Chang Wei Yearned for Love

Elder Tiluo froze, then subconsciously glanced at the incense burning atop the jade platform.

There was still a small pinch left unburned.

A smile appeared on his face, and the elder set the gong he had just reached for back down.

On the arena stage, Chu Zeming, drenched in blood, slightly steadied the uneven breath caused by his frantic journey, feeling incomparably fortunate.

Luckily... he had made it.

The daoist in green robes was somewhat regretful.

He had thought he would get lucky and win without a fight, but his opponent had unexpectedly arrived at the very last moment.

He rose from his meditative position, lightly flicked his horsetail whisk behind him, and saluted Chu Zeming. "I am Dai Shanghu. Please forgive any offense in this bout."

As soon as he spoke, he fiercely flung out his horsetail whisk. In an instant, it transformed into countless white threads stretching ten thousand zhang, blotting out the sky as they attacked Chu Zeming.

Chu Zeming swung the Luminous Glaze Sword, its sharp blade effortlessly severing the whisk threads winding toward him.

The Luminous Glaze Sword, having absorbed the remnants of a broken sword, differed from ordinary magical artifacts. After being reforged, it had developed a sword spirit of its own. Although Dai Shanghu's natal horsetail whisk was likewise a rare and precious treasure, beneath the pressure of the Luminous Glaze Sword's sword spirit, it was not worth mentioning at all.

Retracting his whisk and looking at its neatly sliced break, Dai Shanghu's expression darkened. "What kind of monster are you? How are you this strong?"

The man before him was covered head to toe in blood, his aura terrifying. A pitch-black snake hung within the clothes over his chest, while the long sword in his hand continuously hummed. One look told him this was no easy character.

Chu Zeming did not answer Dai Shanghu's question.

The life-and-death struggles of the past few days had left him with little energy to spare.

He had to end this match quickly. The spiritual power inside his body could no longer be suppressed, and breaking through on the arena stage was not a good thing.

Chu Zeming circulated the spiritual power throughout his body. Terrifying strength gradually gathered around him, centered on his form. The Luminous Glaze Sword glimmering with red light gave a faint cry, his tattered black robes snapped in the wind, and both his body and face were stained crimson. It was already impossible to tell whether the blood came from man or demonic beast.

Below the stage, everyone held their breath.

No one spoke.

On the stage, a sword containing terrifying power descended, hanging above the green-robed daoist's head.

Half an inch lower, and he would have perished on the spot.

With merely one strike, the green-robed daoist, likewise at the mid Golden Core stage, was defeated.

Chu Zeming desperately suppressed the turmoil of spiritual power within his body. The moment the elder overseeing the arena came onstage and struck the gong of victory, Chu Zeming did not even have time to reassure his junior brothers. He immediately leaped off the stage and flew toward the distance.

"What happened to Senior Brother?!"

"Let's go after him and see!"

Seeing this, the disciples hurriedly followed after him in a panic, leaving only several disciples scheduled to compete next standing anxiously where they were.

After leaving the Guiyuan Sect, Chu Zeming stopped at a desolate mountain a hundred li away.

With one sword strike, he carved out a cave abode, then slipped inside. Only after setting down a barrier outside did Chu Zeming finally close his eyes in relief and allow the spiritual power in his body to batter against its bottleneck.

Before long, a patch of dark clouds appeared in the sky.

Lightning flickered in and out of sight within the clouds as a terrifying Tribulation Lightning brewed.

Xuan Mo arrived with the other junior brothers and immediately saw the sky above where Chu Zeming had entered seclusion. He instantly sucked in a sharp breath.

—Senior Brother had broken through and even summoned Tribulation Lightning.

"If I remember correctly, Senior Brother should be advancing to the peak Golden Core stage next, right?" one disciple suddenly said.

The moment those words were spoken, everyone was even more shocked.

Ordinary cultivators only had a small chance of drawing tribulation clouds when undergoing a great tribulation. Yet Eldest Senior Brother had summoned them merely by breaking through to peak Golden Core?

They looked at one another, their faces filled with disbelief.

Rumble—

A terrifying thunderclap rang out. A bolt of lightning roughly half a meter thick viciously struck toward Chu Zeming's location. Immediately afterward, dozens of lightning bolts descended in dense succession. Only after the time it took an incense stick to burn did the lightning vanish and the tribulation clouds overhead slowly disperse. The disciples watched the cave entrance, collapsed by the lightning, with their hearts pounding in their throats.

A loud crash sounded.

The rocks blocking the entrance all fell away. A man blackened from head to toe, his clothes shredded into strips and his aura oppressive, stepped out from the cave. A tiny black four-headed snake was tightly coiled around his wrist. Who else could it be but Chu Zeming?

"Eldest Senior Brother, are you all right?" After Xuan Mo spoke, he was about to fly forward, only for someone to move faster than him.

—It was Yue Lian.

"Eldest Senior Brother, are you all right?"

Without drawing attention to it, Yue Lian blocked everyone's line of sight, his eyes practically glued to Chu Zeming's body.

Chu Zeming was initially stunned. Then he noticed that Yue Lian's gaze was fixed on his body, which had only a few strips of cloth left and was practically naked. With a wave of his hand, a black robe appeared on him once more.

Chu Zeming said with a dark face, "I'm fine. I'll go back and take a bath first."

After returning to the inn, Chu Zeming took a comfortable bath. Once he was clean and tidy again, he changed into a brand-new black robe and headed out.

