Chapter 11: The Protagonist's Night Out

Now, let us turn our gaze back to the protagonist of this book, who has not appeared for two chapters.

In C Province, D City (or let's call it Province C, City D, or Province 3, City 4, whatever~), Zhao Lingyu finished his brick-moving work at the construction site for the day.

After finding a restaurant to eat, he didn't plan on going home immediately. One reason was that he was afraid the landlady auntie hadn't left yet if he went back too early... Another was that he wanted to try out the skill he had newly acquired yesterday. It was too late when he got the skill yesterday, and he didn't want to go out, so since he didn't want to go home early today, he would just find a place to test it.

Following the phone navigation, he slowly strolled out of the urban area and found a place with few people. He first wandered around the vicinity, and after the sky turned completely dark and he confirmed that there weren't many people living nearby or passing by, he began to test the skill.

First was the flight skill. After Zhao Lingyu steadied his mind, he looked up at the sky, then placed his left fist at his waist, raised his right fist high above his head, struck a Superman pose, kicked off with both legs, *whoosh*—he shot up, and then *thud*—he slammed face-first into the ground.

"... This thing is hard to control. It's hard to find the center of gravity after flying up. I have to do it a few more times to master it well. Good thing I came to try it today; if I hadn't tried it and had to learn it on the spot when I needed it someday, that would be nonsense..." Then, the next hour was just repeating *biu*, *splat*, *biu*, *splat*.

An hour later, Zhao Lingyu, who had fallen until he was bruised and swollen, finally mastered this flight skill. Flying at an altitude of twenty or thirty meters in the sky, sometimes flying in an 'S' shape, sometimes in a 'B' shape, Zhao Lingyu felt it was all worth it. Flying without external help really felt great.

Next was the Full-Power Critical Strike skill. There wasn't much to say about this skill; he found a large tree and hammered it for a while, then tried it with a stone and found that throwing objects could also trigger the skill, so he stopped testing, feeling satisfied.

Finally, there was the spell-casting skill, Summon Heavenly Thunder. It was still that same tree he had hammered earlier; with a *crack-boom*, he gave it a hit, and it was reduced to ashes... Zhao Lingyu had no choice but to find a few more trees to familiarize himself with the casting time and test the maximum casting distance before stopping.

After testing the skills, Zhao Lingyu took out his phone and checked; it was already past eleven, nearing twelve, so he planned to go back and rest.

Just then, a round of applause came from behind him, and a slightly aged voice spoke: "Young friend, excellent methods. This must be the supernatural ability you awakened, right? To have such a powerful lightning-type ability, what great luck."

Zhao Lingyu had already turned his head to look the moment the person made a sound. He saw an old man with white hair and a white beard, possessing an extraordinary temperament, looking ethereal and otherworldly, wearing a Taoist robe and holding a horsetail whisk, standing twenty or thirty meters away, looking at him in admiration.

"Who are you, what are you doing?" Zhao Lingyu looked at the Taoist-robed old man with slight vigilance. Judging from the old man's words, he must have seen the scene of him experimenting with the Summon Heavenly Thunder spell. Not only was he not scared away after seeing it, but he even dared to come out and strike up a conversation. Plus, at this time, in this location, and in this attire, he didn't look like an ordinary person at all. Moreover, the old man mentioned "supernatural ability," so it was possible this old man was also a wild supernatural user.

Therefore, Zhao Lingyu, filled with vigilance and caution, planned to go up and take down this old man if things went wrong. Looking at his old arms and legs, if they had to fight, he would first hit him with a Summon Heavenly Thunder, and if that didn't kill him, he would just go up and give him a couple of punches, and that should be the end of it.

The Taoist-robed old man opposite saw Zhao Lingyu's vigilance and caution, smiled indifferently, and explained: "Young friend, no need to be nervous. I am the master of the nearby Qingfeng Taoist Temple on the mountain, Taoist Qingfeng. Just now, while meditating in the temple, I heard the thunder here and saw this bolt of lightning from a clear sky, so I came down to investigate."

Zhao Lingyu had indeed discovered this Taoist temple on the nearby mountain while wandering around earlier, but it was at least ten kilometers away from where he was testing his skills. For this old Taoist Qingfeng to be able to sense his skill from so far away...

And from the time he started experimenting with the Summon Heavenly Thunder spell to the end, it had only been ten or twenty minutes. For old Taoist Qingfeng to discover his skill and cross over ten kilometers within such a short time, and to have been watching from behind him for who knows how long, he definitely did not look like a simple old Taoist.

"Well, now you've seen what the situation is. I'm going home too, so let's each go back to our own homes and find our own mothers. Goodbye, no need to see me off." As he spoke, Zhao Lingyu prepared to leave.

Old Taoist Qingfeng blocked Zhao Lingyu's path, a faint smile on his face as he spoke: "Young friend, no need to be in such a hurry to leave. I am not a bad person. It is rare to meet a talented and capable person like you, young friend; I just want to invite you to the temple for a chat. Besides, you shouldn't be from around here, right? I have lived here for decades and have never seen you. I have guest rooms in my temple; why not go to my temple to rest for the night and leave tomorrow?"

"No, no, my wife is still at home waiting for me to go back. If I don't go back so late, my wife will worry. I'll go chat with you at your temple another day, let's leave it at that for today." Zhao Lingyu had no desire to go back with an old man who had suddenly appeared and whose background was unknown.

After hearing Zhao Lingyu's words, old Taoist Qingfeng spoke again: "If you are going to be so uncooperative, young friend, then don't blame me for getting tough. Today, you are coming with me whether you want to or not." As old Taoist Qingfeng spoke, his expression changed to that of a street thug, and his Taoist robe began to flutter without wind, with a faint energy fluctuation emanating from his body.

Old Taoist Qingfeng continued to ask with a hooligan-like face: "Did you, you little brat, do something bad after awakening your supernatural ability? Confess honestly; leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist. If your attitude in surrendering is good, maybe I can give you a chance to turn over a new leaf."

Zhao Lingyu listened to old Taoist Qingfeng's words, completely dumbfounded. What the hell, the transition was too fast, right? Just a moment ago, he had the appearance of an otherworldly, transcendent Taoist master; how did he suddenly turn into a street-thug old hooligan?

After his shock, he was amused by old Taoist Qingfeng's words: "What the hell do you mean by doing something bad? Who did something bad? And what are you, you old thing? Who are you? 'Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist'? Do you believe I'll beat you up? Get lost, don't force me to hit an old man. See those trees over there? If you don't leave, I'll use lightning to strike you." As Zhao Lingyu spoke, he pointed at the trees he had struck earlier, then pointed his finger at old Taoist Qingfeng, posing as if he were about to cast a spell to threaten him.

However, Zhao Lingyu didn't actually intend to hit old Taoist Qingfeng. After all, Zhao Lingyu wasn't a serial killer, and this old Taoist Qingfeng hadn't attacked him right away. Although his attitude became a bit arrogant later, being arrogant wasn't against the law. Moreover, this old Taoist Qingfeng didn't look simple and seemed to know quite a lot; his current appearance was also quite intimidating, and he might have some sort of backing.