Chapter 363: How to Low-Key
Miaomiao was on the verge of crying, "My precious plot armor power…"
All luck points that he had been collecting from random rewards and donations of the dao gods vanished in an instant for no reason. He felt like a margin investor, whose money in the stock account had been liquidized due to the wrong investment.
Despite having a lot of essence cores and precious heaven-grade items in his spatial ring, Miaomiao felt as if he was bankrupted.
"WHRYYYYYYYY!!?"
Ding
[OG-Buddha lectures you, "Easy comes, easy goes."]
[Tilted Hongjun finds your misfortune fair and just as you have been getting too many lucky streaks lately.]
[Your terrible luck amused Kunwu, Sun Wu, and many Anonymous Viewers.]
Whenever Miaomiao had a fortuitous encounter, these gods never reacted. However, whenever he was unlucky, they were always there to mock him.
[The thrill and suspense of seeing you almost getting yourself killed excited the Sun Crow and many anonymous viewers.]
[The Sun Crow has donated you 50,000 essence cores and 10 luck points. The essence cores will be transferred to your system inventory.]
[10 Anonymous Viewers have donated you 100,000 essence cores and one luck point.]
"…"
Miaomiao stared at the system message for a moment. Then, he coughed, pretending that he was calm.
There was still hope. As long as he could entertain these bored gods, they might give him some chump change. If Miaomiao was lucky, they might even give him some luck points.
"MY STATUS!! MA LUCK!"
Meanwhile, Zhu Qiao was also shocked by the sudden loss. She held her head with both hands and wailed in frustration.
"WHRYYYYYYYYY!!?"
Ding
As Zhu Qiao was in despair, she paused and stared at something in front of her.
A few seconds later, she coughed, pretending that nothing had happened.
Both of them hadn't realized that their reactions to the loss of their Luck energy were the same. They also had their own mysterious way to make up for their setback.
"L-let's continue," Zhu Qiao, with a pokerface, drove her flying carpet and led the journey.
Miaomiao also had a blank expression. He continued heading north without saying anything.
…
Northwest of Jianye and Northeast of Jiangxia was a mountain range of glittering stones, namely Blind Eagle Mountain Range or the Mountain Range of Greed, separating the Jing Province from the central plain.
This mountain range covered 1,500 kilometers from the east to the west, forming a natural defensive barrier between the wealthy central plain cities and the southern river cities. However, it was called the Mountain Range of Greed for a reason.
At a glance, this mountain was purely made of gemstones and unknown minerals, which were valuable for commoners and traders. However, within the mountain hid one of the four forbidden areas of the Aves Continent.
Caves were like beehives here as anyone could get lost by entering one of them. This abandoned mine tempted many greedy cultivators to explore and collect raw spirit stones. Yet, nobody returned to tell a tale. Many 6th-stage cultivators used to challenge the abandoned mine, but they never came back.
The only clue of the threat inside the mine was the telepathic voice of the former explorer. The quote of his desperate warning was, "Don't provoke the metal dragon!"
Many signboards on at the hills warned the nearby population about the rumor metal dragon, and no one dared to prove whether the rumor was the truth or not.
While cautiously flying over the mountain, Zhu Qiao acted as a guide, introducing the mountain's background to Miaomiao to relieve her boredom.
Miaomiao had the urge to explore this so-called forbidden mine as well. However, he didn't have enough time to be sidetracked by a high-leveled dungeon.
"I see. Let's leave this place before we run into troublemakers or arrogant hoodlums."
Zhu Qiao nodded, "Yeah. I've read many novels, and those people always showed up when the main characters were visiting a foreign land. If we were main characters in wuxia novels, mountain bandits should have appeared to rob us by now, and they have a huge backer that we shouldn't provoke."
"Dammit! Don't jinx it!"
Miaomiao was about to say that his LUCK points were low, so they might face every type of misfortune had they been careless.
Before Miaomiao could say anything, ten 5th-stage cultivators with ragged clothes flew from the mountain range and surrounded them.
Like typical extras in movies, these no-name bandits had ugly faces, disfigured bodies, and dirty hair. Even a child could tell that they were 3rd-rated villains, whose sole purposes were to become EXP of main characters in many stories.
