Ye Huaiyao understood these people’s thoughts all too well. Don’t be fooled by their lofty reputations as renowned scholars and heroes, or by all their talk of keeping promises and accepting victory or defeat with grace. Such principles only applied to people of equal standing.
As for the “trash” and “mortals” in their eyes, those people were barely worthy of being considered human at all. Yan Jin had probably never imagined that he might lose before the fight began, so whatever he had said beforehand was nothing more than casual bluster.
Ye Huaiyao was just about to kindly help him remember when A-Nan, who had somehow wandered over to his side, suddenly spoke.
“Young Master Yan said just now,” A-Nan said in his clear, youthful voice, his black-and-white eyes bright and distinct, “that he broke my head earlier, and that if he lost this match, he would kowtow to me and apologise.”
Chu Liang: “……”
His hand unconsciously tightened around Yan Jin’s arm. For a moment, he was genuinely worried that Yan Jin might be so enraged that he would drop dead on the spot.
The people around them reacted in all sorts of ways. Ye Huaiyao really couldn’t help himself; he lowered his head slightly, barely suppressing the smile that kept tugging at the corners of his lips.
If he had been the one to say this, Chu Liang would probably have shamelessly argued back, invoking the Yan family’s reputation and asking him to show some leniency. But with A-Nan saying it, things were completely different.
A-Nan was merely an ordinary boy with no sect or backing. Talking to him about “face” and “status” would be completely useless. With so many people watching, nobody could bring themselves to shamelessly wriggle out of a promise made to a child.
Of course, judging from what Ye Huaiyao had learned about him so far, this “child” only appeared weak, helpless, and pitiful on the surface. He might very well be a little wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Yan Jin nearly choked on his own breath and almost fainted. “Nonsense!” and “false accusation!” were already at the tip of his tongue, but in the end he couldn’t bring himself to say either.
—Because A-Nan hadn’t lied. Those words really had been spoken by Yan Jin himself.
But his status was so exalted. How could he possibly kneel and apologise to some little beggar? What kind of joke was this? He might as well die.
After the stalemate continued for a while, a timid female voice finally came from the crowd. “Third Young Master Yan, a man should keep his word…”
It was the female cultivator Ye Huaiyao had saved earlier.
She had been quietly working up the courage to speak on Ye Huaiyao’s behalf, but until now she hadn’t found an opportunity. Finally, she had one. Yet the moment she finished speaking, her father gave her a fierce glare.
Some of the older and more cautious cultivators knew that Yan Jin was already close to the edge of exploding and didn’t dare offend him. But most of the younger people still had some fire in their hearts. And Ye Huaiyao was not only young and handsome, but had just defeated someone above his level.
Some female cultivators, and even quite a few male cultivators, couldn’t help feeling admiration for him. Others were inspired by his courage in daring to challenge someone stronger. Once someone had taken the lead, they disregarded the objections of their elders and began speaking up one after another:
“Yes, Third Young Master. A gentleman’s word is his bond.”
“You made such a huge hole in that young brother’s head. All he’s asking for is an apology. Isn’t that only fair?”
“We’re in the Ghost Wind Forest, where danger lurks everywhere. We don’t have time to waste. Young Master Yan, please hurry.”
Yan Jin finally managed to catch his breath. Swaying unsteadily, he said furiously, “I…I didn’t do it on purpose!”
He was already completely at a loss for words, yet he still stubbornly refused to back down. Ye Huaiyao knew that, with Yan Jin’s temperament, getting him to kneel would be harder than climbing to heaven. But he still had one trump card left.
That trump card was Ji Lanying… his dear, foolish protagonist, the man who had once accompanied him through countless math classes. Ye Huaiyao deliberately put on a troubled expression and pretended to retreat, “I don’t want to make things difficult for Young Master Yan. But this young brother helped me out of danger just now, so I can’t refuse such a small request on his behalf. How about this…”
He paused thoughtfully before continuing, “Actually, it was Young Master Ji who wanted to take the leopard’s blood earlier. Since both of you bear some responsibility, why don’t we each take a step back? Let Young Master Ji kowtow and apologise instead. What do you say?”
The last question was directed at A-Nan. A-Nan saw Ye Huaiyao wink at him, his long eyelashes fluttering, amusement hidden in his eyes.
