Chapter 205 – Not Long More

“Damn it! Someday, I’ll stand at the top of the world and look down on the rest of you!” Li Yu sat in a room in a guesthouse somewhere within Fengyang. His expression was hateful as he glared straight at a simple token on the table with rough edges.

By its side lay three paper paintings that were the size of his palm. One was of Gu Suihan, one was of Fang Rou, and the last one was of his second brother, Li Qingyuan. Tiny words were inscribed on each sheet, carefully detailing any information he had about each person.

He knew that none of this was really Gu Suihan’s fault at all. At the end of the day, it was all because he had secretly hoped to just sit by the sidelines and watch his family and Gu Suihan fight it out and injure each other. That way, he would be able to stay alive. He might even be able to get rid of that marriage of convenience he hated so much. Then he wouldn’t have to suffer the mocking and humiliation from others.

He couldn’t cultivate, so the only thing he could do to survive was to drag all those lofty cultivators down from their place and push them into a circumstance as dire as his own.

But Li Yu’s subconscious mind avoided thinking about it this way. He just put all the blame on Li Qingyuan and Gu Suihan. He felt that if Gu Suihan hadn’t suddenly walked in and explained everything, he might have succeeded in his original plan. If Li Qingyuan hadn’t made that suggestion to give Fang Rou to Gu Suihan as a maid, this wouldn’t have happened to her.

To him, death was a release.

Unfortunately, the fates decided to play a trick on him. By some incredible coincidence, he gained the help of an Esteemed One and even managed to start his cultivation journey as a result. It was as though he was a drowning person who saw that one strand of straw sticking out that could save him. It gave him hope, even though this waver of hope was so small and insignificant.

“If you really want to be able to stand proud and rescue your Rou’er and even take revenge against your Second Brother, then getting into the Human Ranking of the Fengyang Clan Ranking will not be enough. Only pathetic ants like yourself would put their sights on the Human Ranking. The true middle class of Fengyang is to be at the Origin Core stage. Foundation Establishment? That’s for babies,” a calm and indifferent voice suddenly resounded from within the ring and echoed inside Li Yu’s heart, causing him to snap out of his daze instantly.

Li Yu’s heart shuddered, and was a little unconfident as he asked, “ Esteemed one, it’s only taken me a few years for me to get to Foundation Establishment, which is already an insane improvement on my part. You think…I could get to Origin Core within the next two years?“

“Don’t be stupid. Even if you have the highest level of giftedness, you won’t be able to hit Origin Core even after cultivating for a few decades. It’s not a matter of how talented you are but how much you’ve been through. You have to break through demonic barriers, pass through three tribulations, and six disasters and allow a heavenly tribulation to quench your body before you can go to the next step of forming your core and reaching Origin Core, then moving onto Nascent Change. Is there a hole in your brain? How dare you even dream of this? Look at yourself in the mirror before deciding if you’re even capable of something like that…seriously, the ignorant have no fear.” Before Li Yu could even finish his sentence, the mocking from the Esteemed One hit him. The voice was as calm and emotionless as before, but the harsh and nasty words made Li Yu angry.

It took Li Yu a few moments of silence to calm himself down and face reality. He asked respectfully, “Esteemed One, what else can I do?”

“Get into…the Earth Ranking.”

The ring suddenly sparkled brightly. Its blood-red color gleamed in a mesmerizing manner like it was a red ruby.

Li Yu was in shock. His tongue was tied, and his voice trembled, “Wh…what?!”

It wasn’t his fault for reacting this way. After all, the difference between Foundation Establishment and Origin Core was as much as the heaven was from the earth.

At the former stage, one had just changed the nature of your body so that one no longer had the physical needs from before. If you were a little more talented, you could use the special characteristics of your cultivation technique to sort of refine some qi for yourself to use. That amount of qi wasn’t enough to do much, either.

But at the latter stage, you could break through demonic barriers, understand the heart of the Way, refine fiendish qi, and more. Those who were especially talented might even have understood the nature of the Way, or the laws of nature.

The difference between the two was so great. How could they be compared? How could Li Yu possibly defeat someone in the latter category? Unless, as mentioned before, you had a rich family that could supply you with enough weapons and other items to bury the opponent alive literally, there was no other way but to die trying.

Of course, there was a reason why Gu Suihan had been so formidable all this time. No matter what his actual stage of cultivation was, his powerful spirit sat within his consciousness. Also, his opponents were always concerned with repercussions and dared not go all out in their attacks on him. He wasn’t someone who didn’t care about his physical body and forcibly used the laws of nature to fight his enemies. As long as he and his opponents exchanged equal blows, he would be able to hold up against a few moves.

If that were not possible, then even if you gave Gu Suihan a hundred times more courage, he wouldn’t dare to use his Foundation Establishment or even his Origin Core body to fight those Nascent Change or Divine Soul cultivators like that. That wouldn’t be bravery. That would be stupidity.

“But you just said…” Li Yu snapped out of his daze and tried to argue back.

