CH 1

“How could you be so foolish!”

The man in blue aggressively grabbed his collar, his handsome features filled with anger and disappointment.

“The Yushen technique is a top-level technique that only our Sect owns. It’s forbidden to spread it to others and forbidden to read it without permission. You actually have the guts to steal it and give it to Ye Bingran, a sword cultivator who cultivates the Heartless path!1 You must’ve gone completely mad!”

After those words, Shen Liuxiang was pushed away forcibly. He staggered back a few steps, barely regaining his balance, stunned silly.

“What…What’s going on?”

“You still have the face to ask me?” 

The young man with the looks of an immortal was furious. Pointing at Shen Liuxiang, he scolded, “Did you think that Ye Bingran would be grateful to you and start liking you after you stole the technique for him? I’ll tell you straight: Sword Venerable Ye2 disdains this type of immoral behaviour and personally came to the Sect to return the technique! Now the entire cultivation world knows about the stupid things you, Immortal Shen3 did!”

Shen Liuxiang was scolded until he was dizzy. He didn’t understand what was going on. He only felt that the scene was familiar.

Before he could open his mouth to ask what was going on, the blue-clothed man’s expression changed slightly, followed by a stern glare. 

“You’ve made a grave mistake. Even if you don’t die for it, you will still suffer grievously… Forget it, just leave this place first.”

The man had sensed Ling Yue’s aura. After becoming a law enforcement elder, Ling Yue no longer gave face to his relatives. Everyone who made a mistake and landed in his hands would be treated equally. He had probably come here for Shen Liuxiang.

Without thinking, the man placed a round object in Shen Liuxiang’s clothes, then cast a spell to let him leave.

In the quiet canyon, a man dressed in white fell from the air and landed in the slowly flowing river with a “plop”. 

Gulu gulu—— 4

Water continuously poured into his mouth. Shen Liuxiang choked several times, his arms flailing around in the bottomless river. Help, he can’t swim… His body, soaked to the bone with water, was getting heavier and heavier. His consciousness gradually blurred.

At this moment, the sound of something travelling quickly through air originated from the area above the water surface.

The shadow of a sword passed by, bringing up the figure that was sinking to the bottom.

Coughing, Shen Liuxiang’s dishevelled figure lay on the bank of the river. He spit out the water that had found its way into his mouth. Water droplets slid down his long hair and across his cheeks, dripping onto the clear white gravel.

A short distance away, a long sword with some moisture on it was standing upright in the middle of some rubble. A black-clothed youth was sitting cross-legged beside it.

His eyes were closed and he exuded a cold aura.

Still panting, Shen Liuxiang sat up. Before he had the time to think, he felt a slight itch beside his ear.

Could a bug have stuck on while he was in the river? Shen Liuxiang’s heart skipped a beat. His pale, slender fingers slowly felt around his ear, grabbing the gently moving thing and throwing it to the ground. 

It was a flower.

The snow-white petals were kneaded out of shape, and the broken roots fell to the ground desolately.

Shen Liuxiang breathed a sigh of relief. Placing flowers behind his ear, did someone have a problem with their brain——

Wait!

A white flower, Immortal Shen, Sword Venerable Ye… Wasn’t this the novel “Being Liked By Everyone Is So Invigorating” that he had stayed up late to read?!

Shen Liuxiang widened his eyes slightly, walked to the river, and looked down.

A terrifyingly white face was reflected on the water surface. It looked as if it was caked in several layers of flour, almost making it impossible for him to see his own features. He splashed water on his face and wiped hard with his sleeve, but found that it couldn’t be washed off.

Still unable to see his face clearly, Shen Liuxiang had no choice but to pull open the front of his shirt and reach into his soaked undershirt. After fumbling for a while, he took out half a piece of a jade ornament5. It was giving off a gentle golden glow.

Shen Liuxiang stared at the golden seal on the jade ornament and was stunned for a moment.

In the book, the villainous shizun had a very important piece of jade ornament on his body. It was a token of the lord of the Imperial Palace6. The description of the jade ornament token in the book was extremely detailed, and perfectly described the one currently in front of him. 

After a long while, Shen Liuxiang took back the jade, stood up from the ground, and walked towards the young man who was sitting cross-legged.

He had been moved here in a state of confusion. At this time, he still had no idea where he was and wanted to ask for information. The black-clothed young man was probably the one who had fished him out of the river. Shen Liuxiang thought that he definitely had to be a good child with good looks and a good heart.

