Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 2: Found the protagonist Zhou Fan

On the morning of the second day, an old male servant knocked on the door of Mu Rong Lin’s room.

“Your Royal Highness, your breakfast for today has been prepared, would you wish to eat now?”

Old man Bai was Mu Rong Lin’s birth mother’s guard, and also a guard from his maternal family, the Snow clan. He was past his sixtieth birthday, and as an expect of the first layer of the Origin Realm, he was the head servant of the third prince’s Faith palace. His ability to manage was satisfactory, and he was loyal and devoted to Mu Rong Lin. Wearing the head servant’s uniform, he lowered his head and stood at the entrance of Mu Rong Lin’s room door, followed by two nervous, but clean-looking female servants.

“Come in and serve me.” Mu Rong Lin sat cross-legged on his bed, and as he opened his two eyes, he stood up.

Old man Bai brought the two female servants in, and at his signal, the two young and slim women walked over to assist Mu Rong Lin in changing. With interest in his eyes, he glanced at the female servants as he opened his arms naturally, only looking away after they started to tremble under his gaze. He was naturally aware of how terrifying he seemed in the eyes of his servants.

Looking towards old man Bai with indifferent eyes, he noticed that the old man had his brows furrowed as if he had something to say. Mu Rong Lin asked him straightforwardly, “Head servant Bai, what are you conflicted about?”

Old man Bai quickly lowered his head, cupping his hands, “Your servant does not dare, it’s just that this servant is happy to notice that Your Highness’s complexion has become rosier.”

“Oh? Is that so, it’s just that my cultivation has improved.”

“Congratulations to Your Highness!”

Mu Rong Lin lowered his arms once the changing was done, and walked out with the three servants walking closely behind him.

Reaching the hall, the chief guard of the palace, Chen Yong nodded his head at Mu Rong Lin, “I’ve met with Your Highness.”

Nodding his head, Mu Rong Lin continued to walk towards the table to eat the prepared breakfast.

Chen Yong was the same as old man Bai, he had reached the first layer of the Origin realm and was managing every single one of the guards in the third prince’s palace. The two of them were the only experts in the Nature Realm and were considered the right and left hands of Mu Rong Lin.

Chen Yong stood at the side, wearing Jin Zhuang¹, his muscles were robust, and his expression was full of determination.

He walked forward to stand at the tableside, reporting to Mu Rong Lin, “In your Highness’s self-isolation yesterday, a total of three people had visited your palace. The first was your good friend, Mr Jian Chou, he was here to invite Your Highness to play in the Apricot Blossom establishment, and two of the guests were from the department of state affairs, here to deliver a letter to Your Highness.”

Mu Rong Lin looked at the food before him and picked up a “Blood Cow Rat” to place in his mouth. The lively “Blood Cow Rat” was instantly crushed by his teeth, causing its refreshing flesh and blood to explode in his mouth. This “Blood Cow Rat” was rightfully named due to its small, rat-like size, but its flesh and blood resembled a cow’s. It was a demonic monster that was at the Flesh Refining Realm, and it had become Mu Rong Lin’s breakfast today.

Originally, cultivating the 《Bloody Heaven Art》required large amounts of blood and flesh, and despite not needing it anymore, the taste of this “Blood Cow Rat” was pretty delicious. Picking up a few more, he threw them into his mouth as he raised his head to glance at Chen Yong and nodded, “Got it, that guy Ma Jian Chou must have run out of money and came here to borrow some, ignore him for now. Bring over the letter from the department of state affairs.”

Old man Bai took a step forwards, presenting the unopened letter in his hands to Mu Rong Lin. Taking the letter, Mu Rong Lin casually scanned its contents before throwing it back into old man Bai’s hands and shook his head.

The old man nodded and took the letter, with the circulation of his spiritual power, the letter burned into ash, disappearing from this world.

“My old man wishes for me to suppress the beast wave from the south, I will probably have no choice but to go in a few days.”

“Your Highness, should I inform your maternal family?” Old man Bai asked with a bent back.

“No, mother probably wishes for me to do some work and gain credit. Coincidentally, since I’m bored in the capital, I don’t mind taking a walk in the south.” With a smile, Mu Rong Lin revealed his vicious, blood-stained teeth that made his face seem even paler in comparison.

“Ding! Anti has detected a protagonist nearby! Please note!”

Suddenly, a voice was heard in his mind. Despite his heart that was filling with curiosity, Mu Rong Lin’s expression remained the same as he opened his divine senses, scanning over the entire mansion.

Old man Bai and Chen Yong could naturally feel the scrutiny of his divine senses, and they stood at Mu Rong Lin’s side silently.

