A deacon elder in a green robe frowned, looking at a female deacon beside him.
“Is that the one… Lin Yue, who went crazy in the square?”
“Mm, that’s him.”
The female deacon turned her head away.
“I heard he even beat up Zhao Hu before. Now he’s showing off with some crude iron pillar he got from who knows where. A disciple like him is only fit for making a spectacle of himself on occasions like this.”
“Enough, stop staring at him, it’s bad luck.”
The elder waved his hand.
“Start the demonstration. Let these brats watch properly and stop thinking about crooked paths all day.”
The big shots on the high platform withdrew their gazes, and Lin Yue was happy for the peace.
He carried the ridiculously heavy black iron greatsword, huddling at the very back of the crowd, trying his best to hide his figure behind Wang Pangzi’s broad back.
“Yue-ge, this trick of yours isn’t working,” Wang Pangzi whispered, wiping sweat from his forehead.
“After what Little Junior Sister did earlier, every male in the entire training ground wants to shove that iron pillar of yours down your throat. Look at the one on the left, his eyeballs are practically flying out to stick to you.”
Lin Yue grumpily stuffed a spirit fruit An Xiaoxiao had given him into his mouth.
Before he could chew twice, his expression changed.
‘Damn, is it poisoned?’ Lin Yue was startled.
“Not poisoned. That’s a ‘Love Token Fruit’,” the Ledger let out an extremely lewd chuckle in his sea of consciousness.
“The only effect of this fruit is its long-lasting fragrance. Once you eat it, for the next three days, you’ll emit a faint, unique scent that only An Xiaoxiao can smell. It’s called ‘marking’, understand? To prevent you from getting lost.”
Lin Yue almost spat out the fruit pulp.
This little demoness, her methods are truly endless.
Is she raising him like a pet?
[Mission Issued: Guide to Slacking Off in the Outer Sect Lecture]
[Mission Content: During the lecture demonstration, lose to any opponent in the most ‘mediocre’, most ‘useless’ way possible. Requirement: Lose naturally, make the deacon elder think you are hopeless and stop paying attention to you.]
[Mission Reward: Unlock the Netherworld Breath-Concealing Technique, a secret skill of the Demon Emperor from your previous life.]
[Failure Penalty: Because you performed too well, the deacon elder will think you have potential and transfer you to clean the Scripture Depository—a place frequently visited by inner sect elders.]
Lin Yue’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.
This mission suited his taste!
Right now, what he wanted most wasn’t to show off on stage, but to disappear from everyone’s sight.
“First demonstration match, Lin Yue versus Zhao Yuan!”
The deacon elder read from the roster, sounding completely disinterested.
“Zhao Yuan? That little lackey of Zhao Hu’s?”
Wang Pangzi shrank his neck.
“Perfect,” Lin Yue said, shouldering the iron pillar and swaying as he walked onto the platform.
Zhao Yuan had clearly decided to go all out today.
His hands were wrapped in thick bandages, with faint red glimmers flashing on them.
That was the “Bone-Melting Powder” he spent a fortune to get from the black market.
Just a touch on the skin would guarantee Lin Yue couldn’t get out of bed for half a month.
“Lin Yue! Today, I’ll make you crawl off this stage!”
Zhao Yuan sneered, his eyes filled with venom.
Lin Yue tilted his head, looking at him, and suddenly spoke.
“Senior Brother Zhao, your shoelace is untied.”
“Huh?”
Zhao Yuan instinctively looked down.
In that exact moment, Lin Yue moved.
He didn’t swing the greatsword in his hand.
Instead, he seemed to be thrown off balance by the weight of his own sword, stumbling forward in an extremely comical manner.
“Aiyo!”
Lin Yue let out a cry of pain.
The black iron greatsword in his hand flew out, heavily smashing onto his own foot (actually a feint).
Clang!
The heavy iron pillar hit the bluestone slab, shaking the platform.
Lin Yue took the opportunity to fall, curling up like a boiled shrimp, rolling around on the stage while clutching his foot.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch! My foot’s broken! Senior Brother Zhao’s spiritual pressure is so strong! It knocked my greatsword right out of my hand from three feet away!”
