Tomb raiding: following the plot while tearing up the script

Unaware that he had been exposed eight hundred years ago, Xie Lianhuan was at a loss for words when faced with the child he felt most guilty towards.

The few times he had interacted with this child before were all under the identity of Wu Sansheng. He was pleased with the child's growth, but he didn't have to worry about such a relationship issue.

But now...

Xie Yuchen didn't give Xie Lianhuan a single expression in response to his hesitant look. He had no interest in playing along with any of those scenes of fathers recognizing each other or showing deep affection. It would only disgust him and make him lose his appetite.

Jie Lianhuan originally thought that the child would have a lot of resentment towards him, and that his reaction after learning his identity would be resentment, grievance, or questioning.

Unexpectedly, apart from casually making a sarcastic remark about him, she acted as if he didn't exist, eating and drinking as usual, as if the exposure of her identity was just her illusion.

Xie Yuchen gently blew on the steam rising from the soup bowl in his hand and handed it to Su Li. He looked up and saw Xie Lianhuan's complex expression, a mixture of guilt and relief...

It's really disgusting...

He suspected that this guy was deliberately trying to disgust him so he couldn't eat...

"Shh..."

Suddenly, a folding fan unfolded in front of Xie Yuchen, its exquisitely painted "Snowy River" perfectly obscuring the pretentious old face and appearing exceptionally friendly to his eyes.

"Look, Huahua, this painting was done for me by my teacher himself, isn't it beautiful~~"

The fan swayed gently for a moment...

"Well……"

Jie Lianhuan covered his eyes in discomfort and took several steps back.

“San… Jie…” Pan Zi instinctively reached out to support the person, but suddenly didn’t know how to address them, feeling that nothing he called them was right.

To be honest, regarding the matter of Jie Lianhuan's identity being exposed, Panzi didn't really have any major feelings, except that his CPU was a little overheated. After so many years of getting along, there's no room for pretense.

In his eyes, the biggest piece of information this matter conveyed was that his third master was still the same person, only his identity was problematic.

(This is a personal interpretation. Pan Zi only appears after the two share the same identity. Whoever is using Wu Sansheng's identity will take care of Pan Zi. If they were to switch identities from the very beginning, it would be hard to notice.)

Panzi's current dilemma is this: he's called "Third Master" for so many years, but now that "Third Master" isn't "Third Master" anymore, what should he call him? This is really putting him, Da Pan, in a difficult position...

However, seeing how uncomfortable the person looked, Pan Zi put aside the question for the moment and looked at Su Li with concern.

"Young Master Li, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Su Li held the soup bowl in one hand, took a satisfying slurp, blinked her big, innocent eyes, glanced at the folding fan in her other hand, and then looked at Xie Lianhuan, who was covering his eyes...

"Ah! It's been so long since I took it out, it's all dusty. I'm so sorry, Wu... no, Jie... that doesn't seem right either..." Su Li was very troubled. "So, Lao Deng, what name are you using now?"

"Pfft..."

Xie Yuchen couldn't help but laugh when he saw Su Li's mischievous little face, and leaned close to the child's ear.

"What have you done?"

Su Li grinned, revealing her small white teeth, and turned to whisper in Xie Yuchen's ear, her folding fan concealing the two of them. "Some bewitching stone powder, sprinkled in the eyes, regardless of the type or cultivation level, will equally grant you a twelve-hour trial card for top-tier presbyopia."

Xie Yuchen looked at the remaining white powder on the fan and wondered why it seemed like he had prepared it in advance.

Seeing the doubt in Yu Chen's eyes, Su Li smiled a little guiltily and explained in a low voice.

"This was given to us by our third senior brother to deal with a bad guy."

Those who had left one ear here exchanged glances, sensing something was up.

This is much more interesting than watching that old bastard Jie Lianhuan's 'bewitched' act.

Jie, supported by Pan Zi, sat a little further away from Su Li, looking at the blurry hand so close to her face: ...

The gossip squad assembled, and even Zhang Qiling subtly moved closer. Fatty Wang glanced at a few unrelated people not far away and quietly gave them a newly learned soundproofing trick.

Judging from Master Yunqing's style of doing things, one can imagine the status of him and his disciples in the cultivation world. What kind of person would need his fellow disciples to deal with him like this?

"That guy is Master's good friend... uh... mischievous friend?"

That guy always claimed to be Master's best friend, but Master never admitted to having such a foolish friend. It's shameful...

Everyone nodded in understanding.

Oh~ there's a slight sense of suppression due to seniority (or perhaps cultivation level)...

And then what? As an elder, how did he manage to offend all of his friend's apprentices?

"He cultivated a pupil technique called 'Dispelling Illusions,' which allows him to discern the true form and dispel illusions."

Recognize its true form!

They know how to do this. The eldest brother is a little phoenix, and little Ali is an Emperor Tree. Following this pattern, the other senior brothers and sisters...

"And then he was a sword cultivator, the very, very pure kind of sword cultivator..."

Ah... I don't quite understand the meaning of this emphasis. Is there some kind of bug in pure sword cultivation?

"A pure sword cultivator, no side hustles, so...poor..."

Sword cultivators usually have side jobs to earn money to maintain their swords, because maintaining their natal sword is too expensive. Once they feel that their natal sword is not keeping up with their cultivation, they have to keep throwing spirit stones and materials into it.

One can imagine how poor one could be if one simply became a sword cultivator.

Hmm... If it's someone like Su Yunqing who comes with his own spiritual vein minerals, then disregard what I said...

At this point, for some reason, everyone's eyes turned to Hei Xiazi. When it comes to developing side businesses, who else can compare to him?

His main job used to be tomb raiding, and his side jobs included fortune telling, blind massage, and unclogging sewers... (Please add more, everyone!)

Currently, I'm mainly studying archery and puppetry, and I also plan to dabble in alchemy and sound cultivation later on...

Black Bear pushed up his glasses. "A professional money-making expert!" (Blind Man's Pride.jpd)

"That guy... when we were little, he tricked our eldest brother out of his feathers with candy, our second sister out of her scales, our third brother out of the crystals he condensed during his cultivation, and even my tree branch... and then made our fourth sister cry so she could help him refine them..."

Good heavens... Everyone was utterly amazed! This guy is a real genius!

The fact that he didn't get killed by Master Yunqing despite all his antics makes them believe that he really did have a friend's card, otherwise he wouldn't dare to be so reckless.

Black Bear stroked his chin, feeling a sense of admiration for this fellow. He was a role model for us all!

"Later, we grew up and became harder to fool, but every time he came, he would stare at us with those golden eyes, looking very... covetous... so Third Senior Brother..."

You can come in, but first, let's greet the 'Misty Stone Fans', right?

To be honest, aside from not having any side jobs, this guy's behavior is practically a super-sized version of Hei Xiazi (a character from Journey to the West), which really opened their eyes!