Want to Ascend? Then Fall in Love

Chapter 16 – Jealous?

Translated by juurensha

Edited by Noks and moon

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Enter the same sect?

Shen Qingxian increasingly felt that the jade scroll was mentally disabled. 

He and Gu Jianshen came from the same sect, and in terms of seniority, Gu Jianshen had to call him Shishu. They were originally part of the same sect, so why would they need to join the same sect again?

The jade scroll didn’t even get a chance to breathe before it had to quickly burst out another line of words: “Addendum: The past does not count, only the present does!”

Shen Qingxian: “……”

In fear that the big boss wouldn’t understand, the jade scroll hurriedly materialized a third line: “Join the same sect, live in the same dorm, do…”

Before it could finish this sentence, the jade scroll found itself out of breath. 

Stupid….

Shen Qingxian wondered how the Great Dao could have assigned such a fool to aid him in repairing the heavenly ladder.

Forget it, for the sake of the heavenly ladder, he wouldn’t fuss over it. 

Joining a sect wasn’t difficult; there were so many sects all over the world, and no one could stop him from entering whichever one he wanted to join. The problem here was how to enter the same sect as Gu Jianshen.

This guy was the emperor of the Heart Domain, would he be willing to enter a heavenly dao sect?

After they exited the Secret Land of the Setting Moon, they discovered that many sects were recruiting disciples outside.

This was also a great advantage of braving the Secret Land of the Setting Moon; this secret realm had only one exit, and as long as you could walk out of this exit, it meant that you had traversed the entire secret realm and possessed a certain amount of strength and luck.

In order to draw in excellent recruits, some small sects stationed disciples at the exit all year round, in the hope of harvesting some outstanding talents.

Before leaving, Shen Qingxian asked Su Yu, “What plans do you have for the future?”

Su Yu said, “I want to continue cultivating!”

Shen Qingxian chimed in, “If you go back to Wanxiu Mountain, His Lordship will help arrange it for you.”

Su Yu shook his head and refused, “Since His Honorable Lordship let me go down the mountain, he wants me to train on my own. How can I go back to see him before achieving anything?”

Shen Qingxian then said, “Then you should go meet Zeng Ziliang.”

Su Yu hurriedly said, “It’s not appropriate. Lord Zeng will certainly provide me with the best training environment and resources, but that won’t work…”

Over the past few days in the Secret Land of the Setting Moon, Su Yu had come to realize the gap between himself and others.

Not in qualifications nor resources, but in experience.

The cultivation path was long, and just being hot-blooded once wasn’t enough for you to reach the great dao. 

Shen Qingxian nodded slightly and agreed.

Su Yu then asked him, “Zhao Yan, are you going to go back to your clan with Qingshen-dage?”

Right… Gu Jianshen had mentioned that they were from the same green willow clan, and that he had come to pick up the holy son of that clan.

Before Gu Jianshen could speak, Shen Qingxian said first, “I’m not going back.”

Su Yu blinked. “What?”

Shen Qingxian solemnly spoke nonsense, “If I go back to my clan, I will just be regarded as that clan’s holy son, and the elders will definitely give me the best of everything. As you said, the path of cultivation is not so simple. By living in a comfortable environment, even if your cultivation reaches a high level, it will be difficult to achieve great success in the future.”

Su Yu looked at Gu Jianshen worriedly. “But…”

Shen Qingxian also looked at Gu Jianshen. He raised his head, an expression of stubbornness set on his small face, but with a slight glimpse of hope in his water-colored eyes. “Qingshen, we won’t go back, okay?”

Forget Gu Jianshen, even Su Yu’s heart trembled fiercely at this: God, he was so….so cute!

Gu Jianshen was obviously left stunned, following which, his eyes seemed to ripple. His manner grew warm and respectful as he bowed and saluted him, while affirming, “As His Holiness wills.”

Shen Qingxian’s heart let out a “heh heh,” but his expression was full of trust. “Thank you, Qingshen-dage.”

As soon as he called him that, Gu Jianshen’s blue eyes flashed red for a second. 

But since his head was bowed low, he wasn’t exposed.

Shen Qingxian had been so shocked by his own actions to the point that he now felt crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, and he just didn’t want to say anything else. 

