Time Flies Like the Wind

The purple barrier dispersed, revealing the two figures.

Ye Kong had returned to his previous appearance, a casual smile on his face as he rubbed the Monkey Head Bell at his waist, as though nothing had happened.

Wen Qingxuan was overcome with mixed feelings, her expression somewhat dazed as she processed the overwhelming amount of information.

Just moments ago, he had been a reputation-conscious, money-grubbing master swindler. In the blink of an eye, he had become an unparalleled prodigy who cared for the world and harbored lofty ideals. Even now, the change was hard to believe.

Although he had put on a serious face before coming out and said things like, "Making money is to speed up cultivation, studying is to raise funds, and I'm studying hard to make Spiritual Mountain great again," Wen Qingxuan still found it difficult to believe.

Could he truly be an exceptional prodigy concerned with the world, with all his previous behavior merely a disguise? Thinking carefully, he really had never done anything bad... aside from being excessively harsh on his disciples.

"Pah, pah, pah. How could I think a guy so obsessed with money and fame is a good person? I must have been fooled by him again."

Wen Qingxuan spat inwardly and secretly resolved that when she returned to the Sacred Buddha Continent to scold him, she would definitely add a few personal jabs and see how he handled them.

She needed to seek advice from her ancestor, He Po. The old lady had lived long enough to become shrewd; she would surely know exactly how to scold someone where it hurt most.

In the distance, Jinjiu Master raised his head, wanting to ask what Ye Kong had said while avoiding his good comrade. But when he caught sight of Ye Kong rubbing Zi Ling, his gaze darkened for an instant before he immediately put on a natural smile, ran over, slung an arm around Ye Kong's shoulders, and asked in a low voice:

"What is it? Did the mountain send a message?"

Ye Kong's expression remained unchanged, and his tone was relaxed.

"I accidentally spoke a little too loudly just now, so Master and Senior Brother heard me. Senior Brother sent a message telling me to return as soon as I'm done having fun."

Hearing that, Jinjiu Master grew even more curious.

"Didn't you say Mountain Lord and your Senior Brother usually don't interfere with you much? Why would they suddenly send a message? Are you planning to make things even bigger and swindle the entire Wen Family of the Northern Region... Mmph!"

A string of dark lines appeared across Ye Kong's fair face. One hand above and one hand below, he firmly covered Jinjiu Master's mouth.

Damn it, did this guy have no sense at all? Wen Qingxuan was standing right beside them, yet he was talking about swindling her entire family. How had this guy survived for decades on the mountain?

Although people here generally had tragically low intelligence, they couldn't just grow older without growing any brains.

As the two messed around, a gate of light suddenly appeared high in the sky. The three instructors emerged overhead, and the black-faced middle-aged man spoke, his voice ringing throughout the trial space.

"This Life-and-Death Trial has ended. Everyone still alive must arrive beneath the gate of light within half an incense stick's time. Otherwise, you will remain here forever!"

"Perfect. We were about to leave anyway."

Ye Kong put Jinjiu Master into the Mustard Seed Bracelet, called the two women over, and headed toward the gate of light.

Half an incense stick later, everyone who had survived in the trial space had arrived before the teleportation passage. Including Ye Kong, there were twenty-nine people in total, showing just how brutal the trials of the past half month had been.

"Not bad. Twenty-nine people surviving is fairly decent."

The black-faced middle-aged man swept his gaze over the crowd, then gave Ye Kong, who stood among them, a deeply wary look before beginning to tally the scores on the Blood Tokens.

Although he had beaten that group of crocodiles until both body and soul were destroyed earlier, Cauldron Cook had also lured over and killed quite a few Spirit Beasts in recent days. His score was sixty-five, placing him second among everyone present.

The first-ranked person was naturally Wen Qingxuan, who had reached the peak the moment she entered the scene by consecutively killing five High-level Spirit Beast Gale Wolves.

A score of one hundred and fifty was despairingly high, drawing gasps of amazement from countless people. Wen Qingxuan's calm, unruffled demeanor drew even more admiration, and many secretly resolved that if they got the chance later, they would cling tightly to her thigh.

Before leaving, Ye Kong gave Wen Qingxuan a blue jade stone for tracking purposes, then stepped through the gate of light ahead of her and entered the final Spiritual Road.

After a familiar wave of spatial fluctuations, Ye Kong suppressed the urge to use Supernatural Footwork and run around. He sensed the patterns of this spatial formation, compared them against what he knew, and concluded that this thing was an inferior product.

When the familiar sunlight appeared again, Ye Kong opened his eyes and examined his surroundings. It looked like a vast, primitive grassland.

"Come out, Brother Lion. See whether there are any interesting people here. Great if there are; no big deal if there aren't. Once we meet Little Wen and cook a couple more rounds, it'll be time for us to leave."

