Little Pink Starfish

In the caravan, aside from the dozens of guards surrounding it, there were three carriages in the center.

From inside one of the carriages, an angry voice shouted:

“What did Father say?” A sharp, somewhat shrill teenage voice rang out. “He clearly said that guy was trash! He clearly said everything would be left to me! And now he suddenly wants me to respect that bastard and even call him second brother? What a joke! I won’t allow it! And neither will sister!”

There were a few murmurs of persuasion.

The boy’s voice grew even sharper: “What is he to me?! Uncle Sun, even you think this way? Just because he got accepted? What’s so great about Qingtian Academy?! I will definitely not let him off. When he returns, I’ll make sure he suffers—”

The people in the caravan seemed long accustomed to this young master’s bad temper and remained silent.

Only one middle-aged man, sounding quite helpless, continued to console him.

Thus, no one noticed that although the carriages were still moving slowly forward, the guards around them were falling one by one.

Suddenly, the voice inside the central carriage let out a startled cry: “Not good! Young Master, hold your breath!”

But it was already too late.

Thick black fog had silently spread over them, engulfing the entire caravan in an instant.

At the same time, a massive black shadow appeared out of nowhere.

It was a giant python.

A python several dozen meters long, thick enough that five or six men together could barely encircle it.

At this moment, the golden marking on the python’s head seemed to come alive, pulsing with a blood-like sheen.

Even its massive snake eyes flickered with a crimson glow.

Within that red glow was both greed and an insatiable desire to kill.

The massive python’s body swayed abruptly, yet it maneuvered skillfully around the trees, its movements not clumsy in the slightest—on the contrary, they were eerily precise and fluid.

Its enormous head lifted high, and as the black mist dispersed, its gaping maw opened wide.

Its fangs were razor-sharp, each one several feet long, and its venom dripped to the ground, corroding the earth into pitted hollows.

The fangs were poised directly above the fallen guards, but just as the python was about to strike, it suddenly hesitated and stopped.

A moment later, its body shimmered, and where the python once was, there now stood a tall, slender, and stunningly handsome young man.

Qiguan Rui strolled forward leisurely, stopping in front of the nearest fallen guard.

Not bad, a mid-level wu shi.

A good appetizer.

With that thought, he swiftly brought his hands together like a blade and plunged them into the guard’s dantian.

In the blink of an eye, the guard’s blood essence, his martial energy, all the power he had cultivated—was completely drained.

Then Qiguan Rui moved to the next guard and did the same, repeating the process again and again.

In less than half an hour, all the guards had been reduced to lifeless corpses.

Qiguan Rui stretched his body and walked toward the last carriage.

He stopped in front, placing a palm against the carriage wall. Inside, two beautiful young women sat, but their martial strength was feeble.

Qiguan Rui had no patience for them, so he casually smacked them to death with two slaps.

Continuing forward, he reached the first carriage. As before, he killed the two young servants inside before finally returning to the middle carriage.

Then, the curtain of the carriage was lifted.

Almost immediately, a figure shot out like lightning.

It was a middle-aged man holding an unconscious teenage boy. He moved swiftly, positioning himself opposite Qiguan Rui.

The man’s face was pale, and a dark, sickly hue spread from the center of his brow—evidence of severe poisoning. His expression was grim, and the hands holding the boy trembled slightly. In a furious voice, he demanded, “Who are you? Why are you targeting the Lu family?”

Qiguan Rui looked at him with amusement and replied softly, “Do I need a reason to make trouble for you?”

The middle-aged man’s expression darkened further.

He had no idea who this young man was, but the fact that he had silently taken down so many of their people proved he was no ordinary figure.

Moreover, from his keen judgment, it was clear that this young man was not someone who would serve under others—he was not here on orders.

But he couldn’t recall when the Lu family had ever offended such a formidable talent.

This youth had slaughtered so many guards without even flinching—proof of his ruthlessness. If he weren’t poisoned, he could have easily killed this intruder, but the venom he had been afflicted with was so strange that even with his strength, he could only suppress it. If the young master didn’t receive treatment soon, his life would be in danger…

He had to negotiate—his priority was ensuring the young master’s escape.

Seeing the man remain silent, Qiguan Rui suddenly flickered forward, delivering a palm strike toward the unconscious boy.

For nearly a year, he had suppressed his true strength before Ziche Shubai, and now that he could finally unleash it, he felt utterly exhilarated!

The middle-aged man panicked, quickly retreating over ten meters. But in his rush, the poison surged through his body, causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood.

At this point, he could no longer think of a strategy. Seeing that this young man had no intention of speaking further and was purely here to kill them, his only option was to run!

Without hesitation, the middle-aged man turned and fled.

His movements were as swift as a thunderclap, and within a few steps, he had already put hundreds of meters between them, racing toward the distance.

Qiguan Rui seemed to have anticipated this. He licked his lips, and his form shifted once more—transforming back into the massive black python.

The ground trembled. How could a poisoned man outrun such a beast?

As the middle-aged man fled, he felt an overwhelming pressure from behind.

What… what was happening?!

