By the time Lin An finished dealing with the mucus, work had already been underway for a while.
Returning to the outer sect menial disciples living area, he ran into Steward Li face to face.
He hadn’t shown up all morning.
Even though he probably wouldn’t get scolded because of Gu Yingge, he didn’t expect the fat steward to instead be all smiles, eyes narrowed into slits as he approached.
“Lin An, you’re back.”
“Mm, sorry, Steward Li. I got up early this morning planning to look around Heaven Origin Sect, but I ended up getting lost. This place is too big.”
The excuse was barely plausible.
“No matter, no matter. Chief Gu didn’t send any orders today. Why don’t you pick some easy job?”
With that, he patted Lin An on the shoulder and walked away, leaving Lin An staring blankly.
‘I mean, are you that eager to get ahead? Can’t you even scold me a little?’
He didn’t go back to his hut.
Instead, he went straight to the commission office and accepted a task to tend to spiritual plants.
While working, he pricked up his ears, listening to the wind and rustling around him.
Mainly…
“Hey, have you heard? Last night, a disciple from the Game of Swords Pavilion killed three Demon Soul Sect moles.”
Lin An’s hand movements paused.
‘Oh? Looks like that hidden agent even faked a disguise. Pretty impressive.’
“I heard, I heard. Apparently it was Sun Yao and his two followers. They died horribly.”
“Yeah. Early this morning, Steward Li was called over to collect the bodies. Sigh… none of them were intact, they say Sun Yao was shattered into pieces.”
“Do you think there are still Demon Soul Sect moles among us?”
“No idea. Are you one?”
“Haha, I’m not. Are you?”
The speaker had no intention, but the listener took it to heart.
Hearing his coworkers’ joking words, Lin An’s pupils suddenly contracted.
He had forgotten a critical issue, a loophole that could cost him his life.
That note…
‘Really, plans can’t keep up with changes. I was truly terrified last night. How could I have forgotten this for a moment?’
But then he reconsidered.
No, wait.
Steward Li went to collect the bodies?
Sun Yao probably wouldn’t have carried the note on him, and Steward Li would definitely have gone to his room.
That means Steward Li saw that note… but his attitude?
‘Hiss…’
Lin An suddenly had a thought that sent chills down his spine.
Perhaps within Heaven Origin Sect, there were not only Imperial Court moles, but also demonic sect pawns, and… competitors.
He could only say that, as expected of the number one righteous sect.
It was teeming with hidden dragons and crouching tigers, all experts!
‘So they’re treating me like one of their own, right?’
‘But I don’t even know the layout of your team. What a mess… I’ll have to find a chance to test him.’
Before he knew it, night had arrived.
After being forced into that unequal treaty in the morning, Gu Yingge had given Lin An another token.
She said that with it, he could pass through the courtyard’s barrier without triggering the alarm and directly enter the cave dwelling.
After finishing the story, while they chatted, Lin An learned many things that weren’t in the intelligence reports.
For example, the furnace in Gu Yingge’s courtyard was no ordinary item.
It was called the Four Symbols Furnace, capable of driving the four elements of ice, fire, light, and darkness.
That immortal sword was named Blazing Sun, best suited to her Yang Spirit Constitution.
Her master, the Lord of Divine Fire Pavilion, had paid a heavy price to obtain it for her.
In doing so, he had offended Lu Mingyue.
To avoid the storm, he went to the Imperial Capital for an exchange meeting with weapon refining masters from various sects and hasn’t returned yet.
For another example, at the Ice Heart Pavilion, a new female disciple of extraordinary talent had arrived.
She had deeply pleased the Lord of Ice Heart Pavilion.
Only a few days after joining, she was already accepted as a closed-door disciple, essentially securing the position of the next pavilion lord.
“Hey, Senior Sister Gu? After hearing so much from you, why is there no news about the remaining pavilion? Seems awfully quiet.”
Lin An sat on a stone with his back to Gu Yingge.
Though he couldn’t see anything, he still observed the principle of not looking at impropriety.
He’d better not look, or she might catch him for it and tease him again.
Gu Yingge toyed with her sticky hair and glanced at his back.
“You mean the Shadow Pavilion? Tsk… As for them, I’d better not say. You wouldn’t want to hear it.”
“Oh.”
Lin An didn’t press further.
Their relationship wasn’t at that level yet.
Even in the intelligence reports, there was very little about the Shadow Pavilion.
In short, they probably handled dirty work—the kind that couldn’t see the light.
“Junior Brother Lin, are you going to sleep tonight?”
Hearing her tease, Lin An’s expression stiffened.
“What sleeping? How can you call cultivation sleeping? Do you even know what cultivation is? I wasn’t sleeping, understand?”
“Hahaha,” Gu Yingge’s cheerful laughter came from behind him.
“Yes, yes, I don’t understand. I don’t understand, alright?”
“If you don’t understand, then stop laughing.”
“Okay… Pfft, hahaha~”
Gu Yingge couldn’t help herself in the end.
Lin An: “…”
No help for it.
I’m not as strong as her.
I can’t fight back when she laughs at me.
Come to think of it, that mouthful of Hunyuan Qi that Lu Mingyue transferred into me only pushed my cultivation a big step forward, then stopped making any progress.
Was it really a one-time thing?
I’ll check again tomorrow night…
……
……
The next day, the sun slowly sank into the horizon.
Lin An, after finishing a day’s work, returned to his hut.
Tonight, he didn’t have to go to Gu Yingge’s place because he had an appointment with another woman.
Thinking about it, he frowned, sensing something was off.
From the looks of it, he really did seem a bit like a scumbag.
No, that can’t be right.
It’s just my imagination.
Sitting on the bed, he looked up at the spiritual light lamp on the ceiling.
Even now, he found it all so dreamlike.
How had he ended up connected with her?
Logically, she should be something like a final boss, not even a minor boss—more like the kind at the end of the story.
What went wrong?
He couldn’t figure it out.
But over these days, he had figured out something else—or rather, one phrase.
Truly profound martial arts didn’t lie in the martial world or in the demonic path, but in the high towers of these famous orthodox sects.
He had explored the matter of his own ability before, only to come up empty-handed.
If it were a system, he wouldn’t be troubled, but it clearly wasn’t; it was simply a part of this world.
Transparent Sword Body, Observe Like and Dislike, Slaying Demon Seed…
And there was probably more.
His own body’s condition, needing someone else to tell him about it—that was truly laughable.
A trace of self-mockery curled at the corner of Lin An’s lips.
He patted his cheeks and took a deep breath.
Forget it.
I’ll try to pry more answers out of her tonight.
She should reply.
Remembering the almost eerie smile on Lu Mingyue’s face earlier, Lin An couldn’t help but shiver.
Strange…
Rumble—
Suddenly, a dull thunder rolled across the sky.
“Huh?”
Lin An couldn’t help but look out the window at the night sky.
Before long, rain began to fall with a “pattering” sound.
“This…”
His mouth slightly opened.
This scene, so full of déjà vu, made his eyelids twitch and his hairs stand on end.
Sure enough, the next second.
Knock, knock, knock.
Three precisely timed knocks sounded, bringing Lin An’s sense of unease to its peak.
‘I say… Lady Lu, do you have your own dramatic weather effects?’
‘This arrogant?’