Chapter 299: Don’t be Afraid, Be Calm!

　　Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

　　Ding! “Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for killing an Original Infant Stage cultivator. The reward is 200,000 Experience Points and a storage ring!”

　　Ding! “Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully acting tough. The reward is 230 Acting Tough Points!”

　　Ding! “Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully acting tough. The reward is 260 Acting Tough Points!”

　　…

　　Xu Que did not bother with the notifications that were ringing in his mind. Instead, he eyeballed the crowd of cultivators at the scene.

　　Everyone’s eyelids twitched and their faces turned pale with fright.

　　Oh no, we witnessed this fellow murdering all the cultivators from the Jade Sword Sect.

　　Is he thinking of ending our lives here as well, so that he can destroy all evidence of what he has done?

　　As the cultivators thought of that, they trembled in fear. They believed that Xu Que would definitely do that.

　　However, contrary to their expectations, Xu Que threw away the sword in his hand and smiled a lovely and harmless smile, as if he was returning to his innocent and honest self.

　　The crowd felt like coughing out blood at that sight.

　　Brother, can you stop the pretense?

　　You just murdered people before our very eyes, and now you’re acting innocent and harmless. It really makes us feel awkward!

　　Don’t tell us… you want us to cooperate with your acting?

　　…

　　Nevertheless, most of the elite cultivators looked rather grim as they knew that people like Xu Que would certainly have horrific achievements in the Cultivation World.

　　He would no doubt, be the nightmare of countless cultivators!

　　This kind of person should absolutely not be provoked and should not be befriended, or one might then find that the whole world had become their enemy!

　　As for the Sword Spirit’s inheritance? Even if someone got it, one had to be alive to be able to learn it!

　　If one were to have Xu Que as their senior, they could get killed anytime without knowing why.

　　“Uh … brother Fujiwara, we’ll be on our way then!”

　　“Right, brother Fujiwara is so strong and wonderful. We’d better not disturb you.”

　　“Let’s have tea together in future. We’ll take our leave now!”

　　Many of the cultivators squeezed out friendly smiles and waved Xu Que goodbye.

　　They did not want to stay in this place anymore. It was too dangerous.

　　Xu Que smiled at them too. He did not ask them to stay either.

　　In any case, he had finished acting tough. The next target would be the Sword Spirit and the Genesis Metal Herbs in the Imperial Tombs!

　　Boom——!

　　Just then, a sudden, deafening noise was heard in one of the tunnels that led to the Sword Catacomb’s exit.

　　The whole Sword Catacomb started to shake violently, as if it would collapse any moment.

　　All the elite cultivators were terrified. They turned to Xu Que and beseeched, “brother Fujiwara, please spare our lives, we have no ill intentions towards you!”

　　“You don’t need to kill us. We don’t have a good relationship with Jade Sword Sect either. We won’t expose what you did!”

　　“He’s right, we didn’t see anything today!”

　　“Yes, we really didn’t see anything. In fact, I’m blind.”

　　…

　　All kinds of blatant lies came out of the cultivators’ mouths as they pleaded for their lives.

　　They had misunderstood and thought that Xu Que had created that disturbance in order to kill all of them in one fell swoop.

　　However, Xu Que was wondering about the disturbance as well. He cussed in his head. I’m not the one who fucking did this!

　　He gazed at the tunnel that had collapsed.

　　Somehow, Xu Que could sense an intimidating amount of pressure approaching him, coming from the tunnel. He could also tell that… the highly dangerous pressure had its sights locked on him.

　　“What’s going on?”

　　“Why do I feel that death is coming nearer to us?”

　　“Please don’t, brother Fujiwara, please let us off!”

　　The elite cultivators had apparently sensed imminent danger as well and begged for mercy.

　　They knew very well that even if they joined hands, they wouldn’t be able to defeat Xu Que, so they chose to beg for their lives.

　　Xu Que was annoyed by all the noise. “All of you, shut your mouths!” he roared, pinning them all with his stare. “Fucking idiots! Look at you now, how are you ever going to be elites if you’re all so cowardly? In the face of danger, we need to be calm and rational, and we need to have the courage to face the ordeal! We’ll overcome it with integrity and righteousness. That is the path of the strong!”

　　Xu Que’s passionate speech delivered with righteous ardour resounded in all directions.

　　Everyone was startled.

　　What?

　　Brother Fujiwara did not create this disturbance?

　　Who did, then?

　　Ding! “Warning! A super strong unknown entity is approaching host!”

　　Ding! “System has calculated that the host’s current ability and strength is no match for the entity and will only result in death. Suggestion: host should immediately leave this place!”

　　System notifications rang suddenly in Xu Que’s mind.

　　Xu Que immediately thought of something. He stared hard at the tunnel and seemed to have guessed what was charging at him.

　　The Sword Spirit!

　　It’s definitely the Sword Spirit!

　　Damn, the Sword Spirit is unexpectedly powerful, too strong!

　　Fuck! It’s hostile! I need to get out, fast!

　　Swoosh!

　　To everyone’s astonishment, thick black mist appeared and swiftly emerged from the tunnel.

　　The speed of the fog was so fast that it was like a flash of black lightning. Sometimes, a silhouette of a human could be seen, sometimes resembling a sharp sword. Xu Que was certain that the entity’s target was him.

　　“Don’t be afraid, calm down everyone! When we encounter such situations, we must not panic. All of you look towards there … yes! Focus all of your attention and look at it carefully, it’s best not to blink your eyes! If you can’t even see clearly what is coming, how do you know if it’s a foe or a friend? If you just escape blindly, how will you ever be worthy of the word ‘elite’? Yes! All of you just keep looking and figure out what it is! Furthermore, even if it’s an enemy, all of you should stare at it fearlessly and scare it away with your imposing stance! Don’t be afraid! You mustn’t be cowardly! Don’t run away! Don’t even think of escaping! Yes, yes, yes…that’s it! Alright! All of you must withstand the pressure as best as you can! For this is the right path to take to be the strongest … Exploding Heavens Art of War Thirty-Six Stratagems, running away to fight another day! Everybody, good luck on honing your will power and walking the path of the strong. Farewell!”

　　Xu Que successfully fooled the cultivators into staring hard at the black fog. And before the black fog could touch him, he immediately activated the Divine Escape Emblem.

　　With a swish, Xu Que’s body instantly vanished from sight.

　　Boom!

　　The black fog failed to strike Xu Que, but its power was so immense that the surface area of the ground dissipated into dust and powder on the spot.

　　All the cultivators present were distressed. Their mouths were wide and their faces were full of alarm.

　　What the hell is this black fog?

　　This power is unusually strong!

　　Such mighty aura!

　　The power that the black fog displayed by charging at Xu Que… even the Infant Transformation Stage cultivators would most likely not survive the blow!

　　The cultivators saw it very clearly. Xu Que had managed to escape in the nick of time!

　　He’s not dead!

　　Well… he ran away!

　　He ran away in a flash!

　　He must have prepared… to escape right from the beginning!

　　Where’s the basic trust between people?

　　Didn’t you say that in the face of danger, we need to be calm and rational?

　　Didn’t you say that we need courage to face the ordeal, and to overcome it with integrity and righteousness?

　　This fucking bastard… you don’t want to act tough anymore?

　　To hell with your integrity and righteousness!

　　To hell with honing will power!

　　You actually wanted us to seek our deaths by staying here!

　　To hell with walking the path of the strong!

　　You wanted to send us on the path of the dead!

　　You’ve escaped, but what about us?

　　And at this moment, everyone suddenly understood why the gentlemanly Ye Chang Feng had been so angry with Xu Que.