Chapter 159

Where is Su Lin? Why hasn't he come back yet? Ye Fan stood on a mountaintop, holding the unconscious Ma Xianhong, scanning the surroundings.

There's no need to rush collecting the Eight Marvelous Techniques and cultivation methods here—it's not meant as your main cultivation path, only for reference. Though each has its own marvels, it won't compel you to abandon your original methods like discarded footwear.

"He told Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan he'd go have some fun and come back," Zhang Chuyan said, using Lao Ma's Devouring Pouch to absorb Qu Tong and her group, planning to dump them at the company later.

Han Li flipped through the manual of Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements, frowning at Zhang Chuyan. "Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan? When did he arrive?"

"Just now."

"I get it," Ye Fan nodded, sounding annoyed. "Those two set off firecrackers without calling me."

Zhang Chuyan pulled out his phone, refreshed a news site, and saw the homepage had updated: the first thing to catch his eye was a lotus of lustrous glazed fire, blooming untainted amid filthy soil.

"Alright, he should be back soon," Zhang Chuyan said.

Moments later, Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan appeared on the mountaintop, still flushed with excitement, alongside Su Lin.

It's true that men of any age enjoy firecrackers.

"What's behind your head?" Ye Fan pointed to the space behind Su Lin.

Only then did everyone notice a faint halo behind Su Lin's head, while countless tiny lights from beyond the heavens streamed toward him, merging into the dim, illusory circle.

"Oh, this?" Su Lin gestured behind him with his thumb. "Merit Light Wheel."

"Pfft!" Lu Mingfei spat out his drink upon hearing Su Lin's words—he'd just bought a bottle of Pepsi from a roadside shop below the mountain and had only come over to this world for a casual stroll.

"Even blowing up an outhouse grants merit," Zhang Chuyan murmured, staring at the halo. "Seems like it really is merit."

Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan finally realized it—he now noticed the circular glow behind Su Lin's head and frantically twisted his neck to look behind himself. "Where's mine? Why don't I have any?!"

"Did I not blow up enough?!"

"You're on the verge of instant Buddhahood!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed. He knew Su Lin had healed everyone in their world. "Are you still practicing the Buddhist Dao?!"

"I think we shouldn't dig deeper," Ye Fan cut in decisively. "Don't ask. If you ask, it's cheating."

If we probe further, someone's definitely going to flex. Better to interrupt the skill-read progress now.

Han Li strongly agreed.

Su Lin shrugged and walked into the portal.

"Let's go, Lao Zhang."

"Lords, take care~ Welcome back anytime~" Zhang Chuyan waved from behind, smiling. "Come often!"

"You can train at Water Mirror Peak whenever you like," Ye Fan patted Zhang Chuyan's shoulder.

"Got it."

"By the way," Su Lin stopped walking, "I'm leaving Water Mirror Peak in one of your worlds for a while."

"I'm heading to Old Zhou's world soon. Placing it elsewhere avoids syncing time flow with the Administrator's world—it'll be easier for you."

"I can't," Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan shook his head. "I need to subdue the Fallen Heart Flame at the academy soon."

It was about time to contain the Fallen Heart Flame—the academy's seals were barely holding.

"Oh~ Look at you, so eager," Ye Fan raised an eyebrow. "I'll have to prepare a red envelope then."

"Is this the step toward adulthood?" Su Lin trotted over to Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan's side. "Congratulations, two-life big boy."

"Cough, cough," Han Li cleared his throat, smiling as he stepped into the portal.

Zhang Chuyan felt he should say something. He scratched his head and ventured, "Uh… may you have sons soon."

Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan's face froze—he'd nearly forgotten about that.

"With Kleine's Repeating Yesterday talisman and the teacher's intervention, how could the novel's plot happen? You're overthinking it," Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan said, sweat gathering in his palm as he walked toward the portal.

At that moment, the old alchemist's voice emerged from the ring: "If you rely on your teacher for everything, how will you ever stand on your own? I've expended too much energy refining pills lately—I must enter hibernation."

"Teacher!" Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan glanced awkwardly at the others behind him and hurried into the portal.

