Chapter 292 - 278: In Anhe City, the Waters Run Deep
The clamor from the competition at the finish line was gradually dying down, but the enthusiasm at the starting line hadn’t diminished in the slightest. Many townsfolk, still wanting more, remained in a long line, standing on tiptoe and curiously waiting to experience this new craze. Meanwhile, the Eldest Senior Brother lay in his pyramid tomb, watching it all.
Meanwhile, dozens of paces away, a silent exchange was taking place in the shadows.
One of them, a one-legged beggar, was communicating with his companions using a set of hand signs. The moment he stopped, the group instantly dispersed. Some remained where they were, while the others broke off, taking different routes to melt into the city’s bustling intersections.
Su Ling’er, also ready to investigate "the darkness born from charity," began to follow a figure with a severed right arm.
The man knelt right down on a street with heavy foot traffic. He kowtowed to every passerby, mumbling indistinctly, "Have some pity... spare some food..."
His face was a mask of numbness, as if he were just going through the motions. Even the wondrous spectacle of the Immortals in the sky failed to stir the faintest ripple in his dead-pool eyes. Sunlight spilled over him, but none of it could pierce the darkness in his heart.
To them, it was probably just a new batch of Immortals putting on another show high above, a drama that had nothing to do with them.
Su Ling’er followed from a distance, watching him kneel and rise, again and again. She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. It seemed he was simply begging for food.
’Was I just being paranoid?’
Just then, a sudden uproar erupted from the main street not far away.
"Over there! Don’t let him get away!"
"Hero! Mr. Wang, wait for me!"
The figures of Wang Xiedi and Li Chunfeng squeezed wretchedly from the crowd, preparing to run for their lives. As they looked up, they immediately spotted Su Ling’er at the mouth of the alley ahead.
Wang Xiedi yelled at the top of his lungs, "Senior Sister! Senior Sister!! Hurry and tell your hometown folks to calm down—!"
His companion, Li Chunfeng, had a certain flair. As he ran, he drew and sheathed his sword with a CLANG, muttering, "Xiedi! Don’t panic! We’ve merely stumbled upon a good thing, which has now led to an even greater one!"
"Good thing my ass!" Wang Xiedi was on the verge of tears. "You call this a good thing?! That mob behind us looks like they want to eat me alive!"
Li Chunfeng just shook his head. "If you really made a move, could they possibly stop you? You’re only running because you don’t want to hurt anyone. This shows you have no desire to stoop to the level of mortals and those with low Cultivation. How is that not a good thing?"
Wang Xiedi: ’This is a good thing? ...Alright, fine.’
Su Ling’er took a closer look. Good heavens, the lineup of pursuers was really something else.
Charging at the very front were several burly players, cracking their knuckles and roaring, "Stop, you cheating dog!"
Just as they were about to activate Flying Leg to give chase, a group of commoners trailed at the very back, holding flowers, handkerchiefs, and even silver. They shouted as they ran, "Mr. Wang!! Look at me!!" and "Mr. Wang, slow down!!"
Su Ling’er was stunned for a moment as she watched the scene unfold.
’Weren’t you told to stay and watch over the sect? What are you doing here? No wonder... Well, since you’re here, I suppose you have no choice but to take the fall for Eldest Senior Brother... My poor little junior brother...’
Before she could finish her thought, Wang Xiedi had already skidded to a halt in front of her. Leaning over with one hand on his knee, he gasped, "Se-Senior Sister... What is wrong with the people here!
"The moment I entered the city, people started chasing me and shouting for my head! They even accused me of ’rigging’ something... What could I have possibly done to be accused of rigging anything?!"
"Mr. Wang, you are mistaken!" Li Chunfeng sheathed his sword with a SHIING. "This is called fame! Listen, the ones screaming for your head are the minority. The majority are calling you ’Hero’ and ’Mr. Wang’! You’ve just arrived in Anhe City and you’re already a household name. This is an auspicious sign! If you ask me, these people are just too repressed. You should just settle down here. With this reputation, you could open a martial arts dojo, have two kids in three years, and enjoy a peaceful retirement. Isn’t that the best possible outcome?"
"Feng, how old do you think I am? You’re already telling me to retire!" Wang Xiedi was so mad he practically jumped up and down. "Thanks a whole lot! And another thing, this reputation of mine stinks as much as it smells sweet! I don’t want to take credit for the sweet part, but the stink is about to pickle me alive! Who the hell is using my name to stir up all this trouble?!"
