“Ridiculously ridiculous. So you’re my new teammate?”
The semifinals of the Five Provinces Q&A Contest ended with Ye Shusheng voluntarily withdrawing, allowing Ling Qingyue to advance by sheer luck. Given her circumstances, one could also say she had narrowly escaped the gates of hell.
“Ling Fengqing is here.”
Jiang Xuesheng suddenly spoke. His gently curved peach-blossom eyes narrowed into slits as he looked past the crowded street toward its distant end.
From where they stood, they could just make out the outline of an opulent carriage. Pearls and jewels glittered upon it, auspicious radiance streaming in every direction. Its magnificence surpassed even Ling Fengming’s, as though the words *I’m rich* had been planted right on its roof.
“Unlike his younger brother, Ling Fengqing is not particularly fond of extravagance. He is merely making a display of his power.”
Jiang Xuesheng spoke with a trace of mockery. Cradling his teacup in one hand, he leisurely skimmed away the foam on its surface. “Interesting. There isn’t even the faintest sign that his plans to claim the throne will succeed, yet he is already putting on the airs of the imperial household, waiting for all nations to come pay him tribute. Ling Shanhai must be senile indeed, to let him go out and make such a spectacle of himself.”
“Isn’t that the truth? Ling Fengqing’s ambitions are enormous.” Liu Ruyi rested one hand against his cheek, the pearls and jade in his hair ornaments chiming softly as he shook his head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he one day bestowed some title like ‘Eternal Emperor of the Ages’ upon himself. After all, not everyone is like Lord Yinglong—he gets a headache whenever someone calls him the ‘Dragon Emperor.’ He always says things like, ‘The people are precious; the ruler is of little account,’ or, ‘Being a sovereign is the most burdensome, exhausting, and utterly unpaid hard labor in the world. And you cannot simply retire whenever you please.’”
He deliberately adopted the pompous tone of an old man, lowering his voice theatrically. He truly sounded like a tragic monarch who had devoted his life to governing, only to work himself to death on the dragon throne.
…Er, did that really count as tragic?
“Precisely so.”
Wu Yao had been idling about, but at those words he suddenly raised his snake head as if he had been injected with stimulants. He swayed from side to side and eagerly added, “I’ve heard the same. Lord Yinglong may seem stern and reserved on the surface, but it’s all an act for others to see. He often conceals his identity and travels among mortals, calling himself ‘a white dragon in fish’s clothing.’ Who knows how many people he has deceived? When I was young, I even respected him—waaah!”
“...”
Still wearing a mild, genial smile, Jiang Xuesheng ground the teacup firmly down onto the snake’s head, forcibly shutting the Demon King up. “Wu Yao, have some tea.”
Wu Yao: “Mmph mmph mmph?!”
You don’t want me to drink tea at all—you want to drown me in the teacup!
Seeing that Wu Yao was about to foam at the mouth from being crushed, Shu Fu hurriedly placed her hand over Jiang Xuesheng’s and quietly nudged him aside. “Sir, give that cup to me instead. Ye Shusheng gave me quite a fright earlier, and my throat is parched right now.”
Only then did Jiang Xuesheng ease up slightly, allowing Shu Fu to remove the teacup from atop Wu Yao’s head. Then he added casually, “I have already drunk from that cup. If you mind, you should take another.”
Shu Fu: “...”
I only made up an excuse. Why are you taking it so seriously?
It wasn’t as if I were some bashful young maiden who would touch lips with you once, turn bright red, and shriek, “An indirect kiss! I’m tainted!”
There was one thing, however, that she hadn’t lied about: Ye Shusheng really had frightened her badly.
—Who could have guessed that the “Fox Girl” he spoke of was not only Xiao Tieyi, the current Heavenly Demon King, but also a dashing, handsome alpha who could make anyone swoon?
Shu Fu: If Ye Shusheng can do it, so can I. And if Ye Shusheng can’t, then I can do it even more!
At Ye Shusheng’s enthusiastic invitation, Xiao Tieyi and her fox-sister companions moved over and were now seated at a table just one away from theirs.
Of course, in Shu Fu’s eyes, Ye Shusheng’s “enthusiastic invitation” had essentially been the human equivalent of a “red panda blushing and scratching its head.jpg” meme, usually captioned: “Aw, you’re making me feel awkward.”
Faced with such a meme-like oddball of a man, Xiao Tieyi’s girlish heart had yet to burn to ashes—and she could still ship them. As one of the Four Great Demon Kings of the modern age, her composure was truly formidable.
Her sisters, on the other hand, were far less understanding. Their faces were full of question marks as they eyed Ye Shusheng openly and covertly, finding fault with him from every angle. From their expressions, Shu Fu could read thirty percent suspicion, thirty percent nitpicking, and forty percent sorrow over “a fine flower stuck in a pile of scrap metal.”