Time to ask him.

The cold wind howled in the canyon. Shen Liuxiang was soaked all over. With chilly air blowing at him from all directions, he couldn’t suppress his shivers. Folding his arms and rubbing them to keep warm, Shen Liuxiang, in his dishevelled state, walked towards the young man sitting on the square stone.

A cold light abruptly flashed in front of him.

The black-clothed youth tilted his head, his dark and long eyes staring straight at him. Even with a few metres between them, Shen Liuxiang could clearly feel the coldness emanating from him.

“What do you want?” the youth asked coldly.

“…” 

Shen Liuxiang lightly touched the blade held against his neck and was speechless for a while.

——Put down the sword first, okay?

The sword’s owner could see what Shen Liuxiang had in mind but his face remained indifferent. He seemed to have no intention of backing off. Instead, he controlled the sword and moved it even closer.

The man dressed in white in front of him had his hair loose. His whole body was drenched. His face seemed to have a layer of fog attached, making it difficult for him to see his features. The only impression he got was that the person’s complexion was astonishingly white. 

Qingling Sect was a famous sect in the world. It was not surprising that there would be a few bizarre cultivators in their midst. When the youth saw Shen Liuxiang’s behaviour, he naturally classified him as one of them.

After all, it was unheard of for a cultivator to fall into a river and almost drown.

There was a saying among the disciples in the sect: Cherish your cultivation and stay away from bizarre cultivators.

Not long ago, a disciple was taken away by such a cultivator, and when he came back, his cultivation base was completely destroyed. That was not all. Like a madman, that disciple even wanted to leave the sect to become that bizarre cultivator’s loyal follower.

“Friend, there must’ve been a misunderstanding, can you please put the sword…”

Bang——!

Shen Liuxiang took a step forward while speaking. He heard a sharp noise beside his ear. It had come from the sword. At the same time, his neck felt a chill. Icy sword energy cut through the fair skin and a faint thin line of red appeared.

“Don’t take another step closer. If you do, don’t blame the younger generation for being disrespectful.”

Shen Liuxiang choked.

Whose stinky brat was this? He was so unfriendly towards others. Shen Liuxiang wanted to throw him into a small dark room7 and teach him a lesson.

But a man had no choice but to bow his head under the eaves. Shen Liuxiang raised his head and showed a kind smile, although his pale face looked even more horrifying when he did so. 

“Can you tell me where this is?”

After being watched meaningfully for a long time, the sword floating at his neck moved away a little. “North Peak of Qingling Sect, Juechun River.”

This place being part of Qingling Sect was within his expectations. However, the words “Juechun” gave Shen Liuxiang an inexplicable feeling. This place seemed to be…

“Xuanlan, the law enforcement elder has given an order. All disciples are to head to the Cliff of Rebirth immediately.”

A blue-clothed disciple appeared at the intersection of the path. He had a sword on his back and a small golden gourd hanging from his waist. Shen Liuxiang, who looked strange and out of place, was spotted very quickly. The disciple examined Shen Liuxiang closely.

Soon, his clear eyes shook and his expression showed vigilance. The long sword behind him made a faint sound.

Shen Liuxiang sensed the incoming hostility and his scalp went numb. One sword was enough. If another was added to his neck, he would rather they just quickly end him right there!

At this moment, the cold sword that threatened his neck withdrew.

The black-clothed youth called Xuanlan jumped down from the high boulder, waved his palm in the air, retracted his sword, and walked towards the intersection of the road. 

Seeing this, the blue-clothed disciple also restrained his hostility, leaving behind only a trace of curiosity. “Xuanlan, who is he?”

“I don’t know.” Zhou Xuanlan turned around.

Apart from his black hair, everything else on the man’s body was white. Even his boots were white. After standing on the gravel for a while, the surrounding ground had already been soaked by the water dripping from his clothes.

The Juechun River area had a cold wind passing through. It had always been bitterly cold. It was not an exaggeration to say that anyone who tried to resist the cold with just a water-soaked body and no protective spells on them would experience a chill that seeped right into their bones. 

Xuan…Lan…

Zhou…Xuan…Lan——

Shen Liuxiang stood there dumbfounded, so shocked that he forgot about the cold. He shrivelled up and sneezed. 

While he was still in a daze, a black shadow dropped from the sky and suddenly covered him.

Shen Liuxiang’s field of vision darkened. He raised his hand and pulled down the item covering his head. It was a black silk robe. The material was high-quality, silky and soft to the touch. In addition, it seemed as if the robe itself was steadily emitting warmth.

