Transmigrated Senior Martial Brother 2

Cannon Fodder

“Yue Shishu¹, Shixiong², over here, there are two children!” Jin Ling-er³ called out. By the time the words had left her mouth, Yue Zhongling and Qin Mo had already reached them.

The two children were probably only about seven or eight years old. They hid in a large stone cave cowering. Noticing their arrival, they couldn’t help but shrink back. Their bloodshot eyes, alert, stared at the three figures, clearly showing signs of extreme fear.

Seeing them like this, the darkened face of Yue Zhongling would not ease. “Do not worry, we are cultivators of Yueqing Sect. We came to recruit disciples!”

When they heard the words of Yue Zhongling, who had such an outstanding appearance, the two children were so excited that they couldn’t help but exclaim, “An immortal⁴!”

Watching the events unfolding before him, Qin Mo was left with an odd sense of familiarity though he did not know why. Shaking his head, he rationalized it as a matter of walking fast with messy sleeves. His sudden transmigration had left him quite disoriented. It wouldn’t be too far a stretch to attribute the strange feeling to it as well.

“What happened here?” asked Yue Zhongling as he glanced at the miserable state of the land around him.

Hearing the question, the child dressed in white quickly raised his head and dried the tears streaking down his face. “A group of people in black came to the village this morning,” his fists clenched and his eyes flashed with hatred “they started killing everyone…”

Seeing the child before him, Yue Zhongling’s face revealed a sense of esteem. He had not expected a child so young to be capable of such calmness when faced with so great a disaster. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Lin Zizheng!” Hearing that Yue Zhongling asked his name, the boy named Lin Zizheng could not help but express a hint of delight; to receive the attention of an immortal was a glorious thing. They’ll be happy he thought. As it passed his mind though his face darkened leaving not a trace of joy. Who will, now that mother and father were gone?

Lin Zizheng. Lin Zizheng! Qin Mo’s eyes widened, as he realised why he felt the scene in front of him was so familiar. Hearing the name, he suddenly remembered; in his spare time, he’d once read a Xianxia stallion novel⁵ – he had only hastily skimmed over it as he’d felt the story too fantastical – in which Lin Zizheng had been the main character. He’d lost his parents at the age of seven at the hands of a Demonic cultivator, and after suffering many setbacks received many younger brothers, defeated Monsters⁶, eliminated the Demonic Clan⁷, and finally succeeded in becoming an Immortal. However, what was most distinct was how he always retained a compassionate heart. In short, he was a Holy Father!

Qin Mo maintained an expression of indifference, standing still with an air of elegance. It seemed as though nothing could touch him, however, his eyes discretely snuck glimpses of Jin Ling-er. She stared at the two children before her with sympathy. Little did she know, she would be the first in Lin Zizheng’s harem.

Immediately, he slightly pouted. When the protagonist joined Yueqing Sect his Shixiong was Qin Mo. If he recalled correctly, this Shixiong played an indispensable role in the stallion novel. Early on, he had proven to be a highly talented cultivator with a fairly handsome appearance, and there was even a lovely and smart Shimei⁸ who was to be his fiancee. This fiancee was Jin Ling-er. Later though, he was caught off guard by a defeat at the hands of his modest disciple Lin Zizheng, and his life only continued in a downward spiral from there. He had fallen from his pedestal, the glory no longer his, even his Junior Martial Sisters abandoned him. Further in the novel, he continued to blacken, from the Dao⁹ into the Demon, becoming the boss villain. He fought the protagonist but was still mercilessly torn down. However, as the protagonist had the Holy Father attribute, he opted only to seal him forever whilst sparing his life. Decidedly, Qin Mo was the indispensable master of cannon fodder.

Thinking of this, even Qin Mo, who had always been indifferent, couldn’t help but feel like cursing the heavens. Did he transmigrate only to become a master of cannon fodder? Even let himself be sealed for eternity? Hey, are you kidding? Even if the plot was like this, he wouldn’t follow it. His hand, hidden in the folds of his sleeves, clenched tightly. Furthermore, he planned to go back and return to his own world.

Qin Mo looked on at Lin Zizheng, his gaze tinged with slight disappointment. There was nothing he could do; he was stuck in this place. At that moment, Lin Zizheng’s eyes narrowed and he could not hide his sorrow and hatred. Tears streamed down his dusty cheeks, leaving pale streaks that revealed the white complexion of the child underneath the grime. Looking at him, Qin Mo could not help but be reminded of himself. He himself had worn a similar expression when he faced his own parents’ dead bodies.

