What a Scumbag! The Gate of Revelation
At 7 o’clock, the whole class gathered and boarded the tour bus heading for the pier.
During the ride, Chu Tianxing closed his eyes to pretend to nap while he was actually opening the new First 3000 Average Subscriber Gift Package he’d just received.
It had been over a day since his new book went premium, and the first-day subscription count had hit 3,500—breaking the all-ti record for opening-day subscriptions on Huan Kong Net.
But because he'd done that massive chapter dump, his average subs count was lagging a bit and had only just crawled past the 3000 milestone.
The mont his subs count first hit the 3000 milestone, the gift packages he opened started to yield higher-level techniques like a move from the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms or other technique at the level of Five Great like the Iron Palm, Water Skimming or the Bone Penetrating Pressure Point Attack, or the Heart-Shattering Palm of the Nine Yin Manual.
The package he'd just opened contained the legendary Nine Yin White Bone Claw.
Honestly, the Nine Yin White Bone Claw wasn't necessarily superior to other Nine Yin Manual techniques like Heart-Shattering Palm or Great Demon-Subduing Fist.
It just had a higher profile because it appeared more frequently in stories, and its na had this wickedly cruel beauty that gave it such widespread fa.
Chu Tianxing didn't hesitate to learn the Nine Yin White Bone Claw.
Too bad he was stuck on the bus right now. Otherwise, he'd really love to buy a waterlon and test out the power of this Nine Yin White Bone Claw.
After forty-plus minutes, the bus reached the seaside pier.
Everyone got off in order and boarded a cruise ship that could accommodate a hundred guests for lodging and leisure on coastal waters.
This cruise ship belonged to a tourism company owned by one of their female classmates' families. Thanks to this connection, the class was able to charter the ship for their trip without paying a single cent.
With deep horn blasts, the cruise ship slowly pulled away from the pier and officially began their three-day sea voyage.
This trip was just a sightseeing cruise along the coast with stops at two famous scenic islands along the way.
There was also an uninhabited island right on their route that was part of the itinerary. When they arrived, everyone would take small boats to the uninhabited island for a barbecue and to camp out.
The travel plan sounded pretty solid, and the route was a safe one.
The ship's security personnel included one master at the peak of the Inner Force Realm who had opened all Twelve Principal ridians and the Eight Extraordinary ridians, plus several military veterans who had opened their Twelve Principal ridians.
Apparently, the ship was also stocked with quality cold weapons that had been properly sharpened.
A solid travel plan, a safe route, and highly skilled and experienced security personnel.
By all logic, this sea voyage shouldn't have any problems.
But whether it was his Intuition kicking in or just his certain pessimism about transmigrators attracting trouble, Chu Tianxing had this nagging bad feeling in his gut.
He just felt like sothing was definitely going to happen on this trip.
But what could possibly go wrong on the safe coastal routes near the Great Ming's shores?
The weather forecast hadn't ntioned any major storms at sea over the next few days either. Otherwise, they wouldn't have set sail.
"Sothing feels off... I hope I'm just being paranoid!"
But as it turned out, Chu Tianxing's feeling was well-founded...
At 9 Am, the distant coastline had beco nothing more than a blurry shadow.
The sky was clear and sunny, the sea was calm, and the cruise ship sailed smoothly.
The classmates had ford small groups and road around different parts of the ship.
One guy with the nickna "Charitable Gambling King" had even set up a card table on deck, playing cards with a few buddies.
"Why do they call him the Charitable Gambling King?"
Leaning on the rail and watching the poker ga under a parasol, Chu Tianxing asked Qin Ling about the nickna.
"Gao Yuan really loves to play cards and likes to play for small stakes, but no matter what he bets on, he's never won. He literally never wins and always gets cleaned out."
Qin Ling laughed. "Over ti, he earned the title of Charitable Gambling King. But don't underestimate him; his martial arts cultivation is pretty impressive. He's only second to Xiao Hu in our class."
"Yeah, I know that." Chu Tianxing nodded and smiled.
"Earlier on the bus, I heard soone say our class has exactly fifty-four people, just like a deck of cards. You and Xiao Hu are the top two fighters in our class, like the big and little jokers. Gao Yuan, Xu Jing, Chen Musheng, and Li Haiyang are right behind you guys, making them the four 2s. Then there are the four Aces, four Kings, and so on... feels pretty cringey."
(TL Note: Bear with . I don’t know Poker, much less Chinese one.)
Qin Ling snorted softly. "That whole ranking thing ca from one of Xiao Hu's lackeys. They are basically trying to pair up with Xiao Hu. Hmph, how ridiculous. Who wants to be the big and little Joker with that guy?"
Chu Tianxing nodded approvingly. "Exactly, you're just the little joker. As for Xiao Hu, he can only count as a 2."
Qin Ling looked surprised. "I'm just the little joker? Then who's the big joker?"