Lin Yue’s wails were utterly tragic, tears practically welling in his eyes.
The entire place fell deathly silent again.
Zhao Yuan stood frozen in place, his two small hands wrapped in poison still awkwardly raised mid-air.
He hadn’t even had time to circulate his spiritual energy, and this guy… just fell?
“…Does this count as a win?”
Zhao Yuan was dumbfounded, an overwhelming sense of absurdity washing over him.
The deacon elder on the viewing stand was so angry his beard quivered.
He slammed the table.
“Nonsense! You’re utterly disgracing the Nine Heavens Sect! Lin Yue, is that iron pillar of yours made of paper? You injure yourself before even fighting? Get off the stage!”
“Yes, yes, yes. Elder, you are absolutely right. I’ll get off right now, right now.”
Lin Yue nimbly flipped himself up, grabbed the greatsword with one hand, and ran off the stage with a pronounced limp (feigned).
His retreating figure looked as miserable and downcast as could be.
“Tsk tsk, with that acting skill, it’s a shame you didn’t become an actor in your previous life,” the Ledger sighed in his sea of consciousness.
“An Xiaoxiao’s expression doesn’t look too good, though.”
Lin Yue instinctively glanced toward the viewing stand.
Sure enough.
An Xiaoxiao sat there, a string of spirit fruits in her hand already crushed into juice.
Her smile was still sweet, but her eyes clearly said: ‘Senior Brother, you dare to put on an act like that in front of everyone?’
Lin Yue shrank his neck and quickly ducked into the crowd.
For the rest of the lecture, Lin Yue became completely invisible.
Everyone was discussing how amazing Zhao Yuan’s invisible sword-shaking technique was.
Only Wang Pangzi came over, looking at Lin Yue’s foot with suspicion.
“Yue-ge, your foot… healed pretty fast, huh?”
“I’m uniquely gifted, my recovery ability is strong. Got a problem with that?”
Lin Yue glared at him grumpily.
After the lecture ended, Lin Yue didn’t follow the main group back to the dormitory.
Instead, carrying the greatsword, he sneaked through the back door of the kitchen in the rear mountain.
Since he wasn’t planning to fight for now, he needed to solve the food problem.
The meals for outer sect disciples were basically thin porridge and hard cornbread that could crack teeth.
Having just undergone marrow cleansing and bone forging, Lin Yue’s body was in a state of extreme hunger.
It felt like there was a black hole in his stomach that couldn’t be filled by cornbread alone.
The head cook was a ruddy-faced, portly man everyone called Old Niu.
Old Niu had no other hobbies besides bragging and skimming a bit of grease off the top.
When Lin Yue walked in, Old Niu was staring worriedly at a basin containing an undressed spirit chicken.
“Old Niu, what’s troubling you?” Lin Yue greeted him familiarly.
“Ah, don’t even mention it,” Old Niu sighed.
“This is a secret recipe Beggar’s Chicken requested by the rear mountain supervisor. It requires this specific Crimson-Feather Spirit Chicken. But this chicken has a terrible temper. If there’s even a trace of resentment when killing it, the meat turns sour. I’ve already killed three, all of them sour. It’s driving me crazy.”
Lin Yue looked at the flapping spirit chicken, then at the black iron greatsword in his hand, and suddenly had a bold idea.
“Old Niu, how about I give it a try for you?”
“You?” Old Niu looked at Lin Yue doubtfully.
“You, an outer sect waste, can you handle a delicate job like killing a chicken?”
Lin Yue didn’t answer.
He slowly drew the greatsword.
Its heavy, oppressive aura instantly dropped the temperature in the room by several degrees.
Hum.
The greatsword emitted a low hum.
Lin Yue didn’t release any killing intent.
He activated the newly acquired “Netherworld Breath-Concealing Technique,” making his entire being seem like a withered log.
Before the spirit chicken could react, the pommel of the black iron greatsword gently tapped its head.
It was an extreme heaviness.
But also an extreme speed.
The force erupted at the moment of contact, then instantly withdrew.
The spirit chicken didn’t even flap its wings.