Ye Kong gazed into the distance. As he released Jinjiu Master to stroke his fur, he recalled all sorts of plots he had read about in his past life, searching for chances to reap benefits.

"If I remember correctly, Luo Li's mind isn't quite right at this point. Not only did she kill plenty of enemies in the Spiritual Road, she even hunted down people who tried to curry favor with her. Only Mu Chen had protagonist treatment—he spent more than half a year wearing her down before winning her over."

After some thought, Ye Kong determined one thing—unless he was willing to slowly wear her down, he had no way of communicating with Luo Li as he had fooled Wen Qingxuan.

In his view, spending a year or half a year like Mu Chen on this kind of "he runs, she chases, and in the end he cannot escape" pursuit game was simply a waste of life, and it would only annoy the audience.

If Luo Li truly had the strength, that would be one thing. But right now, he could kill her ten times with a single palm strike. The Luoshen Clan was also in a precarious situation; making them produce even one or two hundred million portions of Supreme Spirit Liquid would probably cost them their lives.

First, she was not as easy to fool as Little Wen. Second, her family was not as wealthy as Little Wen's. The returns were too low. He could never get his hands on the Luoshen Clan's inheritances, and as for the Great Spirit Ancient Clan later on... that Primal Dharma Body really was a good thing, but when disaster struck the world, it would not be difficult to ask them to take it out.

"Time flies like the wind; how many stories have left behind such memories? It's been fifteen years. Is Blue Star doing well?"

His thoughts continued to drift, and as Ye Kong thought, he recalled the past on Blue Star. But that had already been more than fifteen years ago.

Seeing Ye Kong fall into a daze, Jinjiu Master nudged his clothes and asked with concern:

"Little Kong, what's wrong? Are you all right?"

Jinjiu Master's voice pulled Ye Kong back to reality. He came to his senses and smiled.

"It's nothing. I just thought of some old memories and got distracted. Let's go."

Great Spiritual Mountain, Myriad Buddha Hall.

A monkey with a furry face and a thunder-god's mouth wore a purple-gold kasaya and sprawled carelessly across the Buddha seat to the right of Mountain Lord Shi Zhen. Holding a banana in his right hand, he scratched his ears and cheeks from time to time, laughing as he watched everything in the water screen.

"Hehehe, Master. I told you my Junior Brother had spiritual insight, didn't I? Look at him—he even shouted a slogan like 'make Spiritual Mountain great again,' and even I feel fired up hearing it. Compared to that, aren't you doing a rather lousy job as Mountain Lord?"

Mountain Lord Shi Zhen was not angry at his eldest disciple, who remained wildly unruly despite being confined year-round. He merely smiled kindly.

"If you can persuade your grandfather to stop being the Young Clan Leader of the Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe, then as your master, I will immediately invite guests from all around and announce you as this mountain's Young Lord. How about it?"

"Hey, no, no, no. You old geezer are wicked. If I became your heir, I'd have no idea how many rules I'd have to follow. Just thinking about it gives me a headache. Can't do it, can't do it."

The old monk unleashed his ultimate move, and Lu Shengjun immediately found the banana in his hand tasteless. He waved both hands repeatedly.

"That makes things troublesome. You don't want the position, and your Junior Brother doesn't want to become a monk. How is he supposed to make the Buddhist Sect great again? Without becoming Mountain Lord, he cannot command Spiritual Mountain's countless monks."

Mountain Lord Shi Zhen stroked his two white brows and spoke as though troubled.

"Isn't there still you? You're his master. If you won't help him, who will?"

Lu Shengjun did not take the bait and looked completely matter-of-fact.

"That is different!" Shi Zhen's expression turned much more serious.

"Is it different? I don't think there's much difference."

Lu Shengjun sat up a little straighter, took the last bite of his banana, and said as he chewed:

"In the Great Thousand World, strength is supreme. If he becomes a Saint grade Heavenly Sovereign, what great monk would dare not take his words seriously? A title is only useful for fooling children.

It's nice to have, but it does not matter if he doesn't. Everyone knows he is your disciple anyway."

Shi Zhen said nothing. He only looked quietly at Lu Shengjun. The candles in the hall burned steadily, and a gentle breeze drifted through. Yet when it touched Lu Shengjun's face, it felt somewhat cold. Shi Luo, beside them, looked as though he wanted to speak but held himself back, his face full of conflict. The atmosphere was exceedingly strange.

After a long while, Lu Shengjun's laughter broke the silence.

"Hehe, I understand now. It seems Junior Brother's eyes are brighter than mine, despite my fame for eye techniques. I was wondering why he said he wanted to make Spiritual Mountain great again. So that's how it is. Of course, that's how it is..."

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