CH 12

The rumours surrounding the Devil Sect’s Young Saint, Su Yang in the Jianghu had never been particularly positive. Every time he was mentioned, it’s always said that he had an unpredictable personality and a perverse behaviour. If he liked you, he would care for you and speak tenderly to you. If it turns out that he hates you, he will not hesitate to gut you with his sword.

So when everyone heard Su Yang utter those words, no one dared to doubt him and no one dared to continue talking nonsense.

The plateau became extremely quiet just then, with only the sound of rustling branches and leaves stirred up by the wind beneath the cliff.

Gu Feidi glanced at Su Yang from a distance, then quickly withdrew his gaze.

He moved his lips slightly and spoke to Xu Yunzhan beside him using voice transmission: “Did you hear that group’s comments just now?”

Xu Yunzhan snorted and smirked: “They thought they had lowered their voices, but didn’t realise that Su Yang, you and I… can hear those words clearly due to our inner strength. But it’s not the first time you’ve heard this kind of talk. I remember you’d learned not to pay attention to these comments since you were twelve or thirteen years old?”

After a moment of silence, Gu Feidi said: “You heard them slandering Su Yang earlier and he must have heard them too, but he didn’t respond. Now, when the topic falls on me, Su Yang gets angry…” 

Xu Yunzhan couldn’t help but wrinkle his eyebrows, he solemnly replied: “Feidi, Su Yang has bad intentions towards you. He’s just playing tricks on you. Don’t fall for his ploy.”

This time, Gu Feidi kept quiet, then after a while, he whispered: “I won’t. I merely think that this Su Yang seems to be different from what the rumours of the Jianghu make him out to be.”

Xu Yunzhan sighed helplessly and tried persuading: “Feidi, he is the Devil Sect’s Young Saint. It is inevitable for him to be misinterpreted by the rumours of the Jianghu to some extent. But that does not mean he hasn’t been putting on false pretenses. How can you conclude that what you see is not what he wants you to see? If you become interested in him, you are already moving to his tune!”

Gu Feidi smiled bitterly, “I understand. It’s just… when I went to call him this morning, I saw something that I shouldn’t have. I still feel uncomfortable on the inside.”

Xu Yunzhan was startled: “This morning? What did you see?”

Gu Feidi lowered his eyes and an inconspicuous blush spread on his cheeks. He said in a low voice: “On his back—”

“Next!” 

The two of them were interrupted by the middle aged man’s shout.

They saw that he was carrying a rope in his hand and was pointing to Xu Yunzhan, “Come on, it’s your turn.”

It wasn’t until the sun was high and it looked to be late in the morning that the group of twenty six young martial artists were finally brought across the chain bridge to the tree stump plateau on the opposite side.

From a distance, the tree stump plateau looked like a very narrow cylindrical platform, but when they were standing there, they discovered that the area of ​​the mountain plateau seemed to be very large with big and small boulders all over it, forming a vast stone forest.

“This is your final assessment.”

The middle-aged man said: “I asked you to wait patiently before entering so as to remind you that this stone forest is actually a magical formation that you must pass through in order to enter Lesser Jade House. With your current strength, if you maneuver your inner force while in the stone forest, it will cause turbulence that will damage your meridians, so you can’t use light footwork skills to make your way through it.

“This stone forest formation was personally configured by the master of Lesser Jade House. As for the key to the formation, we, in fact, have not yet fully grasped it either. Therefore, if you want to enter Lesser Jade House, this stone forest formation is the only way to get there and there is no way to circumvent it.

“Those who are qualified to enter will pass through the stone forest formation to reach the other side, while those who are not qualified to enter will return to this side of the stump plateau. There will be someone on the other side who will meet the young martial artists who have passed the test. As for me, I shall wait here and send those who are eliminated back to Meizhu Mountain.” 

After explaining on the stone forest and the assessment criteria, the middle-aged man gestured his hand towards the entrance, “You martial artists can all enter the formation now.”

Su Yang raised his head and looked at the stone forest before him, saying inwardly: It’s finally here.

According to the setting of the script, this ‘Stone Forest Bewilderment Array’ was actually a formation to test the clarity of people’s hearts. The more focused people were, the simpler their path would be out of the formation and they would be able to pass through the stone forest quickly. In reverse, if the mind was burdened with too many worries and clouded thoughts, the person would be trapped in the formation for a long time. Whether they would eventually pass through or be expelled by the stone forest all depended on their subconscious reaction of their own anxiety.

The righteous ones would be able to see the light at the end but the unprincipled ones would not be able to pass and would be driven back to the stone forest entrance.

And just like the middle-aged man had warned, if they utilized internal force within this stone forest, they would immediately be affected by some type of vibration within the formation, causing severe damage to their meridians.

In the script, the only ones who had finally passed the assessment and entered Lesser Jade House were Gu Feidi, Xu Yunzhan and Pu Lingyun.

