Descargar la aplicación
4.47% Plundering the Heavens / Chapter 19: Just Another Bandit Lair

Capítulo 19: Just Another Bandit Lair

Editor: celllll, Nou

The day’s profit left Fang Xing satisfied, but Yu Sanliang still needed to wrap his head around what had just happened.

"Stop it! With your weak spine, you practically deserve to be bullied!"

Fang Xing went to wash his face after returning to the cottage, while Yu Sanliang remained ashen-faced and inattentive. Seeing this, Fang Xing picked up his water basin and poured it right over the plump Daoist, drenching him to the point he looked like a drowned rat. Shocked by the cold, Yu Sanliang snapped free from his earlier thoughts and released a heavy sigh. "Shidi Fang, after what happened today, I think I’ve started to admire you!"

"What? You mean you didn’t admire me before?"

"No no no, ever since that day at the herb fields, I knew someone like you wouldn’t be ordinary…." The plump Daoist smiled. It was only natural he didn’t dare to reveal what his true thoughts had been at the time.

The truth was Yu Sanliang had been left with no other choice but to befriend Fang Xing. Although he may have been much older in comparison, he was no match for such a child who was extremely daring, vicious, and merciless towards enemies. It had been with these thoughts that Yu Sanliang decided to gamble a chance to get on his good side instead. As long as the child didn’t die too early, it was unlikely he would be content with an ordinary life, and perhaps Fang Xing would remember Yu Sanliang as the one who’d helped him out in the beginning when it mattered the most.

Put another way, Yu Sanliang had befriended Fang Xing with ulterior motives, not unlike making a long-term investment. It was understandable, however; for a small fry like him, this was a method of survival.

As Yu Sanliang came to understand more about Fang Xing, he began to realize that—even though Fang Xing's words made him appear rude and unrestrained—he was not as self-centered and snobby as most of the other disciples at the sect. Besides, after all of the wine and gossip sessions they’d shared together, they actually did get along rather well, even if he still viewed their relationship as an investment first and foremost.

That being said, Fang Xing’s performance had left him very disappointed. After Fang Xing joined the outer court, it seemed as though all of that imposing strength from before was replaced with laziness instead. Such unmotivated people would typically be sent back down to the villages upon their third year, but even though Yu Sanliang felt helpless and regretful, he hadn’t dared to mention it directly because of the boy’s temper.

It wasn’t until today—after Fang Xing had easily taken down Liu Feng and went on to rob three C-Rank disciples—that he began to realize what Fang Xing was capable of. To the plump Daoist, bullying someone weaker was only natural, but how could a person pick on someone stronger than them?

The splash of cold water had finally brought him to his senses. What was he afraid of? Hadn’t he befriended Fang Xing precisely because this boy dared to do what he wanted? If Fang Xing didn’t have such guts, there would have been no reason for any of this in the first place.

Yu Sanliang sighed deep in his heart. ‘What a slumbering dragon; he doesn’t strike often, but when he does, he’s absolutely ruthless….’ With a temperament like this, there was no way Fang Xing wouldn’t become someone influential one day. Since Yu Sanliang had invested in him, perhaps that "one day" for Fang Xing might also become the "one day" for him as well.

Without a doubt, not even in Yu’s wildest dreams would he ever imagine this so-called slumbering dragon was not nearly as placid as he imagined. In fact, within just weeks of joining the outer court, Fang Xing had already caused a rather large event. Small fries like the plump Daoist thought a slumbering dragon was always waiting for the right moment, but the reality was far simpler: even a dragon needed a nap after a satisfying meal….

If the plump Daoist knew about what had happened at the Black Market, he would’ve actually been afraid rather than excited.

After thinking things through, Yu Sanliang decided to try to be flexible and carefully asked about Fang Xing’s future plans, "By the way, Shidi Fang, aren’t you afraid of retaliation from those you rob?" As far as he knew, Shixiong Liu was definitely not a new recruit—including his time as a daotong, he was already in his fourth year within the sect. Without someone like Shixiong Liu involved, it was unlikely things would be so simple.

