TL note: From this chapter on, I changed 'tutor' and 'master' into Shifu, since that sounds more original :)
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Chapter 299 - Take an apprentice
Half of the small island that was located in the middle of two crossing rivers was lit by the light emitted by the flames of the spooky green bronze lamps. Dense streams of freezing yet immense power was rising directly into the air. The whole island seemed to have been isolated from the surrounding areas by the green light and those streams of power stream, into an independent, mysterious world.
In the bird nests built on the shoal, the baby chicks were now all huddled up under the wings of their parents and were afraid to move even a little bit. With the instinct that they possessed deeply in their bloodlines, these creatures had somehow perceived the existence of an extremely powerful and dreadful being in their immediate vicinity.
Candle Dragon Gui, that old legendary person, who was called Master Candle Dragon back in the Magi Palace, was now wearing a straw raincoat, and was walking creepily out of the woods near the river like a thief. He moved slowly into an bulrush wood, and carefully observed the small island through the gaps between those swaying bulrush leaves. That light of the gloomy green lamp made it so that he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in excitement, and soon, he even began waving his arms and stepped slightly on his feet against the ground, nearly laughing out loud.
At the same time he was trying hard to contain his laughter, the handsome man in red cloak, who had been watching the fight between Dishi Yanluo and Emperor Shun while remaining hidden in the void, appeared behind Candle Dragon Gui, just like a ghost.
As the most respected and eldest elder of the Magi Palace, and minister of the human Emperor, and the master Maguspriest of the Candle Dragon Clan, which was the most mysterious one among all the human clans, Candle Dragon Gui didn’t get even perceived the slightest sense of someone appearing right behind his back.
He was still observing with all his focus every single move made by Taisi in front of the altar, on the small island, while chuckling slightly.
“Good, talented boy, very, very talented, haha, if I can take him back and tutor him for a few years, another marvellous, young hero will probably emerge from our human race! Ha, at that time, even the eyeballs of those bloody little idiots would pop out!”
The red cloaked young man had already raised a long sword that was sparkling with a magical light behind Candle Dragon Gui and was preparing to behead him, but hearing his murmur, the fierce killing aura surrounding that young man disappeared instantly.
He thrust the long sword conveniently back into his sleeve. The corners of the red cloaked young man’s mouth curved slightly. He pressed both his hands silently and lightly on Candle Dragon’s shoulders and abruptly pressed him down into the puddle of mud, which was beside the river, then threw a heavy punch on his head.
Poor Candle Dragon Gui…back in Pu Ban City even Emperor Shun wouldn’t talk loud in front of him. As the most respected elder among the entire human race, he had directly been knocked out by the red cloaked young man. With the powerful bloodline of the Candle Dragon Clan, his body was incomparably strong and solid, nearly indestructible, however, he was knocked out straight in a puddle of mud beside the river by the red cloaked young man, without even twitching.
“You little bastard…you should be glad that you were not thinking about taking the same boy as your apprentice as I am. Hm, that boy is mine. Anyone who wants him as well, you can just try if you’re not afraid of death.”
The young man rolled up his wide sleeves, showing a pair of tender arms. He then took out a purple calabash, his face filled with struggle and unhappiness. Grimacing and showing his gritted teeth, this young man carefully unplugged the calabash and took a tiny sip of wine contained in it. At that moment he lost his self-control a bit and took another slightly bigger sip, then another sip. After nine sips, not the single drop of wine was left in that calabash.
“Ah! That big brother of mine really is lazy! This time when I return, I will certainly smash his pill cauldron and force him to make more wine!” Complained the young man while raising his head and looking at the sky sorrowfully, “It would be fine if I was the only bibulous one, but, I have a bunch of apprentices and all of them are like, living on alcohol! If my big brother doesn't make more wine for me, I will have nothing to treat them when I call them together for a lecture!”
Signing, red cloaked young man narrowed his eyes and began observing the six young people, who were standing in the middle of the small island.
Gradually, terrifying scenes that happened when this world was first opened, emerged in the young man’s eyes. Roaring tsunamis, flame streams swooshing across the air along with hurricanes, spaces, time, and the natural power appeared one after another. Clear and positive power rose into the air while muddy and negative power descended into the ground; within the vast and pure, newly emerged natural power, an enormous human silhouette flashed across.
