145 Chapter 144: Master of the Tomb (1/2)

I threw my hands up into the air, exasperated.

”Seriously? Is that the best you can do? Ripping off a hippie slogan from the 1960s?”

The stylish man ignored my snide remark as he swept his gaze from me to Ling Qing Zhu. Despite his visible features, he was still a glowing illusion that was insubstantial and not solid. As I said earlier, he looked like he was still in his thirties, with nice features and for some reason, he also seemed like a scholar.

I could relate to that, though I had a lot less hair when I was his age.

”Who are you?”

Upon seeing the newcomer who abruptly appeared before us, Ling Qing Zhu demanded in a low voice as she narrowed her eyes.

”Are you an idiot?” I snapped, rolling my eyes. ”Isn't it obvious that he's the master of the ancient tomb?”

”That is correct!” the master of the ancient tomb chuckled and nodded with a smirk. ”And what a violent young lady. You smashed my coffin and skeleton to bits, and you still have the audacity to ask who I am?”

Ling Qing Zhu turned a little pale, her slightly reddish cheeks losing the color for a few seconds despite the pure yin qi ravaging her.

”You…you really are the master of the tomb?”

”Duh,” I muttered. ”How many times do you want us to tell you that?”

”Heh, you don't have to worry. I really am dead.” The scholarly man assured us with a laugh. ”This form is only the remains of my qi essence. To be honest, my soul had been sealed inside my coffin, so if you didn't destroy it, I would never have appeared.”

”So it's your fault!” I yelled, jabbing an accusatory finger at the stunned Ling Qing Zhu. ”I told you not to disrespect the dead!”

She ignored me and instead gritted her teeth, glaring angrily at the owner of the tomb. ”You're so shameless! How can an elder like you resort to such despicable means?!”

”What despicable means?” I asked, bewildered. Fortunately, the scholarly man was on hand to answer.

”The relationship between a man and a woman is as natural as the balance of yin and yang in heaven and earth, so how can you call it shameless?” the scholarly man countered elegantly. ”As long as a couple is engaged in a harmonious relationship where they complement each other, don't you think that's for the best?”

”Not to mention the shameless one is you,” I muttered. ”Taking other people's things, then smashing their coffins and disrespecting the dead. Then you go around accusing other people of being shameless after you shamelessly took his belongings for your own benefit. Hypocritical, don't you think so?”

”Silence!” Ling Qing Zhu snapped. Sucking in a deep breath, she glared at the scholarly man. ”And I'll settle this problem myself!”

”Your method will cause harm to this youngster,” the scholarly man pointed out indifferently.

”I will definitely repay him, there is no need for you to interfere!”

”You must be joking!” I yelled angrily. ”No amount of repayment will be enough to cover for damage to my cultivation and wasting my years of training! What makes you think you can compensate for destroying my foundation? It's not something you can attach a value to! No amount of compensation can cover for that!”

”I agree with the youngster,” the scholarly man agreed with a nod. ”I cannot approve of your method.”

A strange smile then crept across his face as he swept his gaze over me and Ling Qing Zhu. I felt a sudden chill when he smiled slightly.

”Kid, you're really lucky. Even I have never seen such an absolute beauty before. You must treat her well in future.”

”Nope,” I replied. ”I'm sorry, but I already have another person in my heart. I will have to reject your kind intentions.”

”Kind intentions?” the scholarly man repeated, tilting his head to the left in confusion. Dude, I already read Wu Dong Qian Kun, I knew what was coming.

”What do you plan on doing?” Ling Qing Zhu's expression had turned frosty when she heard the dialogue between the two of us, and her voice had taken a more glacial tone.

”I would appreciate it if you just stop her,” I continued as if she hadn't spoken. ”No need to do anything further than that.”

”Stop her…?” the scholarly man looked at me, bemused. ”Kid, aren't you misunderstanding something? What do you think I will be doing?”

”Uh…” This was not going the way I was expecting. ”Aren't you going to…like, make her feel horny, cause some aphrodisiac effect and force us to sleep with each other or something?”

”HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

I was taken aback when the scholarly man roared with laughter, doubling over as he clutched his stomach. He raised his head and wiped the tears from his eyes.

”Are you kidding me? Kid, I'm already dead. I'm a bloody ghost! There's nothing I can do to affect the living…except maybe offer advice or instructions. I certainly can't cause an aphrodisiac effect and force you to perform Double Cultivation with each other. Look, I know she's an absolute beauty, but such things don't just conveniently happen for you to get laid. And besides, **** is still ****. No matter how you skew it, you can't ever justify it.”

”No, no…I'm with you on that. Thank you for not ripping off Wu Dong Qian Kun and resorting to those usual **** tropes. I find them sickening and disgusting.” I displayed a thumb's up and nodded, pleased. I could get along with this dude.

”Still…it's quite a waste.” The scholarly man glanced at Ling Qing Zhu. ”Just look at her. A single glance can cause a city to crumble, and a second glance would ruin an entire kingdom.”

”What is it with you guys and Yang Gui Fei/Concubine Yang tropes? You think I'm some ancient Emperor or something?! Or Paris from Troy?”

”No matter…the problem is that…because I'm a ghost, I'm unable to help you. You'll have to deal with the matter on your own. Of course, if you want to maintain your cultivation, the only way to save that young lady over there is to have sex with her.”

I shrugged callously. ”I mean, she didn't care if I live or die as long as she could forcibly suck my yang qi. So why should I care if she lives or dies from her own mistake? Especially when she threatened me just so she can monopolize your Nascent Soul Heart? I have no obligation to help her.”

”You…!”

Ling Qing Zhu grew a bit redder when she heard that. Tough luck, lady. You think I was some sort of saint who wanted to save everyone? Nope, the moment you threatened me and tried to forcibly suck my yang qi, you burned all your bridges with me. I wasn't some sort of heroic protagonist who tried to save everyone I met.

”What will you do?” the scholarly man asked. ”This young lady is pretty strong, and I don't think she'll just let you walk away.”

”Speaking of which, where the hell is the exit?” I asked the master of the tomb and gestured toward the smooth walls. ”The door from which I entered has disappeared! Did you have anything to do with it?”

The scholarly man smiled mischievously. ”How about this? If you take this lady as your lover and perform Double Cultivation with her, I'll open the door for you.”

This bastard, still trying to drive the situation toward ****. If that was the case, then I certainly did not require his help.

”Fine,” I replied as I pushed my broken glasses up. ”I'll just force my way out myself.”

”Are you sure you want to do that?”

”I definitely will not **** anybody,” I swore. ”I'm not a fucking bastard who only thinks with my lower half. And I told you, I already have someone else in my heart. I'm not going to betray her for…uh, benefits.”

The scholarly man chuckled as he shook his head. ”I rarely see any man with a will as strong as yours. If you escape this predicament, you'll definitely go far in life.”

He glanced at the attacking Ling Qing Zhu, who was raising her snow-white hand. Crimson qi gathered around it and blasted toward me with tremendous power.

”But first, you'll have to survive her onslaught and prevent her from forcibly draining you of your yang qi.”

”Oh, that's the top item on my list of to do,” I assured him. Using a footwork technique, I easily evaded the crimson blast.

Boom!

Behind me, the crimson qi left a blazing scorched mark and a small crater. As annoyed as I was with her, I had to admit that Ling Qing Zhu's power was pretty impressive.

”Don't you think you're only speeding up your death if you recklessly use your qi like this instead of suppressing the pure yin qi?” I asked dryly. Ling Qing Zhu's beautiful face twitched.

”I would die either way, so I might as well ensure I take your yang qi before I meet my demise!”

”Not going to happen.”

I avoided her next attack with Duo, her crimson flames scorching the formerly white marble floor black.

”Hmm, this is quite the interesting match. Who do you think will win?”

The scholarly man hovered next to a stunned Qi Lin, who gaped at him.

”You can see me?”

”Of course. We're both ghosts. Why wouldn't I be able to see you?”

”You've got a point.” Qi Lin nodded reluctantly. ”And here I was, thinking that I succeeded in concealing my presence.”

