Chapter 166 - System vs. System (16): Gold Seal, Fragment, Request Rejected
Translator: kiribold
editor: yoantlers
After going down the mountain, Ren Tingfeng left a few disciples behind and asked them to accompany the people captured on the mountain to the city to explain that the mountain ghost a thousand years ago had not been resurrected. Roaming mountain bandits captured the people, and the bandits had been completely wiped out, so there was no need to worry.
As for the tomb robber who had escaped with his life beforehand and kept saying that his companions had been dragged into the ground, his ident.i.ty was awkward, and his testimony couldn’t be trusted. Maybe it was just because the tomb robbers didn’t share their spoils evenly. After beating and killing each other, they were found out, so he made a false statement, hoping to use the name of the mountain ghost to clear his name.
In short, they tried their best to help Su Ji and Cheng Wuyun take care of everything.
After making the arrangements, Ren Tingfeng planned to leave with Wen Yujing, but Wen Yujing said gently, “Third shixiong, you should go first.”
“Liu-shidi, what’s the matter?”
Wen Yujing’s att.i.tude was quite courteous. “Meeting by chance, it’s fate. We still need to send this gentleman across the mountain to catch his exam.”
He was referring to Ye Jiming.
Ye Jiming was startled.
When he came to the Mountain of Time and Rain, he just missed the little fish and wanted to come and see him. After going down the mountain, he planned to part ways with them, but Wen Yujing unexpectedly offered to send him off. He was a little apprehensive, but he didn’t push back.
He wanted to see what medicine Wen Yujing was selling in his gourd.
Ren Tingfeng waved his hand as a matter of course. “Go, go, but don’t be like before. Saying that you’re going down the mountain to pick herbs for cultivation, and once you’re gone, we don’t see you return for three or five years.”
Wen Yujing smiled and watched Ren Tingfeng carry the disciples, including Yan Jinhua, far away. He turned around and said to Chi Xiaochi, “You wait here. Shifu is going to send Ming-gongzi off.”
Chi Xiaochi raised an eyebrow slightly.
This was intentional to get rid of him.
Chi Xiaochi still wanted to fight against it. “Shifu, why don’t we join together….”
Wen Yujing had already walked to Ye Jiming’s side, holding his sleeves behind his back, and without turning his head, he repeated, “Wait.”
Chi Xiaochi tilted his head behind Wen Yujing and winked at Ye Jiming: Seek your own luck.
Ye Jiming was also feeling a little inexplicable, but he was used to being frivolous and arrogant. He believed that he had done nothing wrong. He felt he had nothing to worry about against this well-mannered, weak, and elegant gentleman.
So, he arched his hands and said, “Please.”
The Mountain of Time and Rain covered an area of 800 kilometers, and it was inconvenient for a mortal to ride a sword, so Wen Yujing walked ahead and took him around the mountain.
They were silent all the way.
After walking out about a mile, Ye Jiming lost his patience.
The moment his sword came out, all of Ye Jiming’s scholarly attire burst, the suitcase collapsed, his dark clothes blew in the wind, and a heavy black-gold sword quietly rested on Wen Yujing’s neck.
Ye Jiming didn’t want to keep the guise up anymore and said coldly, “Where else do we have to go?”
Wen Yujing wasn’t surprised. He stood with his hands behind his back, allowing him to point his sword at his neck. His voice was clear and cold. “Young master isn’t going to rush to his exam?”
No one else was here, so Ye Jiming didn’t have to hide. His scholarly air turned into an evil aura. “When did you find out?”
“It wasn’t difficult.”
When he said this, Wen Yujing froze for a moment, realizing that his tone of voice was very similar to Chi Xiaochi, and he couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
Ye Jiming was displeased at his laugh. Seeing that Wen Yujing was taking it lightly and had no intention to fight instead, it set him off with reckless mania, and he sneered, “Since you guessed it, what are you going to do?”
Wen Yujing circled him and then struck back with Tai Chi. “Send the young master to the exam.”
Ye Jiming: “…” Why did it sound as annoying as sending a young master to his grave?
During this back and forth, Ye Jiming realized that this person was not using an excuse to leave Duan Shujue behind to take the opportunity to get rid of him.
However, his suspicion had always run deep, and even if he knew something in his heart, he didn’t dare to relax completely.
Wen Yujing was quite at peace. “Young master, hurry up and get on the road. The sooner you are delivered, the sooner I can turn back. Shujue is still waiting for me to return. You don’t want him to wait anxiously, right?”
Hearing him mention Duan Shujue, Ye Ming knew it wasn’t good, so he immediately defended him. “Me and little…Duan Shujue have only met a few times, so we don’t know each other well.”
