Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
§§§Chapter 62 Being Straightforward
Dinghai Sect’s “Clown,” Gu Jianxi, was someone with a colorful history. His parents died when he was very young. Then, he was kidnapped and sold to the war-stricken Southern region. He never went through orthodox or formal martial arts training. He merely relied on a few tattered and torn books on the street, talent, passion, concentration, and rigorous training to develop a set of skills unique to him. He also developed his rebellious and strong but chilling character.
People like him would usually die in some brash battle before they came of age. However, luck was on his side. An Elder from the Dinghai Sect was out on some official business when he passed by Gu Jianxi and noticed him. The Elder appreciated his talent and his abilities. So the Elder used his connections to bring him back to the country. At that time, he was just a little past 17, with abilities well above Professional Ninth Pin.
After he entered Dinghai Sect, unlike the other Mighty Ones in the Wuyue Club who only trained in the specialty of “Ice Sect,” Gu Jianxi chose skills from “Death Sect.” After training, his path had been smooth sailing, creating miracles one after another. Time and time again, as the “weaker” side, he defeated “stronger” opponents. At the young age of 22, he had already achieved Fifth Pin and stepped into the realm of Inhumans. At 25, last year, he mastered physical invulnerability, making a great leap, displaying his great potential with a force.
The origin of his nickname was from the clown tattoo on his arms and neck.
As Lou Cheng thought about the “Spear King”, Huang Ke, and “Clown”, Gu Jianxi, he somewhat understood why Mo Jingting said that Senior Sister Yuejian was sandwiched. She had mountains in front of her, and a formidable force chasing her.
Based on the published information, Shi Yuejian attained physical invulnerability when she was 29 years old. Then, she was classified as a Third Pin. Now that six years have passed, she was still at Third Pin. She was no longer a force to fear as compared to the “Clown” and Huang Ke who were chasing so closely behind.
In these few years, before the three Mighty Ones with physical invulnerability in the previous generation go past their prime, the Ice God Sect’s status within the Wuyue Club should not change much. Nevertheless, time is cruel, once the older generation of heroes starts to retire from the stage, and if the new talents are unable to fill their shoes, the Ice God Sect must give up a huge portion of their benefits.
In the world, everyone gathers for benefits and works towards their own benefit.
After understanding this point, Lou Cheng could not help but exclaim,
“Falling behind means losing... ”
“Of course. I heard that Junior Master attained Eighth Pin in a year, chasing Peng Leyun, Ren Li and the others fiercely. Everyone is excited for you.” Mo Jingting twisted her to one side while saying so. She blinked her eyes and smiled.
Her eyes seemed to give off electricity whenever she looked at someone.
Hearing her words makes it seem like the whole Faction had great expectations and good sentiments towards him... Lou Cheng’s heart skipped a beat, and he became even warier of Mo Jingting.
From the bigger picture, most in the Ice God Sect looked forward to prodigies, so for them to have expectations of him was a rather natural thing.
But, there were simply too many people in this world who cared only about themselves, and not about the bigger picture!
“You flatter me too much. I still can’t compare to Peng Leyun or Ren Li.” Lou Cheng answered in a superficial manner. His hands flew across his phone screen as he replied to Yan Zheke’s message. “Yep, I just found out that I’m a member of the Ice God Sect... ”
He had already had his master for a year, entered the Danqi State, and yet he only knew about his sect today...
Master’s too unreliable!
Yan Zheke replied with an emoji covering its mouth laughing. “You live a difficult life... So this means that Shi Yuejian from the Wuyue Club is your direct senior sister. Coach Shi is definitely her direct elder.”
“Maybe it’s not that simple. My master has a daughter.” Lou Cheng could somewhat guess the relationship between Shi Yuejian and his master.
At the same time, he multitasked and continued to listen as Mo Jingting shared Wuyue Club’s internal affairs and politics.
After talking about Shi Yuejian randomly, Yan Zheke sent a curious emoji and wrote, “Why did Mo Jingting come and pick you up? By herself... ”
“Is there anything wrong? I called Master earlier, but he had no objections,” replied Lou Cheng, unable to understand the question.
But then again, his master also said that Mo Jingting was someone hard to handle...
“There’s nothing wrong if we look at this matter from the surface. But my intuition tells me that there’s something wrong! She already has one foot out of the martial arts community, which means she has no reason to be enthusiastic about you... Tell me what has she done recently. Don’t leave out any details!” sent Yan Zheke, with arms crossed emoji.
