Chapter 288: The Innocent, Naive & Honest Xu Que
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The crowd subsided and Xu Que went back to the tunnel silently and threw the piece of broken iron—the wisp of the Sword Spirit's soul—into the system storage.
Immediately, the lights covering his whole body disappeared, together with the sword will. Everything was back to normal and Xu Que could be seen clearly once again.
Xu Que called for the system and his eyes rested on the piece of broken iron in his storage. He was stunned as he looked at the introduction of that wisp of soul.
[Mysterious Broken Iron]:
Sealed with a wisp of soul from the ancient Sword Spirit, very weak, contains the Supreme Sword Art, only the complete Sword Spirit will enable the host to inherit the Supreme Sword Art! (Note: This item can be recycled to the system for an exchange reward of 100,000 points of equipment refining essence!)
Xu Que was so shocked that he gasped. "Tsk, this fucking piece of broken iron can actually be exchanged for 100,000 points of equipment refining essence. This is absolutely unbelievable!"
Obviously, he had managed to reap huge rewards this time. A piece of broken iron that contained such a weak wisp of soul still had such a high value. If he could obtain the complete Sword Spirit, that would mean his points would soar to the sky!
Xu Que became very excited. That creature from the stone wall had simply given him a wonderful gift. Those 5,000 Acting Tough Points had been well-spent!
Just now whilst he had been pretending to be the Sword Spirit, he had successfully earned more than 1,000 Acting Tough Points. He believed that if he worked hard, he would definitely earn back the 5,000 Acting Tough points soon.
Acting tough was a big business that he had to always work without delay at every moment.
Especially since he was the Act Tough King, he had to make sure that he should either be acting tough every day or paving his way towards more opportunities to act tough.
And so, after Xu Que placed the piece of iron in his storage, he pulled out a mirror and began practising the expression that an innocent, naive and adorable teenager would wear.
Not long after, he put the mirror away. Now, he resembled a lovely teenager behaving in a naïve and lively manner, making his way through the tunnels.
On the other hand, two cultivators had just entered the Sword Catacomb. They were the two elite cultivators to whom Xu Que had returned their ancient swords.
One of them possessed a strong innate talent of sword cultivation, as he had received two ancient swords from the Sword Mound.
After the two of them entered the Sword Catacomb, one was walking in front with the other following behind and coincidentally, they also passed by the stone wall where Xu Que had previously lingered.
"Eh? You two young fellows, how dare you pass by before this deity without kneeling down?" the creature within the stone wall roared at the two young cultivators.
"Who's that?" The two elite cultivators stopped their footsteps at once and now alert, glanced around them.
The creature within the stone wall laughed icily at them. "This deity is the descendant of the Ancient Magic Dragon from the Spiritual Realm. You two ant-like creatures dare to ignore me?"
"Ancient Magic Dragon from the Spiritual Realm?" The two elite cultivators were bewildered.
After a short pause, the elite cultivator who had two ancient swords sneered and directly walked away without looking back. His voice was heard some distance later, "This must be a prank of Takumi Fujiwara from Exploding Heavens Faction!"
The other elite cultivator raised an eyebrow when he heard his companion's words. He gave a sneer and walked away as well.
The creature within the stone wall froze for a moment, then became flustered. "Hey young men, don't go away!" he yelled. "Did this deity frighten you both? Damn it, get back here! Do you have purifying water with you? Tell me now. Damn it, this deity doesn't want to lick for another 2,000 years. My tongue has become thick! You scoundrels, don't let this deity see either of you again!"
...
The two elite cultivators turned a blind eye to all this.
From their opinion, the claim of Ancient Magic Dragon from the Spiritual Realm was nonsense. If this entity really was the Ancient Magic Dragon, would it be sealed in the Sword Catacomb?
They were very certain that it was just boasting and making things up. And that style, it was too similar to Takumi Fujiwara from Exploding Heaven Faction. Maybe he had placed something there to prank people.
The best way to deal with this was to ignore it!
So they turned and walked away, ignoring the cries behind them.
...
At the same time, the 'innocent and naive' Xu Que had passed by the lava cave and was walking along another tunnel in order to continue going deeper into the ground.
Not long after, he saw several elite cultivators who were randomly exploring around. Some of them were searching for sword will inheritance, some seeking precious swords and some were looking for 'Takumi Fujiwara'!
Xu Que kept a low profile this time as he pretended to be an inexperienced and naïve cultivator who knew nothing about the harsh realities of the world.
Under such conditions, coupled with his already youthful and pretty face, he was utterly deceptive.
When he reached the place where there were many cultivator., Xu Que saw a younger elite cultivator and he politely gave way to him with a smile, "Younger brother, you go first!"
When he met cultivators who were older than him, he would greet them by saying, "greetings, senior!"
When he saw a place that seemed to contain a precious sword, he would even alert everyone by saying, "my fellow cultivators, please look, there's something sparkling right ahead, it might be a precious sword!"
All of a sudden, the elite cultivators swarmed to that place.
This kind of behavior immediately garnered a lot of people's attention, and many pairs of eyes fixed upon him.
"Respectful of seniors, honest, innocent and naive?"
"Damn, is he brother Fujiwara?"
"Hey, what did you say? You can't just call him brother Fujiwara so casually?"
A group of people started to argue and gathered around Xu Que, surrounding him entirely without gaps in the crowd. They were all looking at him, forcing themselves to squeeze out their friendliness and harmonious smiles!
"Younger brother…" an elite cultivator coughed. He was eager to please him. "No, handsome brother, may I know how should I address you?"
Xu Que blinked in a rather meek manner. His big innocent eyes fluttered and he answered in a careful manner, "I'm Takumi Fujiwara from Exploding Heavens Faction. May I know what I can do for you, seniors?"
"What? It's really brother Fujiwara!"
The crowd was dumbfounded, in joy.
"Darn, we tried so hard to find him, yet he has just been around us all this time!"
"Brother Fujiwara, come, this junior will bring you to find our grandmaster now!"
"Get lost, don't touch my brother Fujiwara!"
"Damn it, all of you go away, don't frighten my brother Fujiwara!"
"Fuck, all of you people are really shameless. Brother Fujiwara, don't bother with them, follow me, I'm your junior!"
...
In no time, this group of people was arguing and wrangling amongst themselves, but no one dared to pull Xu Que around as they were worried that he would be annoyed.
Every one of them tried their best to leave a good impression on Xu Que so that he would follow them.
There were even several female cultivators. When they saw Xu Que's 'adorable and innocent' demeanour, they couldn't contain their maternal instincts and forced their ways into the crowd, pressing Xu Que's head onto their full chests. "Don't be afraid, brother Fujiwara," they said in a domineering way. "This junior will bring you to grandmaster instead!"
Xu Que was really delighted, but he was still wearing an innocent expression. His hands were firmly gripping the few beautiful female cultivators around him and he spoke in low voice, "ladies, please don't be like this, men and women cannot touch each other unnecessarily!"
"It's alright, we will be the disciples of the Sword Spirit!"
"Brother Fujiwara, you are so cute!"
"No wonder the Sword Spirit valued you so much. This type of simple and kind person will be able to practise sword cultivation wholeheartedly without distraction!"
"Come brother, let's go find a quieter place to talk!"