“I know.”
“You are his Shifu, I don’t want to fight with you.”
“It’s a coincidence, neither do I.” Wen Yujing said gently, “It’s his business if my disciple makes a few friends, so why should I care?”
Ye Jiming: “…” This statement was too pompous, and he didn’t quite believe it.
However, Wen Yujing’s words were earnest. Ye Jiming thought about it and almost believed his evil. But Wen Yujing took the initiative to reach out. His thumb and forefinger gently twisted the tip of the black gold sword to a stop and rubbed it. Closing his eyes, he said, “Good sword.”
Ye Jiming was startled and wanted to pull his sword away, but when he tried to withdraw the blade, he was shocked to find that he couldn’t even move the tip of the sword under the hold of those two clean fingers!
He was incensed. He gripped the hilt of the sword and was about to exert force to pull out the sword when he suddenly felt a burst of pure astral energy along with the sword. Then there was a shock in his palm. A slight burning pain made Ye Jiming’s scalp numb. He immediately let go of the sword hilt and looked down—
His palm was branded with a pale golden mark, and a large, flamboyant character was written.
“来. (T/N: Come).”
Ye Jiming: “…!!!”
He immediately regulated his pulse, fearing that this sanctimonious hypocrite would poison him. But after careful examination, he didn’t find anything wrong apart from the burning sting in his palm. His meridians hadn’t been restrained, and there was no inflow of toxins into his body. Everything was fine.
Ye Jiming covered his right hand and stepped back cautiously. “…Wen Yujing! What is this?!”
Wen Yujing pulled out the blue umbrella on his back with one hand and instantly changed it to a soft sword. He backhandedly swung and wrapped around the black-gold longsword’s hilt, then turned around dazzlingly, sending the longsword back into the sheath at Ye Jiming’s waist.
“It’s useful,” Wen Yujing said vaguely, “…but it would be best not to use it.”
Ye Jiming gritted his teeth and tried to wipe off the rubbish.
If the gold pattern looked a bit presentable, Ye Jiming might not be so angry, but the word “come,” like to call a dog, was simply earth-shatteringly crude.
But the golden character seemed to have grown into his flesh, and not only could it not be erased, but instead became brighter the more you rubbed it.
Ye Jiming was about to vomit blood and blurted out, “Wen Yujing, you dare to humiliate this lord like this!”
Wen Yujing bowed gently. “Young master misunderstood. It’s just for emergencies.”
Ye Jiming couldn’t listen to his explanation, but in the brief exchange of hands just now, he had already judged that this person was not an easy match. Fighting against him, he couldn’t take advantage of this situation, and he was also the little fish’s Shifu. Even if it was for the sake of the little fish, he should treat him with courtesy, and he shouldn’t completely tear off his face.
After considering the pros and cons, Ye Jiming took a sigh of relief and lowered the hand on his sword. “Has anyone ever told you that though you look like a gentleman, you are really annoying?”
He didn’t make a move, but why shouldn’t he be allowed to use his mouth?
Obviously, it was just a painless evaluation, but Wen Yujing was slightly startled.
It stood to reason that Ye Jiming’s comment was something he had never heard before.
After being reformatted, most of the systems he used to know well came to comfort him. He had barely managed to piece together a general understanding of himself in everyone’s comfort.
Most of the adjectives that people used most often were “nice,” “gentle,” and “not bad,” so he naturally believed he was such a person. But Ye Jiming’s thoughtless remark faintly brought up his scattered memories that had been shattered.
…He seemed to have heard similar comments somewhere.
Ye Jiming took the advantage with his words, and when he saw Wen Yujing in a trance, he thought he had pierced him. He gave a slight hum of satisfaction and put the palm he had stuck with the golden seal behind his back. He threw his sword out, spun around, and got on, saying with deliberate provocation, “Wen-Junzi, this lord is going. No need to send each other off. Until we meet again by fate.”
Wen Yujing was not annoyed and arched his hands. “Young Master Ye, go slowly.”
Ye Jiming, who thought he had fought a turnaround, almost fell off his sword, “…”
How did he know his name?!
It was a pity that he had managed to recover a match using words and planned to take the opportunity to retreat, leaving majestically. Unexpectedly, the surname Wen took down his city walls. If he started spitting out nonsense, his grandeur would drop again. He had to forcibly swallow this dark loss, turning his head and leaving.
Watching Ye Jiming leave, Wen Yujing turned his back and strolled alone in the moonlight, sorting out his thoughts.
