Note: Merry X-mas =)

**

Chapter 3

The little emei rose calmly and then stood wordlessly by the side.

Ji Xiao Li mouthed strangely:【Disciple?】

【Milk Tea Small Crisp: Is there enmity between you and YueJian ChunHe?】

YueJian ChunHe was the number one Huashan disciple in 《Knight Erand Road》.With a level of 138 and a cultivation of 1W8 [2k more than the next ranker on the leaderboard, and 10,000 more than the number one player on the other server], it was not wrong to say he was probably the highest ranked player in all the servers combined. He who topped both the gold and the cultivation rankings, was a figure of great polarity in 《Knight Erand Road》. The number of people who admired him were countless, but so were the population those who loathed him.

YueJian ChunHe was also number one on the "to-be-a.s.sa.s.sinated" list. Everyday there would be someone willing to spend a large sum of money to place a bounty on him. Up until now, no one has ever accepted the offer — or to be more precise, no one has ever succeeded in the offer.

However, never was there someone who….hated him so intensely.

Ji Xiao Li did not speak and only continued walking, seeing this, the loli emei too fell silent.

The swordsman deployed the "blow" action, the hems of his robe billowing in the wind as he drew his sword, pointed it to the sky, and with a speed undetectable to the naked eye, sheathed it back into its scabbard.

He then exhaled a long sigh.

【alas, it is a very long story.】

Milk Tea Small Crisp:【.…】

What the h.e.l.l you mean a long story!

Ji Xiao Li obviously had no intentions of saying anything. Milk Tea Small Crisp inquired no more, although this teacher of his seemed idiotic to the point of no return, he wasn"t completely stupid.  Since the other party did not want to divulge, then Milk Tea Small Crisp naturally would not force him to.

Only — he closed the contract termination page and dragged the Name Change Card to his inventory.

Ji Xiao Li saw from his mobile screen the green-robed emei did not ask again and guilty wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead in relief. This disciple of his is truly too foolish, but fortunately he is smart, managing to nip the topic at its roots; truth to be told, he had absolutely no desire to share this type of black history with anybody, especially not his cute disciple.  

But very quickly after, Ji Xiao Li discovered something wasn"t quite right.

【Teacher Orders a Salute: Wait wait disciple, why did u suddenly stand up? You haven"t finished the ceremony yet! Don"t think you can escape this, do your teacher look like someone who you can easily fool?】

【Milk Tea Small Crisp: ……】

Who the f**k cares about your d.a.m.n ceremony!

Milk Tea Small Crisp would rather die than kneel again. Ji Xiao Li eventually got the hint and sorrowfully uttered;  "public morals are degenerating by the day, no one cares about the old anymore", reluctantly letting the issue slide. (1)

Girls are all very proud, this he understands.

*

Soon after the initiation, Mrs. Ji knocked at the door, calling her son for dinner.

Ji Xiao Li concluded:【you made very good progress today, tomorrow teacher will bring you to exchange a full set of armor.】

【Milk Tea Small Crisp: En.】

With that, Ji Xiao Li closed the game and sped downstairs.

*

On the long table, everyone had in front of them a plate of grilled fish. Glossy and slick with just the right amount of seasoning and oil, the fishes were flaky on the outside and tender on the inside.

Ji Xiao Li happily ate his fish. Recalling something, he spoke: "dad, mom, I still plan on taking the exam, we can talk about what to do after I fail it."

Mrs. Ji looked worried: "ah, then are you still planning to head to cram school this afternoon?"

Ji Xiao Li shook his head: "I"m not going, it"s too hot outside." Besides, was there any place else in the world more comfortable than an air-conditioned room?

Both Mr. and Mrs. Li clasped their hands joyfully in approval.

The old couple each reached for a plate for grilled fish themselves and began digging in. After eating for a couple seconds, Mr. Ji recalled: "Since we"ve already paid the tuition fee, we may as well make our money worth, after all forty thousand is not cheap."

Mrs. Ji: "exactly, Xiao Li had only ever attended one cla.s.s."

Ji Xiao Li quipped, "The course terminates tomorrow!"

The three Ji family members all nodded proudly, believing themselves quite frugal and spendthrift.

*

The next day, Ji Xiao Li, accompanied by his father, went to cram school for its last day and officially completed the course. The father and son pair felt very accomplished afterwards and as a reward, Mr. Li handed his son a swathe of money, declaring generously: "allowance son. Spend it nicely."

Ji Xiao Li was not courteous.

*

Logging into Knight Errant Road, Ji Xiao Li discovered his disciple was online and so hastily formed a group and invited her to join. Opening his disciple"s profile to take a look, Ji Xiao Li exclaimed in shock:【Holy sh-! Disciple, you are already level 58???】

Ji Xiao Li who did not play for a day was still stuck at level 64. If this continues, won"t his disciple quickly surpa.s.s him at this rate?