He was momentarily stunned, but immediately understood Ye Huaiyao’s meaning. He deliberately lowered his head and remained silent for a while before finally mumbling, “…Alright.”
Ji Lanying: “……”
This kid actually looked pretty unhappy about it! He had been growing increasingly anxious as the two sides remained deadlocked, wondering how he could intervene. He never expected Ye Huaiyao to suddenly change the direction of the conversation and dump the entire problem onto his head.
What was worse, Chu Liang actually found the suggestion quite reasonable.
Ye Huaiyao was already making a considerable concession. And when one thought about it carefully, this really was the best solution. It preserved Yan Jin’s dignity while giving everyone a way out.
As for whether Ji Lanying was willing or not, that hardly mattered. If it weren’t for him, Yan Jin wouldn’t have ended up in such an embarrassing state in the first place. Chu Liang felt that the Yan family choosing not to pursue Ji Lanying’s responsibility was already more than generous enough.
Ji Lanying stammered, “I…I…”
He stammered for quite some time without finding a suitable excuse. After all, this was still the early stage of Tale of the Useless Immortal Cultivator. The protagonist’s power and influence had not yet been fully established. Compared with Yan Jin, his status was still far inferior.
Now it was finally Ji Lanying’s turn to taste the helplessness of being a nobody.
Ye Huaiyao no longer had the folding fan in his hand, but his wrist still made an unconscious little turn. His gaze quietly swept across Yan Jin’s face.
There was no point bullying a fool. His real target had never been Ji Lanying.
Ji Lanying suddenly found himself at the centre of everyone’s attention, and the humiliation was almost unbearable. For a moment, it felt as though history had repeated itself. He was once again standing in the middle of a crowd, helpless and embarrassed after being publicly humiliated.
For people who made their way through the martial world, the one thing they could never afford to lose was face. Even though Ji Lanying wasn’t as arrogant and forceful as Yan Jin, the thought of kneeling before an ordinary country boy and apologising for something he hadn’t even personally said was simply intolerable.
Ji Lanying couldn’t help turning his pleading gaze toward his followers. His beautiful eyes were misty, his lips parting slightly as though he wanted to speak but couldn’t. There was a delicate, pitiful beauty to his expression that made people instinctively want to protect him.
—It was extremely faithful to the original novel. Yes, there had been so many descriptions like this that Ye Huaiyao, who normally only read straightforward male-protagonist power fantasies, had once seriously wondered whether this character was actually a woman disguised as a man.
According to the protagonist’s character setting, Ji Lanying had quite a few followers among those present. But the one with the greatest influence was naturally the young master of Guiyuan Manor.
The moment Ye Huaiyao had made his proposal, Yuan Xian had already realised that Ji Lanying was in trouble. He had also begun thinking about how he might help him escape from the situation.
Still, he had to admit that Ye Huaiyao’s idea was both vicious and perfectly appropriate. Yuan Xian himself wasn’t involved in the matter, so meddling too much would hardly be proper.
But when he met Ji Lanying’s pleading gaze, he lightly cleared his throat, stepped forward, and decided to speak on his behalf.
—Although he knew that doing so would inevitably offend someone, Yuan Xian had once sworn to protect Ji Lanying and treat him well.
Without Ji Lanying rescuing him when he was in despair, he would never have become the person he was today. A true man repaid kindness and kept his promises.
The moment Yuan Xian took that step forward, the smile at the corner of Ye Huaiyao’s lips deepened. Yan Jin, meanwhile, suddenly clenched his fist.
He gritted his teeth, his heart filled with unwillingness.
He had originally done all this to vent Ji Lanying’s anger and help him escape the shadows of his past. Yet instead, things had completely backfired, creating one problem after another and humiliating Ji Lanying all over again.
Yan Jin didn’t even want to look at Ye Huaiyao anymore. He had originally thought that Ye Huaiyao was like a weed growing beneath his feet… weak, insignificant, and easy to trample. Yet somehow, that very weed had ended up standing on top of him. The feeling was indescribable.
He absolutely could not give Yuan Xian the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and curry favour with Ji Lanying. He, Yan Jin, did not need someone else to clean up his mess.
Grinding his teeth, Yan Jin forced the words out through clenched teeth. “No need. I…I’ll kowtow and apologise.”
