Chapter 1: Chu Liang [Start of Book 1]
"Greetings, I'm Chu Liang," the young man seated in the chair introduced himself with a warm, gentle voice and a charming smile.
The young man was dressed in fine clothes, with his sleeves folded into cuffs. He had a slim stature and long hair that draped down from his temples to his shoulders, framing his flawlessly fair face. Accompanied by his clear and lucid eyes, he appeared to have a bit of a babyface.
"Pleased to meet you, Master Chu. This humble servant's name is Yi Nianhong[4]."
A captivating woman with soft features, whose beautifully lush hair was pinned up with a golden hairpiece, was seated opposite him. Her delicate face was reminiscent of peach blossoms—smooth and fair with a blush of pink.
She covered her small smile with her sleeve, allowing only her limpid eyes to be seen.
Between them was a table full of sumptuous dishes with a variety of colors and aromas, and around them were the elegant furnishings of the room. The incandescent glow of candles cast a bright light over the paintings of mountains and rivers on the folding screen, and a red canopy made of muslin hung loosely around the bed.
"Your name is... rather refined, Miss," Chu Liang remarked with a smile.
"Is it your first time visiting a place like this, Master Chu?" Yi Nianhong asked softly while observing his expression.
"Indeed." Chu Liang nodded. "My elders barred me from coming here all this time, insisting that I was still too young…"
Upon hearing that, Yi Nianhong immediately queried, "Master Chu, how old are you?"
"Seventeen," Chu Liang answered.
"Ah. Well, you're not that young anymore. You should have come over earlier to have a taste." Yi Nianhong chuckled. "Once you've experienced it, you'll no longer be a child."
"I… have actually experienced it many times before but only in the vicinity of my home, and they were all… younger…" Chu Liang admitted with an embarrassed smile. "It is indeed my first time meeting someone as mature as you."
"Hehe." The woman's gaze lingered on the young man. "Youngsters like you don't know the pleasures of being with an older woman."
Chu Liang said earnestly, "Please pardon me if I show any signs of inexperience later, Miss. And I hope you… will match my pace. I thank you in advance."
"Rest easy. There's no need to be so polite," Yi Nianhong replied. She gently raised her fair hand, poured a cup of wine, and pushed it toward Chu Liang. "I guarantee that I'll send you to heaven later."
"Um…" Chu Liang blinked in surprise. "Shouldn't I be saying that? I promise to send you to heaven, Miss."
"Hehe," Yi Nianhong giggled and rolled her alluring eyes. "Young fella, you're talking rather boldly. I guess you must be quite confident in your skills."
"My skills… may not be perfect yet, but I can make the most of my tools to compensate for my flaws," Chu Liang said.
"Oh? You even use tools?" Yi Nianghong raised her eyebrows. "I couldn't tell at all from your noble and proper appearance, but you really know how to play, don't you? What did you bring? Take them out, and let me have a look."
"Sure, let's just start early then," Chu Liang replied with a nod.
He reached into a pocket at his waist and pulled out an item, setting it down on the table with a clang.
Surprisingly, it was half a lustrous golden brick that seemed to radiate the splendor of an otherworldly object.
Yi Nianghong's smile disappeared. "I have no idea how to use this... If you want to play games that indulge some bizarre fetish of yours, I want no part in it."
"Hm…" Chu Liang murmured. Then he pointed at something behind the woman and asked, "What's that?"
"What?"
Yi Nianhong turned to look behind her.
The gentle young man suddenly jumped up. He swiftly grabbed the brick from the table and smashed it into the back of the woman's head!
Thud.
A beam of golden light rippled out as the golden brick fell from Chu Liang's hand. Immediately after that, black smoke emerged from the woman's head at the spot where it had just been struck!
"Aaaaaaah!" Yi Nianhong screamed while clutching her head in pain.
"You... You deceived me!" she cried out, taking two steps backward.
The black smoke continued to surge out from her head like a fountain, giving her an intense demonic aura! Her radiance was gone.
She then transformed into an enormous spider around one zhang[1] long! On the spider's abdomen was a human face—the face of Yi Nianhong, the woman who had been standing there just a moment ago. However, her peach-blossom-like beauty had faded, replaced by malevolence and rage.
The spider demon hadn't expected that this young man, who had seemed so harmless to the extent that he wouldn't even hurt a fly, would behave so ruthlessly. The intense wrath that she felt toward him was written all over her face.
Her true form had been revealed with a single hit from that golden brick!
By this point, Chu Liang had already placed the golden brick back in his pocket.
He calmly gazed at the terrifying demonic entity before him and said with a smile, "I didn't lie. This is indeed my first time killing a demon by myself."