Ji Xiao Li initially felt a little panicked, but the true horror only weighed on him after catching sight of Milk Tea Small Crisp"s new equipment.

【Teacher Orders a Salute: f.u.c.k!!! It"s completely gold! Completely gold! Disciple, you"re decked from top to bottom in gold! 】

Milk Tea Small Crisp serenely typed:【en, Teacher didn"t you tell me yesterday to change my equipment?】

Ji Xiao Li: "……"

What he meant was to do a few dungeons and win an equipment for you!

Ji Xiao Li couldn"t accept his cute disciple had abruptly transformed into a domineering tyrant overnight. Actually, was he still dreaming?

【Disciple, you can actually afford all this?】

【Have I ever said I lacked money?】

Then yesterday why did you continue wearing those newcomer robes even after reaching level 40!

Ji Xiao Li had an expression full of indignation and felt deeply deceived.

How come everytime he accepted a disciple, they always end up being a wealthy person?

Ji Xiao Li lowered his head to glance at his own equipment; other than his sparkling gold sword, everything from his pants to his boots were made from stone material. The worst of all, his upper apparel was merely a purple ranked wardrobe!

Not even he was garbed entirely in gold, yet his disciple was.

This was truly making him jealous beyond recognition!

Ji Xiao Li groaned, and saying in a way to comfort himself, he typed:【So it turns out…..sigh, so it turns out it is this easy to obtain a gold ranked armor for you emei. For us huashan, it"s a different story. Your teacher waited three days and three nights for a gold armor in the market and still, there"s only a few sellers so far.】

Yes, it is not he who is lacking, it is the clan!! It was especially easy to get your hands on a gold ranked emei robe — but huashan? – incredibly difficult!

After hearing his words, Milk Tea Small Crisp stared at the swordsman with a strange expression. Her gaze was so unfathomable that Ji Xiao Li"s heart sounded a thump, feeling a bit uncomfortable being on the receiving end of it.

Eventually, the emei sighed and with a tone dabbled with hints of ridicule, typed: 【Master, don"t tell me you didn"t know you can forge gold armors yourself?】

Ji Xiao Li: "……???!!!"

WHAT!!! This was possible???

Ji Xiao Li almost fell out of his chair in shock.

*

On the outskirts of Western Liang where the cherry blossoms fluttered, a white-robed emei riding a snow-white horse was leading a stupid looking swordsman to the inner city. The entire journey there, Ji Xiao Li was muttering in a mantra, "you can forge gold armors yourself?," "I"m not well-read disciple, don"t lie to me." Everytime, he would be met with a noncommittal "en" in response.

The two soon came to the Longmen Tavern in Western Liang.

【Milk Tea Small Crisp: Use RMB to buy the gold materials in the market, then forge the equipment here. Occasionally there will be players selling golden equipment in the market, but that"s only for those who don"t want to spend RMB since equipment can be bought with silver.】

Ji Xiao Li feels that he has opened the door to a new world.

【Milk Tea Small Crisp: Forge it in Longmen Tavern, it adds an additional attribute.】

【Teacher Orders a Salute: kkk.】

The blue swordsman sat cross-legged on the floor while the emei watching quietly by the side, brows furrowed, gaze deep.

Inside Longmen Tavern, there were many players also sitting on the floor forging equipment, just that they all happened to be disciples while their teachers watched quietly on the sidelines. Pairs like Ji Xiao Li and Milk Tea Small Crisp where the order was inexplicably flipped were absolutely in the minority.

Because Ji Xiao Li devoted himself wholeheartedly to forging, he was unaware of the beautiful figure soundlessly entering Longmen Tavern.

Longmen Tavern was not a place designated solely for forging equipment, it is also the place where players issue a.s.sa.s.sination missions and set rewards upon completion. The players can choose be remain anonymous should they wish.

The moment Bei Yuan entered Longmen tavern, everyone paused their ministrations to look at her.

Milk Tea Small Crisp too lifted his head, but he merely batted his eyes indifferently before retracting his attention back to his teacher.

Bei Yuan walked directly to the bounty NPC, brought a slip of warrant, and issued an order of arrest.

【Current】Little Stream is Curved: Boss Yue! Boss Bei Yuan placed a bounty on Boss Yue! f.u.c.k, It"s a bounty of 500RMB ah!

【Current】Regarding Food: If revenge breeds revenge, will there ever be an end to it?(3) But then again, Boss Bei Yuan is only acting in midst of her infatuation, Boss Yue is too much of a sc.u.m.

