Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 21: Seven young prodigies

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“Wah! Is that the sixth princess? It’s no wonder that she’s a beauty with the same title as the young miss!”

“That’s right, that’s right! Look at the two princes next to her, they’re really handsome too!”

“Shh! Be a bit softer, look at the first prince, he looks so righteous!”

“Yea, look at the third prince too, woah! He smiled at me! Ahhhh! I’m going to faint!”

The disciples chatted amongst themselves excitedly, it was rare to see men within the Hundred Flower sect.

Zhu Zhu Shu looked at the group with a helpless glance, “Our disciples are all overly excited, please don’t mind them too much.”

“Why would we? I bet my big brother and third brother are hoping for us to go away so that they can go and flirt with those girls, am I right?” Murong Liu grumbled.

“Hahaha, sixth sister, you jest.” Murong Ding laughed loudly.

But Murong Lin kept silent, walking at the side as he fanned himself.

“Right, wasn’t your highness the third prince sent to South Village to suppress the beast wave? How did you find the time to come to the Hundred Flower sect?” Zhu Zhu Shu asked.

Murong Lin turned his head towards her, “The southern beast wave has already been suppressed, and now that remnants appeared there, the entire south is in a mess. I figured that I’d rather come to the North to enjoy myself.”

“Is that so? Remnants? No wonder. I heard that the sect leader is also aware of the news.” Zhu Zhu Shu fell into thought.

On the other hand, Murong Liu was shocked, shouting, “What! Remnants? Murong Lin, why didn’t you tell me? Also, Murong Ding, did you know as well?”

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Her face was red from anger.

Murong Ding responded helplessly, “Father has known since a few days ago, and he told me to watch over you in case that you decide to run over there.”

“No wonder! I was wondering why you were being so nice. Hmph! Murong Lin, quick, what did you get from the remnants? Did you find anything fun? Let me see!”

Murong Liu held onto Murong Lin, looking at him in curiosity.

Without much choice, Murong Lin cursed in his mind as he took out a few interesting items from his ring of holding and handed them to Murong Liu. None of them was very highly levelled, but they were somewhat interesting to look at.

Staring at the ring of holding on Murong Lin’s hand, the others fell into silence before turning their gaze to the items he had handed over.

Rings of holding weren’t highly levelled, but the materials required to craft one were notoriously hard to find. Among them, only Murong Liu, who was favoured by Murong Tong, had one.

They sighed, thinking about how Murong Lin had gained a lot from the ruins.

But they were quickly interrupted by Murong Lin’s sigh, “A pity, the best treasures in the remnants were taken by Sheng Yi and the South Village King.”

“Oh?” They were surprised.

They weren’t surprised by the South Village King, knowing that he was the strongest in the entire remnant world. But for Sheng Yi to obtain treasures within the remnants was immensely shocking to them.

But they quickly moved on from this topic.

Murong Liu and Zhu Zhu Shu continued chatting as the topic naturally shifted towards this bet.

“Sister Zhu, did that guy, Long Chen, really dare to come?” Murong Liu asked curiously.

“Naturally. Hmph! However, I will definitely defeat him to prove that I was right!” Zhu Zhu Shu responded pridefully.

“That’s right, that’s right! That kid actually dared to come here and ask for a fight? If you don’t beat him into a cripple, then it’ll be unbefitting of our title of the ‘Beauties of the capital’!” Murong Liu responded, equally self-assertive as Zhu Zhu Shu.

“I heard he had gotten significantly stronger recently, and he’s very different from his past.” Murong Lin reminded them.

The few of them looked at him in surprise yet again.

Zhu Zhu Shu nodded, but her face was still full of pride, “So what if he had gotten a lot stronger? He’s nothing but an ant to me. I’m already at the first layer of the Manifestation realm, and unless he went from the Flesh Refining realm to the Manifestation realm in one year, there’s no way he’ll amount to anything.”

“Puhahahaha, that’s right! Sister Zhu is one of the seven young prodigies of Yan!”

The seven young prodigies of Yan referred to the experts that had broken through to the Manifestation realm before the age of 22, which included Zhu Zhu Shu, who was already at the first layer of the Manifestation realm at 22. It was rumoured that she had a unique physique, known as the ‘tender peach blossom body’ which belonged to the wood elemental category. The mortal form that she had absorbed was the rare ‘tender peach beast’, and combined with the Hundred Flower sect’s cultivation method, her strength grew exponentially.

