Chapter 6 (The Mad Cultivator)

The Mad Cultivator

[Translated by ChickenBakuba]

Pre-chapter translator note: The following is unedited.

Chapter 1, Contest II

Everyone looked forward to the match. No, it was not because the sparring would be a great one, with fancy exchange of moves or masterful display of technique. Rather, it was because everyone looked forward to a good show of Ye Kong being humiliated.

“Look, the fool’s up.”

“How many moves do you say he lasts before he gets thrown off the stage?”

“I say three.”

“Ahaha, you’ve overestimated him. I reckon he’ll soil his pants the moment he gets on stage.”

The incoherent chatter and ridicule of the onlookers below the stage faded away to white noise as Ye Kong shook his head calmly. Did these cold-hearted bastards really not sympathise even a little with him? Did they really hold even the slighest ounce of affection for him, even as brothers?

“Please advise me.” Ye Kong cupped his hands, casting a bow towards Ye Long.

Only to find that his opponent had not even bothered to return his bow. Ye Long stared him down haughtily, hands behind his back, his nose upturned high into the air.[footnote]I swear the father needs better genes.[/footnote]

“If you don’t want to get thrashed, then fuck off!” Ye Long snorted.[footnote]Idebated between scram, fuck off and wank off and eventually settled with scam. I changed it to fuck off later though, you’ll see why.[/footnote]

Although Ye Long was only fourteen, he towered even higher than Ye Hu in size. If one took an adult male and had him stand next to Ye Long, the height difference would be awfully small. Clearly, Ye Long was a fighter whose game lay in power.

To tell the truth, Ye Kong himself had gotten shivers up his spine when he watched the fight between Ye Hu and Ye Kuang. Be it skill or technique, he was far from their opponent.

Others had studied martial arts for years, while he had merely exercised a bit for 7-8 days. The playing field was clearly not level. Long-distance running, push-ups, none of those contributed much in an actual fight. The odds of winning this fight were dismal.

“Fuck <i>your</i> mother off!” Ye Kong retorted as he threw himself at Ye Long.

I, your father, has nothing on my hands, but this father is willing to bet his life! How about you?

"He swore?" Ye Long exclaimed, dodging to one side. Ye Long had expected Ye Kong to forfeit the competition the minute he was given a chance, so Ye Long had adopted a position of superiority — nose stuck up high in the air, nostrils pointing at Ye Kong.

But he was wrong. Not only did Ye Kong reject his offer to forfeit, he had even taken the initiative to attack. Ye Long was slightly caught unprepared.

"I'm not done yet! Motherfucker, you think I'm some pushover who doesn't swear? I, your father, am a hoodlum!" Ye Kong swore like a drunken sailor, dashing towards Ye Long in a flurry of punches and kicks.

However, Ye Long did, after all, practice martial arts. Ye Kong's crude punching and kicking were easily blocked by him.

"Since you want to have a beating, don't blame Fourth Brother for being rude!"[footnote]Fourth Brother refers to Ye Kong as he is, well, the fourth brother.[/footnote] A stern expression flashed in Ye Long's eyes for a moment as he suddenly lashed out with his fist. Ye Long identical to Ye Hu in that he walked the same strong and ferocious path of fighting. The wind shrilled as his fist punched out.

It was obvious to everyone spectating below the stage. Ye Kong's punches and kicks lacked even the most basic style or technique. His swings were full of mistakes. Although Ye Long had been caught off guard, he had already recovered from his initial surprise. Even Ye Kong had a day where he was out of luck.

Ye Haoran shook his head faintly. Haoran had seen the child jogging as he braved through the rain. Perseverance and the willingness to bear hardships. Ye Haoran still held expectations towards Ye Kong's performance, no matter how small.

But the second the fight began, Ye Haoran only needed a glance to know that Ye Kong did not even have the slightest knowledge of martial arts. If your physical strength was not up to par, then you needed to fight like Ye Kuang. Hit and run, consume the opponent's energy, search for an opportunity. When the opponent finally reveals an opening, you go for the jugular and beat him in one move.

