Chapter 19
Sinisterness of This World was Written on That Face
Zhao Liangchen looked at the small building—which was still tinged with sullen air in broad daylight—in the distance. His expression was nonchalant. He even quietly smirked.
‘How badass the evil spirit can there be when it is just a little eerie folklore?’
‘Do you really want to get me involved in such a trivial matter?’
He had wanted to scold Zhao Liangcai like that, but Zhao Liangcai gave him too much.
The two were cousins, and Zhao Liangcai was a few months older than Zhao Liangchen.
In terms of genealogy, Zhao Liangchen was born in the offshoot of the Zhao family that was assigned to Hangzhou to manage the business there. Zhao Liangcai was the legitimate eldest son of the Zhao family.
No matter how one looked at it, Zhao Liangcai’s status should be higher than Zhao Liangchen’s.
But things changed since Zhao Liangchen was tested for possessing Spiritual Root when he was six years old.
A person having a Spiritual Root was one in a million. The entire Zhao family had produced no cultivation talent for the past decades until now. So Zhao Liangchen suddenly became the center of the family’s attention, with all the resources channeled to train him.
The first wife of Zhao had allocated many resources and bought him an opportunity to take part in Zhengdao Sect’s disciple selection.
Zhengdao Sect was one of the Twelve Immortal Sects, one of the best in the world. He would have a bright future if he could become a disciple of the sect.
But the elder who conducted the selection session said two sentences and obliterated Zhao Liangchen’s future.
He glanced at Zhao Liangchen and examined him with a disgusted look. “This kid’s physique is only so-so, and he looks a little too ugly. Forget it.”
Zhao Liangchen realized for the first time at a young age what a bolt from the blue meant.
He was fortunate to have his family behind him. The Zhaos asked around and finally found an opportunity to send him to the local Feilai Sect in Hangzhou.
The Feilai Sect was also regarded as a major sect in Hangzhou with a solid background. It was considered as a leading sect among those sects two levels lower than the Twelve Immortal Sects.
Zhao Liangchen had secretly vowed since the day he entered the sect that he would make those people in the Zhengdao Sect regret it.
One should not look down on ugly young people.
He kept his nose to the grindstone in The Feilai Sect. When others were practicing self-cultivation, so did he. When others were eating, he kept practicing. When others were running naked, he kept practicing. When others were asleep, he still kept practicing. He practiced day and night without rest for over ten years.
With such a tenacious attitude, he became the fastest disciple in his generation in cultivation realm progression.
He had attained the Qihai realm just as he stepped into adulthood. With such attainment, he was better than many people in the Zhengdao Sect.
When the Feilai Sect wanted to select a chief disciple, he thought he would get chosen. But he was told that cultivation base was not the only requirement of the selection process.
Several elders held a closed-door meeting before announcing his junior—who was only in the early stage of Qihai realm—the winner.
The reason was, his junior was handsome.
It stuck Zhao Liangchen dumb.
His master convinced him that the chief disciple must not only be the best disciple, but also the public face of the sect, representing the sect. So he was not suitable.
His master was being tactful.
What he actually meant was, he was ugly.
The junior in the spotlight was sent to conduct a few elaborately arranged exorcisms, by which he had quickly made a name for himself and emerged and garnered a large following, becoming the most popular immortal rookie in Hangzhou.
The Feilai Sect rose to prominence following that.
The more his junior was in the limelight, the more indignant Zhao Liangchen became.
‘What is wrong with being ugly? What is wrong with being ugly?’
‘Did I cause you to lose your hair because I look ugly?’
All he could do was work harder to fight against this unfairness.
He believed that one day, he would become so strong that he would make those who had ever looked down on him regret it. They were cultivators, and they should have done the most important thing, which was to pursue the great path and get rid of the demons and devils.
‘Could those handsome guys drive away evil spirits with their faces?’
‘Heck!’
…
“Bro, bro?” Zhao Liangcai called out to him.
Zhao Liangchen came out of his thoughts and looked at his younger cousin.
Zhao Liangcai had a big pie face, a pair of mung bean eyes, a garlic nose. Half of his face was pocky ,and the other half was covered in pimples. Zhao Liangchen’s stomach would churn every time he saw his face.
The most unacceptable thing was that they looked as if they were cast out of the same mold.
As much as they were cousins, they looked like twins.