"If I was afraid of retaliation, I would have deserved his bullying anyway. Why wouldn’t I have just handed over the Spirit Stone right then?" Fang Xing lightheartedly replied. "Remember Wang Zhi? If I was afraid of retaliation, wouldn’t I have obediently accepted his orders and worked for him in the herb fields without any complaints? And if I was afraid of retaliation, wouldn’t I have dropped to my knees and begged for forgiveness when you caused trouble in my herb field?"

Hearing Fang Xing’s tone grow heavier and heavier, Yu Sanliang stood up in panic and hastily waved his hands. "Shidi Fang… I… I didn’t mean it that way…."

"Sit down! I just said what I said, I wasn’t implying anything!" Fang Xing threw the empty water basin aside and gestured for the plump Daoist to sit back down. "I’m just saying, I won’t accept living like that. You know, Shixiong Zhu, the only shortcoming you have is that you’re such a coward… ugly and gluttonous… and your aptitude is terrible…. Oh, you’re lazy, too…. Aii, I was going to compliment you for something but, well, you have nothing for me to compliment!"

"My name is Yu…" the plump Daoist quietly muttered with a pained expression.

Fang Xing dug around in his pockets before pulling out two Spirit Stones and tossing them to the plump Daoist. "Make good use of these. You might be stupid, ugly, and lazy, but you’re still kind of my friend; I can’t treat you unfairly…."

Yu Sanliang anxiously waved his hands. "No no no no, you use them…."

"Take it. Just this much is nothing to me." Fang Xing glared at the plump Daoist and forced him to accept. Fang Xing was extremely good at courting favors and winning people’s hearts, but his methods still had a bandit’s tyranny to them….

The plump Daoist looked down at the two Spirit Stones in his hand and nearly cried. He’d considered moments ago that he’d have his own day once Fang Xing was successful, but he hadn’t thought it’d happen so quickly. In the seven years he’d been a disciple of the sect, all he’d experienced was getting extorted and robbed by others—this was the first time he saw someone else’s things become his own. In that moment, the feeling of fear began to fade, and the possibility of Shixiong Liu’s revenge suddenly didn’t seem so scary anymore.

"Stupid fatty, everyone would want a piece of you for being such a coward like this all the time." After finally managing to send Yu Sanliang away amidst many thanks, Fang Xing helplessly shook his head and pulled out his storage ring. After instilling the ring with Qi, a small Flying Sword appeared in Fang Xing’s palms. Its handle was a vibrant red, and nine golden snakes were inlaid over its fiery texture—the Nine Snakes’ Sword.

"It’s probably about time I familiarize myself with Flying Swords and the like. An ordinary dagger won’t last for long in a sect!" Fang Xing mused aloud. Although the things he’d done today had looked easy, it had actually been quite dangerous. Not only was Liu Feng in a higher cultivation tier than him, but he was also an adult with a much larger stature; in a head-on confrontation, Fang Xing wouldn’t have stood a chance. Furthermore, even after Liu Feng had been clearly struck down, he’d quietly pulled out that short sword….

From beginning to end, Fang Xing had felt a strong sense of danger, as though he was being watched by a venomous snake. His innate awareness made him keenly aware of how dangerous that sword was, and if Yu Sanliang hadn’t reminded him he wasn’t allowed to kill, Liu Feng would’ve been dead by now just to ease that discomfort!

Regardless, even though he’d left Liu Feng alive, Fang Xing hadn’t shown mercy and had split several of his major tendons. This was a wound that would have rendered a normal person either useless or heavily handicapped for the rest of their life, but cultivators had methods to heal it.

Bones are harder to heal than muscles, and tendons are harder to heal than bones. With Liu Feng’s tendons severed, even the best medication would still require months before he was back to normal. During this time, Fang Xing would have the opportunity to surpass him in cultivation level so he wouldn’t be afraid of Liu Feng even in an upfront confrontation!

