GB Chapter 11

Chapter 11

In today’s world, the term “jianghu” is often used to generally refer to the realm of cultivators who are far from the common people and not governed by the imperial court. No one can say exactly where the jianghu is; people only know that wherever cultivators roam, there lies the jianghu. If one were to trace its origins, the reason why the activities of cultivators are called “jianghu” initially stems from a river and a lake that, hundreds of years ago, were not under the control of any power.

The lake is Lake Luoxian, where the most righteous sect in the world, the Xuanmen Orthodox Sect, is located. This place is the origin of cultivation, where immortals first taught mortals the methods of cultivation. Later generations also said that all cultivation methods originated from Xuanmen. Such a place is naturally detached from the world and beyond the jurisdiction of the imperial court. The other river in the jianghu refers to the Tailong River, where various cultivation sects gather. This river is the longest in the world, spanning the entire Shenzhou land. It comes from the Realm of the End of the World, rushing endlessly towards the end of the sea.

South of the Tailong River lies the Jiangnan region, where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is most concentrated. The eight cities of Jiangnan are all prosperous and wealthy. Apart from the Xuanmen Orthodox Sect that resides high above the clouds and the Demonic Cult that hides in the northern desert, the powerful cultivation sects of today all gather here. Therefore, there is a saying: if one has not been to Jiangnan, or entered Xuanmen, then one has not been to the jianghu.

Although Qian Ren had lived in the northern desert for a long time, he was not unfamiliar with Jiangnan. This time, he was heading to Jiangdu City, located at the mouth of the Tailong River. According to his plan, once he arrived in Jiangdu, he would seek out a sect that specialized in dealing with fierce ghosts to help Zhuge Qingtian reincarnate. Then, he would set sail from there to the rumored desolate polar region and seek the path to transcending the tribulation in the coldest reaches of heaven and earth. However, reality is always less beautiful than imagination. They encountered unexpected big trouble just outside of Jiangdu City.

Yes, Zhuge Qingtian, who had been kicked into the river by Qian Ren, had lost his head again!

Silently watching the headless corpse bobbing up and down in the water, Qian Ren once again affirmed that, for Zhuge Qingtian, his head was indeed just an ornament. However, in a Jiangnan where even buying a bun on the street could lead to encountering a righteous hero, bringing a headless corpse into the city was undoubtedly asking for a fight. Although fighting with the righteous path was the job of the Demonic Cult’s Great Protector, he did not intend to work seriously on this trip. In fact, from Qian Ren’s point of view, leaving and not working when he felt unhappy was how a proper demonic cultivator should act. They did not need the admirable quality of dedication.

The river’s current was not swift, but it was not narrow either. Seeing that Zhuge Qingtian had searched without result, Qian Ren frowned and said, “How can you be a fierce ghost and not be able to use paste or something else to stick your head back on your neck?”

Actually, for Zhuge Qingtian, his head was useless except for his face, but it was a rather handsome face. He had read many stories of female ghosts repaying kindness. However, in none of those stories could a ghost without a head ever get married!

Sigh, he shouldn’t have let Fu Hongye go so easily. If his wife didn’t want him anymore, he would go cry by Fu Hongye’s bed every night!

Complaining inwardly about some righteous young hero, Zhuge Qingtian helplessly spread his hands at Qian Ren, “My wife, it’s not that I’m bragging, but I’m so poor that I don’t even have a single paper money left, except for myself and my sedan chair!”

There are so many useful things in the world, why did you only keep the two most useless things!

Internally criticizing this unreliable fierce ghost, Qian Ren, who was losing his patience, raised an eyebrow, exuding the dark aura of a demonic cultivator who was a threat to societal stability, “Where is your temper as a fierce ghost? If you don’t have it, go rob someone.”

I did go rob a wife, then you kicked over my sedan chair and flew my head away…

Secretly conducting an internal dialogue that, if heard by Qian Ren, would surely result in another kick, Zhuge Qingtian looked at the demonic cultivator who was obviously close to exploding. Based on his fine moral character as a law-abiding citizen, he still sincerely advised, “My wife, you will be wanted by the government if you do that.”

However, Bi, the great assassin, who had no idea how many high-ranking officials he’d killed, showed no fear and even sneered, “Heh, the old emperor has been offering a reward of ten thousand gold for my head for fifty years.”

As a successful demonic cultivator, the bounty offered by the imperial court was also capital for bragging. Currently, on the jianghu wanted list, Qian Ren was ranked second, which could also make his peers in the jianghu tremble. As for He Huan, who ranked first, he was an existence who had occupied the top spot a hundred years ago. Things like snatching the emperor’s concubine and abducting the Empress Dowager to become a nun were mere trifles for that man. In fact, if he hadn’t been forced by his cultivation partner to stop his unruly behavior, Qian Ren had no doubt that his master might have even abducted the emperor to become a cultivator one day.

Although Zhuge Qingtian did not quite understand the values of demonic cultivators, it did not diminish the impact of ten thousand gold on him. He silently calculated how many copper coins that would be. When he thought that such a pile of coins, which would be at least as high as a mountain, could not buy the person in front of him, he instantly exclaimed in praise, “As expected of my wife, you are so valuable!”

Calmly watching the fierce ghost swaying in the water, Qian Ren began to ponder a serious question—why did he want to kick this person into the depths of the water even though he was clearly praising him?

