A Thought Through Eternity

When the sun rose, Bai Xiaochun opened his eyes and took a deep breath. His expression was extremely serious. It was his first time participating in this kind of sect competition.

In his eyes, the conflict between him and Xu Baocai back then could not be counted as a fight anymore. On the other hand, this competition in Scented Cloud Mountain, the one he was going to participate in, was a true fight between sect disciples.

Bai Xiaochun slowly stood up, checked his storage pouch, and strode out of the room with a serious face. But soon, he rushed back, then rummaged under his bed and took out the leather armour that he still had from when he was still at the Burning Stoves Kitchen. He then put them on one after the other. Afterwards, he took out the jade tablet and hanged it at a place that allowed him to immediately activate it.

If the turtle-shell pot wasn’t too inconvenient to take out, Bai Xiaochun would have definitely carried it on his back too.

“Damn, how could I forget to prepare a large black pot?” Bai Xiaochun was filled with regret, but he didn’t have the time to look for one now. He gritted his teeth, turned around and walked out of the room again. He took a glance at the sun in the sky before heading for the mountaintop. His eyes were filled with determination.

He wore too many leather armour, and although he didn’t carry a pot on his back, he still looked like a zongzi…… The leather armour were airtight. As a result, not long after he started walking, his forehead was already full of sweat

(ED note: Zongzi is a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo, reed, or other large flat leaves(normally pandan). They are cooked by steaming or boiling. In the Western world, they are also known as rice dumplings, or sticky rice dumplings. Picture: http://haoskitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Zongzi-green.jpg)

However, no matter how much perspiration poured down on his forehead, Bai Xiaochun did not take a single one off. The competition had been bothering him all this time, causing cruel and violent images to flash across his mind one after another. Step by step, Bai Xiaochun walked to the mountaintop. However, in the morning, the fog around the mountaintop was just too dense. So, after walking for a while, he suddenly realized that he didn’t know where he was.

“This isn’t right…” Bai Xiaocun hurriedly looked for someone to ask for directions. Only then did he start heading the right way. His heart beat like drums, he was afraid that he would get there late and miss his match.

On the mountaintop of the Scented Cloud Mountain, there was an arena. It was there where the competition would take place. At this moment, it was already surrounded by quite a few people who were talking to each other in hushed voices.

Among those people, there were some disciples that were above the fifth-level of Qi Condensation. Most of them had their arms crossed in front of their chests, and were looking at their junior Brothers and Sisters, obviously here to cheer them on.

Although this kind of small competition between outer sect disciples was not official, great opportunities for outer sect disciples to seperate themselves from the rest, still existed . This time, around twenty disciples would partake in the competition. Most of them were sitting cross-legged around the arena and seriously preparing themselves.

None of the competitors were in the third level of Qi Condensation. Although these kinds of small competitions were designed for outer sect disciples who were in the third, fourth and fifth levels of Qi Condensation, disciples who actually participated were mostly in the fifth level of Qi Condensation, with only five or six disciples in the fourth level.

A girl among them had attracted most of the others’ attention. This girl was tall and slim, her perfect body shape was apparent under her outer sect disciple uniform, making her the object of uncountable people’s fantasies.

Her skin was as white as snow, and her face, it was breathtakingly beautiful. Her watery eyes were shining underneath a pair of arched eyebrows, and her loose clothes, tightening around her waist and butt, were displaying her alluring body.

Quite a lot outer sect disciples had gathered around her. Obviously, they were all her admirers.

Although she wasn’t as well known as Zhou Xinqi, this girl was still quite famous among outer sect disciples. Her name was Du Lingfei.

“With sister Du’s peak of fifth level Qi Condensation, she will definitely win the first prize in this small competition.”

“Brother Chen Zi’ang also cannot be underestimated. I heard that he had a breakthrough in cultivation a month ago. Although it is not the peak of fifth level Qi Condensation, he is quite close.” While the surrounding people were discussing in hushed tones, a young man had been standing not far away from Du Lingfei, with a proud look. That young man was Chen Zi’ang, who had been shocked by Bai Xiaochun and his bamboos earlier at the mission department.

Chen Zi’ang’s eyes shone with a bright light while looking at Du Lingfei. Deep down in his heart, he knew that attaining first place was impossible for him this time. However, second place would definitely be his. And maybe, this would be a great opportunity for him to get close with Du Lingfei.

While people were all expecting the competition to begin, two rainbow streaks whooshed over from afar. The rainbow streaks transformed into Li Qinghou and an elderly man in front of the arena. This elderly man was scrawny and had dark skin, however, his eyes were shining brightly. He seemed like a very strict man.

Right after Li Qinghou showed up, all the other outer sect disciples were shocked into silence, before they hurriedly saluted to him.

“Dear ancestor and Elder Sun.” Everyone was surprised by Li Qinghou’s presence, usually, these kinds of small competitions were hosted by Elder Sun alone.

Du Lingfei and Chen Zi’ang who were also surprised, politely and respectfully saluted to Li Qinghou.

Li Qinghou gently nodded but frowned after he took a glance at the outer sect disciples. He couldn’t find Bai Xiaochun.

Seeing Li Qinghou frown, all the other outer sect disciples became nervous, including Du Lingfei. No one had any idea why their ancestor was upset.

“Ancestor, shall we begin?” Elder Sun, who was beside Li Qinghou, slowly asked.

Just when Li Qinghou was about to speak, a ball-like silhouette rushed over, looking very anxious.

“I got lost, the fog was too thick…” Bai Xiaochun rushed over. As soon as he saw that Li Qinghou was there, he hurriedly explained. He didn’t want to get lost either, but the mountain was vast and the fog was dense. Combined with him thinking about the competition along the way, he took the wrong path without even noticing it.

