Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

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Back then, he was the one who had nearly destroyed the despot of this place.
If he had just been addicted to massacring and doing whatever he wanted, the sects would not have bothered to do anything about him.
As long as he wasn’t targeting them, they couldn’t care less.
Unfortunately, the invincible power he had only gave him even more ambitious dreams – he wanted to destroy this world.

That desire alone was enough to rile up all the sects.

“In any case, his appearance caused martial artists like you to be opposed by the rules of this universe.
This is an irrefutable truth.
Why else would you have allowed your children to enter one of our sects in order to cultivate the Truth and seek the Way?” The disciplinarian from Fallen Star Sect had his eyes half closed as he continued in a neutral tone, “The Way of Martial Arts is on the decline right now and martial artists have been facing a lot of difficulties.
I believe you would know a lot better about this situation than we do.”

A few moments after hearing those words, Nan Yuntian suddenly withdrew his fury and sat down again rather indignantly.
His voice was solemn as he said, “While that is true, I still find it difficult to accept.”

Disciplinarian Zhang looked at Nan Yuntian’s somewhat lonesome figure and sighed quietly as he looked up at the sky, then kept away his Ghost Controlling Flag.
He said, “Let’s get down to business properly.
With regard to Gu Suihan, I don’t think it’s as simple as the ship getting robbed, right?”

“And what else do you think this entails?” Nan Yuntian looked up and scoffed, “It’s been a few centuries since the royal court has seen such an audacious figure.
A few hundred court officials died from that incident.
Did you think that this little bit of gold is enough to draw the attention of the royal court?” Nan Yuntian’s eyes reddened as his frosty gaze passed over Gu Suihan.
Then he continued, “What the royal court is concerned about is that someone actually challenged their authority in public.
If they don’t make a thorough investigation, more such acts of rebellion will occur in the future.”

“That wouldn’t be the real reason why your superiors are so angry.” Disciplinarian Zhang made a face.
He clearly didn’t have any regard for the authority Nan Yuntian was talking about. It must have been something more important.
Something related to your superiors.

He didn’t utter the last bit.
To him, as long as it was something that was bad for the martial artists, cultivators like himself would lend their support.
After all, nobody wanted what happened back then to happen again.

As he thought about these things, Disciplinarian Zhang suddenly glanced at Gu Suihan standing behind him with a glint in his eyes.

Perhaps it was because of the attitude of the sects and their disdain for martial artists, but Nan Yuntian clearly realized that he wasn’t going to be able to arrest the person involved in this case.
His heart slowly calmed back down, but his expression remained as nasty as ever.

Several hours later…

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All the remaining young men and women either chose or were allocated to the various sects.
The most shocking part was that Nan Xingyuan ended up standing among the new disciples of the Seven Kill Sect, despite looking terribly unhappy about it.

“The thing you’re holding onto is like a hot potato in your hands.
If you don’t hand it over now, you will end up suffering from dire consequences beyond your imagination,” Nan Xingyuan whispered into Gu Suihan’s ear as she glared fiercely at him.

Perhaps Gu Suihan had finally gotten annoyed with her.
His arm suddenly shot out and grabbed hold of her slim neck.
She stared back at him in shock as he quietly said to her, “Did you think your father would be able to protect you for the rest of your life?”

His voice was very soft, but very steady.
Just like the hand around her neck.

“You…you wouldn’t dare!” Nan Xingyuan squeezed these words out even though she was about to choke and stared at Gu Suihan with a mocking look in her eyes.

Gu Suihan looked down as if he was thinking about this, then calmly said to her, “I wouldn’t dare to.” Before Nan Xingyuan could say anything, he went on, “But how can you be sure that I will cooperate with any of you?”

His expression was still as calm and collected as always, but Nan Xingyuan could see contempt in his slightly upturned lips and an aloofness in his eyes that never seemed to disappear.

“If you don’t hand it over, you will die.
The family you once belonged to will also be implicated.”

Nan Xingyuan suddenly felt fearful, because she realized that Gu Suihan’s expression had never changed at all.
His expression seemed…like a mask you could buy off the street3, just that it was a little less stiff.

 

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Three disasters, Six afflictions and Heavenly Tribulation.
Translated from: 仙家所谓的三灾六难
Three disasters
Disaster from Heaven: TLDR an exam set by the heavens to test the cultivator’s level and ability.
Might involve a case where the cultivator is trapped in some formation and has to find a way out.
Disaster from Earth: TLDR the cultivator does something that causes normal humans to try and kill him.
Disaster from humans: TLDR this time, it’s the cultivator’s disciple(s) who get him into hot soup.
Six afflictions
Gold affliction: basically injured by something made of metal
Earth affliction: basically you might be a victim of an earthquake or landslide or fall into a dried up well etc, particularly when you try to hide yourself in a cave to cultivate by yourself.
Water affliction: basically you get stuck somewhere with water or inside water itself.
Wood affliction: basically you get stuck under a tree or worse, IN a tree.
Fire affliction: basically someone tries to set you on fire (especially when you’re in that cave cultivating) or lightning tries to strike you.
Mental affliction: basically when you’re trying to cultivate or meditate, you get distracted or affected by some external force and you end up being unable to snap out of your meditation mode or you just go completely insane or you suffer internal injuries.
Heavenly Tribulations
Wuxia Xianxia Xuanhuan Terms
in some novels, this refers to a trial encountered by cultivators at key points in their cultivation, which they must resist and ultimately transcend.
Because immortal cultivation (generally) goes against the Will of Heaven, the Heavens will send down tribulations to oppress high-level cultivators who make progress towards Immortality, often right when they enter a new cultivation stage.
This typically takes the form of a lightning storm, with extraordinarily powerful bolts of lightning raining down from the Heavens to strike at the cultivator.
It is said that to become an immortal you must go through this super combo of disasters, afflictions and tribulations.
‘Tis not easy to be cultivator.
If it was, then we wouldn’t need MCs reborn with all their memories, a combination of souls, along with those ‘gold finger’ cheats, systems and other superpowers. /rant↩ Squishy persimmon = Pushover.
A metaphor for a pushover or someone who is easily bullied is 软柿子, or literally soft persimmon, which I think is very cute.
Also, squishy persimmons are yummy.↩ Mask bought off the streets.
(Not sure if legit but according to all the dramas I’ve watched) These are masks sold by random street stalls/stalls at a festival of sorts that are usually meant for children and cover the entire face.↩