Zhu Jiao was gaping at the glowing Spirit Engraved Pillars, quickly removing his hands after he inadvertently triggered a reaction from them. The light continued to link him to the Spirit Engraved Pillars, however, suffusing both him and the entire s.p.a.ce around us.

"Oh my goodness…" Lian Rou"s jaw nearly hit the ground. "Zhu Jiao triggered a reaction from all nine Spirit Engraved Pillars?! How is that possible?"

"It"s possible because he"s the protagonist," I muttered bitterly. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d just couldn"t stop being a b.l.o.o.d.y Mary Sue, could he? Oh yeah, I caused a ruckus by lighting up three pillars, but then Zhu Jiao comes along and lights up all nine of them.

Reminded me of a certain Qin Lie from a particular story named Spirit Realm. d.a.m.n it. I should have seen this coming. I really should have seen this coming. But Zhu Jiao wasn"t in Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, so honestly, I never wold have imagined that he would come along and do one over me. We weren"t even in a compet.i.tion or something, but it seemed that Zhu Jiao never read the memo.

…all protagonists just had to be some sort of special snowflake, didn"t they?! UGH!

However, I couldn"t complain. I did have my chance, and I received my spotlight. I guess it was fine if someone else did. Even so, the manner in which Zhu Jiao just effortlessly triggered all nine Spirit Engraved Pillars was grating.

People like me had to work so hard just to get where we did today, whereas protagonists like Zhu Jiao, Lin Dong, Li Fu Chen, Lin Feng, Yue Yang, Chu Feng, etc. had every f.u.c.king thing handed to them on a silver platter. Oh, need a powerup? Here, there"s a Spirit Pill conveniently appearing from a dead enemy you just killed, or a Treasure Weapon that happened to be in the tomb you were exploring at the moment. Want to break through in cultivation? Here, some mystical s.p.a.ce that is super-rich in qi and will boost your cultivation speed.

Every single f.u.c.king one of them. Maybe I was somewhat similar, but since I was always relegated to a side character, I never got any of those benefits. h.e.l.l, I had to build my own Snow Aegis instead of conveniently getting a Treasure Weapon…okay, I had Azure Lotus Sword, so maybe I can"t whine about that. But because of my views on doping, I never conveniently received a bunch of super Spirit Pills or medicine to boost my cultivation or whatever.

And I had to work for over a year before I developed enough of a sense to read the Spirit Diagrams engraved into the pillars, and even then I could only decipher three of them. Then Zhu Jiao comes along and activates all of them like a b.l.o.o.d.y genius (much like Qin Lie, though that idiot for some inexplicable reason decided to give the spirit pillars a wide berth for almost a year until he conveniently needed a reason to take over as the sect"s absolute prodigy and gain authority over Armament Sect after killing Liang Shao Yang, it was so d.a.m.ned contrived and forced).

Feeling ill, I decided to withdraw into the background while a gigantic crowd came rushing over to praise and admire Zhu Jiao.

"What…what is this?!"

Luo Zhi Chang, the only surviving Great Elder, hobbled toward the plaza on his walking stick, his eyes glazed over as he stared at the nine glowing Spirit Engraved Pillars. He turned his gaze to Zhu Jiao, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Good Heavens…is this even possible? How is there yet another genius capable of triggering a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars? And all of them too?!"

Because he was the protagonist.

"My goodness…"

"Wow…"

"Whoa!"

"Who is that guy?!"

The members of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect were gathering around the plaza to watch the amazing sight. They shook their heads, their eyes riveted upon the amazing spectacle. Their voices fell into hushed murmurs as they tried to make sense of what was happening.

"He"s not from Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, is he?"

"What"s going on?"

"Then how…?"

"…I have no idea."

The inner sect elders had also arrived, and they were staring at Zhu Jiao. They were at a loss, too, especially because they were aware that Zhu Jiao was not from our sect.

"What do we do?" Tie Jiang asked.

"…no idea. Probably we should inform Sect Leader." Hai Mo was barely able to maintain his calm, glancing toward the peak of Flame Volcano.

"Someone, call him." Another inner sect elder was fumbling for his smartphone. "Never mind, I"ll do it."

"No need." Zi Shou De had already appeared atop the plaza, accompanied by his wife, Zi Da Ji. "I"m already here."

"Sect Leader…"

"Sect Leader."