Su Ling’er watched them and sighed, "Besides our all-powerful Eldest Senior Brother, who else could it be?"
"Eldest Senior Brother?" Wang Xiedi looked completely baffled at first. Then, the three words spun in his mind for a moment before he instantly put it all together.
His face went from pale to red, finally darkening to a furious purple. He pointed a finger to the sky, took a deep breath, and was just about to roar, "EL! DEST! SENIOR! BRO! THER! You—"
With lightning-fast reflexes, Li Chunfeng slapped a hand over his mouth. "Calm down! Calm down! Would you dare yell like that to Eldest Senior Brother’s face?"
Wang Xiedi instantly deflated. He sullenly lowered his hand and grumbled, "...On second thought, never mind. I’m a bigger man, I don’t hold grudges against petty people."
"That’s the spirit," Li Chunfeng said, patting his shoulder in approval. "Always try to look on the bright side."
Wang Xiedi: ’I don’t want this kind of good thing!! Am I supposed to thank him for this?!’
(Lin Qingfeng: You’re welcome!)
By this time, the pursuers were drawing near. Su Ling’er stepped forward, her voice amplified by Spiritual Power. "Everyone, please stop where you are."
"This junior brother of mine, Wang Xiedi, has already been accepted into our Guixi Sect. The promise made during the Heaven-Ascending Run can be considered fulfilled through him. Since he is now a disciple of our sect, I ask that you all drop this matter and trouble him no further."
When the players heard this, all hell broke loose.
"So now he really has a sect backing him? How are we supposed to fight that?"
"Maybe we should just bail?"
But some were still not ready to give up. ’Besides,’ one thought, ’the champion on stage was a player, and this guy’s an NPC. The Fairy Maiden obviously took the wrong person.’ So, a player pointed at Wang Xiedi and challenged loudly, "That’s not right! Fairy Maiden! Take a closer look! This man is clearly not the same person from the competition!"
Hearing this, Su Ling’er’s gaze turned icy. "Oh? Since you know they’re not the same, why are you chasing a man you admit is ’not the same’? Doesn’t that mean you’re just deliberately causing trouble? On the other hand, if you say they *are* the same person, then he has joined my Guixi Sect, yet you continue to harass him... What is it then? Are you looking to make an enemy of the Guixi Sect?"
Her words instantly trapped him in a dilemma. Claim they were different, and you were just an unreasonable troublemaker. Claim they were the same, and you were challenging the Guixi Sect.
The player choked on her words, his face flushing red. He opened and closed his mouth but couldn’t say a thing. After all, he had just wanted to vent. Since that wasn’t going to happen, he left. The others, who had hoped to get closer to Wang Xiedi, saw that the time wasn’t right and quickly dispersed as well.
Only then did Su Ling’er turn back. She took two Su Family Jade Pendants from her storage pouch and tossed one to each of them. At the same time, she converted the location of the Su Mansion into a stream of information and branded it directly onto Wang Xiedi’s sea of consciousness.
"Go to my family’s home and get settled for now. Just show this Jade Pendant to the gatekeeper." She added with special emphasis, "And remember, our guest rooms are for living in, not for demolition. And they are most certainly not for you to build any of your strange projects in. I have some business to attend to. I’ll find you later."
"Mr. Li," she then said to Li Chunfeng, "just follow our little junior brother."
"Wait... Senior Sister," Wang Xiedi asked, clutching the Jade Pendant with a bewildered expression. "Of course guest rooms are for staying in. What else would you use them for?"
Su Ling’er only left him with a single sentence: "Go take a look at the guest wing in my family’s estate, and you’ll understand."
With that, she turned and melted back into the shadows of the alley.
...
Meanwhile, in a dilapidated corner in the southern part of the city, the beggar player named Jiang Stone was muttering erratically to the empty air. In reality, a translucent livestreaming interface was glowing faintly in his field of vision.
[Jiang Stone]: What’s up, my loyal followers! Jiang loves to speak the truth! This Anhe City place, the waters run deep! You really think all these beggars with missing arms and legs are just victims of natural disasters? So naive! Want to see me, Jiang, go undercover and expose the dirty secrets here?
[Jiang Stone]: Want me to reveal the darkness behind the curtain? Then light up the chat with those airplanes and sports cars! After all, to get on the inside, I can’t be able-bodied! I’ll have to either lose a hand or a foot, and I’ll even need to remold my face to infiltrate their ranks! When the time comes to change back, it’s going to cost me a life! For a stunt like this, you’ve gotta show your support and smash that donate button, right?!