The Regressor of Mount Hua-Chapter 295. A Filthy Joke (2)

"Oh my, can I just please shut up? Isn't that a bit too harsh?" Duan Lihua chuckled, contradicting her own words.

"Moreover, if a man and a woman cross swords and get along, is that really something to make such a fuss over?"

Duan Lihua's eyes curved into crescent moons.

"You're not thinking of something strange, are you?"[1]

"..."

Tang Hui bit her lip hard, trembling.

Zhou Xuchuan wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or furious, but her face flushed red as if it was on fire.

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"Of course, I'm just joking. I meant sex."

"I'll kill—"

"No!"

Before Tang Hui could spit out her venom, a third voice cut in.

"Junior Sister Luo?"

It was Luo Xiaoyue. With her brows furrowed, Zhou Xuchuan’s junior sister strode between them, stepping in front of Duan Lihua.

"Please stop teasing the two of them."

Luo Xiaoyue looked at Duan Lihua with a wary look.

"What do you mean?" Duan Lihua asked.

"You're being mischievous." Luo Xiaoyue said, letting her complaints flow naturally without answering the question.

"Fufu."

Duan Lihua smiled faintly, her eyes sparkling with interest.

"I heard that the elites of Mount Hua, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, had the most beautiful woman in all of Shaanxi. So you must be the famous Young Lady Luo Xiaoyue."

"It's an honor to meet the Wave Sword Phoenix of Qingcheng Sect. A pleasure."

The Wave Sword Phoenix, the eldest among the younger generation talents, was a female martial artist admired by women across the murim.

Her beauty was enough to make both men and women lose their senses, but it was her achievements that set her apart—she had reached the Harmony Realm at a young age, making her the greatest talent of her generation before Zhou Xuchuan's appearance.

While in Zhou Xuchuan's previous life, she wouldn't be very active in the future and would disappear like the dew on the battlefield, in this lifetime, she was famous in her own way.

"Since this meeting itself is fated, why not come inside for a cup of tea?" Duan Lihua asked.

"No, it's okay."

"To think you would reject me outright, it hurts a little."

Despite her words, Duan Lihua’s smile remained playful.

"If there's a chance later, I'd like to cultivate with you, Young Lady Luo Xiaoyue."

"If you want a spar, I'll accept at any time."

"Of course, I mean sex."

"..."

Luo Xiaoyue blushed, perhaps because it was too much this time.

Instead of responding, she kept her mouth shut, unwilling to provoke Duan Lihua and give her more reason to tease.

Duan Lihua looked at Luo Xiaoyue with amusement before shifting her gaze to Zhou Xuchuan.

"I'm sorry for suddenly messing around. Still, it's true that I'm deeply grateful to you, Sword God."

"I-it's nothing."

Zhou Xuchuan also looked flustered, not having ever expected that a woman, especially a woman of the Righteous Faction's younger generation talents, would talk so dirty. There had been no rumors that the Wave Sword Phoenix was particularly good at talking, so he wondered if she was just joking.

"Then, since the mood seems to have disappeared already, I'll take my leave now. We still have time to get to know each other in the future."

Her smile deepened, a faintly dangerous glint flickering in her narrowed eyes.

"If it's okay with you, I would like to cross swords someday."[2]

With that, Duan Lihua turned and left.

"What an incredible person," Zhou Xuchuan muttered, watching her go.

"I agree," Luo Xiaoyue and Tang Hui said at the same time.

The ship left the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and arrived near Hefei. In front of the temporary dock, there was a Martial Alliance escort waiting to greet them.

"Thank you for your hard work."

A Martial Alliance warrior expressed his stance and greeted them.

In order to allow those who were exhausted from seasickness and travel a respite, it was decided for the warrior to take charge of the casualties and transport them instead. He also provided the expedition party with horses and food.

In this way, they could at least avoid having to stand guard at night with their exhausted bodies. Thus, they headed to Hefei under the escort of the Martial Alliance.

The warriors who had come to meet them looked concerned when they saw the captured Li Chu, but they did not ask because of the unpleasant atmosphere of the expedition party.

After a while, while the other members of the expedition party went to unpack the moment they arrived at the Martial Alliance, Zhou Xuchuan went to the Alliance Leader's office to report.

"Li Chu was a traitor?" Nangong Weiwu raised his voice in disbelief.

