บท 75: What a Meaningless Concern
"We are all companions here, fellow outer disciples who are out on a mission together. Am I right?"
"Why are you suddenly saying that, Junior Martial Brother Zhao?"
"Am I right?"
"Yes, of course."
"And as fellow outer disciples who are out on a job together, we are essentially comrades who should help each other out as far as possible. Am I right?"
"Why are y-"
"Am I right?"
"Yes, that's right, Senior Martial Brother Zhao."
"The first thing I did when we were given our first task was to share with you Elder He's preferences, wasn't it? I didn't hide it and secretly do it on my own, did I?"
"No, you didn't. Again, why are you asking all that?"
"Then why?"
"Why? Why what?"
"Why didn't you warn me about the sea serpent at the entrance of the sect? What else are you not letting me in on?"
Huu-!
Back in his assigned room, Zhao Yunxiao let out a sigh as he fell back into the water, closing his eyes as he tried to enjoy the nice warm bath.
In his head, he could vividly recall how Zheng Biru and Yu Hang had exchanged glances before bursting out in laughter after hearing Zhao Yunxiao's last question.
"Damn it, Senior Martial Brother Zhao, you gave me a big scare there! I thought it's something serious!"
"Junior Martial Brother Zhao is actually this humorous. I didn't expect that from you at all!"
Their reactions were what Zhao Yunxiao did not expect instead.
For some reason, the other two seemed to genuinely believe that he had been joking about the sea serpent earlier today, and that he was still continuing with that joke now that the day was about to come to an end.
Faced with such a reaction, the dumbfounded Zhao Yunxiao could only stand there and watch as the other two laughed their way back to their rooms.
In the end, the sea serpent from his memories had not moved an inch from the stone arch at the Kilometre Stone Bridge even after the entire entourage passed.
Was it really just his imagination?
Yeah, that was probably it.
It did not make sense that Jun Chuan would miss out a detail as important as that in his notes.
It was probably just a stone statue, and he had imagined it blinking its eyes.
He had probably imagined the movement of its head too.
And also the pressure that had been bearing down upon him as he approached...
Damn it, was that even possible?
Zhao Yunxiao tried to shake off his thoughts.
Since he was not getting any answers for that, he should probably stop wasting time thinking about it.
The day was coming to an end, so it was a good time to reflect upon what he did today.
Was there anything that he did wrong, or anything that he could have improved on?
Definitely.
The most significant event today was probably dealing with Qian Luming at the Twilight Wall.
This was probably the first time that he had absolutely no clue why another party was unhappy with himself.
To Zhao Yunxiao who had always believed in the power of information, that was a failure on the greatest level!
Back in the Black Tortoise Sect, he had also gotten into trouble with random guys for no good reason in the past.
But he had at least been able to guess what the reason was – most of it being cases of jealousy, where the other party was unhappy about his good relationship with Gu Qiansi.
While Gu Qiansi might not be as exceedingly beautiful as Lu Zhiying, she was still rather pretty in her own right. Not just that, but she also had quite the good figure to boot.
Because of that, Gu Qiansi had her fair share of admirers among the outer disciples as well.
In fact, if not because of her almost anti-social tendencies, she would have been a lot more popular than she currently was!
Wait a minute...
Could this be why?
Zhao Yunxiao thought back to the way Qian Luming looked at him earlier, comparing it to the way that those other guys looked at him in the past.
...Was it because he was chosen to attend to Elder He along with Song Xiaoqiao?
If that was the reason why, then he had really suffered for no good reason!
But just thinking about it was useless.
The next time he meets Qian Luming, he definitely had to carefully observe the way the Origin Lake Sect core disciple acted around Song Xiaoqiao!
Still, Zhao Yunxiao was largely satisfied with the way that he had reacted despite being caught off guard by Qian Luming's unsolicited aggression.
While it might not be the best idea to form an enmity with a core disciple of the Origin Lake Sect, Zhao Yunxiao was not intending to just suffer in silence either.
It was a different matter if it was a superior from his own sect, but there was no way he would allow someone from a subordinate sect to just step all over him!
Apart from that, Zhao Yunxiao was also satisfied with how he had handled the interaction with Zhou Qin and Cui Junhe at the Jade Force Cliff, so there was no problem there.
Finally, Zhao Yunxiao thought back to how he had given a list of adjustments to be made for the lecture hall – one that was perhaps a little too long.
He had to admit that he got slightly carried away during the inspection, something that had come instinctively as a result of his years of experience as a sect librarian.
After all, it was one thing to have high standards about yourself, but imposing similar standards on others was not always a welcomed gesture.
It was fortunate that He Luoxuan backed him up in the end, but perhaps he should have toned it down a little to test the Origin Lake Sect's reaction first.
"That's a mistake," Zhao Yunxiao concluded.
"What is?"
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
Wasn't he taking a bath alone in his room?
With his head hung low, Zhao Yunxiao opened his eyes in a slow and careful manner.
It was a huge square tub more than three metres on each side. The bath water was clear with flower petal floating in it, but these petals were not nearly enough to hide the layer of light that reflected off of the water surface.