Zi Shou De raised a hand to forestall the ravaged members from carrying out the usual formalities. Like them, he was watching the puzzled and panicked Zhu Jiao trying to distance himself from the Spirit Engraved Pillars.

"Oi!" Zhu Jiao cast a fearful glance at Tong Xue, Lian Rou and me. "What"s going on? Help me out here!"

The three of us exchanged a glance, and then shrugged.

"Uh, well…there"s nothing to help with." I struggled to come up with an answer. "You"ve just been recognized by the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars. It"s a great honor."

"Recognized?" Zhu Jiao repeated incredulously. "Recognized for what?"

…that was actually a good question. Now that I thought about it, I never really knew what exactly the triggering of the Spirit Engraved Pillars meant. It was just something the creator ripped off from Spirit Realm, but he never really gave much thought to this whole bulls.h.i.t.

So I just threw the first answer that came to mind.

"Recognized for being a prodigy," I blurted out. Thinking further on how Spirit Realm described Qin Lie, Tang Si Qi and Liang Shao Yang, I began adding a few more adjectives. "A heaven-blessed child or the pride of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect."

"But I"m not part of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect!" Zhu Jiao protested.

"Not yet," Luo Zhi Chang agreed, but his eyes were shining. "But there shouldn"t be any problems accepting you as one of our own."

Zhu Jiao blanched at that, and to be honest, even I was crept out by the look of desire in Luo Zhi Chang"s eyes. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, that sort of expression, when used by a very old man to look at a younger boy, would cause all sorts of scandals.

"No thanks! I do not wish to join the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect!" he blinked, and then quickly added, "no offense." That last statement was hastily added as he glanced at me, Tong Xue and Lian Rou, but we were more bemused than offended.

"Why not?!" Luo Zhi Chang whined, sounding pretty desperate. "We"ll give you everything you desire! Riches, resources, wealth, Spirit Weapons, anything! All you have to do is ask!"

"Uh…no thanks."

Zhu Jiao was obviously thinking that he had no need of those things. As the typical protagonist, he was already pretty loaded, having gotten his hands on all sorts of treasures and Spirit Weapons during his adventures. h.e.l.l, I wouldn"t be surprised if his wealth exceeded that of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. Honestly, there was nothing we could offer him.

"I don"t want to be a blacksmith," Zhu Jiao was explaining. "And I don"t want to tie myself down to a sect."

"You don"t have to be a blacksmith. You can join Blood Blades and be a warrior."

Hai Rong was present, as she usually was when Hai Mo was around. She raised what sounded like a tempting offer, but Zhu Jiao shook his head.

"No thanks. I have my hands full mastering the martial arts my master taught me, I don"t want to get distracted by learning other martial arts."

Funnily enough, that was the one thing that distinguished Zhu Jiao from other protagonists. Any other wuxia or xianxia protagonist would jump at the chance to learn new martial arts, and master as many as they could…except they wouldn"t join the sect to learn it. Those protagonists would steal the techniques and learn them on their own. True to form, Zhu Jiao would probably get his hands on Blood Blades" techniques sooner or later and learn them on his own without Lang Xie or Hai Rong or Zi Da Ji teaching him.

Don"t ask me why they had to go through such a convoluted way. Probably to showcase more of their Mary Sue-ness of being able to easily master things that other people needed to put in effort and go through much difficulty to learn.

"No, but you have to join our sect!" Luo Zhi Chang was getting desperate now. "It"s fine if you take Nine-Tailed Fox Sect as your secondary sect! You can remain true to your primary sect and stay as a member there! You can occasionally come here to learn some of our techniques! If you don"t want to learn blacksmithing, then martial arts is fine! All we ask is that you commune with these Spirit Engraved Pillars and reveal the Spirit Diagrams inside them!"
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"Uh…" Zhu Jiao looked extremely reluctantly. Knowing him well, I could tell that he was refraining from just telling the old dude outright that he had no obligation to do so. Like Qin Lie, he was going to do whatever he wanted from here on out. "I"m sorry, but no."

"If it"s secondary sect, Zhu Jiao already has one. He"s affiliated with our White Tiger Sect."

Fortunately for Zhu Jiao, Bai Ning Xue stepped in to defuse the situation. Zhu Jiao nodded eagerly.

"Yeah…yeah! That"s right! I can"t join too many sects!"

