CHAPTER 54: DON’T GET INVOLVED WITH GRANDPAS IN THIS WORLD

Pine Town wasn’t very far from the sect. Half a day’s journey on one of the large ferry boats that roamed the large rivers crisscrossing through the Bullhorn Mountain Range was all it would take to reach there.

Both young men were feeling quite refreshed from the journey. Mu Ran had even face-slapped a random young master on the boat in a random competition no one cared about. He had been especially cheerful since then.

Han Xuhan’s mood was at the opposite end of that spectrum. The new quest was quite worrisome indeed. This was his second time facing a quest from the Main Storyline. The first one had been easy, but this one was graded at an unprecedented [Nightmare] difficulty.

He could guess how tumultuous this mission was going to be. But not participating in it was not a good option, either. The last line of the quest’s description implied that very meaning.

Survival is not equal to victory.

Whatever the first ’trigger’ of the apocalypse was, it had to be stopped. If it turned out to be behind his capabilities, then he would escape and get the sect to do it!

While he was contemplating how to manipulate the sect authorities into doing what the quest demanded, a commotion attracted his attention.

Not far away from their seats on deck, some passengers surrounded an old man.

The grandpa looked quite suspicious, with his eyes shifting around the passengers’ bodies and often gawking openly at their jewelry. His clothes were tattered, his white hair was messy, and he carried a lot of pouches on him that looked suitable to carry stolen things.

"Grandpa Di Qian, did you really mean what you said? I can change my streak of bad luck as soon as I get rid of this custom-made, gold-plated, azure crystal necklace?"

Sitting in front of the old man, a rich-looking woman squealed in a mixture of delight and misery.

"Yes, of course. I, Di Qian, have never lied in my life when it comes to spiritual work! I see a great cloud of misfortune hanging above your head. If you listen to my advice and chuck this necklace out of the window right now, your luck shall definitely improve."

The old man spoke eagerly, the greedy gleam in his eyes getting stronger with each syllable. But the woman still seemed a bit hesitant to follow his advice.

"Can’t I just sell it to someone else? It’d be a pity to throw it away~"

"No, no, no! Selling or donating it will not work! Only a river’s ancient aura can block the evil nature of this necklace."

Realizing that they were attracting a large crowd, the old man hurried to convince her.

"Beautiful madam, do not doubt this old man’s integrity! If I were a scammer, I would have asked you to hand this necklace to me, not chuck it into the river.

"As long as you do what I said, you’ll definitely sense an improvement in your luck by the time we reach our destination, or I’ll castrate myself when we get down from the boat!"

"Old man, at your age, castration doesn’t sound like that much of a punishment, though. It’s not like you really need that thing."

The furious companion of the woman, a merchant, snapped at him and tried to drag her back to their seat. But the woman refused to leave.

Han Xuhan and Mu Ran found the flow of events quite interesting. They crept toward the crowd and observed the old man quietly.

"Underling, have you noticed?"

"Yes, boss. He has a faint aura of qi around him. But it looks scattered and chaotic."

"A rogue cultivator who has suffered from qi deviation, perhaps? Definitely a professional scammer. It’s not that difficult to retrieve jewelry as long as you leave a trace of refined qi on it even if it sinks into the river."

Mu Ran exchanged a glance with Xuhan and wriggled his eyebrows.

"I have no idea what you’re trying to imply with your twitching eyebrows, boss."

"We should punish him, right? We are cultivators after all, righteous and full of justice..."

"Are we, though?"

"Are you questioning my righteousness?!" Mu Ran got a little angry.

"No, I am questioning our status as cultivators, boss. We might not be qualified—"

"As my underling, how can you whine over such small stuff? We must uphold the image of our sect. Let’s teach this old scammer a lesson. How dare he use his abilities to scam mortals!"

Mu Ran rode roughshod over Han Xuhan’s complaints and forced his way into the crowd, trying to get closer to the old man.

Strongly feeling that he shouldn’t get involved with any old man in a xianxia world, Han Xuhan decided to stay away from the chaos that was about to ensue and just watch the drama.

"Husband, you gave this necklace to me. How can you be so cruel and controlling? It’s my necklace now. If throwing it in the river makes me luckier, why can’t I do so? Do you want me to die so that you can marry that Zhang bitch?"

The woman, meanwhile, seemed to have decided what to do and pushed her companion’s hands away. Then she ripped off her necklace and threw it in the river with a tearful expression on her face.

Splash!

The heavy necklace made a small sound and sank into the water, raising a round of ’aahhs’ and ’oohhhs’ from the onlookers. Mu Ran, who was just about to dive in and save the day, looked dumbfounded as his eyes traced the trajectory of the necklace vanishing from his sight.

The old man looked ecstatic.

"Beautiful and wise madam! You have made the best choice of your life! You will not regret throwing away that precious, gold-plated, azure crystal necklace!"

The old man was practically drooling as he praised her, his eyes never leaving the spot where the necklace had just sank. There were snickers from the onlookers, mixed with the tragic howl of her husband.

"Fellow travelers, this old man is definitely a scammer! I can prove it to you! Do not fall for such lies!"

The harbinger of justice, Mu Ran, yelled as he forced his way further into the crowd and caught the old man by the collar of his tattered robe. The old man was completely caught off guard.

"Look, I’m a cultivator from the Crimson Snow sect! I threw out a trace of my qi on the necklace just before it sank. I can sense that the necklace was captured by a creature as soon as it fell into the river. This old man must have trained a fish-type spirited beast as a pet. All of this farce was just to steal that necklace!"

His yell silenced the crowd and stunned the old man. With a contemptuous snort, Mu Ran flicked his fingers at the river and made a grasping motion.

Before the stunned onlookers’ eyes, the necklace rose from the river water as if it were being tugged by a string. Attached to the necklace was a large, saw-toothed fish with gleaming gem-like eyes, covered in black and red scales.

Its jaws were locked around the very same necklace!