Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain - Book 2: Chapter 1: Boarding the ship

Volume 2 title – The Devil’s Descent: Nanyue Continent

The solitary figure who boarded the airborne ship was none other than Murong Lin, under his false identity of ‘Nie Wu Sheng’, the disciple of Nie Su.

The cultivators operating the array aboard the flying ship were visibly taken aback by the unexpected sight. It wasn’t until they could ensure the array’s flawless operation that they finally accepted Murong Lin as a legitimate contestant in the upcoming tournament.

The flying ship’s array served two distinct purposes:

1. It possessed the capability to securely draw individuals closer to the ship once they entered its field of influence.

2. It gauged the age of those within its reach, dispatching a lethal verdict upon anyone over the age of twenty-two.

This was the intention of the organizers, the ten great sects.

Thus, the young man, who evidently held the power of the Sky Reaching realm or possibly even greater, was a surprising addition to the list of participants.

Ye Lan hadn’t encountered a participant of Murong Lin’s calibre in quite some time.

As the operator of the flying ship, Ye Lan held the esteemed position of being an inner circle disciple of the Hundred Cultivation Mountain. His lineage was nothing short of impressive, with his father holding the status of the Great Master of one of the sect’s mountains.

Assigned the duty of welcoming tournament participants, Ye Lan found himself in a role he had performed a decade ago. Yet, during his previous tenure, he had failed to escort a single contender who succeeded in securing a spot within one of the ten great sects.

It was no secret that the neighbouring countries in this region lacked the necessary strength to compete at that level.

Ye Lan’s jurisdiction encompassed nearly a thousand countries and fifty-seven influential forces affiliated with the Ridge Fir Alliance. Consequently, he found himself welcoming over a thousand disciples with each tournament. The number of slots allocated to these countries often reached into the hundreds, if not thousands. With these numbers in mind, the total count of participants in this tournament was easily projected to exceed ten million, an equivalent to the entire population of a small country.

Nonetheless, Ye Lan’s presence this time around held a dual purpose. In addition to his welcoming duties, he was also tasked with identifying potential talents for the Hundred Cultivation Mountain, potential disciples whom he could potentially recruit ahead of time.

While he couldn’t help but feel a certain level of distaste for this kind of action, he couldn’t deny that he had noticed several promising talents during his current journey.

Inwardly, Ye Lan contemplated, “When the time comes, I’ll strike an agreement with them.”

He continued to steer the flying ship toward the next country.

This remarkable flying vessel was a creation of the Hundred Cultivation Mountain, boasting the capacity to transport more than ten thousand people. It offered a variety of cultivation and entertainment facilities and was widely regarded as a prized item of lower Barren grade. To most aboard, this lower Barren grade flying ship was the highest grade item they had ever laid eyes upon, instantly sparking excitement and anticipation for the journey ahead.

As Murong Lin ventured into the flying ship’s sphere of influence, he was promptly drawn into one of its chambers. After a quick survey of his surroundings, he exited the room and entered a hallway bustling with individuals.

The four participants from Yan who had arrived earlier were gathered there, and upon seeing Murong Lin step out of his room, they approached him with respect and admiration.

One of them greeted him, “Big brother Nie, I’ve heard so many great things about you!”

Feng Zhe clasped his hands together, wearing an expression of awe, Chen Wen Hao greeted him with a smile, while Liu Wu spared a quick glance at Nie Wu Sheng before moving toward him.

Murong Lin waved his hand, signalling them to dispense with formalities, and asked, “Do you have any idea what’s happening here?”

Liu Wu’s brows furrowed slightly as he responded, “This is a specially prepared flying ship by the ten great sects. My estimate is that it’ll take about ten days to gather participants from the nearby regions before heading back.

It’s likely to collect contestants from about a thousand countries, encompassing a mix of strengths, including countries on par with our own, Yan, as well as the more formidable ones.

I estimate there will be around ten thousand participants on board this ship. Once they’re all assembled, we can evaluate them ourselves.”

Murong Lin keenly assessed the strengths of those before him. Both Liu Wu and Li Yi Fan had reached the fourth layer of the Manifestation realm, while Feng Zhe lagged behind at the second layer of the Manifestation realm, and he was even twenty-one years old.

However, Chen Wen Hao stood out as the most formidable among the four of them, already at the eighth layer of the Manifestation realm.

Murong Lin found this particularly intriguing.