Before he could finish his sentence, the Esteemed One cut him off, “Are you brainless? Of course you wouldn’t be able to kill an Origin Core cultivator by yourself. But if you add myself into the equation…”

This time, Li Yu got it. His heart palpitated with excitement. This Esteemed One was a good guy, alright. Someone on his side.

“Don’t get too smug now. I can only use my spiritual sense to attack the opponent twice or thrice. That’s enough time to stop any moves he’s launched on you. But the rest still depends on you.”

As if he were doing it on purpose, the Esteemed One’s words were like a huge tub of cold water pouring down on Li Yu’s excited heart.

Li Yu slumped his shoulders again and looked depressed.

The Esteemed One consoled him, “Well, you don’t have to get into the Earth Ranking. The most important part is to make sure that everyone watching notices your potential. Otherwise, even if you get into the Human Ranking, at best you’d be considered a piece of trash who happened to get lucky. So, the most important part isn’t the result but the process. You’ve got to exchange some blows with your opponent and make the fight exciting. That way, the spectators will throw away your ‘piece of trash’ label and call you a genius instead.”

“You’re right. The process is the most important. I have to display a fighting ability that’s no lesser than an Origin Core cultivator.” Li Yu was enlightened now. He clenched his fists tightly and said with determination, “I’ve got to succeed. I’m the main lead. I’m a genius. I’ll definitely rise to the top!”

Meanwhile, Gu Suihan’s relaxed expression as he sat inside the bookstore suddenly froze, then became a little puzzled. “There’s something…really chuuni about this declaration. He hasn’t even gotten started and he’s already made conclusions about it? Does he really think he’s an MC now?”

“Young Master, did you say something?” asked Lihua curiously as she leaned over.

“Nothing. I was just wondering when this bookshop will finally close a deal…” said Gu Suihan flippantly with a chuckle as he pinched her little cheeks.

Lihua wriggled unhappily out of his grip and pouted. “Young Master, the books that we sell are a bunch of hearsay and travel logs that you can find in any street corner. The few books that are useful can be found in any bookshop too. Besides, you’ve set the prices so high. Who would buy these books?”

Gu Suihan merely smiled at her complaints and said quietly, “I have a feeling that it won’t take long for some idiot to walk into this trap.”

“Tsk, you’ve said that for so many years now.” Lihua wasn’t convinced and even rolled her eyes at Gu Suihan.

“It won’t be long now, just another…year.”

After that, Gu Suihan didn’t speak anymore. He pulled her little body into his arms, then looked out thoughtfully as he smiled in silence.

Late at night, somewhere in the Wang family residence.

“Father, I went to test the waters with that man earlier today, but something happened and my efforts went down the drain,” said Wang Chunyang with some dismay as he sat politely at a table.

“Why did it fail? Why, what happened?” Sitting across him was a middle aged man with stereotypical strong features and an authoritative look. He frowned and said in a deep voice, “Did you overdo it?”

He was a little upset. That young man was an Origin Core cultivator whom nobody knew how formidable he was, and worse, nobody knew where he had appeared from. He wanted Wang Chunyang to test the waters because Wang Chunyang grew up with Li Yu, Fang Rou and their peers. He wanted to know how close Gu Suihan was to the Li family. But this attempt had failed.

“Father, perhaps we have achieved our aim, though. When I made fun of Fang Rou, that young man just looked on like he was watching a show and didn’t have any intention of standing up for Fang Rou at all. But…something else happened after that.” Wang Chunyang’s expression fell a little when he recalled what happened earlier that day.

“Something else happened?” repeated the middle aged man. He tapped the side of his teacup with a crisp clinking sound as he motioned to Wang Chunyang to continue with his story.

“Li Yu appeared. We exchanged blows and I suffered a small loss.”

Wang Chunyang didn’t try to blame it on reasons like the layout of the restaurant or that he had underestimated his opponent. He had lost, fair and square. There was no need to lie to himself. He drank a mouthful of tea, then recounted what happened slowly without hiding or changing any of the details.

“You call that a small loss?” The older man furrowed his brows as the look in his eyes became more and more serious. “That piece of trash must have come across some opportunity out there and I don’t think it has anything to do with Mr. Gu. Otherwise, Fang Rou wouldn’t have been so scared that she didn’t dare to utter a single word. Based on earlier events, what happened between Mr. Gu and the Li family was nothing more than a transaction. In other words, it was the Li family who had hoped to use Fang Rou to get close to Mr. Gu. It wasn’t Mr. Gu’s idea at all.”

Once the situation was analyzed this way, the two men exchanged glances and their expressions relaxed. The grim atmosphere around them disappeared immediately.

As for Li Yu…well, nobody even gave him a second thought. The restaurant was very small, so it was very hard for Wang Chunyang to display what he was capable of in the first place. Besides, they had merely exchanged a few blows. If they had to fight until one of them died, it was hard to say who would be the last one standing.

Li Yu was just someone who happened to get lucky. That was how both of them thought of Li Yu.