Chapter 9 – Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me

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Chapter 9 – The Curse of the Water Demon

Chu Yu immediately retracted his hand and did not hesitate to cast a spell to form a water shield in front of their bodies.

As expected, he was just in time because in the next moment a bang sounded on the side of his water shield. The formerly calm water suddenly became turbulent.

Although Xie Xi was trembling, he held on tightly and didn’t let go of Chu Yu’s waist. He was very scared, however, his face was calm as he made a hand seal and created a wisp of bright flame.

The glow of the fire in this underwater world illuminated the thing that was trying to break through their defenses.

Of course, it is a huge monster with a dark green body. The fine scales on its skin reflected a glimmer of light from the fire. It only had a single cloudy eye and a broad, flat head. Beneath the eye is a wide ferocious mouth with lots of teeth like a beast of prey.

Water demon!

Just now Chu Yu had touched the smooth scales with his hand and it immediately reacted.

But a single water demon is not such a terrible thing.

Chu Yu’s eyes swept over his fire-lit surroundings and started to laugh hollowly.

What is terrible is a group of water demons!

Unexpectedly, the river bottom is crammed full of water demons, some a lot bigger than the one currently in front of them. Although these low-level water demons are only equivalent to a Qi Refining level cultivator, there are just too many to fight!

Chu Yu’s back felt cold and he finally understood why this task had been left unfulfilled for one month.

One water demon can’t kill a Foundation Building period cultivator? Well, here’s a bunch of water demons.

Startled by the flame, the group of water demons did not dare to move recklessly, but this was only for a moment. Chu Yu did not dare to spring into action rashly either. Although the river is a favorable place for someone with his water-type abilities, it is even more suitable for these types of demons who were born and live in the water!

He slowly carefully searched before at long last he finally found Xun Sheng.

In the largest water demon’s mouth.

The water demon was curious about the sword. It held onto the sword in its mouth for a moment, looked up, then began attempting to swallow Xun Sheng into his belly.

****! Brother, calm down!

Seeing that the sword was about to be swallowed, Chu Yu could not wait any longer. At this distance he could still summon Xun Sheng. Chu Yu made a hand seal and silently summoned his sword, while preparing to flee.

A magnificent disc of water energy surrounded Xun Sheng. The sword quivered but stayed trapped, it could not fly over. The water demon swallowed xun Sheng then belched loudly.

Chu Yu: “…”

Xie Xi: “…”

WTF!!!

Chu Yu was furious. Gritting his teeth, he used all his power to summon Xun Sheng. The water demon immediately twitched and jerked around, attracting the attention of the other monsters. It convulsed for a while then a cloud of dark green blood suddenly dyed the water green.

A watery blue radiance, as bright as moonlight, flew to Chu Yu’s side. Catching it with one hand, he held on to Xie Xi with the other and swam up as fast as he could.¹

But there were no water demons chasing them.

When Chu Yu took the time to look down, he saw that a group of water demons were in a frenzy as they pounced on the water demon whose belly had been cut by Xun Sheng. The dark green color of demon blood covered almost everything.

Feeling a coldness in his heart, Chu Yu used a burst of strength to sprint upwards and broke out of the water’s surface.

The shore was surrounded by a serene-looking forest. It was autumn, so the trees were all bare and the ground was full of yellow leaves. Chu Yu, panting a bit from his recent exertion, swam ashore holding Xie Xi. He smoothly stabbed Xun Sheng on the ground and took several long breaths.

If he did not guess wrong, that water demon that was full of curiosity and swallowed Xun Sheng had been courting its own death. Now, that water demon had been eaten up by the other monsters.

This kind of low-level demon has no spirituality. They do not care about their own kind. Once one of them is injured, it will become just another type of food for the other low level demons.

Xie Xi’s little face was pale: “Da Shixiong, what was that?”

“That was the water demon that we want to eliminate.” Chu Yu casually pulled a piece of wet cloth from his drenched chest and wiped the water from his face. “It’s actually very troublesome. If I am not mistaken, this is near Qinghe town.”

He looked all around him in the four directions but did not notice his present messy appearance.

