Title In Progress

[JunEr] «Candle Snuffed Out, Chess Game About» 03 - Watching the show.jpg


The so-called loyalty for those in authority required absolute silent obedience, which Ye Jun had never approved of.

That was the fundamental difference between him and the foolish, blindly loyal Yaksha who only knew how to listen to orders. There might be bias in the orders, or their purpose could be contradictory, so he always had to think a step ahead of the person issuing the orders, and he could absolutely never let the person issuing the orders find out.

For example, with the current circumstances of his Master, no oaths or promises of devotion would be sufficient to win his trust, so it was better to give him a practical contract with authority and credibility; Another example was that his Master was now almost half-crippled, and what he wanted was not for the other party to respectfully take care of everything, further widening the gap between success and failure, but rather he probably wanted the other party to suffer a little setback to balance things out, and preferably be even more miserable than himself.

Without any hesitation, Ye Jun prepared to go back to the Nightrunner and once again fight for the title.

Of course, there was still that shameful intention of incidentally reminding his Master “You’ll know what it’s like to be miserable without me if you’re not nicer to me”, which contained an extremely special, very tiny amount of selfishness——Ye Jun could vouch for it with a clear conscience.


Almost all of the martial artists participating in the Nightrunner’s evaluation were newcomers who had yet to graduate. After all, a shadow guard was a trump card hidden as deeply as possible, and no one wanted to be exposed. Ye Jun completed the registration process with ease, but unexpectedly ran into some acquaintances on the arena.

Jun Xuanheng, still snugly wrapped up as the spring weather began to warm up again, had just been carried off the carriage by Ye Tan and followed the Nightrunner’s manager up to the loft. Ye Tan didn’t show any indication of it when he saw him in the distance, instead Jun Xuanheng unintentionally noticed him and desperately waved to him.

Ye Jun accepted the invite and cordially went up to sit at the table with them, asking: “Why are you all here? It can’t be that Yaksha came to fight for the title, right?”

“Of course not, the earlier A-Tan can get rid of this scapegoat title the better.” Jun Xuanheng waved, pointing at the excited monkey jumping up and down behind him, “It was Ye Xiao who said that ever since he saw A-Tan seizing the title on that competition when he was young, he’s always wanted to be ‘Yaksha’. Since he insisted on coming to fight for the title, we just brought him here to have fun.”

Ye Tan arranged his Master in a good position and took of his cloak for him, consciously sitting down by his side, and Jun Xuanheng immediately went with the flow and leaned against him. Ye Xiao spread out the large package he was holding on the table, taking out fruit dishes and desserts and filling up the table in an instant with an excitement that was hard to conceal.

The Nightrunner was such a gloomy place that outsiders would avoid it if they could. Guests would normally only drink tea at most, so seeing them stocking up on snacks and desserts as if they were going for a springtime walk was truly a rare sight.

Ye Jun spectated in silence, deeply thinking that this whole family’s style was baffling¹.


Ye Jun did not expect he would really confront Ye Xiao on the stage.

He clearly understood Ye Xiao’s gongfu, he could be considered among the top at the Nightrunner, but he absolutely would not reach the top. When he saw him at the booth just now, he realised Ye Xiao had progressed a little, but the change wasn’t too big.

But when Ye Xaio got on the arena, he suddenly discovered that Ye Xiao’s cultivation base, speed, and strength had all multiplied several times, almost completely rivalling or even surpassing his own.

Ye Jun fought with him for several hundred moves, puzzling over everything while carefully sending his chest in the direction of the tip of his blade while avoiding any vital parts, it lightly missed by a few inches, and he rushed away from it.

In the next moment, Ye Xiao saw Ye Jun flying out, rolling over the ground as though he’d been knocked off his feet.

Ye Xiao was at a loss as he thought: I still haven’t done anything, why are you just collapsing?


