Chapter 340: White Crane, Venerable Spirit Butterfly, Iron Trigram… and a bald Song Shuhang! (2 in 1)
Translator: GodBrandy Editor: Kurisu
"I see. After the trip is over and we return to China, I'll go look for a waterfall!" Song Shuhang said as he clenched his fist. After jumping through the dragon gate, the illusory qi and blood energy in his body would condense and solidify, turning into true qi. At that time, he would really enter the world of cultivation and leave behind the title of rookie cultivator!
"I feel at ease seeing you this motivated," Venerable White said with a smile. Then, he also added, "Actually, you don't really need to look for a waterfall to experience the feeling of going against the stream."
"If I don't need to look for a waterfall… what do I need to look for?" Song Shuhang blurted out… but he quickly regretted saying these words!
If there was no waterfall… there was still the sky, the deep sea, and even space! Dammit, I have to stop being so straightforward and control my mouth!
Senior White stood in front of him with his hands crossed behind the back and a mysterious smile on his face.
"Senior White…" Song Shuhang swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He wanted to beg Senior White not to use disposable flying swords to send him into the sky!
But just as he was about to speak, he thought once more about his 'straightforwardness'… he had to calm down and take his time. First, he had to properly process the sentence in his mind to see if there were no problems with it!
For example, what if Senior White had no intention of sending him into the sky with a disposable flying sword?
In that case, wouldn't he stupidly remind Senior White about that option, bringing a disaster upon himself?
There was no need to make haste, and even if Senior White wanted to 'send him off', it was still not too late use Lady Onion's signature skill, the '500 Ways to Surrender to a Human Cultivator You're Unable to Beat'!
Although he hadn't tried this technique out in the real world, he had continuously practiced it in the several-hundred-years-long dream. The fearful thing was that he had practiced over and over again even the 'Ultimate Seducing Skill of a Pretty Female Monster'. That dream was really painful to recall...
I must forget it! I must forget it! I must forget it! Whenever I recall that stupid dream, I feel too much shame!
Thereupon, Song Shuhang stopped in his tracks and changed the sentence.
He revealed a bright smile and said, "Senior White, does that mean that there are other ways to experience a feeling that is similar to jumping through the dragon gate?"
"Mhm!" Senior White nodded and said with a smile, "Recently, my understanding of the Great Way increased a bit, and I managed to grasp an interesting skill. This skill can let you experience a feeling that is similar to jumping through the dragon gate!"
He learned an interesting skill? It seems that Senior White doesn't want to send me off, that's great! Song Shuhang secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Luckily, he stopped in time earlier and didn't blurt out more nonsense.
Song Shuhang asked, "Senior White, what kind of skill is it?"
Venerable White didn't reply immediately but asked instead, "Shuhang. do you know about the 'illusory reality'?"
"Illusory reality? Yes, I know about it! This skill creates an illusory world that almost seems real!" Song Shuhang nodded and recalled the warm desert and the young man in green clothes riding a white horse from Senior White's illusory reality...
That scene was either part of Venerable White's memories or something born from his imagination. Under the effects of the illusory reality, the scene became real and one could touch and feel the sand with their hands, as well as interact with that young man in green clothes. Even the wounds received in the desert would stay behind after coming back to reality.
Additionally, the desert and the young man in green clothes were the main reason his acrophobia worsened! This was another painful memory to recall.
"The new ability I grasped is somewhat similar to the illusory reality. Although similar, it is at the same time its complete opposite!" Venerable White crossed his hands behind the back and revealed a smile.
"It's similar... but also its complete opposite?" Song Shuhang asked in puzzlement.
"The name of this technique is 'real illusion', and under its effects, you can change a few real occurrences into illusions. I've only got a superficial knowledge of this skill, but it's rather interesting. Let me demonstrate it you," Venerable White said.
Only a superficial knowledge? Rather interesting? Senior, wait a moment. Let me prepare first!
But Song Shuhang didn't even have the time to speak when Venerable White stretched his hand out and snapped his fingers, activating the skill.
Song Shuhang steeled his mind, readying himself to welcome Senior White's skill.
But a few seconds later, he didn't experience the strange sensation he felt while entering the world of the illusory reality.
He didn't sense any change in the surroundings either.
"Senior White, did you use the real illusion?" Song Shuhang asked, somewhat confused.
After saying this much, he shot a glance at Senior White… in the next instant, he got a scare.
He saw that Venerable White was standing three meters away from him with a blank look on his face. He seemed distracted.
He was clearly speaking a second ago, how come he is distracted now? No wonder the real illusion didn't work. Senior White got distracted while using it!
Immediately after, Song Shuhang discovered another scary thing.
It seemed that Venerable White was planning to move toward Song Shuhang before he got distracted. Therefore, even though he was distracted, his body automatically reacted, making him raise a leg and take a step forward.