”Is that youngster your disciple? He seems pretty capable.”

Qi Lin sighed when the scholarly man praised me. ”Unfortunately, no. he just happened to pick me up…he's actually the best friend of my disciple.” A grin then spread over his wrinkled face. ”But he lost to my disciple in the school tournament final last year.”

”School tournament final?” the scholarly man raised an eyebrow. Then he shrugged. ”Seems like a lot of things have changed over the last thousand or so years.”

”Never mind thousands of years…things have changed a lot since two hundred years ago, when I was alive!”

”Two hundred years? Hah! You're pretty young when compared to me!”

While the two ghosts socialized and caught up on…whatever it was that ghosts caught up on…I was fleeing for my life.

”Hah!”

Yelling, Ling Qing Zhu hurled another blast of flames from her lotus flower at me. I dodged it with more footwork, but this time I froze an ice dagger into existence and slammed it against the ground, leaving a visible mark.

”!!!”

I didn't make much of a carving before Ling Qing Zhu assaulted my position. Using Duo to escape and appear behind her, I repeated the maneuver, scratching at the ground with my ice dagger.

”You!”

Ling Qing Zhu spun around, and with a flick of her hand, sent a stream of flames at me, but I was already moving, disappearing into a blur and moving on to the next spot. At the same time, I stabbed the ground with my ice dagger.

”Oh…Teacher Jiao is right. Once I mastered these footwork techniques, no one in my generation will be able to touch me…it really is true!”

I was actually impressed by my ability to run rings around a frustrated Ling Qing Zhu. It was true that she possessed more firepower than I did, but I had the advantage in speed. No matter how much she attacked, I quickly evaded her bombardment of fiery qi with astonishing ease, my feet moving nonstop. I even had some time to carve symbols into the ground with my icy dagger before she turned around to blast at me.

At least she wasn't yelling at me to stop moving around. That would be so retarded and cliché. Apparently she had the dignity to maintain her composure and not resort to throwing childish tantrums when something didn't go her way.

Instead, Ling Qing Zhu infused her body with more qi to speed up her attacks, spinning around like a whirlwind and flinging torrents of flames that incinerated stone and everything it touched. To my relief, her flames didn't burn away the marks I left on the ground, just charring the marble and leaving a fine layer of ash.

That I could deal with.

”His movements are fast…what a troublesome opponent!”

Ling Qing Zhu was murmuring to herself. In spite of her desperation and rage, she was impressed by my speed and agility. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to land a hit on me if she continued her current pattern of attacks, she suddenly switched tactics.

”I can't believe this man force me to use this!”

Her crimson lotus glowed, and in an instant it transformed into a sword. Instead of relying on ranged attacks, Ling Qing Zhu lunged forward, swinging her sword down with terrifying speed.

”!!!”

I didn't expect her to suddenly accelerate at me…or I did, thanks to my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Steps, but she was so fast she caught me off guard. I could barely raise my ice dagger while materializing an ice shield at the same time before her blazing sword struck my hastily erected defenses and incinerated them.

Boom!

”Gah!”

My ice shield and dagger shattered instantly from the impact and I was sent hurtling backward, blood gushing out of my mouth. Shaking my hands and freezing the flames that crawled over them, I raised my head and glared at Ling Qing Zhu.

She looked surprised, staring at me before glancing back at her blazing red sword in disbelief.

”You actually are still able to stand after receiving a blow from my Crimson Lotus Sword?”

I shrugged. ”Why is that surprising? It's not as if you struck with all your strength, did you?”

There was one very obvious reason why she held back. If she struck with all her strength and accidentally killed me, she wouldn't be able to absorb my yang qi. It was more for practical concerns than compassion that she restrained herself.

”Even so…someone of your stage shouldn't be able to maintain consciousness after receiving a direct hit from my Crimson Lotus Sword!”

Gritting her teeth, she cocked her arm back, getting ready for another vicious strike.

”Again!”

I was under no illusions that I could endure another strike from her. I was still going to do my best to evade, but on the off chance that I would be forced to parry her attack again…