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“It’s just a Firewood Cat.” Ziche Duanyuan slipped his pair of long, slender hands under the black cat’s front legs from behind, lifting the cat up to display it in front of everyone. “Look at him. Does he really look that valuable?”
Everyone shook their heads.
Pei Bufan: …****!
Gathering Pei Bufan back into his arms and stroking his head, Ziche Duanyuan continued, “But to me, he is a priceless treasure.”
Pei Bufan: Don’t think This Lord won’t be angry just because you say that!
“You have such a good relationship,” Chou Chenxi exclaimed with envy.
“En. He was the only one who didn’t abandon me when I was in danger.” Ziche Duanyuan poked Pei Bufan’s mouth, lightly tapping the little milk teeth that had just started to grow in. “Although he’s not very useful, I’m very happy…” His face held a faint, warm smile.
The others stared, mesmerized. Ziche Duanyuan seemed to be a very gentle sword cultivator.
Pei Bufan: Bullshit! This Lord’s Nether Fire is very powerful, okay!! Also!! Don’t think you can fool This Lord just by showing a harmless smile! As your ‘daddy,’ This Lord knows very well how black your core is!
“Rumors are just that, false and not to be believed,” Qin Muchen said with a shrug. “But it’s better for Senior Martial Brother Ziche to clarify it. Otherwise, it could easily attract cultivators who don’t know the truth to come looking for trouble.”
“En.” Ziche Duanyuan smiled and nodded. “May I ask where you all heard this news?”
“Let me think… I remember hearing an outer disciple from the Youran Sect talking about it very loudly in an inn… Ah!” Tian Yunyu suddenly realized. “Senior Martial Brother Ziche, do you have some kind of enemy? This is going too far, to frame you like this.”
“Speaking of which, I also heard it in a town near the Youran Sect,” Qin Muchen said. Chou Chenxi also nodded in agreement.
Ziche Duanyuan nodded. “Has it already spread so far?” His face showed a look of conflict and trouble.
“Don’t worry,” Tian Yunyu said. “My family still has some connections. I can help you spread some words to clarify the rumor. This kind of thing sounds exaggerated at first listen, so it should be easy to clear up.”
“You just need to take him out for a walk more often,” Qin Kuichen said, pointing at the ‘Firewood Cat.’ “One look and they’ll know. The rumor will collapse on its own.”
Chou Chenxi continued to nod. “I can… help too,” he said in a low voice.
“Then many thanks to you all.” Ziche Duanyuan showed a warm smile. After the smile faded, his eyes narrowed slightly. As expected, this is much more convenient.
Yuan Wangyou, who had been staring at Tian Yunyu, finally snapped back to reality and rubbed his head. “Ah? Ah! I’ll help too! Haha…” Then he continued to sneak glances at Tian Yunyu.
Pei Bufan: …Can he really win someone over like this?
Ziche Duanyuan glanced sideways at Yuan Wangyou, then at Tian Yunyu, who was blushing slightly but pretending not to notice. He let out a laugh. “Senior Martial Brother Yuan has a single earth spiritual root, right?” he asked.
Yuan Wangyou’s eyes widened, and he looked at Ziche Duanyuan in astonishment. “…You, how did you know?” He didn’t use spiritual energy to probe my meridians, so how could he know?
“You can tell just by looking. Senior Martial Brother Yuan, you’re too obvious,” Qin Kuichen said. “Among the five main spiritual roots, the earth element is the most stable. It’s normal for a cultivator with a single earth spiritual root to have their personality influenced by it, as they are nourished by the earth element for a long time.”
“Is that so… I never noticed,” Yuan Wangyou said with an embarrassed smile. “Then can you all tell a person’s spiritual root at a glance?”
Chou Chenxi shook his head. “Single spiritual roots are easy to spot because their personalities and temperaments are also very prominent. For example, Senior Martial Sister Tian’s single wood spiritual root, and Senior Martial Brother Ziche’s… single water spiritual root. It’s hard to distinguish for multiple spiritual roots, as their personalities are all mixed together.”
