Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 10: Sheng Yi’s smile

The gazes of the crowd instantly turned towards him, and Murong Lin smiled in response.

The owner of the Apricot Flower Establishment also showed a sly smile and said, “Ru Meng’er has received the ten thousand tales of gold from his Highness, the third prince.”

The crowd was getting excited, among them were plenty of young masters that had yearned for Ru Meng’er in the past few years and they quickly started to vote in her favour.

Within the private room, Ma Jian Chou and the rest were curious, “Old Lin, why would you vote for her?”

Murong Lin fanned himself lightly as the corner of his mouth rose, thinking to himself: Of course, you idiots wouldn’t know, but these kinds of scenes were cliche for the members of the protagonist’s harem, Ru Meng’er was clearly a part of his harem!

“Nothing much, I just was interested.”

And around them, each of the private rooms was also discussing this event.

“Third brother’s taste is quite unusual.” The fifth prince leaned on his seat as he enjoyed the service of the female servants around him.

“Tch tch tch, I wonder where he got his money from.” Xue Lin Na had a disdainful expression.

“Isn’t the third prince known for his aversion to women? Why did he vote today?”

“Bullshit! What do you mean he avoids women? He’s humiliated at least a hundred women alone in the past few years.”

“Hah, it’s truly the one who stays near vermilion that gets stained red.”

Murong Lin ignored the chattering and noise around him as he turned to look at Sheng Yi.

Sheng Yi and his three followers were seated in the furthest private room, and when met with Murong Lin’s gaze, the three naturally shied away while Sheng Yi matched his gaze fearlessly with a strange smile on his face.

Murong Lin blinked his eyes in shock as he asked the system, “Anti, didn’t you say that I wasn’t in his time period? How does he know me?”

“Anti is sure that he doesn’t know who you are, and he also isn’t aware of the system’s existence.”

As Murong Lin listened, he smiled back at Sheng Yi before turning his head away, no longer looking at him.

Then, why was his expression so strange?

Clearly, he wasn’t aware of the fact that Murong Lin had reincarnated, or about the existence of the system.

He recognised him, and that meant that he had probably come into contact with him in the future!

But how? There was only a single reasonable answer.

Blood spirits!

The cult that Murong Lin had created.

The organisation that had massacred tens of thousands of people to procure pills for his cultivation.

But Murong Lin wasn’t worried, he thought that Sheng Yi might expose him, but he didn’t think that he would threaten his life.

He had the system, and the Blood Spirits were now an existence that meant nothing to him, ready to be thrown away at any time.

On the other side, Sheng Yi, who had seen the smile Murong Lin responded with, was shocked.

In his memory, Murong Lin was a greedy, cold individual that not only created a cult like the Blood Spirits but also someone that had attempted to kill his brothers for the throne, as well as attacked the Xue clan. But he was someone that had eventually died in the next five years.

But Murong Lin actually reacted to his smile, this was an action that he couldn’t understand.

In full honesty, he was rather desperate.

When he had roused from the coma that the fifth prince had beaten him into 6 days ago, he had gained the memories of the next 30 years of his life. He didn’t know if he had absorbed those memories, or if his future self had stolen this body.

And the big events of the future plagued his mind.

In the next half of the year, the beast wave in the south would become more serious as the traces of a sect that existed two thousand years ago surfaced, revealing countless treasures and opportunities that skyrocketed the strength of quite a number of lucky people.

The elder of the Murong clan would pass away, causing both the four great clans and the three great sects to waver in their loyalty to the imperial family. In an effort to win over his father, the prime minister, the emperor Murong Tong had forcefully wed his daughter to Sheng Yi. But no one knew what lengths Murong Liu would resort to, and she had cunningly seduced the four great clans into going against family. While trying to protect him, his father died falling off a mountain while he had barely survived after falling into a river.

