CH 6

Fan Xi was silent for a moment, then a smile lit up his whole face and he said: “Thank you, Young Saint, for your compliment!”

Now it was Su Yang ‘s turn to be silent.

He thought to himself: Although Fan Er’s clown appearance had changed to a handsome, tanned-skinned youth, the traits of this lap dog lackey were still the same.

Whilst this was not in line with the plot, since Fan Xi’s character had already appeared, Su Yang could not act too distant with his number one lackey, so he smiled back at him in response.

The originally lively atmosphere in front of Lesser Jade House mountain gate suddenly became frostier due to Fan Xi’s sudden appearance and Su Yang’s strange disposition. Each person formed a small circle with their own acquaintances. They no longer bothered Gu Feidi as they waited peacefully for the remaining martial artists to arrive.

It wasn’t until the sun was blazing from the west did the lady in white, who had been leaning against the stone monolith, reading a book for the whole time, finally straightened. She rolled up the book in her hand and cast a blank look across everyone present.

“The sixty-six jade bells have all been found, let’s start the first assessment.” She said softly, “The martial artists with the jade bells can come forward and strike me with your internal force. I will judge whether or not you are qualified to enter the mountain.”

When she had finished her sentence, the whole area fell silent.

After a while, the crowd began whispering.

Someone asked, “That lady said… to strike her?”

Another piped in, “Can her weak and delicate build withstand so many of us attacking with internal force?”

Someone said, “The lady doesn’t look like she’s that old. No matter how strong her internal strength is, can she best the Devil Sect’s demon spawn? If she is injured by the demon spawn, then the assessment can’t continue and we will all be eliminated!”

“But she is now at her peak and the few who attack her first would definitely be at a disadvantage. If we strike too early, it might work against our favour of being selected…”

“Then… should we wait? I hope that the Devil Sect demon spawn won’t attack too early.” 

“Even if the Devil Sect demon spawn doesn’t, there’s still Young Hero Gu! His internal strength is also extremely profound…”

Everyone there had been discussing it for a long time, but no one was willing to go first.

The lady in white didn’t seem to be in a hurry either. She stood quietly, her eyes glazed and staring into the distance, her thoughts having wandered off to who-knows-where.

Su Yang’s original intention was to be the first to advance forward and proceed through the gates early after the assessment. But he had some misgivings in his heart: His own body’s internal strength was really strong. What if he wounded this feeble and delicate lady, the assessment would be forced to stop. Gu Feidi wouldn’t be able to enter Lesser Jade House. What would happen to the storyline?

As such, Su Yang couldn’t make a move before Gu Feidi and could only wait obediently.

Feeling anxious, he subconsciously began to bite his nails.

Just then, Fan Xi approached, fished out some melon seeds from somewhere and proffered them to Su Yang with a smile, “Young Saint, please have some.”

Su Yang: ……

Who’d have thought that it would feel so nice to have such a loyal follower?

Look at the perceptiveness of this tanned-skinned guy compared to that ‘Fan Er’ from the cast who was terribly unprofessional and would always provoke Su Yang.

Su Yang couldn’t resist. He reached out and grabbed a handful of melon seeds from Fan Xi and started nibbling.

Fan Xi looked over to the center field at the lady in white and spoke softly in Su Yang’s ear: “Hey, this lass is not bad! All dressed in white and brimming with elegance. Looking at her eyes, they’re as black as ink, as hazy as mist; indistinct but perfect. I can really sense some affection…”

Su Yang had seen so many beauties with different characteristics and he didn’t think that the one before him was especially captivating, so he didn’t respond.

Fan Xi scoffed twice and whispered: “Hey, hey. I forgot, Young Saint, your preference is unlike the rest of us—”

“Since no one wants to be the first, then I’ll go.”

A girl’s clear voice rang out from the crowd. Pu Lingyun straightened out her goose-yellow garment and rushed forward to face the lady in white standing in front of Lesser Jade House mountain gate. She cupped her fist: “Gu Ruohai, Tengyun Pavilion master’s disciple, Pu Lingyun. Requesting this lady’s guidance.”

The lady in white gestured ‘please’ and continued to stand there with her book in hand without making any further signs of challenge.

Her gaze was still unfocused; as if she couldn’t be bothered to look at Pu Lingyun.

Witnessing the arrogant demeanor of the lady, Pu Lingyun bit her lip, solemnly summoned her body’s internal strength which caused the hems of her clothes to start fluttering.

Fan Xi exclaimed: “Hey! This lass is not bad either! She has an abundance of internal strength and has vibrant looks. Look at her waist, slender but strong, presumably…”

While his ears were enduring the endless chatter, Su Yang brooded: Nonsense, she’s the protagonist’s, Gu Feidi’s woman. Why wouldn’t she be outstanding? It’s just that whoever dares go up against the protagonist for his woman won’t have a good ending. Fan Er, you’d better watch yourself.

“Here I come!”

As Pu Lingyun shouted, she had already manipulated her internal force into the palm of her hand and thrust straight towards the lady without holding back.

Her aura stirred up the dust on the mountain road. Even the bushes at the side rustled, as if to cheer her on.

The lady in white still stood motionless at the same spot, only slightly tilting her head. Her eyes focused somewhat and fell upon Pu Lingyun’s body.

Pu Lingyun was advancing fiercely, but unexpectedly, she suddenly stopped when she was still three feet away from the lady in white.

As though she had struck an invisible wall, Pu Lingyun’s own strength forced her to retreat a few steps and the internal force in her palm instantly dissipated.

