Mr. Plot, Are You Still Alive?

The rumours surrounding the Evil Sect’s Young Master were never good and often mentioned. Almost all described his unpredictable personality and extremely surly temper. If he liked you, he would hold you in his palm and whisper honey-sweet words into your ear. If he disliked you, he would mercilessly cut you down with his blade.

So no one dared to doubt Su Yang’s sudden outburst and hold on to their wishful thinking to continue their gossip. 

The platform’s atmosphere turned silent for a while, only the rustle of branches and leaves from the wind could be heard.

Gu Feidi watched Su Yang from a distance and then quickly withdrew his line of sight.

His lips twitched as he turned and transmitted his voice toward Xu Yunzhan. “Did you hear their discussion just now?”

Xu Yunzhan snorted and said, “They thought their voices were low enough, but they didn’t expect that our…and Su Yang’s internal energy were deep enough to hear it loud and clear. But you’ve heard enough of this type of gossip. I remember you learned to stop caring about it when you were about twelve or thirteen.”

Gu Feidi was silent for a moment before noting, “You heard their topic earlier—they slandered Su Yang, and he must have heard it. Yet, he did not react. When the topic fell to me, he acted out of anger…”

Xu Yunzhan frowned and said solemnly, “Feidi, Su Yang, who harbours unhealthy thoughts about you, is just resorting to petty tricks. Don’t be captivated by his scheme.”

This time, Gu Feidi stayed silent for a long time before he whispered, “I won’t. I just felt that Su Yang might not be the same as the one rumoured in the Jianghu.”

Xu Yunzhan sighed helplessly and remarked, “Feidi, he is the Evil Sect’s Young Master. Inevitably, the Jianghu rumours would somewhat misrepresent him, but it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have the ability to hide his true face under a thousand different ones. How can you conclude that what you see is not what he intended for you to see? If you become interested in him, victory will be in his hand.”

Gu Feidi smiled bitterly. “I know that. It’s just that…When I went to call him this morning, I saw something that I shouldn’t have. Now this uncomfortable feeling won’t go away.”

Xu Yunzhan asked in surprise, “What did you see this morning?”

Gu Feidi lowered his eyes, and a glamorous layer of blush appeared on his cheeks. He mumbled, “On his back…”

“Next!”

The middle-aged man’s shouting interrupted the two.

He held the rope in his hand, pointed toward Xu Yunzhan and instructed, “Come.”

It was not until the sun rose high that all twenty-six young contenders were taken to the ‘Tree Stump Platform’ on the opposite side via the iron chain bridge.

Although the platform looked like a very narrow, cylindrical flat roof from a distance, it was not until they were actually standing on it did they find that the plateau to be very large, where rocks of all sizes covered the field, forming a jagged stone forest. 

“This is your last assessment.”

The middle-aged man said, “Earlier, I asked you to wait patiently and not enter. It was to warn you now that this stone forest is actually a necessary array to enter the House of Jade. With your current strength, when you use your internal energy through the forest, it will cause you to be unstable and can injure your meridians, your energy veins. Therefore, you can’t use light movement skills to pass through the forest.”

“The Stone Forest Array was set up personally by the master of the House of Jade. In fact, we don’t fully understand the passage of the array ourselves. Therefore, if you want to enter the House of Jade, this path is the only way in, there are no shortcuts and no alternate routes.”

“Those who are qualified to enter will arrive at the other side of the platform through the stone forest, while those who are not will return to their original starting place. Someone on the other side will assemble the ones who passed the assessment. As for me, I will be waiting here and escorting the eliminated candidates back to Mount Mei Zhu.”

After introducing the stone forest before them that was to be used for the final assessment, the middle-aged man raised his hand and made a ‘please’ gesture while saying, “Everyone can now enter the array.”

Su Yang studied the stone forest before him and thought to himself, ‘In the end, I still ended up here.’

According to the script, this ‘Bewildering Stone Forest Array’ was actually a test of people’s inner clarity. The more unperturbed people were, the simpler the road they would see in the array, and the faster they would pass through the stone forest. On the contrary, if someone was too unsettled, or over scrutinising, they would be trapped in the array for a long period of time. Whether they could finally pass through the forest or be sent back, all depended on their subconscious mind’s response.

The noble ones would see the light at the end of the tunnel, while the shady ones would be driven back to the entrance of the stone forest, unable to advance. 

As the middle-aged man had explained, if they used their internal energy in the forest, they would immediately be affected by the array, which would severely damage their meridians.

In the script, only Gu Feidi, Xu Yunzhan, and Pu Lingyun passed the final assessment and entered the House of Jade.

While he, the Young Master of the Evil Sect, was eliminated in the Bewildering Stone Forest. In the storyline, he was trapped in the array deep into the night and finally expelled by the array from the violence growing in his heart. Not willing to admit defeat, he entered the forest again and tried to travel through his obstacles from above with light movement skill. As a result, the array severely damaged him and he had to return to his Divine Sect for recuperation.

