Chapter 37 - 32: Too Shameless...

Ye Xiao Zheng’s brow was tightly furrowed as he paced back and forth restlessly in the stone chamber. After a long while, he finally spoke. "You had so many Demon Corpses. Even if they were on the weaker side, what about the Spirit Corpses and Gu Corpses? Even I would have some trouble dealing with a Gu Corpse. How could they possibly have been killed by two young people? What kind of young people were they?"

The cloaked man snorted coldly and said, "The Spirit Corpses had already tracked down the Nine Immortals Lingzhi. They killed a few hunters they met along the way, but then ran into a group of people riding Fiery Demon Wolves, and a great battle broke out. Unexpectedly, a Ghost-faced Person appeared out of nowhere, used an Array to trap the Gu Corpse and Spirit Corpses, and then slaughtered all the Demon Corpses. Finally, using some unknown Secret Technique, his Cultivation surged, and he killed the two Spirit Corpses and one of the Gu Corpses as well..."

"A Secret Technique? What about the other Gu Corpse?" Ye Xiao Zheng asked urgently.

"The last Gu Corpse had a thread of my Divine Thought left on it. When I saw things were going badly, I controlled the Gu Corpse and had it flee immediately. Those people didn’t pursue. Just when I thought it had escaped to safety, it was stopped by a young man in white. That person..."

As the cloaked man spoke, he lifted his head, revealing a face covered in scars. His eyes were filled with terror.

Ye Xiao Zheng’s expression tensed, and his heart sank.

He had known this man for many years. He was a Demon Dao powerhouse who killed without batting an eye. ’When has he ever looked so terrified?’

The cloaked man continued, "It was a very strange feeling. The young man was only about twenty-one or twenty-two, and the aura he emitted wasn’t particularly strong—at most, it felt like the Seventh or Eighth Heaven of the Qi Martial Realm. But my Divine Thought could feel it... The instant the Gu Corpse saw his back, it was overcome with a terror like it had encountered an Ancient Wild Beast. That feeling... it makes you tremble, shiver, as if the entire world is under his control. You can’t even think of running..."

"Are you sure you’re not mistaken?" Ye Xiao Zheng said, his brow furrowed. "Was it really that exaggerated? With your Cultivation and the strength of your Divine Thought, even if you were facing someone in the Xuanwu Realm, it shouldn’t be..."

The cloaked man shook his head. "I don’t know. All I know is that feeling made it impossible to even think of resisting. At the time, I suspected I had entered an Illusion Realm. But at the last moment, that young man made a light swipe in the air with two fingers, and the Gu Corpse was sliced in half, then disintegrated into ash... He’s too powerful. That level of Cultivation is simply unheard of! He must be at least in the King Martial Realm!"

"What! A Martial King? Are you kidding me? Someone at the King Martial Realm is a powerhouse who can establish their own sect and become an elder ancestor! The Elder Ancestors of most Profound Iron Level Influences are only at the King Martial Realm. How could there be someone so powerful in Celestial Phoenix City?" A cold sweat dripped down Ye Xiao Zheng’s face.

His pacing in the stone chamber grew faster and faster. After a while, he said nervously, "Then tell me, what do we do now? We spent years planning just to find that Nine Immortals Lingzhi! You know we’re counting on it to break through to the Xuanwu Realm. Now that this has happened, what the hell are we supposed to do?!"

The man in the black cloak said in a hoarse voice, "There’s no other way. We’ll have to kill some people, refine them into Demon Corpses, and then we can continue the search."

"Search? Search my ass! After something this big, you think your Demon Corpses can still roam the Phoenix Mountain Range freely? By dawn tomorrow, every faction around here, big and small, will know about the Demon Corpses. The entire area will be on high alert. Will your corpses even be able to show their faces?"

"We’ll just have to wait it out for a while. None of these factions in Celestial Phoenix City have any real experts. What’s there to be afraid of! But that young man in white warned me not to make any rash moves. It wouldn’t take him much effort to find me in Celestial Phoenix City... That man is clearly far more difficult to deal with than those old geezers from the two academies!" the man in the black cloak said hatefully.

Ye Xiao Zheng’s expression shifted several times, but he said nothing more.

Boundless hatred filled the black-cloaked man’s eyes as he added, "That damn Ghost-faced Person! If I find him, I’ll tear him to pieces, then imprison his soul and burn it for a hundred years! A thousand years! I’ll make him wish he were dead but deny him even that!"

The savage voice echoed endlessly in the stone chamber, like that of a demon.

...

「Early the next morning, in Martial Arts Class One at Tayun Academy.」

As always, Shen Lang was sprawled out on his desk, asleep.

His surrounding classmates, however, had completely changed their tune. They kept their distance, regarding him with a touch of fear as they whispered among themselves.

The news that Shen Lang had decisively defeated Shen Jianfeng the previous evening had already spread throughout the entire academy.

Many of the students in Class One had even witnessed the great battle with their own eyes...

