Han Lu stood not far away, taking all of this in. No emotion could be seen in her cold, clear eyes; she simply stood there quietly.
Daoist Priest Gongyue actually cupped his hands and bowed to Lin Mo.
"Thank you, esteemed guest, for teaching our Celestial Master Mansion's unworthy Celestial Master a lesson."
This move completely caught Lin Mo off guard.
He curiously looked Daoist Priest Gongyue up and down. "No, wait. I just beat your Celestial Master to a pulp, and you're not angry at all? You could at least pretend to be!"
Hearing this, Daoist Priest Gongyue instead revealed a faint smile.
"I am not angry."
He shook his head, his tone carrying a bit of emotion. "Before my master went wandering the world, he once mentioned this matter to us martial brothers."
"Oh?" Lin Mo's interest was piqued. "What did he say?"
Daoist Priest Gongyue smiled. "Master said that Junior Brother appears lazy on the surface, but is actually proud and arrogant at heart. After becoming a Celestial Master, he would inevitably face a tribulation, but he would also meet a noble benefactor who could polish him into someone of great worth."
At this point, Daoist Priest Gongyue glanced again at Zhang Gonglian in the pit, his eyes actually showing a hint of gratification.
"Looking at it now, the person Master spoke of is none other than you, esteemed guest."
Hearing this, Lin Mo roughly understood.
A hint of playfulness appeared in his eyes.
Polish him into someone of great worth?
He muttered in his heart that his crazy beatdown of the kid just now should probably count as a kind of polishing, just with slightly rough methods.
"How are you sure that the person your master spoke of is me?"
"Master said this person would come from the south, able to come and go freely, and could casually enter and exit our Dragon Tiger Daoist Grounds. So far, only Layman Lin fits these conditions."
"Wait!"
A weak voice came from the dirt pit, interrupting their conversation.
A mud-covered hand grabbed the edge of the pit, the fingernails packed with black dirt.
Immediately after, a dirt-streaked head struggled to peek out.
Zhang Gonglian used both his hands and feet to climb up wretchedly. His movements were as sluggish as an ordinary person's; where was there even a shred of a Celestial Master's majesty?
He finally managed to climb up and questioned breathlessly, "Something this major, why didn't I know about it?"
Daoist Priest Gongyue spread his hands, looking entirely justified. "Because Master specifically ordered us not to tell you. If you don't believe me, ask Junior Brother Gongshan and the others. Everyone knows, we just kept it from you."
Lin Mo rubbed his chin, his gaze shifting between the wretched Zhang Gonglian and the deadpan Daoist Priest Gongyue, finally figuring it all out.
"I get it. Your master felt that this new Celestial Master was too lazy or erratic, and feared he would cause a huge disaster in the future. So he wanted to borrow my hands to thoroughly grind him into the dirt, smoothing out his rough edges so he could safely pass his tribulation."
"Layman Lin has eyes like torches; that is pretty much what he meant." Daoist Priest Gongyue nodded seriously.
Lin Mo's gaze fell back onto Zhang Gonglian. Looking at his miserable state, he actually felt a bit of pity for him.
He really was a delicate lotus.
Feeling Lin Mo's gaze, Zhang Gonglian couldn't help but shrink back.
But Lin Mo did not agree directly.
"Then what's in it for me? I need to receive some benefits to do a job."
Daoist Priest Gongyue looked like he had prepared for this long ago.
"Master already instructed that as long as Layman Lin is willing to help with this favor, we can let Layman Lin observe the Nine Heavens Divine Pill refined by our Ancestral Master up close. Furthermore, all the talisman records of our Celestial Master Mansion from the past thousands of years will be open for Layman Lin to browse as he pleases."
Off to the side, Han Lu couldn't help but widen her eyes.
Never mind the Nine Heavens Divine Pill; just the fact that all the Celestial Master Mansion's talisman records from the past millennium were available was enough to tempt anyone.
Lin Mo smacked his lips. Actually, he wasn't very interested in any of this.
However, the other party had indeed shown utter sincerity. It wasn't like he couldn't do it; he was idle anyway.
"Alright, seeing as the old Celestial Master has shown such sincerity, I'll stay here for a few more days and help your Celestial Master Mansion properly polish this piece of uncut jade."
However, Zhang Gonglian had no mind to listen to what they were saying at this moment.
He was in a state of unprecedented panic.
The spiritual energy in his body that once surged like a rushing river was now completely stagnant, like a pool of dead water.
His meridians were blocked everywhere, and the spiritual vortex in his dantian was completely motionless, having gone on a total strike.
That invisible connection between him and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had been cleanly severed by a sharp blade.
This feeling was worse than killing him.
At this very moment, other than having a better physical foundation than most, he was no different from an ordinary person.
Therefore, he hadn't clearly heard what Lin Mo and Elder Gongyue had said at all.
He abruptly raised his head and stared fixedly at Lin Mo, his voice trembling.
"You... what did you do to me?"
"Nothing much," Lin Mo said casually. "I just temporarily sealed your spiritual energy to let you experience the feeling of returning to your original, unadorned state."
Unexpectedly, Zhang Gonglian didn't fly into a rage upon hearing this. The color instantly drained from his face, and he turned to look at Daoist Priest Gongyue with a slightly cowardly and pleading gaze.
"Senior Brother, you... you wouldn't hit me, right?"
Daoist Priest Gongyue quickly waved his hands, his smile as warm as the spring breeze.
"How could I? Your Senior Brother loves you too much for that. However... I can't control the others."
He counted on his fingers:
"Junior Brother Gonghua from the alchemy room still holds a grudge over those few furnaces of pills you stole and ate as snacks.
And Senior Brother Gongyu from the scripture pavilion—you used his rare manuscript to prop up a table leg last time, and he muttered about it for months.
Oh right, and the green ox down the mountain that you scared with a lightning talisman..."
"Alas, Junior Brother," Daoist Priest Gongyue patted his shoulder and spoke with earnest gravity. "A just cause enjoys abundant support, while an unjust cause finds little."
Saying this, he hummed an unknown little tune and happily turned to leave, his retreating figure radiating schadenfreude.
Zhang Gonglian's face completely fell.
Lin Mo looked at his disheveled, sloppy appearance and frowned in disgust.
"Alright, don't look like the sky is falling. I'll cover you these next few days; you won't die. Hurry up and change into some clean clothes. Later, I'll take a look and see where exactly your tribulation lies."
Zhang Gonglian subconsciously puffed out his chest, trying to salvage some pride. "With strength like yours and mine, we are naturally untouched by filth. If you undo the restrictions on my body, this bit of dirt can be cleansed in an instant. I won't even need to wash my clothes."
"No can do." Lin Mo flatly refused, smiling like a fox. "You have to undo it with your own abilities."
After saying that, Lin Mo couldn't even be bothered to look at him anymore. He turned and waved to Han Lu, who was still standing there stunned.
"Let's go, Miss Guide. Lead the way, it's time to find a place to eat."
Han Lu cast a gloating glance at Zhang Gonglian, then walked on ahead.
It was a good thing to let this Zhang Gonglian suffer a bit. Who asked him to break her sister's heart?
Thinking of this, Han Lu wanted to immediately use her phone to tell her sister the news.
Meanwhile, Zhang Gonglian shouted repeatedly, "Hey, hey! Our Dragon Tiger Daoist Grounds has good food too!"
"Hey! Didn't you say you were going to cover me? Wait for me to go change my clothes!"
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!
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
