I Just Wanted to Live, but I Somehow Became Better Than the Main Character - Chapter 82: Idea
It must be said that Hua Ning Yan’s death truly elevated her.
From a specter fox who harbored hatred for humanity and was stained with the blood of many humans to ultimately sacrificing herself in a battle for humanity, her brief life was full of contradictions. If humans hadn’t cruelly killed her elder brother and destroyed her home, she probably have had a normal and happy childhood.
But there were no ifs. Humanity’s greed created her hatred, and hatred blinded her, making it hard for her to distinguish right from wrong, turning her from a victim into a perpetrator.
Hua Ning Yan’s passing left many readers who liked the silver-haired fox girl feeling regretful, and Ye Yong was one of them. Now that there was a chance to fix things, Ye Yong intended to change the future.
“The problem is that the damn author didn’t write clearly about the specific time and place. Otherwise, changing the future would be so much simpler,” Ye Yong said, scratching his head. “The only thing I can be sure of is that the elder brother’s death happened shortly after the protagonist joined Heavenly Luo Sect and that the destruction of her home occurred several months later.”
While Ye Yong was deep in thought, a poisonous snake with flower-like patterns slithered through the branches and approached him quietly.
Ye Yong had forgotten to apply beast-avoiding incense, and the concealment system had caused his cultivation level to be undetectable, so the snake treated him as ordinary prey.
The snake waited for an opportunity, then lunged forward fiercely, aiming to bite Ye Yong’s neck and deal a fatal blow.
“Don’t bother me.”
To the snake’s surprise, Ye Yong didn’t even turn his head and just reached out to grab its head.
The poisonous snake, at the 9th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm, was incredibly strong despite its small size. However, it couldn’t break free despite thrashing its tail left and right. It tried to constrict Ye Yong’s arm, but it had no effect. At that moment, when the prey focused its gaze on the snake, the snake felt a tremor of fear. Without thinking, it immediately opened its mouth and spat out the venom stored in its poison sac.
Ye Yong turned its head, causing all the venom to spray out and splatter on the ground.
And thus, its only chance of a counterattack was lost. The snake now deeply regretted its actions, wishing it had never approached Ye Yong. Thinking about it, there was no way a weak mortal would be found 6 kilometers into Sprit Specter Mountain. But regrets were useless; the only thing it could do was wait for its death.
Ye Yong looked at the hissing snake and suddenly had an idea: “Right, I can spend money to have people in the city keep an eye out and report to me immediately if they hear anything about spirit foxes.” Ever since Ye Yong had started cultivating, his memory had significantly improved, allowing him to recall previously vague details. He recalled the name of the first city Hua Ning Yan destroyed and knew that the cultivator who destroyed her home lived in that city.
“But I need to be careful not to overdo it and end up making the informants specifically look for spirit foxes for money. I might end up being the one who indirectly caused the destruction of her home.”
The snake’s surprise attack made Ye Yong suddenly think of the strategy of “the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind”. ¹
Since he didn’t know the exact time and place, he would be better off not worrying about it. He could spend money and wait for information.
After all, the cultivator who discovered the spirit fox’s home at that time was only at the early stage of the Golden Core Realm, while the spirit fox had several elders at the late stage of the Golden Core Realm. He had no chance of winning, so he returned to the city to get help.
And since he had to get help, information would definitely be leaked. As long as Ye Yong could receive the news quickly and arrive quickly, he could experience the event of saving the damsel fox in distress.
Ye Yong didn’t think he would be able to save Hua Ning Yan’s elder brother. However, he could at least protect her home and amend her image of humanity. Afterward, he might possibly trick her over with some words.
What didn’t Ye Yong lack? Everything except living beings. As long as he has transcend points, he could provide Hua Ning Yan with a cultivation method specially designed for foxes, keep her by his side as she cultivated, and when she becomes an immortal fox and gains the ability to turn into a human… cough, cough, anyway, Ye Yong was doing this simply because he was kind. There were definitely no other motives!