Su Yu was the happiest one amongst them all. It was so great that they could all continue to be together!

As soon as they came out of the Secret Land of the Setting Moon, a sage-like person appeared in front of them. In fact, it was a cultivator who had not yet built his foundation that had come forward. “Tianwu Peak has a wide range of disciples, I wonder if the three of you are interested in coming and taking a look?”

Su Yu was curious, but a graceful woman turned up at the other side. She said, “Little Daoist friends, you have excellent aptitudes. Our Myriad Garden is the best choice for you.”

The sage-like taoist’s expression immediately collapsed. “Little Daoist friends, don’t be confused by evil people. That Myriad Garden practices the Heart Domain’s demonic cultivation!”

The woman also proudly shouldered this title. “My Heart Domain’s spiritual practice is to feel no shame during self-examination,  not like you pseudo-Daoists would understand!”

The Daoist priest exploded at this. “To feel no shame after self-reflection? Killing people as if they were hemp, wantonly indulging in lust, performing all this absurdity, and you still dare to say you have no shame?”

The woman argued righteously, “Why should I be ashamed to kill the person who should be killed and do what my heart wants?”

Forget about recruiting disciples, the two of them had long started quarreling. 

Su Yu had black lines covering his face as he went around them, and he even complained, “So immature.”

Shen Qingxian and Gu Jianshen realized what a critical hit was at the same time. 

Cough, cough… That wasn’t it, disciples quarreling was a matter that solely involved the disciples. The two of them, on the other hand, were very friendly, they had even hugged each other to sleep for two nights straight. 

As for the first night, which could be called the night the twin heavenly surges of fire and ice erupted from the childish grandmasters, well, both big bosses selectively chose to forget that.

Su Yu was still very observant. He soon realized that those who were working hard and calling out to people were mostly small sects that couldn’t get people to join them; regular sects that had a system going for them all waited for people to visit them.

For example, the Meridian Temple in front of them had a dignified atmosphere, both solemn and reserved. More importantly, the amount of people lining up to sign up was so long that they couldn’t see the end of it. 

Su Yu’s eyes lit up, and he said, “Let’s go there and have a look ba!”

Shen Qingxian’s eyebrows jumped up.

If he remembered correctly, Meridian Temple was the sect that Ye Zhan was in charge of. 

He had a very strong impression of this disciple’s disciple.

Mainly because Ye Zhan was an utterly devoted old fan of His Lordship, and would get terribly excited every time he saw Shen Qingxian. He was older now, so his enthusiasm was a bit better, but Shen Qingxian remembered that when back he had first become a sect leader, Shen Qingxian had met him in person. After that guy went back, he hid in his house for seven days and nights.

Chi Yangzi, Ye Zhan’s shizun, became worried about him and went to kick his door open. Yet, as a result, he saw that this guy was crying so much that his eyes had swollen.

Chi Yangzi: “What are you doing?”

Ye Zhan sobbed out, “Getting to see His Lordship, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude!”

At that point, his shizun even wanted to drive this fool out of his sect. 

Chi Yangzi told this to his shizun, that is, Shen Qingxian, as a joke, and thus he remembered this child.

At least when it came to something like crying for seven days and seven nights, it wouldn’t be too good to forget something like that. 

Shen Qingxian’s initial idea was to enter a sect without his grand-disciples, great grand-disciples, or great great grand-disciples, so that he wouldn’t have to worry about being recognized, thus saving on a lot of trouble.

But after looking at those two childish brats quarreling with each other, Shen Qingxian thought it was better to not wrong himself. At least Meridian Temple looked like something worthwhile.

Although the line was very long, because they were only registering their names, it progressed forward very fast. Their turn came after not too long. 

Su Yu was in front. He was actually quite nervous, standing perfectly straight, his big eyes shining. 

The cultivator sitting in front asked him a few questions, scribbled some notes, and said, “Please wait for the examination at the foot of Meridian Mountain tomorrow.”

Su Yu quickly agreed. 

Shen Qingxian and Gu Jianshen also went through the same process, but that person sitting in front glanced at Gu Jianshen several times.

It wasn’t that Gu Jianshen had been exposed, but that he was too eye-catching. And it wasn’t just this cultivator, when they were waiting in line, a whole pile of people kept sneaking glances at him non-stop. 

