The Young Master’s Interest is Indeed Vicious.

The profound mystery surrounding the House of Jade was really embodied vividly by this woman in white’s strength.

Hearing her question, Su Yang and Gu Feidi glanced at each other again.

This quick look did not contain the mutual understanding as before, but instead held a hint of provocation. Neither of them wanted to back down, nor were willing to show timidity in front of her.

“I will go first!” Gu Feidi took a step forward.

“He can go first!” Su Yang took a step back simultaneously. 

Gu Feidi: “...”

The whole crowd: “...”

“You…” Gu Feidi couldn’t conceal the shock in his eyes. He said frowning, “...What’s the matter with you?!”

“Ah, that…”

Su Yang also had somewhat of a headache.

According to the Young Master’s public image, he shouldn't have cowardly retreated. But just now, the cog in his head hadn't turned. His thoughts still were stuck on ‘let Gu Feidi pass the assessment first to maintain the plot’. So without thinking about the matter thoroughly, he proceeded to give Gu Feidi the chance to challenge first. Since the words were out of his mouth, if he took them back, it would make him look even more out of character, so the next best thing was to find an excuse to gain back the lost ground.

Thereupon, he winked and smirked from the corner of his mouth—also known as the Young Master’s signature unruly smile—and said, dragging out his words, “...I am perfectly happy to allow you to go first.”

The entire crowd: How shameless!

Angered by Su Yang’s consent, Gu Feidi’s face turned bright red. He turned his head with a disgusted grunt and stopped paying attention to Su Yang.

Su Yang withdrew back to the cliff wall, resisting the urge to scratch his head in frustration. He crossed his arms to display the Young Master’s dominant aura to the full extent.

Fan Xi approached him and said, “Young Master’s taste is indeed different from that of ordinary people. I thought that the boy raised by his father, the Alliance Leader, would be a little old-fashioned and extremely boring. Nevertheless, a very wise move, Young Master. Say no more, this sort of old-fashioned kid is a joy to tease! Look at him, his ears are bright red…”

Su Yang chuckled like a Young Master. He expressed disdain externally, but his true thoughts were, Ah! Fan-Er, never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you人不作就不會死 or No zuo no die, the evil we bring on ourselves are the hardest to bear. Or bug into a business that doesn’t concern you and get negative results. The closest idiom I found was: never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you (tongue tie!). It will do us no good if you tease the protagonist into a corner.

While the two men were muttering on the sidelines, Gu Feidi had already settled into his combat stance. 

He gathered all his internal energy in his palm, moving as light as a feather as he struck toward the examiner.

Different from Pu Lingyun and the two black-clad robbers from before, the surging energy around his body and his attack were hardly visible, similar to an ordinary person without internal energy. He stretched out his palm as if to pat his target. The tender leaves of the surrounding shrubs remained motionless, and only the dust on the mountain path in Gu Feidi’s way rose slightly, which raised a small red flag.

The woman in white finally showed a different expression.

Her eyes were still blank, but her eyebrows jumped slightly, showing a thread of interest.

His attack landed on her shoulder, which caused both of them to step back from the backlash. 

She exclaimed with a smile, “A good ‘young eagle’! Perfect control on your internal energy. Your famous reputation precedes you, I sensed you reached Path to Home: Battlement, third chapter, how close till breakthrough?”

Mildly surprised by the question, he cupped his fist and replied, “This one is slow-witted, still not close to a breakthrough.”

The woman in white nodded and shared, “I heard Tengyun Pavilion is missing the last volume of Path to Home for an unknown reason, why do you still choose to practice it?”

Gu Feidi explained, “Although the last volume is missing, this set of internal mental skills is the most suitable for me, the first three volumes are already extremely difficult to practice, and I am not at all greedy. Moreover, it is said that the final volume only has one chapter, and the absence of it will not affect the use of this mental skill.”

Her lax eyes gazed through his shoulder toward the distant horizon, drawing out her words, “Even a tired bird knows its way home…you need to understand the true meaning of Returning to the Nest. Maybe you can achieve that in the House of Jade.”

Having said that, she turned sideways, opening the way to the mountain gate path.

Gu Feidi respectfully nodded at the examiner and moved forward, but he couldn’t hold back the urge to look back toward Su Yang, before finally striding through the House of Jade’s mountain gate.

Su Yang did not notice Gu Feidi’s final glance.

He was deep in thought, looking at the ground. In the script, Gu Feidi comes into contact with that volume of Path to Home: Returning to the Nest in the House of Jade, without knowing how the Gu Family of the Tengyun Pavilion’s last volume ended up there. During filming, the script focused on the present. He knew nothing after Gu Feidi wiped out the Evil Sect, nor could he deduce the details.

While he was in a state of deep contemplation, Fan Xi suddenly poked his lower back twice.

“Hey!! What are you doing?!”

Being ticklish, Su Yang quickly jumped away. He glared at Fan Xi, unable to sustain his persona.

Fan Xi raised his chin, making a signal with his eyes.

“Young Master, it’s your turn.” The petal retainer standing nearby clarified the situation.

He turned his head to see the examiner's vacant eyes locked on him. It was pretty frightening. 

He was about to scratch his head, but held his movement when he thought this action was out of character. So he changed it to running his finger through his long hair, straightening it and raising his feet to walk toward the mountain path, before turning to face her. 