Zhou Xuchuan nodded instead of answering.

"Ha, really..."

Nangong Weiwu seemed just as shocked to learn that Li Chu was part of the Avaricious Wolf Star. He let out a sigh, unable to find the words to continue.

Zhou Xuchuan explained the events in the Human-faced Spider’s habitat in detail to Nangong Weiwu and Zhuge Xiang.

"Bear Fist Hero..."

Neither of them looked pleased.

Because the Bear Fist Hero was a man trusted by the Martial Alliance's leaders, his betrayal was a heavy blow.

In addition, his reason for betraying them was so righteous yet distorted—it made them feel even more bitter.

Just as Zhou Xuchuan could understand how Li Chu felt, Nangong Weiwu and Zhuge Xiang could also sympathize.

"It's so frustrating, like everything is completely blocked inside."

"Is it as frustrating as the Martial Alliance's future path?"

Nangong Weiwu smiled bitterly at Zhou Xuchuan's words.

"What an impressively terse remark," Zhuge Xiang muttered in admiration.

"To think you two young men, incredible enough to be known as the Twin Dragons (雙龍), are harassing this worthless old man, you really are too much."

"I'm just stating the truth. You know that the Bear Fist Hero's words aren't wrong, don't you?"

"Of course..."

While some may have felt that it was just a sinner trying to rationalize his evil deeds, that wasn't the case at all. Although his means were very flawed, his reasoning had truth in it.

"If I could have changed it, I would have done so a long time ago."

However, humans were neither Buddhas, sages, nor gods.

Humans couldn't be perfect, and were bound to be swayed by the five desires and seven emotions.

Whether they were Daoist or Buddhist, everyone was bound to be imperfect.

"I wonder what would have happened if I had dropped that disciple from Nine Sects and One Gang?"

Nangong Weiwu didn't deny that he had decided the Vice Squadron Captain position based on the applicant's origins, not their skills or character. In fact, he admitted it clearly.

"You both should know that in the Nine Sects and One Gang, or rather, in a prestigious force, sometimes losing face is worse than losing your life."

They wouldn't have been able to tolerate losing to a third-rate sect that was nothing more than insignificant.

If the candidate had been from another prestigious force, or a mysterious sect that was passed down through a single lineage, that might have been acceptable.

"If, by chance, rumors of looking down on the Nine Sects and One Gang had spread and been taken as an insult, resentment would have built up over time. Eventually, the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Ancient Families might have found themselves at odds."

The uninformed might have dismissed this as an unnecessary concern, but history had proven otherwise—there had been cases where entire factions clashed over slights to their reputation.

To the Righteous Faction, face and honor were important factors in their ideology, not to mention their lifeblood. There was ample cause for conflict.

"You might think this is an exaggerated fear, but if this feud continued unchecked, it could very well lead to the dissolution of the Martial Alliance. When you consider the complex circumstances, it becomes painfully obvious," Nangong Weiwu explained.

He wasn't wrong. That scenario was entirely possible.

The Martial Alliance was not as centralized as the Evil Valley or the Demonic Path. Even though Nangong Weiwu was one of the Seven Empyrean Overlords, the Completion Sword, and the former head of the Nangong Family, he couldn’t simply impose his will on its members.

"I'm just a powerless old man with a fancy title."

Nangong Weiwu's face lit up with self-mockery.

Zhou Xuchuan remained silent, lost in thought.

I, too, am lacking to be called a hero, too.

Nangong Weiwu and Zhou Xuchuan were both too old to dream of ideals. They couldn't even deal with the necessary evil of the Black Shadow Division.

After all, what awaited Li Chu in the underground prison was most certainly horrific torture.

They couldn't deny the fact that they were hypocrites.

Still, that just meant that they had to try to minimize the damage so that something similar to the Bear Fist Hero wouldn't happen again.

"Let's change the mood and move on to the next topic."

In Zhuge Xiang's case, he was not only a genius but still full of energy. He was at an appropriate age to dream of ideals.

However, he was in a position where his responsibility was greater than his energy.

When one became a strategist, there were times when one had to put aside personal feelings and make cold-blooded decisions. This was the case now.

The three talked about how to punish Li Chu and how to lure out those suspected of being traitors.

They also discussed how to fight in preparation for a great war and their military capabilities.