The original Chu Yu was always very conscious of his image. Every day he groomed himself meticulously so that no one would be able to fault any aspect of his appearance.

Xie Xi did not pay much attention to what Chu Yu said. Instead, he was sitting cross-legged in front of the Chu Yu, carefully observing him.

Chu Yu’s white crown² was loose and his wet hair was tightly clinging to his face and neck. His fair skin and dark hair made for a pleasing contrast. His clothes were very messy. When he pulled on his robe, the front opened wide, and exposed his fair shoulders and robust chest.

Looking at his exquisite profile, like bright moonlight or delicate snow, the slight frown on his brow made a person want to reach out and smooth out his eyebrows.

He suddenly remembered that day when Xie Xi tore apart Chu Yu’s robe to clean his wound, revealing his white shoulders and chest.

There was such a strange feeling in his heart that Xie Xi froze. His hand moved on its own as though bewitched and touched Chu Yu’s chest.

Was it like this when Chu Yu put his hand on Xie Xi’s chest for three consecutive months as he sent his Qi to Xie Xi?

Chu Yu, who had still been looking around, was startled: “What is it?”

After he said that he gently pushed Xie Xi’s hand away and covered himself up.

In his heart Xie Xi felt an inexplicable feeling of loss.

Chu Yu looked at Xie Xi whose whole body was drenched. Seeing his smooth cheeks, rosy lips, and pretty white teeth, Chu Yu could not help but reach out and pinch his little face. Smiling, he stood up and said: “Although it is warmer here than the mountain, this autumn wind is cold. If we just stand here, we will get a chill. Let us go to town quickly and change our clothes.”

Xie Xi’s face was pinched which made his cheeks red. He pursed his lips and whispered: “I will use my fire energy to warm us.”

Oh, I had forgotten that the protagonist is proficient in the use of all five elements.

Chu Yu blinked and sat down again, laughing and waiting for the human toaster to dry his clothes.

Xie Xi closed his eyes and his body started to emit steam. After a moment, all of his clothes were dry.

Chu Yu saw Xie Xi effortlessly succeed. He blinked and marveled at the protagonist’s excellent Qi manipulation technique.

Xie Xi pursed his lips, put his hand on Chu Yu’s shoulder, and looked at him with great care as he heated his clothing. When he looked at Chu Yu’s damp beautiful hair, Xie Xi suddenly felt the urge to burn all of Chu Yu’s clothes off.

Although he would like to do so, Xie Xi is more afraid of making Chu Yu angry, thus he worked earnestly and carefully dried Chu Yu’s wet clothing. When he finished, his forehead was full of sweat. Xie Xi took two steps back: “Da Shixiong, it’s done.”

Under Xie Xi’s ministrations, Chu Yu had become drowsy but he woke up when Xie Xi spoke. He pulled up Xun Sheng from the ground and examined it. Fortunately, although it was unluckily swallowed up by that water demon, an immortal sword is an immortal sword and can purify itself from contamination. Xun Sheng’s light was cool and refreshing.

Chu Yu put the sword back in its scabbard. He smiled and rubbed Xie Xi’s head: “When we get to town, this senior will buy you something delicious as a reward.”

Xie Xi smiled slightly but did not speak. Now that Chu Yu is fully dressed, Xie Xi was feeling a bit shy. Now that Chu Yu’s gentle appearance was restored, he felt like a beast in human clothing.³Using his spiritual senses to navigate, Chu Yu walked through the thick forest.

Xie Xi hurriedly followed Chu Yu and pulled at his sleeve.

Chu Yu slowed down and thought about how to get rid of the scourge at the bottom of the river. Although the water demons are not strong, how could he kill a group of demons who have such abundant spiritual energy, ah?

If only he could somehow catch them all in a net.

There is only a small possibility of success. To kill them all in one hit, one should be in the Core Formation stage or at least the peak of Foundation Building period, called “Pseudo-Core Formation” stage.

Chu Yu was slightly startled as he heard some noise and the scenery in front of him changed into a more worldly atmosphere.

Tian Yuan Sect has around 3000 disciples, not including the outer sect disciples. The seven Peak Lords only accept a few inner sect disciples while the spirit caves have trainers. Next are the Core Formation elders and their disciples. Under the seven peaks are the ordinary disciples.

