Chapter 220 The Ruthless Senior Brother of the Path ...
Having gained experience from previous challenging world PvP battles, and with the information revealed by viewers in Song Wenjing's live stream, Lin You, who had always thought of herself as a complete novice, finally had a general understanding of her own abilities.
No wonder every mission is so easy for her; she's strong enough to be competing on the leaderboard, but she's still stuck in the newbie village.
This time, Lin You finally chose a high-level mission. After transmigrating, she immediately saw an orange question mark moving rapidly in the sky.
Well, at that speed, if she didn't know how to fly on a sword, she'd probably be in long-distance tracking mode for a long time to come.
Catching up with the flying boat, Lin You landed next to the mission target with an orange question mark above his head. Because he was invisible and had the Concealing Bead on his head, no one noticed anything unusual.
Lin You sat next to Xiao Mo and listened to the lecture with him. This senior brother Qingmu must often be in charge of recruiting new people. He first used the flying boat to arouse everyone's curiosity and amazement about cultivation, and then talked about the glorious history of Xuan Yang Sect and the excellent treatment of its disciples.
After the speech, most of the newcomers who were initially nervous and reserved looked at Aoki with more reliance and a sense of belonging.
Xiao Mo listened attentively, his expression similar to everyone else's, but Lin You could sense that his emotions weren't fluctuating much. He was another character with decent acting skills.
According to Aoki's estimate, it would take about two hours to reach the destination. Lin You, too lazy to listen to the Xuan Yang Sect's past, sat down and studied the plot of this world.
The person I'm tasked with is named Xiao Mo. He was orphaned at a young age and was taken in from a mass grave by an old beggar. Life was tough, and the old beggar couldn't afford to raise him, so he wrapped him in rags and left him in a dilapidated shed on the street. He was fed a bowl of rice porridge by one neighbor and a piece of cornbread by another, which kept him from growing up.
The people in the town weren't rich, but they were honest and kind. Xiao Mo was also observant; even before he was as tall as a broom, he would help sweep the streets, deliver things, and run errands, always managing to get a little something to eat.
He managed to get by until he was fifteen. Although he didn't have a stable job, he worked odd jobs diligently and raised himself.
Later, when Anguo's powerful backer fell and the demon race ran rampant, Emperor Hengzheng wanted to find a way out for Anguo. He used spirit-testing stones to test the spiritual roots of children under the age of twenty throughout the country, hoping that someone could embark on the path of immortality and provide shelter for Anguo.
Xiao Mo was fortunate enough to be found to have an exceptional ice spirit root, and was personally accepted as an apprentice by Xuan Ling, the most capable elder of the Xuan Yang Sect, who was known as the number one cultivator in the world.
From this perspective, Xiao Mo's life can indeed be described as smooth sailing, but the reason he is called cannon fodder lies with his master, the Supreme Elder Xuan Ling.
Xuan Ling is the pinnacle of martial prowess in the cultivation world. He has a cold and aloof personality, like a thousand-year-old ice crystal, and cultivates the renowned Path of Ruthlessness.
After Xiao Mo became his disciple, before he could even say a word, he was given a copy of the Ruthless Path's cultivation technique and thrown into a training array. Every day, he was subjected to wind, frost, swords, and spears, under the guise of tempering his character.
Xiao Mo wasn't afraid of hardship, but he was preoccupied with the calamity of Anguo, and was anxious and restless every day, which went against the requirements of the Wuqingdao cultivation method. His learning progress was simply appalling.
The more he acted this way, the more Xuan Ling felt that he lacked willpower and needed to be tempered, so he increased the power of the formation for him.
Unfortunately, this person was very successful in cultivating the ruthless path. He didn't take anything seriously. After setting up the formation, he turned to study his own sword moves. When he finished meditating, he found that his newly accepted disciple was still distracted.
Xuan Ling looked at his little disciple, who was covered in blood and barely breathing due to the torment of the formation, and felt a rare pang of guilt. After giving him a few healing pills, he sealed Xiao Mo's memories.
In his view, the reason why his young apprentice could not practice the martial arts well was because his mind was impure and he must have been affected by past events. Once his memories were sealed, he would be able to practice the martial arts properly.
Xiao Mo possessed a top-grade ice spiritual root. Without the influence of his memories, his cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds. He reached the Foundation Establishment stage in one year and the Golden Core stage in ten. Xuan Ling became increasingly satisfied, and only allowed him to leave the mountain after his Golden Core cultivation was consolidated.