Still, even if Xiao Tieyi was a flower, she was certainly an unyielding rose—one forged from hardened steel.
Even Shu Fu, who knew Ye Shusheng’s usual ways all too well, wanted to plaster the words “Perfect Match” across the screen the moment she saw them together.
…
Meanwhile, as Ye Shusheng endured the fox sisters’ death stares, the competition continued.
In the second semifinal, Ji Shaoguang faced a local cultivator from Wei City. After more than ten rounds of fierce exchanges, he won without any real danger.
The cultivator had fallen to an obscure and bizarre question, and he was visibly unconvinced. On the spot, he protested to the host, “What kind of questions are these this year? Mathematics, geomancy, the language of the merfolk—fine, I can accept those. But why ask, ‘How many Heart-Guarding Scales does the flood dragon clan have, and what are their effects?’ This is the first time I’ve even heard of Heart-Guarding Scales! This isn’t a question from Lady Wei, is it? Who’s been feeding you nonsense?!”
The host glanced toward Wei Zhi as if asking for confirmation. Wei Zhi gave a slight nod, then said with a smile, “To be honest, the person who set that question is Perfected He Meng, the Supreme Elder of Tianyan Sect, one of the Four Great Sects. Perfected He Meng has always been on good terms with Wei City. He originally came to watch the competition, but on a whim, he provided us with a few questions… Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
The Wei City cultivator: “…”
So it was a big shot amusing himself at my expense. My apologies for the disturbance.
Ji Shaoguang was also taken aback for a moment, before understanding dawned on him. “So it was Grandmaster. No wonder. Grandmaster has always been… unconventional. His thoughts never follow the usual patterns, and no one in the sect can fathom him. These questions certainly bear his distinctive style.”
“‘He Meng’...?”
Jiang Xuesheng repeated the name thoughtfully. First he nodded, then shook his head, and finally said nothing at all.
At the same time, the finals began. Ji Shaoguang and Ling Qingyue stood facing each other.
Ji Shaoguang remained composed and unhurried, carrying himself with an easy elegance, as though strolling through a tranquil courtyard. Ling Qingyue had only just escaped disaster. She was relieved, ashamed, and under the added pressure of Young Master Ling’s personal presence. The moment she stepped onto the stage, her face turned deathly pale, and she swayed as if she might collapse at any moment.
Unlike Shu Fu, Ji Shaoguang was unfamiliar with Ling Fengqing’s methods. He assumed she was merely nervous before the match and gently reassured her, “Fellow Daoist, there’s no need to be so tense. My own abilities are rather limited, so I hope you’ll go easy on me and offer me your guidance.”
“……”
Ling Qingyue wished he truly were as mediocre as he claimed, but she could hardly say that aloud. All she could do was press her lips together and nod stiffly.
The questioning began.
Ling Qingyue was indeed quite formidable. Once again, she matched Ji Shaoguang evenly, answering one question after another with astonishing speed. For a while, the two remained locked in a stalemate.
Ji Shaoguang had a magical artifact protecting him, rendering Ling Qingyue’s lightning-fire bombs useless. She could only rely on her own abilities to fight him head-on while silently praying that his luck would fail him—that he would run into some utterly absurd question.
Whether her prayers had worked or not, an opportunity that came once in a thousand years soon presented itself.
When it was Ji Shaoguang’s turn to answer, the question appeared in midair:
“Tell us, how many [CENSORED] does the dragon race have, and what shape are [CENSORED]?”
Ji Shaoguang: “……”
Jiang Xuesheng: “……”
Shu Fu: “…Good heavens. The person who wrote these questions has finally lost it completely.”
—No, wait. Why does this question come with censorship?!
“Ahem.”
Wei Zhi cleared her throat and explained, “This question was also designed by Perfected He Meng. We couldn’t bear to reject his kind intentions, but the wording was truly… ahem. So we had no choice but to blur it out. Please don’t misunderstand. Perfected He Meng merely wished to test the younger generation’s knowledge of divine beasts’ physical forms. He meant nothing else by it.”
—Someone stop Perfected He Meng already!!!
—What do you mean, “knowledge”? Who the hell would know about a [CENSORED] under normal circumstances? How intimately would someone have to interact with a divine beast to know that?!
“This…”
Ji Shaoguang had evidently guessed what the [CENSORED] referred to. His handsome jade-like face flushed faintly, yet there was also a trace of wistful disappointment in his eyes.
It seemed he didn’t know the answer to this question and would have to miss out on the Bonding Flower.
…Most ordinary people wouldn’t know, either.
Even Shu Fu herself had only seen a replica made by the Azure Luan clan at the Dragon God Temple—and Jiang Xuesheng had vehemently denied its authenticity.
Seeing that Ji Shaoguang hesitated to answer, the host kindly reminded him, “Fellow Daoist Ji, you still have one opportunity to ask someone outside the arena for help.”
