When a Fanfic Protagonist Transmigrated into the Original Novel

 Chapter 31: Competitor 

Yi Xichen slept very soundly. With Zhangsun Zijun by his side, he felt at ease, and therefore, he wasn’t awakened by the kissing. When Zhangsun Zijun started touching him, he felt somewhat itchy, but still didn’t wake up.

In the end, he was startled awake by ice water.

A large stream of ice water fell from above and hit the heads of the two people lying on the bed. Yi Xichen suddenly woke up from his dream, yelling in a panic of what was going on. As he opened his mouth, he also swallowed several mouthfuls of ice-cold water, freezing his organs.

The ice water was like an endless waterfall. The whole bed was wet, the room was flooded, and everything on the floor started to float as well.

Yi Xichen quickly crawled out of the freezing cold waterfall in a mess.

Finally, the waterfall stopped.

“Cough, cough…” Yi Xichen was shivering from the cold, “What, what happened?”

Zhangsun Zijun, who was also drenched, wiped his face with his hand calmly, “It rained.”

“R, rain?”

“The roof seems to be leaking.”

Yi Xichen: “……”

He looked up at the sky. Sure indeed, there were really a few finger-sized holes in the roof, which were punctured by the ice ridges mixed in the ice-water waterfall just now.

This ice spring spell was summoned by Zhangsun Zijun. He couldn’t restrain the force that was about to explode in his body, so he had to pour himself a pool of cold water to calm down. Because the urging power inside of him was a bit huge, this rain was also a bit big.

“You…” Yi Xichen looked at him suspiciously, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Zhangsun Zijun turned around and got back into the corner of the bed, “Let’s keep sleeping.”

Yi Xichen was beyond confused. Being awakened from his dream, he was naturally full of complaints. Staring at the back of Zhangsun Zijun, he told himself three times that he wouldn’t be problematic about this. Afterward, he used a spell to drain the water in the room and dry the bed. Only after all that was done did he continue his rest.

The next day, Zhangsun Zijun and Yi Xichen packed up and headed toward the Underworld Cave.

The Underworld Cave was hundreds of miles away from Xia Lin Town, so the two of them naturally used their sword as transportation. Zhangsun Zijun’s sword was still broken, so Yi Xichen offered to let him ride together on his sword. Afraid that carrying two people would consume too much of Yi Xichen’s spiritual energy, he casually cut down a nanshu tree and made it into the shape of a sword. After inserting sword aura, it turned into a temporary sword. As for why he didn’t just buy a cheap iron sword from the market? Well because that also costs money! They must be conservative!!

After flying on their swords for a while, they saw that there was another sword cultivator flying in front of them.

After flying for another while, they were surprised to find that the person in front was also heading in the same direction.

“Zijun, could that person be…” said Yi Xichen.

The sword cultivator in front also turned his head to look at them. He frowned, but didn’t say anything, and just continued his way.

Not too long after, the landscape below them started to change. Tall mountains started to appear, making sword flying rather difficult. But fortunately, the Underworld Cave should be somewhere underneath them already.

Zhangsun Zijun and Yi Xichen descended, and the other sword cultivator who has been with them the whole trip also descended. 

Yi Xichen thought in his head: Sure enough!

Since it was another sword cultivator who appeared in this place, there was no doubt that he must have come to the Underworld Cave as well. In other words, he was here to obtain the White Cloud Sword. Unexpectedly, before they even entered the cave, they ran into a competitor first!

On the way here just now, Yi Xichen had already observed the sword cultivator. Looking at his cultivation base, he was in the Fusion stage. The so-called fusion meant that one has reached a certain stage of cultivation and was starting to form his or her Core. If one could successfully pass the Fusion stage, then one could enter the Golden Core stage. That being said, only one in hundreds of cultivators could reach the Golden Core stage. The fusion stage was a huge bottleneck for most people, and most people don’t manage to break through even during their entire lifetime. Therefore, although the realm was almost the same, the cultivation base was very different.

Yi Xichen carefully observed their competitor along the way, and although that competitor wasn’t  as observative as him, it was not like he cared about him and Zhangsun Zijun at all. At the beginning of the encounter, the sword cultivator already detected their cultivation. Yi Xichen was only in the later stage of Foundation Establishment, and he could not detect the cultivation base of the Zhangsun Zijun, but most sword cultivators liked to be alone, especially if there was only one White Cloud Sword as the reward. But with these sword cultivators traveling together, what does this mean? It meant that they couldn’t fight alone, so they had to cooperate! After coming to that conclusion, he started to completely ignore these two.