Ziche Duanyuan narrowed his eyes at Chou Chenxi. “En… that’s right.”
“Senior Martial Brother Ziche has a water spiritual root?” Tian Yunyu gasped softly. “I thought Senior Martial Brother had a wood spiritual root like me.” Water spiritual root temperaments are fickle and hard to grasp. Wood spiritual root temperaments are benevolent and gentle.
“But I could easily tell that Junior Martial Brother Chou has a single mutated ice spiritual root,” she said with a smile.
Pei Bufan: He’s so cold he’s about to freeze into ice dregs, okay! It’d be weirder if you didn’t notice!
Yuan Wangyou chuckled sheepishly. “I didn’t notice…”
Pei Bufan: Earth spiritual roots are thick-skinned!1
“Senior Martial Brother Qin’s spiritual root is hard to distinguish,” Tian Yunyu said with a frown.
“I have a mutated wind spiritual root,” Qin Kuichen said. “This spiritual root is very rare and doesn’t have any particular characteristics. It’s normal not to be able to tell.”
Pei Bufan: Wind spiritual roots love freedom, they’re unrestrained and rebellious!
“So that means everyone here has a Heavenly Spiritual Root,”2 Yuan Wangyou sighed. “The aptitude of the younger generation is so good.” Are Heavenly Spiritual Roots as common as cabbage now? Why are there so many in this generation?! He remembered when he first joined the sect, there were no other Heavenly Spiritual Roots besides himself, which made him feel great for days, showing off everywhere. Thinking about it now, it was really childish. Yuan Wangyou cried internally.
Pei Bufan: Of course! This Lord specifically arranged for the male lead to be in an era teeming with talent! Without competitors, where would the motivation to climb quickly come from? There’s no sense of victory in being the fastest in a race against a bunch of pigs, okay?! He looked up at Ziche Duanyuan. As expected, the male lead’s eyes were shining with excitement!
“Besides the five main spiritual roots and the mutated ones, there are also the light and dark spiritual roots, right?” Ziche Duanyuan pinched Pei Bufan’s ear and continued, “I’m not very clear on these two types. Can anyone explain them to me?”
“Light and dark, those are talents that only demon cultivators have, right?” Qin Kuichen said. “These two spiritual roots don’t exist in human cultivators.”
“Is that so…” Ziche Duanyuan’s hand paused. So Pei Bufan’s Nether Fire has nothing to do with his soul. His family didn’t have a tradition of raising spirit pets, so he wasn’t familiar with this area.
“Even among demon cultivators, the light and dark attributes are very rare,” Chou Chenxi said with a deadpan face.
“Eh? I seem to remember someone raised a dark-attribute spirit pet…” Yuan Wangyou said, stroking his chin.
“There are a few spirit pets with the dark attribute, but they are already very rare,” Tian Yunyu replied. “And it’s even rarer for them to be able to shapeshift on their own and become a demon cultivator. I’ve never heard of a dark-attribute demon cultivator to this day. But I do know of one with the light attribute.”
Chou Chenxi: “The founder of the Tianwu Sect was a light-attribute demon cultivator.”
“Right, right!” Qin Kuichen nodded. “The light and dark attributes are extremely powerful, which is why that founder was able to create a world for demon cultivators in an era when they were severely persecuted, and even develop it into one of the seven great sects that no one dares to provoke today.”
“It’s just that the number of demon cultivators was too small to hold their own, so they started recruiting demonic cultivators as well,” Tian Yunyu added.
Pei Bufan: They all know so clearly, but… why doesn’t This Lord know any of this!! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻efn_note╯︵┻━┻: A popular kaomoji (Japanese-style emoticon) for flipping a table in rage.[/efn_note]
“It’s just that the founder ascended a long time ago,” Qin Kuichen said. “I don’t know what’s become of him now. There doesn’t seem to be much news of him from the Immortal Realm.”
