By all logic, since the opponent was a Foundation Establishment cultivator capable of forming a Dao Foundation—even if it was only the lowest grade of Human Dao Foundation—in this territory, they should know her identity.
Yet now, despite failing to kill her quickly, and even after someone went back to report, the pursuers were still relentlessly hunting her down. No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t make sense.
It was almost as if… they’d been bewitched.
Or rather, their thoughts had been forcibly interfered with, some emotion being magnified.
At this thought, Lin Huanhuan couldn’t help but look up at the sky, her eyes full of wariness. She seemed to see, high above the heavens, a pair of golden eyes devoid of any emotion gazing down at her, watching all things in this world.
“So, is this a warning from Heaven? Is this the punishment for not following the script and changing the plot on my own?”
Though it was only speculation, Lin Huanhuan was nearly certain she was right.
‘After all, my role is nothing more than a plot fixer, a villain to be used and tossed aside.’
‘In other words, if I dare to change important plot points on my own in the future, it won’t be so simple anymore…’
Facing such a terrifying threat, knowing she could be abandoned and wiped out at any moment, Lin Huanhuan’s face showed no sign of fear. Perhaps it was because she’d finally learned she had a golden finger, or perhaps because the pressure had built up too much and was now rebounding, but a hint of bloodlust surfaced in her eyes, and a smile curled at her lips, her thoughts almost echoing with the whispers of her inner demon:
“Then I’d like to see for myself just how much Heaven is willing to sacrifice to go all out against me. Will I grow strong enough to break free from your control, or will I lose my value first and be erased by you? I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Sigh, Miss, what are you talking about, growing and erasing and all that?”
Creak—the door opened, and Dong Yun’er walked in carrying breakfast, locking eyes with Lin Huanhuan, whose expression froze on the spot, and asked in confusion.
!
Lin Huanhuan’s face instantly turned bright red, all her previous passion gone without a trace. Embarrassment made her stammer, “Y-you… why are you here? Who let you in? So rude, this girl!”
Dong Yun’er looked a little aggrieved. “Miss, I was just bringing you breakfast as usual. I knocked before coming in and waited several minutes when you didn’t respond. Only then did I come in.”
‘So that’s how it was?’
A flash of awkwardness crossed Lin Huanhuan’s face, but she nodded as if nothing had happened. “Of course I knew that. I was just testing you just now. Not a bad answer. If there’s nothing else, you can go now.”
Dong Yun’er looked skeptical. “Is that really the case?”
“Of course it is!”
Lin Huanhuan was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, hopping anxiously, “If I say it is, then it is! Hurry and forget what just happened!”
“All right.” Dong Yun’er nodded, not thinking too much of it. Miss had always been like this, no different from usual.
“Then, Miss, I’ll take my leave.”
Dong Yun’er carefully closed the door as she left, but in that instant her usually bright eyes dimmed slightly.
‘Miss didn’t become estranged from me because of last time after all, that’s really good. But am I really worthy of continuing to look after her now…?’
“She’s finally gone.” Lin Huanhuan breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness the one who saw that was Yun’er—she won’t gossip, and won’t use it to threaten me, or I’d have died of embarrassment on the spot.”
“Now then, it’s time to cultivate. I can’t slack off anymore—strength is the foundation of everything.”
At this thought, Lin Huanhuan immediately sat cross-legged, gathering her breath and circulating her cultivation method.
And so, time began to flow in an orderly rhythm.
Lin Huanhuan’s life gradually settled into a routine.
Lingyun Sect, after all, was an immortal cultivation sect, and most of its disciples focused on cultivation. Even ordinary disciples enjoyed a fair amount of hidden cultivation resources.
All the more so as Lin Huanhuan was the daughter of the Lin clan’s head, and received an allowance of resources from her family every month.
In the past, she’d simply been too lazy and lax, never cultivating diligently or making good use of her resources. Now she’d resolved to turn over a new leaf, and was taking real action.
She rose even earlier than the chickens each day, getting up before dawn to squeeze in cultivation before morning classes began, and was often the first to arrive at the preaching platform. The other disciples could only stare in disbelief as she listened attentively to the lessons.
After class, she would leave right away, avoiding entanglements with anyone. Her peers, used to her daily bickering and snide remarks, now found themselves a little uncomfortable, and some even suspected she’d been possessed—she seemed like a completely different person.
She’d finish her meals in record time and limited her rest each day to less than three hours, spending all the rest of her time cultivating.
Dong Yun’er took all this in and couldn’t help but marvel, “Looks like what happened last time really affected Miss. She’s almost become a cultivation maniac.”
Not only that, Lin Huanhuan frequently took on various daily tasks assigned by the sect—mostly odd jobs, like finding someone’s lost pet, mediating minor quarrels, or even doing manual labor.
The general opinion among disciples was that these assignments made cheap labor out of them!
But Lin Huanhuan didn’t mind. She believed everything had its reasons, and the sect’s assignments to disciples were no different.
For example, figuring out where to find something lost was a way to train tracking skills.
Or resolving disputes, judging right from wrong—wasn’t that about honing disciples’ judgment? Get it right and you feel pleased; get it wrong and you make enemies. Different people gained different things from these tasks.
As for manual labor like roadwork… perhaps the sect feared disciples would fail to find a livelihood after leaving and turn to evil, so it was a bit of pre-emptive training. Lin Huanhuan simply avoided those tasks.
Such a huge change naturally drew the attention of Lin Shuangye. She felt it was her duty to find out what was going on with her little sister.
After careful observation, Lin Shuangye put her worries to rest and finally concluded, “Huanhuan’s finally grown up. No need to nag anymore, though I wonder if she’ll stick with it for more than three days.”
And so, half a month slipped by quietly.
Finally, on a bright and sunny morning, the spiritual energy in Lin Huanhuan’s dantian reached fifty strands, enough to begin officially forming her Dao Foundation.
But before that, Ye Jinxiu came knocking at her door.