One of them ogled Zhu Qiao, "Hey, beautiful. What an interesting carpet you have there. Do you mind if you can… give it to us? Oh, we'll take its passenger, too! Hehehe!"
On the other hand, the other bandit pointed his finger at Miaomiao's face, "YOU THERE, THAT SISSY WITH A WOMAN'S FACE!! STRIP AND GIVE ME EVERYTHING, OR THIS FATHER WILL CUT YOUR DICK AND TURN YOU INTO A REAL WOMAN!!"
Zhu Qiao facepalmed as she felt guilty, "Sorry for jinxing it."
Miaomiao rolled his eyes, "Ah. Since we've been flying at a cruising speed, obviously, these guys will eventually show up. We can't use our normal flight speed either since we will run into a stupid killing array or that dumb no-fly zone again."
Miaomiao sighed as he unsheathed Killer Queen, planning to end this cliché encounter and continuing his journey.
But Zhu Qiao waved her hand to stop him, "Wait. Let me handle it. If you downright kill these idiots, their life brands will inform their bosses about us, and we'll get into trouble. All main characters got their asses into trouble because of their stupidity and recklessness. They always killed or crippled these idiots when they said they wanted to be low-key. Don't be a retard like them."
Miaomiao shrugged and raised his hands over his head, "You're right. My bad. Well, since you asked, they're yours. How are you going to deal with their life brands then?"
As Miaomiao and Zhu Qiao had ignored the bandits and conversed among themselves, the ten bandits were enraged.
"Hey, assholes! It seems you don't understand how fucked you are! You think two essence gathering realm greenhorns like you can defeat 10 5th-stage cultivators!? You can't even use an element Qi, but you're thinking you're hotshots!?"
The bandit leader flew toward them and raised his saber, planning to hack Miaomiao.
But the latter simply picked his nose and blankly looked at the strike.
CLANK
The saber hit Miaomiao's forehead, but it failed to cut through Miaomiao's skin. The bandit felt like his saber had hit a solid block of metal instead of cutting through flesh.
"W-What?"
Miaomiao nonchalantly flickered a booger at the bandit's face. The green thing got stuck into the bandit's upper lip, "Are you done?"
"…"
Miaomiao turned to Zhu Qiao and continued picking his nose, "Whatever you want to do, do it quickly. I don't like tanking. If I play a game, I always picked either DPS class or ranged class. I'm not into support role or tanking role."
"Okay, okay. Let me search for the right tool," Zhu Qiao laughed as she leisurely brought out a grey talisman from her cleavage.
"What's that?" Stilling ignoring the bandits, he turned his back to his enemies to look at the odd talisman.
CLANK
CLANK
CLANK
The same bandit continued hitting Miaomiao's back with his saber. He also added yang essence and earth Qi to his weapon, hoping to injure or cut this young man.
However, his weapon broke before he could do anything to Miaomiao!
The other bandits also noticed the odd reactions of Miaomiao and Zhu Qiao. They yelled, "Attack together! Kill them before they use that talisman!"
The other nine bandits rushed at Zhu Qiao, reaching for her grey talisman.
But Zhu Qiao tore it. She also revealed the item's name, "Life Brand Dispelling Talisman. It's useful when you want to assassinate an asshole without letting their bosses or backers know of your face and name."
As soon as the talisman was torn, the ten bandits felt like something inside them was yanked out their bodies. Behind them, small tattoos were ejected through the clothes and disintegrated into dust.
One of the bandits had a brand tattoo on his chest. As soon as his life brand came off from his skin, he was shocked.
"H-HOW!?"
While the bandits were still in shock, Zhu Qiao tore another square paper.
"What's that?" Miaomiao looked at the torn square paper in curiosity.
"Wind Element Attack Spell. It generates a wind blade storm and attacks my enemies around me with the power of a 6th-stage cultivator. It's a common-grade item, though."
"Oh?"
The sky suddenly became dark and the cloud began rotating. Three seconds later, the dark cloud flashed, revealing the lightning forces within them, after which a large wedge of a tornado descended from the spinning cloud.
