Lin Bai walked out of his Spiritual Field, only to come across Dumbelldore, who had mastered the Dragonfall Palm and was excitedly approaching. He stood before Lin Bai, asking, "Master, can I practice other cultivation techniques now?"

Presently, Dumbelldore's Martial Power was the highest among the Beggar Gang players, but he was still far inferior compared to the Golden Core Masters of Return to Dragon View. Golden Core Masters could fly; no matter how powerful his Dragonfall Palm was, it was wasted if it couldn't reach the opponent.

While all other players were giving up on the Nine-Days True Scripture to learn Huilong Jue and Dragon Rising Skill, Dumbelldore, under Lin Bai's pressure, persisted in mastering Dragonfall Palm, hoping for special treatment. Persistence paid off in the end. Dumbelldore had always believed that his status as a personal disciple of the Righteous Door would set him apart from the others.

"Yes. Go find Dao Kong and have him teach you Dragon Rising Skill!" Lin Bai looked at Dumbelldore, smiled, and gently reminded, "Remember to be diligent."

Is that it?

Dumbelldore doubted whether he had misunderstood. Two days ago, everyone else had switched from martial arts to cultivation. Yet, he was still tirelessly practicing the Descending Dragon Palm. What was the point?

Wasn't it all for some special treatment, banking on his status as Lin Bai's personal disciple?

But in the end, he was told to learn the same cultivation technique as everyone else? What was that about?

What about the Card techniques?

What about the cultivation secrets of Spoken Law Follows?

What about more profound cultivation methods?

This was no way to treat people!

Dumbelldore's eyes turned red. He held back his anger and asked with a forced smile, "Master, I am your personal disciple. Don't you think you should teach me something others don't know?"

Sensing the storm of anger in Dumbelldore's mind, Lin Bai smiled faintly and naturally shifted to the cultivation mode of the Great Language System. "I can also teach you to chop vegetables."

After completing the bragging mission, Lin Bai's attitude toward the Great Language System's missions became more laissez-faire. He maintained a constant state of readiness for missions but wouldn't get angry or annoyed by occasional failures. He figured if he just kept at it, they would eventually be completed. Focusing solely on missions for their own sake, especially during emergencies, had a high chance of attracting more trouble. Moreover, a forced mission interruption would sour his mood. Unless a mission's reward was particularly enticing, Lin Bai might consider dedicating a full day to it.

The reward for this particular Great Language System mission was the ability to make those around him share his anger. It wasn't worth Lin Bai investing too much mental energy for that. After all, he was surrounded by idiotic players; nothing they did would be surprising. As long as Lin Bai approached the matter from this perspective, he could easily forgive any foolish action. Very few things could actually make him angry. If the Great Language System allowed skipping missions, Lin Bai would certainly have chosen to abandon this one.

Dumbelldore, looking at Lin Bai's indifferent face, felt an impulse to slap him. He took a deep breath and reminded, "Master, I am the only official disciple of the Righteous Door!"

…

The combination of the Emotional System and the anger mission allowed him to clearly know if the mission had failed. Appreciating Dumbelldore's genuine emotions, Lin Bai looked at him and said, "You can leave."

Dumbelldore's eyes widened abruptly. He could sense the intense malice emanating from Lin Bai, and the corners of his eyes twitched slightly.

Just as I suspected.

Lin Bai has always held a grudge against me. He's doing this deliberately!

"Oh, great! Splendid!" Little White Fox exclaimed excitedly. "Once you leave, I'll be the Eldest Sister!"

"There are plenty of people eager to take me as their master." A hint of mockery flickered in Lin Bai's eyes, enhancing the effect of his words. He didn't care about Dumbelldore's thoughts at all, just as Dumbelldore had never truly respected him as a master.

I'll endure it!

