While Bai Yunsheng was walking around the city with Li Yuhua and Xiao Ran, Zhou Yulong was wandering alone on the rooftops of the other side of Wujiang.
"In my previous life, on this day, he appeared... An artifact called the Tears of the Sage," he thought as he stood on one of the rooftops in the northern quarter of the city, looking at the alleys of the black market.
In the pocket of his loose dark robe, Heping, his faithful familiar, squeaked softly.
"Don't worry, my friend..." he whispered, not taking his eyes off the crowd. "This time, everything will be different!"
In my previous life, he was a great swordsman, but he died in battle with a powerful enemy. And he was able to go back in time again, deciding to become a master of all martial arts, not just a swordsman.
Zhou Yulong knew that the artifact would be sold secretly, in an underground deal between the Golden Orchid Clan and the Full Moon Sect. In his previous life, the Golden Orchid Clan would use this artifact and cause a lot of trouble.
"Damn, and I thought I prevented this deal!" he cursed, recalling the failures of his previous life.
The guy couldn't help but sigh when he recalled his recent encounter with Bai Yunsheng.
"Why is he like this? Lifeless eyes, a distant voice... Where is that brazen charisma that irritated everyone in the past? He didn't even look at Yuhua. It's suspicious..."
"It's like he's dead inside..." Zhou Yulong muttered.
Heping squeaked anxiously, to which the guy only nodded.
"Yeah, I know. I need to focus on the task at hand...
He jumped down, melting into the shadows, and headed towards the Full Moon Sect's warehouse.
He slid into an alley between two dilapidated buildings, where a faint spiritual vibration gave away the entrance to an underground black market warehouse.
He passed the guards, barely making a sound as he slid along the wall, until he reached a stone slab with a seal engraved on it: the old symbol of the Full Moon Sect, who used these warehouses for their secret trades. In his past life, these bastards had caused him a lot of trouble...
"In my past life, I learned that this seal was placed incorrectly, which is why it could turn off if I poured in a little spiritual energy!" Zhou Yulong thought to himself, and concentrated, pouring his spiritual energy into the seal.
The small seal hissed and emitted a faint glow, disappearing, slowly opening the door.
— It's good that these idiots don't check their seals and traps. Otherwise, they would have realized long ago that this seal can be turned off at any moment, by any person!
"Step to the left — thorns. Down — poisonous fog. To the right — the ceiling collapses... everything is like in the past life..." — he chuckled to himself.
Zhou Yulong took a deep breath, then with full concentration threw a knife filled with spiritual energy towards the wall in front of him. A quiet buzzing sound was heard, and most of the traps turned off.
Walking to the door in front of him, he turned to the right and approached the bookshelves.
Looking for the book he needed, he touched it and the second bookshelf opened like a door.
— Yeah... In my past life, I stood here for several hours before I realized that there could be a secret passage here and that it was right next to me! — he snorted to himself and sighed in irritation.
Zhou Yulong entered the passage and after a while descended into some room where there were many artifacts, but he ignored them all and approached the center, where there was a small medallion.
"Tears of a sage... I finally found you..." Zhou Yulong smiled happily and immediately went berserk. Pulling out his sword, he began to wave it, shouting something unrelated.
"FUCKING FUCK!!! HOW DID YOU FUCK ME IN MY PAST LIFE!!!" he screamed, recalling the features of this artifact.
"Just when I thought I had defeated the head of the Golden Orchid clan, that bastard immediately rose up in perfect condition, without wounds and with a full supply of spiritual energy!! And I almost died because of this!!
Zhou Yulong was furious, swinging his sword and smashing everything around him. Even Heping was flying around the room in a panic, because most of his attacks were aimed at the mouse.
After a few minutes, Zhou Yulong was finally able to calm down and took a deep breath, took the medallion and put it on.
Heping ran up to him and squealed angrily, beating his leg.
"Okay, okay, sorry! I went too far!"
***
While the two were arguing, a crowd of armed men immediately burst into the room.
"Fuck..." Zhou Yulong muttered and immediately rushed to the emergency exit.
But as soon as he managed to get to the surface, they were already waiting for him.
Zhou Yulong was surrounded. There were about 15 people around him.
"So... 8 of them are at the Foundation Establishment (2) stage, 4 are at the Golden Core (3) stage, and the other three are just at the Qi Refinement (1) stage! Hmm... I think I can handle it..." Zhou Yulong assessed his opponents and chuckled.
He pulled out his sword and gripped it tightly in his hands.
One of the opponents, who was at the Golden Core (3) stage, stepped forward and pointed his sword at him.
"You have no idea whose thing you took, kid," a hoarse voice rang out from a cultivator in a maroon cloak. He had a tattoo of a scaly snake on his shoulder. His eyes were shining with purple light, and a large sword was sticking out from behind his back.
"Give me the medallion back. And we might just cut off your legs."
Three more people stepped forward. One in a long robe, preparing to form arrays, another in leather armor with chains wrapped around his wrists. The last one looked like a monk, but his aura was rotten, as if he was practicing a demonic art.
Zhou Yulong just smirked and gave them the middle finger.
"Fuck you, assholes!"
The man with the tattoo just snorted and pointed his greatsword at him.
"As you wish! Grab him!"
The rest of the people immediately ran at Zhou Yulong.
When they got close enough, Zhou Yulong took one step forward and swung his sword.
— [Second Lotus Technique: Horizontal Slash]! — Zhou Yulong said, swinging his sword horizontally and releasing a stream of blade waves, cutting his opponents in half.