Chu Tianxing ran his hand through his hair, which had been tousled by the sea breeze, and simply smiled without saying a word.
Qin Ling got it imdiately and stared at Chu Tianxing speechlessly for a long mont. Her mouth moved a couple of tis, but she didn't say anything in the end.
What could she say?
Say that Chu Tianxing's martial arts are no good?
That would be the sa as rubbing salt in his wounds.
After thinking it over, Qin Ling smoothly changed the subject.
"Tianxing, I saw a tal flute in your bag. Did you pick up a new hobby?"
"Yeah, you could say that."
"But why an iron flute? That thing's so heavy."
"That's the point! I like it hard and heavy.”
“O...kay. Whatever makes you happy. I also saw a pack of embroidery needles in your bag."
"Little Ling’er, why do you know so much about what's in my bag?"
"Well, I was helping you organize your luggage in the cabin earlier and just happened to take a look. You still haven't answered my question. What do you need a whole box of embroidery needles for?"
"Obviously, they have their uses..."
Just as he said this, two female classmates walked over with big grins. One of them gave Chu Tianxing a thumbs-up.
"Hey, Great Talent, that poem of yours was really sothing! Xu Jing's been in a daze ever since."
Xu Jing?
That baby-faced, big-eyed little beauty with the cute cartoonish style, the girl with the incredibly low poetry appreciation skills... that's Xu Jing from the 'Four 2s'?
You really can't judge a book by its cover. She really was a bit of a 2!
(TL Note: It’s slang. Like how liu (6) in China was used as slang for smooth, good, or aweso.)
"A poem? What poem?" Qin Ling asked curiously. "Tianxing, did you write another poem?"
Chu Tianxing coughed dryly. "Well, it was just for fun, nothing serious..."
He was trying to change the subject when one of the girls beat him to it and recited the poem, "I am a cloud in the sky..."
Once the girl finished, Qin Ling frowned.
"This poem... is better than your previous ones, Tianxing. But... there's sothing strange about it..."
The girl who had recited it laughed.
"Yeah, the poem's pretty, but it totally sounds like a 'thanks for the one-night stand, now get lost' poem."
The other girl chid in. "Feels like sothing a scumbag would write to his victim..."
As they spoke, both girls looked at Chu Tianxing with aningful and subtle smiles.
Qin Ling's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Chu Tianxing.
"You wrote this poem for Xu Jing, and now she's been distraught all this ti? Tianxing, don't tell you did sothing to Xu Jing...?"
Chu Tianxing looked completely helpless. “This must be karma. Of all the poems I could’ve copied, why did it have to be this one?”
The famous poet Xu Zhimo was indeed a scumbag. He was so much of a scumbag that his teacher, Liang Qichao, publicly scolded him at his wedding.
Jin Yong, being his cousin, couldn't help but despise him and specifically created the villain Yun Zhonghe in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils as a dig at his own cousin...
(TL Note: Holy fuck. No wonder there are too many love triangles in Old Jin’s novel. Turns out he had a real model in real life. And Xu Zhimo is pretty handso too. He bagged a famous artist at that ti before he died due to a plane crash.)
Just as he was trying to figure out how to explain, suddenly Gao Yuan, who was on his losing streak as usual, let out a deafening shout and pointed to the right.
"Holy shit, look! What the hell is that?"
One of his card-playing classmates yelled.
"Nice try, Gao Yuan. You're about to lose. Don't think we don't see you trying to create a diversion so you can pull a fast one!"
Gao Yuan urgently replied. "No shit! My gambling integrity is legendary. If I wanted to cheat, you guys would never even catch even if I did it right in front of you. There's really sothing wrong over there. Look! The situation's not right!"
His two card buddies looked over skeptically, then imdiately froze.
At the sa ti, all the classmates on deck heard Gao Yuan's shout and turned to look.
Chu Tianxing and Qin Ling also turned to look.
And then, everyone froze.
In their line of sight, several hundred ters from the cruise ship, a thick cloud of mist was writhing like a living creature and rapidly approaching their ship.
Those with good eyesight could even see blue lights flickering within the mist, giving off an extrely eerie feeling.
"Storm clouds? No, that can't be right. The mist is white, it’s hugging the sea surface, and only covers a few hundred ters..."
Chu Tianxing felt a sense of helplessness. "Sure enough, my premonition was right. I really did attract trouble!"
Just as he thought this, the strange mist rushed over like lightning and engulfed the cruise ship with its writhing movents.
At the sa ti.
In the suburbs of Canghe City, beneath what looked like an ordinary farm estate, there was a circular underground space filled with various high-tech instrunts that looked way too advanced for the current era.
A certain woman dressed in an Eastern Depot uniform abruptly stood up with a grave expression. "Energy fluctuations detected in the East Sea. Wave patterns match the characteristics of a Gate of Revelation opening... A new Gate of Revelation has appeared! Level One Alert!"
The mont her voice fell, a piercing alarm began to echo throughout the entire underground space...
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