After landing at the entrance of the cave, that sword cultivation didn’t bother to look back at all and directly went in.

At this moment, a dart wrapped in sword energy shot towards the back of the sword cultivator!

That sword cultivator was very sensitive. He quickly noticed the attack and immediately dodged it. At the same time, he drew his sword and turned to look at Zhangsun Zijun and Yi Xichen. He said angrily, “Despicable!”

But as he spoke, Zhangsun Zijun already held another dart at his fingertips, planning to launch a second sneak attack on him!

Since they all came for the White Cloud Sword, only one person could succeed. If he killed the Underworld Cave leader, the others would have no choice but to return empty-handed. It was normal for someone to want to eliminate the competition first. But as all disciples of the righteous path, especially as sword cultivators who all treated sneak attacks as taboos, he thought that he didn’t have to fight them and all that he had to do was to use his higher cultivation base to get a head start after entering the cave. But he didn’t expect that these two low-cultivation bastards would use such despicable methods and sneak attack him!

Yi Xichen, on the other hand, smiled and said calmly, “Fellow cultivator, this is just a slight misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding? Don’t even try to lie!” The sword cultivator sneered after seeing them dressed as rouge cultivators, “Just two bastards who don’t even have a master. Fine, I will teach you today what the rules are in the cultivation world!”

Unexpectedly, Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun, who originally one had a smile on his face, and the other had an expressionless look, both turned solemn when they heard him mention the word “master”.

Zhangsun Zijun turned his wrist, and the dart at his fingertip flew towards the sword cultivator! That sword cultivator saw him make his move, but he didn’t have time to dodge it. The dart passed by his cheek, and cut off a long strand of hair.

Cold sweat started to form on his forehead.

This dart was obviously different from the previous one. With such a powerful sword aura, his body could not defend against it at all! If the other party aimed at his head, then he was certain his skull would have been shattered at this moment! And if the first dart had such power, there was no way he could have dodged it!

“You… you…” that sword cultivator’s voice was shaking. He finally realized that something was off. The last dart might not have come from the young man in front of him. Even if it was, it wasn’t to take his life.

Yi Xichen’s smile returned to his face and he patted Zhangsun Zijun on the shoulder, “Forget it, Zijun. Although this fellow cultivator made a rude remark, but since we’ll let him come for nothing and return empty-handed, that’s enough punishment already. Let’s get back to business. In addition, if we fight with him, wouldn’t that be exactly what a certain person wants?

That sword cultivator was a bit confused. Who’s that certain person? Wait, what do you mean making me come for nothing and return empty-handed?

Zhangsun Zijun held his wooden sword, then suddenly slashed it at a giant boulder not too far away.

A golden light flashed, then that giant boulder instantly shattered into powder! Amidst the flying smoke of powder, a cultivator rolled out in a mess!

Before that sword cultivator could react, he was dumbfounded again: What? There has been someone hiding here the whole time? Wait, what was that young man holding just now? A wooden sword?!?! Are you joking!!

What rolled out from behind the broken boulder was a black-clothed pill cultivator. Being exposed, he looked very flustered, but he calmed down immediately. He patted the ashes on his body and got up, then said with a smile, “Hello there fellow cultivators, are you guys planning to go into the Underworld Cave?”

Seeing the three staring at him coldly, he quickly reported his identity, “My name is Zhang Luan, I’m a rogue pill cultivator. You guys are…?”

Before Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun could speak, the other sword cultivator started first. He drew his sword and pointed at Zhang Luan, and said angrily, “Were you the one who attacked me just now?!”

At this moment, the sword cultivator was really annoyed. His anger was not only because he was sneak attacked, but also because he didn’t realize that there were other people nearby, which caused him to wrong Zhangsun Zijun and Yi Xichen. All this made him feel extremely embarrassed.

Zhang Luan quickly waved his hand, “It’s a misunderstanding! I… uh, I was also planning to go in, but some problems happened to my artifacts. I was just trying to fix it, and it accidentally… I’m so glad none of you guys are hurt, otherwise, I’ll feel so bad!”

