Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

“I’m leaving now, you concentrate on cultivation. Even after I become an internal disciple, you can continue to stay with me,” Gu Suihan said to Taohua before making a hand seal that allowed him to fly towards the massive area where he registered himself the day before.

Before he even got the chance to take a look around, Mo Yuluo and the rest appeared next to him.

Wang Aolin chuckled and said, “Brother Gu, these are all the promising disciples whom we’ve selected. Do familiarize yourself with their faces so that you don’t accidentally harm the wrong person.”

A group of disciples, whose Qi wasn’t stable and had clearly made it to Foundation Establishment by force, stood behind the three faction leaders and refused to meet Gu Suihan’s eye. The three leaders must have already told them about the arrangement they made with Gu Suihan. Only a rare few had stable Qi and had a more resilient look on their faces.

“Seriously? You’re going with these people?” Gu Suihan’s brows were furrowed. Most of these youngsters had reached the next level by taking more pills than usual. Even if Gu Suihan and the rest like himself purposely made things easier for them, it was still hard for them to get to the next level.

“Hurhur,” Fang Suyu snorted when he heard Gu Suihan’s doubtful tone of voice. “Well, you were the one who wiped out our best, so these were the only ones we were able to push into Foundation Establishment. We didn’t have a choice either. Just focus on doing what you’re supposed to do.”

Mo Yuluo and Wang Aolin sighed inwardly and stared with some annoyance at the aloof-looking Gu Suihan.

“I assume you have made some arrangements for the mass brawl, so I won’t stick around. Goodbye.” Gu Suihan memorized all the faces of the disciples from the three factions and then walked past them swiftly and out of sight.

About an hour later, a pressure suddenly engulfed the entire plaza. The sound of chatter decreased in volume, while all the internal disciples exchanged glances and flew off as quickly as possible.

Woong! A booming sound suddenly resounded loudly in everyone’s ears and a bright light appeared in the sky. The light and the sound were so intense that they made the disciples feel dizzy and nauseous. A tremendous pressure quickly overwhelmed the crowd and prevented them from moving.

It was as though two suns had appeared in the heavens. The brightness of the sky was so glaring that many of them started crying uncontrollably.

Most of them had no idea what was happening, but Gu Suihan could guess. It wasn’t two suns in the sky – there was just one sun, and the other source of light was actually a person. However, that person was able to shine even more brilliantly than the sun, causing the oxygen in the air to thin out and forcing the temperature to rise to an unbearable number.

Yet, that person refused to back down, until a scoff suddenly came from another direction.

The scoff wasn’t loud, but it was enough for the person emanating heat and light to shudder, as though they had been struck by lightning. The person had a grim look as they glanced at the shadow in the distance that was coming closer and closer, before reluctantly withdrawing the pressure exerted on the disciples below and standing suspended in the air. A large patch of clouds had gathered to form an elegant and imposing giant throne. Heat rays emanated from it and sent ripples of distortion through the air.

At the same time, the dizzy disciples covered in perspiration finally realized what was going on. They looked up in fear and reverence towards the expert seated on the clouds above in silence. The entire place fell eerily silent.

“Wan Fentian, you’re really getting worse by the day,” a shrill feminine voice resounded. Her voice agitated the heads of the disciples and sobered them up instantly. They looked up to see a ferocious beast floating in the air, covering half the sky with its body that measured at least a few hundred meters long. Immediately after that voice had spoken, a beautiful woman with an aloof expression stood on top of that beast’s head in a long and colorful dress.

Her figure was perfect and her skin as smooth as jade. Her hair flew beautifully in the wind and her eyes were mesmerizing. She looked like a fairy in paintings.

The ferocious beast she stood on had the head of a dragon and the body of a fish. A strange red mist surrounded its head, fish scales covered its entire body and its eyes were enormous. They would scan the disciples below from time to time and flicker viciously.