Just now, guided by Ye Jiming’s inspiration, some extremely fragmented audio clips appeared in his brain.
It was 023’s voice, and it sounded a little angry. “Why is it like this again?! 061, you’re so annoying, how many times is this? You say it yourself, how many times have you played this movie?”
He heard his own voice again. “It’s okay, right? Not many.”
089’s lazy voice came. “Yeah, not many, just eighty or ninety times…Seriously, 061, when is your wife planning to act in a new movie? Can you give us accurate information?
“He’s not, don’t say that.” 061 heard himself denying 089’s statement, slightly serious. “He’s my neighborhood dìdì.”
061 was quite surprised.
In his existing memory, he had never spoken to 023 and 089 in such a straightforward manner.
“Alright, alright, dìdì, dìdì.” 089’s voice rose again, “Then can you give your little brother a dream, so that he can do well and make a few more movies a year? Feel your conscience…feel it ah…when our friends gather, you always play his movies, isn’t it not very good?”
“There are people who haven’t seen it every time.” He still tried to argue. “He also acted very well.”
023 couldn’t bear it anymore. “But the two of us are there every time!”
He also seemed a little embarra.s.sed now. “Sorry, sorry. His new movie has been finalized. It will be released in about two months.”
023’s heart eased a little. “If you put this on again at the next party, I’m really finished with you.”
089 said, “Why don’t you hang a sign on the door of the room next time, so that brain-dead fans don’t enter.”
023: “That’s right, the brainless and the brain-dead fans are not allowed to enter.”
089: “…What are you looking at me for? You can say the words clearly, otherwise Dad is going to be sad.”
023: “If you have the ability to be sad, then you have the ability to go out, ah. Spit out my potato chips before leaving.”
The recollection wasn’t pleasant; an extremely intense headache accompanied it. Wen Yujing’s gait was unsteady, and his thoughts were muddled.
Yet, he wanted to know more, about the past, about himself.
Until a voice woke him up. “Shifu?”
He looked up and found that Chi Xiaochi, wearing Duan Shujue’s body, was leaning against a tree with his sword in his arms, looking at him in surprise.
…Chi Xiaochi attached great importance to Duan Shujue’s persona. Even when no one was around, he stood with discipline, in an upright posture and as dignified as jade.
And he had pa.s.sed by the tree without even the slightest awareness of the other’s presence.
061, or Wen Yujing, realized that he had forgotten himself and immediately apologized gently, “Sorry, Shifu is thinking about something.”
Chi Xiaochi nodded slightly. “Shifu sent Ye-xiong away?”
He was smart enough to know that when Wen Yujing proposed to send Ye Jiming off alone, he must have had suspicions about his ident.i.ty. But Wen Yujing, as a non-human and had a lenient nature, believed that he wouldn’t do anything to Ye Jiming, so there wasn’t the need to worry too much.
Sure enough, Wen Yujing said, “Mn, sent away.”
Chi Xiaochi said frankly, “It was this disciple’s fault that Shifu was not informed of Ye-xiong’s ident.i.ty beforehand. I ask for Shifu’s punishment.”
Wen Yujing endured the sharp knife-like pain in his skull and said gently, “Shifu is not forbidding you to make friends. Rather, he wants you to go out more and make friends with more people. So-called cultivation is not about working behind closed doors, facing the wall, and suffering, so that you can achieve enlightenment. You need to see things all over the world, see people all over the world. You need to know what beauty, good, evil, and ugliness are. To digest and integrate them so that you can prove your true path. It’s Shifu’s fault that he always keeps you on the mountain, giving you the illusion that you are not allowed to make friends. In the future, Shifu will change. Let’s go.”
Wen Yujing rarely talked so much, so Chi Xiaochi was a little surprised. “Shifu?”
Wen Yujing also realized this, but smiled helplessly. “Perhaps staying in the mountains has exhausted my body, and it’s grown delicate. After walking around for so long, Shifu is a little tired. I’m sorry to bother Shujue to take me back to the mountain. May I?”
Chi Xiaochi nodded.
Then, Wen Yujing crouched down, glowing light emitted from his body, and soon transformed into a cat, quietly shrinking into a small ball with white whiskers and claws, like a delicate little ball of wool.
Chi Xiaochi picked up the cat, put it into the hood behind him, and rose up onto his sword.
Wen Yujing, who was in the hood, gently hugged the fabric in front of him, thinking about the name 089 used for Chi Xiaochi, his heart becoming hot.
Ren Tingfeng returned to the mountain and reported the incident to Chi Yunzi in detail. Chi Yunzi heard the cause and effect of the incident and sighed, “Great kindness.”