There was more than one cultivator from Anguo who came to the Xuanyang Sect, but besides him, there were only three outer disciples and a dozen or so miscellaneous disciples.
Over the course of more than a decade, Anguo had practically become a buffet for the demons. The three outer disciples, the highest of whom had reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, were still capable of fighting against the demons of the mortal realm. However, they were no match for the overwhelming number of demons and all perished in battle.
The dozen or so handyman disciples were not highly skilled, so they could only take on handyman tasks day and night, collect spirit stones to issue demon-slaying missions, which was barely enough to keep the people of Anguo alive.
They all knew that Xiao Mo was the most talented among them and had been taken as a disciple by the Supreme Elder. He was currently only in seclusion because the Supreme Elder had pulled him into seclusion. As long as he came out of seclusion, Anguo would be saved.
Who knew that after waiting for more than a decade, day and night, when they finally saw him, all they met was his unfamiliar and cold gaze, as if he had never known them before.
Several people rushed forward to recount the tragic situation in Anguo, but Xuan Ling, who had come down the mountain with his disciple, overheard them. With a flick of his sleeve, he sent them all flying and declared that they had ulterior motives and were trying to interfere with Xiao Mo's Dao heart, and expelled them from the sect.
Xiao Mo, who had no memory of the past and had cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness, ignored them and continued her cultivation on her own.
With no sect missions to earn spirit stones, more than a dozen people were left, and Anguo was completely in the hands of demonic cultivators, with countless deaths and injuries every day. Yet, all these troubles could be resolved with just a few words from Xiao Mo, his personal disciple.
The group of more than ten people split into two teams. Eight of them went to Anguo to risk their lives to eliminate the demon, while the other seven found Xiao Mo and, without waiting for him to speak, committed suicide in front of him, pleading with him to save Anguo.
The scene was too tragic. When Xuan Ling sealed his memories, he was afraid of hurting him, so he didn't use much force. Xiao Mo's cultivation had reached the Golden Core stage, and under this stimulation, he actually broke through the seal and remembered everything.
Upon learning of the past ten years in Anguo from those still clinging to life, Xiao Mo's Dao heart was utterly thrown into chaos, and his eyes turned bloodshot on the spot. He entered the demonic path, yet with a demonic heart, he flew back to Anguo on his sword. After slaughtering all the demons, he could no longer control his sanity and committed suicide in front of Emperor Hengzheng's tomb.
With just a few strokes of the pen, the horrific scene recorded made Lin You gasp in horror. Most importantly, this number one cultivator in the cultivation world had already reached the late stage of cultivation, just one step away from the Tribulation Transcending stage. Lin You's methods were completely ineffective against him.
The concept of the "Ruthless Path" frequently appears in modern novels. The earliest one Lin You read was in a wuxia novel, where a sword god abandoned his wife and children because of the Ruthless Sword, and nothing happened to him afterward.
In novels, very few people actually graduate from this cultivation. Either their Dao heart is shattered and they fall in love with a woman, or their Dao heart is shattered and they go astray and become major villains. It doesn't seem like the right path at all.
Lin You opened the world quest, and as expected, the requirement was to change the mindset of the quest target.
Judging from the current conditions, by the time she works hard enough to defeat Xuan Ling, it will probably be too late. In that case, she'll have to act expediently. Her mission target is always beautiful and kind-hearted, so she probably won't mind... right?
[Ding! The "Save the Cannon Fodder" system is applying for a binding contract. Please confirm!]
The sudden voice startled Xiao Mo. He looked around warily, about to get up to see who was talking to him, when suddenly a powerful pressure spread around him, instantly immobilizing him.
Xiao Mo tried to move his only movable eye, but he didn't see anyone suspicious. The young hero Shen sitting next to him was still excitedly chattering with him, unaware of anything unusual. Even the senior brother Qingmu, who was said to be at the Golden Core stage, was completely oblivious not far away.
He inwardly groaned, but he couldn't move at all. He tried to look to Young Master Shen and Qingmu for help, but unfortunately, he wasn't very familiar with them and they didn't have much chemistry.
Looking at his eyes, Young Master Shen thought he was too excited to hear gossip, while Qingmu thought it was because his new junior brother admired him too much. The two of them talked even more enthusiastically.
"Stop struggling, just sign it." Lin You didn't have time to explain too much to him, and the voice she transmitted to him through her mental energy was as fierce as possible, as if she were forcing him to sign a contract of servitude.
