📖 Chapter 1006 - Master is Benevolent!

21 Jun, 2023

Wang Baole absentmindedly followed Fifteenth Senior Brother into the distance, caught up in his own thoughts. At first, Fifteenth Senior Brother walked normally, but soon, he began hopping up and down. The way he moved was indescribably strange; after all, Fifteenth Senior Brother’s body was skinny like a bean sprout, and his head was overly large, so when he hopped up and down like this, he looked just like an enoki mushroom…^[1]

Moreover, as he hopped along, a bizarre song issued forth from his mouth…

“The Raging Flame Galaxy is good, the Raging Flame Galaxy is wonderful, the Raging Flame Galaxy is just the best…”

This song seemed to hold an eerie charm that made Wang Baole even more bewildered. He gradually felt that this place was full of an indescribable absurdity. In fact, from the moment he met the old ox to now, “absurd” was really the best word to summarize his feelings.

‘Here in the Raging Flame Galaxy, there’s an old ox who’s so powerful that even Master treats it politely… This old ox pretends to be serious and said that the Raging Flame Galaxy disdained flattery, but it’s actually the one who likes to hear flattery more than anyone else…

‘Here in the Raging Flame Galaxy, there’s a Fifteenth Senior Brother who looks shifty and seems to have some mental problems. This senior brother has a bizarre pattern of speech, and he keeps saying ‘ya know’ all the time… He also likes to look around warily and then whisper to me, but… can’t he just transmit his voice directly? Why bother speaking out loud? After all, even if you can’t see anyone nearby, it’s still possible for someone to be listening in…

‘There’s even a Fourteenth Senior Brother who also seems to have mental problems. He cultivated a transformation technique and turned himself into a rock, but then he couldn’t change back…’ Wang Baole felt a headache coming on, and he couldn’t help but massage his forehead. But when he followed Fifteenth Senior Brother over to the pagoda where Thirteenth Senior Brother lived, Wang Baole felt his head hurt even more.

He thought he’d prepared himself already, and when they arrived, he looked around for rocks or other objects outside Thirteenth Senior Brother’s pagoda. After finding that there were no rocks, only a few withered trees, he subconsciously relaxed. But a moment later, his heart trembled, and he suddenly took another look at those withered trees…

‘No way…’ Wang Baole gaped as a certain guess emerged in his heart. Next to him, Fifteenth Senior Brother had already walked over to one of the withered trees and bowed deeply.

Seeing this scene, Wang Baole slapped his forehead and immediately ran over to pay his respects.

“Greetings, Thirteenth Senior Brother!”

The withered tree didn’t respond, but Fifteenth revealed a satisfied smile. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Wang Baole spoke up first.

“Fifteenth Senior Brother, don’t worry, I understand. This tree is Thirteenth Senior Brother, right? He must have cultivated the same transformation technique as Fourteenth Senior Brother, and after turning into a withered tree, he ended up unable to change back.”

“Sixteenth, you really are talented and intelligent. You’re able to deduce things from a single incident. How astute.” Fifteenth’s gaze became more and more satisfied. He turned his head to look at the withered tree they’d greeted and sighed deeply.

“You’re exactly right. Thirteenth Senior Brother and Fourteenth Senior Brother are really close, but they’re also always competing with each other. After Fourteenth Senior Brother learned that technique, Thirteenth Senior Brother went and begged Master for the same one. In the end… ya know, he couldn’t change back. But this is exactly what Thirteenth Senior Brother wanted. Now, those two are competing on who’ll change back first.”

Wang Baole didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, and his headache became even stronger. He was about to speak some more, but before he could say anything, a voice suddenly rang out from a different withered tree next to the one they were bowing to…

“Fifteenth, are you picking a fight? It’s fine if you greet the wrong tree, but you’re even speaking this sort of rubbish!”

As soon as the withered tree’s words rang out, Wang Baole’s expression filled with shock. He quickly turned his head to look at the withered tree that had spoken, then back to look at the tree he’d offered greetings to…

“No need to look. You just paid respects to a real tree…” As Thirteenth Senior Brother’s calm voice echoed out again, Fifteenth quickly paid respects.

“Congratulations to Thirteenth Senior Brother! Congratulations for successfully defeating Fourteenth Senior Brother! Senior Brother is peerless and invincibly mighty!”

Wang Baole took a deep breath. He sorted out his confused thoughts and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he’d finally met someone who seemed relatively normal. He hurriedly bowed in greeting again.