Women looking at him was one thing, but there was also a whole bunch of men who couldn’t tear their gaze away….

When they were leaving, Shen Qingxian whispered from beside him, “Your Majesty has a beautiful appearance and attracts many people’s pity.”

Using all his words to describe Gu Jianshen like a woman, this could also be considered as Lord Lianhua’s sole privilege. 

Gu Jianshen challenged him in turn, “Jealous?”

Shen Qingxian: “…..”

Gu Jianshen whispered back slowly, “Don’t worry, there is only Shishu in Jianshen’s eyes.”

Shen Qingxian was left numb all over. Of course, he was shocked!

That night, they rested at the foot of Meridian Mountain.

Although there was an assessment tomorrow, there was nothing to be nervous about. This entry-level assessment consisted of nothing more than looking at a person’s natural aptitude.

There were definitely no problems with Su Yu’s natural aptitude. 

And how could Shen Qingxian and Gu Jianshen worry about such a matter? They were still caught in whispering to each other.

Gu Jianshen asked Shen Qingxian, “Your Lordship isn’t afraid that I will destroy Meridian Temple?”

Meridian Temple was one of the six sects of the heavenly dao, and it could basically be called its thigh. For Gu Jianshen, this emperor of the Heart Domain, to sneak into this kind of place could be called an extremely threatening act.

Shen Qingxian glanced at him. “Can you destroy it?” The implication was: You’re acting as if I’m not here ah?

Gu Jianshen liked him like this, and he couldn’t help but tease him, “Naturally, I am reluctant to destroy a place where Shishu is.”

Shen Qingxian: Heh heh…

Endure it, it’s all for the sake of moving bricks. 

The night passed quickly, and the next day they all crowded at the foot of Meridian Mountain.

The assessment was really not difficult. First, climb the stairs carved into the mountain while bearing the spiritual pressure,  then they would then check everyone’s spiritual field. 

Climbing the mountain stairs was akin to a spring outing for these three. They finished the task while chatting and laughing, while the number of people who had started climbing with them had dropped to two-thirds of its initial amount. 

The spiritual pressure felt like tickles, and it ended before the two big bosses could really feel anything. Even Su Yu, at this point, had a completely pale face and was drenched in sweat, while the other candidates’ legs had gone so soft that they were almost kneeling.

Finally, it was time to look at their spiritual fields. 

In fact, the real purpose of this set of assessments was to facilitate the process for this last test.

Spiritual fields were an innate attribute; the larger it was in scale, the more spiritual power could be stored, and cultivating would then also be twice as effective with just half the power. 

How to judge the size of a spiritual field? The simplest way was to use it up. 

Whether it was climbing the heavenly stairs or bearing the spiritual pressure, it involved you actually using up your spiritual field the whole time. If you still had something left over after these two tests were done, it meant that your innate attributes were alright, and you could join the sect.

But after entering the sect, you would also be divided into inner, outer, and registered disciples.

This split would be judged at the last part.

In order to motivate everyone, the cultivators also listed the benefits enjoyed by these levels one by one.

For example, inner disciples had their own abode, they had more resources, and could be personally taught by the elders. Their future was boundless. Of course, there were very few spots, and it was rare to have one inner discipline even in a period of ten years. 

Outer disciples were a bit worse off, but they were still considered proper disciples of Meridian Temple. If they put their backs into it, they could have a future as well. As for registered disciples, they were almost like servants.

Shen Qingxian didn’t pay attention to all of this; what he looked at was just the matter regarding living accommodations. 

Inner disciples – Live alone. 

Outer disciples – Two people to a small house.

Registered disciple – Share a wide bed with many other people.

Su Yu looked at it more carefully and said, “With my remaining spiritual power, I can probably only become an outer disciple…”

Then he looked at Shen Qingxian and said, “Zhao Yan, if we all become outer disciples, that’ll be perfect, we can live together!”

Shen Qingxian: “!”

No… Young man, you must become an inner disciple!

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The author has something to say: 

Shen Qingxian: I want to live with Gu Jianshen.

Gu Jianshen: I want to sleep with Shen Qingxian.

Su Yu: Okay, Okay, I’ll go, I’ll go. I know I’m a light bulb QAQ!