As soon as he said those words, the surrounding outer sect disciples turned their heads around and looked at him. Some of them knew Bai Xiaochun, and couldn’t help but laugh softly after they heard his words. As for the others who didn’t know Bai Xiaochun, they all frowned, some even showed disdain in their eyes.

Getting lost in the Scented Cloud Mountain could only show that this kid usually didn’t come to the mountaintop, and didn’t care about these small competitions. Most disciples like this were merely average disciples that could be seen everywhere.

Du Lingfei took a glance at Bai Xiaochun and recognized him as one of Zhou Xinqi’s followers. She too had heard that Bai Xiaochun worked very hard to catch the chicken thief at that time. She stopped looking at Bai Xiaochun, scornfully disregarding him.

Chen Zi’ang saw Bai Xiaochun from within the crowd, briefly paused and then glanced at Li Qinghou. He thought back to a few months ago, Bai Xiaochun had mentioned that Li Qinghou was his uncle before he left the mission department. Chen Zi’ang immediately figured out why Li Qinghou had frowned earlier. Then, he silently told himself that later, if he had to fight against Bai Xiaochun, he couldn’t beat him too hard.

Li Qinghou snorted coldly, threw a threatening glance at Bai Xiaochun then slightly nodded to Elder Sun beside him.

Elder Sun seemed to have thought of something. He took a glance at Bai Xiaochun as well, and smiled at him. Then, he flourished his large sleeve.

“Okay, those who would like to participate in this competition between outer sect disciples, come up onto the stage.”

Seeing Li Qinghou glare at him, Bai Xiaochun felt wronged, but didn’t dare to say a single word. Hearing Elder Sun’s words, Bai Xiaochun was the first person to rush out and stand on the stage. His head was held high, and his chest was puffed out. He looked as if he would even climb a mountain of knives or plunge into a sea of flames without a second thought.

Soon, other competitors stepped onto the stage, with Bai Xiaochun included, there were a total of twenty outer sect disciples.

The rules of this kind of small competition in Scented Cloud Mountain weren’t that strict. Elder Sun swept his gaze across the competitors. He raised his right hand and took out a cloth bag which contained some small marked-balls. He then let outer sect disciples come out one by one to take a ball, which decided who they fought against.

Bai Xiaochun didn’t go first. Instead, he stood in the middle of the line. Then, he went up and got a ball marked with the number eleven.

“All right, everyone step down now. First fight, number one and two!” said Elder Sun blandly. Bai Xiaochun hurriedly stepped off the arena with the others. Only the disciples who had drawn the small balls marked with “one” and “two” stayed on the arena. After the two of them looked at each other, their eyes shone with sharp lights.

Soon, they just started fighting, and let out loud booms. While these two disciples were fighting, Bai Xiaochun looked at the other disciples. He thought that twenty people would take part in this competiton, so he would only have to win two fights, to get himself into the top five. He tried to find the disciple who had drawn number twelve, but everyone else had hidden their numbers well, giving Bai Xiaochun no chance.

While Bai Xiaochun was frustrated, the first fight ended, and the second one started. One of the competitors was Du Lingfei. As this girl formed hand seals, a cloth banner appeared. The banner then transformed into a cloud of mist and surrounded her opponent, who tried their best but was unable to break out from the mist, and eventually gave up.

The third and the fourth fights were soon over as well. In the fifth fight, Chen Zi’ang was one of the competitors. He easily defeated his opponent, who was a disciple in the fourth level of Qi Condensation.

“Eleven and twelve, fight.” said Elder Sun. Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath when he heard Elder Sun. After slowly walking up on stage, Bai Xiaochun had an imposing expression, then he saw a tall and skinny youth, who had a cold smile on his face, walk up.

This young man’s cultivation was not bad. He was at the fifth level of Qi Condensation. His eyes looked like they had electricity coursing through them. He seemed quite hard to deal with.

“Junior Brother, blame your bad luck for encountering me. It’s not too late to give up, otherwise, I won’t take any responsibility for your wounds after we fight.” the tall and skinny youth said coldly.

At the exact same moment this young man began talking, Bai Xiaochun abruptly let out a loud roar.

This roar was filled with energy. It shocked quite a few of the surrounding people, as well as the tall and skinny youth. The young man subconsciosly took a few steps back. When he looked at Bai Xiaochun again, he was stunned.

After letting out the roar, Bai Xiaochun slapped the jade tablet on his body. At that moment, a thick layer of cyan light suddenly appeared and shrouded his body. However, he still felt that it wasn’t enough, so he took out a large handful of talismans, then slapped all of them on his body. Every time a talisman fell off, a beam of light would appear around his body. Soon, over ten beams of light had appeared. They merged together and turned into a shield of light which was four chi thick. From afar, it looked shocking.

“Bring it on!” Bai Xiaochun’s muffled voice came from within the shield of light.

The tall and slim young man was completely stunned. Not only him, the surrounding outer sect disciples, including the other competitors, were all stunned speeechless. They had seen a lot of small competitions, but this was the first time that they saw someone protect themselves to this extent.

Li Qinghou’s face twitched, his eyes showed helplessness.

Chen Zi’ang gasped deeply. He was now even more certain that Li Qinghou and Bai Xiaochun were relatives. Du Lingfei snorted, looking at Bai Xiaochun with even more scorn than before.

In the arena in front of everyone, the tall and skinny young man let out a deep growl and made some hand seals. Immediately after, a wooden sword darted straight towards Bai Xiaochun.