CH 4

Su Yang was not yet aware, but at this very moment, the storyline he had been hoping would not collapse was already like a wild horse bolting off to some bizarre destination. It seemed highly unlikely that it could be wrestled back again.

Adopting the arrogant bearing of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint, he wandered lazily through the deep forest of Meizhu Mountain and headed towards the direction of Lesser Jade House mountain gate.

Lesser Jade House was hidden in the depths of Qingwu County’s Meizhu Mountain and one of the most famous and widely-spread myths in the Jianghu.

It had no direct disciples of its own, nor did it side with any martial arts factions. All it had was a simple name and countless legends that had been imparted into the world.

Lesser Jade House would open its gates every six years to select the best among the new emerging talent of that era’s young generation from the Jianghu. The successful candidates would gain entry to study rare, intricate mental cultivation methods and exceptional martial art techniques. Once they graduated, these young talents would be able to return to their original martial arts factions without having to swear allegiance to Lesser Jade House or heed their summons.

Most of the prestigious martial artists of the Jianghu had studied together in Lesser Jade House.

I didn’t realise that Lesser Jade House was set up to provide charity?

Su Yang would complain like this occasionally when he was reading the script.

Of course, at the end of the day, Su Yang was aware that this world was nothing more than a script; an adaptation of an online novel. Since this was a work of fiction, it wasn’t uncommon (of course) for the author to define it however she sees fit; no matter how unscientific and illogical things were.

This Meizhu Mountain, for example, was actually terribly unscientific.

There was a magical formation on Meizhu Mountain, which had been allegedly set up by the master of Lesser Jade House. This formation was not harmful, but it would cause confusion to any martial artists who were past the age of twenty, making them leave, thus preventing them from going deeper into the forest and coming across the gate of Lesser Jade House.

Consequently, the martial artists turning up in Meizhu Mountain’s deep forests at the moment were all teenagers.

In the early stages of the script, Su Yang’s role had been assigned martial abilities that virtually defied the natural order of existence.

Although he was only seventeen, due to his significant achievements with the Six Underworlds Inter Flower technique, his internal strength was much higher than that of his peers. Coupled with the martial world’s unrivalled light footwork skill, the Prized Flower Steps and the Blooming Lotus Sword technique that was most suited for the thin sword he wielded, his fighting capabilities had soared and he could almost rival those well-known martial artists who had been around earlier than him.

At the moment, there were no young martial artists on Meizhu Mountain that were his match. The only one who could compete with him head-on was now wounded.

Of course, Su Yang himself knew that he was just a straw-filled embroidered pillow—despite the fact that this body did have strong internal strength, his ability to utilise his profound, exceptional martial arts skills was somewhat lacking.

Even his Prized Flower Steps was a hasty overnight effort of flipping through the martial arts secret manual. He had poured through the traditional Chinese writing and applied guesswork based on the illustrations as well as remembering the postures he had enacted while doing wire-stunt work for the light footwork action scenes.

In any case, he possessed the terrorising aura of Devil Sect’s Young Saint after all and with the flower aide following closely behind, none of the enemies encountered along the way dared to approach him as it would only count as their bad luck.

So Su Yang strolled leisurely through Meizhu Mountain’s dense forest for some time and was the first to reach the gate of Lesser Jade House.

There were no disciples standing guard outside; only a delicate-looking young lady dressed in white and leaning against the archway’s stone monolith, reading a book.

Su Yang eyed the young lady. He assumed that she was a martial artist who had arrived at the mountain gate before him. Even so, he ignored her, displayed his Devil Sect’s Young Saint persona and proceeded to enter the Lesser Jade House mountain gate.

“Do not be anxious to force your way in. Remain outside the gate first…” 

The lady who was reading said languidly before Su Yang could set foot inside.

Su Yang was taken aback when he heard the words.

Based on her tone, she didn’t seem to be a martial artist from elsewhere. Was she someone from Lesser Jade House?

Was there such a thing in the script?

Su Yang blinked and looked wordlessly at the lady.

The lady’s eyes did not move in the slightest nor did she look up from her book. She continued leisurely: “Besides, there is only one jade bell on both of you. It is impossible for me to let you two in together. Lesser Jade House does not recognize the relationship of servants. If he wants to enter, he must also have a jade bell.”

Su Yang was surprised when he heard this and subconsciously asked: “How do you know we only have one jade bell?” 

The lady turned a page of the book and casually replied: “Since it is a bell, obviously it will emit a sound. There is only one sound coming from the both of you, therefore there can’t be two bells…”

Su Yang couldn’t help but be startled. He located the jade bell on his person, held it in his palm and carefully observed it.

The jade bell was shaped like a walnut carved from white jade. The jade was smooth and opaque with faint wisps of green colour on the inside resembling smoke and mist.

However, the bell was solid and had only been carved on its exterior. How was it able to make any sound?

You can’t be this illogical even if you are a fictional script, okay?!

The Devil Sect flower aide didn’t know what Su Yang was thinking. He leaned forward and said in a low voice: “My lord, this lady doesn’t seem like a nobody. We shouldn’t force our way in. What if we go back to the forest again to find another jade bell?”

Su Yang grabbed at his hair, put the unscientific jade bell away and responded indifferently: “That’s not necessary, I’ve just come here to participate in the selection sequence. We will return home after that. Just wait for me here outside the gate.” 

The Devil Sect flower aide was taken aback: “Young Saint? Didn’t you say that you wanted to participate in the selection—”

Su Yang brushed him off: “Yeah, I said I wanted to participate in the selection, but I never said I wanted to join Lesser Jade House.”