“Nothing at all. She was just holding a card with my name at the arrival hall. Acted cute a little, talked to my master a little, and then she brought me to the car. So far she introduced the Faction and Wuyue Club. Oh, and she asked me to help adjust her back mirror,” replied Lou Cheng, trying to recall the details while he typed.
After being silent, Yan Zheke sent a spaced-out emoji and wrote: “... Silly boy, you’ve been led on... ”
“Huh?” Lou Cheng was confused and could not catch what Yan Zheke was talking about.
“Did she think you didn’t do a good job with the back mirror and then leaned over to adjust it herself?” Yan Zheke replied with a huge laughing emoji.
“Yes, how did you know that? What’s wrong with that?” Lou Cheng asked, extremely surprised.
He recalled the earlier scene where Mo Jingting leaned over to adjust the mirror. “Yea, that’s a little strange... ”
“... Silly boy, her car wouldn’t be cheap, so such mirrors could be adjusted electronically. Plus, she drove all the way to the airport. Do you think her mirror was out of place?” Yan Zheke sent a message with an emoji covering its face.
“What the... ” Lou Cheng was enlightened and realized how naive he had been. “I, I don’t know anything. I’ve never taken a driving test and I don’t even have a car at home... ”
“I believe you... She probably knew about this, that’s why she did those actions to seduce you.” Yan Zheke sent with an emoji huffing out a puff of air. “How did it feel? How did it feel to be seduced?”
“Nothing much. I’m such an upright person. Plus, Coach Yan’s wise teachings are always on my mind—To always be careful of people in the Faction who are extremely nice to me. To be cautious and not get stuck in a trap of sugar-coated bullets.” Lou Cheng explained hurriedly.
“If you’re not afraid of the sugar-coated bullets, you’d feel something? She’s a star and she’s throwing herself at you!” Yan Zheke sent the message with a “Get lost” emoji.
“Ah, tricked by Ke again... ” Lou Cheng sent an emoji screaming that he had been wronged. “I’m someone who has been seduced by a fairy. Why would I fall for someone below that level?”
“When did I seduce you? You better not leave after school, explain yourself clearly!” Yan Zheke sent, with a furious looking emoji.
“Some year, some month, someday, I woke up with my lips coated in lip gloss.” Lou Cheng sent a “sneaky smile” emoji.
“Nothing like that! And, how could Mo Jingting be considered below standards? You’re being too fake!” Yan Zheke replied with an emoji turning aside and looking up into the sky.
“My standards are based on the fairy benchmark.” Lou Cheng gave a naughty smile and tried to change the topic. “What motive does Mo Jingting have in seducing me?”
Yan Zheke sent a list. “... The first possibility, to spoil your reputation. It’s a scandal if an elder is together with a junior in the same Faction. The second, just like I’ve analyzed earlier, to seduce you, bring you onto the wrong track. Today she’ll get some little stars to entertain you, tomorrow some models, the next day some big party and may even ask you to take some stuff to get high or something... ”
“Why are you being so detailed... ” Lou Cheng sent a “face with a hand wiping cold sweat” emoji.
“Pfft, I’m just afraid that you’ll fall for her antics, so I specially asked someone and listed all the possibilities!” Yan Zheke sent an emoji with its chin proudly lifted.
Lou Cheng was about to say something, but then he sensed the slight sourness in her words. He smirked and replied, “Someone’s jealousy?”
The usually reasonable Zheke, who knew what was going on, could not control her feelings and become jealous?
“No! ” Yan Zheke denied without any doubt. In a flustered mood, she tried to continue writing, “The third possibility, since she’s in the entertainment industry with the Ice God Sect and the Wuyue Club as her backing, she always has the best resources and has been able to avoid any shady business. At the same time, she is clear that she has chosen to give up the route of martial arts, and will never be able to step into Dan stage in her lifetime. This also means that she will never have too high of a position in the sect. Once her original backing has lost its power, she would have a hard time, so to try to seduce you who has some potential, doesn’t come to me as a surprise... ”
Lou Cheng thought about it carefully. With a tiny smile on his lips, he continued tapping on his phone’s screen, replying, “What a pity, I only have my fairy in my eyes.”
“So cheesy!” Yan Zheke chided him.
Mo Jingting glanced over at Lou Cheng and asked, “Junior Master, what are you smiling at?”
