Unfortunate Transmigrator

CHAPTER

26

Inevitable Conflict

I

There was a tense moment of silence as Hao Zhen, Tian Jin, and Duo Lan stared at Du Jian and the five other outer disciples behind him, who stared right back at them.

Then Du Jian broke out into a wide, sinister smile. “Well, if it isn’t Tian Jin and his friends,” he said. “What a coincidence!”

Beside him, Hao Zhen noticed Tian Jin taking a deep breath. He then stepped forward, his expression impassive. “What do you want?”

Du Jian’s smile widened, and he also took a step forward. Hao Zhen noticed the disciples that Du Jian had brought with him slightly tensing. He found them familiar—they were the same ones that had been following Du Jian when they met the day they returned to the sect after leaving Duo Lan’s place.

“What kind of question is that, junior brother?” Du Jian said, his brow furrowed in a look of mock confusion. “Surely you realize this meeting was entirely coincidental. Why would I want anything?”

Hao Zhen narrowed his eyes at Du Jian, wondering what was the point of this little play. Was he trying to stall for time, or was he just playing with his prey? Had Du Jian not been… well, a secondary arrogant young master of sorts, Hao Zhen would have assumed the former, but the latter was far more likely.

Tian Jin was having none of it. “I’ll only ask again, Du Jian,” he said, glaring daggers at the older disciple. “What do you want?” As he spoke, he took another step forward.

“Like I said, I don’t want anything,” Du Jian said, standing his ground, though Hao Zhen noticed his expression becoming a little tense, his jaw slightly tightening. “My cousin, on the other hand…” Du Jian let out a little chuckle. “Well, he has an offer for you—one you’d be wise to accept.”

It seemed like he wasn’t stalling for time, after all, Hao Zhen decided, seeing how easily Du Jian had skipped to the point. And that was good—not only did that mean Du Jian didn’t have anything else prepared, but it also meant he was looking down on them, otherwise he wouldn’t be carefree enough to play this little act.

“What is it?” Tian Jin asked, plainly.

Hao Zhen briefly shifted his attention to Tian Jin and saw that he was still impassively looking straight at Du Jian. Hao Zhen then glanced at Duo Lan. She was also staring at Du Jian, her expression unreadable.

“It’s quite simple, really,” Du Jian said, shrugging. “He’ll let all three of you live—all you need to do is destroy your cruxes, right here and now, and promise to leave the sect.” He looked at them expectantly.

Hao Zhen stared blankly at Du Jian, taking a moment to process what he had just heard. What kind of ludicrous proposal was that? Even if they were overcome by a flash of stupidity and took the offer, destroying their cruxes, there’d be nothing stopping Du Jian from simply killing them, as they’d be defenseless. In fact, Hao Zhen would bet everything he owned that that was exactly what Du Jian would do if they accepted the proposal.

These kinds of absolutely absurd offers from antagonists were fairly common—if not staple—of cultivation novels, so he wasn’t too surprised, but the sheer stupidity of it was still astounding. Unless… Unless Du Jian was intentionally offering them something this absurd knowing they’d refuse, as a taunt? That was a possibility. Maybe Hao Zhen’s perception of Du Jian as a secondary minor antagonist of sorts was leading him to the wrong conclusion.

Hao Zhen scrutinized Du Jian’s face, looking for any signs of mocking or scorn, but found none of it. Instead, Du Jian was looking at Tian Jin earnestly, his eyes narrowed in expectation.

So it was sheer stupidity after all.

Tian Jin, whose expression was now frosty, opened his mouth to speak, but Duo Lan beat him to it.

“Were you dropped as a baby or were you born this stupid, you absolute baboon?” she snapped, and as one, everyone in the clearing sharply turned toward her, Hao Zhen and Tian Jin included. She was glaring daggers at Du Jian. “What kind of worthless, ludicrous offer is that?”

Du Jian blinked at her, clearly taken aback. The next moment, he reddened. “Who do you think you are talking to, insolent girl?”

“The sorry excuse for a thinking human in front of me, that’s who.” Duo Lan took a step forward to stand beside Tian Jin, whose gaze lingered on her for only a moment longer before he returned his attention to Du Jian. “Surely you weren’t expecting us to actually take up that offer?” she asked, incredulous.

Hao Zhen was also rather taken aback, but by Duo Lan’s outburst. Clearly, she had come to the same conclusion as him. The only difference was that she had acted on it. Her vitriol wasn’t much of a surprise. Her awareness of the absurdity of Du Jian’s offer, on the other hand, gave him something to think about.

“You— Do you not understand what’s going on?” Du Jian said, clearly flustered. The five disciples behind him shifted uneasily. “My cousin is being merciful, idiot girl! He is giving you a chance to live! There are six of us and three of you—and one of you is even a first-level! You stand no chance!”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Duo Lan let out a little laugh. “You really believe the five nobodies behind you are worth anything? I could deal with all six of you alone!”

“You…” Du Jian glared at her, flustered, before whipping his head toward Tian Jin. “Control your woman, Tian Jin!”

Hao Zhen winced, instinctively bracing himself. That had not been the right thing to say.

Sure enough, Duo Lan flared, reddening as she turned livid. Beside her, Tian Jin wisely chose to remain silent. However, instead of retorting, Duo Lan suddenly took in a deep breath, as if to compose herself. “Are you tired of living?” she then asked, all the heat gone from her voice, replaced by glacial iciness.

