I Can Do Anything?-Chapter 8: You Are Ignorant.

...

"And you see, I only had trash-grade talent! So they just tossed me aside like nothing! Luckily, I got picked up by a scavenger..."

The talkative fat man, introduced as Kong Jian, chats about his backstory, while walking with the group on a dirt path.

"He did sell me to the Dunespire Kingdom, but he basically raised me, and that is a debt I will never forget! They don't call me loyal Jian for nothing!"

Zuo Lingxing gets an uneasy feeling in her gut.

Xuan Wu squints his eyes.

[Kong Jian] [Title: Deceiver Jian. Effects: +2x deception skills, -1.25% overall trust.]

"Loyal Jian my ass!"

Xuan Wu spits, then grins.

"Let's just follow this fatty, I'll see if he shows his true side."

Fatty Wang nods.

"Scavengers might seem evil at first, but some well-known cultivators were groomed by said scavengers."

Kong Jian claps his hands, still walking on the dirt path.

"Exactly! Scavengers in reality are just rogue cultivators looking to pass on their legacy! They get shunned by other cultivators because of the ties between rogue cultivators and demonic cultivators!"

He turns around, stomping his foot.

"But they're not all demonic! Just because they might do some not-so-good actions to get power, it doesn't make them all demonic! Filthy self-righteous cultivators thinking they're all so pure, I spit on them!"

His face flushes red, heat emanating from it.

"Always the righteous cultivators! All they do is judge! Infighting is literally a part of their ideology!"

He continues complaining about them for a while.

...

"Senior, it's been 30 minutes, don't you think we should continue to Dunespire kingdom?"

Kong Jian, who was just waving a stick around, turns to Fatty Wang.

"Oh, you're right. I'm so sorry for wasting your time, come, come, let's continue onwards."

He spits on the ground, then continues forwards.

"He seems to really hold hate for righteous cultivators."

Xuan Wu mentions.

"So what? Does that make him demonic?"

Zi Rougang angrily responds.

"Brother Zi, we are righteous cultivators."

Zi Rougang pauses.

"Y-you're right"

He gasps.

"Was he just insulting us for the past 30 minutes!? How insolent!"

Fatty Wang groans.

"Relax, he was obviously talking about the hypocritical part of righteous cultivators, are we hypocrites? Do we fight amongst ourselves?"

Zi Rougang nods his head.

"You're right, he wasn't talking about us at all, our Great Whirlwind sect are pure righteous cultivators, absolutely no in-fighting, we're like a big family"

Zuo Lingxin follows behind quietly with her head down.

A hand clasps her shoulder.

She jumps up, terrified.

Looking around, she doesn't see anyone but her fellow group members in front.

"Hello young girl."

She looks around again, this time seeing a shadow person.

Before she can scream, a shadow hand covers her mouth, while she continues walking.

"Don't be scared, I'm your grandfather."

"G-grandfather? My grandfather already passed away before I was born!"

The shadow laughs, patting her head.

"Not that grandfather... anyways, that fat guy at the front is up to no good."

"You mean Kong Jian? But he was called Loyal Jian—"

"Haha, you're still so naïve. Loyal Jian? More like Treacherous Jian. I can see the deception radiating off of him."

"R-really? But I don't see anything..."

The shadow laughs, taking his hand off of her mouth, then walking along side her.

"You might not be able to see anything, but you feel something, right?"

She looks towards Kong Jian yet again, and she gets that uneasy feeling once again.

Zuo Lingxing gasps, her hand shooting up to cover her mouth.

"D-do I tell my friends?"

The shadow cackles.

"There's no point. You think they really believe that he is loyal? The only one I can see that truly believes that is the fatty there. That smug looking bastard only partly believes it, and the confused kid who's been looking around this entire time definitely does not believe that Kong Jian is loyal."

She tilts her head.

"Xuan Wu knows that he's lying? How come?"

"I don't know, maybe he just has a premonition, it happens..."

The shadow continues walking alongside Zuo Lingxing.

"Well, my little pink hex, it seems you've been quite unlucky these past few days."

She nods.

"That's right, ever since the Disciple Ceremony."

The shadow looks at Zuo Lingxing, it's eyes softening.

"It seems dying in the illusion awakened the effects of the pink hex. That supreme elder really has good illusion skills, even in that place people would kill for a technique as realistic as that..."