One step, two steps, and then… Senior White suddenly stumbled. In the next moment, his body started to slowly but inevitably fall forward!
Since Senior White hadn't fallen in a while, Song Shuhang had almost forgotten about this terrifying special skill of his.
"Senior White, stop!" Song Shuhang bellowed and dashed forward, stretching his hands out in the hope of stopping Venerable White from falling.
Whether or not his strength was enough to stop the falling Venerable White, he had to give it a try. It was the only option at his disposal. He could either choose to stop him or stand there doing nothing—running away was out of the question.
The radius of Venerable White's lethal stumbling skill was at least 100 meters… there was no way Song Shuhang could get out of the range before Venerable White fell to the ground.
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[The spirit is willing. but the flesh is weak]: when the will is there but not the strength.
Song Shuhang tried his best to stop Venerable White from falling but couldn't make it in time. He was only a few centimeters away, and he could do nothing but helplessly watch Senior White fall to the ground.
"Boom!"
An earthshaking explosion followed, and Song Shuhang felt the entire world shake. Everything before his eyes was overturned, and soon after, he felt his body fall downwards into an endless pit, so deep that it seemed hell itself.
A terrifying scene for sure!
Song Shuhang felt as though the world was about to end… as if that wasn't enough, Venerable White seemed more distracted than usual today, and he wasn't able to protect Song Shuhang even subconsciously.
The rocks swirled in the air and hit Shuhang all over his body, making him feel a piercing pain.
Is today the day I die?
I survived for over 300 chapters and even avoided getting killed by Senior White's disposable flying sword… but now, I'm going to die because he stumbled and fell to the ground...?
Just as his imagination was running wild, a rock shot toward him at high speed amidst the chaos.
Shuhang was still falling and didn't have the time to dodge. The rock brushed right past his scalp…and just like a sharp razor, it shaved off a big patch of hair from his head.
In the next instant, Song Shuhang felt the world going black and lost consciousness.
Senior White getting distracted was a rather fearful thing!
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In the meantime, in the airspace of the East China Sea.
True Monarch White Crane was cheerfully flapping the six wings on its back.
Whenever it recalled that it would soon meet its beloved Venerable White, True Monarch White Crane felt very excited. It was so happy that it felt the urge to sing loudly.
But right at this time, sword light flashed before its eyes and quickly dashed toward its position… the sword light resembled a meteor streaking across the sky; it looked very pretty. Moreover, its flight pattern was rather peculiar, suddenly flying left, right, up, and then down. The speed was also extremely quick.
"Eh? Senior White's sword qi is emanating from it? Is that one of those disposable flying swords?" True Monarch White Crane sensed the sword qi on the sword from afar.
But what was above the sword? True Monarch White Crane opened its eyes wide and tried to see through the light of the meteor-like effect.
Afterward, it discovered that there was a pale and familiar-looking man on top of the flying sword.
'Eh? Isn't that fellow daoist Su Clan's Seven? Why is he riding on Senior White's disposable flying sword?' True Monarch White Crane thought, somewhat confused.
Although True Monarch White Crane and Su Clan's Seven didn't have a deep friendship, they were still part of the same circle. Therefore, they would at least greet each other if they were to meet.
True Monarch White Crane flapped its wings and approached the sword light, waving its hand at Seven who was quickly coming over. "Fellow Daoist Seven, how are you…"
"Aaaaaaaah~" Fellow daoist Seven replied with a high-pitched scream. In the next moment, the sword light brushed past True Monarch White Crane with a whiz, completely disappearing.
True Monarch White Crane turned its head around, but Seven had completely disappeared, without leaving any trace behind.
The speed was so fast that it made one's hair stand!
"..." True Monarch White Crane.
What game was fellow daoist Seven playing?
In the next moment, True Monarch White Crane shook its head.
It didn't matter what Seven was doing, seeing Senior White was more important… Senior White, I'm coming!
It was unknown whether Senior White still remembered it, but it was that small white crane at the Earth's End!
The more True Monarch White Crane thought about this, the more it was getting impatient to see Venerable White. Therefore, it kept happily flapping its wings, heading toward that small island in the East China Sea.
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On another side.
On the border between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean was a mysterious island that wasn't present on any map. A supernatural field of energy covered the whole island, and even the most advanced technologies couldn't detect its presence.
In the airspace above the island, countless multicolored butterflies were dancing in the air—this place was precisely Soft Feather's home, the Spirit Butterfly Island.
Venerable Spirit Butterfly quietly sat in the middle of the pavilion while sipping some tea. This tea was made from those tea leaves that his beloved daughter had personally prepared.
At this time, he suddenly said, "How is Soft Feather planning to deal with this matter between the Chu Family and the Illusory Sword School?"