What that sword cultivator didn’t know was that Zhang Luan shot not one dart, but two. At that time, the three of them had the sword cultivator walking first, Yi Xichen following him, and Zhangsun Zijun at the end. Zhang Luan shot two darts, one at the sword cultivator and another toward Yi Xichen. He wasn’t planning to kill them, after all, he wasn’t strong enough to do so. He just wanted to cause the three of them to fight each other, so that he could easily take down all three of them in the end.

Zhang Luan has been ambushing here outside the Underworld Cave for several months already. In recent years, the Underworld Cave has been rather lively. Every so often, there would be cultivators coming in pairs or trios. Zhang Luan would hide in the dark and provoke them to fight. When the people who came were beaten, he would jump out and kill them. He would take their spiritual stones and spiritual materials and then sell them at the market. He has made quite a lot from doing this.

This was his first miss in months, as he did not expect that Zhangsun Zijun and Yi Xichen were actually on the same side. Logically speaking, there was only one White Cloud Sword, and every sword cultivator who came wanted it. They could only be competitors, not partners. For the two darts he sent out, the dart that attacked the sword cultivator, he dodged it. But the dart that attacked Yi Xichen was gently intercepted by Zhangsun Zijun. He knew at that time that he was in trouble, but unfortunately, it was already too late to run.

At this time, Zhangsun Zijun used Target Communication on Yi Xichen, “He’s a diabolic cultivator.”

Yi Xichen was a little surprised. Zhang Luan hid his devilish energy very well, and with his cultivation, he could only tell that he was a pill cultivator. But Yi Xichen didn’t doubt in the slightest whether Zhangsun Zijun was mistaken or not. 

Not to mention that the Zhangsun Zijun had the heavenly spiritual root and extremely sharp eyes, it was also very normal for a diabolic cultivator to hide his devilish energy and not let it be seen by others. Diabolic cultivators were cultivators whom the entire world hated against, those who if found on the streets, everyone would gang up together against them. Those weak diabolic cultivators would all hide and not come out. Those who dare to come out must all have the ability to conceal their devilish energy.

Zhangsun Zijun asked using Target Communication, “Kill?”

Yi Xichen replied, “Don’t be in a hurry. We’ll definitely have to catch him for good, but let’s check if he has any other plans first.”

In demonic cultivation, the cultivators were split between righteous and evil. But in diabolic cultivation, not a single one was a good soul.

The definition of diabolic cultivation is a practice in which one hurts others in order to benefit themselves. They could plunder other people’s cultivation; they could nibble away at other people’s soul; or they could also refine other people’s souls into weapons… In addition to natural devils, those who choose to take the path of a diabolic cultivator would never be good people. Therefore, all the diabolic cultivators were cunning, cruel, and vicious.

Not to mention the cultivators in the human world who claim to be righteous, even the demonic cultivators detest the diabolic cultivators. If any cultivator encountered a diabolic cultivator, they would simply kill them without even greeting.

However, the Taoist cultivators were very particular about morality. Since the diabolic cultivators could hide their devilish energy, they would only kill when the diabolic cultivator reveals the true form of his devilish energy. Otherwise, “killing the diabolic cultivator” was likely to become an excuse for people with bad intentions to kill innocent people. After all, diabolic cultivators were also human, and their dead bodies looked no different from ordinary cultivators.

Zhang Luan’s devilish energy was very well hidden, but due to Zhangsun Zijun’s strong cultivation, he could see a trace of his devilish energy. If he was alone right now, then he would obviously kill without hesitation. But there was still the other sword cultivator here, and if he killed the diabolic cultivator right now, it would cause some unnecessary troubles. Zhangsun Zijun put away his wooden sword.

Seeing that the three of them didn’t immediately attack him, Zhang Luan breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to act, “I sincerely apologize for what happened just now, thank you for your understanding! I just said my name, can I please learn yours too as well?”

There were quite a few rules for sword cultivators. For example, before a fight, one must report his family name first, otherwise, he would appear inferior. Therefore, although that sword cultivator did not like Zhang Luan very much, he still said, “Daluo Sect, Jin Wu.”

Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun looked at each other. Since everyone else has reported their names already, they would arouse suspicion if they didn’t. However, Heavenly Sword Sect definitely released their wanted posters already, and if they told them their real names, they would only bring themselves more trouble. So, they decided to come up with fake names.

Zhangsun Zijun said expressionlessly, “Rogue cultivator, Invincible.”

Yi Xichen smiled, “Rogue cultivator, Unbeatable.”