“Could it be that he became a god?” Yuan Wangyou asked.
The scene immediately fell silent.
“It’s been a long time since anyone has become a god,” Tian Yunyu said softly. “Even if he really did become a god, that mighty being would have been among the last batch to do so.” It felt as if the God Realm had completely abandoned them.
Pei Bufan silently turned his little head away. He didn’t know anything. He hadn’t written the part where the male lead became a god yet, so as for why no one had become a god in a long time, he hadn’t finished making it up yet. An author who wrote and added to the outline at the same time was just that wild and cool!3
Ziche Duanyuan’s hand holding the black cat tightened a fraction. In the end, there’s still not much information to be had. That person who called himself Wu Jue was also very suspicious. If he hadn’t met him in his previous life, Ziche Duanyuan might have believed his words. Now, he couldn’t even trust the name that person gave!
“Senior Martial Brother Yuan.” A soft, sweet voice sounded from outside the door. “Something’s happened.”
Yuan Wangyou beckoned the young attendant in. “What is it?”
A little attendant, just over a meter tall, came in with wobbly little steps. “Steward Fang asked me to ask you, several Golden Core stage demonic beasts suddenly appeared outside Sword Immortal Valley, injuring a few outer disciples. Several are also missing. One of the missing is an outer disciple who cleans your courtyard. How should this be handled?” The little attendant thought for a moment and added, “It was supposed to be his work time. The incident happened because he was slacking off and went out to play. Also, he pulled a servant who lived in your side yard along with him. That servant can’t be found either, it’s feared that something has happened to him too.”
Upon hearing that the outer disciple had pulled a servant along, even the thick-skinned Yuan Wangyou sensed something was wrong and glanced at Ziche Duanyuan.
“A servant who betrayed and even slandered his master, I have already kicked him out.” In front of everyone, Ziche Duanyuan emphasized the word ‘betrayed,’ indicating he didn’t want to get involved.
Yuan Wangyou thought for a moment and said, “Don’t worry about the servant. As for that outer disciple, handle it according to the rules. Deduct half of his compensation and send it to his family.”
The attendant nodded and withdrew.
Yuan Wangyou lowered his head and pondered for a moment. Still feeling uneasy, he stood up and said his farewells. “I should still go out and take a look.”
Tian Yunyu and the others nodded.
After he left, Tian Yunyu asked in confusion, “Golden Core stage? Why would they suddenly appear outside the sect?” High-level demonic beasts knew how to avoid disaster. Why would they suddenly come to Sword Immortal Valley, where there were so many cultivators?
Ziche Duanyuan’s finger traced across Pei Bufan’s neck. He said in a low voice, “Who knows.”
Pei Bufan shivered. The male lead’s voice was tinged with coldness. So scary QAQ!
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Some lore explanations:
Spiritual Roots:
The Five Main Spiritual Roots (五大灵根): The five standard elements: Metal (金), Wood (木), Water (水), Fire (火), and Earth (土).
Mutated Spiritual Roots (变异灵根): Rare variations of the main elements, like Ice (from Water).
Heavenly Spiritual Root (天灵根): A single, pure spiritual root, indicating the highest level of natural talent.
Light & Dark Spiritual Roots (光和暗): Extremely rare attributes, presumably mostly found in demon cultivators.
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Reika’s Notes:
- I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
- This text was translated by Kotori Translates, and given to BC Novels to publish.
- I helped with the footnotes, formatting, grammar, etc., the usual stuff that is needed to post this on the website.
- Please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks for reading!
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- 粗神经 – an idiom for someone who is dense, insensitive, or slow on the uptake.
- 天灵根 – not literally from heaven or anything like that. It’s the term for a single, pure spiritual root which is considered the highest level of natural talent for cultivation.
- 狂霸拽 – Literally”wild, domineering, and cool.” Often used for “domineering CEO” stories in Chinese webnovels. Basically, a person who a boss or has main character energy. In this context, it should mean something like “ultimate badass.”