Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 13: Southern beast wave

“Anti, why are there two unknowns?”

On the system screen in front of him, there were two unknown items.

“One is the unknown cultivation, and the other is the unknown innate talent.”

“Is that so? Unknown cultivation? Why? Is it because I haven’t met him yet? Alright, then this unknown innate talent should be referring to his golden finger, right?”

“Master can interpret it that way.”

“What a pity, another protagonist popped up even before I could get rid of the previous one. But this guy seems to be much easier to deal with, right?” Murong Lin quickly snapped back into reality, looking towards Lu Chi with a smile.

After nightfall, the group decided to rest in a small town.

Murong Lin sat at the tableside, practising his calligraphy as a shadow flickered within his room.

A man wearing red clothes appeared, the blood paladin from the Blood Spirits.

And this was a different paladin from the last two.

With a long scar running down his face, he gave off a vicious, dangerous feeling.

And he was also the fiercest blood paladin under Murong Lin.

Blood paladin Marauder.

“I greet the master.” The blood paladin knelt on the floor, presenting a notebook with his outstretched arms.

“You may rise. What is this?” Receiving the notebook, Murong Lin started to flip through the pages.

“These are the individuals we found to fit your descriptions.”

“Oh?” Hearing his words, Murong Lin started to read the book more carefully, taking his time as he turned the pages.

The Marauder simply stood at the side as he waited, not making a single sound.

As he read, Murong Lin identified quite a bit of people that had the qualities of a protagonist, but it was a pity that none of them were actual protagonists.

He knew that because the system didn’t react at all.

That meant that there weren’t any new protagonists recorded in this notebook.

But it did have Long Chen’s detailed information.

“Continue investigating this guy, Long Chen. Be detailed about where he has been, what he’s been doing, and who he has interacted with.”

“Yes!” The Marauder nodded.

“Right, there will be a woman using the Blood Spirits to murder people and cultivate. Cooperate with her fully and ensure that she will reach the Origin realm at least, got it?”

“Yes! If I may ask, does she know about the master’s identity?”

“Yes, there’s no need to hide anything from her. Mobilise the full power of the Blood Spirits to assist her. Aside from that, prevent your subordinates from coming into contact with Sheng Yi, do not speak to him, and do not get caught by him.”

“Yes!” The Marauder simply agreed to do as he was ordered, without the slightest hint of curiosity towards the reasons behind his master’s commands.

“En. I’ll be in the South Village city for a period of time, be careful and don’t get caught, now leave.”

“Yes.”

And the room regained its silence. Murong resumed practising his calligraphy, resembling a refined gentleman.

In the following days, the group travelled peacefully, only getting interrupted once by a group of ignorant bandits that were promptly taken care of by the disciples of the Purple Goose sect.

“Wah! We’re finally at South Village!” The group of disciples looked at the great wall before them as they cheered.

“That’s right, it was a short and pleasant journey.” Murong Lin got off the carriage, and looking at the almost 10-story high city walls, he sighed.

“Your Highness, the third prince, it is time to say goodbye, please come and visit us when you can!” Cupping his hands, Lu Chi respectfully expressed his gratitude.

“I feel the same!” Murong Lin spoke politely before entering the city.

South Village was different from the capital, it gave off an intimidating and domineering feeling while the capital felt luxurious and prosperous with its resplendent decor and busy traffic. With over a thousand years of history, even the stone bricks that paved the ground in South Village were imposing.

The road was wide, enough to fit ten carriages side-by-side. Murong Lin continued to sit in his carriage as it slowly made its way to the governor’s mansion.

Ning Wei Wu was 130 years old this year, and with a lifespan of about three hundred years as a Sky Reaching realm expert, he was still in the prime of his life.

Looking at the muscle-bound man before him, Murong Lin bowed respectfully, “I greet the South Village King.”

“No need for excessive formalities.” Ning Wei Wu looked at the third prince who behaved differently from the rumours, “You are the last one to arrive, the other three have already been assigned to their respective subordinate cities. Come, pick one.”

Murong Lin walked forwards and looked at the map that was spread out on the table before him.

The complicated roads were connected to quite a number of cities that surrounded the demonic beast forest in the north.

The other three people, the top warrior Zhu Xiao Ming, cabinet member Zheng Si Que, and the son of the prime minister, Sheng Yi had already chosen their locations.

After thinking for a moment, Murong Lin pointed at the city next to where Sheng Yi was located, “This humble servant will choose this location.”

Despite their identity as inspectors sent by the emperor, they were also responsible for suppressing the beast wave and following the commands of the South Village King. They were expected to aid the local city governors as they suppressed the oncoming beast wave this year at their allocated border cities.

This venture could be bad or good.

But, why would he give up an opportunity to gain glory?

Though there was always the chance of something going wrong, and the beast wave could very well siege their cities.

