Damn, I'd let my words run away with me.
Sure enough, beautiful women were poison, disrupting my Dao heart.
Zhang Yuan's heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained calm as he answered, "Comics are similar to storybooks—novels and biographies written by ordinary people. They come with illustrations of the characters and are highly faithful to the story."
"Is there such a thing?" Yun Yun recalled for a moment, her delicate brows knitting. "Why have I never heard of it?"
"It's entertainment for ordinary people. It's normal that you wouldn't know about it." Zhang Yuan smiled.
"Could you tell me about one?" Yun Yun asked.
Was this woman really that curious?
Where was he supposed to find her a storybook at a time like this?
No, it wasn't as though he had nothing. He had read quite a few novels in his previous life. He only needed to adapt one a little.
With a quick turn of thought, Zhang Yuan smiled. "Since Sect Leader Yun Yun is interested, I don't mind telling you a bit. But talking on an empty stomach is no fun. I haven't had dinner yet, so how about we chat while we eat?"
Yun Yun had no objection. She was not truly interested in storybooks; she merely wanted an excuse to speak with Zhang Yuan, probe his background, and see whether she could recruit him into the Misty Cloud Sect or invest in befriending him early.
The two landed together atop a small mountain nearby. As a dignified Dou Emperor, Yun Yun casually hunted down a Fourth-tier Magical Beast. If there had been a Fifth-tier Magical Beast nearby, it probably would not have escaped her grasp either.
Zhang Yuan took out tools from his Storage Ring and skillfully skinned and butchered the Magical Beast. Finding a Fourth-tier Fire-Attribute Magic Core within it, he put it into his Storage Ring without a second thought, as though he had not noticed Yun Yun's amused smile.
"You look quite practiced. Do you often do this sort of thing?" Yun Yun took the initiative to make conversation.
She meant embezzling Magic Cores.
"I am indeed quite practiced." Zhang Yuan started a fire and dusted off his hands. "There are two things in this world that must not be let down. One of them is good food."
"If you want to eat well in the army, you definitely can't rely on the cooks. You can only rely on yourself."
Yun Yun dismissed her Dou Qi Wings and sat atop a huge boulder. With a proper posture and elegant bearing, she asked, "Other than good food, what is the other thing that must not be let down?"
Zhang Yuan turned and swept his gaze across Yun Yun's face, then chuckled. "If we get another chance to eat roasted meat together in the wilderness, I'll tell you then. For now, how about I first tell you about a storybook I once heard?"
Yun Yun nodded slightly. She was not the sort to dig endlessly for answers, and she was not that curious in the first place.
"The title of this storybook is Secret Chamber Dou Emperor. Sect Leader Yun Yun, you are one of the righteous side, while the other protagonist is a villain," Zhang Yuan began.
After giving it some thought, he decided to give Yun Yun a taste of the shock that was the legend of the hypocritical Sea God.
That knockoff cultivation system was actually rather compatible with the Dou Qi Continent.
"Secret Chamber Dou Emperor?" Yun Yun frowned instinctively. It did not sound like a very good title.
But upon hearing that she was on the righteous side, she did not interrupt Zhang Yuan. Resting her cheek in her hand, she listened attentively.
Zhang Yuan began telling the story vividly. "In the Central Region, there was a faction with a Dou Saint known as the Martial Soul Hall."
Ling Ying, hidden in the shadows: "..."
Martial Soul Hall? You might as well have said Soul Hall.
"The people of this faction loved to speak with a 'jie jie jie,' and the reason for that was because their chief Great Elder, Tang Xiao San, had such a habit. Those below followed her example."
Tang Xiao San?
That really did sound like a villain's name.
Yun Yun instinctively developed a trace of dislike for the name.
"The people of the Martial Soul Hall liked capturing human bodies for experiments. Tang Xiao San had committed every evil imaginable, and she was especially lustful. Because of that, she provoked an unparalleled expert and was suppressed with one hand. However, a sliver of her remnant soul escaped and possessed a foolish orphan in a remote village of a remote town within the Jia Ma Empire," Zhang Yuan continued.
Ling Ying: "..."
The Soul Hall was clearly interested in souls. How had adding one word turned it into bodies?