Gui Ling appeared silently behind that red cloaked young man. She chuckled and said in a low voice, “Dear master, all those kids are great.”
The face of the young man started to twitch instantly. He gnashed his teeth and complained, “Yes, yes I know, of course they are all amazing, but I can take only one as my apprentice! Only one! Do you know how crappy that feels like? Well, look, that brother and sister, they’re offsprings of the Netherworld kind, I can't take them; that little girl with terrifyingly great strength has mixed bloodline of the Fire and Wood God, I can’t take her; that fatso, he is an offspring of the ancient Disease God and Rain God, I can’t take him either…”
“What the hell?” When he was speaking about Yu Mu, the young man paused slightly and his face twitched once again, then he murmured, “how did that such a thing even happen? The bloodlines of the Disease God and the Rain God mixed together? But they are so far away from each other, one in the south and one in the north, how did they met each other?”
“Anyway.” Taking a deep breath, the young man grinned bitterly and continued, “The last kid, the tall and slim one, well, judging from his bloodline, which is half god and half human, I can still, barely take him as my apprentice without breaking that damn agreement that I made back then at the top of the Sky Pillar, but, he has that longbow with him. Ah…that longbow…I can’t take him with that bow.”
Licking his own lips, this young man then soaked that purple calabash in the river and filled it half with the river water, then took it out, shook it carefully and slowly and mixed the last bit of wine contained in the calabash with the river water, then poured it into his mouth. After drinking his face twisted badly.
“Ah, ah, someone please kill me! All six kids are amazing! But I can take only one!”
The red cloaked young man then observed Ji Hao closely from head to toe, then finally let out a grin and said, “This one is pretty clean, pure humankind bloodline, without any shocking previous life history. Neither is he a reincarnation of some god or legendary person. Hmmm, he doesn’t have any high status among the human race at present, ha, this is my good apprentice!”
The primitive scene in his eyes slowly dissipated, instead, inverted images of stars appeared in his eyes. He then smiled at Gui Ling and said, “Go, take care of your own business, I’ll be perfectly fine. Ah, it’s not that easy to meet another nice kid that I’m interested in, hm, this Chi Ban Mountain war is such a mess. Some shameless bastards might hurt this kid, therefore, I have to stay close to him and take care of him for a while.”
The young chuckled and grinned broadly, showing his shining white teeth. His teeth were strangely white, which could even reflect the bright and multicoloured starlight. He then continued slowly, “Well, a couple of days ago, I couldn’t help but smash a lotus of that shameless old twat, he will certainly not let that go. And while hacking that damn lotus, I conveniently hacked that Dishi Yanluo’s ugly throne, um, that was equal to…like, knocking his front door open and slapping his face.”
Laughing out, the young man showed a trace of cruelty on his face and continued, “Hmm, yeah it is, but so what? They’re all idiots anyway. The only thing that matters is that this little brother of yours is too weak at present, so I have to pay more attention to him, in case he gets hurt. Although he has quite a few magic treasures, which are pretty powerful, but he can’t activate them yet. Hmmm, so troublesome, what should I do?”
Gui Ling sighed and showed the whites of her eyes, then said in an extra polite tone, “Well, of course you should do your amazing magic and lend our little brother a hand.”
“Ah haha.” The red cloaked young man gave her such a big grin that his face even looked like a blooming, then he responded while nodding slowly, “That is a very reasonable suggestion, hm, therefore, I will probably spend a few more days here in this war zone. I’ll go back after the war is over…hm, and I’ll collect as many wine-making materials as possible. When I get back, I’ll schedule a duel against my big brother, and I will certainly defeat him! I need to force him to make more wine for us, even if I have to destroy his cultivation room!”
Laughing out loud again, this young man slightly shook his body and instantly, the luxurious red cloak of his changed into a simple, flax long cloak. He then trod on the river water, held his hands behind his body and walked towards the small island, where Ji Hao and his friends were.
While walking, the young man gained a very happy grin on his face and murmured, “Ah, it feels really nice to take a good apprentice.”
“Oi, Gui Ling, don’t forget to throw that old candle thing away, I mean, further away! He almost tried to take my good apprentice! Such a bastard!”
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SR: So, basically everyone except Ji Hao are offsprings or descendents of Gods?
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Edited by SecondRate
Translated