The former "good-for-nothing," the "Sleep God," had suddenly revealed such domineering strength. As his classmates, they all had very complicated feelings.

Those who had once mocked and ridiculed him were now terrified and uneasy.

Those who had been closer to him now felt both fortunate and proud, because Shen Lang had brought honor to their class.

As for the female students who used to flock around Xu Qing, their eyes were now sparkling. The more they looked at the deeply sleeping Shen Lang, the more handsome he seemed. They wished they could just carry him home, admire his sleeping form all by themselves, and finally... throw themselves at him.

"So handsome, he’s just so handsome! I never thought a man could look so good just by sleeping..."

"Sigh, if only he’d wake up and look at me just once. That rascal, his Cultivation is so high, yet he kept it hidden all this time!"

"My heart breaks for him. All these years, people called him a good-for-nothing, and he never argued back. He just silently endured it, all alone... I’ve decided! From now on, I will use my warm, full bosom to cherish and take care of him..."

If Shen Lang hadn’t been so exhausted from healing his injuries the night before and sleeping so deeply, he probably would have been so moved by these words that he’d... vomit uncontrollably.

Many of the boys in Class One who overheard this wanted to bang their heads against a wall. ’How shameless! These women... they were the ones who mocked Shen Lang the most, weren’t they? It’s one thing for them to do a complete 180, but to say such shameless, explicit things in front of so many guys!’

But even though they were annoyed, they didn’t dare say a word.

The rumors about Shen Lang’s Cultivation had already been exaggerated to mythical proportions. The story was morphing until it was practically "Shen Lang killed Shen Jianfeng with a single poke of his finger."

Besides, Xu Qing wasn’t even coming to class anymore. None of them would dare to offend Shen Lang now.

Not only did they not dare offend him, they were all racking their brains for how to make up for the past. ’What kind of nice things should I say when Shen Lang wakes up to improve his impression of me?’

Just then, the door opened, and Su Hen and Lin Feng walked in.

The two of them were practically floating on air, walking with their heads held so high and chests puffed out that they looked like they might tip over at any moment.

At the sight of them, the whispering crowd shivered and immediately ducked their heads, not daring to speak.

Shen Lang and these two were best friends; they had even been bullied together. The pair had been pushed around by others more times than they could count.

"Hey, Young Master Lang, stop sleeping! We’re back," Su Hen said, grabbing Shen Lang’s shoulder and shaking it a couple of times.

"Don’t mess with me, I’m tired," Shen Lang mumbled without lifting his head.

"Man, when we were in Celestial Phoenix City today, a peerless beauty asked me for directions. I took one look, and she was gorgeous, the goddess of my dreams... I wonder when I’ll see her again..."

"And? How come you didn’t ask for her name and address like you usually do?" Shen Lang said, still not looking up.

"Asking for an address right off the bat is so tacky. I might be a bit of a goof, but... well, actually, she was asking me for an address, so I gave her mine," Su Hen said, sounding like a lovesick fool.

"Impressive," Shen Lang said, opening his eyes to glance at him. He rolled his eyes and went right back to sleep.

At this point, a few of the braver students in the class finally started to greet Su Hen and Lin Feng. The moment the first person did, it was like a floodgate opened. In a flash, everyone moved at once, completely surrounding the two of them.

"Oh, Su Hen, long time no see! Where did you run off to? We really missed you..." a female student said, swaying her hips as she sidled up to Su Hen. Her two prominent globes rubbed against his arm repeatedly. Everyone knew Su Hen had a thing for beautiful women.

"Yes, yes, I missed you too! Tell us about Shen Lang, won’t you? You’re his best friend, after all," another female student said, giving Su Hen a flirtatious glance.

"..." Su Hen was a little dumbfounded and didn’t know how to react. ’It’s only been one night. How did that turn into "long time no see"?’

And what was with all these women throwing themselves at him?

Before, they’d treated him like trash and wished he’d stay as far away as possible.

’That’s strange,’ he thought. ’I never realized their... globes were so big before. It feels like my visual estimate might be a little off... Looks like I’ll have to take a hands-on measurement to be sure.’

Lin Feng, on the other hand, was different. He just broke into a wide grin and chuckled coldly.

He wasn’t a goofball like Su Hen. His favorite thing wasn’t beautiful women, but Gold Coins, so of course he could see right through these people’s intentions.

But that laugh of his immediately terrified the male students who were still trying to figure out how to talk to him. It sent a chill down each of their spines.

’That fatty is incredibly cunning. What if he remembers everything from before and gets Shen Lang to cause trouble for us? Life is going to be miserable.’

’Never mind that Xu Qing doesn’t dare come to class now; even if he did, he’d be useless.’

’Can he compare to Shen Daofeng? No!’

’Can he compare to Shen Jianfeng? Even less so!’

’Who would dare offend Shen Lang in the future?’

’No, no, no, the issue isn’t about not offending him in the future. It’s about how to suck up to Lin Feng and Su Hen *now* so they can help wipe the slate clean...’