Chapter 287: Find Fujiwara!

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

　　“My lord, I have never met this person before. May I ask why my lord wants to see him? I will not rest until I’ve done everything to complete Lord Sword Spirit’s orders!”

　　Lin Guan was the first person to speak up again. Obviously this man was smarter than he seemed.

　　“There is a young man called Takumi Fujiwara,” said Xu Que plainly. “He is a driver from the Exploding Heavens Faction. He is an honest and sincere man without a single bad bone in his body, a man who respects the old and adores the young. Furthermore, this young man possesses great talents, ones that have been unheard of for centuries. I’d like to accept him as my direct disciple.”

　　“What?”

　　The whole crowd was taken by surprise.

　　Had Lord Sword Spirit taken an interest in someone?

　　And he even wished to make this person his direct disciple? Damn, that meant there was only one other place available for the chance to be Lord Sword Spirit’s disciple!

　　Many of the cultivators suddenly became nervous and reflected upon whether they themselves were honest and sincere men, or whether they had bad bones in their bodies, or whether they sufficiently adored the old and respected the young as well. Or was it respected the old and adored the young?

　　Most of them felt deflated as soon as they thought about it.

　　These people were of the Cultivation World, after all. They had long discarded these worldly customs and values a long time ago!

　　Besides, the closest thing to a principle that they lived by was ‘better you dead than me’, so what virtues could they ever hope to possess?

　　And so, most of them sighed with regret. Some were repentant of the time they had flown by a mountain village and saw an old man struggling to carry heavy buckets of water, yet they hadn’t done anything to help…

　　Some were regretting the time they had come upon a naughty boy lost in the woods, but hadn’t helped them out straight away…

　　They all lowered their heads in shame. For the first time, they were all in touch with their consciences.

　　“I can sense,” continued Xu Que, “that the young man named Takumi Fujiwara has inexplicably disappeared after entering the Sword Catacomb. Therefore, if you go out and find him, you must care for him, love him and treat him as a brother.”

　　Hmm? Treat him as a brother?

　　Everyone was stunned for a few moments. What Lord Sword Spirit just said just now, could it mean that…

　　“I presume you’ve all guessed my meaning,” said Xu Que with the plainest tone. “Yes, the one who can find Takumi Fujiwara and bring him to me, Lord Sword Spirit, will become my direct disciple as well, and I will pass on the Supreme Sword Art to you.”

　　Their faces all lit up at Xu Que’s words. Their eyes all glinted from the revelation.

　　They could become Lord Sword Spirit’s disciple just by finding this Takumi Fujiwara person?

　　Holy hell, so this would be the big test that Lord Sword Spirit would use to determine who was worthy enough to be his disciple!

　　Many of them were now full of hope again. They would have had some serious doubts about themselves if Lord Sword Spirit had chosen a disciple based on merits and virtues, but in this case, it seemed that they all still had a chance after all!

　　“Worry no more, my lord! I will not rest until I’ve found my brother Fujiwara!”

　　“How shameless of you! Since when did Fujiwara become your brother?”

　　“Stop bickering, both of you! I’m the one who will be Fujiwara’s brother!”

　　“I don’t mean to brag, but one of my ancestors had the surname of Fujiwara, so don’t you waste your time fighting with me! This man Takumi Fujiwara is very likely a distant blood relative of mine…”

　　……

　　The whole group then broke into bickering and chattering noises. Few reasonable things were said, and much nonsense was spewed. In order to compete for the chance of being accepted as Lord Sword Spirit’s disciple, all the talented swordsmen from different factions and schools had all seemed to have become shameless.

　　Ding! “Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully acting tough. 180 Acting Tough Points rewarded!”

　　Ding! “Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully acting tough. 210 Acting Tough Points rewarded!”

　　Xu Que was so happy that he almost went out of character as the Lord Sword Spirit. But he kept himself in check and stayed silent, maintaining the lofty mannerisms of acting tough and calmly floating to and fro.

　　Wherever he went, the aura around him condensed into swords, turning him into a strikingly domineering figure.

　　…….

　　By now, Xu Que was addicted to this game of pretending to be Lord Sword Spirit.

　　However, in the eyes of everyone else there, the situation was one that was desperately serious. Each was suspicious of the others, afraid that their chance of getting picked by Lord Sword Spirit to be his disciple would be robbed by someone else.

