My Junior Chapter 22: Squaring up Cang Luan

Translated by Rikko of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis, WagahaiFujoshi

 

Despite being long enough for Zhong Yan to roam around the room freely, the chains were still too short for Zhong Yan to step out of the door. Zhong Yan had no idea what material they were made out of. They were fine, exquisite and didn’t weigh all that much, yet even when Zhong Yan yanked it or slashed it with his sword, it just wouldn’t budge.

Drained of energy a few failed attempts later, he plopped onto the bed and chatted with the system.

[Do you have any ways to break them?]

[Yeah, but what for?]

[So I can escape.] Zhong Yan’s reply rendered the system speechless. Zhong Yan continued. [Just joking. I have to look for Gu XuanYan.] After laughing for a bit, he sighed, [Do you seriously think Cang Luan will spare his life?]

The system sounded calm. [But even if you found him, you can’t help him much anyway. Besides, weren’t you pissed at him just yesterday?]

[I still am. So I’m going to have a talk with him face to face.]

[Do you think I believe you?]

Before Zhong Yan had the chance to reply, a sudden series of coughs sounded outside of the room.

Clad in long, azurite robes, Cang Luan pushed the door open and stepped in, smiling after a look at Zhong Yan sitting on the edge of his bed. “Are you settling in well?”

Heh…showing me concern the moment Gu XuanYan is away when he didn’t even bother coming over during the days and days I spent staying here. Not wanting to beat around the bush with him, Zhong Yan asked, “Why are you here?”

Cang Luan took a seat at the table, giving a reply that was as if he had read his mind, “To visit you. I should have come over earlier on, but Gu XuanYan doesn’t seem too keen on me meeting you.” He swept his glance over to the fetter binding Zhong Yan’s feet, revealing a smile, “He sure treasures you.”

Zhong Yan sneered, “Yeah, so get going. Gu XuanYan might get jealous and fall out with you.”

An unconcerned smile ran along Cang Luan’s lips as he poured himself a cup of tea, “It’s fine. He’s not around anyway.”

With his expression turning ice-cold, Zhong Yan straightened himself up, “What exactly did you make him do?”

“Didn’t he tell you?” Cang Luan’s voice was gentle, “I’ve asked him to get me something.”

Since Cang Luan yearned for immortality, the items he ordered Gu XuanYan to get must be related to that. No way would Zhong Yan believe Cang Luan would still get Gu XuanYan to kill every single Golden Core cultivator under the sun; it was just too slow. He had found a new method that was inevitably just as dangerous.  

As the thought crept into Zhong Yan’s mind, his tone became somewhat irritable, “Gu XuanYan has been practising Daoist cultivation for years. Aren’t you worried he will see the error of his ways all of a sudden and leave you in the lurch?”

With a smile, Cang Luan tossed him a question, “Is there anything wrong with your body recently? I’ve already prepared blood from my heart for you, just waiting for Gu XuanYan to return.

Zhong Yan immediately understood the meaning behind the question; Cang Luan must have threatened Gu XuanYan with that.

Zhong Yan leaned back, sneering, “Will you even extend my life once Gu XuanYan hands over the stuff you wanted? I thought when you’d truly gain immortality from the stuff Gu XuanYan got for you, you’d just kill us both with one slash.”

The smile hanging on Cang Luan’s face vanished into thin air right away.

In a split second, an overwhelming pressure plunged straight down.

Zhong Yan didn’t dare to make any rash moves with his vital energy due to the blood oath. Nonetheless, at the very moment, he chose to utilise his cultivation base to resist the pressure. He glared right at Cang Luan, gritting his teeth.

Cang Luan’s centuries of age gave him a presumption that he had everyone’s lives at his fingertips, so he dared to slaughter the innocent and massacre clans wilfully. Similarly, he had deemed Zhong Yan’s and Gu XuanYan’s lives were completely within his control.

Unfortunately, being bad-tempered, Zhong Yan simply despised things going swimmingly as Cang Luan wished. Only until Zhong Yan felt blood almost seeping out of his mouth did Cang Luan withdraw his stare abruptly, a smile back on his face.

The brewing storm looming over the room dissipated in an instant as well.