The other two were stunned for a long time, confused at what they were saving. After a long time, Zhang Luan finally managed to squeeze out a line, “… Invincible and Unbeatable are your names?”

Zhangsun Zijun: “Is there a problem?”

Zhang Luan, Jin Wu: “……”

The four of them awkwardly looked at each other. Finally, Yi Xichen broke the silence, “Ah yes, you guys can hang out here and continue your chat, we’ll be going now.”

Jin Wu suddenly remembered that he was here to kill the Snow Tiger Demon. Seeing that Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun did not seem to want Zhang Luan to pay for the sneak attack, he naturally wouldn’t do much about it either. He put his sword away, hesitating whether to go first or wait for them to go first.

Zhang Luan’s small eyes rolled in his sockets, and an evil idea formed in his head. He said hurriedly, “Fellow cultivators, this Underworld Cave is very dangerous, why don’t we go together?”

“No way!” No!” “Humph!” The three almost rejected at the same time. The reason was very simple: they all came for the White Cloud Sword. If they traveled together, then who would take the sword if they won in the end?

Zhang Luan naturally expected this and said quickly, “I’m not a sword cultivator, so naturally I’m not here for the sword. The cave is very dangerous, so if we travel together, maybe I can help. If we win the sword, I wouldn’t fight for it for sure!”

Yi Xichen said, “If you don’t want the sword, then what are you going into the cave for? Can’t resist the urge to see a Snow Tiger Demon?”

Zhang Luan quickly replied, “There are all sorts of exotic plants and flowers in this cave. Since I’m a pill cultivator, I’m naturally here to…”

Yi Xichen interrupted, “To rob us of exotic plants and flowers?”

Zhang Luan was stunned. Rob? Did this mean that Yi Xichen not only wanted the demon core, but he was also here for the exotic plants and flowers? He said again, “Uh… I also heard that there are crystals and ores in the Underworld Cave, I…”

Yi Xichen interrupted again: “You want to fight for the crystals and ores with us?”

Zhang Luan: “…” Are you here to kill the demon or to rob this place empty!? You want this and that, is there anything you don’t want?!

Zhang Luan thought for a long time before finally coming up with something, “I heard that the mountain spring water in the cave has miraculous effects as medicine.” After saying that, he glanced at Yi Xichen. He thought: Don’t tell me you want the spring water as well? Even if you do, what, are you going to drain it dry?

Yi Xichen calmly looked at him, “My friend, how are you so familiar with the cave? Have you been inside before?”

Zhang Luan wiped his cold sweat, “Uh… y…yes. It’s just that my cultivation was not strong enough, and I was kicked out after only a short distance. That’s why I wanted to travel together with you guys, and maybe I can even help you guys lead the way.”

“Oh, how nice,” said Yi Xichen, “Can you really help us? Do you know where all the exotic plants, the crystals, and the spring water are? You saw all that when you went inside?”

Zhang Luan quickly replied, “Yes yes! I promise I can lead you guys there.”

Yi Xichen said, “Since you have seen spring water, why didn’t you get some? If you saw exotic plants, why didn’t you pick some? If you saw crystals, why didn’t you dig some? Now you want us to go with you, do you think we’re stupid?”

Zhang Luan: “……”

He was utterly speechless and wouldn’t stop sweating.

Yi Xichen didn’t want to waste time on him for any longer. “Zijun, let’s go!”

Zhang Luan wanted to continue, but Zhangsun Zijun already gave him an expressionless look. That look frightened him, making him stop on his feet. Before he knew it, those two had already gone inside.

Zhang Luan gritted his teeth unwillingly. His only option now was to Jin Wu, “Fellow cultivator, let’s stay together! I guarantee with my life that the White Cloud Sword is yours, and I will never fight for it! I just want to be able to go deeper to gather more flowers and plants to refine pills with.”

Jin Wu looked at him vigilantly; he was still hesitant. Naturally, it was impossible for him to cooperate with “Invincible” and “Unbeatable”, and it wasn’t like the two of them wanted to work with him either. This was because they were both competing for the White Cloud Sword. “Invincible”‘s cultivation level may be higher than his, and there was also “Unbeatable” to help him. No matter how he looked at it, he found his chances to be slim.

Seeing his hesitation, Zhang Luan knew what he was thinking, and he hurriedly said, “I believe in you, don’t you believe in me? I know, it must be because I accidentally misoperated my artifacts before, making you doubt my friendliness. Well, how about I give my core-condensing stone to you to show my sincerity?” Then, he actually took out a condensate stone and placed it in Jin Wu’s hand.

