After Escaping From Death, He Went Even Crazier By Criticizing Black Lotus Chapter 30

Chapter 30 Are You a Good Person? He thought, I’ll trust him one last time.

In the apricot grove, the sparse shadows were cast by the slanting light. The young man’s appearance was so pale it seemed to glow, yet his body was wreathed in black energy, thick as spilled ink. The lotus spirit jade hanging from his waist emitted a crystalline, colorful light.

At the time, Xiao Jianming only felt unlucky. He had finally found a moment when the old man was absent, but before he could escape, he looked up and ran into a hypocrite.

The children locked up with him heard the noise and swarmed over, pushing him to the back:

“Brother, please save us!”

“Wuwuwu, please, immortal, let us out! We don’t want to be sold…”

“Please, Immortal Lord!”

Xiao Jianming watched his past self standing at the very back, looking indifferently at everything before him. He still remembered his thought at the time.

He thought: Don’t beg. This hypocrite won’t save you.

But Ji Buhuan began to comfort them in a fluster: “Don’t cry, don’t cry. First, tell me why you were locked up here? And who is trying to sell you?”

The children spoke up all at once, and Ji Buhuan finally understood their tragic plight.

He couldn’t help but be filled with righteous indignation: “Such a thing exists!”

He immediately promised: “Don’t worry, I will definitely save you!”

After speaking, Ji Buhuan showed a troubled expression.

He thought to himself that he had only just managed to sneak away from home. He came here because he ran out of spirit stones, which was why he had mingled with a few fellow cultivators he met along the way, sneaking into the Hundred Flowers Banquet regularly hosted by the Changqing Sect to scrounge for a meal. Therefore, he hadn’t brought anyone with him.

But it was impossible for him to quietly take away so many children by himself; he had to go back and find help.

The small Xiao Jianming watched him coldly as he finished coaxing the little brats, then hurried away.

After Ji Buhuan left, he tried to break the iron window leading to the ground, but the iron bars were made of profound iron. People fed them Spirit Dissipation Pills every day here, so he had no spiritual power and couldn’t break them at all.

Exhausted, he simply sat down in the corner, enduring the hunger and sleeping fitfully.

Xiao Jianming didn’t look at his past self. He turned and followed Ji Buhuan, watching him take the wrong path again, winding and twisting until he didn’t know where he was going. It wasn’t until a young disciple of the Changqing Sect saw him that he was guided back to the banquet and found the companions who had come with him.

However, when his companions heard his story, they burst into laughter: “Didn’t you know we came to the banquet precisely for these high-quality cauldrons?”

“Brother Ji, stop joking. The Changqing Sect Master is a Soul Transformation stage cultivator. Forget about saving people; be careful not to lose your own life.”

“Exactly! Can’t you just relax and enjoy yourself?”

“If you don’t fancy this, you can leave on your own.”

Ji Buhuan stared at them in shock, then turned and ran out of the banquet.

He ran until he reached a secluded pond before stopping. A flicker of hesitation and fear crossed his face, but more than that, there was confusion.

After a long while, a look of determination finally appeared in his eyes, clean as white snow. He avoided the patrolling disciples and returned to the apricot grove.

Xiao Jianming didn’t know this part of the past. In his memory, the young man back then was much taller than him, like an immortal.

Only now did he realize that the young man was only slightly older than him.

He, too, felt lost and afraid.

With the tracking powder he had scattered earlier, Ji Buhuan didn’t get lost this time.

Xiao Jianming was amused, realizing he was a road idiot.

Ji Buhuan nervously knocked out the disciple guarding the prison door. Unable to find the key, he used his spirit sword to cut open the lock of the black cell, releasing the children one by one.

The children cheered and surged out like leaping fish. Xiao Jianming saw his young, immature self walking at the back. Unlike the other children, he wasn’t excited or agitated; he just silently watched the young man, thinking about how to slip away and escape his sight later.

Ji Buhuan greeted them with a smile, burying all his worries deep in his heart.

If this wasn’t within Ji Buhuan’s memory illusion, Xiao Jianming wouldn’t have known that he wasn’t as relaxed as he appeared on the surface.

Just as the young man had thought, they were caught by the old Sect Master of the Changqing Sect not long after they escaped.

Xiao Jianming saw Ji Buhuan appear calm, but his pupils suddenly constricted, and he inwardly exclaimed, How did he arrive so quickly!

The young Ji Buhuan was only at the Foundation Establishment cultivation stage, so naturally, he couldn’t defeat the old Sect Master. However, he was born into a good family.

As the Young Master of the Ji family, one of the Four Great Clans, his conspicuous white hair allowed the old Sect Master to recognize him instantly, making his beard twist with anger.

Out of fear of the Ji family, no matter how indignant he was, the Sect Master could only sweep a look at the group of “goods” behind the young man with a livid face, holding his nose and reluctantly letting the young man go:

“Since Young Friend Ji is a distinguished guest of the Ji family, if you are willing to stop now, this old man will pretend nothing happened and let you leave. Otherwise, don’t blame this old man for accepting the search warrant issued by the Ji Family Head across the Seven Continents and Four Seas and sending the young friend back.”

Ji Buhuan was tense all over. Hearing the old Sect Master’s words, he realized that his father had already issued an order, and he would soon be captured and taken back.

Xiao Jianming stood behind him, feeling a wave of sorrow rise in the young man’s heart.

But he couldn’t remember what kind of person Ji’s father was. He instinctively felt that this person was the key and urgently wanted to see him, but the memory illusion was not under his control.

Several people followed the old Sect Master—the cultivators who had attended the banquet with Ji Buhuan. Hearing this, they were all shocked by his true identity. They seemed to immediately log into their spirit communication tokens with their divine sense and saw the search warrant, which had been announced to the world and was worth tens of millions of spirit stones. Their gazes toward him subtly revealed greed.

