The mountain path wound its way upward. On one side was a bottomless abyss shrouded in mist, while on the other side was a highly modern metal guardrail.
Behind the guardrail, a small hydroelectric power station hummed with a low, steady drone.
"This is the hydroelectric facility built for us by Yanhuang Awakening. It generates enough electricity to fully cover the entire ashram. We also have a solar power station..."
Daoist Priest Gongyue stroked his beard as he introduced it, his tone carrying a hint of pride.
Walking along the path, Lin Mo had originally thought that a place like the Dragon Tiger Ashram would be filled with ancient scrolls, oil lamps, and an ethereal atmosphere. He hadn't expected them to be completely self-sufficient with their own power grid.
These Daoists were living quite comfortably.
"So your Dragon Tiger Mountain also helps Yanhuang Awakening complete certain missions?"
Lin Mo asked probingly.
"Of course."
Daoist Priest Gongyue said frankly, "For the disciples of Dragon Tiger Mountain, entering the secular world to cultivate is a necessary path.
Yanhuang Awakening is an official organization and acts reliably, so we are very happy to cooperate.
However, Dragon Tiger Mountain has its own rules and bottom lines."
The old Daoist shifted the conversation, his cloudy eyes looking at Lin Mo with profound meaning.
"For example, desecrating another's corpse, even if it brings some benefits, ultimately harms the harmony of heaven.
If it were me, I would also step in to stop it."
Oh ho, it seemed Yanhuang Awakening had told them what he had done.
However, Lin Mo didn't show any extra expression on his face. He merely shrugged.
"It's whatever. Anyway, I figure some people will understand and some won't. If those who don't understand come looking for trouble, it doesn't matter to me."
Perfected Being Gongyue paused upon hearing this, then shook his head with a chuckle, saying no more.
This honored guest was even more interesting than he had imagined.
The two walked up the seemingly endless stone steps. Towering ancient trees lined both sides, quiet and solemn.
The higher they went, the stronger the faint scent of sandalwood in the air became. Vaguely, they could hear the solemn sound of sutra chanting, like morning bells and evening drums, washing over the soul.
Finally, a grand and ancient hall appeared at the end of their line of sight.
The Hall of the Three Purities.
The hall doors were wide open. Dozens of Daoists in robes were doing their morning lessons, and the chanting was coming from within.
The appearance of Perfected Being Gongyue immediately caught the attention of a Daoist at the door, who quickly came forward to greet them.
"Senior Brother! Why are you back today? Isn't there still three days before the passage opens?"
The newcomer looked much younger than Perfected Being Gongyue. He had a face like flawless jade and an unearthly temperament, looking even younger than the middle-aged Daoists at the mountain gate.
Lin Mo's divine sense swept over him without a trace, immediately seeing through the man's true age. He was likely well past sixty, simply possessing a technique to maintain his youthful appearance.
His strength was much greater than Chunzhenzi from the Pure Yang Temple.
Daoist Priest Gongyue smiled. "Originally, the passage was indeed scheduled to open in three days, but an honored guest arrived and opened it in passing."
Hearing the words honored guest, the young Daoist's gaze immediately fell upon Lin Mo, a hint of inquiry flashing in his eyes.
He quickly bowed in greeting.
"This poor Daoist, Gongshan, greets the honored guest."
The people of Dragon Tiger Mountain really were exceptionally polite.
Lin Mo also cupped his hands. "Hello, my name is Lin Mo."
"Is Junior Brother Celestial Master here?" Daoist Priest Gongyue asked casually.
Daoist Priest Gongshan revealed a bitter smile. "Senior Brother, it's not like you don't know him. Right now he might be cultivating quietly in the Jade Emperor Hall, or he might be slacking off in the vegetable garden out back. Who can say for sure?"
Lin Mo raised an eyebrow.
Junior Brother Celestial Master?
Lin Mo raised an eyebrow again. It seemed the Daoist name of this generation's Celestial Master included the character Gong, and he was the youngest among this group.
His divine sense swept out, instantly locking onto his target.
It seemed that was the guy.
"Alright."
