TL: Comes from Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Partially borrowed from Lionel Giles’ translation.
Afterwards, Han Anjun watched on like he was appreciating a classic battle. Li Qingshan’s army was nowhere near as powerful as his opponent’s. He used raids to the flank of the opponent in the beginning before confronting the enemy head on, finally feigning defeat and baiting the enemy into a land of no return. The three hundred sacrificial soldiers rushed out, straight into the enemy general’s tent, claiming the general’s head. He was unable to express his praise for how refined the calculations were.
Li Qingshan said politely, “Yes, general.” Although Han Anjun’s cultivation was not the highest among the school masters, he believed the one standing before him would be the one to survive to the very end if a chaotic battle really did erupt among them.
Han Anjun declared loudly, “This battle has ended! Li Qingshan wins!”
Clang!
The giant lumberman Mu Kui struck the bronze gong, declaring the end to the battle.
Cheers rang out from the spectating platforms as they chanted Li Qingshan’s name. Even quite a few confucian disciples chanted along.
This was not due to Li Qingshan alone. During the few months Chu Tian had spent in the academy, he had flirted around with female cultivators as he ordered male cultivators around. Every second word he spat out was either genius or talent, basically mocking them as hard as he could. However, they were unable to do anything to him. They had all erupted with their resentment with this opportunity.
Hao Pingyang raised his arms and called out. He cheered the loudest. Zhang Lanqing held his hands emotionally, while He Yishi had become ashen in the corner.
The two girls who always followed Chu Tian around rushed over to his side and sobbed.
“Big brother Tian! What has happened to you, big brother Tian?”
“I don’t accept it! I don’t accept it! You despicable cheat! I haven’t lost! I haven’t lost!” Chu Tian jerked awake violently. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared right at Li Qingshan, as if he wanted to stand up and fight him again.
He utterly refused to accept this outcome. He still had not used that yet. He still had powerful trump cards he had yet to use. As long as he unleashed just one of them, Li Qingshan would never be his opponent.
On one hand, he was reluctant to expose this before so many people, while on the other hand, he was confident. He believed that he could finish off Li Qingshan with techniques alone, but never did he think that the situation would reverse so swiftly and quickly.
He was like a general who had been slain by the sacrificial soldiers still muttering about the army of a hundred thousand strong he had yet to mobilise, but his head had already been tossed high into the air, dying a regretful death.
“Yeah. Big brother Tian, you haven’t lost.”
“No, you’ve lost!” Qian Rongzhi cut her off.
“Rongzhi, you!” Chu Tian was stunned. Recently, he had shown plenty of goodwill towards Qian Rongzhi. She was unlike the other female cultivators too, who expressed great disgust towards his womanising behaviour. He thought they were friends already.
“Qian Rongzhi, you bitch!” One of the girls swore.
Qian Rongzhi ignored them. She crouched down and held Chu Tian’s hand. Her gaze was filled with motherly, gentle sympathy, as if she felt bad for him from the bottom of her heart. She said softly, “Little Tian, everyone loses. It doesn’t matter if you lose once as long as you can stand up again. You’d better get some rest first!”
Chu Tian felt warmth flood the bottom of his heart. Her gaze was so gentle, as if it could comfort any and all pain within a person’s heart. There was no mockery or contempt, only sympathy.
At that moment, she seemed like the most beautiful woman in his eyes.
PS: No scamping on labour, no scalping on content, no watering down. A total of nine thousand characters, a mortal defeats a celestial. It’s a good omen. For the wild ambition of painting a dragon, I need to work hard this month. May the lords lend me the strength as we advance together.
Chapter 313: Trudging Back Through the Snow | Legend of the Great Sage
Liu Zhangqing frowned. Why would a disciple of legalism know the arts of charm? However, he saw how she was friends with Chu Tian, and she was indeed comforting Chu Tian’s mind, so he did not interfere.
Qian Rongzhi used this opportunity while Chu Tian was mentally shaken up to cast a firm shadow in his heart.
Of course, it was not something like a seed of suggestion. She had no idea how to plant something like that, and even if she did, she would never do it before so many school leaders.
Her arts of charm were completely harmless. At most, it would just make Chu Tian develop a good impression and feeling of love towards her, but that was enough. Compared to something as coarse and inferior as seeds of suggestion, this suited her better.
She knew Chu Tian was hiding something, something that he had not even told the two girls beside him about. However, under her verbal probings, she learned the existence of this object. Just what was it that could make the arrogant, conceited Chu Tian behave so cautiously?
No matter what it was, she had to obtain it. If she could not manage that, then she would still have a powerful pawn under her thumb. Even in the worst-case scenario, he would be a human-shaped pill, though his true qi of the five elements might be rather difficult to digest.
Chu Tian recovered his fighting will. He stared at Li Qingshan with pure hatred. “Li Qingshan, you got lucky this time. I won’t spare you. I’ve said before that if I want to kill you, no one can stop me.”
Li Qingshan slighted him casually. “You’re welcome to try at any time.”
Chu Tian’s mind eased up, and he fell into a slumber. Out of the two girls beside him, the older one said to Qian Rongzhi, “Sorry, big sister Qian. We shouldn’t have said that to you.”
Qian Rongzhi sighed gently. “I can understand what you’re feeling. Take good care of him.”
Li Qingshan had no idea why she was doing this, but he still took pity on Chu Tian. I hope you recover before this venomous snake swallows you. I still want to make some more spiritual stones off you!
Chu Tian was taken to Benevolence island by the school of Medicine’s leader. In the blink of an eye, the various school leaders and primary disciples had all vanished.
“Qingshan, please don’t hold a grudge against my school of Confucianism. This battle was not necessarily a bad thing for Chu Tian. It’s a blessing that the academy has a genius like you. There will be a lot of competitions of swordsmanship on Great Virtue island in the near future, so you’re welcome to participate too. Your sword is very interesting.” Liu Zhangqing tossed that out and left, demonstrating his extraordinary demeanour.
At this moment, Hua Chengzan arrived before Li Qingshan. “Where’s your wolf tablet?”
Li Qingshan was taken aback. Did Wang Pushi really find him so repulsive that he wanted to expel him from the Hawkwolf Guard? However, he did not say anything, simply taking out his wolf tablet and handing it to Hua Chengzan.
Hua Chengzan accepted it before passing a scarlet bronze wolf tablet back to him. The shiny, red wolf tablet was extremely detailed, such that he could even make out the eyelashes on the wolf. It was rather hefty as he held it in his hand.
Li Qingshan asked, “What’s this?”
Hua Chengzan said, “Congratulations, you’ve been promoted. Old Wang told me to give you this. In the future, if you want to investigate anything or make some spiritual stones, you’re welcome to go take a look at the Hawkwolf Guard of Clear River city.”
Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 301-Chapter 400)
Dream Teller's books
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 1-Chapter 100)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 101-Chapter 200)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 201-Chapter 300)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 401-Chapter 500)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 501-Chapter 600)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 601-Chapter 700)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 701-Chapter 833)