This way, not only could he the route where she becomes a specter beast, but it would also reduce her blood debt as much as possible. As for whether or not she would seek revenge on those who killed her brother, that would be up to her.
“Go cause trouble for someone else.” Ye Yong was in a good mood, so he let the snake go, tossing it aside. If it hadn’t been for its sudden attack, Ye Yong wouldn’t have thought of this strategy so quickly. Even if he had thought of it eventually, it would have taken him much longer.
As for the snake killing other people since Ye Yong let it go? Well, people die in the Spirit Specter Mountain every day. It ran on a “strong prey on the weak” ecosystem, so if someone with no strength ventured deep into the Spirit Specter Mountain, then they could only blame themselves for their deaths.
The snake couldn’t believe that it would be able to live and quickly slithered and escaped into the grass.
…
Ye Yong left Spirit Specter Mountain and used a flying device to travel to Glorious Qi City.
Glorious Qi City wasn’t very prosperous. The city lord was a cultivator at the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, and Ye Yong’s arrival did not attract much attention. Passersby only glanced at him and just assumed he was a cultivator from a big family.
After all, his appearance and demeanor were not something ordinary people could match.
Liang Xiao Rou and the others who had been following Ye Yong didn’t enter the city, as there were generally no dangers inside a city.
While in the Spirit Specter Mountain, Liang Xiao Rou was the only cultivator walking on the ground. First, she didn’t know that Yi Bai and the others were also there. Second, her cultivation wasn’t that high, and there were Golden Core Realm spirit and specter beasts around 10 kilometers into the Spirit Specter Mountain. She wasn’t afraid- she just didn’t want to cause a commotion that Ye Yong might notice if a fight broke out.
Due to the need to maintain distance, she didn’t know that Ye Yong encountered a spirit fox. The senior brothers and sisters observing from the sky were too far away and couldn’t release their spiritual sense for fear of being detected by Ye Yong, so they only knew that Ye Yong had saved a fox-like white creature.
Even if they saw that it was a spirit fox, a rare spiritual beast, they would not have had the thought of pursuing it after Ye Yong rescued it and let it go.
However, if they knew that the fox could speak, then it would be a different story.
Generally, spiritual beasts could only speak human language when they reached the late stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and developed substantial intelligence. The fact that the two spirit foxes could speak despite not even being at the Crystallization Realm was proof that they had developed intelligence, and it was quite high.
With low cultivation but high intelligence, such spiritual beasts were the most suitable to be spiritual pets. Who wouldn’t want a talking, highly talented spiritual pet when they were just in the Golden Core Realm?
But there were no ifs. They had already missed their chance.
…
There were 4 places that mortals and rogue cultivators loved to be at: brothels, gambling houses, taverns, and teahouses. These places usually provide a lot of information.
Ye Yong found a teahouse, gave the owner a low-grade spirit stone, and asked for information about the local delinquent gangs.
Every city had delinquent gangs in every section, and the gangs were usually the first to obtain new information. Ye Yong wanted to receive news as soon as possible, so needed to use these gangs.
A low-grade spirit stone was equivalent to 1000 gold. The owner, without any reservation, provided Ye Yong with the names of local delinquent gangs and even sent a waiter to take him there.
The first one he visited was the Fierce Bull Gang, led by a Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 middle-aged man. The gang had around 30 members, with 10 immortal cultivators and about 20 martial cultivators.
This number and level of cultivation were insignificant to Ye Yong. But for the Glorious Qi City, the Fierce Bull Gang was a sizable gang with considerable influence.
The teahouse waiter, who knew the gang, respectfully spoke a few words with the gang leader. The leader nodded and then performed a cultivator’s greeting to Ye Yong: “I am Ma Zhi. May I ask your esteemed name?”
“Just call me Mr. Ye.”
Translator’s Notes:
¹ Basically means waiting for others to deal with things before coming out at the end to reap the benefits.
Thank you to Danny for the support!