The injuries he had suffered in Devil Forest were not easy to heal. Even though his body had been tempered once by Tribulation Lightning, many wounds still remained. Chu Zeming did not care much about them; after some more time, they would naturally heal.

Even if they did not, it did not matter. Scars were a man's medals.

His junior brothers had already been waiting outside for a long while.

Chu Zeming's wretched appearance had truly frightened them badly when he appeared earlier. Now that he had returned to normal, they could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. Their uneasy hearts suddenly had a pillar to lean on.

"Come, let's go watch the other junior brothers' arena matches." With that, Chu Zeming led the group back toward the Returning Origin Sect's arena in a grand procession.

On the arena stage, the junior brother currently competing was absentminded.

Eldest Senior Brother's blood-soaked arrival and equally blood-soaked departure had left him deeply uneasy.

After spending this time together, Senior Brother had already become the spiritual pillar of the group. If he fell, no one would have the heart to continue competing.

While barely fending off his opponent's attacks, the junior brother swept his gaze over the area beneath the stage.

Suddenly, a group of familiar faces appeared. At the center of those faces stood the black-haired young man in dark robes, his features striking and flamboyant. Joy could not help appearing on the disciple's face.

—Eldest Senior Brother was all right. Eldest Senior Brother had brought the senior and junior brothers to watch his match!

Being watched by one's role model gave one boundless strength.

He could not embarrass himself. He could not disappoint Eldest Senior Brother...

At that moment, a courage that charged forward without turning back seemed to surge through his body, and his aura abruptly changed.

His opponent on the stage was startled.

Why had he suddenly become so brimming with fighting spirit?

Their moves gradually became sharper, and their battle officially entered its white-hot stage.

Below the arena, Chu Zeming reclined comfortably in the lounge chair Xuan Mo had thoughtfully prepared for him. As he watched his junior brother fight onstage, he silently noted where his moves had been wrong and where his angles of attack had been flawed.

A long while later, the match finally ended.

The junior brother came down from the stage with his head hanging low and said quietly to Chu Zeming, "I'm sorry, Senior Brother. I lost."

Chu Zeming rose from his chair and patted the junior brother, who was more than half a head shorter than him. He comforted him, "It's all right. His cultivation was higher than yours to begin with, and you already did your best. But you cannot lose for nothing. After we return, carefully reflect on and sum up the other reasons you lost. Next time, press on with renewed effort."

The junior brother gave an affirmative hum, feeling much better.

Chu Zeming raised his head, looked at Xuan Mo, and asked, "Whose match is next for our sect?"

Xuan Mo carefully recalled the notice board he had seen, ruled out himself, ruled out Ling Tian, ruled out the other disciples... then lifted his eyes and hesitantly said to Chu Zeming, "The next match seems to be... Junior Brother Yue Lian's."

Once Xuan Mo finished speaking, everyone's gazes turned in unison toward Yue Lian.

He was very relaxed, wandering behind Chu Zeming as though nothing had happened. He seemed completely unaware that it was soon his turn to compete. When Xuan Mo suddenly called his name, his expression was somewhat blank. "Ah?"

"..."

Chu Zeming felt his head buzzing. He had been terrified of missing a match, yet Yue Lian treated it like child's play. If Xuan Mo, with his excellent memory, had not reminded him, Yue Lian would likely have simply forfeited by failing to appear.

After the group hurried to the arena, Yue Lian unhurriedly adjusted his posture and appearance before slowly and elegantly walking toward the stage—perhaps afraid of pulling a muscle down there, he moved at a snail's pace.

Though he only needed a light leap to get onto the stage, Yue Lian somehow walked with the bearing of a refined young lady.

Chu Zeming's head felt more than half a size bigger just watching him.

"Our Lian'er is so graceful and delicate, a sight as lovely as a painting. Lotus blossoms rise beneath his every step, drawing the eye beyond resistance."

Suddenly, a drunken-sounding voice rang out beside him.

The jumble of bizarre descriptions struck Chu Zeming like lightning. He turned his head and saw that a tall, burly man had suddenly appeared beside him. The man wore white robes and held a folding fan, but utterly at odds with his outfit were his full beard and the three-inch scar on his face—

Chu Zeming was silent for a long time before calling out, "Chang Wei?"

Chang Wei smiled and clasped his hands toward Chu Zeming in greeting. With great ceremony, he said, "Brother Chu, Chang Wei offers his respects."

For a moment, everyone felt thoroughly disheveled in the wind.

Chang Wei gave a self-satisfied smile, using his folding fan to cover half his face as he asked in a low voice, "What do you think of my outfit? The shopkeeper said that as long as I wore these clothes, I would become gentle and refined, elegant and graceful."

Chu Zeming was silent for a long while. Then he raised his eyes, gave Chang Wei a thumbs-up, and said gravely, "This outfit is incredible..."

Chang Wei smiled shyly, covering his face with the fan as he gazed at the person onstage. Like a lovesick maiden, he asked sorrowfully, "Do you think Lian'er will like me when I am this gentle and elegant?"

Chu Zeming fell silent once more.

Whether Lian'er would like it, he did not know. But honestly, he rather wanted to vomit right now...

With a clang of the gong, everyone's attention shifted from Chang Wei back to the arena. The elder in charge of the bye arena raised Yue Lian's hand and loudly announced, "The time limit of three incense sticks has passed. The opponent has not appeared. I declare—Yue Lian of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect advances!"

Author's note:

Chu Zeming bared his fangs, his eyes nearly splitting with rage: This goddamned protagonist halo! Fuck!