The Foot Race [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 75]
The Foot Race [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 75]
The next day, Tang Ze finally managed to get his hands on a snow leopard pelt.
"Ah, it took some time to get it from a bit far away," the merchant he was speaking to said. "But rest assured, this is prime fur. See? How it feels under one's skin, that way you know it's excellent quality."
Tang Ze had never bought a pelt in his life, and he had no reliable way to distinguish between what was considered high quality and low quality when it came to them. "Hmm... you sure this is the best there is?"
"Mark my words - you won't find anything better than this in any other store," the merchant reiterated.
Tang Ze moved his fingers across the pelt, feeling its softness and how the hair moved. He had never handled a snow leopard pelt in his life, so this was more of something for show rather than an actual examination. The underlying leather was hard but flexible.
There was a character he knew of who wore a pelt, though it wasn't that of a snow leopard, and anyway - that character didn't have any abilities that he wanted. He could buy a few more skins for himself, but the concept didn't sit right with him given the minuscule amount of benefits and how it was looked down upon back on Earth.
Well, it wasn't like Tang Ze had much better choice than to trust him. And unfortunately in this world the maxim of 'caveat emptor' reigned, meaning there were no exchanges or refunds.
Not that even if this merchant offered refunds would Tang Ze be able to easily find him for that purpose later on.
Tang Ze handed the man some coins, and took the snow leopard pelt. He didn't really trust himself with it, so he would hand it over to one of the prefects for safekeeping - that was his plan anyway. Surely they wouldn't refuse that kind of request?
Right then, there was a bit of a commotion occurring a short distance away.
"Hmm... wonder what's going on there?" the merchant mused.
"Yeah," Tang Ze said. "Anyway, have a nice day!"
Saying that he was ready to walk away and let whatever the commotion was settle itself. Or, if it was really something serious, he was sure that the prefects would step in. There was a time for playing hero, and this was not it.
Given that this commotion had been caused by Li Zhi and Mo Yan, they immediately altered their plan upon seeing that Tang Ze was walking away.
"Ah... are you Tang Ze?" Li Zhi asked him directly as he was about to leave.
Tang Ze stopped in his tracks as someone called out his name.
He turned to see a woman whom he hadn't seen before. She was wearing a green uniform with some lilies on it - the uniform of the Emerald Floral sect. She seemed to be in a bit of distress.
"Ah, you are Tang Ze, aren't you?" Li Zhi asked. Naturally she knew who she was talking to - but she had to put on appearances, after all.
"Yes, what's going on?"
"Oh, please, Tang Ze won't you help me? You're the only one who can teach that scoundrel a lesson," Li Zhi said. She was quite athletic and slightly muscular, and with her cute face she was quite popular in her sect. Many of her male sect members had sought her out with little success.
"Hmph! Where do you think you're going?" Mo Yan said, trailing behind her. Mo Yan was far more muscularly built, and had a body built like a truck. He stood a head above Tang Ze and cut an imposing figure. "Ah - is this the person you're going to hide behind?" Mo Yan scoffed. "He looks like a gust of wind would knock him over! You can't be serious!"
And so, the trap was set.
Tang Ze would find a beautiful girl asking for help from him, and Mo Yan would play the role of the heel, domineering over him. A classic scenario - though it was because it was so classic that they both thought it would be effective.
"Oh!?" Li Zhi cried out at Mo Yan's words, hiding behind Tang Ze.
"Hey! Keep your hands off the pelt! I just paid for it!" Tang Ze said, scowling, swatting her hands off the pelt. He had made sure to wash his before touching it, who knew where her hands had been?
"Oh, forgive me," Li Zhi said. "But - please, save me won't you?"
Tang Ze turned to Mo Yan. "Ah - who are you and what's your problem?" He was a bit annoyed at having to step into things like this - but then again, when he had come to this world, hadn't he told himself he was turning a new leaf?
So what if this scenario seemed cliché beyond belief? He felt that he couldn't just walk away, no matter how annoying it was.
"It's none of your business," Mo Yan said.
"Yeah, well, she doesn't feel so."
"Hmph! So you want to play the hero do you-" Mo Yan said. "But, I should let you know that she's in the wrong here. Ah, I was merely training in the morning when I saw her running along, and we decided to have a mini-race before the real one. She wagered her family's bracelet - and I won it fair and square. Now, she's refusing to hand it over to me."
"That's not true!" Li Zhi said, voice shaking. "He began making a move on me and pressurized me into racing him! I never wanted to agree to it! Please, I can't lose this bracelet - it's a family heirloom."
"Heh," Mo Yan said, smirking evily. "Well, in that case - how about you pay me in a different way."
"Rascal!"