"I see…" Luo Zhi Chang thought for a moment. Then he brightened up. "If you are interested, we can provide you with women too. If you would just marry a girl from Nine-Tailed Fox Sect…"

"I"m sorry, but Zhu Jiao is my fiancé." Bai Ning Xue"s tone was stiff and cold, filled with warning. "He will not be marrying anyone else other than me."

"Ah…I"m sorry." Luo Zhi Chang realized that he had crossed a line there, and he wisely backed off.

"…huh? I am?"

On the other hand, Zhu Jiao looked perplexed. But when he caught Bai Ning Xue"s look, he hastily nodded.

"Ah, yeah! That"s right!"

…come on. It was clear that Bai Ning Xue made that up on the spot, presumably to help Zhu Jiao out, and also to declare to everyone that he was her man. Zhu Jiao wasn"t even aware that they were supposed to be engaged until a few seconds ago. h.e.l.l, it was obvious to anyone who knew the two well that Bai Ning Xue just made it up.

However, we didn"t have any evidence of that, so none of us could accuse her or Zhu Jiao of fabricating the engagement. We just had to take their word for it – or rather, Bai Ning Xue"s word for it.

Inwardly, I couldn"t help but sn.i.g.g.e.r. Of course…this was yet another cliché instance of the heroine forcing an engagement upon the protagonist. No doubt the engagement would be made real and become official later. Lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

"Ugh…is there no chance you"ll change your mind?" Luo Zhi Chang moaned.

"Enough." Zi Shou De cut in before the First Great Elder could embarra.s.s himself further. "Stop hara.s.sing the poor boy. Control yourself, First Great Elder."

"But…" Luo Zhi Chang protested in a whiny voice uncharacteristic of someone of his advanced age. "We can"t just let such a prodigy go like this! He lit up all nine Spirit Engraved Pillars! This boy will definitely become someone integral and ma.s.sive in our sect!"

"He already said no," Zi Shou De pointed out reasonably. "What are you going to do? Kidnap him and imprison him in our sect?"

"…er…" Luo Zhi Chang feebly backed off when he realized what he was about to do. He nodded weakly. "I apologize."

"It is fine," Zhu Jiao a.s.sured him. He glanced around uncomfortably, aware that he was still the center of attention. "Um, now that the battle"s over, I guess we should be going back now? We still have to interrogate the prisoners."

"Good idea." Bai Ning Xue nodded. She then bowed respectfully to Zi Shou De and Luo Zhi Chang. "We"ll excuse ourselves then."

"Thank you very much for all your help." Zi Shou De returned the politeness with a bow of his own. "In the future, if White Tiger Sect needs help, feel free to call upon us. Perhaps the a.s.sistance we can offer is extremely limited, especially in the light of recent events, but we will do our best to help in whichever way we can."

"Oh, don"t worry about that." Bai Ning Xue smiled in a dignified manner. "Your Nine-Tailed Fox Sect has always fairly dealt with us and sold us high-quality Spirit Armaments and other superb products. It would be a ma.s.sive blow if we lose a trading partner like you."

"You"re too kind." Zi Shou De lowered his head slightly.

We then watched the White Tiger Sect contingent leave, accompanying the columns of AFVs departing the devastated grounds of Tushan City.

"Are we really going to let the boy go like that?" Luo Zhi Chang asked in disbelief.

Zi Shou De turned toward him sternly. "As I said, what would you have us do? Kidnap the boy against his will and hold him here? We"ve just suffered a huge blow after fighting off the invaders from thirteen sects. We can"t afford to make any more enemies."

"That young man also seems to be under the protection of White Tiger Sect." Zi Da Ji nodded in agreement. "We can"t afford to offend them."

"We don"t need someone who isn"t willing to join us," Lang Xie added quietly. Everyone almost jumped at his words. None of us realized when he had arrived – though knowing him, he probably was present the entire time. He then turned away and left without another word. Hai Rong watched after him, and agreed vocally.

"That"s right. Even a willing member will be a much greater a.s.set than a reluctant prodigy. What matters is the heart and loyalty to the sect, not one"s amount of talent!"

"We should still do our best to attract such talents and people with potential, though," Luo Zhi Chang countered. I had to admit that he had a point.

"Oh, I"m not denying that." Zi Shou De nodded. "And you made the right move in offering him the sect"s wealth and resources to groom him." He then sighed. "But as you saw, even with such attractive proposals, he turned us down. I"m afraid his heart belongs to another sect."