"She hasn't taken any action yet. I think she's planning to observe things for now and act according to circumstances after the two factions have settled the matter on the Grievance Settling Platform." A huge spirit butterfly was dancing next to Venerable Spirit Butterfly while holding a phone; Liu Jianyi was on the other end.
"Good. Since Soft Feather wants to wait and see how things develop, you should also stay your hand and not interfere in this matter between the Chu Family and the Illusory Sword School," Venerable Spirit Butterfly said calmly.
"I understand, Teacher," Liu Jianyi promptly replied. He really liked to wait and see how things developed—because it required no effort.
"Pay attention to the movements of the Illusory Sword School. If they dare to act against Soft Feather, you know what to do, right?" Venerable Spirit Butterfly dropped a few hints.
"Teacher, I understand," Liu Jianyi replied… he really hoped that the Illusory Sword School wouldn't do anything stupid. After all, he would consume a lot of physical strength if he were to get rid of them. Physical strength was something you had to preserve at all costs. It was something very precious!
Venerable Spirit Butterfly nodded satisfied and hung up.
The huge spirit butterfly placed the phone in front of him and cheerfully flapped its wings, returning amidst the group of butterflies.
Venerable Spirit Butterfly took another sip of the tea and turned his laptop on. Afterward, he opened the instant messaging program and went into the Nine Provinces Number One Group.
Since he hadn't added his personal account to the group, he used Soft Feather's account to log in.
As soon as he got into the group chat, his screen got filled with all kinds of Senior White's emotes, almost blinding Venerable Spirit Butterfly.
"Eh? Aren't these fellow daoist White's pictures? How did they turn into an expression package?" Venerable Spirit Butterfly was confused.
He started to scroll through the chat logs for clarifications and managed, with great difficulty, to reach the start of the conversation.
"So, it's an expression package that Soft Feather made personally?" Venerable Spirit Butterfly was moved after this discovery.
It was an expression package that his beloved daughter had made personally.
In the next instant, he clicked on the download button and quietly downloaded the [Senior White's expression package].
Afterward, he saw that most of the fellow daoists that were online had changed their profile pictures to Venerable White's pictures.
"Is this a new fashion in the group?" Venerable Spirit Butterfly muttered.
If it was a new trend, he couldn't let his daughter fall behind. Moreover, it was an expression package she had made personally!
Thereupon, Venerable Spirit Butterfly scrolled through Venerable White's pictures and selected the :senior_white_happy: emote, using it as Soft Feather's profile picture.
"Not bad. It looks pretty good." Venerable Spirit Butterfly nodded satisfied.
Then, he opened Soft Feather's friends list and clicked on the contact named 'Senior Song', starting to check the conversation between Soft Feather and Song Shuhang.
"Hm, good." Venerable Spirit Butterfly nodded satisfied once more. There were no traces of lovey-dovey conversations between his daughter and this Senior Song, very good.
At last, Venerable Spirit Butterfly logged out, his face very satisfied...
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In the meantime.
On the border between China and Korea, deep below a private residence was an immortal cave used for secluded meditation.
Copper Trigram's disciple, Immortal Fortune Teller Iron Trigram had locked himself up in this immortal cave.
Copper Trigram's extremely auspicious, lucky, and super, super, super good divination had scared Iron Trigram to death. After locking himself up, he hadn't dared to take a single step out of this place.
Moreover, he had arranged nearly 300 defensive formations on the ceiling—he had learned from the mistakes of Scholar Xian Gong, a senior from the Nine Provinces Number One Group. Scholar Xian Gong was in deep meditation and was having a great time when someone dropped an atomic bomb on his head!
Given his shietty luck, Iron Trigram felt that it wouldn't be too strange if an atomic bomb were to suddenly explode over his head. Therefore, he had to get ready for all eventualities.
After staying in seclusion for some time, Iron Trigram felt a bit bored… after all, he wasn't really cultivating and was just hiding from bad luck. As a consequence, it was impossible for him to reach the state where he could keep meditating for several years in a row.
Since he was bored, he took out his phone and decided to shoot a glance at the Nine Provinces Number One Group.
Iron Trigram didn't like writing in the group. He was more of a lurker, interested in what the seniors were talking about.
As soon as he opened the group chat… his screen got filled with the pictures of a pretty senior.
"What's happening?" Iron Trigram quickly scrolled through the chat logs.
After a short while...
"So, that's the legendary Venerable White, the one that has unrivaled luck! Just like teacher said, he's an incredibly attractive person," Iron Trigram muttered.
After thinking for a moment, he made up his mind and downloaded the Senior White's expression package from the group space.
After completing the download, he started to skim through the pictures and found one that was suitable for him—the :senior_white_bless: emote.