With a peaceful, even “this life was worth it” expression of relief, it simply stopped breathing.
Not a drop of blood was shed.
Not a trace of resentment arose.
Old Niu stared, dumbfounded, and hurried over to feel it.
“Incredible! Not a bit of stiffness! The flesh is still as if alive! Little Lin, you… what kind of technique is this?”
“The Brick-to-the-Head Technique,” Lin Yue made it up on the spot, swallowing his saliva.
“Old Niu, I can help you kill the chickens, but the leftover offal and any extra drumsticks…”
“Easy! Easy!” Old Niu was overjoyed.
“From now on, as long as you help me kill chickens, you can take any leftover meat from the kitchen you want!”
Lin Yue chuckled.
‘Now this is living.’
‘Isn’t cultivating immortality all about eating well and drinking well?’
For the rest of the afternoon, Lin Yue became the kitchen’s designated executioner.
Those hot-tempered spirit pigs and spirit sheep all met their ends with extreme peacefulness under Lin Yue’s iron pillar.
Old Niu even felt that dishes made from animals Lin Yue “knocked out” had an inexplicable sense of tranquility.
By evening, Lin Yue was walking back contentedly, carrying a large bundle of cooked meat wrapped in lotus leaves.
But just as he was passing through a small grove, that familiar fragrance assailed him again.
Under the moonlight.
An Xiaoxiao sat on a horizontal branch of an old locust tree, her two pale, tender feet swinging back and forth.
She tilted her head, looking at the bundle of meat in Lin Yue’s hands, wrinkled her nose, and smiled sweetly.
“Senior Brother Lin, after killing chickens all day, you’re covered in the smell of feathers. It’s almost overpowering the unique scent.”
Lin Yue’s heart tightened.
He quickly hid the meat behind his back.
“Junior Sister, what brings you here in the middle of the night?”
“Nothing much,” An Xiaoxiao said lightly, hopping down.
She walked step by step until she was right in front of Lin Yue, lifting her flawless little face.
Her large eyes were filled with innocence.
“I just wanted to ask, since Senior Brother likes killing things… could you help me kill a person tomorrow?”
The smile on Lin Yue’s face instantly froze.
“Junior Sister, don’t joke. I’m just a kitchen chicken-killer.”
“I’m not joking,” An Xiaoxiao said, extending a slender finger and gently drawing a circle on Lin Yue’s chest.
“I heard that after Steward Sun went missing, the sect sent a new supervisory deacon. That person… happens to be someone I hated most in my previous life—no, I mean, from before. Senior Brother, you’ll help me, right?”
Lin Yue felt the Heart-Linked Talisman on his chest beginning to stir restlessly again and sighed inwardly.
“Who is it?” Lin Yue asked.
“His name is Mo Feng.
A self-righteous ‘righteous path genius’,” An Xiaoxiao said, her eyes curved in a smile, but her tone cold as ice.
“The most important thing is, he has a very pretty fan. Senior Brother, I want to use that fan to fan the wind and bury the soil. What do you think?”
Lin Yue looked at An Xiaoxiao under the moonlight, then at the bundle of what was originally very fragrant roast chicken in his hand, and suddenly lost his appetite.
“I’m a cook. I don’t take side jobs like that,” Lin Yue struggled to say.
“But Senior Brother… you still haven’t wiped my sweat for me.”
An Xiaoxiao stood on her tiptoes, bringing her pure little face close to Lin Yue’s ear, whispering softly, “Earlier at the training ground, Senior Brother acted so hard, it made Little Xiao’s heart ache.
Since Senior Brother wants to slack off, then I’ll help Senior Brother by thoroughly muddying the waters of the Nine Heavens Sect’s outer sect.
That way, no one will pay attention to Senior Brother anymore. Isn’t that good?”
Lin Yue was stunned.
He looked at An Xiaoxiao and realized for the first time that this seemingly crazy little demoness might be smarter than he had imagined.
She wasn’t creating trouble for him; she was creating cover for him.
“Fine,” Lin Yue said helplessly, handing the bundle of meat over.
“I’ll give you a drumstick. Let’s discuss this.”