As for the outer sect disciples, Chu Yu has almost never met them.

Chu Yu was stuck in Yuan Chen Peak every day. Many of the faces there looked desolate and miserable. Now that he has gone down the mountain and seen the secular world, he thought that this was a good place for people to live.⁴

Because they were delayed for some time, they arrived at noon. Chu Yu reckoned that Xie Xi must be hungry but was just too embarrassed to say so. Putting on his usual noble and glamorous facade, Chu Yu led Xie Xi into town.

The town is much smaller than what he had imagined. There were not many people on the street, probably due to the curse of the water demons that made many people move away from the town. Seeing Chu Yu’s extraordinary good looks and posture, many of the people in town stopped to stare at him in admiration.

Chu Yu calmly ignored the attention he was getting.

The town is not big therefore they didn’t need to ask someone for directions. They simply walked a bit more until they then saw an inn.

Since it was noon, there were a lot of customers eating. Chu Yu looked at the crowded inn’s restaurant then at the teenaged boy at his side, worried that a small person might be squeezed flat. Shaking his head, he around to leave.

Fortunately, there was a noodle stand that had an empty place when a customer left. Chu Yu and Xie Xi sat at the table and ordered two bowls of noodles.

Chu Yu lowered his head and continued to think.

As he was upset he could not help but knit his eyebrows a bit. Xie Xi, who was watching Chu Yu’s face, whispered: “Da Shixiong, are you troubled by the water demon task?”

Chu Yu nodded helplessly.

What a disaster! Originally he had thought that killing a few water demons would be good for sharpening his sword. Unexpectedly, it’s a whole crowd of water demons and that is too much for Chu Yu to handle.

Even if some of the water demons were to come out to cause trouble, eliminating those water demons wouldn’t solve the problem since their stronghold is at the bottom of the river. Anyone who had a brain would know that it would be stupid to go down there to go into battle with a whole crowd of water demons.

In fact, even if they all went ashore, there still isn’t a way to take care of all of them.

Chu Yu sighed: “It’s a pity…”

“What’s a pity?”

Unfortunately, this person doesn’t have fighting experience yet. If he were more experienced, with Chu Yu’s water element proficiency, he could go into the water and kill that crowd of low level demons. It would be difficult but not impossible.

While sighing in his heart, Chu Yu suddenly realized that something was out of place.

The one who just spoke was not Xie Xi but a calm, magnetic voice that sounded as if it came from a young man who had a smile on his face.

Chu Yu, with a frown,⁵ looked up guardedly.

There was a young man wearing a white and blue gown with a maple leaf embroidered on the satin sleeves. The young man had long hair gathered up into a crown and wore a sword. His features were handsome and he was smiling brightly.

Sitting there, people would think that he looked calm and gentle.

Quickly searching his memories for this person, Chu Yu was stunned: “Eldest brother? What are you doing here?”

Unlike the big brother (the protagonist) whose thigh he plans to hug in the future, this is his real big brother.

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Translator’s notes:

Regarding the disciples of the sect, I might have gotten some details wrong but this should be the hierarchy:

• The Patriarch and Sect Master are at the top
• Peak Lords
• Peak Lord’s direct disciples – it might seem weird that they are so high up in the hierarchy but when the Peak Lord is not present, they act in his stead
• Spirit Cave trainers – this is a rather literal translation. Cultivators like to cultivate in spirit caves because they are rich in spiritual energy. The characters used were 陪练 which is something like a coach or trainer. I guess, the caves are training grounds.
• Core Formation Elders
• The elder’s disciples
• Ordinary disciples who were accepted at a peak
• Outer sect disciples

Additional notes:

The stages of cultivators that have been mentioned are, from lowest to highest:

Qi Refining
Foundation Building
Core Formation
Nascent Soul
Immortal Ascension

Thanks to this glossary, I used it a lot – https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/

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1. swam fiercely
2. Image at bottom of this chapter.
3. He felt like a beast for lusting after Chu Yu
4. The original just said “a place for people to live” but I thought that was weird so I added in the word “good” since I believe that was implied.
5. with trembling brow