Lin Mo suddenly spoke, interrupting their conversation.
"I know where he is. I'll go find him myself."
Before his voice even faded, he shoved his hands into his pockets, walked past the two of them, and headed straight toward the rear side of the main hall.
His leisurely posture didn't look like he was visiting the ancestral home of Daoism, but rather like he was taking a stroll in his own backyard.
"Ah, honored guest..."
Daoist Priest Gongyue hurriedly followed, leaving Daoist Priest Gongshan standing in front of the main hall.
He didn't stop him, nor did he dare to.
The amount of information in his Senior Brother's phrase opened it in passing was too massive. And when he had just probed with his divine sense, the other party felt completely empty, like a bottomless black hole that didn't even produce a single ripple.
He had only experienced this feeling from one person before.
That was their Junior Brother Celestial Master.
Gongshan watched Lin Mo's retreating back, his heart pounding wildly.
--System: Give me screen time! I want screen time!--
"It's all bubbles, the fireworks of this moment~ All your promises..."
Music drifted out from a not-so-soundproof KTV room.
After a song, the singing boy dropped the microphone in his hand and lay down on the sofa.
"Wahoo! Awesome!"
"Martial Uncle Celestial Master, you haven't even done your morning lessons today."
After the song was skipped, the Daoist leaning against the door finally had a chance to speak.
However, the boy turned around, putting his back to the Daoist.
"Are you kidding me? Before I was the Celestial Master, they said I had to do morning lessons. Now that I'm already the Celestial Master, I still have to do morning lessons? Then wouldn't I have become the Celestial Master for nothing?"
Saying this, he sat up abruptly.
He looked at the Daoist at the door with a displeased expression.
Then he picked up the microphone and continued singing.
"Holy crap, what a disconnect. Your Dragon Tiger Ashram actually has a KTV?"
A voice suddenly came from outside.
Zhang Gonglian suddenly stood up from the sofa, looking toward the door with a serious gaze.
"Martial Uncle Celestial Master, what's wrong?"
Before the Daoist at the door could even finish asking.
The door was pushed open, and in walked Daoist Priest Gongyue.
"Junior Brother Celestial Master, why... why aren't you doing your morning lessons?"
"No seats~" Zhang Gonglian sang casually into the microphone.
But the next second, he froze.
A figure walked in through the door, leaned against the wall, and looked him up and down.
Yet in his divine sense, the space in front of him was completely empty.
"Not bad, kind of interesting." Lin Mo nodded.
It was unclear whether this sentence referred to Zhang Gonglian or the room itself.
Zhang Gonglian's expression turned serious, but before he could speak, Daoist Priest Gongyue raised a hand to stop him.
"Let me introduce an honored guest, the advisor for Yanhuang Awakening, Layman Lin Mo. He inherits the legacy of the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect. The passage that was originally supposed to open in three days was opened by Layman Lin with a single move."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Gonglian had already received a lot of information.
He slowly put down the microphone, looking the young man up and down repeatedly, and finally cupped his hands in a bow.
"Hello, Layman Lin. I am this poor Daoist, Zhang Gonglian, and also this generation's Celestial Master Zhang of Dragon Tiger Mountain."
"Hullo hullo, your cultivation isn't bad. It seems the Celestial Master Mansion of Dragon Tiger Mountain really has some substance, much more capable than those guys from Quanzhen."
Hearing this, Zhang Gonglian let out a direct sneer.
"Quanzhen? I can't even be bothered to..."
Before Zhang Gonglian could finish, Daoist Priest Gongyue gave a light cough.
"Junior Brother Celestial Master, speak carefully."
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
transmigrates into the role of a villainous rich second-generation kid in an urban fantasy novel, and gets bound to a god-tier choice system. Right at the start, he catches the female lead stealing exam papers! This triggers the villain's choice options! [Choice 1: Pretend you didn't see anything] [Choice 2: Loudly call her out, drawing everyone's attention] [Choice 3: ...] And thus, a twisted villain is born. To avoid getting killed by the protagonist, he has no choice but to take down all the protagonists first. Jiang Che: Nobody understands being twisted better than me!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
