Chapter 17: Mistaken

These children are sharp-eyed and instantly recognize the candy wrappers in the man’s hand. Those are candies they can only buy when they go to town with their parents for the market. Those candies taste sweet and are really delicious.

Just seeing the candy makes them feel like they can already taste the sweetness in their mouths, and their eyes light up. Hearing the man say they must identify who he’s looking for before they can eat. The child casually points to someone, just wanting to quickly get the candy first.

The other children clearly follow his lead. When they see him point at a chubby boy, they all follow too. The man obviously doesn’t expect the children to lie for candy. Seeing them all point to the chubby boy, he believes them and gives the candy to the children.

Worried that their lies might be exposed later and the candy will be taken back, the children immediately run off after receiving the sweets. The chubby boy also wants to run, but a step slower, he gets caught by the man. The chubby boy looks obviously scared. “What do you want?”

The man forces a smile that he thinks looks gentle: “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you. You have to trust me.”

The chubby boy shakes his head vigorously, trying to break free from the man’s grip.

The man sees the chubby boy’s resistance and quickly says: “I see that you have a unique physique and extraordinary talent. You are a rare genius. Why not become my disciple and come with me?”

Hiding not far away, Yan Jin Chang: “…”

“This man clearly came looking for someone by name. Now he’s talking about unique physiques and extraordinary talent?”

The chubby kid is actually fooled by the man’s words and stops resisting. “Become your disciple? Are you really that powerful?”

The man says: “Of course”. He then opens his palm, where a light blue glow quickly appears. After the light fades, some clear water is left in his palm.

The water even gives off a faint fragrance. He sprinkles the water on the ground, and a small seedling quickly sprouts. At the same time, Yan Jin Chang, hiding in his spot, sees a blue box appear from the black fragment.

The blue box displays a line of text: [Water skill used once, minus 2 energy points. Only 4 energy points remain.]

Yan Jin Chang: “……”  

“So this guy isn’t a water spirit root cultivator, but gains his power from these items?”

Yan Jin Chang tries to tap on the light screen, but it remains frozen, stuck on the current interface as if it’s glitched. Yan Jin Chang knows the man is using other methods to exert spiritual power, but obviously the chubby kid doesn’t know that.

The chubby kid, who has never seen anything like this before, is amazed. “So cool!”

The man says: “I can teach you all of this, but you have to become my disciple first!”

“Really?”

The man replies: “Of course! In fact, I have been watching you for the past few days. Your phenomenal performance amazes me. I have never seen such an outstanding person before.”

Flattered, the chubby boy’s confidence grows. But he recalls his loss in the puppet duel yesterday and says glumly: “But I didn’t win in the puppet match…”

“That’s not your fault. After all, it was your first time using a puppet anyway. As long as you become my disciple, in a few years, you will definitely become the greatest puppet master!”

The chubby boy’s eyes light up.

“What about me? What about me?”

“Me too!”

Seeing the man showing no suspicion and continually praising the chubby boy, the kids who had originally run off come closer again.

The man glances at them, dismissing them: “You are all good too, but I have principles. I only take one disciple only.”

Upon hearing this, some children become unhappy. They initially thought the man was looking for Yan Jin Chang because he got into trouble and would get punished. But now they realize it’s a good thing, that he wants to take on a disciple and is only accepting one.

They quickly say the truth: “No, no, he’s called Daniu. He’s not that Yan whatever!”

“That’s right, he’s Daniu! He’s not the person you’re looking for!”

“He’s not! He’s not!”

The man is clearly stunned.

The chubby boy also becomes unhappy upon hearing this and quickly says: “I—I’m called Yan… Anyway, I have two names! Plus, you all just said it was me! You’re the one lying!”

“No, you’re the liar! You big liar!”

The chubby boy gets angry and directly punches the one who yelled the loudest! The child who gets hit cries out in pain but stands up to fight back. Before long, it escalates into a group fight.

The man finally realizes that there is no Yan Jin Chang among these children. He has been deceived! The man becomes angry: “You little rascals, you actually tricked me!” He rolls up his sleeves, preparing to strike.

At that moment, one child sees several village women with baskets on their backs coming from the mountain. He instantly screams, starting to cry loudly. Seeing this, the other children also begin to cry in unison, their voices quickly attracting the women’s attention. 

Those women look over in confusion, vaguely seeing a man standing beside a group of children, who are crying pitifully. “What’s going on? Is someone bullying the children over there?”

“Quick, go get help!”

“Isn’t that my Daniu?!” One woman steps forward and quickly recognizes her son. 

“Daniu! Why do you have blood on your head? A big man but bullies children? I’m going to fight you!”