Bai Yefeng wasn’t some random barfly. According to Wenren Lian, Bai Yefeng ranked among the top of their generation. Could someone like that really be possessed or controlled by Chi You?
On the way back, Jiang Luo kept asking Wenren Lian about Bai Yefeng. “Is he really that good?”
“Very good,” Wenren Lian replied. “Even more impressive than his ability is his popularity.”
Wenren Lian paused, maybe afraid of hitting a sore spot. “He has a lot of followers. People even call him the second Chi You.”
Jiang Luo nearly laughed out loud. “The second Chi You?”
“Yeah,” Zhuo Zhongqiu joined in. “Bai Yefeng’s been copying Chi You for the past four or five years. His mannerisms, his way of handling things—they’ve all gotten more and more like Chi You. That’s when he started getting famous. He even came to Chi You’s funeral after he died.”
Jiang Luo appeared thoughtful. “I see.”
So there was indeed a reason for Bai Yefeng’s antagonism toward him.
Perhaps Bai Yefeng had somehow caught wind of the lie he had fabricated. As a follower of Chi You, Bai Yefeng might be targeting him simply because “Chi You liked him.” That wasn’t entirely out of the question.
If that was the case, then Bai Yefeng might not necessarily be Chi You’s puppet.
Still, to be on the safe side, Jiang Luo decided to investigate Bai Yefeng more thoroughly.
When the group returned to the hotel, Teacher Wan beamed as he led them to a nice restaurant for a celebratory meal. At the table, he repeatedly patted Jiang Luo and his teammates on the back. “Good job, good job! Our school is going to be famous now!”
He went on praising them from Cyril to Jiang Luo. Cyril and Lu Youyi were embarrassed. “It was all thanks to Jiang Luo. He was the one who led us through the formation.”
Teacher Wan gave Jiang Luo two hearty pats. “Good, good! Now even Chi You can rest in peace— the prodigal son has returned! I’ve got my eye on you!”
Jiang Luo replied faintly, “…Teacher, how do you know about me and Chi You?”
Everyone at the table suddenly lowered their heads.
Jiang Luo quietly scanned over them. Gossip really was the hardest secret to keep. Who knew how many others had heard about the “Chi You liked Jiang Luo” rumor?
Jiang Luo was so grateful he wanted to run up to each of them and hug them while shouting, “You’re such good people.”
After the celebration, they had five days of rest. But it wasn’t truly a break — they had gained an advantage by obtaining clues to the next round, and they had to maintain that lead. During the five days, they needed to identify the likely location of the next challenge and gather as much information as possible.
There were quite a few schools in the city that had undergone expansion in 2012. And the clue didn’t even specify whether the school was a primary, middle, high school, or university. Jiang Luo thought it would be difficult to pinpoint the next location among so many, but Wenren Lian and the others were satisfied. They said they were grateful just to have gotten a usable clue.
Three days later, they had narrowed it down to ten likely schools.
Information about these ten schools was printed in eight copies. Wenren Lian forced everyone to read and memorize them all in one day. Even Lu Youyi, who had the worst memory, could recall most of the key points.
Meanwhile, Jiang Luo had gathered more information about Bai Yefeng.
Before high school, Bai Yefeng had been completely unremarkable. But around five years ago, he suddenly started rising, gradually revealing his talent and strength, and began modeling himself after Chi You. Gifted and affable, Bai Yefeng’s reputation steadily grew, and now Shanhai University was full of his admirers.
Jiang Luo even had someone dig into Bai Yefeng’s close circle. According to them, Bai Yefeng’s personality hadn’t changed—he was just as he had always been, with no signs of anything strange.
After reading through all the intel, Jiang Luo had to admit he might have become overly sensitive because of Chi You and was reading too much into things.
If Bai Yefeng really wasn’t Chi You’s puppet, then the only reasonable explanation was that he was just one of those people who seemed warm and kind on the surface but was actually extremely petty underneath. A perfect disciple of Chi You—Jiang Luo scoffed inwardly—they were practically cut from the same cloth.
That afternoon, after four days of hard work, Jiang Luo’s teammates pulled him out for a bit of fun, deciding to use the last day of their break to relax and unwind.
Lu Youyi still remembered something Jiang Luo had said before. “Let’s go to a temple. Jiang Luo’s been way too unlucky lately—his house caught fire, he dislocated his arm, and now he’s even run into a spider-human.”
The spider-human that even the event organizers hadn’t found during their inspection of Hubu Village had just so happened to appear to Jiang Luo and Qi Ye. That wasn’t just unlucky—it was extraordinarily unlucky.
Jiang Luo, still groggy with sleep, tried to perk up. “A temple in Yunnan? Which one?”
Ge Zhu replied, “Jinwu Temple.”
Jinwu Temple was a famous Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan. Jiang Luo instinctively looked at Ge Zhu. Ge Zhu had once been a disciple of Buddhism but later turned to Daoism. Visiting a Buddhist temple now—wouldn’t that be complicated for him?
