Kill the Protagonist Early

Guidance?

As Gu Yuan observed Fu Chengqin, he seemed to gain insight into a second ability.

Guiding a cultivator's thoughts?

That was quite a useful ability.

As a book, Gu Yuan naturally wanted as many abilities as possible. That would give him a better chance of eventually ignoring the spatial restrictions imposed by cultivators.

Unfortunately, this guidance ability was still too weak.

Gu Yuan quietly watched Fu Chengqin continue cultivating cross-legged, but there was nothing he could do.

Sigh, this kid is still too young. He doesn't understand that every second counts. Delay invites change.

Time passed.

Gu Yuan had long lost any real sense of time. Whether it was one night, an entire day, or several days made no difference to him as a book.

After all, he did not need to cultivate. He just coasted through each day, eating and waiting to die.

Inside the main hall.

Fu Chengqin told his father about his thoughts.

Of course, he did not say that he had been reborn. He merely told his father that Chu Tian had once bullied him, implying that Chu Tian was evil, acted recklessly, defied heaven and reason, and deserved to die a thousand deaths.

In short, there was only one point: this man deserved to die, but Fu Chengqin could not defeat him himself, so he wanted his father to act quietly and dispose of the body afterward.

Fu Tianming's expression did not change much. His gaze rested on his son's face as though he were considering something.

As a third party listening to the conversation between father and son, Gu Yuan truly could not tell whether Fu Tianming would agree.

"Chu Tian dared to do such a thing?"

Fu Tianming's voice was calm, making it impossible to discern what he was thinking.

"Father, please eliminate him."

Fu Chengqin's voice was firm.

After all, Gu Yuan had been guiding his thoughts all along. It had some effect, at least.

"This is simple. However..."

Fu Tianming walked from Fu Chengqin's right to his left, gently patted his shoulder, and left his sentence unfinished.

"However, you came too late."

Too late?

What was that supposed to mean?

Gu Yuan was completely baffled. Why could these people not speak clearly? Everything they said was ambiguous, leaving people unable to make heads or tails of it.

Oh, right. He did not seem to have a head anymore. Never mind, then.

"Please enlighten me, Father."

"When facing an enemy, remember three words: early, swift, thorough."

"When I was young, I suffered because I was not early enough, not swift enough, and not thorough enough. I allowed an enemy to grow, and in the end, I had to pay a far greater price."

"So regarding Chu Tian, you should have told me sooner. Do you understand?"

Fu Tianming's voice echoed through the hall, leaving Fu Chengqin, who was listening to the lesson, slightly stunned.

Wasn't that how he had died in his previous life?

Unfortunately, he had not had his father's luck.

Early, swift, thorough?

It was not just Fu Chengqin who was stunned. Gu Yuan had not expected to find a normal person in a world like one from a novel!

He was so normal that it was almost abnormal.

Sure enough, a real cultivation world was different from novels.

Still, something was missing.

For example, one had to be especially cautious around people with the surnames Ye, Lin, Xiao, Wang, Su, Qin, Chen, Zhou, Fang, and Chu. Even the eggs at home had to be shaken until their yolks broke.

Gu Yuan silently added this in his heart, but the more he thought about it, the stranger it felt.

What he had just added seemed to be aimed at protagonists.

Why did Fu Chengqin's actions seem to be drifting further and further away from those of a protagonist?

Still, it probably was not a big problem.

Villain-focused stories were quite popular too.

Cangyuan Palace, Outer Sect.

As the place with the most disciples in the entire sect, it was crowded in many areas, and Qi Refinement cultivators could be seen everywhere.

A young man wandered through the bustling streets, looking around as though searching for something.

After a long while, his gaze settled on a corner.

It should be here.

The young man walked straight to the stall and began casually picking through its goods. His expression barely changed, though he frowned from time to time.

It seemed he was quite dissatisfied with the items at the stall.

"Senior Brother, these items seem rather overpriced."

After idly fiddling with several objects, the young man spoke and looked at the stall owner across from him.

"Hehe, Junior Brother, you jest. These items all came from a secret realm. Every one of them is a treasure."

The stall owner carefully sized up the young man before responding with a smile, not angered by his words.

Hah, every seller says that, the young man grumbled inwardly.

But he was determined to get that item today.

After several rounds of bargaining, the young man finally traded for a small furnace at a low price and even had the other party throw in a little black stone.

It was fortunate that Gu Yuan was not there. If he had seen this, he probably would have cursed the stall owner for being an idiot.

It was far too classic!

This was practically a guide to avoiding scams at market stalls!

These people had only suffered because they had read too few fantasy novels.

"Chu Tian, Chu Tian, why are you here?"

Just as Chu Tian put away the items, a voice called out from nearby, drawing closer and closer.

The newcomer was a broad, fat man at the middle stage of Qi Refinement. He panted as he gestured toward Chu Tian.

Then, losing his footing, he fell straight to the ground.

"What happened, Fatty Wang?"

Seeing the man's figure, Chu Tian knew without even looking at his face that it was his unlucky friend. He hurried over and helped him up.

He truly did not know how this friend of his had survived all these years. He suffered small bouts of bad luck every day, medium bouts every ten days, and major bouts every month.

He was genuinely unlucky.

"This month's routine task has been announced."

Fatty Wang had clearly grown used to his bad luck. He dusted off his clothes and spoke.

A task?

Oh, Chu Tian had nearly forgotten. It was time for the sect's monthly routine task.

But did it seem to have come several days early?

Chu Tian supported Fatty Wang, then followed him to the Outer Sect Task Hall.

Outer Sect Task Hall.

At that moment, quite a few outer sect disciples surrounded the task hall.

From time to time, complaints could be heard from disciples saying that only half a month had passed since the last task, so why had this one come so early?

Naturally, they were only grumbling. They still had to do the task.

That was how the outer sect was.

Avoiding tasks required a certain number of contribution points, and there were limited ways to obtain contribution points. One either completed tasks or exchanged items for them.

Therefore, if they did not want to perform monthly tasks, they needed to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm early and enter the inner sect.

But entering the inner sect was not so easy.

Listening to the disciples' complaints, Chu Tian frowned slightly as well. The timing was indeed strange and did not match the past.

"Ah, there are so many people. How long will we have to wait in line?"

Fatty Wang could not help sighing as he looked at the crowd.

"No hurry."

Standing amid the crowd, Chu Tian reassured Fatty Wang.

Having obtained that opportunity today, he no longer cared so much about selecting an easy task.

As for Fatty Wang... when had that unlucky guy ever gotten an easy monthly task?