Mistaken Entry

The moment he landed, someone came crashing down on top of him. Good heavens—if he had not at least been at the Qi Refining Stage, he would probably have croaked a second time by now.

"Hey—what kind of person has no sense of public decency and drops onto other people? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Say something!"

Chapter 2: Mistaken Entry

Bian Chunchou scrambled up furiously, ready to find the culprit and settle this face-to-face. A kind man was easily bullied; if he swallowed this insult today, then his surname was not—

"Hey, brother, why are you coughing up blood? Hey, hey, hey, don't spit out so much! Don't die at my feet! You're trying to scam me, do you understand?!"

Bian Chunchou staggered back three steps in fright. It had to be said, cultivating immortality really did make one's physique absurdly good. Such a huge person had landed on him, yet he had only hurt for a moment, and now he felt nothing at all.

But having died once before, Bian Chunchou treasured his life beyond measure. Following the principle that caution never hurt, he swallowed a Qi-Replenishing Pill to steady himself. The exam could be failed, but he had to start at full health.

Still, why did this brother on the ground look like he was about to stop breathing? They were both at the Qi Refining Stage—was this brother not a little too fragile?

"Brother? Big brother?"

The brother on the ground still did not respond. Bian Chunchou had no choice. He was simply too softhearted to stand by and watch someone die. Though every second counted in the exam, after some thought, he still took out two Blood-Recovery Pills and fed them to the man.

They were fellow examinees. This was all he could give; any more would be impolite.

Wen Xu was actually awake—or rather, barely awake. When he had fallen, he had instantly lost consciousness, but the violent pain in his chest soon jolted him awake again. He struggled to crack open his eyes, yet all he could see was a sheet of blood-red.

He was probably about to die, Wen Xu thought with difficulty. But at least he had not died at the hands of those three people.

He considered it rather calmly. Just then, an unfamiliar voice kept calling him brother, growing louder and louder until he could no longer ignore it.

Could it be a soul-reaping ghost envoy?

Wen Xu could not be bothered to respond. Of course, he lacked the strength to respond as well. He was about to die anyway—who cared if floodwaters surged behind him?

Yet this person refused to let up. By then, Wen Xu's five senses had nearly faded away. He only felt the voice drifting over from a far-off shore. Just as he tried to listen more closely, the agony throughout his body suddenly reached his mind with startling clarity. The next moment, he opened his eyes, and that strange feeling of hovering at death's door... vanished.

"Wow, you're awake!"

Bian Chunchou had originally been about to leave. As for the two Blood-Recovery Pills he had lost, he would count them as one good deed for the day. But just as he was about to rise, he met a pair of... vacant eyes.

Wen Xu was still somewhat dazed. Just moments ago, he had secretly pinched himself, and it had hurt terribly! He was actually not dead!

"I... didn't die?"

Hearing that, Bian Chunchou found it somewhat strange, though he could not put his finger on what was strange about it. "Of course you didn't die. You crashed into someone the moment you entered the Cloud-Breaking Secret Realm. How are you so capable?"

Cloud-Breaking... Secret Realm?!

"You saved me?" Though Wen Xu had only just returned from the brink of death, his long-honed instinct for pretense still made him subconsciously conceal how he had been hunted down and fallen from a cliff.

Bian Chunchou nodded. "Of course. Who else did you think it was?" The Cultivation Realm had always revered the law of the jungle, and murder for treasure was common in the wilderness. But this was the Cloud-Breaking Secret Realm, the Preliminary Trial ground for Yonglu Mountain's disciple selection. Surely no fool would repay kindness with enmity over two Blood-Recovery Pills right from the start.

"Thank you for saving my life. My name is Wen Xu, You Youxu, courtesy name Bu Jing. May I ask your honored name, brother? One day, I will surely repay the grace of your life-saving kindness."

Why did this guy speak so stiffly and bookishly, giving both his name and courtesy name? The more Bian Chunchou looked at him, the stranger he found him. Yet judging by the aura around him, he truly was a cultivator who had opened his Qi Sea. "Forget about repaying a life-saving favor. It was only two Blood-Recovery Pills. As for my name, it isn't important. I'm busy gathering spirit plants, so I'll have to decline the idle chat."

With that, he dusted off his backside and left. Exams waited for no one. He was not some heaven-favored prodigy, so did he not need to seize every moment and win through sheer quantity?

Only after listening to the footsteps gradually fade away did Wen Xu finally let out half a breath of relief.

He truly had not expected to survive a fall from such a high cliff. That could only mean his life was not meant to end. Wen Xu could not help laughing, but he quickly could not laugh anymore.

Because he was starving—so hungry he could barely walk.

His lifesaving benefactor had said this place was the Cloud-Breaking Secret Realm, and that the pills used to treat his injuries were called Blood-Recovery Pills. Wen Xu had read ten thousand books, yet he could honestly say he had never heard of any of it. And that person had also said he was in a hurry to gather spirit plants. Though Wen Xu had never heard of spirit plants either, the name was easy enough to understand. After all, there were always all manner of miscellaneous books and storybooks among the common folk, tales of lucky people stumbling into immortal realms. The immortals would not blame those fortunate souls, and would even give them spirit plants and medicinal pills that granted eternal life—sometimes they would even let an immortal maiden accompany the lucky person home.

So, had he encountered an immortal?

Wen Xu could not help laughing again, though naturally he was laughing at his own wild fancy. If immortals truly existed in this world, why was the world so unjust? Why had he been hunted down for no reason at all? Well, it was not entirely for no reason. That person had said he had been born with the wrong face.

Wen Xu could not help touching his own face. What a pity—he did not know what he looked like.

Though he had luckily survived, those three people had no small background. Before they saw his corpse, they would likely never let the matter rest. In a county town, a Provincial Graduate was enough to earn respect, but beneath the Son of Heaven's feet in the capital, Provincial Graduates were as common as carp crossing a river—even successful scholars were everywhere. Wen Xu understood well that he could no longer return to the capital for the examinations.

He could not gamble his life on a second chance.

What was more, after seven days and seven nights of pursuit, followed by this near-fatal plunge from a cliff, he still did not even know who his enemies were. For someone as grudge-holding as Wen Xu, that was truly unbearable.

But a gentleman's revenge could wait ten years. Since he had survived yet could not sit the examinations, he would first set himself a small goal: he had to gather strength and find the mastermind behind those who had hunted him down.

Wen Xu quickly finished talking himself through it. Perhaps because he had passed the peak of his hunger, he no longer felt quite so miserable. He even found the wounds on his body itching fiercely. Unable to resist, he reached out and scratched them, only to touch clotted blood that had already scabbed over.