Dumbelldore took a deep breath, quickly making a resolution. The status of being a personal disciple of the Righteous Door had bestowed many privileges upon him, and he enjoyed the glory brought by being Lin Bai's disciple. If he was kicked out without having enjoyed any rights of the Righteous Door, he would become a laughing stock.

I absolutely cannot lose my status as Lin Bai's disciple.

He must be testing me.

It's like they say, "When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility..."

Dumbelldore found a reason to comfort himself. He forced a smile onto his face, bowed deeply to Lin Bai, and said, "Master, I was wrong. I shouldn't have opposed your arrangements. I will go find Elder Daojing to learn Huilong Jue now."

"You're not wrong; I was serious," Lin Bai stated.

Fuck!

Where the hell did I offend you?

Dumbelldore froze for a moment, then dropped to his knees with a THUD. "Master, I know I was wrong! Please give me another chance! You once said that even if the Righteous Door accepted the most deplorable disciple, it would not expel them. Keeping a foolish disciple around could serve as a mirror..."

"You're so foolish you don't even qualify to be a mirror!" Lin Bai sighed, continuing to torment Dumbelldore's poor little heart.

…

Damn you!

This humiliation today... sooner or later, I'll repay it a hundredfold!

Just a stupid NPC, what's there to be arrogant about?

Dumbelldore clenched his teeth and kowtowed, his forehead hitting the ground. "Master, please tell me, where did I go wrong? I will do my best to correct it. Is it because I'm not diligent enough?"

"You did nothing wrong; it was I who was blind." Lin Bai delivered the final critical hit, his eyes filled with profound disappointment as he walked past Dumbelldore.

He had too many things to deal with; this wasn't the time to keep shearing wool from just one sheep.

Dumbelldore felt both wronged and furious. He stood up and watched Lin Bai's retreating figure, shouting, "Master, just watch my performance. One day, I will make you proud of me..."

Turning his head to glance at Dumbelldore, Lin Bai shook his head. The caliber of these players really is inconsistent!

If it were Lonely Old Man, he would definitely have realized I was practicing Spoken Law Follows.

However, someone as astute as him wouldn't be suitable as a disciple either. They overthink things and wouldn't focus on their practice, meaning there'd be even less wool for me to shear.

A foolish disciple like Dumbelldore is actually quite suitable.

…

"Master, what did Senior Brother do wrong? Why do you keep mocking him?" Little White Fox asked curiously.

Alright then!

My second disciple isn't very bright either!

Lin Bai looked at Little White Fox and shook his head. The little fox wasn't a player; she was simple-minded. No need to provoke her.

Seeing Lin Bai remain silent, Little White Fox was puzzled for a moment, then a look of realization dawned on her. "I understand! You must be trying to motivate him, right?"

Lin Bai smiled and nodded, continuing towards the main hall.

…

Return to Dragon View covered a vast area; the five hundred players scattered within were hardly noticeable. The battle outside Qian City, which saw the annihilation of three thousand Beggar Gang disciples, made the players realize the gap between themselves and NPCs. After becoming outer sect disciples of the Righteous Door, all the players were cultivating diligently, striving to raise their levels as quickly as possible. Spending money could make their in-game life comfortable, but if they couldn't level up, all that comfort was ephemeral. As Lin Bai had said, they couldn't always rely on him to charge forward for them.

In that case, who was really playing the game?

Furthermore, while developing step-by-step at the beginning might have been acceptable, after Lin Bai had dragged them through high-level battles, suddenly settling down to cultivate in isolated seclusion felt incredibly boring to the players. Unfortunately, at Return to Dragon View, aside from their cultivation practice, they couldn't find anything else to do. They couldn't fly without reaching the Golden Core realm. Surrounding them were only forests. To return to Qian City, they needed a Levitation Talisman, but with their current level of Spiritual Power, they couldn't use one at all. If they relied on their martial arts to return, who knew how long it would take! Moreover, if they encountered a Demon Beast on the way and were killed, it definitely wouldn't be worth the risk. Speaking of Demon Beasts, there were none around Return to Dragon View. At their current level, fighting ordinary wild animals no longer provided much help for leveling up.

