CH 8

Pu Lingyun was fuming with anger and wished she could immediately catch up to the green peacock jerk and give him a sound thrashing.

Xu Yunzhan had passed the test and just managed to catch up to them. He grabbed her arm and said, “Hey, hothead! If you chase him now, Feidi and I will have to protect you. In the off chance that trouble is stirred up and Lesser Jade House revokes Feidi’s eligibility for qualifying, how will Feidi evade being captured by Su Yang for the next few years? Although Su Yang may be able to enter Lesser Jade House, but his flower aide is still outside the mountain gate!”

Upon hearing this, Pu Lingyun calmed down. She huffed unhappily and kicked a pebble at her feet, grumbling sullenly, “Fine! I will put up with it until xiao shixiong has passed the selection!”

Gu Feidi said nothing, his gaze followed the mountain path’s upward ascent gradually into the distance, settling on the two figures with their backs to him. There was no anger or hatred in his eyes, but it overflowed with reluctance and unwillingness.

Xu Yunzhan was two years older than Gu Feidi. Seeing Gu Feidi’s competitiveness being triggered at this time, he couldn’t help patting his back and urged: “Feidi, don’t take it to heart. After all, Su Yang is a year older than you and he also practices Devil Sect techniques. Although Devil Sect disciples gain early achievements, the majority end up weak. You definitely shouldn’t do anything for the sake of comparing yourself with him…”

“I know.” Gu Feidi retracted his gaze and replied calmly, “I won’t hasten my cultivation. I will still train according to my own pace and progress step by step. You don’t have to worry.”

Xu Yunzhan was relieved and he patted Gu Feidi’s shoulder with a smile: “Come on, let’s head up the mountain.” 

It wasn’t until the evening sun had completely sunk into the horizon and the sky was gradually lit up with stars, that the first stage of assessment was officially concluded before Lesser Jade House mountain gate.

The unpredictable strength of the lady in white made everyone afraid to stir up trouble again. Even when they were eliminated, they could only grumble quietly to themselves before turning away and leaving.

At the same time, the young martial artists who passed the first assessment earlier, had trekked the flagstone road that led to a farmhouse within the mountain.

A wooden sign had been erected outside the farmhouse door with instructions on it that all the martial artists who came to participate in the selection should stay in this farmhouse for one night and that someone would take them into Lesser Jade House for the next assessment the following morning.

Next to the wooden sign sat an old man on a chair. His eyes were closed as he rested and there was no response from him despite enquiries from a few of the young martial artists.

Seeing this scene, Su Yang felt at ease.

The farmhouse with the old man was the first test he had encountered in the script. Although the lady in white from earlier was an unplanned disruption, it seemed that the ensuing storyline was still intact and had not collapsed all the way.

This farmhouse yard was rather large and there were five yellow-mud thatched houses built within it; the doors and windows were made using simple wooden boards. The side houses were not terribly big and apart from the old man’s main house, all the others only had one room with a decent bed which had already been occupied by the earliest arriving martial artists.

According to the script, what Su Yang had to do now was to rely on his identity as the Devil Sect’s Young Saint and forcibly take over the master room for his own.

Furthermore, he must ensure that Gu Feidi witnesses this incident so as to incite him into starting a fight with him.

He was rather familiar with his lines for this part of the plot. Even if he couldn’t remember them completely, Su Yang didn’t worry too much because it wouldn’t involve Gu Feidi.

Taking for granted that the setting was almost the same, Su Yang kicked open the door of the master room, leaned against the door frame, belittled the young hero inside from head to toe, bringing to life the obstinate attitude of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint.

The poor fellow in the room didn’t dare to go against Su Yang. He could only dejectedly grab hold of his belongings and surrender the room.

Just then, Gu Feidi entered right on time with Pu Lingyun and Xu Yunzhan into the farmhouse courtyard—just as the script said he would.

“Young Hero Gu!” A hero immediately came forward and complained, “Look at this demon spawn acting arrogantly and forcibly taking the room of the young martial artists who arrived at the farmhouse first!”

“Young Hero Gu, you have to take it back for the sake of us righteous martial artists!”

“Young Hero Gu! This Devil Sect demon is too hateful, you can’t let him get away with it!”

“Young Hero Gu, that master room could’ve been yours! Now it has been taken by that Devil Sect demon…”

Su Yang handed over the slightly heavy cloth bag he was holding to Fan Xi and allowed him into the room to make the bed.

Seeing that Fan Xi had left, Su Yang crossed his arms and leisurely leaned on the door frame, casting a smile at Gu Feidi.

Based on the script setup, Gu Feidi downright hated bullies like him, so he would definitely confront him about it. After being harassed by Su Yang for a while, Gu Feidi would not be able to stand it anymore and strike out at Su Yang, subsequently getting injured. However, Gu Feidi was extremely hardworking and early the next morning, he would practice his swordsmanship despite his injuries. It was then that he would be observed by the old man at the entrance.

This farmhouse setting was to assess the martial artists for their diligence. Gu Feidi’s actions had received great praise and were instantly judged to have passed the assessment.

Su Yang leaned on the door, resisting the urge to bite his nails and meticulously maintaining the demeanor of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint. He began reciting his next lines in his heart.

This plot was so complex that he had to ensure Gu Feidi couldn’t verbally retaliate. He had a good command of his speech skills, therefore he had to make all preparations and not commit any mistakes.

