Don't Pick Up Boyfriends From the Trash Bin Chapter 159 - System vs. System (9): The pagoda, obtain the sword, put to the east

Chapter 159 - System vs. System (9): The paG.o.da, obtain the sword, put to the east

*put to the east

Translator: kiribold

editor: yoantlers

The two entered the sixth formation.

There weren’t any monsters or beasts in the array, only a paG.o.da, and there stood more than a hundred graves of monks.

Although surrounded by lush trees, they were overgrown and wild because no one took care of them. Most of the stone towers had been washed by wind and dust for over a thousand years, decayed, and collapsed.

This place was a wasteland no one cared about. Long-eared gray hares flashed through the knee-deep weeds.

No one told them what to do now to get through.

Duan Shujue tried his luck first and told Yan Jinhua that there was no trace that an array had been set up here, and the layout of the paG.o.da also simply followed Buddhist principles. There was a hint of Buddhist spiritual energy, but it didn’t seem like it was specifically designed to trap them.

After they shuttled between the paG.o.da for a while, they found that the road they came from had disappeared while the road to leave was nowhere to be found. They were in a momentary deadlock.

Because of his limited abilities and the loss of the pearl, Yan Jinhua was reluctant to use the few progress points he had left. He had to bite the bullet and flip through the book, trying to find a way to crack the sixth formation from the original text.

He didn’t pay attention past the third level for this section on breaking through formations to retrieve the sword.

The author’s description was too detailed. He didn’t know why the author wrote so long-windedly. Once he read to the third level, he skipped ahead and directly looked for the protagonist’s unexpected victory, finally winning the sword and slapping everyone in the face. He felt good and left it at that, never looking back.

Later, he was counting on the advantages of the Dinghai Pearl. He planned to take a shortcut, jumping directly from the first to the last, so he didn’t read the book carefully.

But he only turned two pages before he just about took off cursing.

…Why was the first and second formation written in the book completely different from what they encountered along the way?

The first level was the Windblade formation, but the second formation was some kind of bulls.h.i.t Baigu Mountain?

This random setting of three thousand worlds was too garbage!

Yan Jinhua was impatient, but his mind was agile. If one plan failed, another was born.

He said to Chi Xiaochi, “Shujue, let’s look separately. It’ll be faster.”

At least he was someone who had read the original text. He could still ask the system to give him a golden finger if he was in trouble. No matter how you think about it, he was stronger than Duan Shujue, who was in the center of the play.

Duan Shujue, as always, didn’t refuse his request. “Okay.”

Yan Jinhua wasn’t in a hurry to walk away but waved him over, “Shujue, come here.”

Duan Shujue obediently approached.

Yan Jinhua untied his belt and draped the clothes he had just washed clean with magic on Duan Shujue’s shoulders.

Duan Shujue was stunned, his cheeks slightly red, and his clear eyes were full of doubt, “Yan-da ge….”

Yan Jinhua said, “You were injured not long ago. Although it’s healed, you must be careful not to catch a chill. My clothes are thicker and I washed them just now. You and I are about the same size, so it’s exactly right for you.”

Duan Shujue said solemnly, “No. It’s getting late, and it’s cold here. Yan-da ge will catch a cold.”

Hearing this, Yan Jinhua said in a joking tone, “Then let’s do it this way; as master and disciple, we’ll change clothes. You give me yours, and I’ll give you mine.”

“My clothes are thin….”

That was true.

The merman wasn’t afraid of the deep cold sea. What could a little chilly wind do? Duan Shujue was always dressed in thin, flowing robes regardless of winter or summer.

But Yan Jinhua was different. It was still early spring, and the ice and snow had only recently melted. It would indeed be cold for someone like him, who was negligent in cultivating.

Yan Jinhua still insisted.

Duan Shujue had never been able to argue against Yan Jinhua, so he had to take off his torn outer robes and put them on Yan Jinhua’s body. He wasn’t rea.s.sured and urged that if Yan-da ge was cold, he had to change it back immediately.

Yan Jinhua took the water-blue outer robes that were as thin as a cicada’s wings. His fingertips knowingly or unknowingly stroked where the sword’s blade cut the upper left arm, the bloodstains seeping around the damaged part.

He smiled and said, “I won’t. You just wear mine well.”

Yan Jinhua chuckled.

He lost a city, but he gained another winning chip.

He clearly remembered that the sword would be drawn at the seventh formation.

