Chapter 37: Rather Than Improving Yourself, It’s Better To Smear Others
The person in front of him widened his eyes, unable to believe what he had just heard.
The people beside him were furious and shouted loudly, “What did you say?”
Jiang Ce dug in his ear, full of sympathy: “Hilarious, picking a fight and bringing a deaf guy along. I said, you’re so cute, I wish you happiness!”
The mocked person was momentarily overcome with rage and couldn’t help but want to strike, while the others also stepped forward, vaguely forming an encirclement, but they were stopped by the leader, who sneered:
“Cultivators spewing profanity, utterly crude, completely unworthy to stand with us! No wonder he provoked Xiao Gatekeeper; he’s such a despicable villain!”
Right from the start, he took the moral high ground, belittling Jiang Ce and accusing him of being unworthy as a cultivator.
But unfortunately, this vicious remark to most cultivators was painless to Jiang Ce, as he had never experienced the hardships of the cultivation path and couldn’t empathize with the feeling of one’s efforts being slandered.
To Jiang Ce, this was just a simple, utterly non-aggressive statement, and as always, when it came to aggressiveness, he had never feared anyone.
“So cultivators can’t swear?” Jiang Ce mused thoughtfully.
“Hmph, naturally. If one doesn’t even have proper demeanor, how can they”
“Fuck your code.”
The man hadn’t finished speaking when Jiang Ce crudely interrupted him.
“Say that again?” He was stunned for a moment, truly enraged by Jiang Ce.
“Kid, you think I don’t know that rhetoric of yours? Without proper demeanor, how can one cultivate to a profound realm, right?”
Jiang Ce looked at the person in front of him who had clenched his fists but said nothing, just glaring angrily at him, and grinned wickedly:
“But have you ever thought that if you can’t even protect your own mom, what’s the point of your cultivation? Can you resurrect your mom or make a new one appear?”
This remark was like the last straw that broke the camel’s back, finally making the other’s eyes turn red as his fury was fully ignited.
“Arrogant madman! I only wanted to teach you a lesson, but you’ve repeatedly insulted me—outrageous!”
Jiang Ce had been an orphan since childhood and didn’t fully understand this humiliation, but to these cultivators, his words were even more vicious than saying Jiang Ce was unworthy as a cultivator.
Even more coincidentally, these people in front of him cultivated the Confucian Path, which emphasized rites and laws, which was why they were the first to trouble Jiang Ce—his act of offending his superior by challenging Xiao Lin went against propriety in their eyes and couldn’t be easily forgiven.
So these inherently aggressive words on them were like Garen landing a mega-kill, silencing, breaking defenses, and critting all at once.
Seeing the few in front unable to hold back as if about to strike, Jiang Ce remained completely unpanicked: “Hey hey hey, gatekeepers can’t harm colleagues. Noble cultivator lords, are you going to break the rules and beat up a defenseless guy like me?”
“Despicable!!!”
The commotion here quickly drew many idle gatekeepers.
Among them, some knew Jiang Ce, and others learned about him after asking around.
All these onlooker gatekeepers felt intense contempt for Jiang Ce.
“Taking advantage of Confucian Path cultivators’ adherence to propriety and benevolence to do such despicable things—truly despicable.”
“Sigh, no wonder even Xiao Gatekeeper, who is unemotional, was provoked to anger.”
“How could there be such a villain among gatekeepers?”
“I heard he’s a connections guy; better not discuss him too much.”
“Exactly, these connections guys make everything a mess, really”
Hearing the whispers around him, Jiang Ce’s expression didn’t change at all, as if he heard nothing.
But Lu Yun was a bit panicked and tugged at Jiang Ce’s sleeve, anxiously saying, “What are you doing? Did you forget what Tian Tou’er just told you?”
Jiang Ce glanced at him: “Tian Tou’er told me to be down-to-earth, and I’m doing just that. Can’t you see these troublemakers have been face-ridden and defeated by me?”
Lu Yun was dumbfounded upon hearing this— so this is your idea of being down-to-earth?
“Anything else? If not, I’m leaving. You don’t dare to fight anyway, so why stand there?”
Jiang Ce shrugged; they were just a bunch of weaklings daring to provoke a keyboard immortal—utterly ridiculous.
He disdainfully looked at the people hiding behind the leader and loudly inflicted secondary damage:
“Hey you, stop gritting your teeth—tiring, isn’t it? Look at you all, not only unable to help your Big Brother but also getting cursed alongside him. Mom and dad both gone—what’s the point?”