Perhaps heaven determined that Zhuge Qingtian only needed to lose his head once a day. Just when their conversation was about to reach its standard conclusion, the sound of hurried footsteps attracted Qian Ren’s attention. Immediately after, a loud shout caused Zhuge Qingtian to climb out of the river, “Stop! With the Tian Shi Mansion here, you will not escape!”

They were just talking, they hadn’t really robbed anyone, and they were already getting caught? No, his wife was worth ten thousand gold, she can’t be caught!

This was the first thought that flashed through Zhuge Qingtian’s mind after hearing the sound. Therefore, he stood in front of Qian Ren, dripping wet, However, he was originally a head shorter than Qian Ren, and now he was directly headless. He couldn’t block his wife’s majestic figure at all. As a result, he was simply lifted up by Bi the great assassin, and they flew together onto a tree.

From the sound of the footsteps, Qian Ren judged that the newcomers only had a Golden Core cultivation level. He knew that the righteous path wouldn’t send such juniors to their deaths to deal with him. They must have just happened to run into them. And from the situation, the others were not coming for them.

Just as they were concealing their figures with tree leaves, the two pursuers hurried to the riverbank. No, it should be one person and one ghost.

The one running in front was a short old ghost carrying a carved wooden cabinet on his back. He wore a black burial shroud, and his trouser legs were rolled up to his knees, revealing his thin, withered legs. His face was covered with a piece of white paper, only a pair of murky eyes and gray hair were visible. Although this ghost was hunched over, he ran very fast, even faster than the cultivator behind him. In the blink of an eye, he jumped over the river and went on his way.

Seeing the ghost getting further and further away, the chasing young man in blue could only curse angrily, “Damn poor ghost, you always run so fast! If you have the guts, face your grandpa in a duel!”

To Qian Ren, humans were more threatening than ghosts. He sized up the young man. He looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. The blue Daoist robe he wore was adorned with the Eight Trigrams. He must be from the Tian Shi Mansion, the largest sect in Jiangdu City. The Tian Shi Mansion had always considered it their duty to eliminate ghosts. The Mansion leader, Ling Sui Daoren, was also on good terms with the head of Xuanmen. They were a sect with considerable strength in the jianghu. Qian Ren was too lazy to provoke these Daoists, but after glancing at Zhuge Qingtian, he changed his mind.

Heh, this fierce ghost was fearless, and he even took the opportunity to hug his waist.

Looking at the arms around his waist, Qian Ren saw that the fierce ghost seemed eager to touch him a few more times, and his eyes became colder, “What are your hands doing?”

The space on the tree was not large. Zhuge Qingtian was only able to keep from falling by holding onto Qian Ren’s waist. But when he held on, he found that this person didn’t look like some muscle-bound brute. He didn’t have an ounce of excess fat, and even his waist was tight. Zhuge Qingtian had seen muscular farmers and weak scholars, but he had never seen a perfected body like a cultivator’s, all impurities refined away, a body carved out by heaven and earth. For a moment, he was curious and poked at him with his finger.

Qian Ren’s attitude towards outsiders was always one of keeping a distance. The last time he was so close to a person was when he was an infant and his master was feeding him milk. Naturally, his eyes were filled with coldness. However, Zhuge Qingtian did not understand the killing intent in his words at all. He glanced at the frustrated righteous young man below. Thinking that his wife and he were on opposite sides of the law, the thief would naturally be nervous when he saw a government official. Now it was his time to protect his wife!

With this in mind, he resolutely displayed his non-existent manly spirit and said to this demonic cultivator senior, “Don’t be afraid, my wife, I’m holding you tightly.”

Of course, the only consequence of doing so was one word—”Scram!”

Thus, just when the Tian Shi Mansion disciple was worried that his first ghost-catching mission was about to fail, a red figure fell from the sky, directly smashing the escaping old ghost to the ground.

Stunned, he looked at the large crater that suddenly appeared. He immediately recognized that the headless corpse was not an ordinary entity. One thought filled his mind—corpse…corpse smashing people? What kind of martial art is this?

Finally, the young man came back to his senses. The Mansion master had taught them that as an upright Tian Shi Mansion disciple, when they encountered other jianghu members, they must maintain the demeanor of a distinguished sect and should not let the group of lunatics from Xuanmen, who were lining up to sacrifice themselves for the Dao, steal the spotlight. Although he did not know why the other party had offered assistance, he had indeed helped him catch the poor ghost, and gifted him a headless fierce ghost as well. No matter what, he should thank them solemnly.

With this in mind, he immediately cupped his fist and said loudly, “I am Mo Pan, a disciple of Ling Sui Daoren of the Tian Shi Mansion. May I ask which senior came to help? Please show yourself so that this junior may prepare a gift of gratitude.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Qian Ren was silent again. This was awkward. How would he know that he just randomly kicked and happened to hit that escaping ghost?

As for a certain fierce ghost who had finally become his wife’s weapon, he could only remember Fu Hongye’s full-bodied way of speaking and from this came to his first impression of the righteous path of the jianghu—the righteous path disciples sure had loud voices!

The author has something to say:

Zhuge Qingtian (proud face): It’s only been a few days, and I’ve already hugged my wife’s legs and waist!

Qian Ren (coldly): If I ever sleep with him, it’s definitely because I was angered into it.

Zhuge Qingtian: I understand, I’ll work hard!

Author: Should I tell him that all the shous in other people’s stories are shyly teased by the gongs?