“——You!” Pu Lingyun raised her head to look at the lady in white, her eyes filled with astonishment.

The lady slowly blinked, her gaze fell on Pu Lingyun and she said: “Not bad. You can enter the mountain.”

Pu Lingyun’s earlier mildly enraged face became surprised: “I… I passed?” 

The lady in white turned a little to the side, making way for Pu Lingyun to enter the gate of Lesser Jade House that led to the deeper part of Meizhu Mountain behind her.

Su Yang turned his head to look at Fan Xi and couldn’t resist teasing him: “What did you say just now? You saw some affection?”

Fan Xi: ……

Su Yang: “How does your internal strength compare to Pu Lingyun?” “

Fan Xi did a facepalm: “Young Saint, please don’t say it anymore…” 

Pu Lingyun had passed the test of the lady in white and walked into the mountain gate one step at a time. She stood silently on the mountain steps, looking down onto the field and gestured for Gu Feidi to hurry up, urging him to quickly step forward.

Gu Feidi glanced at Pu Lingyun, but did not move. He didn’t know why, but he subconsciously observed Su Yang who was leaning against the cliff. As he scanned Su Yang’s face, he secretly clenched his teeth and pressed his lips into a thin line.

Seeing Pu Lingyun’s example, the other young martial artists began to get restless.

Soon, a second person stepped forward to be assessed, but was also forced to retreat by the inner strength of the lady in white. He had also passed and was allowed to enter the mountain gate.

At this time, there were more and more people eager to try. Everyone was struggling for it and the enthusiasm began to steadily increase. Even when a martial artist later appeared and was eliminated due to lack of internal strength, it did not dampen everyone’s spirits.

Until—

The lady in white relaxed her gaze and it randomly landed on a skinny martial artist with thin lips and sunken cheeks who was dressed in black on the field. She said softly, “You do not carry a jade bell on your person, kindly leave.”

The thin black-clothed man didn’t retreat. He reached out and pulled a fat black-clothed man from the crowd and said: “We two sworn brothers* have been traveling the Jianghu together and have never been separated. The Jianghu looks upon us as one and since we have a jade bell, we shall advance together into the mountain.”

(*TN : sworn brothers = unrelated to each other but they’ve made a vow to treat each other as brothers)

These two in black, one fat and one thin, were the same men who had severely injured Gu Feidi in the dense forest previously.

Su Yang couldn’t help frowning when he saw these two and grumbled inwardly: It’s these two guys who robbed him of the protagonist and ruined his storyline! Utterly irritating!

The lady in white didn’t shift at all and responded indifferently: “A jade bell can only be used by one person. Lesser Jade House would not recognize it even if he was your biological brother.”

Hearing this, the thin man turned to the fat man and threw him a telltale look. They secretly joined their palms together and manipulated their internal strength.

No one knew what technique they were using. When they worked together to maneuver their internal strength, they were like one person and the energy flowed steadily without any sign of fluctuating.

The internal force was manipulated by two people and it was much stronger than the internal force of a single person. It completely surpassed all the martial artists who had stepped forward to be assessed.

Suddenly, the two men switched positions. The thin man stepped forward, his palm was like lightning, the fat man was close behind him and the wind was billowing under their feet—the two of them rushed towards the field at the lady in white!

The wind stirred up by the palm energy carried tremendous strength and for a time, there was flying sand and rocks in front of the mountain gate. Leaves from the bushes whirled about and scattered everywhere.

Everyone who was watching the battle between both parties were in awe and shock.

Su Yang went so far as to quickly straighten up from the mountain wall and launch into his Flower Step intending to help the lady in white block the attack.

Across the mountain road from him, Gu Feidi had also lunged forward, mobilized his internal strength and had drawn out the long sword at his waist to stop the two troublemakers.

Before Su Yang or Gu Feidi could get close, the lady in white knitted her brows. She lazily lifted up the book in her hand and gently waved it.

In the next moment, the two men in black, one fat and one thin, seemed to slam head-on into something immense and swift. They were flung backwards, upside down, their bodies flying over those who had not yet been assessed. They landed on the mountain road in the distance; both knocked unconscious.

The strong wind that had been stirred up by the two men’s internal force earlier suddenly dissipated. The gravel crackled and hit the earth, the leaves slowly drifted to land on the ground.

There was complete silence in the field.

Su Yang and Gu Feidi stood still, one on the left and another right, only three steps away from the lady in white. They exchanged glances in shock.

The commotion brought on by the ruckus had stunned them so thoroughly that even the conventions of their respective factions couldn’t set them against each other. In the face of this appalling change, even if pigs fell from the sky, they would exchange looks acknowledging each other and to prove to themselves that they were not spellbound or crazy.

The lady in white raised her hand.

Both Su Yang and Gu Feidi quickly retreated a few steps back.

But the lady wasn’t aiming at them. She moved her fingertips slightly, retrieving the jade bell that had fallen in the center of the field, drawing it into her palm in the blink of an eye with internal force and then retracting it into her sleeve.

“Provocation of Lesser Jade House; disqualified from selection.”

Her eyes were glazed over, as if her spirit had wandered far, far away, beyond heaven. She said indifferently: “Let’s continue…”

No one responded for a long time.

The lady in white tilted her head curiously, blinked those big, seemingly innocent eyes blankly and slowly turned her gaze around to Su Yang and Gu Feidi.

“The two of you, who will come first?”