He made up his mind and decided to use this emote as his profile picture.
After changing his profile picture, he held his phone horizontally, expanding the :senior_white_bless: emote to full screen.
Then, he looked for an incense burner and lit up some incense, starting to pray.
"Although I haven't met him face to face, I know about Senior White's incredible luck… Senior White, give me your blessing and help me get through the greatest calamity of my life," Iron Trigram requested with sincerity.
After praying, perhaps because he had found something to believe in, Iron Trigram felt that his mood had gotten a lot better.
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On a lone island in the East China Sea.
After God knew how long, Song Shuhang finally opened his eyes.
From what he remembered, he had experienced a short-range explosion that Senior White had caused after stumbling...
I'm probably heavily wounded right now… perhaps my wounds are even worse than Chu Chu's… I think I'm quite lucky that I survived after getting hit by that explosion at point-blank range!
"Eh? Strange, why don't I feel any pain?" Song Shuhang blinked a few times.
He shot a glance at his body, and strangely enough, he was unscathed!
Not only him, but the ground was also intact. Senior White hadn't created any crater.
Was it all an illusion? It was rare to see such a realistic illusion.
Just as he was in deep thoughts, Song Shuhang saw Venerable White. At this time, he was lying on the ground and not moving in the slightest! It seemed as though he was dead.
"..." Song Shuhang.
Shiet! Did Venerable White really fall to the ground?
Then, how come there is no crater? Was he able to control his strength just an instant before hitting the ground? Such being the case, why isn't he getting up? Is he playing dead?
No, wait a moment...
Does it mean that the 'real illusion' Senior White used earlier really worked?
This skill is opposite of the 'illusory reality' and can change real occurrences into illusions...
In other words, Venerable White really stumbled and fell to the ground, creating a huge hole and involving the poor cultivator surnamed Song in the explosion.
But in the end, this real event seemed to have changed into an illusion under the effects of the 'real illusion' skill...?
If things really went this way, wasn't this ability a bit too strong?
Seventh Stage Venerables were unexpectedly this scary?
"Senior White, wake up. Open your eyes!" Song Shuhang squatted beside Venerable White and started to poke him.
"Ah?" Venerable White rubbed his eyes and looked at Song Shuhang in puzzlement.
Song Shuhang raised his head and asked, "Senior White, did you get distracted just now?"
"Hmm… did I get distracted?" Venerable White sat in place and kept rubbing his eyes. "I have yet to completely grasp this skill. Earlier, I used too much mental energy and got distracted. I didn't cause any damage, right?"
"No damage was caused," Song Shuhang replied.
Doudou stuck his head out of the tent and said, "No damage was caused, expect to Song Shuhang's head."
"My head?" Song Shuhang touched his neck in puzzlement. "It seems like everything's fine to me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a light wind blew over.
When the wind blew, it also carried a tinge of cold within.
When it blew against his face, Song Shuhang didn't feel anything… except for the top of his head, where he felt a slightly cold feeling.
Thereupon, he stretched his hand out and felt his head.
"..." Song Shuhang.
Song Shuhang refused to believe what was happening and stretched his hand again, feeling his head once more.
"..." Song Shuhang.
Venerable White stood in front of him with a serious expression, and no emotions could be read from his face.
"Senior White… do you have a mirror?" Song Shuhang asked.
Venerable White unsheathed his sword and placed it in front of Song Shuhang horizontally. The blade of the sword was very clean, even better than a mirror.
Song Shuhang looked at his picture reflected on the blade.
The picture of a young man with fair complexion and gentle features appeared on the blade of the sword… however, there was a problem with the hairstyle of this youth—a very deep ditch had appeared in the middle of the ordinary-looking hairstyle of a male student.
"..." Song Shuhang.
"How about you completely shave your head? It won't take long for your hair to grow back," Venerable White suggested.
Song Shuhang sighed deeply.
He had always tried his best to stop the 'true self' in his sea of consciousness from turning bald, but now, he was unexpectedly stepping on the road of baldness in real life first?
After turning bald… will I inherit Saitama's strength?
"Let's shave it…" Song Shuhang sighed deeply again.
Venerable White stretched his hand out, and a thin layer of spiritual energy appeared on it. Afterward, he gently swept over Song Shuhang's head with his hand.
Shuhang's hair fell to the ground one by one.
"Senior Brother Shuhang!" The small monk quickly ran over and said to Song Shuhang with a delighted expression on his face, "Are you preparing to become a monk?"
"No, I'm just planning to change hairstyle for a while," Song Shuhang replied with a firm expression on his face.
"Senior Brother Shuhang looks very handsome with that bald head." The small monk joined his palms together and continued, "This bald head really suits you, and I feel that you have the inborn talent to become a monk."
"..." Song Shuhang.