With that, ignoring these comedic figures with bulging veins from anger, he turned to all the onlookers and unleashed group taunt:
“I know many of you don’t like me—whatever, plenty hate me. You can line up, make a schedule, and send it to me first. As for those wanting to prove themselves here, take a look at these guys first. In short, Luocheng big stage—if you’ve got a mom, come at me!
If anyone wants to settle it privately, welcome, but be prepared to quit being a gatekeeper just to vent. I work at the Luocheng Funeral Home. Peers who respect me call me the Mom-Sender Little Prince or Dad-Burner Little Overlord. Dissatisfied? Come try me!”
This remark thoroughly ignited everyone’s fury; if not for the explicit rules holding them back, they probably would have swarmed him.
Even so, someone couldn’t hold back and shouted, “I challenge you to a duel!”
“Duel?” Jiang Ce arrogantly beckoned: “Come on, come battle. I’ll show you what double send the whole family means.”
“No…” Lu Yun was dumbfounded and quickly held back the eager Jiang Ce: “He means a formal duel at the martial field. As long as you sign the contract and don’t kill you, injuring or maiming is fair game—no one interferes.”
Only then did Jiang Ce understand; there was such a setup.
But he remained unpanicked: “Whatever, I just won’t sign, and we’re done.”
Hearing his unabashed words, the crowd’s anger soared to new heights.
He’d seen shameless, but never this shameless.
At that moment, the Confucian Path’s White Talisman raised his hand to stop the one clamoring for a duel with Jiang Ce. Having reached peak rage, he calmed down instead, staring straight at Jiang Ce and slowly saying: “Brother Zhang, no need for you to act. Jiang Ce, I, Liang Zhi Zhou, challenge you to a duel!”
Jiang Ce blinked: “Why?”
“Because you’ve trampled my dignity!”
“No, I mean, why should I duel you?” Jiang Ce seemed puzzled: “You came to pick a fight first, I retort a couple times and suddenly it’s my fault? You want a duel—don’t you find that ridiculous?”
“No more talk; I’m indeed no match for you in rhetoric. Things have come to this—answer me one question: do you dare duel me?” Liang Zhi Zhou took a deep breath to suppress his fury.
“It’s not that I don’t dare, but if I agree to your duel today, tomorrow someone else who dislikes me challenges me—your time is precious, but mine is worthless?”
“What do you want then?”
Jiang Ce thought for a moment: “One thousand per time, three thousand for overnight. I’ll fight you until satisfied!”
Such a rare opportunity—if he didn’t rake in a fortune, it felt wrong.
As for consequences, he couldn’t care less; they’d all fall on Xiao Lin anyway.
In Jiang Ce’s view, there was no such thing as waiting ten years for revenge like a gentleman; if he didn’t retaliate on the spot, he’d feel uncomfortable all over!
He thought simply: only fools are grateful for hardships that make them grow. Hardships are just painful; his growth came from his own efforts, having nothing to do with them.
Better to slander others than improve himself.
No matter your intent in disgusting me, if I’m uncomfortable, no one plays. Whether for my good or targeting me, anyone knowing the story who wants to do similar meddling must weigh the consequences.
You like using people as pawns, Xiao Lin? Then I’ll treat them as leeks and harvest. I lose nothing anyway.
As long as I don’t break gatekeeper rules, what can you do to me?
Even if you know I’ve seen through the trick, what then? Unless you self-destruct for a one-for-one, I’m favored by Wei Lao and on close terms with Jie Tan. I’ve already learned from Jie Tan what four blessings mean.
That’s basically an amnesty card; no matter how pissed you are, at worst you give me small shoes. Can you kill me?
But these small shoes, I’ll wear if I like; if not, I’ll slack off. My cultivation relies on myself anyway; better or worse treatment makes no big difference.
Jiang Ce was always petty; after a grievance, as a lone orphan with no life threat, he always thought of revenge first, and if in the right, he’d press unrelentingly!
Just as he was weighing the pros and cons, something unexpected happened.
After hearing his clearly priced duel offer, the briefly silent gatekeepers suddenly vied to pay for a chance to teach Jiang Ce a lesson.
Jiang Ce looked at the scene and suddenly felt regret.
Damn, miscalculated—the price was set too low!