【Current】Huashan Most Handsome: keke, how has YueJian ChunHe offended you? You emei are fking insane, so he"s sc.u.m just for refusing Bei Yuan"s proposal huh? Don"t be so desperate to desecrate someone"s reputation.

【Current】Regarding Food: Shameless!

After issuing her bounty, Bei Yuan did not leave Longmen Tavern. Instead, she took out 100 silver coins to purchase a table seat. Every player in Longmen Tavern is allowed to forge their own equipment, the only requisite being that they stand within the range of the Tavern to receive additional boosts and attributes. However everyone present were sitting on the floor, only BeiYuan sat on a chair.

What is Bei Yuan currently doing一一sitting down to eat.

The beautiful emei calmly ate her food, ignoring the players swearing justice on her behalf as though they didn"t exist. Just by sitting there, she became a bagua(2) magnet.

【Current】Little Stream is Curved: Is Boss Bei Yuan waiting for someone to accept her mission?

【Current】Regarding Food: Who would be daring enough to accept such a mission. In this region of our"s……no – within the entire game, is there anyone capable enough of killing boss Yue?

For the next hour, Bei Yuan can only be seen going up to the bounty NPC again and purchasing another arrest warrant.

【Current】Huashan Most Handsome: ho-ly f.u.c.k-ing s.h.i.t! A bounty of 5000RMB, 5000! Boss Yue, I beg you to strip naked and let me kill you! We can split 50-50, no….., you take 70% percent of the money how about that! Do we have a deal?

【Current】Teacher Orders a Salute: What 5000RMB?

【Current】Huashan Most Handsome: Bro did you not see the bounty announcement?

Ji Xiao Li only just finished upgrading his equipment when he saw in the current channel, the players in Longmen Tavern boiling in anger. He curiously opened the reward board and realized what had occurred during his absence.

【Boss Bei Yuan, do you lack thighs to hug? I"m an university graduate, you can hug my thigh!】

【Boss Bei Yuan, do you think u lack admirers ah! I"ll change my name right now to YueJian DongHe(4), why don"t you accept me!】

【YueJian ChunHe is trash anyway, so don"t bother yourself with him Boss. Look at me instead ah, I"m a cute emei with a cultivation of 24k! The one I respect most is you senior Sister,  ~starry eyes~】

Ji Xiao Li laughed and cheerily parroted: 【Exactly, YueJian ChunHe is a piece of s.h.i.t.】

Milk Tea Small Crisp only discovered now Ji Xiao Li had finished forging, for he had been sitting meditatively the entire time, only standing up now in applause of the situation.

【Milk Tea Small Crisp: The upgrades are so-so. If you have money to spare, you can upgrade the equipment you bought in the market. Their attributes are lacking, though that is to be expected from market caliber.】

What Ji Xiao Li wanted to do was precisely to watch YueJian ChunHe getting scold, so naturally he was willing to indulge Milk Small Crisp and stay a little longer in Longmen Tavern upgrading equipment.

Ji Xiao Li watched as the others, in order to flatter Bei Yuan, belittle and demean YueJian ChunHe with great zeal. Ji Xiao Li and Milk Tea Small Crisp were positioned quite close to Bei Yuan in fact, the Blue Swordsman was sitting on the floor right beside her table, and Milk Tea Small Crisp stood side-to-side with Bei Yuan, her golden armor looking a carbon copy of the other healer"s.

The scene of the two beautiful emeis together, one sitting down drinking tea, and the other – standing directly over her master, was very harmonizing.

Milk Tea Small Crisp looked unbothered as if oblivious to the scalding comments in the World Chat. She stood firmly without ever partic.i.p.ating.

It was Ji Xiao Li ironically, whose smile began faltering in face of the increasingly daunting words.

【Current】Huashan Most Handsome: Boss Bei Yuan, YueJian ChunHe that playboy is nothing special. It"s just that he has good equipment, otherwise, I bet I can defeat him 10x over!

The swordsman suddenly got up from where he was sitting, abandoning what he was doing before.

Milk Tea Small Crisp"s gaze turned unfathomable as they focused on the words appearing on screen.

【Current】Teacher Orders a Salute: You guys are only daring enough to say these things here. Don"t talk about broadcasting to the world, yall won"t even issue a megaphone. If you guys have the guts, then slander YueJian ChunHe to his face. He"ll kill you with one cut, then you guys can report back once resurrected.

**

Footnotes:

世风日下,人心不古- Chinese idiom. I think my translation retained the overall meaning but just in case, for reference, here it is.八卦 – Gossip. "Bagua regarded in feng shui as a pattern determining the significance and auspicious qualities of spatial relationships." Retrieved from dictionary.com.  冤冤相报何时了越见冬和. This is a play on YueJian ChunHe"s name. The third character, 春[Chun] meaning spring is switched with 冬[Dong] meaning winter.

**

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