"Teaching people to open harems in the group chat, becoming the Emperor of Romance—this is Emperor Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan striking with a heavy fist; in person, timid and meek—Little Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan, all about being devoted to one person," Su Lin clapped his hands.

"Brilliant!" Lu Mingfei applauded enthusiastically—he was one of Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan's usual victims of verbal overconfidence.

"Put it in mine," Ye Fan said. "Perfect—I can stay there for a while too. Weigong Shilang needs a qi-rich environment to train properly."

"Alright."

Eastern Wilderness Star Region

Inside a village

Weigong Shilang held a dark-green ancient longsword, its blade shimmering, aura swirling around him—he now resembled a razor-sharp blade; ordinary people, upon seeing him, instinctively averted their gaze to avoid his edge.

He had grown slightly taller than before—not much, only about three centimeters—and had already stabilized his appearance before reaching the height of his UBW post-epilogue form.

Shhh—

He drew his sword, sheathed it—all in one fluid motion. A dark flash sliced through a massive boulder dozens of meters ahead, cleaving it cleanly in half.

He spun the sword in his hand—his final bit of spiritual energy had just been expended.

"This won't do!" Hei Huang barked. "Condense your sword qi further! This thick, clumsy qi is too much even for Doggy's claws!"

"What have you been doing lately? Your cultivation's risen but your brain hasn't! I already taught you: compress it to the extreme before striking! Your control over power is worse than before!"

"Sorry," Weigong Shilang scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I've been studying alchemy."

"Too much, too fast!" Hei Huang leapt onto the boulder, lying sideways on its smooth cross-section, propping his head up with one paw. "How long have you been cultivating? Why rush to learn everything? Your body is interesting—a natural Sword Body—but your cultivation speed is still far slower than the Holy Sect's prodigies."

"That hourglass is intriguing—it disrupts time flow—but you've already drained several years of your lifespan."

Hei Huang himself was envious of the hourglass. Ye's boy had grown increasingly mysterious lately—disappearing often, returning with strange items. If this red-haired kid weren't a cash cow whose value rose with his cultivation, Hei Huang would've demanded a share from Ye Fan already.

"I just want to grow stronger faster," Weigong Shilang stared silently at his sword. "I thought learning more couldn't hurt."

"The more you rush, the more you'll mess up," Hei Huang licked his other paw. "Who doesn't want to grow strong? If you keep flitting from one thing to another, you'll master nothing—and shatter at the first real opponent."

"You only need to focus on two things: Projection and Cultivation. Put alchemy and everything else aside for now!"

"Understood," Weigong Shilang bowed respectfully.

Hei Huang was right—he was indeed too restless. Since leaving his own world, and with the hourglass's interference, how long had it been since he returned?

"Shilang, you must come back safe and sound! If other worlds are too dangerous, you can always come back and rely on your sister!"

"Shilang, this time you'll pick my route, right? I don't even have a single route! Haha, you're blushing! Just kidding~ naughty kid."

That gathering, he and Dada Liya lived for two months in Lin's World, like real siblings—living together, playing FGO together, shopping together.

Then he sent Dada Liya back to her own world; since then, Weigong Shilang never returned, and he hadn't seen Sister Teng or Grandpa Lei Hua in a long time.

"Fortunately, even if I spend a few hundred years in another world, returning takes less than a second."

"You must guard against pride and impatience."

Weigong Shilang thought Han Li's words made perfect sense; he'd heard others say it too—that the foundation must be solid, cultivation must proceed step by step, and everyone in the group followed this path.

Weigong Shilang tilted his head, thought for a moment, then gave up—he felt some things needed proper reference points.

"Yes, like Brother Han Li."

Hei Huang nodded in satisfaction—Ruzike Sect, this kid still listened to others' advice; if only his thinking were a bit more flexible.

"By the way, what's this alchemy you mentioned?" Hei Huang asked curiously. "Ye's kid said you went to study—show me."

"It's used to forge weapons," Weigong Shilang glanced around. "Not a good time to demonstrate now."

Hei Huang blinked. "You mean weapon forging?"

"Yes, exactly," Weigong Shilang nodded, adding, "It's actually a very complex discipline, but I've only studied the spiritual and material aspects of forging techniques."

