Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 37: The four princes

The South Village city was going crazy!

An unimaginable amount of people that were crammed in the city because of the remnant were all now madly squeezing into the valley next to it, digging the ground with a strange fervour.

This was caused by the events related to the “Dragon God’s bloodline’ that had reverberated throughout the country recently. Due to their own greed and the bored people of Jiang Hu, the mysterious news about the ‘Dragon God bloodline’ quickly spread further and further.

Unlike the remnants of the sect where its treasures were all easily found on the surface, most people that were late to the party had gotten nothing.

But as for the serendipity hidden in the valley, it required luck more than anything. The lucky would be able to find something just by digging, while the unlucky wouldn’t find a single thing even if they had flipped the entire mountain.

According to the most trustworthy piece of information that was being spread, there were the remains of a dragon god in this valley!

A dragon god! An existence that was never seen before in the entire continent.

And yet, there was one here.

It had descended upon their world along with the Jade Snow sect’s remnant, its corpse decaying with time to form the nine Dragon God Crystals that were hidden deep in the earth.

These crystals weren’t just any ordinary crystals, it was capable of bestowing a bloodline! No one had seen a real dragon before, but those that had obtained the crystals were sure from the sensation of the spiritual power and the suppressive might of the bloodline, it was a dragon!

It was a five-clawed red dragon with a burning fire in its eyes, it had an ancient yet terrifying aura capable of absolute tyranny within its time period. The turbulent draconic aura and spiritual power meant that it was extremely ancient!

There were five cultivators that had obtained a Dragon God Crystal for themselves, it was the fourth prince Murong Jing, ‘Starlight’ Liu Xing Mang, ‘Two-faced Three Stabs’ Wang Xiao Qi, the Moon Fire sect’s Le Qing Qing, and the wandering cultivator swordsman Ke Yao Qi.

There was also a small piece of information that ravaged the Hundred Flower sect, it was the rumour that Long Chen, the youth that had defeated Zhu Zhu Shu, had obtained one of the Dragon God Crystals.

Just the fact that the crystal was able to bestow a bloodline was tempting enough, making it comparable to a treasure of the Barren level.

Just by refining it, one could also break through their cultivation. Liu Xing Mang had broken through one layer to the third layer of the Manifestation realm, and Ke Yao Xi, an unknown Crystalline realm swordsman was quickly recruited by the Moon Fire sect after breaking through to the third layer of the Origin realm.

This further fanned the flames for the rest, wandering cultivators were all madly packed in the valley, even with people from the great influential forces easily in sight.

Treasures that were capable of raising a person’s cultivation were rare enough, and considering that not a lot of people had any luck in the remnants, most people placed their bets in this valley, hoping for a chance to ascend.

At this moment, there were only three Dragon God crystals left and a sizable amount of people that remained here, digging amongst the earth as they tried to hide from each other.

The people here weren’t just looking for treasure, they were also carefully observing the people around them that were digging.

Murong Jue had brought a group of well-dressed, arrogant second-generation youths here leisurely, and they each brought their soldiers and family servants to excavate the area.

He looked around in disdain, the once beautiful scenery was ruined by the countless holes dug in the ground.

He turned to his top lackey, Li Kai, who was standing next to him, “Li Kai, where is my younger brother?”

Murong Jue was the fifth prince and his younger brother was the seventh prince, Murong Xing. They shared the same mother and father, but Murong Xing was more known for his love for the arts and literature.

Li Kai, the man that had thrown all his money for Zhi Tian’er at the Apricot Flower establishment, stood respectfully at Murong Xing’s side, “Brother Jue, the seventh prince and the second prince are sparring at the empty field next to the barracks.”

“Oh? That stupid younger brother of mine actually dares to pick a fight with second brother?” Murong Jue spoke with disdain, the second prince Murong Zhan was at the third layer of the Manifestation realm that wielded the hidden techniques of the imperial Murong clan, renowned for his strength.

On the other hand, Murong Xing was never focused on cultivating, but instead, he was engrossed with the arts and his cultivation was only at the Crystalline realm.

