Chapter 1220: Am I The Clown Again?

“You’re aware that the Heaven Champions Ranking is not a ranking, right? It is just a list of the top 100 Sages. It’s not because the White Jade Capital is afraid of offending Sages, but because everyone who made it to this level possess unimaginable power and countless secrets. As a result, the Watcher of Heavens could only display a small portion of their name and strength. This made it impossible to rank anyone.”

“The Watcher of Heavens works much better below the Sage stage, but even so, there are still a small number of people possessing great fate or secrets who are immune to its functions. You, for example, are clearly a man of great fate and secrets. As if that isn’t enough, you can conceal your own fate as well. That is why the Watcher of Heavens has never worked on you.”

“That is why people like me are necessary.”

Ye Qing raised his eyebrows with a hint of surprise. It did not take a genius to figure out that everything Tao Wang just said was a secret of White Jade Capital, and yet the scholar had divulged it all to him without hesitation.

As Tao Wang said, he used to believe that the reason the Heaven Champions Ranking did not rank the Sages it listed was because they were afraid of offending them. There was a saying that went something like this, “There is no number one scholar, and no number two warrior.” Competition naturally begets conflict, and most warriors were extremely competitive. The warriors on the Earth Champions Ranking and the Human Champions Ranking were already beating the shit out of each other just to get a better placement.

While Sages were less inclined to act like mortals, that didn’t mean that they were immune to competitiveness. If White Jade Capital ranked them carelessly, it was very possible that some of them would pay them a visit and destroy the Watcher of Heavens.

Ye Qing wasn’t the only one who thought this. The large majority of the

jianghu

believed in this theory as well.

It turned out he and almost everyone else was wrong, however. It wasn’t that White Jade Capital did not want to rank the Sages. They literally couldn’t!

On a related note, Tao Wang mentioned that his name had never once appeared to the Watcher of Heavens. He reckoned that it was thanks to the Annon Sutra.

As if he could guess Ye Qing’s thoughts, Tao Wang said smilingly, “Do you know why I’m telling you such top secrets, Brother Ye? It’s because you feel like an old friend to me even though this is our first meeting! I would like to befriend you, Brother Ye!”

“Haha... care to guess if I believe your words or not?” Ye Qing asked jokingly.

“Of course you do!” Tao Wang answered. Beside him, Tao Ni muttered under his breath, “Tsk. Top secret my ass. Is there anyone in White Jade Capital who doesn’t know about this?”[1]

As soon as he finished, the student let out a cry of pain and rolled down the hill like a ball.

“So, everyone knows about this, huh?” Ye Qing looked at Tao Wang with a smile that didn’t quite reach the eye.

“Ahem. That’s not important, is it?”

Tao Wang calmly withdrew his hand and continued, “The important point is that I bear no ill will toward you.”

Although the White Jade Capital is the one who created the three rankings, we never involve ourselves in the matters of the

jianghu

or the conflicts of the

wulin

. This is a core principle of our sect and an absolute rule all disciples must abide by. Otherwise, they will die.”

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Ye Qing nodded and said nothing. It was a believable statement. Although White Jade Capital had existed for a long time, and its influence was massive, it was true that they had never participated in the conflicts of the

jianghu

, the affairs of the dynasties and so on. They were more like a neutral observer and recorder who recorded everything that happened in the

jianghu

and the changes of history.

“I’ll take it as you believe me then. In that case, can I accompany you on your journey, Brother Ye?” Tao Wang asked.

“Why would you want to do that?” Ye Qing asked.

Tao Wang answered, “I’m sure you realized that Wang Shan is just the beginning, Brother Ye. An endless stream of challengers will be appearing before you from now on, and even the weakest among them would be an elite on the Earth Champions Ranking. Why would I miss out on the chance to witness such fantastic fights and collect firsthand information?”

“Haha. Sounds great for you. But how does this help me in any way?” Ye Qing said noncommittally.

“Of course it does! For starters, I can help promote you, Brother Ye!”

Tao Wang said excitedly, “Take today for example. I can spread the fact that you had defeated Wang Shan to the entire

jianghu

at first notice. I can make them all know about your incredible achievements. It would both increase your fame and scare away the small fries and nuisances, preventing them from wasting your time. You’ll be killing multiple birds with one stone!”