The difference between them might be that Zhao Liangchen was very full of energy and spirited—probably because of his long-term self-cultivation. His expression and posture were on the colder side.
On the other hand, Zhao Liangcai looked as if he had been hollowed out because of his excessive sexual indulgence.
“What’s the matter?” Zhao Liangchen answered coldly.
“I just want to say, we are not just dealing with the evil spirit in the haunted building. That boy from the Wang family will be here, too. Can you help me fix him? I mean, in case there is no ghost in that building, we still have to scare him out here, too.” Zhao Liangcai smiled meanly.
“Yeah.” Zhao Liangchen nodded. “I just caught a few little spirits a while ago. It should be more than enough to deal with mortals. But since you said that that person is also from a prominent family, he would have invited a cultivator. If he has the protection of a cultivator, these little tricks may not work.”
“Don’t worry. His family doesn’t have such a connection like us.” Zhao Liangcai drew up closer. “I guess he will only hire a Daoist or monk from a nearby temple. Who knows, it is only a scammer? Even if he can find a cultivator, can it be better than you, my cousin?”
Zhao Liangcai knew his cousin enjoyed being flattered, so he kept brown-nosing his elder cousin.
But what he said was also the truth. Zhao Liangchen was indeed a master in his own right within Hangzhou. Only those with the Shenhe realm could beat him.
A figure of that level was not someone any Tom, Dick, and Harry could mobilize.
Zhao Liangchen nodded in agreement.
His elder cousin’s reaction was an encouragement to him. So he turned it up a notch.
“Our ancestors must have been blessing us. We have a talented person like you among us. I have met no one more talented than you in Hangzhou. I guess there are few in the whole Heluo Dynasty. I pity those guys taking the immortal sect’s exam next year for being in the same batch as you,” said Zhao Liangcai.
Zhao Liangchen tried hard to maintain his austere image, but the curling up of the corners of his mouth had given him away.
He had not heard this kind of compliment for a long time.
His relationship with his colleagues in the Feilai Sect had never been good. But he still had a couple of lackeys because of his strong cultivation base.
After he fell out of the chief-disciple race, those people who used to butter him up had not only stopped flattering him but also turned around to mock him behind his back.
He went silent for a year because of this. He wanted to slap them in the face by attaining a higher realm. But he got stuck in the bottleneck and made no progress.
He came out this time with the thought of getting some fresh air, besides receiving a large sum of money from Zhao Liangcai.
It seemed that Zhao Liangcai could still make him happy.
Just as Zhao Liangcai was working hard in fawning over his cousin, two figures came from a direction.
The one wearing a brocade robe dress had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and the other in a black Daoist robe looked otherworldly.
His expression changed. “Wang Longqi, I didn’t expect you to come!” he sneered.
It was Wang Longqi and Li Chu who had arrived. Not wanting to be outdone, Wang Longqi replied, “Since you can’t wait to die, I will be happy to witness how you meet your end.”
“Okay, let’s go in there and see who is going to die first.”
“You had better not back out midway!”
The two mocked each other for a while, then Wang Longqi and Li Chu also came up.
Zhao Liangchen stood and looked into the distance with his hands behind him to look cool.
It was not until now that he slowly turned his head around, sweeping his indifferent glance over the faces of Wang Longqi and Li Chu.
His heart missed a beat. His gaze, along with his facial expression, seemed to have stuck in the mud.
He froze.
Zhao Liangcai, who was beside Zhao Liangchen, realized that something was wrong. So he nudged Zhao Liangchen with his elbow. “Bro?”
Zhao Liangchen came out of his daze, but his eyes still on Li Chu, his lower lips trembling involuntarily
Li Chu looked cool, calm, and collected with the same nonchalant expression and cool temperament.
He couldn’t care less about Zhao Liangchen’s stare. He had been getting eighty, if not a hundred, stares every time he walked on the street in the town. He could not always go up and ask them, “Why are you staring at me?”
“Humph!”
Zhao Liangchen snorted after a long while. He then turned around and went elsewhere, as if someone had hurt his feelings.
“Bro, what is the matter with you?” Zhao Liangcai hurried over.
“Nothing.” Zhao Liangchen shook his head.
He fought back his emotion. Even so, there was still a voice roaring inside him. He wondered why.
‘Yeah, why?’
At this moment, Zhao Liangchen felt that all the sinisterness of this world was written on that face.