Shen Liuxiang hugged the clothing and looked at the two people present.

Zhou Xuanlan fastened his storage bag and left without looking back. The blue-clothed disciple glanced back at him once before hurriedly catching up.

Shen Liuxiang blinked and stared at the clothes for a long time. His fingers that had turned pale and bloodless from the cold clenched a little and draped the robe around his body. His body recovered from its previously frozen state, and his mind became active again.

Zhou Xuanlan, the second male protagonist of the novel. His fighting ability sharply spiked in the latter half of the novel, suppressing the demon clan and unifying the cultivation world with only his own power. Ever since he blackened8, his popularity amongst readers, compared to other characters, was unquestionably the highest.

The original novel was a false harem novel.9 In the novel, all characters, as long as they were male, would fall crazily in love with the protagonist shou, Su Baiche. It was the kind of crazy whereby they would bang their heads against the wall, the kind of crazy whereby they would fight to the death for a single smile. It could truly be described as a disaster caused by beauty.

Because of this, “which character would get Su Baiche” became the biggest and hottest point of discussion in the whole novel. 

At the same time, it was also the topic that led to the most fights.

As the story unfolded, some people were rooting for the Sword Venerable who had cultivated the heartless path but had his heart moved. Some were rooting for the gentle senior brother. Some were rooting for the domineering Demon Venerable… 

By the middle of the book, the several major forces were more or less even in power. Only a small number of people rooted for Zhou Xuanlan. Their numbers were even smaller than the number of people who shipped the crack ship between the villainous Shen Liuxiang and Su Baiche.

But everything changed after Zhou Xuanlan blackened. 

—”No one is allowed to hurt you, apart from me.” Zhou Xuanlan abruptly appeared and hugged Su Baiche from behind. With a twist of his hand, a single palm shattered the incoming person’s dantian.10

—”He’s undoubtedly mine.” Zhou Xuanlan wrapped Su Baiche’s half-exposed body up with his robe, bent down and carried him in a bridal carry. Glancing up, his dark, ink-coloured eyes emitted a bitter chill. “Di Xingyu, if this happens again, I will turn this thousand-year-old imperial palace into nothingness.”

Whoa——!

At that moment, the readers had finally found the canon pairing. The earlier they boarded the ship, the earlier they could enjoy themselves. As for the remaining readers who wanted to continue supporting their original pairings… It did not take much time for them to switch over either.

There was no dissent.

In the later period, Zhou Xuanlan, as a gong11, was indiscernible. Even Shen Liuxiang screamed in excitement a few times while reading the novel.

But at this moment, his mood became subtle.

In the original work, Shen Liuxiang and Zhou Xuanlan could barely be considered a master-disciple12 pair. The most the original Shen Liuxiang did was teach a few scrolls. After noticing Su Baiche’s excessive interest in Zhou Xuanlan, Shen Liuxiang, as the villian, would humiliate his disciple all the time just for the sake of seeing his love rival’s furious yet helpless expression.

As evidence has proven, humiliating a disciple would bring short-term happiness but cause great distress in the future.

TN: A new novel! (≧∇≦)ﾉ I couldn’t resist, I’m a sucker for shizun novels… Releases will be sporadic for now. I’ll update you guys again when I’ve got a fixed schedule ready. Enjoy~!

In chinese cultivation novels, there’s actually a path of cultivation, the “Heartless” path, that requires practitioners to abandon all feelings to progress in their cultivation.

Referring to Ye Bingran

Referring to Shen Liuxiang

Sound of gurgling water

玉璜 was a special type of jade ornament used in ancient times for ceremonies

Reminder that this is still a cultivation novel, it’s just that this unnamed character has a palace.

Chinese slang, basically referring to a room that has no light/sound. Originated from chinese forums, whereby gamers who break chat rules would be locked into a “small dark room” and banned from interacting/chatting

Refers to how an originally “good” character turns evil or ruthless

In raws they used 炒股文, loosely translated as “stock speculation novel”. Refers to novels whereby the protagonist has multiple love interests, but will only end up with one person in the end. However, the readers won’t know the final pairing at the start, hence they’re investing in speculative “stocks”, aka pairings/ships.

A phrase commonly seen in cultivation novels, where all the qi (somewhat similar to energy) of the body is located

Meaning “top” in chinese BL

Master and Shizun mean the same things. I’ll use these two terms interchangeably.