"That"s fine." Zi Da Ji suddenly appeared behind me, and placed a hand on my head. I winced under the tremendous pressure, but the Sect Lady didn"t seem to have noticed my discomfort, and she continued. "We still have Fei Wu here! Even without that young man, we"ll manage somehow and restore ourselves!"

"Well said. And not just Fei Wu." Zi Shou De swept his gaze across the members gathered upon the plaza. "Tong Xue. Lian Rou. Jing Wei. Di Xuan. My daughter, Xiao Ji. Da Ge. All of you have proven your loyalty, and stuck with the sect through thick and thin even when we were on the verge of death. All of you are worth more than a million geniuses…geniuses who have no loyalty to the sect and ran away when confronted with death."

I was suddenly reminded of Pang Feng. He had chosen to abandon Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and returned to Cloud Sky Mountain when the latter attacked us. And Pang Yun, who, like her brother had turned her back on Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and rejoined Cloud Sky Mountain because she thought we were doomed for sure. And then there was Liang Shao Yang, who despite being a prodigy, had caused more harm to the sect than good.

Worse, these three weren"t the only ones. Thankfully the turncoats, defectors and cowards were far and few between. The vast majority of the dudes in our sect decided to stay loyal and fight to the very end.

Most gave their lives in service of the sect. They were the true heroes. Elder Cheng Ping. Zhao Shi. Tang Qi Hong. The dead were no longer with us because they had made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the sect"s future.

Zi Shou De seemed to have realized that, for he also lowered his head and made a similar remark. He then glanced at Luo Zhi Chang.

"Also, it"ll be disrespectful to the dead if we start throwing everything away to recruit new members. They are the ones who contributed the most…contributed more than any genius. The people here have all fought so hard and shed so much blood for the sect. This bonds us closer than any ties of blood. Everyone here has risked their life and fought for each other as much as for the sect. Honor the living and mourn the dead first. Then only we start looking to the outside."

"We still need outside help to restore our sect," Zi Da Ji reminded her husband.

"That may be true," Zi Shou De conceded. "The royal family might be sending their best engineers, technicians and architects, but these people will probably never be part of our sect." he sighed. "We can invite them, but…"

As he trailed off, everyone was reminded of the lesson we learned regarding Pang Feng, Pang Yun and Liang Shao Yang. They were all so promising and so talented, their future so bright and their potential so limitless, but…in the end, all that promise and potential were for naught. Not when they chose their own interests over the sect.

To be fair, we couldn"t ask them to die for the sect. We couldn"t ask anyone to do that.

However, a lot people – especially the ordinary, the normal, the common, the "untalented" people gave their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice, often without being asked to. In that single instance, it was clear which of them contributed more to the survival of the sect.

Potential and promise and talent were all useless if you didn"t live up to them. In the end, what mattered was one"s actions. And the ones who acted were us normal, untalented people. Well, Tang Qi Hong – who was a genius – stayed and helped. But the rest of us, like me, Tong Xue, Lian Rou, Jing Wei, and the majority of the Blood Blades martial artists were normal, untalented people who weren"t cla.s.sified as geniuses or prodigies.

And we were the ones who stayed behind and fought for the sect until the very end. It was us who died and spilled blood. Not the prodigies like Liang Shao Yang, Pang Feng or Pang Yun. It was us common folk.

Apparently Zi Shou De recognized that, and he planned on rebuilding Nine-Tailed Fox Sect upon this loyal core of disciples and members. A sect based on bonds, loyalty and friendship, where the worth of the members was based on their deeds, actions and virtues, not on their potential and talent. This wasn"t to say they would dismiss talent and potential entirely. No doubt the sect would continue to recruit promising blacksmiths with infinite potential, but at least the higher-ups (or most of them anyway) now recognized the value of loyalty and courage as opposed to being blind to nothing but "talent" as the Great Elders were when Liang Shao Yang showed up.

Needless to say, the new Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was going to be careful about who they planned to recruit from now on.

"All right." Zi Shou De began clapping his hands and gesturing for all of us to move. "There"s no point sticking around. Everyone, let"s get back to work. We"ve got a long way to go before we can restore our sect. Let"s not waste any more time."

"Yes, Sect Leader!"

In a single voice, we all complied and proceeded to scamper off to resume our respective duties.