Even if you took the initiative to attack, what good was it? Weren't you simply courting death? Once the opponent recovered, a swat of his hand would knock you out!

The way Ye Haoran saw it, whether it was in strength or intelligence, he was inferior to Ye Long.  Ye Long’s strike would cause Ye Kong’s lost.

“Ai.” Haoran let out a small sigh. He waited for the clear outcome of the battle.

However, things often take an unexpected turn. A miracle was something stunning that happens when all the odds are against you.

And a miracle happened.

"Bang!" Sure enough, Ye Kong had no time to avoid it. Ye Long's fist fiercely connected with Ye Kong's chest.

But what was startling was that Ye Kong was not sent flying. Rather, it was Ye Long who recoiled in pain.

Yep, Ye Kong had not stepped into the ring unprepared. He stitched an iron plate on his clothes before he left the house. Although it was not thick, it was enough against Ye Long. Ye Long had hit the iron plate with his full strength. One could only imagine his pain currently...

But even with the iron plate to take the brunt of the blow, the blow had caused Ye Kong to gasp in pain. Ye Long's fist had inner power within in, causing Ye Kong's blood to surge and roil inside his body. Ye Kong took a step back, his face pale.

"Armour is not allowed in the competition!" Ye Long howled in pain as he clutched his wrist.

But Ye Kong wasn't done.

Ye Kong felt the metallic tang of blood rushing up from his throat. He spat his blood into Ye Kong's face.

As the two of them were standing close to each other, Ye long was completely unable to avoid it. Ye Kong felt something warm hit him on his face as he struggled to look through the blood on his eyes.

"Spitting blood isn't allowed, attacking the eyes isn't allowed!"

While the opponent was on the ground, take him down![footnote]Exploit any opportunity to take your opponent down.[/footnote] This was Ye Kong’s style of approaching anything. He raised his leg and slammed it ferociously into Ye Long’s crotch.

“Aghh!” A shrill wail of agony cut into the ears of all the spectators. His appearance was priceless. His face was red with blood, his eyes tightly screwed shut as he grasped at his crotch with one hand. His butt stuck out as he squeezed his legs together in an attempt to lessen the pain. Because his right hand still hurt from punching the iron plate, he held his right hand in mid-air while he clutched his crotch with his left.

His pose seemed like some re-enacted pop-dance of Michael Jackson.

“Attacking...vital areas...not allowed...”

“This isn’t allowed, that isn’t allowed, you think this daddy is playing house with you?” Ye Kong sneered. He spat out a glob of blood. Then he hunkered down, took hold of Ye Long’s leg and lifted it...

And thus, against all expectations and visible odds, Ye Long was thrown off the stage.

Off the stage, the younger generations among the crowd of spectators felt their vision go dark as they almost collapsed. Their eyeballs bulged so comedically hard that it looked like they were going to fall off.

They had expected Ye Long to finish the bout in one move. Who would’ve expected the polar opposite to happen?

But what really took the cake was that Ye King had blatantly disregarded the rules and committed not one, not two, but several violations. This was foolhardy. Fouling in front of Ye Haoran and seriously injuring Fourth Brother? Was the word ‘DEATH’ not written in Ye Kong’s dictionary?

The gazes of everyone in the audience moved to Ye Haoran. What they saw was their father frozen in his seat as he gaped silently at the stage, stupefied. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, but no words came out.

The first to react was Ye Hu, Ye Long's brother, from the same mother. He dashed forward, hugging Ye Long's body as he supported it. He roared, incensed, "You shameless little cur! You violated the rules and even seriously hurt my brother! Have you no fear for the family's laws?!"

Ye Hu's shout brought Ye Haoran back to his senses. Ye Haoran stood up from his chair sharply and bellowed, "Get him immediate treatment, and check if he can still bear children!"[footnote]Uh, this part was actually hilarious for me. I debated on how to translate it. You can interpret it as 'check his family jewel' or 'check his dick'.[/footnote]

A few of his personal soldiers quickly arrived and brought Ye Long away.