"Because her remnant soul was incomplete, Tang Xiao San remembered only her name, her hatred, her lustfulness, and her habitual 'jie jie jie.'"
"With the village's help, she barely avoided starving to death. After hearing of Dou Qi, she wanted to cultivate, but who in such a poor backwater could teach her? That was until an administrative elder of the Misty Cloud Sect came to teach the method of gathering Dou Qi for free. This was an ordinary-person support program the Misty Cloud Sect carried out every year."
Yun Yun: "?"
Since when had the Misty Cloud Sect become a charity organization that went to the countryside to alleviate poverty?
Such a thankless task—
Yun Yun had originally wanted to complain, but then she heard Zhang Yuan explain that every village held the Misty Cloud Sect in high regard because of this. They knew only the Misty Cloud Sect and not the Jia Ma Empire.
Then she heard that the Misty Cloud Sect sifted through the masses, teaching for only half a month each year, yet could discover some talented individuals who were exceptionally loyal to the Misty Cloud Sect.
A flash of inspiration crossed her mind, as though a new world had opened before her.
For basic talent assessments, they could actually refer to the student recruitment methods of Jia Nan Academy.
The Misty Cloud Sect had many disciples at the Dou Zhe and Dou Master realms. They could send them out to teach for half a month, register the cultivation progress of ordinary children along the way, and recruit the talented ones.
The cost would not be high, yet they could gain a good reputation and unearth geniuses.
This was an excellent idea!
Having gained something from it already, Yun Yun listened even more attentively.
When she heard that Tang Xiao San possessed outstanding talent, she quietly frowned.
When she heard that Tang Xiao San joined the Misty Cloud Sect, she found it strange.
When she heard that Tang Xiao San fell in love with her at first sight, her eyes widened. As expected, she was lustful.
When she heard that Tang Xiao San's former memories began to awaken as her strength grew, and that she secretly began controlling the Misty Cloud Sect, rage surged within her.
When she heard that Gu He accidentally discovered this and joined forces with her to deal with Tang Xiao San, she breathed a sigh of relief. But immediately afterward, Zhang Yuan said that Tang Xiao San had escaped by luck, entered Jia Nan Academy, and became the disciple of a master. With that master's help, she repaired her damaged remnant soul and swiftly regained her Dou Zong strength.
As repayment, she helped the master—who should have been stuck at the peak of Da Dou Shi for life—break through to the Dou Ling realm, then immediately slapped him to death herself, saying, "You've already become a Dou Ling. You should be satisfied. What makes you worthy of being the master of Tang Xiao San, protector of the Soul Hall?"
Ling Ying: "..."
How had an elder of the Martial Soul Hall become a protector of the Soul Hall?
If Ling Ying had been a transmigrator, she would definitely have said, "You've revealed a flaw now, haven't you?"
Zhang Yuan had deliberately added those details, but seeing Yun Yun listen so seriously, he continued. "Tang Xiao San killed her master, but she did not know that a guardian of Jia Nan Academy had witnessed it. She exhausted every means before escaping, then returned to the Jia Ma Empire to destroy the Misty Cloud Sect and take Yun Yun."
"Yun Yun had her own fortuitous opportunity and successfully broke through to the Dou Zong realm as well. The two sides fought."
At this point, Zhang Yuan sliced off a piece of roasted meat and handed it to Yun Yun. "Sect Leader Yun Yun, it's time to eat."
Yun Yun: "?"
"Right now, I only want to know whether I killed that ungrateful, utterly hypocritical, beastly Tang Xiao San or not," Yun Yun asked.
"Of course." Zhang Yuan nodded. "You won."
Yun Yun: "..."
"What about the details?"
"The details?" Zhang Yuan blinked. "How would ordinary people know the details of a battle between Dou Zongs? Sect Leader Yun Yun, do you know?"
Yun Yun: "..."
She truly had never seen one.
"Forget it. As long as I won in the end, that's enough." Yun Yun accepted the roasted meat and elegantly tore off a piece before placing it in her mouth.
The next moment, her eyes lit up as she praised, "It tastes quite good."
She quickly finished the portion in her hand and took another one herself.
At the same time, she did not forget to ask, "So why is this comic called Secret Chamber Dou Emperor?"
(End of Chapter)
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