The Temptation of Bread and the Great Pillar’s Fury

“Master! That’s four hours there and back! Why didn’t you tell me?”

‘Walking four hours on an empty stomach would kill him!’ Tou exclaimed, his face clouded with displeasure, addressing Yue Ye Si.

“Hey, hey, by the way, you two look like you’ve been hungry for ages. If you want to come to my place, I’ll take you to the mall right now to buy some delicious food!”

Ji Jie seized upon their current predicament, enticing them with a benevolent smile.

“Th-there’s food to eat!”

Upon hearing about food, Tou’s eyes lit up, widening into large, round orbs.

Then his lake-clear eyes shifted, narrowing slightly, his brows furrowing as he realized he had almost fallen for the woman’s food-baiting scheme. He immediately put one hand on his hip, pointed a finger at her nose, and lashed out:

“Bastard! Don’t even think about tempting me with food! Even if I starve to death today, die outside, or jump off a tree with Master, I still won’t eat your stuff!”

Tou detested those who exploited his weaknesses. Delicious food? He didn’t need it. His stomach wasn’t hungry in the slightest…

‘Grrrrumble, grumble, grumble~’

No sooner had Tou spoken than his stomach inconveniently rumbled.

Mortified and furious, Tou clutched his stomach and glared at both of them, saying:

“What are you looking at?! It wasn’t me who made that sound, it was my stomach!”

Tou truly wished he could dig out a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment with his toes and hide inside it (TL Note: A humorous idiom expressing extreme embarrassment, akin to ‘wanting to dig a hole and hide’).

“Hey, hey! I still have two loaves of bread here! What should I do? I already ate lunch, so I’m not hungry at all right now. What if they go bad by evening? Eating them now would make me gain weight, what should I do? I’m so troubled!”

Ji Jie, holding a loaf of bread in each hand, waved them back and forth in front of Tou, feigning great difficulty. Every now and then, she’d even bring a loaf close to Tou’s mouth, clearly trying to tempt him.

‘Can’t you see a person on the verge of starving to death right in front of you?’ Tou grumbled inwardly, his head feeling lightheaded from the enticing aroma. Yet, his strong will allowed him to endure this deadly temptation.

“Hey! Little sister, you look awfully hungry. How about I share half with you? But you’ll have to let me join your team; my things aren’t given away for free, you know!”

“Little sister?”

Ji Jie continued to lure Tou with food, oblivious in her triumph to the furious expression now contorting Tou’s face.

Yue Ye Si yelped and retreated several steps, clearly unwilling to be caught in the impending danger!

Tou’s face was etched with black lines, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably from rage.

This person had actually mistaken him for a girl all this time, and even dared to tempt him with food! He had been considering giving her a bit of grace for offering food, but he never imagined she would be so ungrateful and pushy!

He couldn’t take it anymore! He’d just have to beat her!

Tou brought his hands together in front of his chest, palms facing each other, left hand above right. With a sharp ‘clap,’ his palms met, and his arms formed a horizontal line.

As his hands clapped, Tou fixed his gaze forward. Shouting “Great Pillar of Heaven’s Equal,” his hands began to rotate, palms still pressed together, though now his left fingers pointed upwards and his right fingers forward.

Finally, Tou bellowed “Open!” and his hands rapidly spread apart. A fluorescent glow shimmered between them, and a golden-yellow staff materialized, spinning, in his grasp.

Then, subtly beneath the golden-yellow hair covering his brow, a faint, glowing, curved ram’s horn-like pattern became visible.

Tou, gripping his Imperial Arm, the Great Pillar of Heaven’s Equal, pointed it at Ji Jie and cursed:

“How dare you insult me! Today, I will not spare you! Reveal your Imperial Arm! As a martial artist, I will grant you, you stinking pig-dog, a dignified death!”

Imperial Arms were products of the Age of Dharma Decline. Their emergence saved people from the arduous journey of cultivation and eliminated the need for heavenly artifacts.

It was said that in the Age of Immortals and Demons, and even further back in ancient times, those capable of cultivation in this world were known as cultivators, not martial artists.

Cultivators absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, sensed the laws of the universe, refined elixirs, crafted talismans, and wielded flying swords with endless sword arts and spell techniques. They would also fiercely contend for rare treasures, artifacts, and inheritances.

However, with the advent of the Age of Dharma Decline, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth grew sparse, and sensing the laws became increasingly difficult. This was a fatal weakening for demons, immortals, and devils alike!

Finally, people discovered a luminous orb within an ancient ruin. Once removed from its treasure chest, the orb began to rapidly multiply, filling the entire ruin.

People found that when a cultivator performed a blood-bond ritual with this orb, it astonishingly transformed into a weapon, one that seemed tailor-made for its owner, perfectly suiting their combat style.

Moreover, each weapon would grow stronger as its master’s power increased. At that time, there were over a dozen Emperor-level experts, yet few possessed Emperor-grade artifacts. This luminous orb, however, directly transformed into an Emperor-grade artifact for an Emperor-level expert.

Because they could become Emperor-grade artifacts, over time, people collectively named these weapons Imperial Arms.

