“What is this thing?”
Lin Huanhuan looked at the round bead sitting in the corner of her spiritual platform. The surface of the bead was a deep, eerie purple, but inside was a suppressed golden light. The light flickered from time to time, as if trying to break free.
“It’s those golden characters from before!”
Lin Huanhuan was shocked. ‘Is this some kind of sticky gum? It still hasn’t been destroyed.’
Judging by how the golden characters were still struggling, it was only a matter of time before they broke free. When that happened, they would come for her again.
Furthermore, her heart demon was currently in a weakened state and couldn’t help her suppress it again. She had to find someone to solve this problem—someone who was not only powerful enough but also someone she could absolutely trust not to harm her.
The spiritual platform protected within the body was extremely fragile, even more so than the brain. A mere breeze from the outside world could potentially scatter a small spiritual platform. If the person helping her wanted to do anything, she wouldn’t have the slightest ability to resist.
Therefore, the first person she thought of was Lin Shuangye.
‘Sister wouldn’t do anything to me, would she? She wouldn’t take the opportunity to place a control talisman on me or something, right?’
Having just been tricked, Lin Huanhuan couldn’t help but think this way. Even the information from the original novel wasn’t entirely accurate, making it truly difficult to trust anyone.
‘No, there’s no way Sister would trick me, and she has no reason to.’
Lin Huanhuan shook her head to dispel these unrealistic thoughts. If Lin Shuangye wanted to deal with her, there was no need for such trouble; she could simply seize her directly. Most importantly:
‘Besides Sister, who else can help me now?’
Lin Huanhuan gave a bitter smile. Then, without further hesitation, she stood up and walked out of the house.
The moment she pushed open the door, she looked up at the sky. The east was not yet bright, and the world was still a hazy gray, though the sound of roosters heraldic of the dawn rang out occasionally.
In the courtyard, a familiar figure held a long sword, dancing with the wind. The movements were graceful and magnificent, yet they hid a deadly intent.
Sensing her gaze, Dong Yun’er retracted her sword and wiped her sweat, saying, “Why is Miss up so early today? Do you have something to do?”
It was not yet 5:00 AM. Although Lin Huanhuan had been practicing hard lately, she usually didn’t get up until 5:00 AM, which was why Dong Yun’er asked.
Lin Huanhuan asked in surprise, “Oh, Yun’er, you’re up this early to practice? Don’t you usually go to sleep at midnight? Is that enough rest?”
“It is enough.”
Dong Yun’er said with a smile, “I practice for a while after waking up early, and then I make breakfast for you, Miss. That’s pretty much my morning routine.”
Lin Huanhuan was speechless. How diligent. Perhaps she was still influenced by her past life, as she couldn’t stand it if she didn’t get at least six hours of sleep a day. She hadn’t expected her little maid to be so hardworking, which made her feel a bit ashamed.
Lin Huanhuan said, “Then keep practicing. I do have something to do, so I’ll be going now. See you later.”
The lights at Lin Shuangye’s residence never went out, day or night. When Lin Huanhuan arrived, Lin Shuangye was holding a scroll and reading.
Seeing Lin Huanhuan enter, she set the book aside and said with a smile, “Why did Huanhuan come to find me so early today? Did the sun rise in the west?”
Looking at her sister’s state, Lin Huanhuan was deeply shocked and asked involuntarily, “Sister, do you only sleep for one or two hours every day too?”
“What silly things are you saying?”
Lin Shuangye acted as if she were amused. “At my level of cultivation, why would I need rest? My energy is fully restored through breathing exercises. Unless I’m seriously injured and unconscious, how could I possibly sleep?”
“Ah?” Lin Huanhuan was stunned. No need for rest? Was she even human?
“Wait, why are you tainted with the aura of those bald donkeys?”
Lin Shuangye’s brows suddenly furrowed as she stepped toward Lin Huanhuan, her gaze fixed intently on her. “Did you have contact with a Buddhist cultivator just now?”
“No contact.”
Lin Huanhuan had been planning to bring it up, but she hadn’t expected Lin Shuangye to notice it first. She didn’t beat around the bush and told the whole story from start to finish. Of course, she didn’t mention the original novel, only saying she had obtained the item by chance.
After hearing Lin Huanhuan’s words, Lin Shuangye exhaled heavily, her eyes full of displeasure.