Every day was a monotonous grind of cultivation. In just two or three days, the number of viewers watching their live streams dropped rapidly. Many players already regretted joining the outer sect of the Righteous Door.

If we'd known it would be like this, staying in Qian City to eat, drink, and be merry would have been far more interesting!

The general consensus among players was that the game's excessive realism wasn't necessarily good. There should at least be a grinding spot near the sect!

Many Beggar Gang players had already taken to the forums to protest the tedious cultivation process, but the game officials remained as aloof as ever, completely ignoring them.

Now, the players were just hoping to level up quickly so they could fly out and go on a killing spree, or that people from the Five Evil Doors would attack, allowing them to make some quick coin...

Anything would be more interesting than this!

To level up faster, most players, after practicing Spoken Law Follows for a day without discovering any hidden Skills, gave up on that particular cultivation method and focused their time on grinding levels instead.

Thinking about it, if hidden Skills were so easy to obtain, they wouldn't be called 'hidden.' The required 'gentle and spring-like' language was too spontaneous, and there was also a quantity requirement. The server had too many ways to deem their cultivation method unqualified.

However, most players continued to cultivate the Way of Incompleteness. After all, damaging things around them was convenient and didn't interfere with their leveling grind. Now, in the Righteous Door, it was already hard to see anything perfect. Wherever the eye could see, everything had been given little defects by the players. Otherwise, Lin Bai wouldn't have been able to cultivate his Great Demon Solution Book so quickly.

…

As for the Taoists of Return to Dragon View, after Daojing and Dao Kong pitched the Path of Principles to them, they stopped thinking about resisting Lin Bai. Instead, they were all fired up, aiming to find an alternative path to surpass him and suppress this 'man who fell from the sky.' The players felt their cultivation was slow, but in the eyes of these native Taoists, their cultivation speed was already terrifyingly fast. If they didn't find a way to deal with it, once these unpredictable players matured, there would truly be no place left for them. As for the disasters Lin Bai had stirred up, the Taoists didn't care at all. He was so powerful, he could clean up his own mess. If a real fight broke out, they definitely wouldn't risk their lives. Worst case, if Lin Bai couldn't handle the Five Evil Doors, they could just flee back to their main sect, the Heavenly Dao Sect.

However, the Taoists of Return to Dragon View were also in a pitiful state. They wanted to cultivate the Way of Incompleteness, but the players had already damaged almost everything around them. They wanted to cultivate the Great Path of Love, but apart from Lady Hua Xi, there wasn't another female in sight. They couldn't very well cultivate the Love Principle with their fellow male disciples, could they? Consequently, the Taoists had to pour most of their energy into cultivating Spoken Law Follows, racking their brains to sweet-talk everyone around them. However, having spent most of their time meditating in the deep mountains and forests, the Taoists weren't accustomed to mingling with people. Suddenly changing their style to speak words as warm as spring proved to be quite a challenge. Initially, they could manage to congratulate others with wishes of 'boundless blessings and longevity,' but before long, they'd start stammering and fumbling, eventually becoming incapable of even normal conversation. As a result, storybooks smuggled in by outer sect disciples for amusement became highly sought-after items. All the Golden Core Taoists clutched these books, studying their phrasing and sentence construction, trying to enrich their own vocabularies.

After Lin Bai's arrival, the entire Return to Dragon View descended into this bizarre spectacle. Apart from Lin Bai, who was actually farming, almost no one else seemed normal.

…

Outside the side hall, Qing Yu and Lady Hua Xi saw Lin Bai returning and hurried over to greet him. Qing Yu had been very busy these past few days. Lin Bai acted as a hands-off manager, leaving the various affairs of Return to Dragon View for him and his two martial uncles to handle. He had also heard about the matter of the Principles. Now that the affairs of Return to Dragon View were finally being sorted out, he immediately sought out Lin Bai. "Sect Leader Lin, can Lady Hua Xi and I comprehend the Law of Love?"