Duan Shujue was wounded when he broke the formation, and there was blood on his clothes. Mermaid blood was the only way to break the seal and pull out the sword in the stone.

As long as he could break through the magic of this d.a.m.ned world one step earlier than Duan Shujue, then rub the sword’s hilt with Duan Shujue’s blood-stained clothes, he could leap forward and take away this great fortune.

Yan Jinhua felt a little regretful.

If he had known he would fall into such a sorry state, he shouldn’t have worried about the blood being ineffective if it had been drawn out in advance. He should have secretly drawn a tube of his blood for backup first.

He thought about it like this and put on the clothes. However, before he had time to be proud, he had to fight a cold war first.

Chi Xiaochi walked in the opposite direction, wrapped in warm spring clothes, thinking, freeze your b.a.l.l.s off.

He pushed away the barren weeds with the blade of his sword and walked precisely towards two of the stone towers.

Chi Xiaochi had two a.s.sets that were often praised when he was acting.

The first was that he had a solid ability to adapt on the spot, and he wouldn’t drop the mood. Even if someone else made a mistake on their part, he could still bring it back. Sometimes the director would be distracted to the point of not realizing there was a performance error.

The second was that he studied everyone’s scripts, even the lighting and set plans.

Therefore, Chi Xiaochi decently understood the intention of The Mermaid Immortal’s author to set the “Three Thousand Worlds” and also knew how to break this sixth formation.

He strolled to the two stone towers.

When he was patrolling the paG.o.da, he noticed that these two stone towers were different from the others.

They had the same decay and knee-high weeds, but their inscriptions looked newer than the others.

Both inscriptions were written with a Dharma name. “Fa Kong” was written on the left. On the right side, it read “Shi Ran.”

In terms of seniority, master monk Fa Kong should be one generation older than Shi Ran, but according to the inscription, the age difference between the two was only five years. It was clear that Fa Kong learned Buddhist doctrine and philosophy when he was young. He had a deep understanding but ultimately didn’t attain enlightenment.

One must build a seven-story paG.o.da before becoming a Buddha.

Half of Fa Kong’s paG.o.da had collapsed, but according to the undecayed parts scattered on the ground, it should have been six stories high.

He was only one step away from the great way of attaining enlightenment.

But what was even stranger was that such a master monk was buried side by side with a plain little monk, Shi Ran.

Shi Ran had a one-story paG.o.da. He was the most common type of Buddhist disciple with dull apt.i.tude, only suitable for sweeping the paG.o.da and washing clothes for the master monk.

The time of his death was half a month earlier than Fa Kong. This meant that Fa Kong took the initiative to choose to bury his bones beside the little monk Shi Ran after his death.

Chi Xiaochi walked to the two stone paG.o.das, one tall and one short. He joined his hands together and saluted. Then, he squatted down, swept away the thick dust on the Shi Ran stone, cut the tip of his index finger with his sword, and traced the writing on the tombstone in red, stroke by stroke.

The word “Shi Ran,” which gradually became indistinct, became clear again.

He said “again” because the Jingxu Sword Meeting had been held every 30 years for the past thousand years. The seven great formations changed mysteriously, rarely repeating, but the only exception was the sixth formation.

Because every sixth formation was the same.

In The Mermaid Immortal, it wrote in detail about how Duan Shujue broke through the first few formations. It also described the appearance of all the beings that Duan Shujue saw while breaking the arrays and his insights and discoveries.

When he walked alone at the end, he finally realized that the so-called “Three Thousand Worlds” were all places and people that the first master of Jingxu Mountain and his merman cultivation partner had traveled to and met.

The first ancestor of Jingxu Peak and his cultivation partner commemorated their meeting, love, and life together in this way.

The first master of Jingxu Peak once had a Buddhist friend. His Dharma name was Fa Kong.

Fa Kong spent his whole life on the path of enlightenment, but he failed to become a Buddha only because he couldn’t let go of the karmic obstacle in his heart.

The name of this karmic hindrance was Shi Ran.

Shi Ran was his disciple and also his only disciple. He was timid and mindless. He became a Buddhist monk due to his family’s poverty, but he lacked comprehension of Buddhist doctrine. Though he was a bit foolish, he was also soft-hearted and gentle.

He longed for his Shifu but didn’t dare to speak for fear of sullying Shifu’s path to becoming a Buddha. Fa Kong also had Shi Ran in his heart but worried about scaring him, so he only treated him well, wanting to keep him safe and happy all his life.