A core-condensing stone was a must-have for pill cultivators. The higher its quality, the better and faster the pills and medicine a pill cultivator could refine. Therefore, for pill cultivators, their core-condensing stone was as important as a sword for sword cultivators.

Jin Wu looked at the core-condensing stone in his hand and was stunned. This core-condensing stone’s quality was quite high. This sincerity was definitely enough. Zhang Luan wasn’t a sword cultivator after all. Even if he did take the White Cloud Sword and ran away with it, it would only be to sell it or exchange it for other spiritual materials. Yet he probably spent more than ten years refining this core-condensing stone, it was his heart and blood. It was definitely way more valuable to him than the White Cloud Sword. 

Zhang Luan continued, “Brother Jin, if we keep waiting out here, Invincible and Unbeatable would get the sword before us!”

He said what Jin Wu was worried about the most. In fact, although his own sword was still far from being one of the best in the world, it could still be regarded as a top-grade sword with his current cultivation level. The reason why he took the risk to seek the White Cloud Sword was that his cultivation base had reached the bottleneck, and he was having trouble breaking through. If he could get a sword like the White Cloud Sword, then maybe he could break into the Golden Core stage after forming unity with the sword. Therefore, he really really really wanted the sword. If there was a helper, his chances of winning may be greater.

Jin Wu finally made up his mind, “Okay, let’s go together.” He returned the core-condensing stone to Zhang Luan, “Since I decided to trust you, you should keep this.”

“No no no,” Zhang Luan refused to take it back, “You can keep it safe for me. This is to show my sincerity. You can return it after you get the White Cloud Sword.”

Jin Wu was moved, and finally no longer suspicious. Right after, the two entered the cave.

Passing through a stone bridge in a cave, the cave opened up. There was a very fast-flowing river below them, and a waterfall was on the opposite side of the river. They flew over the waterfall, and behind the water curtain was an intricate cave. The cave was divided into two roads by a huge stone pillar.

Zhang Luan said: “The two people just came here and I can still feel their presence… They went to the right!”

Without saying a word, Jin Wu walked to the left.

Zhang Luan became anxious: “Wait, let’s go to the right too. Since they chose to right side, maybe that way is shorter.”

“No!” Jin Wu refused without thinking, “Since they went on the right, we can only go on the left!” He must not go in the same direction as the other two. Since they got a head start already, if he followed, he would never catch up.

When Zhang Luan saw Jin Wu’s stubborn temper, he had no choice but to follow him to the left path for the time being.

At this moment, Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun were walking quickly towards the depths of the cave. The demonic energy in this cave was very strong, and Yi Xichen carefully paid attention to the surroundings as they moved forward. Strangely, they didn’t come across a single demon.

“Meow~~”

A cat meow came from deep within the cave. Yi Xichen felt like he was blinded for a second.

“Be careful.” Zhangsun Zijun reminded, “Cat demons are good at illusion.”

He held the wooden sword in his hand and looked around as they walked. There was an open road ahead, but his wooden sword suddenly hit something.

Yi Xichen quickly reached out and touched what hit the sword. In front of them, there seemed to be an invisible wall blocking their way, but they could not see nor touch it. Yi Xichen tried to wipe his eyes with his spiritual energy, but he still couldn’t see the wall in front of them.

This is an illusion, more advanced than just tricks on the eye. Eye-tricks are to transform a certain object or venue into another appearance according to the artist’s intention, and what one’s eyes see is all fake. On the other hand, an illusion is when what you see and hear is all real, but only displaced. of. In other words, the wall they saw was a real wall, and the road they saw was also a real road. This was just not where the wall and the road should be.

Yi Xichen frowned. As he thought about how to break through this illusion, his arm was suddenly yanked, and then he slammed into a solid chest.

Zhangsun Zijun wrapped his arms around his waist very intimately and held him firmly in his arms!

Yi Xichen had no doubt that the position he was standing in originally was attacked just now, and Zhangsun Zijun made such a move in order to protect him. He even felt that there seemed to be a demonic aura running past him just now. But the question was, did Zijun have to wrap him so tight to protect him? Okay fine, it didn’t matter too much if he was holding him tight or not, but what was the thing pressing against him?!

More importantly, why is it that every time he touched that thing it’s always hard?! Does Zijun really want to pee??