　　They had each fantasized of the day they would become a direct disciple of Lord Sword Spirit and receive the powerful art of swordsmanship from him. When that happened, they would surely advance all the way up in the World of Cultivators without any problems!

　　“Lord Sword Spirit, we must beg your leave now to go find Fujiwara!” said everyone eagerly, each impatient to be the person who found the man named Takumi Fujiwara.

　　“Wait!” Xu Que called out in a voice that was neither too urgent nor too calm. “I have slept for tens of thousands of years, so I must absorb more Sword Essence from precious ancient swords. Once you have found the man, don’t forget to bring swords to me as well, understood?”

　　The men all stared at him in shock and disbelief.

　　Did the Sword Spirit consume the Sword Essence from swords? They had never heard of such a thing!

　　“My lord, please take this six-star quality sword!” said Lin Guan, seeing his chance to stand out and distinguish himself from the others. He pulled out the sword that had gotten him into trouble earlier and reverently presented it to Xu Que.

　　“Excellent! You’re not a bad swordsman after all! I shall remember you now! Even if you can’t find Takumi Fujiwara, you may still come back to see me. Come! I will bestow upon you this Swordsmanship Aphorism to you as my first gift…”

　　Xu Que nodded his head to show his approval of the man and quickly put the sword into his bag. At the same time, he jumbled up some random words in his head to make up a Swordsmanship Aphorism, something like ‘nothing defeats speed in martial arts’, and transferred it into Lin Guan’s mind.

　　“Thank you, Lord Sword Spirit!”

　　Things had turned out much better for Lin Guan than he had expected. He had actually received a Swordsmanship Aphorism from the Sword Spirit himself!

　　Meanwhile, everyone else got more than a little bit antsy by the scene that had just unfolded.

　　Lord Sword Spirit had slept for thousands and thousands of years, of course he would be starving by now! That meant that anyone who could give Lord Sword Spirit a high-quality sword now would also have a the sure-fire way into his good graces!

　　And so, a few swordsmen suddenly walked up to Xu Que, pulled out some swords from their storage rings and presented them to him.

　　“My lord, this sword is the treasured possession of my royal family. It is also a six-star quality sword. Please accept it!”

　　“My lord, this is a six-star quality sword as well.”

　　“So is mine, my lord!”

　　……

　　In that moment, a pile of swords were laid out before Xu Que, and each of these swords were of six-star quality. They were all so valuable and treasured that people would go to war and shed rivers of blood just to obtain them. Yet now they were all going to be Xu Que’s.

　　But how well had these bastards kept their precious swords hidden, though! They had all acted so modest and hadn’t shown much potential in their skills. Had Xu Que not used this opportunity to trick them all, he wouldn’t have expected any of them to possess such high-quality swords!

　　Obviously, the Supreme Sword Art was much more valuable to these swordsmen than a six-star high-quality sword.

　　“Not bad, not bad at all!” exclaimed Xu Que. “These are all six-star swords! I’ll accept all of you as my disciples. Come! I’ll bestow a Swordsmanship Aphorism to all of you. Although it is only a simple sentence, it still contains timeless and invaluable wisdom!”

　　Ding! “Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully acting tough. 190 Acting Tough Points rewarded!”

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

　　……

　　Xu Que’s expressions did not shift even as he heard the ringing of his notifications from the system. He stayed in character and kept on acting tough as if his life depended on it.

　　In truth, though, Xu Que was simply elated! He was now close to possessing ten, precious, six-star high-quality swords!

　　More importantly, the others were just as happy as Xu Que as well. They were all honored to be accepted as the Sword Spirit’s disciple. They all fell to their knees and simultaneously said, “we pay our respects to our master, Lord Sword Spirit!”

　　“Get up and go find your brother Fujiwara and bring him back here!” said Xu Que, nodding to the swordsmen in approval. He then waved his hand to signal their dismissal.

　　“Yes, my lord!”

　　The group of men then left with excitement in their hearts, their hopes pinned upon this man called ‘Takumi Fujiwara’. All they had to do now was find the man, and they would then be accepted as Lord Sword Spirit’s direct disciple, a position that would surely bring them much progress and prosperity in the World of Cultivators for the rest of their lives!

　　……

　　Meanwhile, Xu Que smiled cunningly as he hid in the shadows watching the men leave. Once they were all gone, he burst out into intense maniacal laughter.

　　“Tsk tsk, it seems that I’ll be earning a great tsunami wave of Acting Tough Points soon!”