Up until Shi Ran blocked a fatal attack for Fa Kong while subduing a demon and died.

When Fa Kong sorted through Shi Ran’s belongings, he found the writings recording Shi Ran’s longing and adoration in his small bookcase.

When Shi Ran entered the mountain, he was sixteen years old.

His name was given by Fa Kong himself, but he couldn't let go of Shi Ran in this life.

After reading the writings, Fa Kong laughed out loud three times, burned them, and explained the affairs of the Buddhist temple to his shixiong. Half a month later, he sat in place and departed to chase Shi Ran’s soul.

He left his last words in a letter, asking his shixiong to bury him beside Shi Ran’s tomb after his death.

The Black Water River from a thousand years ago was still surging endlessly today. The maple forest labyrinth from a thousand years ago was even more lush and leafy now. But the people of a thousand years ago had long since turned into dirt and ashes in the mud and disappeared.

The first ancestor of Jingxu Mountain and his cultivation partner remembered the loss of a dear friend, so they put the paG.o.da where their old friend was buried in the Three Thousand Worlds.

No matter how the first five formations were rotated, the sixth formation would always be the paG.o.da.

The method of pa.s.sing through the sixth array was also fixed:

If you use spiritual blood to trace the monument for Fa Kong and Shi Ran, you could successfully reach the sword in the stone.

The Jingxu Sword Meeting was held every 30 years. The two tried to use the hands of the younger generations to honor the memory of their former friends, to honor this pair of idiots.

At this time, it was almost half dark.

Chi Xiaochi had some trouble seeing the monument’s surface under his hands.

Fortunately, the fireflies lurking in the gra.s.s rose one after another and circled around. The warm golden light illuminated the monument’s surface, and it was also like spa.r.s.e starlight sprinkled on his shoulders.

The little Shishu in white had put away his umbrella, standing quietly in the wind. He stood far away with his hands down, afraid of scaring him.

Chi Xiaochi cut his fingers several times and finished tracing the two monuments.

A white light suddenly appeared in front of him when he got up. Then he was already standing in front of a mica stone with a dark purple body.

A section of a mysterious jade sword hilt was exposed, and a concentric knot was attached to the end of the hilt. Upon closer inspection, two strands of black hair were hidden inside, and two spiritual powers were doubly energized to keep the concentric knot unbroken.

Chi Xiaochi observed for a long time but didn’t touch the hilt of the sword as if waiting for something.

Soon, Yan Jinhua staggered out of thin air behind him.

His eyes lit up, seeing that the hilt of the sword was still inserted into the stone and hadn’t been pulled out. He harnessed all the spiritual power in his body and rushed forward!

…A quarter of an hour ago.

Yan Jinhua, wrapped in Duan Shujue’s thin clothes, crouched in the cold wind and gra.s.s, shivering.

He had been haggling with his stingy system for a long time, but he couldn’t apply for the system’s external a.s.sistance for free. He intended to find a way to break the formation without Duan Shujue. He planned to hide for a while longer and secretly flip through the book to see if there was a chance of a blind cat meeting a dead rat.

Who would have thought that he actually found it accidentally with this flip through?

He didn’t dare to be negligent, running wildly in the paG.o.da for a while, and finally found the two sharply contrasting stone towers, tall and short.

Seeing that the tablet was covered in blood, Yan Jinhua was instantly anxious.

Did Duan Shujue already enter?!

He had read the book and knew that as long as Duan Shujue finished tracing the monument, he would be transported to the sword in the stone in seconds.

But the blood on the monument was still warm. Maybe it wasn’t too late!

Yan Jinhua cut his fingers to draw blood. He lost his aim in a frenzy of hands and feet and slashed directly to the bone with his sword.

The nerves of the fingertips are linked with the heart. Yan Jinhua became pale with pain, but he didn’t dare to waste more time.

It was written in the book that when the sword in the stone was pulled out, the Seven Arrays and the whole mountain would shake. There was still no movement, which proved that he still had a chance!

Hurry, hurry!

Holding onto a glimmer of hope, Yan Jinhua hastily traced the surface of the monument while breathing in the cold air, feeling the turbulent waves and remorse in his heart.

Surname Duan indeed had the life of the protagonist! Such good luck was simply picked up in vain!

For a moment, some doubts pa.s.sed through his mind.

Was Duan Shujue that powerful? Could he immediately notice that the size of the paG.o.da was wrong and then think of tracing the monument?