His eyes narrow.

"Great Whirlwind sect eh? Even that guys disciple is there."

He shudders, the air around him going cold. His eyes narrow even further, into thin slits.

Zuo Lingxing shivers, her breath coming out as fog.

"W-why'd it get so cold..."

Fatty Wang rubs his palms together.

"Wasn't this area supposed to be hot? Why's it so cold!"

Xuan Wu looks around.

"It's not supposed to be cold."

He looks at the system.

[Detected new most powerful person, would you like to check his profile?]

Xuan Wu sharply breathes in, opening the guys profile.

The portrait made him jump. The guy was extremely old, wrinkles all over his face, with long grey hair falling around his head. He has a long beard, reaching towards the bottom of his neck.

[Name: Bai Yu] [Title: Grandfather]

[Warning: Checking this profile may have consequences.]

Once Xuan Wu heard the warning, he immediately closed the system.

"Checking the profile may have consequences? What's wrong with him, he can detect that?"

Suddenly, the cold recedes, like it was never there.

Fatty Wang groans.

"I wasn't complaining! Bring it back."

Zi Rougang looks towards Bai Yu, who is still in his shadow form.

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"Was that you, grandfather? Did you cause the cold?"

She feels drawn to this shadow, like she knew him in a past life. Calling him grandfather just felt so natural.

The shadows eyes widen, then he smiles peacefully.

"My apologies, dear, I was just reminded of something bad."

...

In the Sword Peak.

"You want to go on the initiate mission together."

Xun Shi twirls a wooden sword in his hands, seated down on a mat with a powerful incense spread throughout his abode.

Liu Huan sits opposite of him, holding a great golden spear.

He shrugs.

"My master suggested taking you, says I need to surround myself with people as strong as me."

Xun Shi laughs. "As strong as you? Am I not more powerful."

Liu Huan stands, towering over the nonchalant Xun Shi.

"You may be a superior-grade talent, but it doesn't mean anything in the dao of weapons."

Xun Shi stands, tehn clasps hands with Liu Huan.

"An initiate mission? What's in it for me though. I already abandoned my initiate mission, if you take me, I won't get any benefits."

"I'll give you half of my benefits. And the experience of this mission alone is enough to draw you in."

Xun Shi guffaws.

"Okay, deal. Let us leave."

They exit the Sword Peak, going on their initiate mission. The last newly admitted disciples to exit the sect.

As they walk out of the sect, a disciple nearby grins.

"Xun Shi of the Xun clan... so excited for what?"

Little do Xun Shi and Liu Huan know, they are currently being tailed by a fellow disciple.

...

"The dunespire kingdom is within reach. The entrance is a mirage after all."

Currently, the group of 6 is in a blazing desert.

The Byurning Yellow Desert. It is one of the hottest mortal deserts. It was named 'Byurning' because it was named by an illiterate idiot.

Kong Jian elaborates.

"We can just wait around here, and the entrance of the Dunespire kingdom will eventually appear."

Fatty Wang's jaw drops.

"Really? It'll just appear like that?"

Kong Jian nods.

"Well, that was quick"

Xuan Wu laughs, commenting.

Zi Rougang grins.

"Really—"

"Hey, you six, drop everything you have."

A burly horse pulls up, dragging along three carriages. Inside these carriages are tough, muscular men, dressed in brown robes.

The leader, the most muscular and tough, walks out.

"T-the hunky bandits!"

Kong Jian nearly trips, getting down on his knees.

"Please, please spare us, we're just trying to get to Dunespire kingdom—"

"That's fine, we'll spare you if you spare your belongings. You can take either the easy way out, or the hard way out."

Zi Rougang stands, staring them down.

"Enough, we're disciples of the Great Whirlwind sect."

He puts his arms behind his back, standing with his chin up—proud.

The bandit leader turns around, looking at the band of bandits behind him, before turning back to the group of 6.

"AHAHAHAHA!"

He clutches his stomach, laughing till tears squeeze out of his eyes.

"HAHAHA!"

His gang joins in, with some even falling down, rolling in the sand.

"I-I'm, sorry, the Great Whirlwind sect?"

Zi Rougang's face flushes red.

"W-why aren't you already k-kneeling?"

He tries to save face.

"How far away is the Great Whirlwind sect, would they even be able to avenge you? The desert is limitless."

...