over these treasures for years, but rarely had anyone obtained two at the same time. If Chi Yan was right, then Xie Zhiwei would be the first person in history to own three at once.

“Amitabha,” said Du Sheng, “So Xie zhenren has such predestined fate…”

The King of Nine Provinces swept his eyes across the stunned cultivators before slowly sharing his own views. “This man looks honest, but is in fact not simple. He can even leave his own sect members in the dark. He’s taken pains to consider things deeply.”

Mu He had watched Xie Zhiwei from beginning to end and only heard snatches of conversation. Meanwhile, everyone’s gaze on his master had turned strange. This was Bixu zhenren, the man they had always respected deeply.

Mu He’s heart rose to his throat. Then, will Xie Zhiwei cave into pressure and sell me out…

“Correct. They’re all with this surnamed Xie.”

His reply resounded in his onlookers’ hearts.

Xie Zhiwei stood quietly calm amidst a growing storm of speculations and rumors. Mu He sprang to his feet, but his spiritual energy had been so depleted that his vision dimmed for a moment at the action.

The King of Nine Provinces glanced at him. “What did this king say? Perhaps he had ulterior motives for taking you in.”

Mu He was confused. “Why would shizun do this…”

Of course, the meaning of his question sounded different in others’ ears.

Chu Zhishi slapped his chair and stood up with an angry laugh. “My senior brother took you as a disciple out of the goodness of his own heart. He taught you with care and never left your side when you were injured. What right do you have to question him?”

The King of Nine Provinces suddenly grew cold. “What can’t this king’s son afford to question?”

Yan Zhifei rose as well, with Xia Zhiqi quickly following suit. His voice was even frostier. “The King of Nine Provinces has no need to worry about my daoist sect’s matters.”

Bai Jianzhu seized the chance to interject. “Everyone should have recovered their spiritual energy by now, right? White Lotus is indeed miraculous.”

The crowd was still whispering until these words. After testing out their own spiritual power, their clamoring intensified. Mu He couldn’t be bothered with irrelevant tongues and wanted to approach Xie Zhiwei, but was dragged back by the King of Nine Provinces.

“You’ve only known him for two months, so it’s not too late to cut ties. Don’t go seeking trouble.”

—

Translator’s Note: A little gift for you guys~

I know it’s not quite the same but…I think Luo Yunxi (as Runyu) does a good job giving us the proper “battle vibes” in this MV! He’s great at encapsulating the “strong but gentle” shizun archetype we see in so many master/disciple danmei. Just…imagine him wearing crow gray instead.  XD

To be honest, this is how I imagine Xie Zhi at 5 Presence Points in Xie Zhiwei’s body…guy’s got a temper and he’d definitely show it if he could, ha!

⚔️放肆！(Presumptuous)