Although there was a teleportation array in the groove of the inscription on the tablet, the aura was fragile, and it was difficult to find without careful identification.

The most important thing was if Duan Shujue found a clue, why didn’t he ask Yan Jinhua to see it?

Was this the fate of the protagonist, or…

Amid his wild thoughts, Yan Jinhua was brought into the seventh formation.

When the sound of running came from behind him, Chi Xiaochi asked 061, “He’s here?”

061 couldn’t help laughing. “Here.”

Without any hesitation, Chi Xiaochi grabbed the hilt of the sword that was close at hand with his blood-stained hand.

——Did you see this sword?

——Did you see it clearly?

——Good. It’s mine now.

Yan Jinhua watched Duan Shujue grasp the sword, and immediately, Jairus split. He had murderous intent for a while, but he couldn’t get close at all, and he was thrown several dozen feet away by the rising waves of air.

The stone collapsed, and the jade was destroyed. The sword sang and splashed like a dragon roaring and a mermaid weeping.

The mermaid language from a thousand years ago was directly transmitted into Chi Xiaochi’s brain. At the same time, the surging thousand-year-old sword intent poured into his body, felling and cleansing his meridians.

Chi Xiaochi, or rather Duan Shujue, could perfectly understand what the voice in his head was saying.

The first Jingxu Peak ancestor’s merman cultivation partner was softly reciting the sword art he created with the first ancestor.

…to him, this should be a more precious gift than the thousand-year sword intent.

When Yan Jinhua sprung back, his heart was full of vicious swear words.

—His sword! It should have belonged to his fortune!!

He tumbled to the ground, his whole body in pain, his heart anxious, his head rumbling, and he was so angry that he actually vomited a mouthful of blood.

What should he do? Was there any other way?

He had raised the surname Duan for so long for nothing, and he ended up like this. He gave him a spiritual spring, spiritual fruits, and secret books before sending him to the sword meeting. He even got himself involved in losing his precious pearl, and now he had to up the sword to others?!

The way of heaven was too unfair!

…In fact, he missed one thing.

Chi Xiaochi earned ten remorse points from him and immediately exchanged it for a medium-level card called “Highlight Moment.”

Name: Highlight Moment (Medium level)

Duration: 3 minutes

Number of Pieces: 1

Quality: Excellent

Type: One-time use item

Required Exchange Points: 10 remorse points

Introduction: Bald b.u.t.ter on steamed fragrant rice, clear chicken broth in stewed ham, an old hot pot with cold garlic puree, and shredded tofu poured with hot marinade. Delicious at this time with unlimited highlights.

The function of this card was similar to that of the Beauty Halo. But in terms of its effect, it was more powerful and abstract than the Beauty Halo.

In theory, it was probably the kind of momentum that comes with background music while walking to suppress the audience.

But when he saw the introduction for the redeemed card, Chi Xiaochi lost his concentration for a moment. He remembered 009, who was in charge of copywriting, and the long-distance cosmic communication with Ji Zuoshan that was suddenly disconnected.

Fortunately, Chi Xiaochi had always been good at adjusting his emotions.

The sword in the stone that burst open and burned with blazing flames gradually faded away and returned to its original form.

The hilt was made of ancient jade, and the sheath was a seamless natural purple mica stone. However, its form was completely different from the water reflecting white blade that Duan Shujue remembered Yan Jinhua had obtained.

The sword in the stone in Duan Shujue’s hand only had a sheath and a handle but no blade.

However, if the sword was drawn, you could vaguely see transparent waves of water flowing above the hilt, condensing into an invisible water-like soft sword. The body of the sword could transform its length. The longest could be up to half a zhang, and the shortest could be three inches. There were infinite changes that could be moved by the heart.

…The sword in the stone was real only when a merman held it.

The sword in the stone came out of the rock, and the whole mountain shook.

The seven formations were originally an illusionary array. After the sword in the stone was pulled out, the formation temporarily failed, and the overlapping s.p.a.ces shattered and merged into one peak.

A young man with a sword slowly descended from the mountain path, followed by a disgraced Yan Jinhua.

Yan Jinhua was utterly defeated.

He tried his best to conceal his presence and even wanted to simply pa.s.s out. But when he thought about how Duan Shujue might have to drag him down and how that scene would be even more ugly, he could only bite the bullet and go down the mountain with Duan Shujue.

