Chapter 34: There Is No One Else Like This Young Man
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
This move was difficult, even for a supernatural being.
The words on the signboard had been wiped away remotely, and there was even a new name in place of the old one. This wasn’t simply sleight of hand. He had actually created something from nothing. How could an ordinary human do something like that?!
Nie Changqing took a deep breath. Young Master’s way of doing things had once again given him a new perspective on the world.
Ning Zhao was very shocked too, but she quickly calmed down.
After all, the number of miracles the Young Master had performed were far too many to count.
Nie Changqing held his butcher knife, while Ning Zhao stretched her long and fair neck to look at the building’s new name.
“White Jade City…” both of them murmured, testing out the name.
“From now on, White Jade City will be my branch of power.” Sitting in his wheelchair, Lu Fan massaged his hands and smiled faintly. “You both are members of White Jade City too,” he said.
“We are grateful to Young Master for granting us this.”
Nie Changqing and Ning Zhao trembled slightly.
Lu Fan supported his chin with one hand and nodded slightly. He was in an excellent mood. “Next time, when you go out, you can tell others that you’re disciples of White Jade City…”
“Got it.” Both of them nodded.
A gust of wind blew, and the peach blossom petals on the ground were strewn about.
Lu Fan’s hair was also blown about by the wind.
As the poem goes, a man in his element is like a jade—there was no one else like the young master.
Ning Zhao went into a daze when she looked at him.
But there was a glint in Nie Changqing’s eye.
White Jade City…
It wouldn’t be long before this name was known throughout all of Great Zhou.
Perhaps White Jade City would become more powerful than the Hundred Schools of Philosophy.
Nie Changqing used to be an abandoned Daoist disciple, but now he had a new identity… He was a disciple of White Jade City.
And he had a feeling that the title “White Jade City disciple Nie Changqing” would become even more renowned than his old one.
Nie Changqing bent his head and looked at the peach blossom petals scattered across the ground from the blowing wind. Suddenly, his lips twitched slightly, and he smiled.
He used to be an abandoned Daoist disciple, like a dog left behind after its owner passed away. And now he had become a White Jade City disciple.
Everything… was becoming wonderful.
Lu Fan sat in his wheelchair and stared at the three words “White Jade City” on the signboard. Ning Zhao looked at her Young Master in a daze, while Nie Changqing was preoccupied with his thoughts.
At the bottom of the stone steps leading to White Jade City…
The courtesans who had devoted their lives to Drunk Dust Court, and who had fallen in fright after watching the peach trees covering half the island dry up in an instant, now all looked like they had seen a ghost.
The Madam in particular had a horrified expression on her face.
They hadn’t seen anyone change the signboard, but… how did the words “Drunk Dust Court” disappear?
They had been replaced with the three words “White Jade City”!
This White Jade City… what on earth was it?!
…
“Sister Ning, get the courtesans to leave Beiluo Lake Island. Give them a bit of money, and make sure they have a place to go.”
“I don’t want to see anyone else on this island except those who belong to White Jade City.”
“Nie, guard Beiluo Lake Island. No one can set foot on the island without my permission.”
Lu Fan calmly gave these instructions as he supported his chin on his hand.
“Got it.”
Ning Zhao excused herself and slowly made her way down the stone steps to the courtesans and their Madam, who were all still sprawled on the ground.
Nie Changqing nodded. He stood quietly at the door while holding his butcher knife.
Lu Fan then shifted his consciousness.
A message from the system popped up.
[Enlightenment Qi Movement Couplet: Door couplet (Heaven Level Premium Grade Treasure with Enlightenment Qi. Observing thinkers will have a 0.0001% chance of attaining enlightenment. The higher the cultivation level, the higher the chances of attaining enlightenment.)”]
“Put up a couplet?”
Lu Fan raised his eyebrow slightly. Heaven Level Premium Grade Treasure?
His Spirit Pressure Chessboard was a Heaven Level Low Grade Treasure, and this door couplet was actually of a higher grade than the Spirit Pressure Chessboard?
Lu Fan now understood how the system graded the treasures.
There were four levels, Sky, Ground, Heaven, Earth, and within each level there were four grades, Low, Middle, High, and Premium.
“Put them up,” Lu Fan confirmed his decision.
Lu Fan then saw that the couplet about the pleasures of life, which was originally on the main door of the building, had been replaced by two vertical signboards made from a black metal.
“The sky is a chessboard, the stars are its pieces.”
“The ground is a lute, the roads are the strings.”