In the following five years, the South Village King who had benefited from the beast wave started a revolt. In his rampage, he killed a number of princes, destroying the ‘Black River Cult’ which was ranked as the number one wanted organisation in the country, and fought his way into the capital. Within the capital, the Murong clan was isolated by the four great families, and the situation continued to worsen. At the same time, Murong Lin who had also benefited from the beast wave started a rebellion, faking an attack on the imperial palace while puppeteering the “Blood Spirits” into attacking the Xue clan, creating the dark age of the capital for the next half of the year, as his 《Bloody Heaven Art》was distributed throughout the country, sowing further chaos within the country.

In the end, under the lead of the surviving Xue clan, the four great clans had come together to destroy Murong Lin. At that time, the “Great Nanyue Wan Guo Tournament” was held, in which Sheng Yi had secretly obtained the right to participate. During the tournament, he serendipitously gained the right to enter the ten great sects of the Nanyue continent.

And after attaining success in his cultivation, he returned to Yan to take revenge for his father.

Thirty years later, after reaching the Majestic realm, he was betrayed and killed by his friend.

Returning to the past, Sheng Yi swore to change everything, and he had started with his cultivation. As a cultivator that had reached the Majestic realm, he naturally had cultivation methods of the Barren and Vast level, but it wasn’t enough.

He needed the resources from the southern sect that would surface in the beast wave this year, as well as the prizes of next year’s “Great Nanyue Wan Guo Tournament”.

Sheng Yi looked at the first private room with a mysterious smile as he returned to his seat, as if waiting for something. The three at his side naturally sat down next to him. Each of them were people who had great achievements in the future.

The bastard of the elder of the Wang clan, one of the top killers in the future responsible for assassinating the three Manifestation realm elders of the Wang Clan.

The descendant of Luo Ji Hou, Luo Pao Pao, a future talented general that led 200,000 soldiers and horses and conquered nine counties in the west and five counties in the north under the South Village King. A servant of a tea shop at the city’s entrance, Acui, a future drug expert who had become the greatest flower thief¹ in the capital ten years later.

These three were the talents he had recruited for his father.

Naturally, he had the ambition to rebel as well, considering how his entire family had suffered at the hands of Yan. Compared to the arrogant Murong clan, he was better off as the emperor!

And travelling back in time, he had three goals. One was to protect his family from ruin, then kill Mu Rong Liu, and finally kill the friend who had betrayed him in his previous life.

He thought of the people and events he could make use of.

And at this time, the voting for Ru Meng’er had ended, she had successfully become the oiran with a total of 65,400 taels of gold.

She stood on stage, with her unchangingly cold expression. Without taking off her face veil, she simply nodded and left the stage.

Discussions rang out from underneath the stage.

Sheng Yi was naturally unconcerned, he knew Ru Meng’er personality. Her true appearance wasn’t as beautiful as everyone had thought, but her heart was definitely a lot colder than the average person’s.

Seated within the room, Murong Lin’s brows were furrowed as he watched Ru Meng’er leave the stage.

Why didn’t it seem like Ru Meng’er and Sheng Yi had any relations?

Wasn’t she a supporting female character?

This was more interesting than it otherwise would’ve been.

At this moment, a strong aura was released, enveloping the entire area.

The aura was mighty and as sturdy as earth, giving off a threatening yet passive feeling.

Murong Lin was shocked.

He had felt a similar aura before.

From his grandfather.

It was the aura of the Sky Reaching realm.

He turned towards the first private room, which windows were slowly opening to reveal a yellow-haired, middle-aged man.

Everyone’s gazes were fixated on the middle-aged man, who was smiling in response.

The first prince had an expression of apprehension, he was in the second private room, which faced the first private room. With a deep bow, he spoke, “I’ve met with the emissary of the alliance, Mr Huang.”

Everyone bowed in unison, perplexed and nervous due to the arrival of such a powerful figure.

Ma Jian Chou’s expression also greatly changed as he exclaimed, “Emissary of the alliance? Oh, right!”

1. R*pist

Translator’s note

Proofreader: Nyx