Xu Ziqing, one of the four protagonists of "Borrowing a Sword".
He was not even 170 centimeters tall and had a youthful baby face, with incredibly delicate features. At this moment, because he was frantic with anxiety, his face was slightly flushed, and the blush made him look even more refined—the very picture of a pretty boy, brought to life.
Right now, four members of the constabulary were blocking his way. No matter how he explained, they refused to let him pass, interrogating him with all sorts of questions. One of them even suggested they stop wasting their breath and just arrest him first.
"It's almost midnight," Xu Ziqing's right hand tightened its grip on his umbrella handle.
He did not want to miss such a massive opportunity.
Just a few days ago, he had met a storyteller. The man had told him to go to Biyou Terrace at the foot of Wumeng Mountain at midnight tonight, and someone would come to receive him and lead him into the Dao Gate! After saying this, the plain-looking storyteller had vanished.
Without a doubt, he was a great and powerful cultivator!
And as a citizen of the Mirror Kingdom, who wouldn't yearn for the Dao Gate? That was one of the four great sects of the Eastern Continent's Mirror Kingdom, and once, it was even the head of the four!
What's more... the legendary sword was also in the Dao Gate!
Therefore, Xu Ziqing had been rushing on the road for the past few days, trekking a long and arduous journey. Tonight, despite the pouring rain, it did nothing to dampen the passion in his heart.
"I will join the Dao Gate! I will practice the sword and become a sword cultivator!"
Because the storyteller had instructed him not to arrive at Biyou Terrace too early—at most the time it takes for an incense stick to burn—but also to absolutely not be late, Xu Ziqing had been carefully watching the clock.
"Opportunity depends on timing. I understand," Xu Ziqing thought he understood perfectly.
The problem was, he couldn't figure out why he would run into the constabulary in the middle of the night. It was almost midnight! Midnight!
And from their conversation just now, it seemed a colleague of theirs, one they didn't even like very much, had just died in this forest tonight?
"Which thousand-cursed bastard committed murder on a rainy night!" Fearing he would miss his chance, Xu Ziqing instantly grew to hate this person.
Although the Mirror Kingdom's royal court was weak and the four great sects held sway over the Eastern Continent, no matter how weak it was, it was still the government! How dare someone kill a member of the constabulary?
—Is there no law and order left!?
Time ticked by, second by second. He just wanted to get away.
Finally, at the hint of one of the men, Xu Ziqing gave them all the silver he had on him before they let him go.
The delicate-featured youth walked a few steps forward with his umbrella and heard the four men behind him talking without any restraint.
"Tsk tsk, this fair-skinned pretty boy, that bastard Xue Hu would have definitely liked him," one of them said, letting out a couple of sinister laughs.
"Then why did you let him go? If Xue Hu was into his type, doesn't that make him even more suspicious?" another questioned in a low voice.
"It's definitely not him. I just went over to take a look. Although most of the footprints were washed away by the heavy rain, there was one very deep one, probably from a heavy forward step. The footprint it left was much bigger than his shoes."
"Then why did you..."
"It's the middle of the night, it's raining this damn hard, and the one who died was that son of a bitch Xue Hu. We couldn't make this trip for nothing, could we?" The man tossed the money pouch in his hand.
"Haha, hahaha!" The four of them laughed out loud, utterly unbridled.
Xu Ziqing, walking quickly ahead, gritted his teeth in anger, his right hand tightening its grip on the umbrella handle once more.
"Damn the royal court!" he cursed inwardly.
"Someone from the constabulary was killed? Good riddance! He deserved to be killed!"
Xu Ziqing began to walk faster and faster. Once he was far enough away, he started to sprint, and after running for a while, he threw his umbrella aside as well. The reason Xu Ziqing hadn't broken into a run immediately was that he was afraid these scumbags from the constabulary would become suspicious of him again and really take him back for interrogation.
"I can make it, I have to make it!" Xu Ziqing ran faster and faster, giving it his all.
By the time he ran to the largest tree on Biyou Terrace, there was still a tiny bit of time left before midnight.
"Not late, I'm not late..." he panted, his face slightly pale, his entire body soaked through.