“Chatting with my girlfriend, saying that my niece here, is a big star.” Lou Cheng gave an ambiguous reply.
“You’ve got a girlfriend?” Mo Jingting was a little taken aback by his words.
“Yup.” Lou Cheng answered brightly with gentle eyes.
“Seems like you like her very much.” Mo Jingting tried to ask a little more.
“Of course. ” Lou Cheng answered directly with no hint of shyness.
Mo Jingting pouted a little and said, “Seeing how Junior Master is, I’m starting to be a little envious of her.”
At this moment, a car in front swerved into their lane and Mo Jingting stepped hard on the brake. This made the handbag by the side roll down, and because the bag was unzipped, all the bottles and small things came rolling out of it.
“Junior Master, could you help me pick them up?” Mo Jingting asked with a coquettish tone in her voice.
Lou Cheng bent over, with one bag in his hand, he started to pick up the things that had scattered around him. There were two lipsticks like things that had rolled under Mo Jingting’s legs.
He looked at her long, fair, and soft-looking legs. Lou Cheng was about to lean over to pick them up. Then, he stopped what he was doing and chuckled. He said in a straightforward manner,
“The remaining, we can pick up after we are done parking. They will be fine there anyway.”
Seeing his unwavering eyes, Mo Jingting fell silent for a while before she smiled brightly again.
“Yo! Junior Master, a gentleman, aren’t you!”
She joked to reduce the awkward tension in the air. Mo Jingting continued on the topic of the happenings within the Faction. At this time, Yan Zheke sent new messages to Lou Cheng.
“I asked some people. Mo Jingting is the grand-disciple of the Ice God Sect’s leader, He Yi. She’s the disciple of He Yi’s first disciple, Yang Xianlong. He Yi is a Mighty One with Physical Vulnerability. He’s considered your master-uncle. Yang Xianlong is considered the same generation as you and ‘Spear King’, Huang Ke, your first Senior Brother. But, he hasn’t been able to advance to physical invulnerability stage. Now he’s 50, at Fourth Pin Dan stage. Among his disciples, he initially cared most about his second disciple, Zhu Tai. Zhu Tai entered Dan stage at 20, but only went into higher Pin stages at 28. Since he seems to have exhausted his potential, Yang Xianlong is focusing his energy on nurturing a junior disciple. He’s the only disciple after Mo Jingting. He’s called Lei Fang, 23 years old, Sixth Pin... ”
“Anyway, later, just listen to your master. If you’ve any thoughts, tell him or discuss them with him honestly. Don’t hide anything.”
“So Mo Jingting is considered one of the elders in the Faction... ” Lou Cheng nodded slightly.
At this time, Mo Jingting parked the car by the road. Near them was an estate of villas. Geezer Shi was waiting there, in his old-fashioned shirt. He stood there, in a slack and slanted pose, completely void of any sign that he was a Mighty One.
Lou Cheng hurriedly got off the car. He opened the back door and passed the bottle of original-proof spirits, that was next to him the whole time, to his master.
“Master, this is our local specialty. ”
Geezer Shi smiled contentedly. He took the bottle and sat in the car. He twisted the bottle cap and drank a mouthful. Clicking his tongue happily, he said,
“This is good alcohol! You’ve some conscience, kid. Remembering to get me something and all!”
“It’s your daughter-in-law being considerate... ” Lou Cheng answered silently in his mind. He did not return to the passenger seat next to Mo Jingting. He sat next to his master in the backseat and relaxed.
“From now on, I’ll just listen to Master’s instructions!”
“Grandmaster! You’re getting more and more agile and spirited as you age. Living so freely!” Mo Jingting smiled and gave a superficial comment.
Geezer Shi chuckled and said, “Of course I’m living freely. I don’t need to care about the matters of the Faction. Still taking some money, enjoying the benefits without having to busy myself left and right about petty stuff. I only need to step forward from time to time. Why would I not be carefree?”
After saying this, he turned and looked at Lou Cheng. In front of Mo Jingting, Geezer Shi said, “Rascal. In the future, after you’ve established a high enough position, do you want to be so busy or do you want to be as carefree as this old man. Just fight a couple of battles, and accompany your wife?”
Before Lou Cheng replied, he could already feel Mo Jingting stiffen.
He took in a deep breath and recalled the busy times after getting the championship. Feeling a little bored and frustrated, he said earnestly,
“I want to devote myself entirely to martial arts.”