Li Kai’s mouth twitched, “However, the fourth prince and the seventh prince are fighting the second prince together, on the condition that the second prince doesn’t use his Manifestation transformation.”

“Fuck! Murong Jin can’t be thinking that he could fight second brother just because he was lucky enough to find a Dragon God crystal? That bastard! He really got fucking lucky this time!” Murong Jue cursed.

He was rather annoyed at Murong Jing recently, just because he had obtained the Dragon God crystal that he couldn’t find.

The fourth prince Murong Jing had started to manage the resources of his maternal family and travelled within the 32 counties, meeting all kinds of people and taking care of the dirty affairs of greedy local officials with the emperor’s token. With his achievements in resolving difficult situations, he had made a good name for himself.

His glory had made Murong Jue jealous.

“Let’s go! We’ll go back and take a look, I doubt we’ll dig out anything here.” Murong Jue spoke petulantly.

“Yes.” And as a result, the group returned from where they came from, the resting area at the barracks to see a whole crowd of people.

“Move aside!” Murong Jue shouted, and they moved away in fear once they had noticed that the fifth prince was the one speaking, aware of the negative rumours surrounding him.

And the open field quickly entered the sights of Murong Jue and the rest.

Murong Zhan was an uncontested prodigy in Yan, one of the seven great prodigies that had attained the third layer of the Manifestation realm at 21 years old. He had a mortal form of the famous ‘Earth-shattering Overseer Tiger’, and great perception skills that could predict his opponents’ moves and a shockingly explosive power.

But he was currently being suppressed.

His opponent was the fourth prince, Murong Jing, who was wielding a pike that danced in the air and swung down elegantly, his light attacks not even leaving an afterimage.

And despite only being in the Crystalline realm, the seventh prince was supporting from the side with all kinds of attacks. The sound of a piano lingered in the air as hidden weapons made of chess pieces and judge pens were thrown out in an attack accompanied by painted talisman formations.

One of them attacked while the other distracted, making it a frustrating fight for Murong Zhan.

Despite the fact that Murong Zhan had suppressed his strength and chose to seal away his Manifestation transformation, he was still impressed by his two younger brothers.

After a long time, he finally stopped and waved his arms in the air, speaking as he huffed, “Hu, I’m done, the two of you are too vicious! I didn’t expect fourth brother to be so strong, and seventh brother, you’re too cruel with your methods, I can’t block it all even if I had another pair of hands.”

And then, he started chortling.

The surrounding onlookers started to cheer as a powerless smile appeared on Murong Jing’s face and a shy smile appeared on Murong Xing’s.

Murong Jing spoke humbly, “Second brother, I was only able to gain the upper hand with my bloodline, it’s not very heroic considering that I wouldn’t even be able to counter a single attack without this bloodline.”

“Hahaha, it doesn’t matter, isn’t your bloodline considered to be part of your strength?” Murong Zhan was cheerful and unconcerned, a trait that had always been in his personality.

“Hmph! At least you’re self-aware that you’re no match for second brother!” An untimely voice came from the side.

The three quickly turned, noticing that the source was the fifth prince, Murong Jue.

Swaggering over to them, he didn’t forget to glance at Murong Jing in jealousy.

However, Murong Jin was unconcerned as he waved to the side, quickly beckoning for someone to walk forwards from the crowd. Arriving at his side, the person simply stood next to Murong Jin silently.

The crowd started to whisper amongst themselves.

“Who is that! Why is the fourth prince calling for him?”

“I don’t know, he doesn’t seem special, is he underage? He seems a bit young.”

“That’s right, haah! Look at the thing at his waist, what is that? A weapon?”

“Idiot, that’s a hidden weapon, si! I think I know who he is?”

“Who is it? Say it, quickly!”

“Think about it, aside from the remnant and the Hundred Flower sect, what other exciting events have happened?”

“Ah? You mean, he’s……”

Murong Jing patted the young man’s shoulder as he introduced him to the three people before him, “This is Tang Can, my brother. You all should know him as the Hidden Weapon Super Genius!”