After a moment of silence, Hei Huang said, "I take back what I said earlier—put cultivation on hold for now; focus more on alchemy."

After all, cultivation isn't as important as making money.

"."

The man and the dog stared at each other for a while, when suddenly, a girl's voice came from outside the courtyard.

"Brother, you're back!"

————————

"What are you doing here? I was just about to look for you."

Tap-tap-tap

On Shuijing Peak, Su Lin watched KeLain, dressed in a brown trench coat and a top hat, wearing black leather boots, his right toe tapping rhythmically against the stone slabs with a solid sound.

"The plan has changed," KeLain's eyes held an odd expression; he stared fixedly at Su Lin, as if trying to see through him completely.

"What?" Su Lin frowned.

"Why can't I pull your Divine Light avatar from past history?"

He had originally planned to use Su Lin's Divine Light historical projection and Zhongli's historical projection to ambush Zarathustra and Amon after clearing the George III dungeon, since his current spiritual capacity could at least sustain a short battle.

But now it turned out—he hadn't drawn R, and this ordinary version of Su Lin in the gacha pool had zero combat power!

"." Su Lin hadn't expected KeLain to only now realize this.

When he obtained this scattered skill—historical projection—it was explicitly noted: anything produced by the system cannot be exploited via historical projection for free loopholes; otherwise, he wouldn't have had to personally intervene in Lu Mingfei's world.

"What else? If I could project myself from history, why would I waste durability on my divine core?"

"You call yourself Xia Luoke, yet you didn't even notice this key point?"

KeLain had no reply; he covered his mouth with his left hand, thinking of a new plan.

He admitted he'd been greedy before, wanting to keep Zarathustra and Amon—never mind that Amon himself had countless strange abilities; the Amon in Baker Street wasn't even his true body—his true body remained in the Land of the Forsaken Gods.

KeLain knew well: his final battle with Amon must take place on the Source Fortress; only then would Amon gamble everything to ascend to it. Before that, he needed Amon to steal the Godhood Ritual of Mr. Door—only Amon's theft could prevent lunar contamination.

Thus, he could only try to act against Zarathustra—but even this idea had slim feasibility, barely a chance of success, merely a desperate attempt using himself as bait.

KeLain still needed to reach the Land of the Forsaken Gods; originally, Su Lin's Divine Light historical projection was meant to be his trump card after being possessed by Amon—he would endure Amon's terror, then launch a surprise strike in the Land of the Forsaken Gods.

Unfortunately, Amon's sequence couldn't be swapped with Zarathustra's; otherwise, he could have saved all his strength to deal with Zarathustra.

"Hmm, a Sequence Three trying to fight a Sequence One Angel—since getting the chat group, my confidence has grown considerably, but most importantly, it's my friends."

"The closer the relationship, the easier it is to pull a historical projection—historical projection relies entirely on interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence."

"But now, if I can't project the Divine Light version of Su Lin, and Zhongli's historical projection is tied up, I can barely defend myself, let alone hold onto Zarathustra."

"Thus, having exposed one of my trump cards, next time I'll face Zarathustra, who's already better prepared—a cunning Servant of Secrecy who's laid his traps in advance."

Seeing KeLain lost in thought, Su Lin hesitated, then spoke: "Should I step out directly?"

KeLain rejected it: "If you reveal yourself, your future actions will be restricted. A true god who wanders beyond the Astral Plane and walks among mortals will become a target—those nations possess hidden angelic forces and Sequence 0 sealed artifacts; with support from orthodox churches, you'll become the center of all attacks."

"Besides, isn't your divine core's durability limited?"

A god with restricted power would struggle to handle such a situation.

"I've already solved the durability issue," Su Lin said.

KeLain's eyes widened, staring at Su Lin. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"You didn't ask," Su Lin said matter-of-factly.

"Still no good," KeLain decided, no longer overthinking. "Fine, stick to the original plan—I can protect myself."

"Protect yourself? Hmm..."

A deep, resonant voice sounded.

"Are you in trouble?"

Both looked upward—at the entrance of Wangshu Pavilion, Zhongli was descending the steps.

"If you're facing difficulties, feel free to tell me."

"Perhaps I can help."

End of chapter