Knock, knock, knock!
The next day, a burst of urgent knocking forcibly dragged Lin Mo out of his cultivation.
Who else could it be but Lü Mingtong, the steward of the Maidservant Department?
"Steward Lü, long time no see. You seem to be getting younger and younger. Heh."
When he opened the door, Lü Mingtong's familiar face came into view, tinged with displeasure. Lin Mo greeted him as he always did.
"How did you know I reached Foundation Establishment five years ago and gained two hundred years of lifespan?"
"..."
Lin Mo gave an awkward yet polite smile.
Who the hell asked you?
After that refreshingly shameless display of boasting, Lü Mingtong returned to the matter at hand and said condescendingly, "Lin Mo, why aren't you kneeling before me? Are your bones itching for a beating?"
"Heh." Lin Mo smiled without revealing a thing. "You want this old man to kneel to you at the sect leader's doorstep? Steward Lü, how mighty you are."
With the greetings out of the way, Lin Mo naturally had no intention of indulging Lü Mingtong anymore.
After all, he had already submitted his letter reporting Lü Mingtong's misconduct.
Whether Liu Ziyan intervened or not, he no longer needed to bow and scrape before Lü Mingtong as he once had.
Either Lü Mingtong would be taken away by the Enforcement Hall and brought down, or Lin Mo would die.
But Lin Mo believed the former was more likely.
Back when he had first arrived at the First Saint Sect, he had suffered no shortage of bullying and suppression at Lü Mingtong's hands.
At the time, Lü Mingtong had only been an ordinary Servant Disciple, but his long tenure had made him a slippery old hand.
Who would have thought that a hundred years later, the punk who had only known how to throw his weight around would have worked his way up to steward of the Maidservant Department?
With Lin Mo invoking Liu Ziyan's name to keep him in check, Lü Mingtong really had no way to argue.
He simply stopped bothering about whether Lin Mo knelt and snapped instead, "Hmph, we haven't seen each other for a while, and you've grown quite bold. Is it because you know you haven't got long to live?"
"But don't think I'll pity you just because you're about to die."
"I shouldn't need to explain why I'm here again."
"Someone else will handle the menial duties at the Purple Heaven Palace from now on. You're going back to the Maidservant Department to enjoy a nice, peaceful retirement!"
Seeing Lin Mo standing motionless, Lü Mingtong sneered, "What? Don't want to leave? Or do you want me to have you carried back?"
As he spoke, Lü Mingtong waved his hand.
The Servant Disciples behind him stepped forward, intending to haul Lin Mo back.
"No need to trouble yourselves, Steward Lü. This old man can walk."
Stepping past Lü Mingtong and his group, Lin Mo left the room first.
Under Lü Mingtong and the others' "escort," Lin Mo returned to the Maidservant Department.
The moment he returned to the Maidservant Department, gazes turned toward Lin Mo from every direction.
Some were puzzled, some mocking, and some simply eager to watch the show.
There were also the lovestruck looks from the female Servant Disciples.
Just as with Su Yu, although Lin Mo looked weathered and frail, like a candle guttering in the wind, those female Servant Disciples somehow saw in him a charm unique to old men.
Lin Mo was no longer some fresh-faced newcomer, either. As for all those gazes directed his way,
he could now keep his heart completely unruffled.
When they reached a secluded room in the Maidservant Department, Lü Mingtong said, "Get in. From now on, you're not to take half a step outside this room without my orders!"
"Even if you die, you'd better die in there!"
Lin Mo could not be bothered to waste words on Lü Mingtong.
He knew Lü Mingtong all too well. The man was almost no different from how he had been a hundred years ago.
The only difference was that, as steward of the Maidservant Department, he had become even more brazen.
Back in the Maidservant Department, Lü Mingtong naturally no longer needed to keep up appearances with Lin Mo.
To the vast First Saint Sect, menials like Lin Mo were practically invisible.
If a young Servant Disciple died without explanation, he would still have to give the Enforcement Hall an account.
But Lin Mo was different.
After all, he was a dying man whose lifespan was nearly spent.
If he died one day, no one would look too deeply into it.
That gave Lü Mingtong plenty of room to maneuver.
Clang!
Once Lin Mo entered, two Servant Disciples immediately slammed the door shut and locked it.
"Watch him. If he escapes, I'll hold you responsible."
"Yes, Steward Lü!"
Inside the room.
Lin Mo sat cross-legged, his weathered eyes as still as a pool of water, without the slightest ripple.
Judging by Liu Ziyan's attitude toward him that day, if she truly wanted him to live and had received the letter he had entrusted Su Yu to submit,
then surely Liu Ziyan would take the opening he had offered her.
Although Lin Mo had been at the First Saint Sect for a long time, he had few connections.
His only connection might well have been Liu Ziyan, whose attitude he could never quite fathom.
Now, Lin Mo could only pin all his hopes on Liu Ziyan.
With no one disturbing him, Lin Mo wasted no time and immediately began cultivating.
His cultivation was still far too weak.
Whether in the First Saint Sect or anywhere else on the Heavenly Abyss Continent, strength was the only truth.
Now that he had awakened his Pure Yang Sacred Body, Lin Mo had no reason to keep letting himself rot as he had before.
That night.
The sound of the door opening, followed by a flurry of footsteps, roused Lin Mo.
He stopped cultivating and opened his eyes.
Lü Mingtong had entered with a group of people, among whom was another familiar figure.
Zhao Donghai, the supervisor of the Maidservant Department's Rebirth Hall.
Zhao Donghai approached Lin Mo and said mockingly, "Do you know what we call the situation you're in, you old bastard?"
"Of course."
Lin Mo raised his eyelids slightly and said, his expression unruffled, "The final revel."
"A revel? I don't see anything for you to celebrate."
Zhao Donghai corrected him. "You're a mouse caught in a trap. Whether we kill you depends entirely on our mood!"
The Servant Disciples behind him joined in with a burst of mocking laughter.
Lin Mo grinned as well. "Heh. Steward Lü, Supervisor Zhao, do you know? In this world, good people don't die, and bad people don't die, either. Only one kind of person dies. Do you know what kind?"
Lin Mo's gaze, carrying a measure of confidence, settled on Lü Mingtong and Zhao Donghai.
A moment later.
Only then did he reveal the answer. "Fools."
"Being foolish isn't frightening. What's frightening is being at death's door without even knowing it."
At those words.
Zhao Donghai and the others laughed even louder.
Even Lü Mingtong was amused by Lin Mo.
It was as laughable as cornered prey telling the hunters they were doomed.
After laughing uproariously, Zhao Donghai continued his sneering taunts. "And here I was yesterday, praising you for having a good head on your shoulders. Looks like I was wrong."
"You're not clever. You've already lost your mind. You have absolutely no idea what situation you're in."
Before you continue