The shadow behind him grew larger and larger. Gritting his teeth, he turned and struck out with his palm—

“Monster! It’s a monster—!” The moment he saw the python, the man let out a terrified scream.

Even at his peak strength, he had never encountered such an enormous snake. And just now, it was clearly a young man chasing him—how had it suddenly become a python?!

Realizing the horrifying truth, the middle-aged man was paralyzed with fear.

Qiguan Rui’s monstrous serpent face twisted into a ghastly grin.

How amusing. A mid-level wu wang, yet with such a cowardly heart—how utterly foolish.

He was only fit to be devoured.

The terrified man, even with three-tenths of his strength remaining, could now only muster a fraction of that.

Meanwhile, Qiguan Rui, though originally only a low-level wu jun, gained a surge in power equivalent to a high-level wu jun in his python form.

The massive tail lashed out—

Crack!

The man’s head was smashed into pulp.

Qiguan Rui reverted to human form, driving his hand into the man’s dantian, absorbing every last ounce of his strength. The high-level wu shi young master met the same fate.

After devouring them, Qiguan Rui felt a churning in his dantian as his martial energy surged and condensed.

It was as if there was no bottleneck—his strength had ascended to mid-level wu jun.

As for the remaining essence, it would serve as nourishment for his python form.

Feeling somewhat satisfied, Qiguan Rui smacked his lips in pleasure. He conjured a ball of fire in his palm.

The flames rolled across the grass, quickly spreading and engulfing the bodies and carriages.

The wind picked up, fanning the flames.

In just over half an hour, nothing remained but scorched earth.

With his back to the raging fire, Qiguan Rui patted the dust off his sleeves and murmured softly,

“Gege, I’m still clean. You won’t find me dirty, will you?”

---

Gu Bai looked at the plainly dressed young man in front of him, his face as cold as ice. “What?”

The plainly dressed young man declared loudly, “I challenge you!”

Spectators 1, 2, 3, 4: Accept it! Accept it!

Gu Bai: …Can you not make it sound like a marriage proposal?

It had now been a month since the semester began. According to the academy’s rules, after one month, students were allowed to spar with each other.

The designated sparring area was, of course, the ever-present martial stage found in every cultivation novel, and as expected, there was a rule: injuries were allowed, but killing was forbidden.

But such rules never applied to the protagonist.

Because no matter how strict the regulations were, the moment the protagonist arrived, chaos was bound to follow.

For example, exceptions could be made. For example, there was also a Life-and-Death Pact here.

Ah… but that’s getting off track. Let’s bring it back.

The plainly dressed young man’s face turned red with anger. “You insulted Miss Wang! You—you’re not worthy of being called a man!”

Gu Bai: …Miss Wang? Wang Yuyan? Did someone enter the wrong novel? _{[Reference to Gods and Semi-Devils 天龙八部]}

The plainly dressed young man continued, “Miss Wang is as divine as a celestial fairy. She originally didn’t want to stoop to your level, but I cannot stand by idly! I must teach you a lesson!”

Gu Bai: Oh, right… Wang Yingluo? That venomous woman’s admirer, huh…

The plainly dressed young man finally lost his temper and roared, “Is this how you treat your senior? Ignoring me like this—so disrespectful! I will sign a Life-and-Death Pact with you!”

Gu Bai: Dude, how did we go from a failed challenge to signing a Life-and-Death Pact? Isn’t this escalating too fast? Where’s the logic?!

After speaking, the plainly dressed young man seemed to regret it. He glanced discreetly at a certain man in the crowd and, upon receiving an approving and encouraging look, immediately puffed up his chest again.

Gu Bai: …

Everyone knew that in these kinds of novels, there was always a group of brainless fools. The only difference was whether they were mass-produced or custom-made, low-level fools or high-level fools.

The worst part was that, while in real life there might be just one idiot, in novels, idiocy often ran in entire families.

If the idiotic son died, the idiotic father would step in. If the idiotic father died, the idiotic grandfather would take over. If the idiotic grandfather died, then came the idiotic ancestor…

An unending cycle of brainless revenge spanning generations.

The young man before him was barely passable in appearance, but his triangular eyes were particularly striking. He mostly relied on shouting, dedicated his life to picking fights, and—

If he was fighting for a woman, that woman would inevitably never choose him.

If he was fighting for vengeance, he would undoubtedly be the one getting beaten instead.

Especially those who were easily manipulated—they died even faster.

In short, regardless of their name or background, their true title was always the same: Cannon Fodder A.

As for how someone like this could even reach the level of a high-level wu jun?

The author’s explanation: He relied on consuming pills to artificially boost his strength.

The reality: …Heh.

Do cultivation novels really need logical explanations?

Without a doubt, the nameless young man before him was not only fighting over a woman (→ even though the woman was a venomous snake), but he was also easily manipulated by others (→ the manipulator seemed quite subtle), had an impulsive nature, acted without thinking, and picked fights with the flimsiest of reasons…

Verdict: A low-level fool. Certified brainless fool.

Gu Bai stared at him blankly, his expression like a dead fish’s, and finally said, “Fine.”

There was no cure for stupidity. If he wanted to die, Gu Bai would gladly grant his wish.