Ye Xiao jumped down from the stage, excitedly dancing around in a circle: “Wow I’m so strong! Boss did you see me! When I got on stage I suddenly felt myself becoming really strong! Like I could fight 10 Ye Lans!”

Jun Xuanheng half-heartedly spoke: “Yes yes yes, right right right, you’re strong you’re strong.”

Ye Xiao would inevitably face danger when he got on stage to fight, so fearing Ye Lan would interfere and cause trouble, he drew a circle on the ground before leaving and stuffed Ye Lan inside, telling him he was not allowed to leave. When he came back, he saw Ye Lan squatting on the ground, anxiously looking at him, seemingly very eager to get out of the circle.

Ye Xiao became dejected again and lowered his head with a sigh: “But when I got down from the stage I felt myself weakening again, how mysterious.”

Jun Xuanheng said: “First hurry up and erase that circle Ye Lan is in, look how pitiful he is. Ye Lan always listens to what you say, why do you always have to bully him.”

Ye Xiao gave a distressed smile: “Boss, you don’t know how he really is at night….. sigh, it’s unfair.”


Meanwhile, Jun Wuwang, who was sitting in the opposite booth, indifferently closed the Modifier Tool Interface, and expressed his dislike for the osmanthus cakes Ye Fengjun handed over.


Jun Xuanheng kept thinking about how Ye Jun was injured by Ye Xiao, so he sent Ye Tan to go bring him for treatment. The decisions had still not been handed down for the time being, so Ye Jun obediently followed back. Ye Tan always had all kinds of the best and most expensive medicines prepared, but Ye Jun rejected each and every one.

He was preparing to act out the trick of injuring himself to move the Young Master, but he would be unable to justify himself if he went back with such good elixirs.

When Ye Jun returned to the booth, he couldn’t help but carefully sizing Ye Xiao up. He once again felt that his cultivation base was average, and he couldn’t make out that remarkable strength he displayed on stage, so he was inwardly alarmed: Unexpectedly, there are people even I can’t see through!

He was deeply in awe of Ye Xiao for a moment.


Not long after, the decisions were handed down. Ye Xiao was surprisingly really chosen as “Yaksha”, and he himself was once again crowned “Ye Jun”.

He was anxious to leave as soon as he got the results, after all even he felt worried about leaving the Second Young Master alone deep in the mountains. Before he left, Jun Xuanheng asked him where he lived now and handed him a few bags of pine nuts and melon seeds: “A-Tan discovered the shop recently, it’s especially tasty, these are for you to try.”

Ye Jun accepted without question, and thought to himself, these things are really suitable to eat when watching a show.


Ye Jun returned to the Sansheng Mountain Stream early to make sure the Second Young Master had not had any accidents and was still able to survive, then he just spent his time hiding in the trees and taking advantage of the situation as he stealthily watched from the sidelines.

Rather than living in the spacious and comfortable big wooden house, the Second Young Master had gone back to live in that first small thatched hut, which Ye Jun couldn’t say he did not find surprising.

In Ye Jun’s scenario, the Second Young Master should hate his treacherous, runaway self so much that it would make his teeth itch, and even burn this broken house down. But not only did the Second Young Master not take his anger out on it, he even secretly went back to live in it.

Ye Jun watched as the Second Young Master limped to the courtyard to plant scallions, cracking melon seeds between his teeth and thinking: The Young Master is even cuter than I expected.


Ye Jun secretly stayed at the treetops for half a month, and after calculating the time was almost right, he pulled out the small dagger he carried with him and accurately stabbed himself several times in the chest. His movements weren’t light at all, the show had to be performed to the fullest, and it couldn’t be done without blood.

After stabbing, he stayed for a few more days, most of which were spent under the cold rain and had the word ‘miserable’ written on them in all caps.


When the Second Young Master slipped down from the roof and was rescued by him, what he saw was naturally a severely weakened Ye Jun with a blood and qi deficiency.