Another thing Fang Xing realized was the importance of having a few decent spirit weapons for self-defense, and the Nine Snakes’ Sword was a natural consideration for this topic. It was an extremely powerful mid-tier Flying Sword, after all; it was just a matter of seeing whether he could control it!

Swffft...

A low howl settled into the air as Fang Xing began to pour his Qi into the Nine Snakes’ Sword. Suddenly, the body of the sword lit up in dazzling gold and even began to suspend itself in midair.

Fang Xing felt an instant connection between him and the sword, that any indication or command from his mind would send the sword flying forward to cut any enemies standing in his path. At the same time, one of the snake heads began to gently move, as though it was nodding with full approval of such murderous intent.

Fang Xing relentlessly poured Qi into the sword until there wasn’t much left in his body. Before long, the nine snakes actually transformed into nine misty golden rays that danced around the sword in an impressive sight. Just as the snakes all flew up, however, Fang Xing felt a sudden emptiness within him and his mind grew dizzy as his body desperately tried to hold on to his last remnants of Qi. He hurriedly cut the connection between himself and the sword, causing the snakes to return to their original position and the Flying Sword to drop to the ground.

"Still not good enough. My tier is still too low!" Fang Xing muttered. Although he’d reached the peak of tier one, it was still not enough to handle this Flying Sword. "Looks like I’ll need to improve my cultivation tier first!"

Fang Xing placed the Nine Snakes’ Sword back into the storage ring, returned to his bed, and pulled out a Spirit Stone to resume his cultivation.

‘This sect is just another bandit lair. Those who have power get to bully others, and those without can only be bullied.’


Capítulo 20: Returning to the Black Market

Editor: celllll, Nou

The life of a practicing cultivator was repetitive and dull. Each day was akin to collecting enough dewdrops to form a stream, then drawing those streams into rivers that eventually collected into a vast sea.

The process was much easier said than done.

It was easy to understand that a person would not suddenly become plump overnight with only a single large meal—gaining weight required many meals over an extended time. Although Fang Xing had managed to gather enough Qi that he felt like he’d break through, he’d still only been practicing for a month and was stuck at the bottleneck. It felt like there was a wall blocking him from progressing into the next tier, bringing with it a sense of helplessness. The next tier was right in front of him, yet for some reason, he seemed unable to continue forward.

Within the past few days, there had been a major event within the outer court that caught everyone’s attention. An outer court disciple by the name of "Hou Qing" had decided to stop by the Danxia Valley to visit a female disciple who was an old friend of his, but he’d been stopped by three third-tiered disciples in front of the valley. Not only was Hou Qing alone and a new face among the outer courts, but he wore extravagant clothing with an extraordinary jade pendant hanging from his belt, making him a prime target for extortion in the three disciples’ eyes.

Without even saying a word, Hou Qing defeated all three men with a wave of his sword and casually walked away.

Such a feat astonished everyone in the outer courts. This man was one of the new recruits accepted six months ago, yet he was already strong enough to defeat three third-tiered disciples with ease? It didn’t take long at all before the name "Hou Qing" had become synonymous with "genius" within the outer court. Some people even declared Hou Qing would break into the fourth tier within a year and become the first inner court disciple from the batch of new recruits.

"Hou Qing? Isn’t that the guy who caught me before?" Fang Xing wondered aloud after Yu Sanliang had brought up the rumors, and a sly smile began to form as he remembered who this man was. "I remember you guys are like peas and carrots. You even let him skip the line and registered him in front of everyone else…."

Yu Sanliang looked at Fang Xing with confusion before laughing, "Shidi Fang, stop joking. How could someone like me even dare to be friends with someone like him? He was nice to me outside the sect, very polite and all, but it all changed once he was accepted. I even met him while I was doing a job for the department a while ago. I greeted him with a smile, but he didn’t even notice me…."

