Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 22: Long Chens arrival

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“What happened? Explain it to me clearly!” Long Chen grabbed onto Xiao Chang, pulling him to his room while activating his spiritual power. The white-haired old man was left outside of the room, standing at the entrance as he blocked the noise within the room from escaping with his spiritual power.

Xiao Chang slowly explained the situation between his sobbing.nove(l)bi(n.)com

“Five days ago, in the middle of the night, at a time when we were all asleep, some black-clad men suddenly rushed into the Long clan, killing everyone that was in their way, they didn’t even leave the dogs alive. The elders and the clan head wanted to fight them, but they were surrounded by a lot of those black-clad men, it was too terrifying.”

“Who are they? Why were they attacking the Long clan? Didn’t we already annihilate our archenemy clans?” Long Chen asked. By the time he had left the family, the Long clan had already killed off the nearby enemies that they had. This gave him peace of mind as he departed to train himself in his journey.

“I don’t know, they used a vicious cultivation method that no one could block. It seemed like they had come for you since they were saying things like how you weren’t fit to challenge Fairy Zhu, and how they would get rid of the disturbances around her. The great elder tried to reason with them, but he was hacked to death by one of them the moment he tried.” Xiao Chang’s eyes reddened as he cried pitifully.

“What about my dad? Didn’t I send him a Tong Hua pill recently? He should’ve already become a Manifestation realm expert!” Threads of red lines appeared throughout Long Chen’s eyes as blood dripped out from between his teeth. With a vicious expression, his eyes were focused on Xiao Chang.

“It was useless! There were three experts as strong as the old master, he couldn’t defeat them at all. He was barely able to toss this ring to me with his spiritual power, entrusting me with bringing it to you, before dying at the hands of those three men.” Xiao Chang was in complete despair, the dread from that night still remaining within his eyes.

“How could that be?” Long Chen gripped the ring within his hand as the faces of his family members flashed past his mind, tears slowly flowing from his face.

His tears were cold, so cold that it pierced his heart.

He felt as though his whole world had collapsed.

“I was sent outside by the last remaining strength of the old master, and I ran here without stopping for five days and five nights. Sob sob, young master, you must avenge the Long clan!” Xiao Chang cried as blood flowed out from the corners of his mouth, his eyes slowly losing its light.

Long Chen finally looked his way, his eyes meeting with Xiao Chang’s vacant eyes as his breathing stopped.

“Xiao Chang? Xiao Chang! Wake up!” Long Chen was distressed as he shook Xiao Chang’s body.

The white-haired old man appeared next to him, and after touching Xiao Chang’s forehead and checking his eyes, he shook his head.

“Qin Lao? What’s wrong?” Long Chen asked in distress.

Qin Lao, who was the white-haired old man, shook his head as he sighed, “This kid ran for five days and five nights without rest, and he even sacrificed his blood essence to maintain his speed. As of right now, his vitality has completely been exhausted, it is irreversible.”

Unrecoverable.

Long Chen didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry.

In anger, Long Chen raised his arms, as if wanting to do something to vent his anger. But he quickly stopped himself as he paced around, bloody tears flowing freely from his eyes. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks as a mouthful of blood burst out of his mouth, and with eyes of despair, he screamed, “Zhu Zhu Shu! I will definitely kill you!”

And then, he fainted.

Qin Lao quickly picked him up and placed him onto a bed for treatment.

Staring at the unconscious youth before him, he sighed.

He had fallen into a trap laid by his enemies over fifty years ago and trapped within the array for all this time. Just as he was about to die, Long Chen had broken the array using his bloodline, saving him.

The despair he had quickly changed into gratitude as he promised this youth that he would protect him for three years by his side.

But he didn’t expect his incredible cultivation speed that didn’t seem to have any limits. Within a short amount of time, he had closed the gap between them by one great realm.

He also didn’t expect this youth’s enemies to be so vicious, plotting the deaths of Long Chen’s entire family a day before the bet to crush his spirit. The calm and composed Long Chen that he had gotten used to during this journey had crumbled entirely in front of him.

While this was a common sight in the Jiang Hu, watching it happen personally to someone he knew was infuriating to Qin Lao as well.

Outside of the windows, a dark sky was being shadowed by pillars of smoke within the city.

On the bed, a great change was currently happening within Long Chen’s body. The backfire ash dragon bloodline, along with his rage and resentment were corroding his flesh.

And his strength rose without rest, he had unconsciously taken half a step into the Manifestation realm.

The next day, it was the date set for the one-year bet, the date for Long Chen and Zhu Zhu Shu’s fight.

It was unusually lively in the Hundred Flower sect, filled with people here to watch the fun and disciples that detested Long Chen. They were all gathered at the courtyard in front of the sect’s entrance, seated on the surrounding seats.

It was originally a space used for the disciples’ training and sparring, but it was currently emptied to be used for the venue of the one-year bet.

After selecting a quiet location, Murong Lin sat down quietly as he awaited the protagonist’s arrival. The ‘Flowering Steel Trees’ stood behind him, and after consuming the spiritual medicine obtained from the remnants, their cultivation was now at the peak of the Manifestation realm. As soon as they were able to experience an epiphany, they would be able to reach the Sky Reaching realm.

And by that time, Murong Lin would be able to do whatever he wanted within Yan.

As a result, Murong Lin was in a great mood. His legs were crossed as he laid comfortably on a recliner, serviced by a servant of the Hundred Flower sect.

Looking over, his eyes stopped on the highest point of the courtyard where the elders and disciples of the Hundred Flower sect were seated. Zhu Zhu Shu stood at the most visible spot, her eyes full of self-confidence as she stared at the entrance as if she was able to see Long Chen.

Next to her were the first prince and sixth prince, seated as they chatted between themselves. Murong Liu was even leaning onto Zhu Zhu Shu’s body, behaving in a spoiled manner.

On the left were the disciples of the Hundred Flower sect, all of them discussing excitedly amongst themselves. In their eyes, they had believed that their senior sister was undefeatable, and most of them were busily critiquing Long Chen’s idiocy. On the right were the people here to watch the fight, all of them were young cultivators, mixed in with some people from the four great clans and wandering cultivators of the Jiang Hu. Of course, the older generation took no interest in watching two juniors bicker and fight.

Murong Lin stared at the three Xue clan’s disciples, a cold light flashing in his eyes.

On his side, someone recognised him and had asked why he was here, gaining the attention of the crowd and leaving him no choice but to make an excuse, in order to shift their focus.

Naturally, the crowd started excitedly clamouring among themselves, even creating parties among each other to head off for the remnants next.

Staring at these naive people, Murong Lin could only laugh in his heart as he planned to kill these Xue clan disciples.

Anyways, he had already killed so many in the remnants, what difference would these few make?

“Dong~ Dong~ Dong~” The sound of a bell resonated throughout the mountain.

As the bell rang, Murong Lin knew that Long Chen had arrived. It wouldn’t take long for this match to begin.

As such, he raised his head, only to see two figures charge in from the side of the courtyard, accompanied by a loud sound as they arrived at the courtyard with lightning-fast speed.

Even before the afterimages on them could fade, a hoarse, cold voice could be heard, “Zhu Zhu Shu! Come out to die!”

The faces of the crowd changed, some were bewildered, some were laughing, some were angered and some were simply in disbelief. All of their gazes turned towards the source of the voice, and the sight of a white-haired old man with his hands held behind his back could be seen. His aura was threatening, and it was clear that he wasn’t an ordinary person. Next to him was a young man filled with hostility, his eyes filled with hatred and murderous intent as he stared at Zhu Zhu Ning.

These two were Long Chen and Qin Lao.