In the script, Su Yang had not managed to pass the final assessment and therefore, he didn’t consider himself able to enter Lesser Jade House. The reason he was there was because he still had an upcoming rivalry scene with Gu Feidi. He had to progress through this part of the plot, which was why he had chosen to participate in the assessment.

The Devil Sect flower aide was confused for a long while after having listened to Su Yang’s reply. He silently swallowed the question he had been meaning to ask and then stood quietly to one side.

The lady in white, whose gaze had remained fixed on the pages of the book, suddenly raised her head and observed Su Yang. She didn’t say a word, nor did she reveal any expression. She soon lowered her head again and gently flipped a page of the book.

A short while later, a second group of people had managed to arrive at the gates of Lesser Jade House. It was Gu Feidi and his party.

Gu Feidi had since changed into a clean, light blue shirt, his hair tidy once more and his complexion was much rosier than before. From his appearance, one completely wouldn’t be able to tell that he had ever been seriously injured. He was sandwiched between Xu Yunzhan and Pu Lingyun. Following behind them was Bai Qi, the guard from Qianfeng Villa.

Seeing Su Yang standing before the mountain gate, Xu Yunzhan immediately dragged Gu Feidi by the elbow and made him stand behind him.

Of course, Su Yang spotted them too.

Nevertheless, as per the script, everyone did not remain in front of Lesser Jade House mountain for long. After leaving the dense forest, the following scene was shot when they had already entered the mountain gate. So, in this instance when he saw Gu Feidi, he refused to acknowledge him. Instead he crossed his arms and exhibited a haughty, conceited facade. He angled his face upwards to the direction of the sky.

Xu Yunzhan and Gu Feidi were aware that Su Yang was ignoring them. Both of them exchanged glances, tacitly agreeing to pretend that they had not noticed him and each found a place to sit down and rest.

Pu Lingyun had been thoroughly pampered by many of her seniors since she was a child and her temperament was never very good.

Seeing the villain who had given her xiao shixiong, Gu Feidi, the fragrance medicine, Pu Lingyun immediately scowled angrily at him and exploded: “Su Yang! You despicable, shameless, indecent lowlife! You Devil Sect and your vile ways; you are so hateful to have done that sort of thing. You dare to covet Lesser Jade House’s—”

Su Yang was taken aback by this sudden string of abuses hurled his way. He had been striking a pose and the abrupt slandering made him forget to maintain the persona of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint. He looked over, blinking in surprise, his face sporting a blank expression.

“Lingyun, be quiet!” Gu Feidi said solemnly, “We are before Lesser Jade House; don’t be disrespectful.”

Pu Lingyun choked back and argued aggrievedly: “Xiao shixiong, he bullied you like this and you still have to swallow your anger, hmph!”

Gu Feidi regarded Su Yang for a moment, lowering his eyelashes, his tone was calm: “In any case, at least he didn’t kill me.”

Pu Lingyun’s eyes widened: “But he obviously did it so as to— ” 

Xu Yunzhan reached out his hand to cover Pu Lingyun’s mouth and whisper in her ear: “Currently, Su Yang is the strongest martial artist among us and he also brought along his flower aide. Don’t provoke him! At the moment, we can only depend on Gu Feidi to smoothly advance into Lesser Jade House without making any mistakes. Only in this way, Leader Gu would not need to worry about him and can focus on finding a way to remove the fragrance. Please endure it for now!”

Pu Lingyun was persuaded by his words, but she was still seething. In the end, she glared at Su Yang, snorted in displeasure and then grudgingly settled herself down.

Su Yang hadn’t recovered from his bewildered state. Deep down, he couldn’t make head or tail of what had just happened.

…What the hell?

He had clearly let the heavily injured Gu Feidi go and had also fed him divine medicine to help him heal his injuries. How was he a despicable, shameless lowlife?!

Xu Yunzhan and Pu Lingyun could be excused for berating him since they were not aware of what had transpired, but Gu Feidi should in fact know who had saved him! Why was he displaying this attitude as well?

With this in mind, Su Yang hesitantly glanced at Gu Feidi.

It was precisely then that Gu Feidi looked over at Su Yang.

Su Yang was usually not very sensitive to other’s emotions, but for some reason, he unexpectedly detected the anger in Gu Feidi’s eyes and some indescribable disdain.

This was too much.

Su Yang couldn’t stand it anymore!

He clenched his teeth, displayed the character of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint, narrowed his eyes and smiled at Gu Feidi: “Is this the way the Martial World’s Young Tiger, Righteous Young Hero behaves towards the one who saved his life?”

Just as he had spoken those words, Gu Feidi suddenly clenched his fists.

Pu Lingyun snapped angrily: “You—!” 

Xu Yunzhan covered Pu Lingyun’s mouth again, but he scowled at Su Yang, his eyes blazing.

Even Bai Qi, the guard who was standing behind the three, seemed to convey with his expression: Those from the Devil Sect are really shameless.

Those righteous people are really shameless!

Su Yang was feeling resentful.

Wasn’t it the Devil’s Sect Young Saint who had rescued him? Was that so difficult to accept? That’s too hypocritical, too duplicitous, too unreasonable!

Su Yang was sulking when he suddenly heard Gu Feidi emit a light laugh.

The naive young man lifted his head and stared directly at Su Yang.

He lifted the corner of his lips and enunciated each word carefully: “Feidi thanks the Young Hero Su for his regard. I will definitely repay this favour properly one day.”