"Listen to yourself! So if someone pays you any attention, you go and suck up to them?" Fang Xing looked at the plump Daoist with contempt. The plump Daoist, on the other hand, only showed an embarrassed smile and poured more wine into Fang Xing’s bowl.

"Not only did that bastard catch me, but he kicked my Xiao Mahn! If I see him again, he’ll wish he was dead!" Fang Xing cursed with hate-filled eyes.

Startled, Yu Sanliang showed a comforting smile while wondering at how someone so young could hold such a deep grudge. "Shidi Fang, you can take it out on me if you’re still angry about that day, but that person is someone you can’t afford to offend…."

Fang Xing jumped to his feet in anger. "You think I can’t?" He started to kick Yu Sanliang to vent, but Yu Sanliang just grinned and didn’t mind. He’d learned quite a bit about Fang Xing after spending four months together, and although the boy was ruthless and bold, he wasn’t a mad dog that would try to bite everyone on sight. Furthermore, although Fang Xing was young, he understood loyalty as well; not everyone would have been willing to give up two Spirit Stones without a second thought.

Once the meal had finished, Fang Xing kicked the plump Daoist out of his cottage and returned to his practice. For some reason, a smoldering anger had lit up within Fang Xing’s heart after he heard about Hou Qing’s latest achievements. ‘I’ve practiced for four months and used twelve entire Spirit Stones, but I still can’t break into tier two, yet that bastard Hou Qing is nearly at tier four? Is the difference between us that great? Am I just stupid? No, how could I be so inferior?’

Fang Xing took out the thirteenth Spirit Stone while nursing his grudge. He adjusted his breathing and began to draw the Spirit Stone’s Qi inward to soak his meridians, and it didn’t take long for the same problem as before to rise to the fore.

Every time Fang Xing attempted to spread Qi evenly across his entire body, his control was hindered by an unknown force until the Qi eventually dissipated. He’d failed to break through yet again, but this time he seemed to find a pattern with this dissipation. Without giving up, Fang Xing started again from the beginning and worked to hasten the process, absorbing Qi from the Spirit Stone at a faster rate and causing a large amount of Qi to suddenly saturate his body.

A person can only eat so much at one time, and a person could choke if they tried to bite off more than they could chew. Cultivation was similar, and Fang Xing began to feel sharp pains all across his meridians, but he endured the pain and sent both himself and all of the force he’d accumulated violently towards the wall blocking him from tier two.

Boom….

Suddenly, it seemed as though something had broken within his mind, and a refreshing feeling settled all over his body. The feeling was very strange; where his body was too hot, it was delightfully cool and refreshing, and where he was too cold, the feeling would be filled with warmth—the remarkable effect of Qi.

‘Finally!’ Fang Xing murmured in his heart. He’d finally managed to break through into the second tier, and Qi filled his entire body. Now, he could move Qi anywhere inside his body with a mere thought, and although it wasn’t strong enough to protect from harm, he could still direct Qi to where he was wounded to improve his rate of recovery. If it was necessary, he could even use Qi to close a wound up completely to prevent blood loss or keep himself from using up too much physical strength. Shixiong Liu had tried to do exactly that when he’d been stabbed, but Fang Xing had struck him again to stop the process and make it more difficult for him to control his Qi afterwards.

Fang Xing had gambled with his luck to break into tier two, and it was truly fortunate he succeeded this time. If luck hadn’t been on his side, his meridians may have ended up damaged by the excess Qi and he would have required at least ten days to fully recover. However, this was all because of his temperament; although he was ruthless towards others, he was just as ruthless towards himself as well.

‘Let’s try using the Nine Snakes’ Sword again!’

Amidst the delight of finally breaking through, Fang Xing decided take a break and give the Nine Snakes’ Sword another try. Despite his efforts, however, he found that things hadn’t changed by much; although he could barely manage to make a full strike now, he had hardly any Qi left afterwards and an attempt for a second just made him dizzy.