The moment he said those words, his entire face flushed red. The shame and humiliation were so intense that even the people watching felt uncomfortable on his behalf.
The result was exactly what Ye Huaiyao had expected. He smiled, “Then, Young Master Yan, please.”
A person never truly feared being in a difficult situation. The difficult part was knowing how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage.
When Ye Huaiyao first saw Ji Lanying’s intimate relationship with his former Dao companion, he had realised that this was simply one of the protagonist’s privileges. He hadn’t become angry. Instead, he had immediately realised that Ji Lanying could be an extremely useful tool.
As long as he grasped Ji Lanying, he could effectively grasp the weaknesses of several other people at once.
And Ji Lanying really was the author’s designated “useless” character, so controlling him was easy.
Look at what had happened now. Hadn’t he successfully provoked Yan Jin into apologising?
This protagonist was simply too useful. Ye Huaiyao sincerely felt that the protagonist really was the protagonist. Universally beloved. Even he liked him.
This pleasant feeling made him selectively forget all the ways he had secretly mocked Ji Lanying before. He turned his head and watched Yan Jin walk step by step toward A-Nan.
Yan Jin clenched his fists. He straightened his back. Then his knees slammed heavily onto the ground, and he knelt upright before A-Nan.
That kind of kneeling had to hurt. But Yan Jin probably couldn’t feel it anymore. The overwhelming humiliation had nearly drowned him. He said stiffly, “Sorry.”
If an ordinary, inexperienced young man saw such a noble young master kneeling before him, he would probably be so flustered that he wouldn’t know what to do with his hands or feet. But A-Nan didn’t move. He didn’t speak either.
Yan Jin was the one kneeling and apologising, yet somehow he looked even more self-righteous than the victim. Although he was on his knees, he still held his head high, coldly staring at the thin young boy before him. It was easy to imagine that he was already calculating a hundred different ways to kill Ye Huaiyao.
A-Nan silently met his gaze.
Yan Jin hadn’t really been paying attention to this poor boy at all. In his mind, A-Nan was merely a tool Ye Huaiyao had used to humiliate him.
But the moment their eyes met, Yan Jin found his attention involuntarily drawn toward him. A-Nan’s eyes were completely unlike those of an ordinary boy.
Within those beautiful eyes was something resembling a stagnant pool of water—black, somber, cold. And beneath it all…a blood-soaked killing intent.
In that instant, a chill ran down Yan Jin’s spine. For no reason at all, he suddenly remembered the beasts lurking in the shadows of the Ghost Wind Forest. He felt as though he should immediately draw his sword and strike. Yet, as if bewitched, he could only remain frozen there, kneeling stiffly on the ground.
“Shidi.”
Seeing that Yan Jin seemed to have become strangely attached to kneeling, Chu Liang was utterly exhausted. He lowered his voice and reminded him, “Say a little more.”
Since he had already apologised, he should at least do it properly. That way, the matter could be considered neatly settled, and there would be fewer things for others to gossip about afterward.
Yan Jin seemed to be abruptly awakened from some kind of spell. His entire body shuddered. When he looked up again, A-Nan was still staring at him with that same dark, gloomy gaze. It proved that everything he had just experienced had been real.
Yan Jin thought bitterly that this boy was strange. He looked sinister. And he was just as irritating as Ye Huaiyao.
Forcing himself to continue, Yan Jin awkwardly finished, “I accidentally hurt you earlier. It was my… fault. Please forgive me.”
After finally getting the words out, Yan Jin felt as though his teeth were about to crack from how hard he had been clenching them. Before A-Nan could even respond, he stood up from the ground.
At that moment, everyone was watching him. He had always been the centre of attention, but never before had he found the attention of an entire crowd so utterly unbearable.
Author’s Note:
The Illustrious Sage Lord will never regard Ji Lanying as a target or an opponent. He will only try to discover the value hidden within him. As long as someone is useful, they are lovable. That is the way a person in a position of power thinks.
There are so many people in the comments shouting about “recognising each other” again that, for a moment, I thought I had somehow traveled back to last year when I was writing The Fortune Teller. It was also winter then, and everyone was clamouring every day for 00 to recognise his family, practically begging me bald.
Don’t worry.
This time, it’ll happen soon~