As for him, the Devil Sect’s Young Saint had been eliminated in this stone forest formation. In the script, he was trapped in the formation until late at night and finally expelled from the formation because of the tyrannical thoughts that had spread in his heart. Unwilling to accept defeat, he had entered the forest again despite being dissuaded, had attempted to fly over the stone forest using light footwork skill, but was severely injured by the formation and had to return to the Devil Sect to recuperate.

Although it seemed that proceeding or not proceeding with this part of the plot wouldn’t affect the storyline, Su Yang still decided not to act too independently and attract others’ attention. So he picked up his step and walked into the stone forest with Fan Xi.

He said to himself: I’ll be expelled eventually anyway. No big deal, I’ll follow the storyline where I use my light footwork skill to break through the stone forest formation and injure my meridians and then I can skip all that other stuff without anyone knowing.

As soon as he entered the forest, Su Yang immediately felt that the surrounding atmosphere was stifling; as if the air had become thicker.

Fan Xi, who was following him closely, frowned and said: “Young Saint, this place is really strange. They weren’t kidding when they told us not to utilize internal force.”

Su Yang nodded and replied, “Better not put our bodies at risk, let’s take a look around.” 

Fan Xi: “Yes, Young Saint.” 

The two walked side by side into the forest for a while. Su Yang turned a corner and was taken aback.

He actually saw a narrow sky in the distance through the gaps of several stone pillars in front of him—so, as long as he walked along this straight line, he could easily pass through the stone forest formation.

“Fan Er, I think I may not be seeing right.” Su Yang said sluggishly, “Look—”

He turned his head and was about to point out the way to Fan Xi, only to find that Fan Xi, who was behind him just now, was gone.

Damn it!

Su Yang roared in his heart: What the hell?!

Is this a formation or an ever-changing house of horrors?

Su Yang, who had just been scared out of his wits, started to self-reflect. He told himself that since this was a fictional martial arts world that included internal strength and martial arts, what other bizarre and weird things couldn’t happen?

After some persuasion, he began to worry again: What should he do next?

Should he or shouldn’t he walk towards the skyline?

Why was he able to see the exit so quickly?

He obviously just wanted to casually make his way through the plot and to go home!

This plot…

‘Collapse’ is too simple a word to describe this plot, right?!

He, the Devil Sect’s Young Saint, was able to enter Lesser Jade House?

You must be kidding!

Su Yang blinked several times and muttered: “Okay, since I know where the exit is, I don’t want to go there. Satisfied now?”

Having finished grumbling, he snorted, then turned around and wearily hastened in the other direction.

After walking for about five minutes, Su Yang was startled again when he looked up.

This time, there was a winding path in front of him. He was even closer to the gap with the blue sky than before and could even see the exit at a glance.

The mountain peak opposite the stone forest formation and Lesser Jade House were vaguely visible in the gap between the boulders at the end of the path.

Su Yang: .….

Lesser Jade House, your stone forest formation is faulty! Take it back and quickly get it fixed!

Su Yang choked up and could only protest internally.

To ensure he wouldn’t be subject to the stone forest formation’s tricks, Su Yang decided: F*ck it, I’ll stay trapped until nighttime. This Young Saint is going back now! Leave early, arrive early!

So he looked up at the sky, determined the direction and started heading back from the way he came.

However, this time, he felt as if he had only taken a hundred steps and as soon as he looked up, he saw a straight road appearing in front of him.

At the end of the road was a small clearing. Opposite of the clearing were several huge symbolic rocks. The gap between the huge rocks was enough to accommodate two 200-jin sumo wrestlers standing side by side.

Su Yang… Su Yang didn’t dare to wander about.

He felt that if he dared to look back, this impossible formation might send him directly out of the stone forest at the very next second.

He pressed his fingers on his forehead, silently walked to one of the huge symbolic boulders beside the exit, sat down and thought about what he should do next.

Right now he had only himself, not even someone to discuss with, which made him incredibly confused. What if… he had to resort to using his internal force in this formation to seriously injure himself and then be ejected by Lesser Jade House?

But if Lesser Jade House saw that he had arrived at the exit, not only did they not expel him, but healed his meridians with Lesser Jade House’s unique methods instead?

After contemplating it for a long time, he still couldn’t come up with a proper judgement. Su Yang had the urge to beat up the writer and ask: Are you still alive, you prick?!

After sitting there for a long time, no one came to the clearing in front of the exit. Su Yang’s exhaustion from staying up all night the night before finally surfaced in the midst of the boredom and silence.

While mulling about his next course of action on how to be justifiably eliminated by Lesser Jade House, he leaned on the boulder and gradually fell asleep.

This was precisely the scene that greeted Gu Feidi when he walked out of the stone forest.

The person who had fallen asleep on the boulder looked innocent and harmless and all his evil aura seemed to have been withdrawn. His brows were smooth. Those eyes that charmed when he smiled and cut when he fumed were softly closed at the moment. Even the red mole at the corner of his eye seemed to be more tranquil; more like a small coral bead than a drop of blood.

Recognizing that it was Su Yang, Gu Feidi was shocked.

He stood stiffly on the spot for a long while, clenched and loosened his fists many times before finally walking out from the shadow of the boulder.