"Or, if your little hero here can race me and win, I'll take it as you winning and leave you alone," Mo Yan said. "What say you, wimp?"
In such a scenario, naturally, anyone would want to step up if they could.
While Tang Ze was a bit on guard of helping out strangers, and something about this scenario did feel… odd to him for lack of a better word, it was not enough to set off any loud alarm bells in his head.
Tang Ze turned to Li Zhi. "First of all, go wash your hands."
...
Both Mo Yan and Li Zhi had no clue how the conversation had taken that kind of turn. Neither of them were professional actors, and something coming completely out of left field threw the two of them for a loop.
"E-Eh? Why?"
"Because I need you to hold this for me!" Tang Ze said, pointing to the snow leopard pelt. "And I don't want to get it dirty - do you hear me? This is an important present for someone!"
Mo Yan wanted to race Tang Ze near a patch of grass by the lake.
"See that over there?" Mo Yan asked, pointing to a field of flowers. "First one to reach there, pluck one and come back is the winner! Do you agree to those terms or are you just-"
He never got further in what he was trying to say, because Tang Ze went to the field, grabbed a flower, and then handed it to him before Mo Yan could finish the sentence. "Done. Are we finished here?"
Mo Yan was speechless. "Hey! No using techniques!"
"That was no technique, I just ran up there and then grabbed it," Tang Ze said. "Here, I'll do it again, but slower."
Tang Ze moved like lightning, but still at about half the speed of before, meaning that Mo Yan could somewhat make out his movement.
"So fast!"
"Impossible!"
Both Mo Yan and Li Zhi could only watch in shock with the speed at which he could move.
Needless to say, they had no way of defeating him!
"Ch-cheating!" Mo Yan said.
"Look, I just beat you twice," Tang Ze said. "No one likes a sore loser, so leave the lady alone."
Mo Yan had gone through all of this to get a better idea on what his enemy's ability's were before the contest began - if he had not seen Tang Ze's speed for himself he would have refused to believe it.
There had to be more to this! Some kind of trick - or this was some kind of illusion. Nascent Soul cultivators could barely pull such a feat off.
"Ah thanks for holding this for me," Tang Ze said, taking back the snow leopard pelt from Li Zhi. He examined it, and saw to his satisfaction that it was still spotless.
Li Zhi, similarly, was speechless.
As she watched Tang Ze walk off towards his tent now that the job was done, she felt like pulling out her hair in frustration.
This was... how were they supposed to compete with this?
There was no way that his participation could be legal!
But, this was something that no one could do anything about now that the tournament had started. The Astral Winds sect had tried to obstruct him, but ended up obstructing him in the wrong event.
Despite pretending like they were enemies just moments before, Mo Yan and Li Zhi immediately dejectedly wandered off together, trying to console each other regarding what they could do.
If Tang Ze was still here, he would've found the sudden change in their behavior to be jaw-dropping. But he had long since wandered off into his tent.
"Hey - maybe that is some kind of illusory technique and he won't be able to use it tomorrow," Mo Yan tried to reassure her.
"I guess so... or maybe he'll be disqualified for cheating," Li Zhi said, sulking.
The two of them had been rivals last time, competing to one up another - yet faced with such an opponent, all they could do now was try to support each other.
Tang Ze gave the snow leopard pelt to one of the prefects for safekeeping, who agreed to hold onto it until they got back to the sect.
He had thought that they might have a storage ring, to which the prefect laughed and said that he wasn't important enough to have something like that, but they could still keep it safe for him regardless.
The next day, Tang Ze arrived right on time for the foot race.
It was simple - take a lap around the lake. They would time people as they ran, and they would go in groups of eight. Whoever had the shortest time won.
Tang Ze saw that Li Zhi was also competing with him during his round, and shot her a smile, but for some reason her face fell when she saw Tang Ze.
'Why is she treating me so coldly after I helped her out yesterday?' - Tang Ze thought. 'Were the others right? Do I really just repel women by my sheer presence?'
When the race started, Tang Ze launched forward.
To his surprise, and more importantly, to her own surprise, Li Zhi was somewhat able to keep pace with him... for about ten seconds that is.
Li Zhi had been born with one of the Five Attributes - 'to be as fast as the wind'. She could take far greater advantage of her bloodline trait than Chen Yu could, being at the Qi Refinement realm.
Her skill, [Galewind] greatly boosted her speed, and she had another technique which could boost her speed as well.
However, this could only be maintained for a few seconds before her speed significantly reduced, and there would be no second wind for her.
Tang Ze was not running at full speed though, as he felt that he had to maintain his speed throughout the race and was trying to keep a steady pace.
After ten seconds had passed, she fell greatly behind, as her relief turned to despair, because Tang Ze could maintain his speed for the whole duration of the race.