Shu Fu: Oh, right. That rule exists, too.
Because the question was so outrageous, everyone else had already used up their opportunities during the earlier rounds. Only Ye Shusheng and Ji Shaoguang had kept theirs until the end.
The surrounding spectators were completely dumbfounded. It went without saying that no one could possibly have seen a dragon’s [CENSORED]. Shu Fu decided she had nothing to lose and stuck her head out of the window. Using her spiritual energy, she sent her voice ringing into the distance:
“Shaoguang, I’ll help you answer this one. But I can’t guarantee that I’m right.”
“Shu Fu?”
“Fuer?!”
Ji Shaoguang and Jiang Xuesheng both exclaimed in surprise at the same time, though the astonishment and uncertainty on the latter's face were far more obvious. Even his tone had gained an exclamation mark.
“Fuer, you couldn't possibly be thinking of…”
Jiang Xuesheng did his best to maintain an inscrutable expression, but the faint twitch at the corner of his eye still betrayed his thoughts.
“Don't be ridiculous. That's merely something the Qingluan clan made up. It isn't the correct answer. If you use it as your response, you'll only make a fool of yourself.”
It was worth mentioning that Jiang Xuesheng wasn't making an excuse. He sincerely believed every word he had said.
After all, although he had never had any “in-depth exchanges” with another creature, dragons were naturally… [the next thousand words omitted]. In the past, quite a few of his kind had such experiences, and sometimes even produced offspring with members of other races.
In other words, although the dragon clan had vanished, accurate biological knowledge about dragons could very well have been passed down to the present day and become the standard answer held by the Tianyan Sect.
“It's fine. I'm not afraid of making a fool of myself. Whether I stick my head out or keep it tucked in, I'll get cut either way. I might as well take a chance and help Shaoguang.”
Shu Fu failed to notice Jiang Xuesheng's ever-changing expression. After receiving Ji Shaoguang's approval, she immediately announced in a loud, frank voice, without the slightest hint of embarrassment:
“The dragon clan's unmentionable parts number two. Each is no shorter than a dragon horn, covered in scales and barbs, hard in texture, and shaped like a wolf-tooth club.”
Liu Ruyi: “…………Pfft!!!”
Jiang Xuesheng: “Ruyi, are you going to laugh again?”
Wu Yao: “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!”
Liu Ruyi: “Hahahahahaha, I don't want to be laughing together with Wu Yao, but this is just too funny. I'm sorry, Master! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!”
“…………”
Jiang Xuesheng rubbed his brow with an exasperated look.
It wasn't that he felt embarrassed. He knew the answer wasn't true, and the host would soon announce that Shu Fu was wrong. He was only worried that Shu Fu would be mocked by the others…
Host: “The answer is—correct! Congratulations, Fellow Disciple Ji! You have a remarkably knowledgeable and dependable friend! Her answer is exactly the same as the one provided by Perfected He Meng!”
Jiang Xuesheng: “…………What???”
No one knew better than he did that “two wolf-tooth clubs” really was nothing more than the Qingluan clan's imagination and fabrication.
Apart from the Qingluan, there was no other species in the world capable of weaving such an absurd—or rather, such a bizarre—fantasy, much less passing it down from generation to generation and misleading their descendants a thousand years later.
The direct line of the Qingluan clan had lived in seclusion for a long time. Perhaps unwilling to stir up trouble again, they had perfectly concealed their identities and blended into the myriad creatures of the world. Over the years, Jiang Xuesheng had searched far and wide for them, but had never managed to find a trace.
—What if they had actually been far away in the horizon, yet close at hand all along?
Liu Ruyi and Wu Yao had thought of the same possibility. But they laughed so hard that they bent forward, and it took quite a while before they finally raised their tearful faces and said:
“Well, this is convenient. We searched high and low for something we couldn't find, only to stumble upon it without any effort at all. Master, we finally know where the Qingluan clan is hiding.”
“‘Wolf-tooth clubs’—who could possibly come up with something like that? They can't actually believe it, can they? Hahahahahaha…”
Jiang Xuesheng: “…………”
“The weather’s turning cold. Why not stew up a pot of snake meat with roast goose?”
Liu Ruyi had never seen him so dejected before. She nearly laughed herself to tears, one hand clutching her stomach as she bent over the table, unable to straighten up for quite some time.
Just then, the host projected the next question into the air:
“The honghu is one of the ancient divine birds. It resembles the ordinary hong and hu birds in appearance. As everyone knows, most ordinary birds do not have [CENSORED], but hu birds do. Does the honghu have [CENSORED]?”
Liu Ruyi: “?????”
Zhao Yun: “Hahahahaha, sorry, Senior Brother, but this is just way too funny—hahahahahahahahaha!!!!”