Miaomiao and Zhu Qiao didn't move from the spot as they were in the eye of the tornado. Meanwhile, the strong wind dragged the 10 bandits with the power of wind element Qi and the wind speed.
"HEEELPPPP!!"
"NOOOOOO!!"
"SAVE MEEEEEE!!"
Their desperate death screams and painful cry was muted by the sound of the windstorm. Sharp wind blades at the size of small razor blades cut their limps and flesh, torturing them before they got suffocated and died by the wind choke.
The grey wind left behind trails of red liquid for a moment before the wedge of wind tossed their militated corpses to the sky.
The storm subsided a minute later.
Zhu Qiao and Miaomiao, who had been staying at the eye of the storm, were unaffected by the wind blades. They blankly stared at the aftermath.
A portion of the ground was leveled by the storm. Although the mountain range still stood tall, the trees and structures nearby were gone.
"What a cheating ability you have," the corner of Miaomiao's face twitched.
"Humph! Aren't you glad that I'm your wife-in-name now? Now, let's proceed! I don't want my mom's goons in the area to find me."
Zhu Qiao looked east with the corner of her eyes. Had she gone in that direction, she would have reached Guangling City, the new home of Zhu Clan. She didn't want to linger in this area for too long.
"That's what you get for running away from home," Miaomiao snickered, mocking her.
"Pfft. You will have to confront my mom later if she brings her army to attack your town with Yuan Shaoqing. It's you who will need to think of a good excuse."
"It's you who has to come up with a good excuse. The first thing a parent will ask their runaway child is what the fuck were you thinking?"
…
Far west of Blind Eagle Mountain Range was a province-sized city, aka Wancheng City, which was the home of Yuan Shaoqing's cousin, Yuan Shu.
The city was decorated in lavishing streetlights and luxurious lamps as if they were in a festival. The people and low-level cultivators in the city were the major populations as all experts had already migrated and joined other clans.
Still, many 6th-stage cultivators remained in the city, serving Yuan Shu as guest elders of Yuan Shu's Family. They were in charge of protecting Wancheng City.
At the core of this city, tall walls separated another small town within the provincial capital city.
It was the residence of Yuan Shu, the city lord.
Among ancient-designed wooden buildings, the grand hall of Yuan Shu's Family was a temple without a monk or a statue of Buddha.
The one sitting on the elevated ground and the sole cushion within the temple was a thin middle-aged man, who looked to be in his late 40s. He had a short goatee beard and messy long dark hair.
While sitting and meditating in his favorite temple hall, one of his soldiers, who dressed in metal armor, entered the temple hall and knelt.
"Lord Yuan Shu! We've received an urgent report!"
Without opening his eyes, the small man, whose height was merely 140cm, continued to meditate. He muttered in a half-asleep tone, "I'm cultivating. This is better be important."
"Our agents that we've sent to scout Blind Eagle Mountain Range have perished!"
"Ah," Yuan Shu shrugged. "They must have entered the mine. I already told them to rob the passerby, not entering the god-forsaken place. Well, who killed them? The rumor dragon?"
The soldier sweated profusely, afraid to look up. He reported as he kept staring at the marble floor, "Their Life Brands have been forcefully removed before their life tokens shattered. We don't know who killed them."
"Pfft, figured," Yuan Shu slowly opened his eyes and stared at the soldier. "Send another batch of agents to replace their duties."
"A-Are we not going to investigate the killer, sir?"
"The only ones who can neutralize a mortal's Life Brand are immortals! Do you want me to provoke a powerful expert!?"
"N-No, sir!"
"Just relay my order and move on. It's not like a na?ve upstart brat suddenly shows up and kills those fools. They probably run into a true expert and get themselves killed. Leave them be."
Yuan Shu shooed the soldier away and closed his eyes, continued meditating.
…
Unbeknownst to Zhu Qiao or Miaomiao, they had just avoided a conflict with the cousin of Yuan Shaoqing by removing the Life Brands before they killed the bandits.
The overdone cliché, aka protagonists self-defended against a local hoodlum and provoked a big shot in the area, didn't happen here.
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