"Senior Brother, yesterday's Apricot Spirit Charcoal Grilled Fish was delicious."
The next day, Lan Ling'e was completely different from her usual lazy self. She was cheerful and lively, chattering nonstop about yesterday's delicious meal.
Li Yang gazed fondly at Lan Ling'e's cherry-red lips and shook his head with a silent laugh.
What a little glutton. What kind of respectable person would hide their true form inside one of their avatar's teeth just to get a bite to eat?
With a hiding method like yours, who wouldn't see through it?
Li Yang grumbled to himself, but there wasn't much he could do. Lan Ling'e was talented, but she still fell far short of him and Li Changshou.
Ten years to Refining Void—that was an achievement that would take an ordinary Qi Practitioner a thousand years.
The thought flashed by, and Li Yang replied with a smile, "Of course. Just look at who grilled it."
"Exactly!" Lan Ling'e nodded enthusiastically. "It was way better than Senior Disciple Brother's—Wait, we have a test today."
Just as she was speaking, Lan Ling'e suddenly lost her enthusiasm. Senior Disciple Brother was great in every way, but those tests were such a pain.
Li Yang seemed to have only just remembered, too. He flicked his wrist, cast out his fishing line, and rocked gently in his reclining chair.
Add a little blanket covering his belly button...
It made him look like he was thinking, This is the life.
"All right, who wants to take today's test first?"
At some point, Li Changshou had appeared behind Lan Ling'e, holding a Bronze Mirror.
"Ah!"
With a startled cry, Lan Ling'e—who had just been bouncing around happily—turned into a Paper Man and vanished.
"??? Hm??"
Li Changshou fell silent. Li Yang, who had heard the commotion, peered over the side of his chair with his mouth agape.
"What the hell? That was fake! Where's Ling'e's true form?"
Li Yang and Li Changshou stared at each other in confusion.
This didn't make sense.
Lan Ling'e had been right under their noses the whole time. Where had her true form gone?
"Hahahaha, Senior Brothers, did I fool you?"
As they stood there bewildered, Lan Ling'e's bright laughter came from below.
Her voice was full of smugness and glee.
The two men looked down, and their faces immediately darkened.
The Paper Man avatar quickly swelled until it returned to normal size.
So... Lan Ling'e had just used the Transformation Technique to turn herself into a Paper Man.
Li Changshou's brow twitched. A huge, shadowy hand descended from the sky and grabbed Lan Ling'e.
"I taught you the Steady Character Scripture, and you're using it to show off your cleverness?
"You think that makes you smart?
"You think the most dangerous place is the safest?
"You idiot!
"Nine out of ten people would pick up a Paper Man like you. The last one would blow up the Paper Man and all the land around it.
"Tell me, how do you want to die?"
Li Changshou's roar shook the heavens. He gripped Lan Ling'e by the shoulders and shook her hard, making her already-not-very-bright head even more muddled.
"S-S-Senior Brother, don't panic. I-I'm gonna throw up."
Dizzy, Lan Ling'e opened her mouth and vomited. Countless supplies poured out, burying Li Changshou, who hadn't had time to react, and Li Yang, who was in the reclining chair beside him.
"Ow!"
At the top of the pile of junk... the hill of supplies, Lan Ling'e fell out of thin air and landed butt-first on a sword. Its guard jabbed her, and she clutched her rear, crying out in pain.
"Lan! Ling'e!"
Two furious roars came from beneath the pile of junk... the hill of supplies. Li Yang was the first to fly out.
"You can't even keep your space stable, and you dare live in it?"
Li Yang was the angriest of them all.
Normally, the space created by the Pot of Heaven Technique was a temporary place to rest. It wasn't very stable, but it did have the advantage of being well hidden.
In theory, the Pot of Heaven Technique wasn't meant for Qi Practitioners like them, who hadn't yet become immortals. Li Yang had only managed to adapt it for Mortal Realm Cultivators by relying on his trait.
But that had made the space even less stable. The larger it was, the less stable it became.