"Once the midnight arrives, a cultivator will come to get me, right?" His heart burned with excitement.
...
...
The indignant youth on Biyou Terrace swore he would definitely join the Dao Gate.
The man with ulterior motives in the sky was speechless, thinking, I really have no desire to join the Dao Gate.
Chu Huaixu's identity was currently unknown. He would rather go to Spring and Autumn Mountain, which was famous among the four great sects for having the most perverts, than go to the Dao Gate. When he played "Borrowing a Sword", his sect had been Spring and Autumn Mountain. Although there were many perverts there, he had thrived like a fish in water, to the point that he sometimes suspected he might be a latent pervert himself.
"As one of the four great sects, Spring and Autumn Mountain is no weaker than the Dao Gate."
"And I'm more familiar with that place. I could get my hands on a lot of opportunities."
"From a development perspective, the only drawback is that both of the Eastern Continent's World Protagonists are in the Dao Gate."
Players had also discussed this on the forums, concluding that in the future storyline, the Dao Gate would likely reclaim its throne as the head of the four great sects. If he clung to the beautiful legs of the long-legged beauty right beside him, Han Shuangjiang, he could indeed be carried to success.
At this moment, a system prompt sounded in his ear: "[Ding! You have successfully escaped the pursuit of the constabulary. Quest complete. Reward: 100 Experience Points.]"
Chu Huaixu was flying through the air and found it utterly ridiculous. "We're already flying this high, of course I've damn well escaped!"
He felt this quest system was incredibly stupid and began to miss the sassy AI customer service he had trained so well.
Besides that, he had also been secretly observing Li Chunsong and Han Shuangjiang to confirm that only he could hear the system prompts. After ensuring this, he breathed a long sigh of relief.
"This is a transmigration, after all. It's definitely different from playing the game before. It's better to be safe than sorry," Chu Huaixu said to himself.
When he played games, his maneuvers were always flashy, but at his core, he was actually a cautious and meticulous person. In fact, if he weren't cautious and meticulous, this virtual male model wouldn't have been able to navigate between his various wealthy female clients. He had even dared to take orders from twin sisters and managed to maintain good relations with each of them separately. After all, if you love someone, you have to love all of her, including her sister.
At this moment, Chu Huaixu seriously suspected that Li Chunsong had made some kind of mistake.
"That exposé post from before said that Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing were brought back to the Dao Gate together by Li Chunsong."
"Together, together, together..." Chu Huaixu began to ponder these words, looking once more at Han Shuangjiang beside him.
A grim premonition began to rise in his heart, and a faint guess began to form.
"This is bad! I've become a 'World Protagonist'!"
...
...
Chu Huaixu suspected he had taken someone else's script.
"I can only take it one step at a time," he thought. He just didn't know where Xu Ziqing was now, or what he was doing.
A deep sense of exhaustion began to wash over him, sweeping through his entire body. The sudden transmigration had already left him unsettled, with no sense of belonging in this entire world. Then came the endless series of events in the rainy night, one thing after another. Fortunately, he had always been bold but careful, so he didn't feel too much helplessness, just exhaustion.
"In any case, I didn't say anything to you. I just answered with my name. If a problem really arises, that's your own responsibility," Chu Huaixu thought, looking at Li Chunsong's back in the air ahead of them.
Right now, he could only hope this was all a beautiful misunderstanding, not a terrible mishap. He even felt a little like throwing caution to the wind. In any case, his [Identity] was definitely problematic. According to Xue Hu, the purpose of his coming here was to infiltrate the Dao Gate.
"Well, didn't I just successfully infiltrate it!"
There's no such thing as a truly optimistic person in the world, only people who are good at letting things go.
The place where the Dao Gate was located was called [The Mountain Beyond the Mountains]. This was not the name of a single mountain, but a general term for a range of many mountains. The Mountain Beyond the Mountains was shrouded in clouds and mist, which were actually the great mountain-protecting formation. It was said that not even an eighth-realm expert could forcefully break through it.
With the elder's token at his waist, Li Chunsong could naturally lead people in and out freely.
The three of them thus descended in front of a courtyard in the outer mountains.