Ye Haoran jabbed his finger at Ye Kong furiously, "The competition prohibits the use of armour and weapons! It also forbids attacking the eyes and vital parts of the body! Don't you know about this!?"

The crowd of onlookers watched the show with eyes of schadenfreude. Hehe, very smart eh? You think you won, brat? Did you know that violating the rules by military punishment is one hundred trounces of the rod? Four hundred trounces of the rod; if you're still breathing after that, I don't have a surname!

Ye Kong laughed bitterly in response. "Dad, I really didn't know about the rules. Nobody told me about that."

Of course, even though Ye Kong knew the rules, he had to feign ignorance. Who told them not to send people to inform him?

Ye Kong continued, "There's an old adage, 'One know does not know is not guilty'. I never knew of these rules of the competition. Before, all I heard from Second Brother were the rules for challenging. As for whether it was lethal combat or simple sparring, he had never mentioned anything. If he didn't speak of any established standards, how would I know that these rules were set in place?"

Ye Wen jolted when he heard himself mentioned. How despicable could this brat get? Why pull me under the water with you?

Seeing his father glower at him, Ye Wen hurriedly stepped forward, rushing to explain himself. "Reporting to father, I was referring to simple sparring, not lethal combat."

"And there you have it. He stood at this angle, smiled like this, then proudly said 'lethal combat'..." Ye Kong mimicked him.

"Stop slandering me!" Ye Wen himself was not too clear on what he had said ten days earlier, and his retort was somewhat weak. An apprehensive feeling wormed its way into his heart. Did I really say it was lethal combat?

"Stop pulling this ridiculous wordplay!" Ye Haoran slammed a fist onto the arm of his chair, hard. "I'm asking whether you spoke to him about the rules of the competition!"

If that brat slandered me, then can't I slander him too? Ye Wen gritted his teeth as he prepared to lie.

But as he looked at his father, his pulse raced as he panicked. He remembered that there seemed to be a few of the personal soldiers present when he was speaking with Ye Long. They were faithful his father, and answered to nobody else.

"I did not." Ye Wen timidly forced out the truth before explaining, "Father, I only told him the news of the competition. I did not know that he was uninformed of the rules either, and I saw that it wasn't necessary..."

"Fine then!" Ye Haoran cut off Ye Wen abruptly as he raised his gaze to glare at Ye Kong.  "Even if Ye Wen had not mentioned the rules to you, violation of the rules cannot go unpunished. You must know that these are the national rules on every fighting stage in the nation!"

The crowd burst into low murmurs. That's right, their father was wise.

    众人一听，对呀，老爹英明，这是全国通行的准则，这你没话说了，你还能说不知道嘛？

    可叶空还就能说不知道。

    “父亲明查！”叶空双手抱拳，朗声说道，“众所皆知，我叶空是一个傻子！十二年来浑浑沌沌，没有人教导我，也没有人告诉我什么，别跟我说全国规则，也别跟我说叶家规定……因为从来都没有一个人对我说过！我斗大的字不认识一个，也没有出过叶府大门，父亲若是以常人之理责罚我一个傻子，叶空不服！”

    “你！”叶浩然指着叶空，竟然觉得有些无法反驳，心道，你口口声声自己是傻子，可我怎么觉得，我们这么多人被你个傻子戏弄呢？

    “将军！”这时进来个亲兵，打断了里边的尴尬。

    “四少爷身体检查完毕，轻伤，指节受损，其他无碍，子孙根没有明显损坏，休息些日子当可康复。”

    听见伤情检测结果，叶浩然松了一口气，挥手道，“送四少爷回去休息，请最好的郎中，用最好的伤药。”

    接着又对叶空说道，“叶空，念在你不懂规则，这违规处罚这次就免了，罚你抄写竞技规则一千遍。”

    众子弟忍不住发出嘘的声音，四百军棍就不打了么？抄写一千遍竞技规则，这处罚太轻了。

    可就算这，叶空还不想干呢。

    “父亲，孩儿不识字。”

