Reunion

"Stop joking," Lan Bei Er said, even though her cheeks were flushed red. She turned away with a huff, folding her arms after putting her staff aside.

"But I'm not joking."

"I told you that it's impossible. You're from a demonic sect, I'm from an orthodox sect…" She blinked and paused for a moment, staring at me. "Wait a minute. You should get out of here before…"

She was too late. A group of orthodox cultivators rushed into the clearing, bearing swords, spears and an assortment of weapons. They radiated aggressive qi, and blood clung to their robes, evidence of an earlier battle.

"Bei Er!" One of them, a handsome young man in the silver, sapphire and gold robes of the Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion, shouted, his figure surrounded by several swords. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Thank you for your concern, Sir Jian Shen."

They stopped when they caught sight of me. The person called Jian Shen was immediately on his guard, pointing his sword at me.

"Who the hell are you!?"

"I'm a friend of Lan Bei Er," I replied with a bow. "I…ran into her coincidentally."

Jian Shen continued to watch me suspiciously, but the other members' attention was drawn to the corpse of the giant Cyclops. One of them, a beautiful girl in the familiar blue robes of the Azure Water Sect, turned to Lan Bei Er.

"Bei Er, did you slay the Cyclops?"

"No, it wasn't me," Lan Bei Er replied with a sigh. "Senior Bai Ning Shuang, you know my strength. There's no way I can defeat a Cyclops by myself. My role is healing and support."

Bai Ning Shuang's brow furrowed as she glanced at me. "So this gentleman here was the one who slew it?"

"Yes," Lan Bei Er replied.

"Hah!" Jian Shen burst out laughing and pointed at me. "Are you joking? How is it possible that a trash like him beat the Cyclops?"

"…huh?" I stared at him, baffled. "You don't even know who I am, and you just decide that I'm trash? What gives, dude?"

"You're trash because I say so!" he flapped his hands about while he studied me. "Just look at how weak and scrawny you are. Wearing glasses too…you're no cultivator, you're just a nerd. The qi you're emanating is so weak…you're probably a qi refinement realm cultivator at best."

Did it not occur to the idiot that I simply didn't want to go around showing off my cultivation realm and waste qi in stupid staring contests?

"Tell us the truth! Who killed the Cyclops?" Jian Shen was looking around the forest. "Please, mighty immortal! At least show yourself so that we can thank you personally!"

"I already told you that it was Hei Ye who killed the Cyclops!" Lan Bei Er snapped in exasperation. Jian Shen merely rolled his eyes.

"Why you lying, sis? He's just trash! There's no way he could have done it!" He stepped forward with his sword drawn. "I bet I can kill him in one strike!"

I pushed my glasses up my nose and smiled thinly, getting ready to respond to his provocation. Before I could, however, Lan Bei Er rushed over and grabbed my arm.

"Please don't!" She hissed. "If they find out you're a demonic cultivator, they will call their masters over! I know you're powerful, but even you will have difficulty fighting several masters from the seven major sects! And…they are my seniors, so…please, for my sake, forgive them."

At her words, I immediately understood. These brats must have special treasures that allowed them to summon their masters instantly or something. Or at least call their masters over, who would then fly to this place in a short time. Also, they were her friends, and she didn't want to see them die.

"How dare you get so close to her?!" Jian Shen stormed at me, stomping forward with wild swings of his sword. "Get away from her, you trash!"

"Would you stop that?!" Lan Bei Er screamed at him. "Just shut up!"

"You…you would choose a trash over me?" Jian Shen looked aghast. He narrowed his eyes. "Just who the hell are you?!"

"We already told you, he's my friend!"

"Bullshit! I've never met this friend of yours before!"

"He…he's a friend of Long Ao Tian!" Lan Bei Er blurted out. "We met when I joined Ao Tian's party and became comrades while fighting demonic cultivators together."

I wanted to laugh. A friend of Long Ao Tian? Me? Uh, I was the one who killed Long Ao Tian. In the most ruthless manner possible, no less. But somehow I managed to maintain control over myself and suppress the amusement.

Jian Shen was also amused as he stared at me. "Hah! That explains it. So this trash is a friend of a trash. As expected, trash always gather together."

"I can see that," I replied dryly. Jian Shen glared at me and raised his sword.

"Stop hiding behind a woman! Are you a man? Relying on a woman to protect you?"

"I'm trying to protect YOU!" Lan Bei Er yelled at him, her grip tightening on my arm because she was afraid I would attack her friend. "Now shut up or your life will be in danger!"

"Huh?" Jian Shen rolled his eyes. "My life in danger? Because of a trash like him? You really like to joke around, Junior Bei Er."

"Would you just shut up and stop wasting our time, Jian Shen?" Bai Ning Shuang said coldly. Jian Shen's eyes bulged and he immediately lowered his head.

"Yes, Senior Bai."

"We still have to hunt the spirit beasts. It appears that the Cyclops have been letting loose these feral wolves and setting them on merchant convoys. We have to find the rest of them. There's no time to waste – it'll be more dangerous at night, and also more difficult to find them. Let's go."

Then she turned to me.

"Also, you…Hei Ye, was it? If you're smart, you should stay as far away from Junior Lan as possible."

The contempt in her eyes made it clear that she thought I was trash, just like Jian Shen. What superficial fools, basing their opinions of other people on appearances and the qi we emanated. Clearly it never occurred to these amateurs that experts were perfectly capable of concealing their aura.