“Sixteenth greets Thirteenth Senior Brother!”

“So you’re little Sixteenth? Let me tell you, don’t listen to Fifteenth’s hogwash. Why would Fourteenth and I compete on who can change back first? Absolute nonsense!” The withered tree’s voice was full of righteousness and seemed to carry a chiding tone. Wang Baole felt respect rise up in his heart and was about to nod in agreement, but when the tree continued speaking…

“How could that good-for-nothing Fourteenth ever compare to me? His divine sense is still asleep. I’m much better than him, so I can spread my divine sense outward. I can appreciate the view of the sky, and enjoy the feeling of the breeze blowing my branches and leaves.” The withered tree seemed extremely smug, even shaking a little bit.

At this point, Wang Baole couldn’t help but fall silent.

“Little Sixteenth, you’re not bad at all. Senior Brother will give you a welcome gift.” The withered tree’s shaking grew more intense, and it was soon shaking so hard that it seemed on the verge of collapse. Wang Baole was startled. If the other party was a human, they would definitely have turned red with exertion. Finally, the withered tree let out a comfortable moan, and a half-dead leaf appeared on one of its branches.

It fell down and landed in front of Wang Baole. There was still a trace of heat rising from the leaf.

Wang Baole stared blankly at the leaf in bewilderment. Fortunately, he could sense astonishing spirit qi emanating from the leaf, so there were no strange misunderstandings, but… the bizarre feeling in his heart was becoming more and more intense. In the end, he could only brace himself and pick up the leaf before bowing in thanks to the withered tree.

“Thirteenth Senior Brother is pretty good to you. Sixteenth, that thing is Thirteenth Senior Brother’s innate fate item. If you ever encounter danger in the future, just crush that leaf, and you can summon Thirteenth Senior Brother’s projection!” Fifteenth inhaled sharply and exclaimed. The withered tree that was Thirteenth Senior Brother laughed happily.

“Alright, you guys should go on and pay respects to the other senior brothers and sisters.”

After it spoke, the withered tree stopped shaking, returning to stillness. Fifteenth quickly dragged Wang Baole away, but before they reached the next pagoda, Wang Baole couldn’t help but ask a question.

“Fifteenth Senior Brother… um… Have the other senior disciples all practiced the same transformation technique…?”

“Shush!” When Fifteenth heard that, he immediately turned around and put his index finger to his mouth. He led Wang Baole a distance away, then looked around and whispered conspiratorially.

“Sixteenth Junior Brother, you’re thinking too much. Among us disciples, ya know… only Thirteenth and Fourteenth are dumb enough to trust Master so easily. As for the others, why would they randomly cultivate that transformation technique?”

As soon as Fifteenth’s words rang out, a bright light flashed through Wang Baole’s eyes. He hesitated for a while, then whispered uncertainly.

“Fifteenth Senior Brother, why did you call them dumb? Is Master untrustworthy?”

“I didn’t say that, you did!” Fifteenth’s expression instantly changed, and he looked around rapidly while immediately clearing his name. He quickly pulled Wang Baole away, and Wang Baole was becoming more and more confused. After pulling him away, Fifteenth looked around again and whispered with a mystifying expression on his face.

“Little Sixteenth, you shouldn’t talk nonsense. Let me tell you… Master is open-minded and magnanimous, and he loves his disciples very much. Thus, he likes exploring ruins out in the starry sky and finding strange cultivation techniques for us to cultivate. He wants us to learn from all the genius seniors throughout the ages, becoming like rising dragons or phoenixes and reaching up to the heavens.”

When Wang Baole heard this, his expression suddenly became serious, and he proclaimed loudly.

"Master is benevolent!"

"Yes, Master is benevolent!" Fifteenth blinked, and then lowered his voice even more.

“But here’s my advice to you… If Master ever gives you a weird cultivation technique, you should wait for the other senior disciples to cultivate it first. Only start cultivating it after you’re certain that there’s nothing wrong with it…” Upon hearing this, Wang Baole’s expression couldn’t help but turn strange. As for Fifteenth, once he finished speaking, he suddenly looked into Wang Baole’s eyes and asked a question in a meaningful tone.

“Sixteenth Junior Brother, after coming to the Raging Flame Galaxy and seeing Thirteenth and Fourteenth Senior Brothers, plus what I said just now, you probably feel like Master is a little unreliable, right?”