The four at the Golden Core stage (3) were shocked by this, but they pulled themselves together and attacked the guy.
The one with the chains moved first. Almost silent, like a snake. But Zhou Yulong retreated half a step and made a direct attack with his sword.
— [First Lotus Technique: Piercing Blade]! — Zhou Yulong dashed towards the man with the chains and pierced his heart with his sword. In one move, he cut it in half and attacked the one in the robe.
The frightened man tried to quickly form a light array, but did not have time.
— [Fourth Lotus Technique: Wind Spiral]! — Zhou Yulong cut off his arms with a circular motion and before he could scream, he cut off his head.
The cultivator with the big sword gritted his teeth and rushed towards him with a furious cry.
— DON'T YOU DARE LOOK UP ON US, YOU BRAIN IN THE FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTION(2)!! — He shouted, swinging his huge sword.
Zhou Yulong successfully dodged and swung his sword in a spin.
— [Second Lotus Technique: Horizontal Slash]! — In one smooth motion, the enemy's head fell to the ground and rolled towards his comrade.
The monk didn't have time to react and his head was immediately cut off. He didn't even have time to say a word.
Taking a deep breath, Zhou Yulong chuckled and ran away from this place before the others arrived.
***
After a while, Zhou Yulong arrived at the inn he was staying at with Li Yuhua and entered his room and lay down on the bed.
Heping came out of his pocket and beeped.
"Yeah... It was intense! Hehe... But it was even better than in my previous life!..." He chuckled weakly and slowly began to close his eyes and fell asleep.
Heping just sighed and lay down next to him. Although they were on the verge of a hair, their main goal had been achieved and they were able to obtain the Sage's Tears artifact! The rest would be done the next day...
***
A week passed and the day of the martial arts tournament selection battles arrived.
All this time, Bai Yunsheng had been practicing needle throwing, cultivating his energy, helping Xiao Ran with cultivation, etc.
Right now, he was standing in a clearing where there was nothing but grass and a large gate.
"The Temple of the Martial Arts King... In Sister's novel, this is where the martial arts tournament will be held. The tournament itself consists of several stages, so considering that the tournament will be held in a month, I have enough time to prepare!" Bai Yunsheng thought to himself as a crowd of people gathered around.
"Hmm... Sister didn't write much about this selection round. She only said in one sentence that Yulong and Yuhua passed this round without any problems, because surprisingly, there were many weak people who came to the first selection round..."
The guy sighed and smiled faintly.
"Well, the selection round will last for a few days and the strong cultivators will come tomorrow. So if I pass first, I won't have to fight the others!"
While Bai Yunsheng was lost in the clouds, a girl with black hair and azure eyes approached him.
"We see each other quite often, don't we, Mr. Bai?" She said to him with a grin on her face.
Hearing her voice, Bai Yunsheng looked up and saw Li Yuhua and Zhou Yulong standing in front of him.
Not wanting to get involved with them, Bai Yunsheng was about to say something, but he paused and thought.
"Great, now I have to engage in unnecessary dialogue! And I can't ignore them… Because I know this cliche. Once I ignore them, I'll actually attract more attention from these two!"
With a heavy sigh, he smiled faintly and greeted them.
"Indeed, often… How is my beautiful flower of the White Jade Sect doing?" — Bai Yunsheng said and kissed her hand, to which Li Yuhua herself was embarrassed, but did not pull her hand away.
Zhou Yulong frowned at this, but said nothing and extended his hand to Bai Yunsheng.
— Long time no see, Mr. Bai. I didn't make it that time, but thank you for giving us a tour of Wujiang! — Zhou Yulong said with a sweet smile on his face, to which Bai Yunsheng frowned.
"What's wrong with him? The Zhou Yulong I knew was a cheeky and hot-tempered idiot who would immediately pounce on me for flirting so brazenly with Li Yuhua! So why the hell is he acting like some kind of weakling!?" — thought Bai Yunsheng, who extended his hand to Zhou Yulong in return.
As they conversed with each other, more and more people gathered around.
When enough people had gathered, an old man with long white hair and brown eyes walked out in front of everyone.
"Luo Shengli is Lei Jiangxue's right hand man... In the novel, this old man was the type of supporting character who loves fighting, is too cheerful, loves to drink, and fights to the last breath. He should have become Zhou Yulong's mentor and heroically sacrificed himself for Wujiang!" Bai Yongsheng thought.
Out of the corner of his eye, Bai Yongsheng saw Zhou Yulong shed a tear as soon as he saw this old man.
Bai Yongsheng was surprised and looked at him with a wide gaze. His cold and rather melancholic gaze directed at the protagonist in shock.
"What the... What kind of reaction is this??? Why is this idiot crying when he meets Luo Shengli for the first time???" Bai Yunsheng's thoughts were pouring out.
He couldn't understand the reaction of the novel's protagonist.
"Even though Zhou Yulong is a regressor, he should have only met Luo Shengli in his second life after regressing. Because in his first life, he was too weak to participate in the martial arts tournament!"
Bai Yunsheng began to think of the possible reasons for Zhou Yulong's unusual behavior, and each one was no better than the last.
"Wait... Could it be that I didn't end up in my sister's novel like I originally thought? If Zhou Yulong is a regressor, could he have regressed in the part of the novel that I didn't read???"
Bai Yunsheng didn't like this question. Because if that's the case, then there's only one possible reason for Zhou Yulong's reaction...
"This bastard is living his third life..."
To be continued...