Well, let's play along with them for now.

"I am very sorry, Hei Ye." Lan Bei Er let go of my arm and lowered her head. "My seniors are used to being revered as top geniuses, and they rarely encounter setbacks. That's why they look down on other people. I know it's not right, but…"

"And these are orthodox cultivators," I mused, rolling my eyes. "You take the high moral ground and condemn us demonic cultivators, but then you behave like pretentious pricks. Is there really any difference between you and us?"

"…I'm so sorry. I…" Lan Bei Er looked as if she was going to cry. I quickly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. You've done nothing to apologize for. This is in no way your fault. I think you're an exception."

Lan Bei Er shook her head, and then she straightened, turning to follow her departing seniors. "Anyway, I apologize, but I have to go now. We're currently on a mission, and if we don't slay the demonic beasts as soon as possible, Dragon Gate City and the common citizens will continue to suffer."

"Mind if I join you?" I asked, following her. Lan Bei Er blinked in surprise.

"No, but…why would you…?"

"Obviously to help you."

"That…" Lan Bei Er swallowed, her cheeks turning pink. Jian Shen rushed over, waving his sword.

"I told you to get away from her!"

Lan Bei Er interposed herself between us, most likely worried that I would crush Jian Shen like the egg he was.

"Why don't you get away from me?!"

"Junior Lan…!" Jian Shen looked utterly shocked. He shot me a venomous glare, and I understood. This guy was a love rival of sorts. He also had a crush on Lan Bei Er and was competing for her affections. That was why he hated me so much. I was a threat to his dreams of romance.

Unfortunately for him, he had to compete against a villain. Of the lowest order – I was under no illusions as to what kind of pathetic, spineless "beta cuck" villain I was (or a simp, as some would accuse me of being), admittedly, but…well, still a better villain than a moron whose existence solely revolved around being beaten up by the main character.

A main character who was dead, come to think of it. I was the one who killed Long Ao Tian.

"Stop fighting and hurry up!" Bai Ning Shuang snapped from the front. Jian Shen choked, and then he pointed at me childishly.

"W…what about this trash?"

"He can come along as long as he doesn't get in the way," Bai Ning Shuang said impatiently, emphasizing the second clause. No doubt she considered me a burden and wanted me to keep my head down once the fighting started. However, she didn't want to waste time arguing with Lan Bei Er, so she acceded to my request.

Jian Shen scowled, but then he nodded. A grin curled across his face. "I want to see what a trash like you is capable of," he sneered.

I swear, I had never heard the word trash being thrown about so many times in a single fucking chapter. Then again, this was a cultivator world, so…

Hell, even an urban son-in-law story would have lots of "trash" being thrown about. It wouldn't be a son-in-law story if the other characters didn't call the protagonist a trash son-in-law.

Ugh, this was so annoying. I was getting sick of this nonsense. Shaking my head, I muttered to myself.

"…can't I just kill all of them?"

"You can't!" Lan Bei Er hissed. She was keeping a close eye on me to ensure that I didn't do anything reckless, stupid or murderous. She grabbed my hand and pleaded. "Please! I know they are awful people, but they are still my seniors!"

…if you knew they were awful people, then why did you continue to associate yourself with them?

"I have no choice! Diplomatic relationships between our sects! Master wants me to cooperate with the disciples of other sects to maintain good relations! It wouldn't look good if I'm the only survivor of a massacre! They will blame the White Herb Sect and suspect us of something!"

"Oh, yeah. That would be bad." I nodded in agreement. For my wife's sake, I had no choice but to control myself.

"I'm not your wife!"

"Not yet."

At least she didn't deny the possibility, instead falling into a silence and blushing furiously. From the front, Jian Shen shot me a glare and bristled.

"Stop flirting with Junior Bei Er, you trash!"

Bai Ning Shuang smacked him on the side of his head, almost sending him sprawling onto the dirt. She held up a finger to her lips, looking grave, and then indicated to a trail just a few dozen meters away, obscured by tall grass and dense clusters of trees.

"Shut up! Noise discipline! We are getting close to the path where the demonic beasts were last spotted."

"We encountered a couple of Cyclops leading a herd of demonic beasts earlier," Lan Bei Er explained to me softly. "Apparently they are part of a much larger group that is planning a raid on human convoys. Our job is to eliminate them."

I nodded in understanding. A large group of Cyclops with demonic beasts, huh? This might be a little difficult, given my current circumstances.

As we crept nearer to the screen of tall grass, I could make out the enemy. Five Cyclops holding onto black leather leashes. At the end of the dark, rough tethers, feral wolves thrashed about, gnashing their teeth and spittle flying from their jaws. Each was as big as a lion, with two oversized fangs stretching downward like saber teeth. Their gray fur bristled like spikes, and their huge claws were capable of rending through steel armor.

Deadly foes, no doubt. No threat to me, but I didn't know about the orthodox cultivators. Well, they weren't my problem. The only person I wanted to protect was Lan Bei Er.

One of the feral wolves paused, lifting its snout to the air and sniffing. Then it turned toward our direction, growling ferociously.

"They've noticed us," Bai Ning Shuang said coldly. Drawing her sword, she charged through the grass. "Attack! Leave none alive!"

With a yell, the orthodox cultivators leaped forward to clash with the howling feral wolves and bellowing Cyclops.