Fang Xing put the Nine Snakes’ Sword away and—after some thought—decided there were two main problems: his cultivation level was still really low, and the Nine Snakes’ Sword power was just too high. The Nine Snakes’ Sword required far more Qi than an ordinary spirit sword, so the best wy forward was to find a regular, low-grade weapon instead for the time being.

‘There are strict regulations about stealing the spirit weapon someone else chose from the pavilion. What to do….’ Fang Xing gave it some thought before he suddenly remembered something. ‘Didn’t the fatty say they’ve resumed the Black Markets again? There were quite a lot of Flying Swords last time. Back then, I only took the best one and left the others behind; how sinful of me….’

It didn’t take long before he decided to visit the Black Market again.

Fang Xing asked Yu Sanliang for the time and place of the next Black Market before starting to prepare. After giving Fang Xing information on the next Black Market, however, Yu Sanliang began to have some suspicions. The last time Fang Xing asked for information, a rich disciple was so thoroughly robbed he was turned into a poor wretch. Fang Xing was asking about the next Black Market again; was he possibly…?

Fang Xing noticed Yu Sanliang’s gaze on him and fiercely replied, "What are you staring at? Do you think I won’t tear out your eyes?"

Yu Sanliang grinned but said nothing. He decided that even though the kid was bold, he still wouldn’t dare to do something like that. Besides, the people who’d seen the event take place said the perpetrator was a slender man….

As it so happened, the next Black Market was actually scheduled to take place that very night. Fang Xing made sure Yu Sanliang was well-intoxicated from the wines before kicking him back to his own cottage.

The plump Daoist had always admired Fang Xing for how much he could drink and was amazed that an eleven-year-old child could handle so much! Fang Xing, however, just scoffed at this; he’d pretty much grown up soaked in wine jars, so how could there be any comparison? Fang Xing liked to boast about his various skills from time to time, but his alcohol tolerance didn’t even require it—not even ten of the plump Daoist could match him!

Once Yu Sanliang had left, Fang Xing took out his Mask of Wanluo, placed it on his face to change his appearance once more, and then headed off towards the market.

The Black Market this time was within a hidden valley a few miles away from the sect. The locations for these events were carefully selected; it couldn’t be too close to the sect since the Black Market was against sect rules, but it also couldn’t be too deep in the mountains or the beasts and demons would pose a threat to lower-tiered disciples.

Following the plump Daoist’s instructions, Fang Xing traveled to the area and quickly found the market’s location because of how obvious it was. A total of eight guards stood at attention in front of the valley’s entrance, and all of them looked extremely cautious and capable.

Fang Xing chuckled. It seemed they’d learned their lesson from last time.


Load failed, please RETRY

Regalos

Regalo -- Regalo recibido

    Estado de energía semanal

    Desbloqueo caps por lotes

    Tabla de contenidos

    Opciones de visualización

    Fondo

    Fuente

    Tamaño

    Gestión de comentarios de capítulos

    Escribe una reseña Estado de lectura: C19
    No se puede publicar. Por favor, inténtelo de nuevo
    • Calidad de Traducción
    • Estabilidad de las actualizaciones
    • Desarrollo de la Historia
    • Diseño de Personajes
    • Antecedentes del mundo

    La puntuación total 0.0

    ¡Reseña publicada con éxito! Leer más reseñas
    Votar con Piedra de Poder
    Rank 200+ Clasificación PS
    Stone 0 Piedra de Poder
    Denunciar contenido inapropiado
    sugerencia de error

    Reportar abuso

    Comentarios de párrafo

    Iniciar sesión

    tip Comentario de párrafo

    ¡La función de comentarios de párrafo ya está en la Web! Mueva el mouse sobre cualquier párrafo y haga clic en el icono para agregar su comentario.

    Además, siempre puedes desactivarlo en Ajustes.

    ENTIENDO