Aside from that, the six other young prodigies were the second prince, Murong Zhan, the Liu clan in the South’s Liu Xing Mang, DongHai Liu Sheng’s younger brother Liu Wu, One Shot’s disciple Yan Si Liu, the wandering swordsman Li Yi Fan and Zhong Xiang Gang’s gang leader’s daughter Lu Hai Miao.

“Indeed.” On the surface, Murong Lin seemed to have faith in Zhu Zhu Shu, but he was snickering in his mind.

These people hadn’t experienced how terrifying protagonists were.

Long Chen’s talent was just scratching the surface, but he was currently someone following his destiny. So, how would the people that went against him fare?

It seems like Zhu Zhu Shu will die soon.

They made their way towards the residences as they chatted, and under Zhu Zhu Shu’s arrangements, Murong Lin was provided a guest room.

Looking at the somewhat luxurious room, Murong Lin laughed coldly in his heart before taking a seat and starting to cultivate.

This fight between Zhu Zhu Shu and Long Chen was bound to be abnormal. As a protagonist, how would Long Chen lose? Similarly, Zhu Zhu Shu wouldn’t take a loss lying down, considering her personality, and neither would the Hundred Flower sect allow for such a shameful result.

After all, Long Chen was going against the best talent in the Hundred Flower sect, how could she be defeated by a nameless small fry? This was how their conflict had escalated to a conflict between Long Chen and the Hundred Flower sect.

And when the conflict started between these two, it would be time for Murong Lin to step in. He couldn’t interfere with Sheng Yi right now, so he shifted his sights onto Long Chen.

Murong Lin was deep in thought as he circulated 《Lifelessness Law》.

Tomorrow was the date for their one-year bet, and he believed that Long Chen would appreciate the gift he had prepared for him.

His lips curled into an unhinged smile as a breath escaped from his lips, the powerful air instantly extinguishing the lanterns within the room, enveloping it into darkness.

At the base of the Hundred Flower sect’s mountain was a luxurious, bustling city where people came and went.

The reason for its liveliness was due to its business dealings with the Hundred Flower sect, and naturally, there were plenty of cultivators in the city. Merchants and adventurers came from all directions, and adding in the relatives of the Hundred Flower sect’s disciples, the mid-sized city was full of life.

Seated within an inn was a striking young man, eating at the restaurant as an old man with white hair accompanied him.

The young man was actually Long Chen.

Just a year ago, he was a piece of trash that had his engagement annulled, but after being struck by lightning, he had awakened his bloodline and greatly changed his potential. Within this time, his cultivation journey became smooth as levelling up became something as natural as drinking water. In just one year, he had gone from the Flesh Refining realm to the peak of the Origin realm, and with his ‘backfire ash dragon bloodline’ he was easily capable of defeating an expert that had just entered the Manifestation realm.

On this journey, he defeated countless demonic beasts in valleys, collected countless spiritual fruits, and met with many charming ladies. But most importantly, he had saved the Sky Reaching realm expert, out of an ancient array. Due to this, even with his unsatisfactory cultivation level, he could at least guarantee his safety in this fight.

Long Chen turned to look towards the direction of the Hundred Flower sect’s mountain, a glint of cold light flashing in his eyes as he thought about how he would teach that bitch a lesson this time.

At this moment, a man stumbled into the inn, his clothes tattered and his face covered in dirt and fresh blood. His fearful and despair-filled eyes scanned the entire inn before stopping on Long Chen. With a pained voice, he shouted, “Young master! Help! The Long clan is doomed!”

The others present in the inn watched with interest as this miserable man ran towards Long Chen’s table, whispering amongst themselves.

Watching the tattered man run his way, Long Chen had a strange expression on his face. It took him a while to realise that this was his servant Xiao Chang, someone he had left behind when he departed the Long clan.

“Xiao Chang, why are you here?” His expression changed dramatically, he could sense that something was off and pressure started weighing on his heart.

Xiao Chang looked at Long Chen as if he was his savior, running towards him and pouncing to hug his thighs as he spoke, “Young master! The Long clan is gone! It’s all gone!” He sobbed as he tried to speak, but all he could do was take out a bloodied ring from within his clothes, presenting it towards Long Chen.

By this time, Long Chen’s face had already gone pale as misery and anger filled his eyes.

This ring was the symbol of the clan head’s status within the Long clan, a ring that he had seen on his father’s hand unfailingly these past few years.

And if Xiao Chang had brought this ring to him, it wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened to his father and the Long clan.

Translator’s note:

Proofreader: Nyx