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

Chapter 216: You’re Not Thinking of Making Some Strange Requests, Are You?

Seeing Qi Yuan’s supreme confidence, Ling Yu actually hesitated. Her tone turned grave as she issued a final warning. “Little grand-disciple, are you truly not afraid that my Ten Directions Illusion Talisman will shatter your Dao Heart?”

Truthfully, she had only pulled out the Talisman to scare the slippery junior into writing a few novels to her exact specifications. She hadn’t actually planned on using it.

She certainly didn’t expect the kid to call her bluff, charging straight ahead with the reckless courage of a newborn calf. It made her see him in a slightly new light.

“Grandmaster, rest assured,” Qi Yuan replied casually, his face practically glowing with self-assurance. “This disciple’s dedication to the Dao is forged from iron and stone. I am perfectly confident in withstanding any trial.”

To think this brat actually has some backbone. It seems I really did underestimate him!

Ling Yu muttered internally. She stared at him for a long, heavy moment before giving a stiff nod. “Very well,” she huffed. “Since you are so eager to try, this venerable one will give you the opportunity to personally experience just how utterly detestable your own writing is.”

As his elder, there was absolutely no way she could back down and show weakness to a junior.

Besides, with her standing right here to protect him, she could instantly intervene the moment he reached his breaking point, ensuring his Dao Heart and Cultivation foundation remained intact. After all, Qi Yuan wasn’t just the direct inheritor of her lineage; he was the Holy Scion of the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary. No matter how petty she felt, she would never actually cripple one of her own.

“As agreed, once the Ten Directions Illusion Talisman activates, you only need to last for the time it takes three incense sticks to burn. Do that, and you pass. At that point, you may make two reasonable requests of this venerable one.”

Ling Yu narrowed her beautiful phoenix eyes, her voice dripping with threat. “But if you fail, you will obediently lock yourself in this pavilion under my personal supervision. You won’t take a single step outside until you’ve hand-written ten novels that satisfy me perfectly.”

“Understood!” Hearing her formally commit to the deal, Qi Yuan’s eyes lit up like lanterns. He nodded furiously.

“Begin.”

Ling Yu flicked her slender finger. The Ten Directions Illusion Talisman shot into the air, hovering directly above Qi Yuan’s head. It spun slowly, casting waves of brilliant, seven-colored radiance over him.

A bizarre ripple of energy washed over the pavilion. Qi Yuan’s eyes instantly glazed over as his consciousness was violently dragged into the world woven by the Talisman. His body went completely rigid.

Seeing him enter the trance, Ling Yu let out a soft breath. She focused entirely on his mental state, preparing to forcefully pull him out at the first sign of critical trauma.

It didn’t take long for Qi Yuan’s brows to knit together. His lips pressed into a tight, bloodless line, and faint blue veins bulged against his temples. A sheen of cold sweat broke out across his forehead as his features twisted into a mask of pure agony.

Is he breaking already? Ling Yu raised a delicate eyebrow, though she wasn’t particularly surprised.

The plot of that novel was utterly psychotic. Even as a Great Ascension realm expert, she had felt genuinely emotionally violated after reading it. Just thinking about it made her liver ache with phantom stress.

For instance, the male lead and his lover of many years discovering they were actually long-lost biological siblings. Or the male lead getting amnesia after being violently run over by a flying ship while Sword Riding. And that was barely scratching the surface of the agonizing melodrama.

After overcoming a literal mountain of suffering, the two leads finally got together. The reader assumed they were guaranteed a happy ending—only for the female lead to suddenly drop dead from an incurable terminal illness in the epilogue!

She vividly remembered reading that ending. She had nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood on the spot, filled with an overwhelming urge to string the author up by his toes and whip him. It was a complete scam!

Shaking off her lingering outrage, Ling Yu gave Qi Yuan a complicated look.

He was so young, yet he possessed an inexplicably wild and boundless imagination. His writing was thrilling, packed with dizzying twists and turns. Even when it was a soul-crushing tragedy, you just couldn’t stop reading.