He was not an old-fashioned person. He had a compa.s.sionate and tolerant heart for good monsters and demons. Because it was necessary to protect the interests of Jingxu Peak at all times, he also had to be wiser in the ways of the world and unwavering.
In the previous timeline, he led the crowd to besiege Duan Shujue. Still, it was only because in his opinion, Duan Shujue, as a merman, concealed his ident.i.ty and infiltrated the mountain; it appeared too much like a conspiracy.
Chi Yunzi was quite concerned about the Mountain of Time and Rain and sent a letter to several other immortal Daoists in the mountains, urging them not to attack the mountain ghost if they heard any rumors.
The Mountain of Time and Rain plotline had reached a perfect conclusion.
The only one who was unhappy about the whole Mountain of Time and Rain incident.
He went with grand ambitions and returned with nothing. His plan to seize the mountain ghost’s essence for elixir with the help of Duan Shujue completely collapsed. The mountain ghost became the focus of everyone’s care. He was soy sauce
the entire way and could only follow the rhythm of the story like a fool.
Having the script but was forcibly robbed of the show, he was kicked off the throne of the first male lead, falling all the way down the cliff until he became a pa.s.serby. This feeling of suffocation was really hard to describe in words, so Yan Jinhua had to think of other methods to vent.
He was originally not a local account, and he played with confidence before because he knew that he had a considerable chance of winning. It was like holding a pair of kings and four twos in a game of Dou Dizhu, and the opponents had an open hand, so he naturally thought it was a good situation to win and not lose. But due to his own operational errors, he directly threw out the four twos with the two kings. The stable fishing platform was blown to pieces, and he even found that the opponent’s cards were excellent. Even an open hand could beat his jelly beans into negative 20,000, so he naturally panicked.
…Commonly known as a mental breakdown.
In the past, Chi Yunzi only lamented that Yan Jinhua’s talent was limited, and he could only stop there. Who would have thought that these days, there would often be news of him arguing with his fellow disciple brothers and often saying absurd and incomprehensible words? His heart became even more disappointed and displeased.
However, no matter what, he was Chi Yunzi’s own disciple, and he couldn’t leave him alone.
Chi Yunzi would summon and admonish him several times, but he always promised him on the surface, never actually changing, and he even started drinking heavily in private. Chi Yunzi was so upset that he simply ordered him to retreat to Yuguang Pool for seclusion.
In contrast, the disciple Duan Shujue, who his own lazy junior brother personally trained, became more and more sensible.
After returning from the Mountain of Time and Rain, Wen Yujing relaxed a lot towards him, allowing him to walk around and go out to do errands.
He got along well with fellow disciples. He was very popular with female disciples because of his outstanding appearance and cautious and polite manner. However, Duan Shujue knew how to behave sensibly, and his speech and behavior were never out of line. He even drew praise from others, saying that Wen Yujing taught him well.
Of course, onlookers didn’t know that in Duan Shujue’s hood or unfettered cloth, there was often a tiny ball of warmth hidden, inhaling fish daily.
Chi Yunzi was envious when he saw this and often wondered how good it would be if this child were his disciple.
Yan Jinhua, who was locked up in confinement, was so angry that he cursed everyone at Yuguang Pool every day. He urged his system to ask when it would be able to take care of Wen Yujing, that fox who exploited the tiger’s might.
He loathed Wen Yujing, but he was also clear on Wen Yujing’s value.
This was a crucial springboard. If done correctly, he was sure to pull down these two people stepping on his head in one fell swoop!
Don’t look at Duan Shujue’s prosperity now, be careful to climb high only to fall hard!
Compared to Yan Jinhua’s eagerness, the system was hesitant about the next course of action.
It already had enough evidence at hand. Although the higher-level system had not judged it, it was 80% sure that Wen Yujing himself was a system.
It thought of a possibility.
Could this be a setting of The Mermaid Immortal?
After all, The Mermaid Immortal was an unfinished work, and many settings hadn’t been developed yet, so that it couldn’t make judgments.
If this was the case, Wen Yujing’s priority was definitely above it; even if it was reported, it would probably be dismissed.
However, Yan Jinhua didn’t have so many concerns. After urging every day, the system was helpless, so it had to submit the collected information to the main system.
Yan Jinhua was on edge, waiting for a full three days, and finally got the judgment from the main system.
However, the result was extremely disappointing to him.
“Determination report: The object is actually an abnormal invasive system. After comprehensive judgment and a.n.a.lysis, it will not affect the progress of the task. The host can a.s.sist it in improving the story setup and obtaining world progress value.”