The injury was a performance, but the feelings were real. What Ye Jun said to the Second Young Master, every word came from the bottom of his heart, there were absolutely no lies. He was barely able to hold on until he made everything clear, until he finally couldn’t take it any longer and passed out.


When Ye Jun woke up again, he was still in the same place as before he lost consciousness. A continuous drizzle fell on the mountains, the Second Young Master was sitting on the steps holding up a paper umbrella, and his head was resting on the Young Master’s lap. The umbrella could only cover half of his body, so his lower half was soaked in mud and rainwater, completely chilling him.

Zhongli Zixi had tried to bring Ye Jun inside the house, but he currently could not move an adult person’s weight even an inch, he could only helplessly watch as the seriously injured Ye Jun got soaked in the rain, and the only thing he could do was help shield a small part of his body from the weather, which was really insignificant.

Seeing him wake up, Zhongli Zixi eagerly asked: “Ye Jun, can you still move? I can’t move you….. Try to see if you have the strength or not.”

Ye Jun gave it a try, but his four limbs felt heavy as lead, and he couldn’t move his body at all, he could only shake his head and say: “Not right now. The rain is so heavy, you should go in first, Young Master.”

Zhongli Zixi couldn’t help but frown, if either of them got a fever now, they would surely die, they couldn’t waste time staying under the cold rain.

He bent over and knelt by Ye Jun, saying: “Hold onto me.”

Hearing this, Ye Jun put his arms around his shoulders and embraced him.

His foot was crippled, but fortunately his knees were still fine. He already couldn’t walk around, but at least he could crawl. Zhongli Zixi knelt on the ground and dragged Ye Jun on his knees, every step took extreme effort, and it must have taken several attempts to just be able to climb up to the next level. But even though it was difficult and slow-going, he showed no signs of stopping.

When he dragged him under the eaves of the roof, Ye Jun hurriedly said: “It’s almost not raining here anymore, Young Master, it’s fine….. You don’t need to go further.”

Zhongli Zixi girt his teeth, unable to find the extra energy to argue with him, and spent half a sichen dragging Ye Jun step by step from the rain into the room.

He was truly drained and exhausted, so he lay on the ground for a while and caught his breath, then immediately got up again: “Your clothes are drenched, I’ll help you change.”

Ye Jun hurriedly said no need, but Zhongli Zixi didn’t pay attention to him, kneeling next to him and taking off his drenched clothes, revealing the criss-crossing wounds inside. The wounds had almost not been treated at all, there were no traces of medicine and they had only been hastily bandaged, and most of the wounds were exposed to the outside. Zhongli Zixi frowned: “Why didn’t you apply medicine and rest? Were you in such a hurry?”

Ye Jun guiltily said: “…..I wanted to come back to see you sooner.”

Zhongli Zixi’s chest felt sour, and he deeply felt he was not a good person for having doubted Ye Jun, so he spoke in a low voice: “I’ll go to the village tomorrow and find a way to bring some medicinal herbs back. Don’t worry.”

Ye Jun was moved: “Young Master….. it’s not that bad. Just let me lie down for a few days.”

Why go so far? All you need to do is feel a little guilty towards me, and if you could treat me differently in the future, that would already be enough for me, there’s no need to go to such lengths for me.

Zhongli Zixi shook his head. He really didn’t have the strength to move Ye Jun onto the bed, so he could only take some bedding and spread it out on the ground, wrapping his ice-cold body in it. The he supported himself on the wall to stand and said: “You rest first, I’ll go boil some hot water.”


Ye Jun only felt that this development was really unexpected, but also reasonable.

Actually, his Young Master had always been like this. Ye Jun knew best just how many things he had secretly done for the Second Young Master back then. He had always given his all for the people he liked, dashing forward without any regard for himself, but without saying a single word about it.

Compared to a guy like himself who gave one fraction of good and expected the other party to receive ten², he was simply too candid.


Ye Jun stroked the scars on his chest, thinking to himself: I’m in his heart, it seems….. that I’ve finally attained that position too.