Gu Feidi looked at Su Yang coldly, turned his head and informed the martial artists standing in the courtyard, “If he wants the master room, let him have it.”

Su Yang: ???

Gu Feidi: “As a martial arts practitioner, I shouldn’t crave life’s pleasures. Cultivating through hardships is the correct way. Moreover, we are here to participate in Lesser Jade House’s selection and will only be staying for a night, so it doesn’t really matter whether we have a bed or not. Besides, the selection has already begun. No one knows whether or not Lesser Jade House is discreetly observing us, so it’s best that everyone be on the alert.” 

After that, he glanced at Su Yang and added: “Young Hero Su is pleased and content. If he has a place to feel at ease, why not?”

Su Yang: …

This protagonist! Don’t go acting on your own aaa! How would the script feel?!

Seeing that Gu Feidi was unwilling to take the bait, he turned around and walked to the next room. Su Yang became anxious and unwittingly blurted out a stinging line from the script: “Young Hero Gu is such a prominent individual. If you don’t mind, you are welcome to share this master room with me. How about I split half of the bed with you?”

He didn’t believe the Young Wolf Pup Gu wouldn’t get angry after hearing that!

Sure enough, there was an immediate reaction to that sentence.

Gu Feidi paused in his step, his whole face flushed red with anger.

He turned his head, looked at Su Yang fiercely and gritted his teeth: “Young Hero Su, please conduct yourself with dignity!”

Behind Gu Feidi, Xu Yunzhan clutched Pu Lingyun’s mouth tightly. He restrained her in his arms, preventing her from rushing forward.

He looked up and sneered at Su Yang: “Young Master Su, I trust that Qinglian Sect’s second young master Fan Er is a more suitable person to share your bed with. Nevertheless, Feidi is from a righteous sect and it’s not appropriate for both of you to fraternize.”

Once he finished speaking, he dragged Pu Lingyun with one hand and pushed Gu Feidi with another and the three of them entered another house together.

After all, Gu Feidi had the sentiments of a young man and no matter how calm he looked, he still had a temper. But at the moment, he needed to resolve the medicinal fragrance on his body. He didn’t dare to make trouble in Lesser Jade House and he didn’t want to face Su Yang, so he could only wave his hand and slam the door, shaking off a layer of sawdust.

Su Yang looked at the closed door and sighed helplessly.

When did the plot start to go wrong? Shouldn’t you…

Fan Xi came up and said in a low voice, “Young Saint, since you’ve used Lianxiang Rejuvenating Pills on him, there’s no need to be impatient for now. No one knows the selection criteria for Lesser Jade House. What if you were disqualified for your rash actions? It’s not worth the risk. Better wait until you’ve been selected and make your move then.” 

After a pause, he added: “Even if Lesser Jade House’s many rules make it inconvenient for you to start anything, as long as he still bears the medicine’s fragrance, you will be able to find him after you leave here. He won’t be able to escape!”

Su Yang was confused: “Wha..?”

Fan Xi was even more puzzled: “…Ek? Is something wrong?”

Su Yang was baffled. “How do you know I used the medicine on him?”

Fan Xi blinked and replied in surprise: “…Young Saint, you mean to say that you don’t know the effect of the Lianxiang Rejuvenating Pills?”

Su Yang: “Isn’t it for bringing the dead back to life?” And that guy was quite dead already; didn’t that count?

Fan Xi: ……

Fan Xi eyed the martial artists in the farmyard who were silently resenting Su Yang and felt a headache coming on. He reached out to drag Su Yang into the room by his sleeves and closed the door.

“Young Saint,” he whispered, “Don’t you know that the fragrance of this spiritual medicine can be tracked by the Scent Seeking Butterfly?”

Su Yang groaned inwardly: …I don’t even know what the heck is a Scent Seeking Butterfly! Screenwriter, ah—no, author, can you quit messing around?!

Fan Xi mused: “It seems that the reason why you can obtain such a high level of achievement is because you have been obsessed with cultivating and never cared about these mundane things…”

Su Yang: ……

Okay then. You came up with the excuse yourself, saving me the hassle.

After lamenting the Devil Sect’s Young Saint’s tedious childhood, Fan Xi explained to Su Yang in detail about the Devil Sect’s Lianxiang Rejuvenating pills.

In the end, he asked uncertainly: “If my lord was unaware of the divine medicine’s effect, why did you use it on Gu Feidi?”

Su Yang thoughts went to the weird author and the delete-happy scriptwriter. Internally, he yelled at them from head to toe, but on the outside, his expression revealed nothing.

He leisurely pushed his hair away and calmly replied: “He was seriously injured at the time, I just couldn’t bear to watch him die like that. If he dies, I’ll be…*cough* so bored.”

Fan Xi revealed a smile and nudged Su Yang’s arm, “I get it, Bro! Hehehe… But my lord, you shouldn’t overdo it in Lesser Jade House. After all, we don’t know if our behaviour is being documented as part of this selection process. It really isn’t worth it if we lose our chance at being selected because of this small issue.”

Su Yang nodded nonchalantly and didn’t reply.

He carefully scrutinized the previous plots that he felt were fishy and tried to gauge what kind of impact his carelessness would have on the upcoming scenes.

Recalling Gu Feidi’s angry expression when they had met outside Lesser Jade House mountain gate, Su Yang suddenly realised—

—Could it be that Gu Feidi thought that he had deliberately left this medicinal fragrance on him so that in the future, he could chase him down to the ends of the earth?!

Sssss, this misunderstanding is too big!