Is It Wrong to Bully the Novice Village for System Rewards?

Chapter 214: Has Your Senior Brother Developed Mental Issues?

After wrapping up their previous discussion, Daoist Hengzhen’s expression shifted. He gave Qi Yuan a deeply peculiar look. “Disciple, what exactly happened to your Senior Brother?”

“After he returned to the Sect a while ago, it was as if he had become an entirely different person. He suddenly announced that he wanted to pursue the Path of Supreme Detachment and locked himself in Secluded Cultivation.”

“When he finally emerged, he had somehow broken through to the late Nascent Soul stage. Even stranger, he hasn’t spoken a single word about the Exquisite Saintess since. It’s a night-and-day difference from his usual pitiable, infatuated state.”

Hengzhen’s brow furrowed with a heavy cloud of worry. “While these changes seem positive on the surface, they are fundamentally abnormal. If his soul wasn’t completely intact, I would have suspected he’d fallen victim to Body Seizing. As the saying goes, it is easier to move mountains than to alter a man’s nature. Such a drastic, sudden shift in his temperament is deeply concerning. Tell me… do you think his unrequited love finally shattered his mind?”

Qi Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. His facial muscles twitched.

I can’t believe that idiot Lu Changfeng actually fell for my garbage advice and started contemplating the Path of Supreme Detachment!

Honestly, this wasn’t a bad outcome. At least the hopelessly devoted simp had finally pulled himself together, turned his grief into motivation, and leveled up to the late Nascent Soul stage. But the 180-degree personality flip was so jarring that their poor Master seriously thought his eldest disciple had suffered a psychotic break.

Snapping back to reality, Qi Yuan put on his most serious, earnest face. “Master, you are overthinking this. Senior Brother has simply turned back from the wrong path! He is no longer blinded by worldly attachments. This is a joyous occasion. How could you doubt his sanity?”

He lowered his gaze, trying to hide a flicker of guilt, and offered a vague explanation. “I assume Elder Song has already submitted his report. During our time at the Exquisite Sanctuary, a… misunderstanding occurred between Senior Brother and the Exquisite Saintess. It left her with a rather abysmal impression of him. Perhaps that bitter reality was the wake-up call he needed. He finally understood the necessity of severing toxic ties, abandoning his emotions to walk the Path of Supreme Detachment.”

“Since Senior Brother has attained such profound enlightenment, we should be celebrating! Right, Master?”

There was absolutely zero chance he was going to admit his own scandalous exploits at the Exquisite Sanctuary, let alone his bizarre entanglement with the Exquisite Saintess. If Hengzhen found out he had casually press-ganged the Headmaster of the Exquisite Sanctuary into becoming his servant, the old man would either drop dead from a heart attack or personally execute him to cleanse the Sect.

Anyway, Lu Changfeng was destined to die a simp’s death with nothing to show for it. Tricking him into giving up early was practically community service. Of course, his tragic Senior Brother would never know just how aggressively ‘proactive’ his untouchable goddess was whenever she was alone with a certain Junior Brother…

“You make a fair point,” Daoist Hengzhen nodded, his worries slightly assuaged. He smoothly changed the subject. “There is one more thing I nearly forgot to mention. Your Grandmaster emerged from Secluded Cultivation a few days ago. Her very first command upon exiting was to summon you, her Holy Scion grand-disciple.”

“Since you haven’t been at Jade Flower Peak recently, I didn’t want to interrupt your travels with a summons. But now that you’ve returned, you must go pay your respects immediately. Do not keep her venerable self waiting…”

Grandmaster Ling Yu is out of seclusion?!

Qi Yuan sharply inhaled, a cold sweat instantly breaking out across his back.

Are you kidding me?! Don’t Great Ascension stage experts literally meditate for hundreds of years at a time?! It’s only been three years! Why the hell is that terrifying late Great Ascension female demon already out?! I’m dead. I am so incredibly dead…

Daoist Hengzhen frowned, eyeing him with surprise. “Disciple, why has all the color drained from your face?”

“N-Nothing. I’m fine,” Qi Yuan coughed dryly. He forced a stiff, sheepish smile. “Master, I just remembered a highly urgent matter I need to attend to outside the Sect. I will absolutely go pay my respects to Grandmaster the second I finish! If there are no other orders, your disciple will take his leave—”

He hurriedly cupped his hands in a sloppy salute and spun around to bolt.

“Halt.” Daoist Hengzhen’s voice cracked like a whip. He glared at Qi Yuan with utter solemnity. “No matter what this ‘urgent matter’ is, you will go pay your respects to your Grandmaster first. Do not disobey!”

Shoulders slumping, Qi Yuan’s face completely fell. He had no choice but to brace himself. “This disciple respectfully obeys.”

Exiting the Headmaster’s palace, Qi Yuan dragged his feet so hard he practically left trenches in the stone paths. He treated the short trip to the radiant, secluded valley like a miserable death march, stalling at every opportunity.

Deep within the valley floated an impossibly magnificent nine-story suspended pavilion. Its surface shimmered with dense, complex spirit patterns that radiated a vast, suffocatingly profound Dao aura.

This was the sacred retreat where Grandmaster Ling Yu cultivated. Aside from the Headmaster, the Holy Scion, and a handful of top-tier Sect elders, absolutely no one had the clearance to step foot here.

Arriving at the pavilion’s steps, Qi Yuan instantly wiped the dread from his face, replacing it with the picture of solemn reverence. He bowed deeply toward the floating structure.

“Disciple Qi Yuan pays his respects to Grandmaster. May Grandmaster’s immortal path be everlasting, and her fortune and longevity be boundless.”

He kept his head respectfully bowed, though his heart was hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. She suddenly went into Secluded Cultivation three years ago, and it definitely had something to do with me…

A moment later, a lazy, tantalizingly pleasant female voice drifted out from the pavilion.

“Little grand-disciple… you certainly kept your Grandmaster waiting.”

The voice was slightly husky, vibrating with a magnetic, incredibly mature cadence that sounded like heavenly music.

Hearing her, Qi Yuan’s pulse skyrocketed. He plastered on a flawless, sycophantic smile. “Please quell your anger, Grandmaster! Your disciple just returned from traveling the mortal realm. The very second I stepped foot back in the Sect, I sprinted here to beg for your forgiveness!”

“Is that so?” The voice hummed with amusement. “I suppose that counts as filial piety. Come inside.”

Without warning, the heavy pavilion doors slammed open. A terrifyingly gentle but completely irresistible suction force violently erupted from within, yanking Qi Yuan off his feet and dragging him straight into the darkness…