“Don’t move. I’ll take care of it for you.”
Lin Shuangye raised her hand and lightly tapped her forehead. Huanhuan felt a cool breeze brush her face, and her spiritual platform felt a slight chill. Then, the small orb disappeared. Lin Shuangye opened her palm, and the small orb lay there quietly. The golden characters inside no longer struggled.
Lin Shuangye held the orb in her palm and then quickly pinched her fingers to perform a calculation, wanting to find the culprit behind the scenes.
—
At the same time, in an ancient temple tens of thousands of miles away, a monk suddenly trembled violently. He opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of golden blood, his eyes filled with malice. “Who? Who exactly is it? Not only did they break my arrangement, but they also completely obliterated my methods.”
As soon as the monk finished speaking, he suddenly realized someone was tracing him through his own techniques. He hurriedly took out a talisman and slapped it onto his forehead. His body rapidly petrified, turning into a lifelike stone statue in the blink of an eye.
His figure reappeared at the other end of the ancient temple, his eyes filled with wariness. “It seems to be a master. I’ll wait until I have formed my Golden Core before coming back to settle this karma.”
—
“Dead? No, it must be a substitute technique!”
Lin Shuangye sighed. “There’s nothing I can do. There was too little to go on, and the other side cut the connection too quickly.”
“Sister, how is it?” Lin Huanhuan asked expectantly.
“He ran away. What else could happen? I don’t have a single clue about him, so how could I catch him?”
Lin Shuangye snorted coldly and added, “I see your courage is getting bigger and bigger. You dare to just take any fortuitous encounter you find outside. Are you crazy?”
Lin Huanhuan gave an embarrassed smile. Who could have known it would turn out like this?
Lin Shuangye suppressed her anger and said, “What do I usually tell you? More than 90% of those opportunities that look like fortuitous encounters from the outside are traps set by others, just waiting for someone to take the bait so they can be swallowed whole. As for the remaining 10%, it’s only because the person who set it up was too clever for you to notice.”
“You don’t usually use that wooden head of yours. A masterless opportunity? How could there be such a good thing?”
“If it weren’t for your slightly better luck, you would have been turned into a human pill today and eaten by someone else tomorrow!”
“It’s one thing for those rogue cultivators who have no other choice, but do you not have a path either? I really don’t know what you were thinking.”
Lin Huanhuan just smiled sheepishly by her side, not daring to make a sound.
Lin Shuangye raised her hand, and Huanhuan quickly covered her head. Seeing this, Lin Shuangye sighed helplessly, lowered her hand, and adopted a gentler tone.
“I probably know what your mindset was like before. When you were on that mission and were attacked by a group of cultists, you and Dong Yun’er fought together and even killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator. You felt that Foundation Establishment was nothing special.”
“You were very proud, weren’t you?”
Hearing this, Lin Huanhuan realized it was true. After all, she had read the original novel and put herself in the perspective of the invincible male protagonist. She really didn’t think Foundation Establishment was a big deal.
Lin Shuangye continued, “You also felt that you could handle so many Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators on your own, and that you already had some real strength, right?”
Lin Huanhuan nodded subconsciously.
“Stupid!”
Lin Shuangye said with a look of disappointment, “Can those cultists even be called Qi Refining cultivators? They’re just a bunch of farmers pulled straight from the fields, trained for a month or two, and given the bare minimum of resources plus demonic arts to barely step into Qi Refining.”
“They have no combat experience, their foundations are unstable, and several people share a single dharma tool of terrible quality. A 100-man cavalry unit from a mortal kingdom could probably wipe them out.”
“As for that Foundation Establishment cultivator you killed, he was the trash among trash. Not to mention his cultivation was forced upon him through empowerment; his Dao foundation didn’t match him at all and was mostly crippled. Calling him a Half-step Foundation Establishment cultivator would be a compliment. I could take on 100 of him by myself back when I was in the early stage of Foundation Establishment!”
“You only went up against that kind of trash. If it had been me at the early Foundation Establishment stage, I could have lopped off both of your heads with a single sword strike!”
“Ah? They were that useless?” Lin Huanhuan was in disbelief.
“Otherwise, did you really think you could rival a Foundation Establishment cultivator?” Lin Shuangye rolled her eyes.