Chen Wen Hao, attuned to his surroundings by virtue of his psychic arts, quickly discerned Murong Lin’s inquisitive gaze. With a rueful smile, he offered an explanation, “My humble Li clan may not wield immense power, but we do enjoy a measure of renown overseas. My clan members are scattered among various participating countries in this tournament, a strategy aimed at ensuring an even distribution of our clan’s disciples.

Since our clan doesn’t align itself with any specific country, we allow our disciples to take part in different countries’ tournaments, granting them the opportunity to earn the right to compete in the ‘Great Nanyue Wan Guo Tournament’. This way, we avoid the need to eliminate our own disciples and simultaneously contribute to the development of the Chen clan.”

The Li clan, much like the country of Daling, had a guardian expert in the Cognizance realm.

As such, Li Wen Hao had a deep respect for Murong Lin and willingly shared his gathered information candidly.

“This year’s tournament appears to be exceptionally fierce. The allocated slots of all countries are completely filled, and it’s not like previous tournaments where they would send only three participants out of the five slots assigned to them. Recognizing this shift, our clan decided to send all of us.”

Murong Lin nodded in understanding, not at all surprised by this decision.

Given the protagonists that would emerge in this tournament, it was evident that a multitude of geniuses would participate. With such an abundance of talent, the competition was bound to be fierce, leading to a host of unexpected occurrences.

Just then, Li Wen Hao’s attention was drawn to a group of figures ahead. With an excited wave of his arms, he exclaimed, “Seventh brother! I’m over here!”

While assigning rooms to more than ten thousand people might seem like a daunting task, experts in the Virtuality realm could effortlessly accomplish such a feat with a mere thought.

After all, the Hundred Cultivation Mountain’s method of refining weapons relied on their mental energy to measure, combine, and refine tens of thousands of ingredients, making such a minor task quite straightforward.

Beyond the Abhijñā realm lay the Virtuality realm, marking the first two stages of the Abhijñā Enigma realm.

The majority of people residing in this region hailed from the Ridge Fir Alliance. The leadership consisted of thirty-odd individuals representing the three countries: Daling, Daqing, and Dale. The rest of the assembly comprised over a hundred participants from the smaller neighbouring countries.

But the situation wasn’t as straightforward as it appeared. Individuals who couldn’t secure their place in the top ranks of the three great countries would often choose to participate in the tournaments of the surrounding 25 smaller countries, as exemplified by the Li clan. By doing so, they could earn slots in those smaller countries. The Li clan, for instance, secured two slots in Dalong and an additional three slots in the surrounding countries. Consequently, among the nearly one hundred gathered participants, almost half hailed from the three great countries.

Li Wen Hao’s seventh brother, who had earned a slot in Daqing’s tournament, stood out as one of the two Li clan members with the right to participate. He boasted cultivation at the ninth layer of the Manifestation realm and acted as the de facto leader of the assembled Li clan members. The second leader of the Li clan, who had also secured his participation rights in Daling, was a cultivator at the Sky Reaching realm.

In addition to them, there were several Sky Reaching realm cultivators gathered there. Excluding Murong Lin himself, there were at least six Sky Reaching realm experts present among the Ridge Fir Alliance’s participants.

However, Murong Lin’s power surpassed theirs.

He hadn’t disclosed his Cognizance realm status to anyone, and moreover, he was already at the sixth layer of that realm.

Murong Lin looked at Li Wen Hao’s seventh brother, who guided them towards Ling Yu, the prince¹ of Daling.

“Your Highness, these are the participants from Yan.” Li Wen Hao introduced.

Ling Yu nodded and cast a curious glance at Murong Lin before addressing the five participants from Yan, “Very well, come forward. With this, all 136 participants from the 28 countries affiliated with the Ridge Fir Alliance should be gathered here. Now, I will provide a detailed explanation of this year’s tournament.”

With his words, the Ridge Fir Alliance’s participants drew closer to listen intently.

Similar to them, the participants from other regions all gathered separately to exchange information, forming a buzzing sea of conversations.

“This year’s tournament will deviate from the previous editions. The sect leaders of the ten great sects will personally select disciples from among the participants!”

1. The term ‘Prince’ is 郡王, which refers to someone who is not the king’s blood relative but was titled as a prince by the king himself for great merit/other reasons (He owns land under the king/emperor) ↩︎

Translator’s note:

Finally, volume 2.

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