Du Jian tensed up, instinctively taking a step back, before snapping out of it, his outrage returning. Before he could say anything, however, Hao Zhen spoke up.

“Why do you think you can get away with killing us?” he asked. All eyes turned to him, and he did his best to ignore the sudden attention. This was something he needed to ask before a fight broke out. “There are inner elders overseeing the area—we just need to use a spiritual beacon to get one of them to come over. Do you think you can deal with us before they can react?”

If Du Jian had been someone intelligent, there would have been no point in asking this question, as he could have just lied or ignored it, not revealing his hand, which would have been the smart thing to do.

Du Jian was pretty much a cultivation novel villain, however, and if there was one thing cultivation novel villains like, it was to gloat.

Forgetting his matter with Duo Lan, Du Jian focused on him, before chuckling. “You think my cousin wouldn’t have thought of that? We’ve already arranged for the inner elder overseeing this section of the forest to be occupied elsewhere. Nobody is coming to save you.”

Hao Zhen narrowed his eyes at Du Jian. He didn’t think the older disciple was bluffing. Otherwise, Du Jian would have led with it so as to stop them from using a spiritual beacon. The way Du Jian phrased his answer was also important, as it didn’t clarify whether the inner elder in charge of this section of the forest was in cahoots with Du Qing or not.

“And how exactly did Du Qing make that happen?”

At that, Du Jian scoffed. “My cousin’s means are something beyond both you and me,” he said, disdainfully.

In other words, Du Qing hadn’t told him. Was the elder on their side or not? Hao Zhen bit down slightly on his lower lip, thinking hard, before coming to a decision. He then reached into his pocket, grasped a spiritual beacon, then channeled some spiritual power into it before throwing it into the air.

The spiritual beacon flew straight upwards, then exploded into a cloud of red smoke right above the clearing.

There was a moment of silence, in which everyone looked at the spiritual beacon in a daze. Then, Du Jian laughed. “I see you don’t believe me. Well, hold on to that hope, then.”

Hao Zhen didn’t say anything, frowning. So Du Jian hadn’t been bluffing after all. Well, no matter—there wasn’t any harm in using the beacon, in any case. If the inner elder in the area was on Du Qing’s side, it wouldn’t make much of a difference, as they would already know what was going on. If they weren’t but were somehow distracted by something arranged by Du Qing, then at least there was a chance of them noticing it.

In any case, he stood nothing to lose by using the beacon.

Du Jian then turned his attention toward Tian Jin. “So, what will it be? Will you take my cousin’s gracious offer, or will you throw your lives away?”

“We’ll fight,” Tian Jin said, firmly.

Tian Jin’s spatial ring flashed, and a sword appeared in his hand. Not even a moment later, Duo Lan also summoned her sword. Seeing that, Hao Zhen followed suit, taking out his own sword, and holding it in front of himself. He then started chanting, in his mind, the Drifting Moonlight Method.

He was nowhere near proficient at swordsmanship yet, but over the last few days, Tian Jin had taught him some basic sword moves—enough that he was better off with a sword than without one.

As he looked at Du Jian and his underlings, Hao Zhen’s heart started racing, beating so loudly he could almost hear it. He tensed, tightening his grip on his sword. He took in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled in an attempt to calm himself down.

This would be his first real fight, and it’d be one with his life on the line. Right now he really wished Du Jian could have at least waited until he had faced the shifting claw bear before making his appearance. At least in that case, he’d get to experience a real fight first before having to risk his life.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the protagonist, so the world didn’t wait for him to be ready.

“You…” Du Jian glared at Tian Jin. Then he shook his head, his expression turning grim. “So be it.” He then summoned a sword of his own, the five outer disciples behind him doing the same.

For a moment, they all stood still, both sides glaring at each other, much like when Du Jian stepped into the clearing.

Then Du Jian launched himself forward, stabbing at Tian Jin. Du Jian’s lackeys all moved too a moment later, two of them attacking Tian Jin together with Du Jian, and another two throwing themselves at Duo Lan.

Hao Zhen didn’t have the luxury to spare his two teammates any attention, however, because the remaining second-level redsoul was running straight at him, his sword held over his head.

Moving on instinct, Hao Zhen narrowly managed to dodge the attack by jumping to the side, the attacker’s sword cutting empty air. Hao Zhen then jumped backward, putting up some distance between them.

He stole a quick glance at Duo Lan and Tian Jin and saw that they had also split up, Tian Jin facing Du Jian plus two of his helpers, Duo Lan facing the other two who had charged at her. Both of them were busy with their own opponents.

Hao Zhen returned his attention to his attacker, who was staring back at him balefully. Like everyone Du Jian had brought with him, Hao Zhen’s opponent was a second-level redsoul. He appeared to be in his early twenties, with brown hair and a thin frame.

Hao Zhen licked his lips and tried his best to calm his nerves. He didn’t believe he had any chance of defeating someone at the second level—someone twice as powerful as him in pretty much every way. He wasn’t like Tian Jin or Duo Lan, who could punch above their weight.

He didn’t need to beat the other outer disciple to win, though. He only needed to stall until either Tian Jin or Duo Lan were finished dealing with their own opponents.

That much, Hao Zhen believed, was feasible—because while he may not on the same level as Tian Jin and Duo Lan, he wasn't an average cultivator, either. Not anymore, at least.

He was a transmigrator, and that meant he didn’t follow the same rules everyone else did.