"You are puppets," Lin Bai stated, glancing at them.

"Indeed..." Qing Yu faltered, a bitter smile on his face. He turned to Lady Hua Xi beside him, took her hand, and consoled, "Don't be sad. It's already wonderful that we possess our own thoughts and freedom."

"Yulang, you don't need to comfort me. I was already prepared for this," Lady Hua Xi said with a smile.

The Emotional System registered no anger from them. Instead, he'd been subjected to their public display of affection. Lin Bai sighed internally. Provoking anger with just a few words truly wasn't easy. It would be better to find those easily irritable players to complete the mission.

"Anything else?" Lin Bai asked. "If not, go and gather the sect's elders and deacons, as well as the leaders of the Heaven-Sent Ones like Mad Man, Silver, and Dragon Breath. I have matters to discuss with them."

Qing Yu glanced at Lin Bai, then at Dao Xu standing respectfully behind him. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Sect Leader, can my master's consciousness also be restored? He is already under your control; even if his mind is restored, he cannot harm you. He possesses rich cultivation experience and understands the affairs of the Cultivation World far better than I do. Restoring his sanity would bring nothing but benefits to the Righteous Door."

"When the time is right, I will naturally help him recover. Now is not that time," Lin Bai said. He knew Qing Yu had a point. Besides, he had also just obtained Cupid's Arrow of Resistance.

Lin Bai had initially thought of restoring Dao Xu's consciousness and then using the Arrow of Resistance on him. However, after carefully studying the arrow's description, he decisively abandoned the idea.

The Arrow of Resistance: the one struck by it will instinctively loathe the first person they see.

While this arrow could stop Dao Xu from fawning over him, having someone around who detested him would be just as uncomfortable.

Having him as a mindless, thoughtless puppet bodyguard like this was actually quite good!

Qing Yu glanced apologetically at his master, then prepared to leave and gather everyone for the meeting. However, before he could step away, Mad Man and Dragon Breath rushed over, shouting as they ran, "Storekeeper Lin, something's happened!"

"What happened?" Lin Bai asked.

"The people from the Five Evil Doors went to Qian City and captured all our Beggar Gang members! They're specifically demanding you go over and give them an explanation. Otherwise, they'll completely blockade Jiamucheng, cutting off the Beggar Gang's roots! Then, they'll keep killing Beggar Gang disciples until they're forced to join their sects!" Mad Man said breathlessly.

"Yes! Storekeeper Lin, we have to go save them!" Dragon Breath urged anxiously. "I say we go all out, annihilate the Five Evil Doors, seize all their cultivation manuals, and make the Righteous Door the top sect in Qian City! They actually dared to capture our people—they're too arrogant! We must teach them a lesson!"

"They've also occupied our Mysterious Ice Spring!" Mad Man added. "And to vent their anger, they destroyed your Refiner's Workshop, Storekeeper Lin..."

Qing Yu's expression changed instantly. "Sect Leader," he interjected quickly, "this matter requires careful deliberation."

[Joy from Mad Man, Dragon Breath, Silver...; +1+1+1]

Sensing the true emotions of Dragon Breath and the others, Lin Bai gave them a puzzled look.

Dragon Breath still looked anxious, but he was privately messaging Mad Man: "Storekeeper Lin will agree, right? Damn, cultivating in this godforsaken place where even birds don't shit is enough to bore a person to death!"

Mad Man replied: "He should. The Five Evil Doors couldn't have come at a better time. It's like getting a pillow just when you're sleepy. We're not worried about Storekeeper Lin stirring up trouble; we're worried he'll get too comfortable! If Storekeeper Lin just keeps tending to his flowers and plants, the Beggar Gang's viewership will plummet!"