An Enticing Scene
Translator: Team DHH
Book 1: A New Lease on Life
Chapter 18: An Enticing Scene
“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”
Zhong Shan jumped out of the water and leaped towards the bank. The direction he was aiming for happened to be where the white haired lady was.
In the midair, Zhong Shan was transfixed. At the same time, the lady was also frozen at the sight of a man flying out of the hot spring.
A man? How could it be? The lady watched the man leaping towards her in disbelief. In her memory, there wasn’t a single man who had seen her body. What to do then?
When Zhong Shan leaped out of water, there was disbelief in his eyes as well when he saw what was before him.
White, Zhong Shan saw white all over the place; skin, hair, and other places where were usually covered by clothes. All the hair was white. It wasn’t the kind of white due to old age, rather it was a kind of shiny silver white.
Only some pink spots and the pitch black eyes woke Zhong Shan up.
Zhong Shan had recovered his senses in the midair. When he clearly saw the lady, he knew he was in big trouble.
Beiqingsi. This was Beiqingsi for sure. The third shijie of Kaiyang School’s second generation, who had reached the highest level of the Gold Core Stage. How come she was here? Naked?
Beiqingsi’s perfect body presented itself right in front of Zhong Shan.
After the initial panic, Zhong Shan, since he was not a young man anymore and had a clear goal in mind, was not distracted by the beautiful sight, instead he began to analyze the current situation.
He was in midair and couldn’t use anything to push himself away from the direction of Beiqingsi. If he really fell onto her, then he would be a dead man. Beiqingsi was already at the Gold Core Stage; would she kill him because he had intruded on her bath?
What to do? What to do? Zhong Shan anxiously thought to himself in midair.
However, Beiqingsi at the moment finally came to her senses.
“Ah ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”
Amid Beiqingsi’s scream and confusion, she had hit Zhong Shan flying.
“Boom ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”
Without any ability to fight back, Zhong Shan flew backwards into the distance.
“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~” He seemed to have bumped into something. Zhong Shan fell back into the hot spring.
“Pu ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”
Zhong Shan spitted out blood and could only smile bitterly. What an undeserved misfortune, a truly underserved misfortune.
He slowly swam to the bank and lied on the bank, extremely weak.
The clothes on his chest, where Beiqingsi had hit him, was torn open with a palm shaped hole. On his chest, there was a bright red palm print, it was gradually turning purple, then turning pitch black. Zhong Shan felt his insides churning around in his body as well. If he hadn’t learned the Demonic Body Toning Method, he probably would have died right here.
“Ci ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”
Beiqingsi had already dressed. A white long sword pointed at Zhong Shan’s throat, Beiqingsi looked at Zhong Shan with a complicated expression. She lightly bit her lips, it seemed like she was going to kill Zhong Shan. But she didn’t push the sword in, just at the Zhong Shan’s throat.
There was a thin line between life and death now for Zhong Shan. He was quite anxious; if she wounded him, he could still recover, but if she killed him, then everything would end.
He turned his hand and started using Hongluan Manual. There was Hongluan Mist in his palm that could be released at any moment. But, Zhong Shan did not dare move right now because the sword was right at his throat. With just a slight movement, he would die. He had to wait till the sword moved away from his throat to launch the Mist, otherwise he would be dead before anything happened.
Wheezing, Zhong Shan spoke with some difficulty, “Lady, sorry for offending you just now. I’m Zhong Shan, I didn’t mean to intrude. I was actually already inside the hot spring before you arrived.”
After hearing Zhong Shan, Beiqingsi’s pupils shrunk and the sword in her hand also slightly pulled back.
“You, you are Zhong Shan?” Beiqingsi bit her lips with a very complicated expression. It seemed that if this man in front of her wasn’t Zhong Shan, she would kill him instantly.
“That’s right. I’m the new disciple who came into the School one year ago, Zhong Shan.” Zhong Shan answered and sensed that there might be a chance for him to survive now. But, he still kept the Hongluan Mist in his palm ready.
“One year ago, the Zhong Shan who brought back the jade slip?” Beiqingsi looked at Zhong Shan with mixed emotions. It seemed that she had faced the most difficult situation in the world.
Though Zhong Shan didn’t understand Beiqingsi’s expression, he still nodded.
With the confirmation from Zhong Shan, Beiqingsi suddenly pulled back the sword. She lightly closed her eyes and raised her face upwards, it looked like she was reminded of a very sad incident.
At this moment, Zhong Shan could tell that he was safe now, though he didn’t know the reason why Beiqingsi was so concerned about that jade slip. However, it seemed that she was not going to kill him; the danger was over.
“Thank you.” Beiqingsi suddenly opened her eyes, with deep sadness in her eyes, and said to Zhong Shan.
Thank me? For what? For watching you take a bath?
Seeing Zhong Shan frown, Beiqingsi realized that she seemed to have misspoken. She immediately made the correction, “Thank you for delivering the jade slip.”
“You’re welcome.” Zhong Shan nodded and didn’t say anything.