So Li Yang had later modified it again, incorporating various formations and the like. Only after pouring in vast resources had he created a stable space.
Even Li Yang's own space had taken more than three hundred immortal "artifacts" and "pills"—avatars whose strength was comparable to Origin Immortals—along with numerous avatars at the Return to Dao stage and below, plus an abundance of Immortal Artifacts and Magic Treasures, to expand it to a sufficient size and make it stable.
Yet Lan Ling'e's space had let her spew out so much junk, and she'd been shaken into vomiting with barely any effort.
That was proof enough that the space she'd opened was far too large, that its structure hadn't been made stable, and that all its other features were a complete mess.
If she got into a fight with an enemy, someone could blow it apart before she even had a chance to fight back.
The force of the shattered space would be enough to kill a little girl who hadn't become an immortal, leaving not even a scrap behind.
That was what made Li Yang so furious.
How dare this little girl do something like that?
"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, I was wrong."
Facing her furious Senior Brother, who was barely two months older than her, Lan Ling'e wrapped both arms around Li Yang's and gave him a fawning, ingratiating smile.
"My dear, dear Senior Brother, my super, unbelievably handsome Senior Brother, you're so amazing. You'll forgive me, right?"
Her coquettish act instantly dissipated Li Yang's anger. All that remained was helpless frustration that she hadn't learned her lesson. He chided her, "Ling'e, spatial techniques are among the most powerful arts, but they're also the most dangerous. If you keep being so careless, you'll pay dearly for it one day."
Seeing him like this, Lan Ling'e knew he wasn't angry anymore, so she became even more cheerful. Her voice grew syrupy.
"Senior Brother, you're simply the best and most handsome Senior Brother in the whole world."
As Lan Ling'e spoke in that sweet, coaxing voice, she had no idea that Li Changshou—who had crawled out of the junk pile with a fruit peel on his head—was standing behind her, his expression dark.
"Oh? He's the best and most handsome Senior Brother in the world? What about me?"
His voice was as bone-chilling as the winter wind. Lan Ling'e felt her back go cold, as if she'd fallen into an ice cellar. She stiffly turned her head and saw Senior Disciple Brother behind her, filthy from head to toe and seething with rage.
"S-S-S-S-S-S-Senior—"
"Senior nothing!"
In a fury, Li Changshou grabbed Lan Ling'e and shoved her into the Bronze Mirror before she could react.
Then his voice drifted into her ear, as cold as the ice of the netherworld.
"Test difficulty: doubled!"
"No, please!!!"
Lan Ling'e wailed and sobbed, but Li Changshou firmly pressed the activation rune.
Then he turned his fierce gaze toward Li... Huh? Where'd he go?
Li Yang had somehow moved his reclining chair to the other side of the Spiritual Lake. He was lying in it, and even his fishing rod with its straight hook had gone with him.
Li Changshou's pupils contracted slightly as he quickly did the math.
"I used so many surveillance methods, and none of them detected him. His cultivation must be at the Return to Dao Ninth Stage by now, and his combat strength might rival an Origin Immortal.
"In that case... I might as well bring him along to the Sect Trial Tournament and have him help draw the enemy's fire."
Six days later, Li Changshou said to Li Yang, who was lying in his reclining chair, "Junior Brother, come on. We're going to the Sect Trial Tournament."
Li Yang looked drowsy. "Senior Brother, you said it was dangerous out there. Going out before I've even reached Chaotic Origin is far too reckless."
With a helpless look, Li Changshou watched Li Yang yawn and turn over. "Senior Brother, if nothing's going on, I'm going to sleep. Go on ahead, and come back soon. Have a safe trip!"
Seeing this, Li Changshou didn't bother arguing. He grabbed Li Yang and dragged him out, lecturing him as they went.
"Why sleep so much in life? You'll have plenty of time to sleep when you're dead.
"Only useless people sleep.
"I've never slept a day in my life. What do you need sleep for?"
Before you continue