***

Clang!

A wine bottle shattered into pieces. The intoxicating scent of fine liquor filled the air as the liquid splashed across the floor.

"This dog!"

The face of the previous Secondary Class Rank Seven Upper Grade Investigating Censor, scholar of the Hanlim Academy, Lu Cun, or Blessed Existence, flushed with rage.

"ZHOU XUCHUAN! ZHOU XUCHUAN! ZHOU XUCHUAN, YOU DOG BASTARD!"

His face turned red, then pale, then red again as he cursed furiously.

Blessed Existence raised his foot to kick the table, then hesitated and tried to calm himself down.

"Whew..."

He took a deep breath.

"YOU GODFORSAKEN BASTARD!"

Then he kicked the table over anyway.

"AGH!!!!!!!!"

Even those who had exams coming up soon weren't this sensitive. Blessed Existence was so angry that he was on the verge of qi deviation.

"Why?!"

Everything had been perfect.

He hadn't expected Zhou Xuchuan to be killed or injured.

However, in order to deal with just Luo Xiaoyue alone, several ships had been prepared, manpower and money had been poured in, and plans had been meticulously reviewed.

It didn't matter that Old Man Blood Poison didn't come back alive as was expected. It was also fine to lose the Human-faced Spider.

They had already secured the spider silk, an essential ingredient for the Formless Poison.

No, the problem was that their goal itself wasn't achieved.

"Just why?! What sort of reason is there for this injustice?!"

He only dreamed once every three days. However, in those dreams, Zhou Xuchuan appeared again and again. In every single dream, he was a dog bastard.

After Blessed Existence put a lot of effort into building a tower, Zhou Xuchuan would come and tear it down.

Every time he built a sand castle at the beach, Zhou Xuchuan would trample it.

After he collected the fragmented secret technique manuals and restored foundational methods, Zhou Xuchuan would tear them apart again.

Qin Shi Huang's artifacts and treasures were stolen by Zhou Xuchuan.

When the elixir of life was discovered, Zhou Xuchuan stole it and consumed it.

Zhou Xuchuan. Zhou Xuchuan. Zhou Xuchuan. Zhou Xuchuan.

"You damned bastard!"

Rustle.

As a result, Blessed Existence hadn't been able to sleep properly for a while.

Every day was torture. Zhou Xuchuan’s face appeared the moment he closed his eyes.

He had even considered searching for a deity that didn’t exist or learning the sorcery of the Southern Jungles or the Blood Cult just to curse him.

"Ugh!"

But in the end, he just gritted his teeth and prepared for the next day.

***

The year was coming to an end. The pure white snow was piling up.

"I'll be taking my leave now," Zhou Xuchuan said, standing at the back entrance of the Martial Alliance.

"As expected, busy as always."

Zhuge Xiang smiled faintly. As he was once called the Jade Master, he was incredibly beautiful.

"I'm still not as busy as you, Strategist."

Zhou Xuchuan wasn't being modest, it was the truth.

Since becoming the Strategist, Zhuge Xiang barely had a moment to breathe. He had to change the cyphers weekly.

When he heard that the Bear Fist Hero, who was trusted by the Martial Alliance's leaders, was a traitor, Zhuge Xiang's heart sank.

While it was heartbreaking that their trust had been betrayed, he sighed deeply at the thought that he wouldn't be able to sleep again for the foreseeable future.

"Shandong isn't too far from here, so it shouldn't take long for you to reach me if needed."

"Please give my regards to Shengji."

"Of course. He's doing really well at the merchant company, so you don't have to worry."

"That's a relief."

Just as Zhuge Xiuluan was worried about Zhuge Shengji, so was Zhuge Xiang. While he was too busy to check in often, he still cared.

"Then I'll see you next time."

"Yes, until then."

Zhou Xuchuan headed to the Gold Will Merchants, accompanied by a few people.

1. I didn't want to ref this in the earlier chapter so you get the full shock value. What Duan Lihua said earlier was normally what we translate as dual cultivation, but technically just means a man and a woman cultivating together. So, theoretically, it doesn't necessarily mean sex, just that they cultivate in tandem, which also can include crossing swords. But also, that in itself is an euphemism, as a sword goes into a sheathe... ☜

2. What sword is she talking about though... ☜