His face was hot, and he bowed his head, hoping that no one would notice him.

Indeed, at first, no one noticed him.

Chi Xiaochi always adhered to the basic principle of taking from sc.u.m and using it for the people, using the card he had just redeemed.

But using cards was also about the fundamental law.

On the field, he was a knowledgeable immortal. If he jumped down like a peac.o.c.k with its tail open, spinning and jumping, the spotlight and his thunder would be enough, but it would be embarra.s.sing.

Therefore, holding the sword in the stone, like the usual Duan Shujue, he slightly bowed his head and walked out quietly. He lifted his robe and knelt in front of Chi Yunzi, saying clearly, “This disciple has received heaven’s grace, the sword in the stone has been released. I ask Chi Yun-Jun to please examine it.”

From the moment he appeared in the crowd’s view, everyone was silent. They all returned to their senses when he opened his mouth and began discussing.

When he learned that the sword in the stone was pulled out, Chi Yunzi was stunned at first, but now that he saw Duan Shujue’s gentle att.i.tude, dressed in the uniform of Jingxu Peak’s disciples, he felt a little affection and pride in his heart.

…Since the one who drew the sword was from his Jingxu Peak, it didn’t give others the advantage.

He asked cheerfully, “Who are you?”

“This one is called Duan Shujue.” Chi Xiaochi spoke eloquently, then turned to Yan Jinhua, his words loud and clear, “A disciple of Yan Jinhua.”

Now, everyone was in an uproar.

Yan Jinhua? What kind of person is Yan Jinhua? Uneducated, unskilled, and undisciplined, how could he teach such a disciple?

Yan Jinhua: “…”

His face turned blue and white. He almost suspected that Duan Shujue was deliberately embarra.s.sing him.

But he had no way to argue!

Duan Shujue was indeed his nominal disciple. Just now, he had even brought him to meet Su Yun and other martial uncles. It was impossible to find the slightest mistake in what Duan Shujue said.

“Nonsense!” Chi Yunzi was surprised, and his face turned solemn. He turned to Yan Jinhua and frowned. “When did you accept your disciple? How could I, the Shifu, not know?”

Yan Jinhua secretly cried out in agony, hurriedly kneeled, stammering.

He had already prepared a script of lies but was afraid that Duan Shujue was a straight shooter. In case he was exposed, wouldn’t everything be over?

Fortunately, Duan Shujue seemed to see his difficulty, and he lightly interjected, saying that his parents died prematurely, that he was living in exile, that he was treated coldly, and that Yan-da ge had saved his life, so he became his disciple, trying to repay his kindness.

He even took the initiative to cover up that Yan Jinhua had secretly kept him in Yuguang Pool for ten years so that he wouldn’t be punished.

Duan Shujue said everything right, and there was a sense of protection in his words. Yan Jinhua could only listen, his mouth was bitter, and he had a bad premonition in his heart.

Chi Yunzi saw that he spoke in a reasonable and well-organized manner, and he liked him even more. Compared with Yan Jinhua next to him, his heart became more obstructed.

A good child, entrusted to Yan Jinhua, what could he bring out?

How could Yan Jinhua not have thought of this? In his peripheral vision, Chi Yunzi was about to speak when an idea immediately came up.

Surname Duan was a merman! A non-human thing, who knows what his character was?

If they let him have the sword in the stone, what would they do if he used it for evil?

Before it was too late, Yan Jinhua immediately said, “Shifu–”

Unexpectedly, he just made an initial sound when he heard Duan Shujue’s clear voice ringing not far in front of him, “Forgive me, Chi Yunzi, this disciple has something important to tell you.”

Chi Yunzi: “What’s the matter?”

Duan Shujue held the sword respectfully and bowed deeply, “This matter is about the secret of the sword in the stone, can you…ask all the seniors to leave?”

He put on a humble att.i.tude and gave enough face to the other sword cultivators present. These sword cultivators also knew that this sword was the inheritance of Jingxu Peak. If there was any secret hidden in the sword in the stone, it was indeed inappropriate for them to be present, so they all excused themselves without a problem.

Yan Jinhua’s mind turned at high speed for a while and guessed Duan Shujue’s intention. He breathed a sigh of relief and decided not to stop him.

This also happened in the original text.

Duan Shujue got the sword in the stone, and he didn’t dare to be an expert, so he requested Chi Yunzi dismiss others, told him that the original owner of the sword was a merman, and admitted that he was also a merman.

