Chapter 9: Oaths are Sacred

These words, seemingly coming out of nowhere, spooked Su Chen.

He hurriedly turned around to find an old man lying prone on a swathe of grass, fiddling around with a small flower that Su Chen didn’t recognize.

Evidently, he had been there for quite a while. His body was covered in leaves. But even without the leaves, he still looked ugly. His hair was messy, and his beard was long and unruly. No one knew how long it had been since he cleaned it. His eyes were blistered and a black-purplish circle surrounded them. He seemed to have suffered a terrible beating.

Su Chen did not know when this old man had appeared, but the words he uttered were clearly directed at him.

Su Chen was somewhat angry, but managed to calm himself down.

His encounter with Gu Qingluo had thrown off his mental state, but it didn’t take him long to regain his normal posture. He was still the calm and calculating Su Chen.

The angered Su Chen would argue with the old man, but the calm Su Chen would not.

He calmed himself down, rearranged his clothing and said, “You’re right. I was just talking nonsense, the ramblings of a crazy fool. Forgive me, a young man who just experienced heartbreak, for speaking without thinking. Please don’t take it to heart.”

“Hmm?” The old man expressed his surprise.

He suddenly appeared in front of Su Chen, as if the hundred feet between the two of them simply did not exist. With his cloudy eyes, he sized Su Chen up.

A moment later, he said, “Wow, you calmed down quite quickly. It seems you’re not as awful as I thought you were.”

Su Chen respectfully replied, “Thank you, senior, for your praise. This little one was just speaking without thinking, incurring Senior’s ridicule.”

“Hey, do you know why I said you were speaking nonsense?” the old man asked, squinting his eyes.

Su Chen nodded. “Of course, this little one was just babbling nonsense. The human race has produced many heroes throughout its tens of thousands of years of history, yet none of them were able to do it. For me, a newly admitted student to the institute, to make such bold claims, naturally it is nothing but nonsense.”

Unexpectedly, the old man flew into a rage. “Bullshit, bullshit! If our predecessors weren’t able to accomplish it, no one can? What kind of preposterous way of thinking is this? The human race used to not even be able to break into the Qi Drawing Realm on their own, but haven’t we reached that point now? Not only this, but we can even break into the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline. Haven’t the dreams of the human race been realized? If one person can’t do it, then what about ten thousand? If one year is not enough, then what about ten thousand? Generation after generation, we accumulate knowledge until one day we reach our goal. Why give up and use words like impossible? To me, there will eventually be a day where the human race can escape the limits of bloodlines, developing our own cultivation path, and surpassing the Beast Race, ruling until the end of time!”

As he spoke, he gestured wildly in agitation, spittle flying everywhere. Su Chen was completely dumbfounded.

He stared at the old man. “But...... but...... I just...... you......”

“The reason I said you were spouting nonsense is because the motivation for your train of thought is wrong!” the old man yelled, stabbing his finger into Su Chen’s forehead. “How many heroes devoted their whole lives so that the human race can rise to prominence without fruition, yet did so without any regrets! Why is that? Because they had a dream in their hearts, a dream of a limitless future for all mankind! But what about you? Why did you swear such a vow? For a goddamn woman!”

Su Chen was stunned.

The old man continued in a severe tone. “If you want to accomplish something great, your heart needs to be in the right place. You don’t possess such a vision, yet you think you are worthy to claim that you will bring the human race to prominence? Breaking the bloodline restriction for a mere woman? This is the most laughable thing I have ever heard! Why don’t you say you will upend the Seven Great Countries and establish your own name in the ages to come for a woman? That at least is more reasonable than breaking through the bloodline restrictions! Today, you can make such an oath for a woman; some day, you can break such an oath for a woman......”

Su Chen blushed with shame when he heard this.

The old man wasn’t cursing him out for his ambition, but because of the underlying motivation for this ambition.

The old man nagged him for quite some time. Finally, he said, “What a pitiful motivation for a great ambition. Who else other than you would spout such nonsense? A rookie like you isn’t fit to defile ‘humankind’s rise to prominence’! It needs to be something you spend your whole life chasing after.”

His hands were folded behind his back as he turned around and left.

Su Chen was dazed. The old man had left, just like that.

A thought crossed his mind and he yelled, “Senior, what is your esteemed name? Su Chen will never forget Senior’s advice.”

The old voice floated towards him. “An idiot who wasted half of his life for a dream. Not worth mentioning!”

“An idiot who wasted half of his life for a dream?” Su Chen muttered in a low voice. “Could he be...... just like Mainbrooke?”

He finally realized why the old man had cursed him out.

To someone like him, making such an oath for the sake of a single woman was probably the greatest insult to that dream of his.

————————————————

Su Chen exited the forest and returned to the lively institute.

After being scolded by the old man, Su Chen’s mind finally lost its last intoxicating thoughts of Qingluo.

After calming down the waves still in his heart, Su Chen walked in the direction of the Moon-Grasping Tower.

Ji Hanyan lived there.

After arriving at the Moon-Grasping Tower, Su Chen saw Ji Hanyan walk out, followed by a white-clothed male. The male was eagerly and politely talking to her.

However, his eagerness was used to feed the dogs. Ji Hanyan completely ignored him, continuing to head forwards in a straight line.

Upon seeing Su Chen arrive, Ji Hanyan’s eyes lit up. Her frosty countenance melted into a smile.

She smiled because she knew the only reason Su Chen would come to find her at this moment was that the new Origin Skill was successfully created.

The smile was an unbelievable phenomenon to the male. It was as if the sun was rising from the west or a river was flowing backwards up a mountain.

“Hanyan, you, you smiled? You think of me in such a way? If I had known, I...”

“You’re so noisy.” Ji Hanyan casually swung her arm, slapping the male across the face and sending him flying. She approached Su Chen and asked, “Success?”

Su Chen nodded.

“Come to my room,” Ji Hanyan immediately said.

She wanted Su Chen to come to her room because there was a practice room there, perfect for demonstrating and displaying a new Origin Skill.

The white-clothed male had just crawled back to his feet. When he heard those words, he almost fell back to the ground.

He watched in disbelief as Ji Hanyan pulled Su Chen along before finally understanding that Ji Hanyan’s smile was not directed at him.

Who was that? How could he make Ji Hanyan smile? There’s virtually no scent of blood coming off of him. He’s a damn commoner!

The white-clothed male couldn’t believe his eyes.

Ji Hanyan slapped him for just a commoner? And she even pulled the commoner into her room?

He couldn’t help himself as he exclaimed, “Stop right there!”.

Su Chen knitted his brows. The other party had most likely misunderstood Ji Hanyan’s intentions.

He was about to open his mouth and explain himself when Ji Hanyan’s sleek eyebrows shot vertical. A haze of frost surrounded her.

Su Chen quickly got the hint that something bad was about to happen.

An instant later, Ji Hanyan turned around and sent a palm attack flying towards the white-clothed male.

The wave of frost violently surged forwards, completely submerging the youth in a flurry of frost.

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