Chapter 50: Chapter 48: Arrogance
The Four Beauties of Qingcheng were famed for their beauty, and everyone in Cyan Moon City knew of them.
The engagement between the Four Beauties of Qingcheng and the city’s foremost young prodigy, Jiang Jichen, was once a celebrated tale.
Back then, Mu Xia and He Yao, two of the Four Beauties of Qingcheng, had also longed for this engagement and deeply admired Jiang Jichen.
Even though the Jiang Family’s Five Mansions, to which Jiang Jichen belonged, was already in decline, they still held onto their hopes. They firmly believed that as long as the young prodigy Jiang Jichen was around, the Jiang Family’s Five Mansions would surely rise again, and the boy they so admired would one day rule the world.
However, when news spread that Jiang Jichen had become a Spirit Cultivation Wasted Body, it struck them like a devastating blow. The once-celebrated tale of Qingcheng became the city’s biggest joke.
When they heard people around them discussing, mocking, and ridiculing Jiang Jichen the Wasted Body, they felt as if they were being mocked too. It was as if people were saying, ’Look, aren’t those the fiancées of that Wasted Body? They used to be so proud and arrogant, showing off all the time. Now they’ve been utterly humiliated. Their fiancé turned into a complete piece of trash, haha...’
And so, they began to hate Jiang Jichen, for he had made them the laughingstock of Cyan Moon City.
So when their families proposed annulling the engagement, they were secretly pleased, thinking they could finally escape everyone’s mockery and strange stares.
They even stood among the crowds and mocked Jiang Jichen, the Spirit Cultivation Wasted Body, to his face.
But the young man’s smile remained as brilliant as ever. His presence was even more incomparably domineering as he defeated all his foes with the Body Refining Dao.
In that moment, they realized that even without his Spirit Cultivation, the young man was still unrivaled among his peers. No one could surpass him.
And when they saw Jiang Jichen recover his Spirit Cultivation, even condensing golden spiritual power lines, they felt a pang of indignation and jealous hatred.
But there was no regret. Not until this very moment, seeing Jiang Jichen’s towering, mountain-like figure standing before them, capable of shielding them from any storm, did regret finally stir in the hearts of Mu Xia and He Yao.
Of course, Jiang Jichen had no idea what was going through Mu Xia and He Yao’s minds. He had never paid them any mind to begin with.
He was now completely focused on a single task: to strike down and shatter every obstacle in his path.
Seven golden Spiritual Power Lines coiled around his body like a suit of golden Battle Armor, giving him an incomparably majestic appearance.
Longsword in hand, Jiang Jichen wasn’t using any formal Sword Techniques. Instead, every swing was an embodiment of his Assassination Skill.
Fast, precise, and ruthless—he demonstrated the methods of assassination to their fullest.
Jiang Jichen fought as if he were tireless, his Qi Sea Spiritual Power seemingly endless. In contrast, some of the Noble Family Descendants from Cyan Moon City behind him had long since fought themselves to exhaustion. They could only pant for breath as they followed in his wake.
Their initial fervor gradually cooled, and their will to fight subsided. As their hearts calmed, the way they looked at Jiang Jichen began to change.
’He’s monstrously powerful!’ the group of young prodigies from Cyan Moon City lamented inwardly.
It was only then that they realized that by following Jiang Jichen, they had come through without a single scratch. Looking around, they could no longer see a single Spirit Beast.
It was supposed to be a joint effort, but Jiang Jichen had single-handedly repelled the entire horde of Spirit Beasts.
What is power? What is dominance? This was it!
...
At the head of the group, Jiang Jichen swung his sword one last time, only to find the path ahead empty. Not a single Spirit Beast remained to block his way.
Just then, his body trembled and swayed. He had to plant his longsword into the ground just to stay upright.
After cutting down more than sixty Spirit Beasts in a row, he finally felt a wave of fatigue. Combined with his injuries, he was not in good shape.
Jiang Jichen steadied himself, then turned to the others. "The Spirit Beast horde has been repelled," he announced. "You can all leave safely now."
But Luo Xue stepped forward and asked Jiang Jichen softly, "Are you alright? Your injuries... I have a Qi Blood Pill here. Please, take it quickly!"
Luo Xue’s voice was soft and gentle, a pleasant sound to the ears. Jiang Jichen accepted without ceremony, taking the Qi Blood Pill and swallowing it at once.
’Luo Xue is such a kind and gentle girl,’ he thought. ’She’s pretty and caring. She’d make a great wife!’
The Qi Blood Pill dissolved within him, quickly replenishing the Blood Qi he had lost from his injuries. He felt much better, but he was still weak. The recent battle had consumed a massive amount of his Spiritual Power, and it would take time to fully recover.
"Thank you, Luo Xue," Jiang Jichen said to her. "But all of you need to leave here quickly. The commotion from the battle was too great, and a dozen or so Spirit Beasts escaped. I’m afraid they’ll attract even more. This place is dangerous; you shouldn’t linger."
However, no sooner had Jiang Jichen spoken than one of the Noble Family Descendants said coldly, "Are you telling us to leave so you can keep all these Spirit Beast materials and Inner Cores for yourself?"
Many others also stared greedily at the Spirit Beast corpses on the ground. They had only just entered the Moonlight Forest and hadn’t managed to kill any Spirit Beasts or collect many Beast Pills before being caught in the stampede.
In the Moonlight Trial Competition, rankings were decided by Beast Pills. The seventy-plus Spirit Beast corpses before them meant seventy-plus Beast Pills. As resources, they were a huge cache of materials for Alchemy and Artifact Refining. Converted into competition points, it was enough to break into the top ten of the junior group.
Luo Xue could no longer stand by and watch. She spoke up, rebuking them, "Brother Jiang killed sixty of those Spirit Beasts himself! The materials and Inner Cores rightfully belong to him. Do you really intend to covet them? I didn’t see any of you being this enthusiastic when it was time to fight, but you spare no effort when it comes to snatching the loot!"
The one who had spoken was one of the very same Noble Family Descendants who had held back during the fight. Called out so mercilessly by Luo Xue, his expression turned foul.
As for people like Lü Yinghao and Murong Qingshu, while they too were tempted by the Spirit Beast Inner Cores and materials on the ground, they had, after all, just fought alongside Jiang Jichen. Furthermore, since Jiang Jichen had killed the vast majority of them, they didn’t entertain the idea of forcibly taking his spoils.
"Just take the shares you’ve earned," Lü Yinghao finally said, and Murong Qingshu and the others nodded in agreement.
This time, even He Yao and her group did not object.
However, a few of the Noble Family Descendants were clearly not resigned to this. They looked at Jiang Jichen, a cold sneer in their eyes.
One of them spoke up. "Jiang Jichen, you won’t be taking these Spirit Beast Inner Cores and materials. They’ve already been claimed!"
Jiang Jichen looked at them and gave an indifferent smile. "Oh? Do you really think you can take what’s mine just by calling for some old geezers from your families?"
No sooner had the words left Jiang Jichen’s mouth than several figures emerged from the distant woods, appearing before the group in a matter of moments.
"Heh heh. Such an arrogant little boy. Not only does he call us old geezers, but he dares to deny us something we’ve taken a fancy to. If we don’t put him in his place, he’ll think he can walk all over everyone."
Among the three elders who appeared, one was, shockingly, Granny Liu from the Third Prince’s Mansion!