Although it seemed that there was no hindrance in the plot whether or not he entered, he decided not to be too unconventional and attract attention. So he picked up his feet and walked into the stone forest with Fan Xi.

He thought to himself, ‘I’ll ultimately be sent back anyway, if worse comes to worst, I can break into the forest with light movement skill and get hurt in the process. I can do that second part in private.’

As soon as he entered the forest, he immediately felt the heavy atmosphere around him, as if the air was thicker here.

Fan Xi, who was following him, frowned and commented,“Young Master, this place is really strange. Saying that one can’t use their internal energy is not an empty threat.”

Su Yang nodded. “It’s better not to take the risk. Let’s go first.”

Fan Xi agreed, “Sure, Young Master.”

The two walked in the forest side by side for a while, then as Su Yang turned a corner, he was stunned.

Through the gaps of numerous stone pillars, he could vaguely see a sliver of sky in the distance—that meant as long as he walked in a straight line, he could easily pass through this stone forest array.

“Fan-Er, I might be seeing things.” He uttered passively. “Look—”

He turned around and was about to point out the way for Fan Xi, only to find that his companion, who was following closely behind him, was gone.

What the fuck!

Su Yang complained internally, What the damned hell?!

Was this a normal array or a haunted house that can do vanishing acts 大變活人 directly translated as ‘huge changes with a living person’. Think of the magic act of making a person appear out of thin air or from a box. Since the person disappears into thin air instead of appearing out of thin air, I translated it as vanishing acts.?

The spooked Su Yang gave himself a long period of mental preparation, telling himself that this was a fictional world of martial arts. If there were internal energy and martial arts in this world, who said that other strange things wouldn’t happen?

After persuading himself, he began to be distressed again: What should he do next? 

Should he walk toward the light? 

Why on earth was he able to see the exit so easily? 

He just wanted to go home after completing the plot!

This plot…

Couldn't be described by a simple word like ‘collapse’ anymore?!

He, the Young Master of Evil Sect, entered the House of Jade?

What kind of large-scale joke was this! 

He closed his eyes and murmured, “Okay! Since I know where the exit is, I will avoid going that way. That’s not too hard right?” 

As he said that, he gave a proud huff, turned his head, and fled in the other direction.

After walking for about five minutes, he looked ahead and was stunned into silence again.

This time, what appeared in front of him was a zigzagging path, with the end of the road clear as day. Now the blue light was closer to him than before.

At the end of the path, in the crack of the boulders, he could see the House of Jade sitting on a peak on the opposite side.

Su Yang: “…”

Oy, great and mighty house, your stone forest array is broken! Take it back and fix it!

He was completely speechless and could only complain inside.

In order not to be lead astray by the array any longer, his decision was,: ‘Fuck being trapped here all night, this great one is getting out of here now! You know what they say: to end one's suffering by dying quickly and reincarnating sooner!’

He gazed up at the sky, determined which path to follow and walked toward where he came from.

This time, however, he felt as if he only walked a hundred steps before the straight road appeared again.

There was a small open space at the end of the road. On the opposite side of the space were some huge stones. The gap between the stones is enough to allow two, one hundred and twenty kilogram sumo wrestlers to pass side by side.

He…he dared not to wander off again.

He felt that if he dared to even look back, he might be sent to the outside of the stone forest by this senseless array in the next second.

Raising his hand and pressing it against his forehead, he walked silently to a huge boulder that resembled a sealed door 封門 means doors covered in paper seals, indication of ‘do not enter/ open’. It could be from sealing the door of a deceased family member. and sat down, thinking of his next plan.

Being the only person present, he had no one to consult on this confusing situation. Could it be…he really needed to use his internal energy in this array, get himself seriously injured, and be disqualified in the selection?

But what if the House of Jade saw that he had arrived at the exit, and instead of repatriating him, they used some witchcraft magic to heal his damaged meridians? 

After pondering over this, he only wanted to knock hard on Mr. PlotThis is kind of cute. But Su Yang is calling the plot ‘jun’ (君), the word commonly used for monarch, lord, or rule. It could be a mocking or a pleading. ’s door and ask: Sir您老 addressing senior or well-respected person in terms of respect., are you still alive?!

After sitting for a long time, still no one had arrived at this open space before the exit. In this boring quiet time, he started drifting off due to exhaustion from last evening’s insomnia. 

As he mulled over a perfectly legitimate method to be eliminated in this assessment, he gradually fell asleep lying against the rock.

Gu Feidi came out of the forest and saw such a scene.

The person sleeping against the boulder appeared very innocent and sweet, as if he had retreated all of his evil aura. His brows relaxed, and his eyes, which were charming and gentle like fine wine when smiling, and sharp as knives when angry, were quietly closed. Even the red mole at the corner of his eyes seemed to have calmed down, more like a small red coralline bead than blood.

When he recognised the person as Su Yang, Gu Feidi was shocked.

He stood rigidly in place for a long time, clenching and loosening his fists several times, before he finally walked slowly out from the boulder’s shadow.