But when Jiang Luo looked over, he saw Ge Zhu wearing his traditional Daoist robes, chatting excitedly with Kuang Zheng about the temple’s vegetarian meals. “I heard their steamed rice smells amazing. I’ve been to Jinwu Temple before, and let me tell you, don’t believe the fortune-tellers inside. And the stalls—haggle for half price at least. If they ask for ten yuan, three is already pushing it.”
Jiang Luo: “…”
He silently turned away and said to Ye Xun, “Can I hold Little Pink for a bit?”
Ye Xun handed over the rabbit plush. Jiang Luo rubbed its ears. “We weren’t allowed to bring special items during the first round, so Little Pink had to stay at the hotel. We should be able to bring it for the second round, right?”
Ye Xun nodded. “We can.”
Jiang Luo thought of his backpack full of talisman paper and grinned darkly. “That’s great.”
Jinwu Temple was built against a mountain, vast in scale, surrounded by towering peaks and a great lake. The temple had white walls and golden roofs, reminiscent of the Potala Palace in Tibet.
They rode the sightseeing shuttle to the base of Jinwu Temple. The central staircase alone had two hundred steps. With the high elevation, trying to climb them all in one go could cause altitude sickness. So the group took breaks as they went, chatting and laughing along the way until they reached the front of the temple.
Zhuo Zhongqiu was acquainted with a senior monk at the temple. She and Ge Zhu went to greet him while Jiang Luo and the others wandered around. Lu Youyi dragged Jiang Luo to make offerings, claiming, “If your heart isn’t sincere, money will do—now get to praying.”
Jiang Luo had never really believed in this kind of thing. But since he’d already transmigrated—into a supernatural world, no less—he figured the least he could do was show some respect to the gods and buddhas.
He knelt on the prayer mat with his companions and bowed to the Buddha with perfect form. In his heart, he thought, I’m not asking for much—just let Chi You be dead.
They played on the mountain for two hours, then went down to find a local Tibetan-run travel agency for dinner, and soon returned to the hotel.
Later that evening, Jiang Luo was taking a shower when someone knocked on the door. After a while, Lu Youyi ran to the bathroom door and said, “Jiang Luo, someone’s here to see you.”
“Who?”
“Someone from the Feng family,” Lu Youyi lowered his voice. “He said Teacher Feng wants to see you.”
Teacher Feng, of course, referred to Feng Li.
Jiang Luo wiped his face, opened his eyes, and thought for a moment. “Did he say what it’s about?”
Lu Youyi replied, “He didn’t say anything. Just that Teacher Feng wants to see you.”
Jiang Luo touched the Yin-Yang hoop on his right hand. Why did Feng Li want to see him?
Aside from taking first place in the first round of the competition, Jiang Luo couldn’t think of anything else particularly special.
He considered for a moment and said, “Tell him to head back for now. Apologize for me and say I’m currently not available to meet Teacher Feng.”
Lu Youyi nodded and left.
Feng Li was the male lead in Devil, the man who ends up with Chi You—Jiang Luo definitely wouldn’t underestimate him.
Feng Li was strong. Jiang Luo couldn’t just sit back and let him join forces with Chi You and make Chi You even more powerful. But until he knew more about Feng Li’s personality and temperament, Jiang Luo didn’t want to rush into a meeting.
More importantly, Jiang Luo was tired from playing all day. He was feeling a bit spoiled—after his bath, all he wanted to do was get into bed and not deal with any complicated nonsense.
The Feng family disciple who’d been rejected made his way up to the fifth floor and knocked on Feng Li’s door. From inside came a calm voice: “Come in.”
The disciple entered to find Feng Li playing chess with Zhuo Zhengyu. Feng Li didn’t turn around, yet still seemed to know, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, and said mildly, “Didn’t find him?”
The disciple answered cautiously, “Sir, Jiang Luo said he’s currently not available to meet you.”
Feng Li paused with a chess piece between his fingers, then turned his head to look at the disciple.
His eyes were a pale color, as if untouched by the dust of the mundane world, but the pressure they exerted was heavy and almost tangible. The disciple trembled under the gaze. Feng Li slowly set down the piece and murmured, “Not available?”
Zhuo Zhengyu laughed, “Feng Li, you’re too old-fashioned. Young people these days don’t just sit around waiting for someone to summon them—they’re all super busy, barely even have time to play! If you want to see someone, you should’ve given him a heads-up.”
“Forget it,” Feng Li turned back to the chessboard, his tone completely calm. “If he’s not available, then so be it. We won’t meet.”
Seeing that he was about to lose the game, Zhuo Zhengyu seized the chance to act shamelessly—he tossed the chess pieces aside and pulled out a map of the next competition site. “Let’s get back to business. We haven’t decided which areas we’re assigning the students to.”
Feng Li glanced at the map, then searched through a list of student names. He drew a slip of paper and placed it on the most dangerous area of the map.
Zhuo Zhengyu leaned over and saw the name: “Jiang Luo.”
He gave Feng Li a look and thought, You really hold a grudge. Just because the kid didn’t want to meet you, you’re putting him in the most dangerous area.
But the more dangerous the place, the greater the rewards. After thinking for a moment, Zhuo Zhengyu placed his own daughter’s name on the same area.
Author’s note:
Zhuo Zhongqiu: …Thanks a lot.
