Zhao Gongming's Self-Persuasion!

Chang'er Dingguang Immortal's words did indeed cause quite an uproar, but it was quickly suppressed. After all, Duobao Tathagata was the chief disciple.

How could he possibly allow such rumors to spread?

What was more, he had also witnessed Sect Master Tongtian's actions earlier.

Naturally, he knew that Master seemed to be somewhat wary of Chang'er Dingguang Immortal.

No...

It would be more accurate to say that he disliked him!

He had originally intended to reward him, yet for some reason suddenly changed his mind. Naturally, Master had his reasons.

Thus, Duobao Tathagata suppressed the matter with remarkable speed!

Besides Chang'er Dingguang Immortal, there were quite a few other voices as well, but all of them were suppressed.

Inside Jade Purity Palace.

Zhao Gongming had been watching Lin Chuan for a quarter of an hour.

Yet...

From beginning to end, Lin Chuan had not changed his posture. He really was asleep, and that left Zhao Gongming quite astonished.

This...

He really wasn't cultivating?

Every cultivator basically wanted to seize every moment of their time. There was absolutely no way they would waste even the slightest bit.

Moreover, upon encountering such an excellent sacred ground for cultivation, they would surely become even more tireless, forgetting food and sleep.

Yet when it came to Senior Brother Lin, it was not like that at all, leaving him thoroughly bewildered!

Under such excellent cultivation conditions, he was actually constantly lost in slumber. If it had been someone whose strength was not particularly great, then such decadent behavior might still have been understandable.

But now that it was Lin Chuan, Zhao Gongming was immediately filled with intense confusion.

He was utterly dumbfounded on the spot.

After all, they had truly fought before, and he clearly knew the gap between their strengths.

If Zhao Gongming had to evaluate him, he could only say that Senior Brother Lin was unfathomable.

Even after he had unleashed such power, he had failed to harm him in the slightest. It had to be said that perhaps his hidden strength was simply too great.

By all reason, the stronger one was, the harder one must have worked in secret.

But...

the scene before him remained impossible for Zhao Gongming to understand.

"I must be hallucinating!"

"I must be!"

"Senior Brother Lin possesses unparalleled talent and unfathomable strength, yet he usually keeps such a low profile."

"In secret, he must be incomparably diligent."

"There is no way he could be such a lazy person!"

Zhao Gongming thought to himself.

At the same time, a faint glimmer of realization surfaced in his mind. He knew full well that Senior Brother Lin had always kept an extremely low profile. Perhaps this action, too, was merely meant to deceive others.

He was deliberately misleading people, which was why he could appear so low-key. Otherwise, how could he have remained in the outer sect all this time?

It was because he was too low-key.

He clearly possessed unparalleled strength.

Had Master not discovered him, Senior Brother Lin would have continued hiding in the outer sect.

Now, Master had made an exception and promoted him to a Personal Disciple, but in order to avoid drawing the attention of others, he was once again cultivating in this manner!

That had to be it!

That was absolutely it!

Zhao Gongming fiercely slapped his forehead.

He wore the expression of someone who had suddenly seen the light.

After all, since he possessed such strength, there was no way he did not cultivate. No matter how great someone's talent was, they could never possibly refrain from cultivating.

And judging from what had happened before...

Lin Chuan was definitely hiding his strength, and he had kept an exceptionally low profile while doing so.

There was absolutely no mistake about it!

Hmm~

A trace of admiration faintly gleamed in Zhao Gongming's eyes. He had never imagined that someone could use this as bait and so easily deceive his senses.

It was practically as if he were truly asleep.

If he did not know his senior brother well, he would have absolutely believed that his senior brother had fallen asleep by now.

Wasting his talent away.

"Senior Brother is simply incredible. I never expected him to have such a trick up his sleeve. If everyone thinks Senior Brother is slacking off, then they are gravely mistaken!"

"If they look down on Senior Brother Lin because of this..."

"Then things will truly get interesting."

"No wonder he has remained in the Outer Sect as an Outer Sect Disciple. It must be because he does not want too many people disturbing him, so he can cultivate in peace."

"This is bad! I have not yet reached Senior Brother Lin's level. It seems I still need to temper myself properly at times—my skill is not yet ripe enough."

Zhao Gongming's thoughts were extraordinarily active.

Because in his eyes, no matter what Lin Chuan did, it was entirely reasonable.

He would never do anything useless.

Moreover, he possessed unparalleled talent, and his strength was unfathomable. If he were truly wasting himself away like this, how could he possibly possess such strength?

Together with all his previous actions, Zhao Gongming believed this was all meant to mislead others. If others truly believed that Lin Chuan was wasting away his cultivation, then when he finally revealed all his strength, everyone's jaws would surely hit the floor.

That had to be it!

At that moment, for some reason, Zhao Gongming felt a faint sense of anticipation. He looked forward to the day Senior Brother Lin unleashed all of his strength.

Just imagining everyone's stunned expressions then was exhilarating.

After all, he believed that he alone had discovered this secret so far; no one else had noticed it. In other words, this was a secret belonging only to him and Senior Brother Lin.

"I must keep Senior Brother Lin's secret."

"I absolutely cannot let anyone else find out. Besides, there will be a competition before long!"

"Only by taking first place in the competition might one earn Master's favor and receive a greater share of resources."

"It seems Senior Brother Lin is determined to win."

"Then I cannot let down my guard either. I must raise my strength as quickly as possible. I have only just become an Inner Sect Disciple, so I need to put on a good showing."

"If I perform poorly, not only will I disgrace Master, I may even cause Senior Brother Lin to lose face."

"No!"

"I cannot disappoint Senior Brother!"

Zhao Gongming's thoughts were countless; he had even begun talking himself into it. If Lin Chuan knew what Zhao Gongming was thinking, his eyes would surely fall out of his head.

After all, his thoughts were nowhere near so complicated. He merely wanted to slack off and coast.

Cultivation?

Did someone like him even need to cultivate?

Strength?

Why would he need to work hard?

With a casual increase in cultivation, his strength shot upward, rising by leaps and bounds.

There was simply no need to work too hard. Besides, the more useless and lazy he appeared, the more likely he was to be expelled.

Especially if he could leave this Place of Right and Wrong. He did not want to remain here any longer; every day he stayed felt like another day of danger.

Who knew when someone might blow his head off?

Just thinking about it was exhilarating!

The crisis was gradually bearing down on him.