"Hieeek!" the giant spider demon shrieked repeatedly. "Where did this brat even come from? I'm going to rip you apart into thousands of pieces!"
"I am a disciple of the Mount Shu Sect. We received a report that there is a demonic entity taking the lives of humans while disguised as a prostitute in a brothel. I've been ordered by the sect to slay it!" Chu Liang stated loudly.
"A disciple of the Mount Shu Sect?" the spider demon uttered.
She immediately felt fearful. The Mount Shu Sect was one of the immortal sects in the Divine Nine[2]. Its reputation had declined somewhat in recent years, but its name still struck fear into the hearts of ordinary demons!
The spider demon opened her mouth and shot out a ball of red light, which unfurled into a large web in midair as it flew toward Chu Liang. Her human face then turned toward the door. She focused her power in her eight legs and scuttled toward the exit with the intention to flee.
However, the ruse she'd used in an attempt to hinder her enemy had failed.
Chu Liang swiftly dodged the spiderweb. He extended his left hand with just his index and middle fingers pointing forward.
Then he shouted clearly, "Sword Manipulation Technique, activate!"
The bracelet on his left wrist glimmered splendidly before turning into a beam of light, shooting toward the spider demon. Lastly, the beam of light transformed into a sword!
Swoosh!
It was just one sword, but the spider demon, with its massive body, was unable to avoid Chu Liang's attack. The sword pierced the spider demon.
"Aaah!"
The enormous spider demon let out a blood-curdling scream and fell, crashing noisily through the floor to the ground floor of the building. She smashed into the floor as she landed, revealing the countless bones she'd hidden beneath the floorboards. It was clear that the spider demon had taken many lives here.
A ball of golden light that ordinary people couldn't see flew out of the demon's corpse and into Chu Liang.
Satisfied, he withdrew his sword, and it transformed back into a bracelet on his wrist.
As the dust settled, Chu Liang finally let out a breath of relief.
This had indeed been Chu Liang's first time… descending Mount Shu alone for a demon extermination mission. Despite his calm expression, he had been quite nervous.
The spider demon hadn't had a high cultivation level, but it had been skilled in camouflage. The demon had assumed a human form, making it difficult to distinguish the demon from humans. Without the accurate information he'd been provided and his enchanted artifact, it was likely that Chu Liang would not have been able to deal with it so easily.
…
The battle was over, but Chu Liang didn't rush to leave. Instead, he sat down and closed his eyes in meditation.
His consciousness sank and entered a dark space. It was empty except for a lofty white pagoda up ahead.
The pagoda was majestic and imposing; it was nine stories tall and had a hexagonal structure. It was covered with complex and cryptic inscriptions and drawings, giving off the stateliness of an ancient era long passed.
Chu Liang entered the White Pagoda and found that it was filled with cells fenced off with vertical black iron bars. The pagoda was essentially a prison! He walked past cell after cell; they never seemed to come to an end. However, the cells were all empty… except for one.
Inside that cell was a golden phantom of what seemed to be a large spider.
The cell had no door, only a wall with the word "Refine" engraved on it in red. Chu Liang stepped forward and touched it gently.
Booom!
There was a burst of red light, and the golden phantom disappeared.
A ball of white light appeared in its place and floated out of the cell.
Every time Chu Liang slayed a demon, a phantom of the demon would appear in this pagoda. He could obtain valuable items by refining these phantoms. They were basically rewards for his efforts in exterminating demonic entities.
Chu Liang reached out and caught the ball of white light. Its radiance soon faded, leaving behind a bundle of red rope in his hand. He felt something change inside him.
[Demon-Binding Rope: When used against an enemy, foundational qi is required to activate the Demon-Binding Rope. Then the rope will tightly bind the enemy with the tortoise-shell bondage method[3]. It incapacitates the enemy in combat as well as breaks down their mental defenses and even reveals hidden personalities. This makes the Demon-Binding Rope incredibly powerful.]
1. Approx. 3.3 meters ☜
2. It's a ranking. There are nine top sects referred to the Divine Nine. ☜
3. Apparently it's bdsm… Enough said, rofl. ☜
4. A variety of tree peony (a flower). ☜
GLTD Alternate Universe's ThoughtsTranslator: LD
Book 1: The Sea of Clouds Over Mount Shu
GT: This novel is a joke. A good joke.
LD: A joke that leads to another joke. And another. And another. And then you realise you'd read the set-up for that joke like twenty chapters ago.
We hope you enjoy the novel as much as we do!
Come hang out with us on Discord. Our channel name starts with "yns".Slayyyyyyy~
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