With Imperial Arms, people became overly reliant on the abilities they conferred, abandoning the cultivation of spells and techniques. Gradually, cultivators no longer presented the sight of flying on swords, wielding countless artifacts and spells, or deploying a sky full of talismans and formations.

But there was no alternative! Activating artifacts and formations required immense spiritual energy, and in a world where spiritual energy was on the verge of depletion, their power had been greatly diminished.

Wielding Imperial Arms, people devolved into a barbaric fighting style, hacking and smashing at each other with weapons. Only occasionally, when using a bit of spiritual energy to activate an Imperial Arm’s ability, would one glimpse a combat style similar to that of cultivators. However, spiritual energy was limited, and replenishment was time-consuming, meaning those abilities could barely be used a few times!

Ultimately, people descended from cultivators to martial artists!

Ji Jie looked at the staff in Tou’s hand, a hint of confusion in her eyes. She had only wanted to tempt the blond little girl in front of her with food, never expecting this ‘little girl’ to be so fierce and stubborn, even with such a rumbling stomach!

Tou wanted to fight, but Ji Jie certainly didn’t! She quickly waved her hands in refusal, saying:

“Little sister, don’t be impulsive! These two loaves of bread are all yours! But are you really not going to…”

But before she could utter the rest of her sentence, ‘…come stay at my place?’, the staff in Tou’s hand swelled to the thickness of a tree trunk, as wide as a washbasin, and swung towards her face.

Startled, she quickly retreated several steps! Just as she was about to berate her opponent for lacking martial ethics, Tou’s staff clattered to the ground. Tou then clutched his aching stomach, glaring fiercely at her, and cursed her with a grim expression:

“Dead woman! You actually poisoned the bread!”

Tou’s stomach hurt immensely; it was definitely not due to hunger.

Being cursed at by Tou left Ji Jie feeling quite displeased. She thoughtfully stroked her chin, observing Tou closely. She hadn’t put any poison in the bread; Tou’s condition seemed more like physical exhaustion from using spiritual energy just now!

A mischievous idea struck her, and she deliberately provoked him: “Hey! You’re just hungry, aren’t you? Here, have this bread first!”

“Ba-bastard! I’m not hungry at all! Watch me, watch me smash your dog-head with the Great Pillar of Heaven’s Equal!”

Just as Ji Jie expected, Tou indeed rejected her charity, struggling to lift his massive Great Pillar of Heaven’s Equal and stand.

This played right into her cunning plan, so she casually waved a hand and said:

“Alright, I accept your challenge!”

‘Fighting Tou would surely deplete his spiritual energy. By then, let alone completing a quest, if he could even stand up, she’d consider herself defeated! Then, she’d offer the bread again. No matter how stubborn Tou was, he couldn’t possibly fight against a rumbling stomach!’

‘And then, taking him home wouldn’t be impossible! Such a cute little boy, hehehe! She absolutely adores him!’

Then Ji Jie raised her right hand vertically and held her left hand horizontally, striking a pose like Tiga Ultraman firing a laser. However, her specific gesture resembled the exaggerated move of countless show-off protagonists catching a swung sword with two fingers.

“Platinum Little Star!!!”

As she called out the Imperial Arm’s name, her left arm rose to her nose, pausing for a second.

“Open!”

Her horizontal left arm lifted and straightened, pointing to the sky. Simultaneously, her right hand lowered, two fingers emitting a platinum-gold light pointing to the earth below. Without pausing, both hands smoothly rotated one hundred eighty degrees counter-clockwise. Finally, in her right hand, now pointing to the sky, a white sword intricately carved with golden stars strikingly appeared.

A golden star pattern also appeared beneath her right eye.

Finally, she held Platinum Little Star in one hand, her reddish-brown long hair fluttering behind her, and pointed the sword at Tou, looking truly heroic and valiant!

However, Ji Jie felt a wave of profound shame. This method of summoning her Imperial Arm, after the blood-bond ritual, was ingrained in her very DNA, much like the phrase “I’m not human anymore” (TL Note: A popular internet meme expressing extreme surprise or awe, often used humorously after witnessing something extraordinary or ridiculous.) from a certain internet meme!

“Little sister, if I make you cry, don’t go running to your Master for revenge, okay?”

Both she and Tou were martial artists of the Spiritual Vein Realm. However, Tou was merely in the early stage, while she, at the Great Perfection stage of the Spiritual Vein Realm, was three stages higher. How could she possibly lose?

With Imperial Arms, people’s cultivation ranks remained unchanged from before: from Qi Condensation, Spiritual Vein, Golden Body, and Heavenly Human, to the ultimate Emperor. Each realm was further divided into four minor stages: early, mid, late, and Great Perfection.

“How dare you look down on me! Die!”

Crying and then asking an adult to arbitrate? Tou would never do such a thing. Ji Jie’s words were undoubtedly a blatant act of contempt, worse than any insult.

How could Tou’s fiery temper possibly endure that? Clutching the washbasin-thick Great Pillar of Heaven’s Equal, he charged towards Ji Jie, thrusting it forward!