Having grown up on the streets, Xiao Mo was always pragmatic. After accurately realizing that the other party could easily kill him, he didn't wait for Lin You to urge him a second time and directly clicked "confirm," successfully binding the account.
Lin You: ………
This kid is so sensible, she doesn't know how to continue being fierce.
"My name is Lin You, and my position is the Cannon Fodder Rescue System. Because your future is too tragic, I've come to defy fate and change your destiny." Lin You finished introducing herself in a dry manner, then opened the system page and handed it to him as evidence.
Xiao Mo lowered his eyes and, without making a sound, followed Lin You's instructions to communicate with her using his mental power. He carefully and obediently said, "I'm just an orphan. I've never been to school, so I don't understand."
He had never been to school, but he had learned to read by lying under the window of the private school. Now that he had signed the contract, Lin You had loosened the forces binding him, but the bright object in front of him was still invisible to everyone except him.
The above content is even more ridiculous; even the most common honey traps on the streets are more logically sound than this.
At least other people make up a story, but she just gives me insufficient permissions and won't even let me see the story. She just says the future is bleak and tries to fool me into obeying her.
Lin You: ………
Haha, I don't believe you for a second. You little brat, you're quite cunning.
"This is viewed using mental power. Whether you can read or not, you can understand the content!"
Xiao Mo shuddered, and his voice immediately became somewhat ingratiating: "Senior, it's because I'm dull-witted and haven't used my mental power much. Don't worry, I'll follow your orders."
Looking at the semi-transparent page, which clearly stated the task of changing one's Dao heart, Xiao Mo couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Even though he hadn't cultivated yet, he knew what the Dao heart was just from the words. What did they want to do by changing his Dao heart? Turn him into a puppet?
Could this person who claims to be a system also be a demonic cultivator? Although he didn't sense the cold and sinister malice typical of demonic cultivators, it might be because her cultivation level was higher.
There were many people on the airship, including his eighteen companions, newly acquainted friends, and so many innocent people.
He couldn't anger this demonic cultivator; he needed to stall for time, keep the man calm, and deal with it once they reached the Xuan Yang Sect. His Majesty had mentioned this before, and Senior Brother Qingmu had also seemingly unintentionally boasted that the Supreme Elder of the Xuan Yang Sect was the number one person in the cultivation world.
Xiao Mo took a deep breath and became even more respectful and obedient to Lin You. She thought that Lin You would take the opportunity to establish her authority and give her a good scolding, but to her surprise, she just sat down to the side and listened to Shen Ting talk about gossip and secrets of the martial arts world.
Yes, he can see her figure now, but no one else can see her except him. No one can even hear the sound of her cracking sunflower seeds.
The only use of the obedient Xiao Mo at present is to be a perfectly timed straight man when Shen Ting gets to the crucial points in his story.
People who enjoy gossiping can truly tell whether the audience genuinely likes their stories. Shen Ting chuckled inwardly as he looked at his serious-looking friend.
Who would have thought that Xiao Mo, who always seemed so serious, actually enjoys listening to gossip? Every time he answers a question, he does it perfectly. He'll never be lonely again.
After Senior Brother Aoki spoke for about half an hour, he let everyone move around freely. There was a protective shield outside the flying boat, so there was no need to worry about anyone falling off.
Moreover, Aoki also had a hidden mission: to keep an eye on the character and moral integrity of the newly recruited disciples.
Everyone else went to visit the airship with great enthusiasm, but Xiao Mo and Shen Ting stayed in place talking to each other, showing no intention of going to take a look.
Xiao Mo: If Lin You hadn't wanted to hear it, I wouldn't have bothered with all this nonsense.
Shen Ting: It's not easy to find such a thoughtful straight man, so I must take advantage of the time before we part ways and whet people's appetites with my stories.
When Aoki saw the two of them discussing so seriously from afar, he was quite pleased. It was a good thing that these two junior brothers with the best spiritual roots were so diligent.
When Qingmu got closer, he found that Shen Ting was excitedly talking about something. He said that Sect Leader Ji had discovered that Sect Leader Wang and Sect Leader Jin's wife were having an affair, and that Sect Leader Jin's wife was actually pregnant with Sect Leader Zhao's child.
Then I overheard Aoki's words: ………
Who am I? Where am I? Have marital relationships in the mortal realm become this chaotic?
However, these two junior brothers have such unique personalities that they probably won't have the chance to be accepted as disciples by the quiet and reserved Supreme Elder.
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