In his heart, he sighed softly. Forget it. He couldn’t blame the child. After all, his journey as a saint-like protagonist would not be easy. As long as he didn’t get close to Jin Ling-er, then those things wouldn’t happen. Moreover, his main task was to find a way to get back home. He was certain that with the situation standing as it was in this magical world anything was possible. After finding an excuse to not hate Lin Zizheng, Qin Mo’s gaze couldn’t help but also soften. Anyway, he was dead and, though he wouldn’t admit it, a warm heart lay underneath his cold surface.

Looking at the two boys, Yue Zhongling’s eyes turned, as if he had thought of something, his mouth raised into a gentle smile. He pulled out a ball from his robe and waved a hand at the children. “Come over and test if you have a spirit root¹⁰.”

Hearing this, their eyes lit up. Lin Zizheng’s heart burned. Yesterday, he’d heard mother and father discuss it. As long as he had a spiritual root, he could become a disciple of the sect, learn to cultivate and even become an Immortal. With a spiritual root, he could avenge the death of his parents. Just the thought of it made him tremble as he moved to stand. Noticing that Lin San was still in the same place, he quickly picked him up and came to face Yue Zhongling.

“Come, hold it.” Yue Zhongling handed the ball to them.

Qin Mo slightly glanced at the transparent ball and found it resembled a modern crystal ball. However, he didn’t know how it measured the root.

Lin San first took the crystal ball and held it firmly. After a while, his face had become flushed and droplets of sweat had begun to collect on his forehead, but the crystal ball showed no changes. Yue Zhongling sighed softly. “There is no spiritual root in your body.” As he heard this, Lin San’s face immediately lost all its colour.

Seeing Lin San fail, Lin Zizheng’s heart tightened and his hands shook as he took the crystal ball. The moment it fell into his palm, the crystal ball flashed in multicoloured lights; golden, green, blue, red, and brown. As he watched the colours, Lin Zizheng could not help but reveal the hint of a smile, but before it could bloom, he heard Yue Zhongling sigh and say: “It’s a five spirit root.”

Lin Zizheng couldn’t understand what he meant by the “five spirit”, but he’d been brought up to be sensible and could clearly feel the disappointment in Yue Zhongling’s tone. He suddenly felt nervous and tensely asked: “I can’t learn to cultivate?” Yue Zhongling suppressed his sense of loss, and with a reluctant smile said: “You can.” Though it would be difficult, and he might never succeed. He omitted the last sentence, not wanting to strike the child’s hopeful heart.

Watching the exchange, Qin Mo felt he could not agree. Even if Lin Zizheng had five elemental waste spirit root, he would encounter a practice that was extremely suitable for his own cultivation; Chaos. This was the benefit of the protagonist.

After testing their spirit roots, they were ready to leave here. Looking at Lin San, who had no spiritual root, Yue Zhongling hesitated for a while before deciding to send him to Li’s Village, which wasn’t far from Lin’s Village. After all, ordinary people without spirit roots, couldn’t enter Yueqing Sect.

With the addition of one person on their journey back, they were unable to use flying swords to return, as Yue Zhongling’s cultivation was only at the beginning of the foundation building stage. So taking out a boat-like flying mystic item from his Qiankun bag¹¹, Yue Zhongling carried them to Yueqing Sect.

Qin Mo stepped on the mystic item, suddenly aware of the sense that he’d forgotten something, but recalling the far more pressing matter of his return and the need to familiarise himself with his present situation he soon cast the feeling away.

At the entrance of Li’s Village, Lin San watched the four people as they flew off into the distance, his eyes full of unwillingness. Why could Lin Zizheng learn to cultivate and become an Immortal, while he himself was destined to a solitary death of old age in this mountain village? He could not accept this.

Bean here, most of the meanings were taken directly from https://www.wuxiaworld.com so if you are interested in more Xianxia terms please check them out. Hope you enjoy.

By the way, the stages of cultivation go something like this in most novels:

1. Qi Refining: An initial stage of cultivation which involves absorbing Qi from the natural world and refining it inside the body.
2. Foundation Building: Once a cultivator’s Qi crosses a certain threshold (in the volume and/or density of the Qi), they’ll be able to breakthrough to this stage.
3. Core Formation: Involves forming a Golden Core.
4. Nascent Soul: In some novels, the Nascent Soul can travel outside the body and is like a second life for cultivators – if their main body dies, their consciousness can continue to exist in the Nascent Soul.
5. Immortal Ascension: The stage wherein the cultivator becomes a Daoist Immortal. There are many differences between novels, but usually the cultivation/maturation of the Golden Core or Nascent Soul plays a key role in ascending to Immortality.