A distance away, on the martial arts training ground within the palace, a dozen guards were training from dawn. Human figures roamed on the grey stone floor, wielding their pikes and swords as they loudly trained with their muscular tops bared. My Rong Lin scanned over every single one of them before stopping at the sight of a skinny young man.

The youth had a skinny and weak body that was incomparable to the burly figures of the other guards, but he had a determined expression and sturdy feet. It was as if his muscles were compressed within his body, and there was a transcendent and ancient aura emanating from inside him.

“Eh? The foundation of his body is noteworthy, is this an ancient training technique? What is his name?” Mu Rong Lin asked with interest.

Chen Yong followed his gaze, and his divine senses were also aware of the protagonist. He answered Mu Rong Lin, “Your Highness, he is one of the guards training in the palace, his name is Zhou Fan.”

Zhou Fan? Such a protagonistic name, it seems that he was the one.

“Ding! Master has found a protagonist!”

Name: Zhou Fan

Protagonist value: 150

Age: 16

Cultivation: Peak of the Flesh Refining Realm

Innate talent: Little protagonist halo

“Interesting, I finally saw a real-life story protagonist.” Mu Rong Lin thought in his mind as he spoke, “What is his personality life?”

“Bullied since his birth, he is full of perseverance and indomitability. He’s been improving exponentially since three months ago, and his cultivation jumped by 6 layers.” Chen Yong answered truthfully with his memory as the chief guard.

“It is suspicious.” Old man Bai, who was standing at the side, spoke.

Mu Rong Lin nodded his head and instructed the two, “Watch him carefully, don’t let him find out. Take note of who he had came into contact with, and what he has done. Report every single one of his movements to me within a day.”

“Yes!”

“Squeak squeak squeak!” Mu Rong Lin finished the last “Blood Cow Rat” on his plate and drank the cup of blood water. After cleaning his teeth, he walked outside while speaking to the old man, “Go, Follow me to the athenaeum in the main palace.”

“Yes!”

On the martial training grounds, Zhou Fan was simultaneously practising his fist techniques and circulating his spiritual power to train his meridians.

Looking at the wooden dummy that was wrecked by his fist techniques, a bright smile appeared on his face.

Just three months ago, he was a nameless third layer Origin Realm guard, bullied and humiliated by the other guards and servants. However, he recently found a green copper caldron and accidentally dripped his blood onto it, and as a spiritual treasure, the green caldron recognised him as its owner.

He only found out after inheriting the message of the green caldron that it was a caldron for pill-making, and its grade was shockingly at the Sky Reaching stage. Within it was a drop of tendon-easing and marrow-cleaning liquid and the Sky-Reaching 《Nine Heavens Tribulation Body》. Discontent to continue his life as trash, he consumed the tendon-easing and marrow-cleaning liquid and started cultivating 《Nine Heavens Tribulation Body》. Additionally, he was also able to procure the liquid through the recipe in the green caldron to sell and use.

And just like that, three months had passed and he had taken his revenge against those that had bullied him as his cultivation reached the peak of the Flesh Refining realm. Once he had reached the next realm, he would be able to apply to leave the palace.

And thinking of this made Zhou Fan’s smile even wider.

“Right, Xiao Li specially prepared breakfast for me, I have to go back quick or I’ll upset her.” An expression of helplessness and dotingness flashed past his face as he threw an outerwear on his body before rushing outside, not interacting once with the other guards around him.

“Tch, what is he so complacent about? This guy really forgot his status as a servant.”

“Shh! Be a bit softer. I heard that the guards that offended him all had broken wrists, they won’t be able to recover without a few months of rest.”

“That’s right! That Zhou Fan singlehandedly fought the guys at the third layer of the Spirit Oblation realm, he’s comparable even to when his highness was young.”

A few guards discussed at the side as they stared at the back of Zhou Fan, each of them filled with envy and jealousy.

“You few, what are you talking about over there?” A voice came from the sides, shocking the three of them into kneeling on the ground.

“We’ve met with the great chief guard!”

“Get up and continue on with your training!”

“Yes!” The three of them hurriedly moved towards the side and started training fevourously.

Chen Yong, who stood at the side with squinted eyes, walked towards a few of the people who had interacted with Zhou Fan before. He interrogated them, and recorded every piece of information he received with a brush as he thought to himself, “It seems as though this guy had offended his highness, should I go and punish him?”

1. Jin Zhuang = Neat clothing seen in games and Xuanhuan/Wuxia/Xianxia novels that are worn for combat.

Translator’s note

Big thanks to Exalted for donating, here’s a chapter much earlier than I expected.

If you enjoy this novel, check out my other translation with an evil protagonist.