“That’s a Dragon Carp ¹! Or at least, it’s a descendant of one.” Gu Suihan’s eyes lit up as a smile spread across his lips. This world had demons after all, and this particular one was a well-known one from ancient times too.

Wan Fentian looked fairly annoyed and scoffed. “What’s your problem? I’m just giving these disciples a test and I’ve barely used much force, but these useless bums are already on the verge of collapse. Each batch is really worse than the last.”

“Oh my, listen to yourself!” The beautiful woman snorted with disdain. “They’ve barely cultivated for a year, for crying out loud. Besides, it’s not as if you’re that great either. If you were that great, why have you been stuck at the peak of Origin Core for more than a hundred years without any signs of improvement?”

“Yun Lianyi! Don’t go too far!” Wan Fentian was furious and the sun rays he emanated burned even more intensely and exploded.

“What is this all about?” shouted a middle-aged man in a black robe as he suddenly appeared between the two fighting in the sky. His gentle and well-defined features made him look like he had just walked out of a painting, but his expression was clearly unhappy now.

“Humph!” Both parties to the sides of the man glared at each other hatefully before taking a seat where they were and did not speak anymore.

It didn’t take long for a grand and awe-inspiring scene to unfold. Some moved as quietly as a ghost, appearing out of nowhere. Some moved as quickly as the wind, tearing loudly through the air. Some walked on the clouds and exuded great amounts of murderous Qi.

The mysterious and powerful seven Peak Leaders that the external disciples had only heard of but never seen before quickly made an appearance around the plaza. Their auras clashed with one another from time to time, making sizzling and booming noises.

You Hantian looked at the Peak Leaders in attendance and shook his head at how they were clearly ready to break out in a fight at any time.

He cleared his throat slightly, and it resounded in the clear skies like thunder, making the other Peak Leaders look up for a moment. They retracted all the energies they had secretly unleashed to attack another and quietly remained seated while looking down.

“Today is the day the Seven Kill Sect selects the next group of internal disciples and I’m sure everyone has prepared for the competition ahead. I don’t have to say too much, your achievements in battle will prove your abilities.” As You Hantian scanned the frightened disciples below, his voice sounded as light as the wind and as calm as a stream. It was as if he were just standing next to them and whispering in their ears.

“He’s a Nascent Change cultivator. He’s tried to hide his actual level of cultivation, but I’m sure he’s not yet at Advanced Nascent Change yet.” Gu Suihan kept his head low as he remained hidden quietly among the crowd. He had only taken a quick glance at the seemingly genial You Hantian and assessed the Sect Leader’s cultivation level accurately.

After You Hantian had stated the rules clearly, he waved his arm and every disciple that had a token from the time they had registered for this competition was captured and moved into the center of the plaza if they weren’t already standing there.

Thirty-six stone pillars surrounded the disciples and suddenly gave off beams of bright light that dazzled everyone. In just 10 seconds, those beams stretched to touch the pillars next to them and the center of the plaza was quickly encircled by the pillars and their light.

The sound of metal could be heard as the beams of light from the pillars turned into thick metal chains instead. Another beam of light shot out from the top of the pillars and came together to shine down on the disciples trapped in the middle of the plaza, like a huge floodlight.

“Ah!” A terrified scream was all it took to start the frenzied battle within the stone pillars. In the blink of an eye, countless talismans were thrown and spells were cast. Blades gleamed brightly and sparks flew everywhere. Violent and murderous roars filled the air, swiftly bringing the battle in the huge plaza to a climax.

Gu Suihan continued to weave in and out of the crowd easily and went mostly unnoticed, stabbing his sword into a disciple from time to time, and taking away the dead disciple’s magic storage bag at the same time. He made sure he killed the disciples with just one move and never remained in the same place any longer than the time it took to kill and rob the disciple. Along the way, he would take a pill to recover his energy as he continued to swim in between the disciples distracted by all the killing happening around them.

“Go to hell!” A saber slashed through the air fiercely as an angry and ferocious shout could be heard. A burly man had swung his saber towards Gu Suihan with a threatening look on his face.