The merman, after all, was not a human being. Chi Yunzi, in the text, experienced many trade-offs before he decided to accept Duan Shujue as a disciple.

Ultimately, it was difficult to accept a spiritual beast of unknown fortune as a disciple. Not only would there be worry about the public controversy if his ident.i.ty was leaked, but also worry about whether they could control Duan Shujue, who had the thousand-year-old sword intent.

Meanwhile, Yan Jinhua was Duan Shujue’s benefactor, and he had the t.i.tle of Shifu first. If Chi Yunzi couldn’t think of a better way, it was very likely that Duan Shujue would continue to be his cheap disciple.

At that time, after occupying the t.i.tle of his Shifu, Duan Shujue’s fate and fortune would also be within reach.

As long as he was still by his side…

Sure enough, after listening to the young man’s confession, Chi Yunzi’s brows furrowed, and the immortals of Jingxu Peak were also silent.

…A merman?

The first Jingxu Peak ancestor’s cultivation partner was a merman? The sword drawer was also a merman?

Most of Chi Yunzi’s joy was gone. On the one hand, he felt that the child surnamed Duan was earnest and sincere, worthy of praise, and on the other hand, as Yan Jinhua had expected, he was put in a difficult position.

Yan Jinhua followed along and pretended to fall silent for a while. Seizing the opportunity, he said, “Shi–”

However, his words were cut off again, this time before he even uttered the initial word.

“…Shixiong.”

A gentle voice sounded from Chi Yunzi’s side, “If shixiong doesn’t know what would be appropriate, why don’t you leave this disciple under my care for the time being, and I will teach him well. What do you think?”

Yan Jinhua’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked towards the top seat position.

…Who was this ignorant person who couldn’t mind their place?

It was an unfamiliar face, but it was the face of a gentle and elegant n.o.bleman with a jade flute on his lap and a blue umbrella slung behind his back.

His temperament was very clean. At first glance, he was only astounding. His image was merely pure, causing raging flames to become a pond. But after looking for a long time, there was clearly a spa.r.s.e distance, feeling both friendly and unapproachable to people.

For some reason, hearing this person’s voice, Chi Yunzi’s originally tense expression became relieved. “…Liu-shidi?…That’s fine.”

Yan Jinhua and Chi Xiaochi both quickly searched in their heads for this person’s ident.i.ty.

Liu-shidi…

One of the six immortals of Jingxu Peak, Wen Yujing.

In The Mermaid Immortal, there were only a few sentences about this person:

“Chi Yunzi’s sixth apprentice brother Wen Yujing, whose given name is Jiran,was idle like drifting clouds and wild cranes. He lives away from people, does not ask about worldly affairs, and enjoys fishing and woodchopping.”

There should have been a role for this little Shishu in the text, but before Wen Yujing crossed paths with the protagonist, the book was castrated.

Why he avoided the world and why he had a detached position at the peak, probably only the author of the abandoned pit knew.

The words “that’s fine” could be regarded as a direct conclusion on this matter.

Yan Jinhua almost ground his teeth to pieces.

What made him almost spit out blood was that the system in his brain urgently informed him that the one who took his Dinghai Pearl was this very person!

Could it be that he had already taken notice of Duan Shujue when he appeared there?

Yan Jinhua didn’t know the truth. He only knew that his years of painstaking planning would be completely ruined in this way!

And this ruin was really frustrating, making it difficult to voice his bitterness.

Did Duan Shujue use any underhanded tactics? Not at all.

He broke through the seven great formations and protected him all the way through. He pulled out the sword in the stone with merman blood, received the inheritance left by his ancestors to future generations, confessed his ident.i.ty, and crossed the bright road with dignity. The process of worshiping on Jingxu Peak was logical, and in terms of reasoning, it was a balance of grace and righteousness.

Even if he had a hundred mouths, he wouldn’t be able to pick out a single fault in Duan Shujue!

Everyone would laugh at him for lacking self-awareness and casually accepting disciples without looking at what he was capable of. They would laugh at him because his disciple was elevated in his generation as soon as he took a disciple, and Yan Jinhua became a shidi. He might also have to respectfully address him as Peak Master in the future.

More importantly…

Yan Jinhua’s task progress bar had fallen below 5. Without Duan Shujue’s 100% favorability backing, his painstaking hard work in this world for more than ten years would be of no value at all!

Kiribold: Liu-laoshi Liu-Shifu ?