Yet, the chance to gain fame and credit was far more important than a possible encounter with death.

And the reason why Murong Lin had chosen the city next to Sheng Yi, was because he knew that Sheng Yi was a time traveller.

The place a time traveller would choose, would naturally be where fortuitous encounters would appear.

And Murong Lin wanted a part in that.

The best outcome he could achieve was if he could kill or gravely injure Sheng Yi.

Ning Wei Wu nodded his head, “Then go and protect that place, I will give you a token that will allow you to command the city’s garrison.”

And after he had finished speaking, he retrieved a token from his bag of holding and tossed it towards Murong Lin.

“I thank the South Village King.” Murong Lin caught the token and checked it before placing it in his bag of holding.

“Right, some forces will be headed towards your city, including the Xue clan, they will help ensure your safety.” Ning Wei Wu nodded as he waved his hand.

“Is that so? Hahaha, they indeed will.” Murong Lin laughed amicably.

The Xue clan was coming?

How wonderful!

It wouldn’t be strange if some of the members of the Xue clan died in the beast wave, right?

Heh.

Murong Lin skillfully evaded the banquet invitation from Ning Wei Wu, citing the excuse of being worried about the beast wave and wanting to head over to his assigned city as soon as possible.

Within the carriage, one of the ‘Flowering Steel Trees’ asked, “Master? What was the reason for leaving so soon?”

Looking at the scenery outside of his window, Murong Lin spoke in a low voice, “Ning Wei Wu is suspicious. South Village is clearly the city under the most stress, but here he is, chasing out the forces that came to help him to the cities where the beast wave wouldn’t hit as strong. He isn’t the kind to worry about us getting hurt, and the only explanation is that he’s hiding something in this city.”

“Do you mean that he’s trying to get rid of us?”

“That’s right. My Blood Poison Insect is telling me that this city was drenched in not only the blood of tens of thousands of demonic beasts, but there are substantial human blood and vengeful spirits mixed in as well.”

Releasing the curtains, Murong Lin calmly fanned himself.

“Interesting, there’s truly something wrong with this country. Hahaha, it’s no wonder that there are so many rising protagonists here.”

The carriage moved slowly towards its destination.

Arriving at the city, the garrison was naturally polite towards him. With the strength of Murong Lin’s subordinates, they were comforted by the fact that they could help lessen their burden.

In reality, Murong Lin had instructed the ‘Flowering Steel Trees’ and the ‘Eight Great Butcher Kings’ to conceal their aura to the first layer of the Manifestation realm, giving him more cards for his plans.

Even so, there were still plenty of curious people that had started their secret investigation into their identities.

It was a pity that their efforts would be futile.

After all, they were the products of the system.

Murong Lin sat within a room, cultivating as his spiritual power encircled his body. He had not only recently fortified his cultivation, but he had also mastered 《Lifelessness Law》as well as familiarised himself with 《Bloody River God Sword》and 《Bloody River God Finger》.

“Anti, open the system window.”

Villan score: 150

Age: 19

Cultivation: Peak of the Origin realm

Innate talent: Bloody Poisonous Insect Acupoint, Little villain halo

Cultivation method: 《Bloody Heaven Art》This chapter is updat𝓮d by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Skills: 《Blood River God Sword》, 《Bloody River God Finger》, 《Night Assassination》, 《Heart-Hurting Arrow》……

Equipment: God Sword · Bloody River

Familiar spirit: Bloody Poisonous Insect

Servants: The three fierce operators, eight of the ‘Eight Great Butcher Kings’, and the two bodyguards, ‘Flowering Steel Trees’

Inventory: 《Must-read Villain Instruction Manual》, a Fragment of ‘Great villain halo’, the Blessed Enigma Cauldron, a mysterious map

“What a pity, I still need to kill a protagonist to obtain a mortal form and reach the Manifestation realm. I hope that this beast wave will be fruitful.”

Closing the system window, Murong Lin sat with his legs crossed and started cultivating.

Suddenly, the voice of the ‘Flowering Steel Trees’ rang out from beyond the door, “Master, the Xue clan is here.”

“Who is their leader?”

“Xue Ling Na.”

Translator’s note

Hi, I will probably be moving my novel to a different website soon.

Unfortunately, with a rat shamelessly stealing my translations, I can’t provide my translations on my ad-free, unprotected website as I initially intended, and I will be moving to a website where the contents will be protected from copy-pasting.

More updates will come regarding the situation as I am keeping in contact with Webnovel, but chapters might not come out every day as usual until the situation has been resolved. In the meantime, please consider helping me to report this guy’s “novel” on Webnovel, or maybe donate to support my translations.

I didn’t expect this to happen, and I never thought that the novel translation community had degenerates like this. I guess it’s been a long time since I came back to translating, but holy shit is it bad. No wonder there are so many MTLers and so few human translators these days.