Lu Fan looked at the two signboards that had appeared from nowhere, and raised an eyebrow.
How interesting.
These two lines formed a couplet, and even though he was just looking at them, he could feel like some sort of force was coming toward him.
Lu Fan rubbed the space between his eyebrows and looked away.
After pausing and thinking about it for a long time, he didn’t feel like he had attained any enlightenment.
Alas, things that required luck weren’t his thing.
But of course, that could also be because he hadn’t reached the level at which he could attain enlightenment.
Enlightenment only came to those who had immense intelligence, or those who had cultivated to their maximum level and reached a stand still, and they were just missing that little bit more to get to the next level. Those people would gain enlightenment more easily.
But Lu Fan really wasn’t much like an ordinary cultivator.
“Nie,” Lu Fan called out.
Nie Changqing turned his head to look at the young master.
Lu Fan didn’t say anything. He lifted his hand and pointed at the two signboards.
Nie Changqing was stunned for a moment.
He shifted his gaze to the couplet.
Hmm?
At first glance, he didn’t feel anything.
But when he looked again, his eyes narrowed.
And when he looked a third time, he felt as if he’d been punched in the gut.
PFFT!
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Qi and blood within him started booming uncontrollably, and six Internal Resonance Blasts exploded on their own.
It was as if his entire body had been struck by a tremendous force.
DONG DONG DONG.
He took several steps back.
He felt as if a powerful force were pressing down on his body. His eyes became bloodshot as he continued staring directly at the couplet, and his eyes looked like they were going to burst.
Finally, his legs gave way.
With a thud, he fell to his knees, and the green tiles cracked.
Lu Fan raised an eyebrow in surprise.
He shifted his consciousness, and the wheelchair changed direction by itself. He didn’t expect Nie Changqing to react so violently.
There was the sound of heavy breathing as Nie Changqing took in big mouthfuls of air. His eyes were all red.
Nie Changqing bent his head down and shifted his gaze away from the couplet. There was indignation on his face.
When he looked at that couplet, it seemed like he had briefly come to a greater understanding of Knife Control Technique.
But the understanding was fleeting, and he was unable to catch it.
“A pity…”
“Your level of Qi Core Realm is still too weak. This couplet has Enlightenment Qi in it, so if you reach a sufficient level of cultivation, perhaps you’ll receive a special reward,” Lu Fan calmly said as he leaned back in his wheelchair.
Just as he finished speaking, there was a look of surprise on his face as he looked around at Beiluo Lake Island.
In the direction of his gaze…
The peach trees that covered half the island had completely dried up, as if something had sucked the life out of them. Merely breathing on them would turn them to ashes.
And on the border of the island, there were ten plants the color of azurite sprouting out from the ground.
Each plant seemed to have Qi movement within itself, which was close to being released.
“Hmm?”
Lu Fan was surprised. How did those Heaven Facing Spiritual Chrysanthemum seeds sprout so quickly?
But after he figured it out, he laughed.
Once the Heaven Facing Spiritual Chrysanthemum seeds had been planted, they had sucked all the life and energy out of the plants around them to feed themselves.
Plants aren’t like humans. They aren’t capable of reasoning and only act on instinct.
If a plant was stronger than another plant, it would take over that plant.
Lu Fan rubbed his palms together and his gaze focused a little.
With these ten Heaven Facing Spiritual Chrysanthemum trees around, it seemed impossible to plant any other plants on Beiluo Lake Island, unless they were also plants with Qi.
Lu Fan narrowed his eyes and thought about how half the island would soon be filled with chrysanthemum flowers blowing in the wind.
The wind from the lake blew over him, and it gave him the same sort of relaxed feeling one feels when picking chrysanthemums.
Lu Fan was actually quite excited for these ten Heaven Facing Spiritual Chrysanthemums to bloom and release Spirit Qi to add onto his Spirit Qi Deployment.
This Beiluo Lake Island… will probably become an immortals’ island filled with Spirit Qi. A true place to cultivate.
Fill with hopes and dreams for the future, Lu Fan stretched himself out in his wheelchair.
“It’s time to go back to Beiluo City itself and settle the problem of the aristocratic families and Sword Sect.”
Lu Fan supported his chin on one hand and started playing with a chess piece with the other.
“I’ve got a good temper, but I’m easily offended. Since some of these things are difficult for Father to settle, I’ll do it instead…”
Lu Fan smiled faintly, and there was a strange glint in his eyes.
“Besides, since Beiluo City has White Jade City, it doesn’t need any other powers to exist within it.”