    叶浩然恼怒，“傻子、不识字，这都是你的本事嘛？”气得哼了一声，想想让不识字的人抄书也实在不近人情，于是开口道，“叶文，你既然通知，就要通知清楚，这事你也有责任，一千遍竞技规则，罚你抄写！”

    叶文真的要吐血了。哦，合着傻子打了人，犯了规，屁事没有，连抄写都不用，老子啥事没干，却要被罚抄，这有没有天理了？

    “孩儿认罚。”叶文无奈行礼，扭过头，看见叶空正站在擂台上对自己笑呢。傻子，别高兴的太早！看你今天怎么死的！

    这时听见叶浩然又说，“叶虎，你就不用留下了，回去陪你四哥吧。”

    叶虎却没走，说道，“父亲，孩儿不走，孩儿今天要挑战叶空！”

    迎着叶虎要吃人的眼睛，叶空一阵心惊肉跳，挑战？还可以挑战嘛？费尽心思，才赢了叶龙，若是再对上叶虎，凭什么取胜呢？

    谁知叶虎刚说完，叶文也说道，“父亲，我也要挑战叶空！”

    叶空吸了口凉气，妈的，叶虎就已经要我的命了，又来个更强的叶文，老子招你惹你了，为什么非要痛打落水狗呢？

    “根据规则，多人挑战，年龄最长者的挑战有效，叶文对叶空！”叶浩然说道。

    “喂喂喂，还没有征求我的意见呢。”叶空赶紧插上了嘴，说道，“鉴于我今天体力严重透支，所以我……拒绝挑战。”

    “不可以拒绝！”

    日他仙人板板，竟然都不可以拒绝，叶文，你早计算好的吧？

    “不过你可以从众兄弟里找一个帮手，让其帮助你应对挑战。”叶浩然又说道。

    “找帮手？”叶空回头看了看台下的兄弟们，心道，这里哪有什么帮手，都是冤家啊！请他们上来，自己死得更快！

    “那我是不是可以认输呢？”叶空想想又说道，他从来不是个死心眼，带兄弟出去砍人，到地方发现对方数倍于自己，还不跑？等着被砍死嘛？出来混就是这样，能屈能伸，才是大丈夫。

    “可以认输。”叶浩然回答道。

    “认输有惩罚嘛？”这得问问清楚。

    “没有，不过你小心被别人唤作懦夫孬种！”

    切，老子被人骂了十二年傻子，也没怎么样？还怕懦夫孬种的称号？

    就在大家以为他肯定要认输时，叶空却又问，“打赢有奖励么？”

    叶浩然竟然笑了起来，“有，为父可以奖励你一件，任何你需要的东西！”

    叶空眼睛一亮，妈的，拚了，老子绝不是一个甘于平静的人，老子今天来就是要让叶浩然教自己武功，若是(9)胜了，就由不得他不答应了。

    若是得到安国第一高手叶浩然的教习，自己变强指日可待。

    “好！我应了！”

    台下响起一阵哧声，这小子太自不量力了，居然想打赢叶文，太狂妄了，莫非……这时有人突然想起什么，喊了起来。

    “不能再让他作弊犯规了！”

    “对！这傻子太狡猾，把他衣服脱了！”

    叶浩然摆摆手，示意大家安静，然后吩咐道，“来人，带叶空去换身衣服，叶文，你去详细给他讲一讲竞技规则，等其他兄弟们比试完了，你们再战。”

    接下来的竞技乏善可陈，可能所有人都在等待着叶文和叶空的大战，所以后边的竞技大家都没有什么精神。

    在所有人看来，这次叶空没办法了吧，这傻子不违反规则，还怎么打胜呢？

    不过就算这样，大家已经对叶空有了不一样的看法，首先就是这傻子确实不傻了，以前大家还在怀疑他不傻的传言是不是真的，今天一看，再无人怀疑；其次就是他不但不傻而且还很精明，胆大心细，敢做敢说，阴人更是一绝，一不小心就着了他的道。

    大约一个时辰后，捉对比试就结束了，大家所期待的比试即将开始。