“Ice Waall!” Gu Suihan’s expression didn’t even flinch as he threw a talisman behind him and ran for it, leaving the burly man glaring at his back with angry bulging eyes as his way was blocked.

“Damn it! There’s a thief among us!”

Someone would touch their belt from time to time and go into a panic when they realized that someone had stolen their magic storage bag and removed their personal seal on the bag so that they couldn’t summon it back.

More and more people began to realize that their magic storage bag had gone missing only when they were already badly hurt or suffered from insufficient Qi flow. When that happened, they could only wait for death to consume them.

Meanwhile, the thief among them was still happily stealing everyone’s magic storage bags. Gu Suihan would take the bag, send his spiritual sense into it to move what he wanted into his own storage ring, and then throw the whole bag away, including anything he didn’t want from it.

“It’s him!” Someone was sharp enough to witness Gu Suihan stab another disciple to death and take away the dead disciple’s magic storage bag. Watching that sent shivers down that witness’ spine.

“We need to unite and kill that fellow!” One of them realized his storage bag was gone too and charged toward Gu Suihan with his saber.

“Jiaolong² Rain!” Gu Suihan thrust his sword out and the tip of his blade made an ear-piercing howl from the friction with the air. A glow shot out from the sword and turned into a jiaolong that pierced through a number of disciples at the same time, creating a bloody hole in their torsos instantly.

“Ghostly Shadow Seven Stars, Heavenly Demon Phantasmagoria!”

Gu Suihan spun round and round, creating the very realistic illusions of more than ten humans all at once. One looked angry, another was crying, and yet another looked sad. One looked like a flirtatious woman while the other resembled an aloof and conservative lady. One was even a roaring muscular man. Every illusion looked different.

What the hell was going on?!

Not only were the external disciples in the plaza completely stunned, but even the Peak Leaders watching from above were astonished and even looked on in admiration.

“Where did he go?” One of them brought his sword down to shatter the illusion in front of him and looked around him in a panic.

“I don’t know! Maybe…AHHH!” Someone answered the first person with a shake of his head, only to realize that he had been distracted and the other person was able to stab him with his sword. The latter screamed one last time as his head was lopped off his neck.

“I don’t care anymore! I’m gonna kill everyone!”

After just a momentary pause, everyone started trying to kill each other all over again. Nobody gave up – or rather, nobody had the chance to even admit defeat, because any slight hesitation would result in instant death.

Blood and flesh were strewn all over the ground, while countless severed limbs and internal organs were crushed by those who stayed alive. Those who had collapsed to the ground and could no longer get up would be stabbed by any passing disciple.

The Clacker’s Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Today’s snack delicacy recommendation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_soupRynoh said he liked reading about other cultures so here we go. I love turtles because they’re really cute but also, they make good soup. Eaten with a very, very large amount of strong tasting herbs. Supposed to have health benefits, but I’m not so sure about that. Umami: *****

1. Dragon CarpI honestly have no idea how to translate this properly but it’s a demon/monster from ancient records (who knows? It could have been just a catfish lolol)Translated from:https://tinyurl.com/ymhwzj7aA demon/monster from ancient China, lives in Shihu, a lake in the north. The lake is frozen all year round except for about 50 to 60 days during summer solstice. The creature is about 7 to 8 feet long, orangey red in color, resembles a carp. Lives in the water during the day, becomes a human at night. Needles cannot pierce its skin and it doesn’t die even if you try to cook it. Dies if you cook it with two dried black plums, and eating it will get rid of any disease caused by evil forces. Recorded in the Book of Gods and Strange Things. ️

2. JiaolongAs the translation segment of the page goes, this is often translated into ‘kraken’ but I don’t think that word conjures the same image as what the Chinese meant, so I’m leaving it as jiaolong. I’ve called it a water dragon before which sounds bleagh as well but I’m not always allowed notes so I guess it’s better than nothing. ️