Xian Yuzhu was nearly driven to a faint by Huo Yan’s words. Who exactly was the one being moved here?
He tousled his hair in frustration, thinking with a mix of shame and indignation: “Why has Father not finished his secluded meditation yet?” Huo Yan, that sharp tongued dog, was absolutely loathsome. Yuzhu did not want to spend another second with him.
The news of Huo Yan carrying a sleeping Xian Yuzhu back to Misty Peak in a princess carry in the middle of the night did not spread too far. Cultivation Group 2 consisted only of inner disciples, and these people knew full well that the Secret Realm Trial was next month. Leaking such an image would only cause trouble for Yuzhu.
After all, not everyone was as sensible as they were. If those cultivators from other sects who madly adored Xian Yuzhu saw it, they would surely cause a massive scene during the trial.
Thinking of this, Zhou Xu’s loathing for Huo Yan reached a new level. It was bad enough that he carried him, but he even allowed someone to record it. With Huo Yan’s current cultivation, how could he fail to notice someone hiding in the shadows taking photos?
The only possibility was that Huo Yan had done it on purpose. Zhou Xu even suspected that Huo Yan was directing and acting out the whole thing himself. Perhaps the person selling the video was a paparazzi hired by Huo Yan.
Zhou Xu entertained many dark thoughts, but no matter how angry he was, he was smart enough not to trip Huo Yan up.
“Yuzhu takes this Secret Realm Trial very seriously, so we cannot have internal strife. We must secure the top position for the sect again this year,” Zhou Xu cautioned the surrounding cultivators, telling them not to do anything unnecessary.
The crowd nodded. “Rest assured, Senior Brother Zhou, we understand.”
The Secret Realm Trial concerned the reputation of all sects. Disciples from every major sect would put forth all their effort to compete for rankings. If the Yuxian Sect continued its streak in first place, Yuzhu, as the Young Sect Master, would gain face and be in a much better mood.
While young geniuses aimed for the top three, other ordinary disciples sought to occupy as many spots as possible in the top two hundred. Last year, Xian Yuzhu did not participate. The top three spots were held by Huo Yan of the Yuxian Sect, Song Laiyi of the Sword Sect, and Master Huaisu of Puguang Temple. This time, if Xian Yuzhu could break through to the Nascent Soul stage, the Yuxian Sect might take two of the top three spots.
“I hope Yuzhu will not be too angry,” Zhou Xu sighed.
The group was still lively, and no one knew that the mortal Xie Shurong, Huo Yan’s nominal fiancé, was also lurking within.
Speaking of Xie Shurong, he had finally managed to scrape together 2% of luck value. The process had been arduous. First, when Huo Yan knocked him unconscious that day, he happened to touch a corner of Huo Yan’s robe, seizing 1%.
This morning, while wandering the peak, Xie Shurong ran into the Elder of the Medicine Sect. Elder Shen Jue, as an important supporting character, had implicitly acknowledged Xie Shurong’s identity during questioning. The system relaxed its conditions and counted this as a success for Task 1.
This allowed Xie Shurong to remain stable for now. The benefit was avoiding electric shocks. The downside was that his plan had failed. His maneuvers had actually sent Xian Yuzhu straight into Huo Yan’s tiger den.
The moment he saw the video of Huo Yan holding Xian Yuzhu in the group, Xie Shurong immediately burst into curses. “Go to hell!”
The Fate Changing System said emotionlessly: [Calm down, Host.]
“How can I be calm? Did you not say the protagonist is indifferent to beauty? What the hell is this!?”
Xie Shurong was addicted to beauty and was incredibly arrogant. Xian Yuzhu’s face and personality were exactly to his liking, more so than any beauty he had encountered before. He had long been certain that he would eventually replace Huo Yan as the darling of the Heavenly Dao, just as he had in the previous nine worlds. Since he saw himself as the future protagonist, how could he tolerate the beauty he desired being touched by someone else?
[Wait until you actually replace Huo Yan before talking. He is still very wary of your identity and has even developed killing intent.] The mechanical voice was flat, ruthlessly breaking Xie Shurong’s unrealistic fantasies.
Being a mere string of code, it ignored Xie Shurong’s expression and continued with the standard procedure of issuing tasks: [A reminder to the Host: click the agree button as soon as possible to quickly exchange for a spiritual root and successfully start Task 2.]
[Task 2 Content: Please change your appearance and infiltrate the Secret Realm as a cultivator. Cause the protagonist to be injured within the Secret Realm. Success will grant 3% luck value. Time remaining: 30 days.]
The date came to the twenty fifth of June.
That night, spiritual energy soared into the sky from Misty Peak, which was a signal of a cultivator’s breakthrough. In just half a month, Xian Yuzhu had not only finished learning the entire Frost Lian Whip Technique but had also successfully broken through from the late Golden Core stage to the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage, exactly as Huo Yan had planned.
Given his boastful and showy nature, he spent the next day parading around the sect with his new cultivation level. Everyone he met congratulated him. Due to his breakthrough, the courtyard of Misty Peak was piled high with congratulatory gifts from elders and fellow disciples.
Zhou Xu sent a hairpin, blood red in color. According to him, it was an Earth grade treasure. However, Xian Yuzhu had received many fine things since childhood and did not find it extraordinary. He glanced at it a few times before tossing it into his spatial bag. Unless it was a long lost treasure as precious as Huo Yan’s Frost Lian Whip Technique, Yuzhu really did not feel much of anything.
“Young Sect Master, the new warehouse you built is full again.” Yuan Shun moved as fast as the wind. He directed people to move the gifts into the back courtyard of Misty Peak before running to the bamboo forest observation deck to report to his young master, who was lounging lazily on a chair reading a picture book.
“Oh.” Xian Yuzhu did not even look up. “Then pick out some useless things and sell them.”
He flipped a page, utterly indifferent. “Summer is coming soon. It is the perfect time since I have not ordered my new clothes and jewelry yet.”
Xian Yuzhu loved beauty. He enjoyed dressing himself up elegantly and always wore tinkling little trinkets. It made him feel like he had a lot of face! Especially when he went out and male cultivators looked at him with obsession while female cultivators swarmed around him, praising how pretty and cute he was, his vanity was greatly satisfied.
Yuan Shun understood his Young Sect Master and nodded. “Very well, Young Sect Master. I will send them to the auction house tomorrow.”
Yuzhu’s belongings were all high quality. Even when sold anonymously at the auction house, they often fetched high prices. Some people did not get angry even if they found out, instead thinking Xian Yuzhu had a lot of character. A beauty with such an enchanting appearance was indeed spicy and spirited!
Men are often quite perverse. As a man himself, Xian Yuzhu understood male nature perfectly. For most men, if you rush to care for them, they will not cherish it. But if you treat them like dogs, they will lick your boots with joy.
Furthermore, no one in the world would dare use defective or cheap goods as gifts to fool this precious Young Sect Master. Even though Xian Yuzhu was not short on money, the spirit stones from auctioning off gifts from his licking dogs had already piled into a mountain.
Thinking of this, Xian Yuzhu laughed triumphantly again. “Haha, I am simply too noble!”
The rule that all good things must be given to Yuzhu was something even Huo Yan could not defy. The thought that someone who hated him so much had to use the Frost Lian Whip Technique to coax him made Xian Yuzhu want to laugh even louder.
“Even though Huo Yan is a dog, he is quite sensible.”
Yuan Shun opened his mouth, hesitating to speak. Behind Xian Yuzhu, Huo Yan stood under the veranda, his expression cold.