“This is a Rejuvenation Pill. Nothing happened here today.” Beiqingsi threw down a white, small bottle. Then with a turn of her hand, all the surrounding fog disappeared and all 16 small flags rested in her hand. She lightly tossed her sword, with a slight step, she was on top of the sword and disappeared before Zhong Shan’s eyes.
Zhong Shan was glad to see Beiqingsi leave. Only till this moment, did the Hongluan Mist dissipate from his palm.
Looking at the small, white jade bottle, Zhong Shan slowly opened it. An exotice frangrance escaped from the bottle. Zhong Shan carefully closed the bottle.
Zhong Shan wasn’t sure what a Rejuvenation Pill was. But, he was sure it was a special medicine for healing wounds. He thought he had better save it for a later date when he found himself in a great emergency. As for himself right now who was hurt badly……
He was used to it. Every time he deployed Demonic Body Toning Method, he would be hurt badly.
He quickly dived back into the hot spring and entered the Flaming Fruit Cave Paradise to heal his wounds.
After three days, Zhong Shan was completely healed.
He swiftly went out of the cave, blocked the entrance, and carefully came out of the hot spring. He made sure there was no danger, then quickly moved towards Ting Shui Xie.
He changed clothes after he was back at Ting Shui Xie and rested for a while. With a machete on his back, he started out towards the square at the foot of Kaiyang Peak. The first year gathering of new disciples had started.
When Zhong Shan arrived at the square, there were already many people there. The first year disciples, except Zhong Shan, were all already there.
Nanbatian, same as a year before, stood in front of everyone watching people arrive from different directions. When he saw Zhong Shan, he gave him a look.
Zhong Shan understood immediately and lined up right away.
“It’s been a year. We meet again. Today, this gathering is to check on everyone’s progress. If you have run into difficulty in your practice, you can enter the library again to reselect a different manual. Also, from now on, I’m not your ninth shixiong anymore, rather I’m your sixth shixiong.” Nanbatian said.
“Yes.” Everyone replied.
“Everyone line up straight. In a short while, our grandmaster and some of the second generation will be here to check on you all.” Nanbatian shouted.
“Yes.” All the new disciples excitedly answered.
Right after Nanbatian’s announcement, twenty some people flew down from Kaiyang Peak.
A white cloud carried all of them. At the front were the three Nascent Soul Stage masters of Kaiyang School, followed by the second generation disciples.
After they had landed, Grandmaster Tianxingzi waved with his sleeve and the white cloud disappeared. Obviously, he had summoned the white cloud.
It was the same group of people as the last gathering. Zhong Shan didn’t see Beiqingsi among them, however, Tianling-er was right behind Tianxingzi.
The grandmaster and both headmasters carefully inspected everyone at the square.
Zhong Shan had heard from Tianling-er before that anyone who was two stages higher than you, could tell how far you had progressed just by looking at you. In other words, those at the Nascent Soul Stage could tell the progress of a Xiantian Stage, while a Gold Core Stage couldn’t.
After a round of inspection, all the masters were satisfied at what they had seen. However, when they saw Zhong Shan, they all showed some surprises.
The third level of Xiantian? With his innate talent, how could he progress this much in just one year?
All the masters only shook their heads and didn’t pay much attention to it. Afterall, even Zhong Shan had reached the third level, they still didn’t think too much of him.
“I have a full understanding of your progresses. Those who lagged behind, you have ten days to go to the library to choose a different manual. The rest of you, those who have reached the fourth level, come forward.” The grandmaster Tianxingzi said.
There were four among the new disciples who quickly moved forward with excitement. Three men and one lady stood in front of the rest of the disciples.
The second generation disciples had flashes of joy in their eyes when they saw these four. Evidently, these four were the chosen ones of the future disciples of the second generation.
“Four. Good, the fourth level of Xiantian. It’s the rule of the Kaiyang School that the top three among the first year new disciples will each receive a Kong Ling Gem. Yet, we have four of you now.” Tianxingzi said.
The four disciples all frowned when they heard Tianxingzi. Kong Ling Gem?
Others might not know what that was, but Zhong Shan had heard it from Nanbatian. A Kong Ling Gem was used to stabilize a magical item. A magical item had to use a Kong Ling Gem as the vessel in order to be ranked.
Zhong Shan’s Wind Chaser Boots weren’t even ranked.
There were nine ranks for Magical Items. The lowest was the first rank, being the weakest and the highest being the ninth rank. The function of Kong Ling Gems was that one could form an embryo, a shapeless embryo, according to one’s own idea. Once the embryo was formed then one could add the materials needed to form the magical item desired. Then one would continuously refine it with one’s own Zhenqi and genuine energy to remove all the impurities. One could continuously add the desired materials to create an even stronger magical item.
Zhong Shan knew any good magical item was created by its master’s Zhenqi, genuine energy and state of mind. The longer it stayed with its master, the more powerful the magic became.
Zhong Shan really wanted that Kong Ling Gem. Tianling-er’s red silk was a second ranked magical item. Nanbatian’s big glaive also was a second ranked magical item. His own machete, without a Kong Ling Gem, couldn’t even count as a magical item.