They followed up with advice: “That’s right, Brother Ji, come back and drink with us. What is there about these commoners that makes them worth saving?”

Someone also quietly transmitted a message: “Brother Ji, stop getting involved. Do you think the Changqing Sect dares to do this kind of business without backing? They also have a great clan standing behind them. Distant water can’t quench a nearby fire. If you continue to stand firm, aren’t you afraid the old Sect Master will lose his temper and make you suffer?”

The child behind him fearfully tugged at his hand, whimpering and crying: “Brother…”

Ji Buhuan took a deep breath. Xiao Jianming heard him constantly reassuring himself in his heart: Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…

The next second, just like that year, Ji Buhuan smiled calmly and said, “Since the Sect Master knows my identity, why not do me a favor and gift all these children to me? This way, you can form a good relationship with the Ji family. How about that?”

The false smile on the old Sect Master’s face vanished: “Young Master Ji, this Hundred Flowers Banquet has been held safely for more than ten years. If I give all the people to you now, it cannot proceed. I ask Young Master Ji not to make things difficult.”

Unfortunately, Ji Buhuan was determined to save the people, and naturally, no agreement was reached in the end.

He had plenty of items for self-preservation and escape, but the Ji Family Head had placed tracking spells on all of them to prevent him from running away. As soon as he used one, his location would be exposed.

Finally, Ji Buhuan used a magical artifact from his storage bag, causing a great disturbance in the Changqing Sect. He successfully rescued all the children, and the great fire at the Changqing Sect burned all night.

But thinking that he couldn’t escape the fate of being captured and taken back, Ji Buhuan couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

However, saving these poor children was not a wasted escape.

Xiao Jianming felt the bitterness rising in his heart and was inwardly moved.

Perhaps Brother Buhuan was innocent, after all.

Ji Buhuan never expected that the first to find him wouldn’t be the Ji family, but the family behind the Changqing Sect, the Yue family.

He had just finished sending the children who had homes back one by one when he ran into the enforcement elder sent by the Yue family to investigate the death of the Changqing Sect Master.

Ji Buhuan fled everywhere with the remaining children. To avoid cultivators, he had to walk through desolate, deep mountains and old forests. His clean clothes turned into rags, but he didn’t feel sad at all. He even performed a sword flourish and smiled: “Look, don’t I look like a wandering swordsman from a storybook?”

“You do!”

“Brother Buhuan looks the best!”

“Brother Buhuan is the best-looking swordsman I’ve ever seen!”

A group of half-grown children flattered the young man until he was overjoyed, the smile on his face refusing to fade.

Xiao Jianming watched all this, then turned to look at himself sitting alone on a dead tree, wishing he could take his place and say a few words to the young man.

Since he was so aloof back then, Ji Buhuan naturally noticed his lack of sociability. While the other children were discussing how to roast the fish to make it smell better, he quietly came up to him and asked with a light smile: “What is your name? Why haven’t you come to play with us? Are you shy?”

Xiao Jianming’s small face was cold: “No name. Don’t want to be with idiots. No.”

Ji Buhuan showed no sign of being insulted and smiled even more happily: “You are so cute.”

After speaking, he thought for a while. Unfortunately, Ji Buhuan was terrible at naming, so he asked him: “You can’t go without a name. What name do you want to choose?”

Xiao Jianming kept a straight face, but being pestered by him, he had no choice but to tell him his name impatiently.

He paused, then couldn’t help but ask him: “You clearly could have left on your own, so why did you bring us with you?”

He couldn’t understand. The hypocrite was already in danger himself, yet he was still willing to bring along this group of burdens.

Ji Buhuan reached out to touch his head but was dodged. He paused, then smiled: “Because big brother is an immortal from the heavens, and immortals must protect you all!”

Xiao Jianming: “Nonsense, you are only in the Foundation Establishment stage.”

Ji Buhuan was genuinely stunned this time. He couldn’t help but purse his lips and smile, surprised: “You even understand that. Is someone in your family a cultivator?”

Xiao Jianming didn’t want to talk about this with him, so he kept silent.

Later, Ji Buhuan would come to bother him from time to time. He insisted on sharing the roasted fish with him, picked beautiful flowers on the road to give him, and even a slightly unusual stone had to be shoved into his hand for him to look at.

Xiao Jianming was annoyed by the constant disturbance and felt extremely irritated. He wanted to say he was leaving, but when he saw the young man was tired, the young man would carry him on his back without question, letting him lean against him to sleep, even though his own forehead was dripping with sweat from walking.

The words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.

After thinking about it for half the night, he still wanted to leave.

After everyone fell asleep, he quietly got up and ran away under the cover of night.

Xiao Jianming looked at the small figure running into the distance and couldn’t help but mock: Idiot.

Predictably, the young Xiao Jianming accidentally disturbed a fierce beast in the forest and was chased until he fell into a sinkhole, breaking his leg.

He stayed in the cave for a day and a night. Just as hallucinations began to appear in his eyes, he saw Ji Buhuan anxiously searching for him all over the mountainside at the cave entrance.

Those snow-like eyes were filled with anxiety and worry. After finding him, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, followed by uncontrollable heartache.

The sinkhole was too deep. Ji Buhuan descended on his sword. Suddenly, he heard the child speak: “Are you a good person?”

Ji Buhuan laughed in exasperation, still playfully picking him up: “Of course I’m not a good person. I’ve come to eat you now!”

But he saw the child, who was always cold-faced, show his first smile in all this time: “Liar.”

He snorted: “Bad people wouldn’t say they aren’t good people.”

Xiao Jianming hugged his neck, suddenly no longer wanting to leave.

He thought, I’ll trust him one last time.