Cang Luan started the conversation yet again, as if it was merely chit chat, “You might be unaware of your reputation outside of Northern Wilderness since you have been staying here for quite some time. Every single cultivator in the world knows about Gu XuanYan taking a liking to a cultivator named Qin MingXi and even betrayed his sect just for him.”

The news rendered Zhong Yan speechless.

“According to the few imbeciles who got their cultivation bases destroyed, just a brief conversation with you provoked Gu XuanYan, causing him to strike them down hard.”

Zhong Yan remained silent. Bullshit! Get them to come over and have a confrontation with me!

Zhong Yan almost couldn’t hold back vomiting the blood that threatened to spill out moments ago. Seeing how fast the rumors spread, it’s no wonder only a handful of Great Wilderness cultivators manage to ascend. Instead of being abstinent, the lot of them were all immersed in gossiping, so how could they even ascend?!

After letting out two coughs, Cang Luan inverted the topic, “Only now do I realise although your cultivation base is mediocre and you have an annoying manner of speaking, surprisingly, you are slightly witty.”

“Thank you.” Zhong Yan leaned back, returning a smile. “But what a pity; death is always uncertain. Just you wait and see. Remember to close the door behind you when leaving.”

Only when Cang Luan was truly gone did the system express its admiration for Zhong Yan from the bottom of its heart. [Damn! I didn’t expect you to square up to him head-on.]

[Except for Gu XuanYan, who else am I afraid of?] Zhong Yan sneered. [Get this damn thing off of me tonight when no one is around. I have to get Gu XuanYan away from here.]

[As I see it, you have always been squaring up to Gu XuanYan. Anyway, now that Gu XuanYan has his mind set on practising demonic cultivation, it’s still futile no matter where you bring him.]

You and your big mouth. Exasperation knocked Zhong Yan over. [I’ll just lock him up with this very chain in a cave for a good eight to ten years and leave him to gain enlightenment on his own. Do you think only he knows how to lock others up? ]

After a brief silence, the fearless system gave a bold reply. [But your life will be ending in just two to three days, so how are you able to get him locked up for years?]

One day… one day I will definitely lodge a complaint on this trash of a system…

That said, Zhong Yan knew that he could no longer stop Gu XuanYan, let alone chaining him up. A moment of clear-minded pondering later, Zhong Yan stood up and opened the door.

After a while, a demon cultivator materialised out of nowhere. Zhong Yan asked, “Where is Cang Luan? I still have something to tell him.”

Upon hearing the name of the demonic lord, the demonic cultivator bowed, “My lord is taking a rest and probably would only get out of his seclusion tomorrow. When the time comes, he will send a message over.”

Zhong Yan nodded before retreating to the room, continuing with the system. [Apply a cheat for me then. I’m going to get Cang Luan killed.]

Due to how nonchalant Zhong Yan’s choice of words was, the system thought it had misheard.  Fear colored its tone. [For real? You’ll only be left with thirty points if you do that. By the standards of our system identification, you are practically going to be a player living out your last days.]

[Are you dumb…? Do I even need to wait for points to get deducted if I killed Cang Luan? I’ll bite the dust once he dies.] After detaching his sword off the wall, Zhong Yan placed it somewhere within his reach on the edge of the bed, scoffing. [Massacring Gu XuanYan’s clan in the past and even using me to threaten him all day long right now? Who does he think he is?]

A short moment of silence later, the system asked. [You are doing this for Gu XuanYan?]

Zhong Yan adamantly denied it. [I’m just doing this for myself. I want to keep my sexuality straight before I die.]

[Yeah; yeah; yeah. I totally buy that.]

[……Where in the world can I submit a complaint?!]

Of course, the system was not that unfeeling. It promised to ask its boss if there was any way to make an exception, for example, offering Zhong Yan a points package that could remove his blood oath.

Zhong Yan remarked. [So it still won’t be free, huh?]

[Bro, don’t even think about it.] The system’s tone was gentle. [No way will it be free. Never in your lifetime will it be free. Besides, I can only make a request; it might not even be approved. If this doesn’t work, the only thing I can do is to pray for you.]

Sincerity was plastered on the momentarily wordless Zhong Yan’s face. [Oh, thanks.]