“Is that so?”

Ye Qing smiled. “You say as if you’re not going to do all these even if I refuse your request.”

“I mean yeah, but—”

Tao Wang tried to answer, but Ye Qing cut him off curtly. “I thought so. I’m going to get all these ‘benefits’ one way or another, so why should I allow you to accompany me?”

Ye Qing shrugged, gave Tao Wang a pat on the shoulder, and said smilingly, “See you in the future, Brother Tao.”

When his voice disappeared, Ye Qing was already gone.

“What a shame...”

Tao Wang sighed after the fact. Clear disappointment was etched on his face.

“Tsk tsk. You got humiliated, didn’t you? You made a mistake, didn’t you? You failed to get any advantage over your target, didn’t you?”

It was at this moment Tao Ni crawled out of a pile of bushes and taunted Tao Wang while removing the grass on his head.

“I know. Weren’t you complaining that your legs ache from all the walking we did? His carriage looked pretty good, and I was hoping to catch a ride with him. Unfortunately, he turned us down, so we could only walk some more.”

Tao Wang sighed deeply. “I have long legs and sturdy thighs, so I’m okay to walk a little longer. You though, your flesh is soft and tender. At this rate, the wind is going to turn you into an old piece of dried meat.”

“You poor thing. You poor thing!”

“Ah... I...” Tao Ni froze when he realized that once again, he was the clown.

......

“He’s an interesting one.”

Inside the bronze carriage, Ye Qing recalled Tao Wang with a raised eyebrow.

Although Tao Wang was interesting and meant him no harm, he ultimately decided that the man was a little too mysterious; so mysterious that even he could not quite see through him. On top of that, he carried too many secrets that he would have to work hard to conceal if he agreed to allow Tao Wang and his student to accompany him, not to mention that there were still many steps in his grand plan that he hadn’t carried out yet. It would be most inconvenient if Tao Wang saw through even some of them.

Finally, Ye Qing could tell that Tao Wang was a sloth who just wanted to take advantage of him. He, Ye Qing, was a busy man right now, and he had neither the time nor the energy to entertain him. That was why he rejected Tao Wang’s request to accompany him.

Of course, he was aware that Tao Wang was going to follow him even if he said no. He could allow that much so long as the scholar did not get in his way.

Ye Qing stopped thinking after that. He sat down on his knees and meditated.

Although he hadn’t used much energy while battling against Wang Shan, he was in a situation where danger could jump him at any moment. Therefore, he should make sure that he was in optimal condition all the time.

Besides that, he wanted to research the Undying True Blood Zhao Changming had left inside his body.

Yes, he wasn’t planning to destroy the Undying True Blood, at least not in the short term. He was planning to research it.

Ye Qing did not know how Zhao Changming was able to create a drop of Undying True Blood at the Great Grandmaster stage, but if the man could do it, there was no reason he wouldn’t be able to accomplish the same feat. If he really succeeded, he would experience a massive boost in power and survivability. There was absolutely no reason not to try this.

That was why he had been studying the Undying True Blood and perceiving its true intent whenever he was free for the past couple days. Once he believed he had gotten something out of his research, he would attempt to create his own Undying True Blood.

The prerequisite to create an Undying True Blood was to possess a powerful physique, a vast quantity of vigor, and an incredible amount of vitality. Since he practiced the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture”, a supreme martial art that was many times greater than Zhao Changming’s “Bronze Sacred Demon Art”, and his physique was greater than Zhao Changming’s, he had already met the prerequisites.

Therefore, all he needed to do was to figure out the method to create and the blood’s true intent to start creating his own Undying True Blood.

Unfortunately, he still hadn’t figured out the way to create the Undying True Blood yet, though he had gleaned something out of it. Given a little more time, Ye Qing was sure that he would find out the answers he sought and create his own Undying True Blood. His strength would grow by leaps and bounds then.

He looked forward to it.

1. A real kid this one. His teacher is doing his best to keep them alive and he ruins that effort without even realizing he’s putting his own life at risk. ☜