Having no grasp on this body’s internal energy, he could only rely on his theory of crafting. Using it as an attack method was roughly the same as using his light movement skill. That meant he needed to concentrate and circulate his energy in his palm, instead of his lower limbs. Having this little bit of wishful thinking, he tried to mobilise his internal energy and gathered them all in his palm.

Suddenly, the bushes around the mountain path began to rustle, and the sand and stones on the ground began to shake, not from the wind, but by a certain frequency of vibration in the air.

The woman’s expression changed abruptly. For the first time, the empty eyes focused on Su Yang. Even the hand holding the book tightened faintly, and her body was tensed slightly.

Having zero awareness of the mayhem he was causing, Su Yang picked up his feet and rushed at the assessor, carrying the boundless internal energy into a single attack with all of his strength. 

His target stepped back half a step, raised a hand, and gingerly faced her palm toward him, which dissolved all the power in his palm.

The sensation was like an intercontinental ballistic missile hitting a dense cluster of cotton. The result was no explosion, but disappearing completely with a ‘puff’. It did not produce even the smallest shock wave.

“Profound internal energy, really a rare sight. It’s just that the control is not very good, you need to practice diligently.”

Retracting her hand, she said softly, “If this wasn’t an assessment but a real battle, you would become unstable from concentrating all your internal power in a single attack. You will be bound to be attacked by others, who would take advantage of your weakness.”

There was really nothing to refute about this point, after all, the way he managed his internal energy was all blindly brainstormed. To say his control was ‘not proficient’ was an understatement. He really didn’t know how to use it!

However, being under the identity of the Young Master, he could only behave arrogantly by not saying a single word and refusing to nod in agreement. 

She continued, “The Yantan Divine Sect’s Six Night Flower Burial is difficult to practice. Having a breakthrough when you are barely seventeen years of age is very impressive, truly talented. However, this mental skill is unique, a solitary method. It will not be in your favour in your further practice. What do you intend to do to advance your mental skill?”

Her question stunned him.

In his understanding, Six Night Flower Burial was what the Evil Sect’s Young Master practiced. From the beginning of the script to his death scene, it had never changed. Therefore, he didn’t know what other internal mental skills the Evil Sect would let the Young Master continue to practice. Also, according to his knowledge of martial arts, couldn’t a person only practice one kind of internal skill?

Seeing no answer from him, she did not pursue the matter, only stating, “It doesn’t matter now, you can always find something suitable for you in the House of Jade.”

With that, she took a step to the side and made way for the entrance of the mountain gate.

He walked into the gate with question marks filled in his head. As he hiked up the stairs, he pondered if what he transmigrated into was actually the original novel and not the drama, he felt this was at an even higher possibility now. 

He clicked his tongue. Shouldn't have been so lazy during filming.

If he had read the original work, he might have had a better grasp of the plot.

Being solely preoccupied with his thoughts, and moving forward with his head downcast, he completely walked past Gu Feidi. Who secretly clenched his fists.

As he went a few more steps further, he unexpectedly heard a low call from the young man, who silently endured his anger.

“Su Yang.”

Su Yang looked back to see Gu Feidi standing below him. He was facing up, and locked eyes with him.

Gu Feidi gnashed his teeth and promised, “I will definitely surpass you!” 

He blinked at the declaration. He thought it was his attack earlier that ignited the flame within this young wolf cub, so he couldn’t hold down his laugh.

“Oh, you set off a lot of FLAFLA: 立flag ('flag' is in English) is an online slang where you say one thing or do something and something contradicting happens afterward, like face slapping or jinxing yourself. Example: fighting weak monsters and mocked how easy they were and the next thing you know a high level boss sweeps down and kills the player. ...flags today.” He paused, trying not to crumple his expression from the slang word mistake in his line. A smirk still hung on his face as he taunted, “However, I believe you. You will surpass me one day, maybe…even kill me. Don’t worry, the flags you set off today, not one will fall.”

Having said that, he laughed twice before turning and carrying on up the mountain path stairway.

Gu Feidi glared at Su Yang’s back, clenched both his teeth and fists tightly.

Pu Lingyun gasped and raged, “Did you hear his tone? Mocking you with his wishful thinking?! A mouth full of crazy and unfounded ravings, I really don’t know what else to say!”

Gu Feidi didn’t chip in, but withdrew his gaze and lowered his head, a shadow cast on his face by his long eyelashes.

Pu Lingyun encouraged, “Don’t feel disheartened, Xiao Shixiong, your future achievements will be much higher than that demon spawn! Don’t be bothered by those few words.”

At the mountain gate, Fan Xi passed the assessment and sloppily pinched his pigtail thread and strode uphill.

Seeing that Gu Feidi and Pu Lingyun were still lingering on the steps waiting for Xu Yunzhan, he humbly approached them and said smiling, “Is this little beauty…”

Before he finished his question, something immediately stopped his train of thought.

For a moment, he took a sniff, narrowed his eyes, and took another deep breath. “Oh—that smell is very pleasant!”

He perked up the tip of his brow and smiled tauntingly from ear to ear. His line of sight shifted to Gu Feidi and sized up his face while clicking his tongue, saying at the same time, “He even gave you his Sect’s divine medicine? The young master’s interest is indeed vicious. Contrary to your young age, your figure and appearance are quite ravishing. No wonder…”

Without staying for the two to beat him up from anger, he employed his light movement skill and ran far along the mountain path like the wind.