While he was undeniably talented, his personality was far too erratic and jumpy. This was the perfect opportunity to grind down his arrogance and keep him from straying onto a crooked path.

“Huh?”

Just as she was nodding to herself, she noticed the agonizing grimace on Qi Yuan’s face suddenly vanish. His body gave a slight shudder, and his features rapidly smoothed out. In fact, a faint, incredibly disdainful smirk touched his lips.

A second later, his breathing completely leveled out. He looked entirely calm and relaxed, as if the Talisman’s effects had just bounced off him.

Ling Yu blinked in confusion. She immediately split off a strand of her Divine Sense to inspect the array. The Ten Directions Illusion Talisman was operating flawlessly.

What in the world? Ling Yu furrowed her brow, a rather absurd theory forming in her mind.

Could it be… has this junior’s Dao Heart already reached the legendary state of being utterly untrapped by the mind and entirely undisturbed by emotion?

She had personally crafted the Ten Directions Illusion Talisman, meaning she understood its terrifying power better than anyone. Even ordinary early-stage Great Ascension cultivators would struggle to resist it, let alone a mere peak Nascent Soul junior!

Yet Qi Yuan was treating it like a gentle breeze. Unless his Dao Heart was impossibly resilient, there was simply no other explanation.

Ling Yu re-evaluated the boy standing before her, a flash of genuine gratification and profound admiration dancing in her eyes.

As expected of the genius I favor most, she praised internally. His aptitude is monstrous. With such a temperament and innate talent, his future achievements will be boundless…

A brilliant, radiant smile bloomed across her face. Regardless of his quirks, the fact that the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary has produced such a monstrous junior is a blessing. Now, the only question is exactly how long he can hold out!

Casting aside her earlier irritation, Ling Yu stared at Qi Yuan with burning intensity, eager to see his limits.

Time ticked by. The time it took for three incense sticks to burn vanished in the blink of an eye. Qi Yuan stood completely motionless, his breathing and heartbeat as steady as a metronome. There wasn’t the slightest indication he was nearing his limit.

Half an hour. An hour…

Two full hours passed under Ling Yu’s stunned supervision.

Suddenly, the Talisman hovering above Qi Yuan’s head flickered violently. A moment later, it completely burned out, shattering into motes of light that faded into the void.

Ling Yu’s jaw practically dropped. Her beautiful eyes were wide with utter disbelief.

She knew exactly what that meant. The Talisman hadn’t stopped because Qi Yuan failed—it stopped because he had successfully cleared every single plotline and completely exhausted the Talisman’s power!

Isn’t this a little too ridiculous?!

A second later, Qi Yuan lazily opened his eyes. He looked at the completely dumbstruck Grandmaster Ling Yu and offered a polite smile, sounding almost disappointed that it was over. “Grandmaster, your disciple did not disappoint. I have fully experienced the plot of my last novel. Does this mean I pass?”

Please, he scoffed internally. As a transmigrator from the modern era, he had been subjected to decades of aggressive brainwashing by absurdly melodramatic, dog-blood soap operas. His tolerance for garbage tropes was exponentially higher than these ancient, sheltered natives.

Coupled with his System-certified [Clear Dao Heart], a little fictional angst was barely a breeze brushing against his face. It couldn’t even scratch his Dao Heart, let alone shake it.

Frankly, the immersive simulation actually made him feel a bit nostalgic for his past life. If she offered to run it again, he probably wouldn’t even say no…

“Ah?” Hearing his voice, Ling Yu finally snapped out of her stupor. She nodded, giving him a deeply complicated look. “It seems… this venerable one severely underestimated you. Very well. I am a woman of my word. Speak your two requests.”

She leaned forward, blinking at him with sudden, keen interest. Her voice dropped into a dangerous, teasing purr. “Little grand-disciple, you aren’t thinking of making any… strange requests of this venerable one, are you?”