And from this reflection, Zhao Yunxiao could clearly see the water surface rapidly rising at the other end of the bath, forming into a pillar of water almost the height of a man.
He stood up in an instant, driving his dantian to the limit as he channelled his essence energy in preparation for a fight.
Before his very eyes, the pillar of water started changing form.
The transparent body became opaque, its flowing surface turning into scales.
The top end of it bent forward, eyes forming on the sides as well as a wide mouth that appeared with two intimidating fangs within. The top of its head started protruding, quickly forming into a single blue horn.
Zhao Yunxiao widened his eyes in shock.
It was a much smaller version, but there was no doubt about it.
This was a sea serpent, one that shared the exact same features with the one that he had seen resting on the stone arch when entering the Origin Lake Sect territory earlier today!
The moment he set eyes on it, Zhao Yunxiao immediately lost all motivation to fight.
He knew instinctively that he had absolutely no chance of winning!
"As I thought, you can see and hear me, can't you?" the sea serpent's mouth did not move, but its voice sounded out directly in Zhao Yunxiao's head.
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
Shit!
How could he have forgotten that the key was to pretend not to notice it?
No, it was not exactly his fault this time.
With the way that it appeared, there was no way that anyone could just continue with their bath while pretending that nothing was happening!
And it was too late now anyway.
Or actually... maybe he should still give it a try?
"Ouch! This water is really hot! It's the first time in a while that I jumped because of how hot my bath water is!" Zhao Yunxiao cursed out loud as he slowly sat back down into the water. "What a nice quiet night though. Taking a nice warm bath alone like this is really enjoyable."
Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes again, and after a few moments of silence, decided to continue.
"Come to think of it, I've always followed a vegetarian diet, so my flesh will probably not taste as good as others. I guess that's a good thing when travelling outside of the sect grounds. It's probably safer this way since I will not be appealing to the powerful spirit beasts out there," Zhao Yunxiao casually remarked.
"What vegetarian? I saw you having quite a bit of meat for dinner earlier."
Damn it, why did the Origin Lake Sect deliver such a sumptuous dinner?
"Sigh, I really shouldn't have eaten meat just now out of respect for the Origin Lake Sect's efforts," Zhao Yunxiao put his hand on his stomach. "It's been a while since I had meat, so my stomach is not feeling well right now due to not being used to the sudden change in diet. Now my body is full of toxins so it will definitely smell."
"Hahaha! You are surprisingly full of shit!" the sea serpent's voice sounded like that of a young man. "Let me guess, did you create a mythical item recently?"
Zhao Yunxiao flinched as he immediately thought of the Grand Annihilator that he had managed to create with Nie Hanchang.
"Looks like I'm right."
Zhao Yunxiao cursed in his heart.
He had heard that mythical treasures had a unique aura to them. Was it this aura that had attracted the sea serpent to him?
Was this what others call a misfortune in disguise?
"You don't have to be this nervous. I'm not hungry at the moment so I won't be eating you just yet," the sea serpent said. "Instead, do you want to go somewhere with me?"
"...Can I say no?" Zhao Yunxiao finally gave up on acting.
"Hahaha!" the sea serpent bared its fangs towards Zhao Yunxiao in a menacing manner. "What do you think?"
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
What was the point of asking him in the first place?
At this moment, he began to weigh his options.
He was not feeling the same pressure from earlier in the day when he first saw the sea serpent. But simply from seeing how the sea serpent managed to materialise from pure water, Zhao Yunxiao highly doubted that he would be able to come out on top in a fight.
Zheng Biru and Yu Hang were just next door, but even if he called for help now, would he be able to last until they arrive?
After all, there was simply no way to contact them without alerting this sea serpent in front of him.
No, that's not the problem.
Even if the two of them were here beside him right now, Zhao Yunxiao highly doubted that all three of them combined would be a match for this sea serpent!
It was almost like the instinct of a prey when faced with its predator.
A good thing was that the sea serpent seemed to be in a good mood right now. Still, if he did not tread carefully, he might even end up getting killed right here!
"May I know where you will be taking me?" Zhao Yunxiao asked timidly.
"You will find out when you come."
"...Will you let me go after we arrive then?"
"I think that's enough talk."
"What...?"
Zhao Yunxiao was startled as the water that he had been bathing in started bubbling violently. It looked as though the entire bath was boiling over all at once, but it was obviously not the case as he did not feel any change in temperature.
Before the shocked Zhao Yunxiao could figure out what was going on, two pillars rose from the water and wrapped around him like transparent limbs.
It was obviously just water, but the two streaks of water felt extremely solid as they started coiling around him, forming into something like a casing of water around him.
"W-Wait!" Zhao Yunxiao called out in panic as he felt himself being lifted off of the water. "Are we going just like that? At least let me wear my clothes!"
"Clothes? What a meaningless concern. Do you see me wearing clothes?"
"What?! How are we the sa- Wha?!"
Before Zhao Yunxiao could raise any further objections, the window was flung opened and the casing of water shot out like an arrow, carrying the naked Zhao Yunxiao along with it.
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