Fellow Daoist! That scoundrel has written a new book again.

Regardless of how terrified the villagers were, Lu Youqi's situation was equally thrilling.

Whether it was the burning "talisman paper," the anomaly outside the village, the cracked door, or the "smoke" when they finally escaped, none of it was any kind of immortal magic.

It's just a magic trick by ordinary people.

Over the past few years, Lu Youqi has amassed a considerable fortune through fraud and extortion.

Even though he had mastered the art of deception, he was still somewhat apprehensive every time he did it, fearing that some cultivator might happen to pass by and catch him red-handed.

The thought of the village chief who died bleeding from all seven orifices filled him with rage.

That old man...

A few days ago, he and his underlings pretended to be gods and ghosts outside the village, thinking that if they appeared as immortals, the village chief would surely bow and kowtow three times and prepare a banquet to entertain them.

They say that old people become wise and shrewd, so how dare he question his own immortal status?

He looked worried and kept asking questions.

Lu Youqi almost revealed a flaw in front of him.

Even if they managed to cover it up, the old man still became suspicious. Wasn't this just courting death?

Ah, those two arms dug out of the grave, draped around his waist, even if he's dead, no one dares to come forward to collect the body. In the end, they're burned, which also destroys the traces of those "magic tricks".

Hehe, we'll talk about selecting cactus root seedlings and picking a few girls and boys later...

Having already escaped unscathed, Lu Youqi envisioned the future in this way.

Over the years, he had traveled all over the country and had long since discovered that the mortals of the Juque Sect were the easiest to deceive. They would tremble at the sight of "immortals" and dare not distinguish between the real and the fake.

The Qingyun Sect is second best, but it's relatively difficult for sword cultivators to equip themselves with such skills.

Everyone in the Taibai Sect has a special skill; how could a rough guy like him know this?

As for the Star-Picking Tower... those are all fortune tellers. There are already many fortune tellers on the streets and alleys, and there are countless people who claim to be from the Star-Picking Tower. It's hard to swindle any money from them.

Therefore, Lu Youqi's business scope in recent years has mainly been within the Juque School.

Although he was a villager, he cheated many people!

Now he's dressed quite well, and his men trust him completely; he's living a good life. But there's only one thing—

He still couldn't use his spiritual power!

He used the money he had swindled over the years to exchange for quite a few spirit stones, gritted his teeth and bought an introductory manual and a pill that made it easier to draw qi into the body, but to no avail.

Thinking about this, he began to calculate how much money he could swindle from this village.

Lu Youqi took out a storybook.

It was the "reclusive master" whom he regarded as the source of enlightenment.

The later chapters were torn out, leaving only the first half, because Lu Youqi didn't like the ending of the book.

He still remembers the day of his enlightenment. A torrential rainstorm hit Changxiao Town, and the booming thunder was like the beating of war drums, which stirred his heart.

Lu Youqi firmly believed that it was the will of Heaven.

It was Heaven that commanded him to cheat, amass wealth, and indulge in pleasure, to forge a new path of cultivation. He followed Heaven's will and committed evil, intending to become the one who would overturn the current Taoist system.

His existence is meant to prove that people should not live by kneeling.

He can trample on everything in order to overturn everything!

"Chen Ke shouldn't have ended like that, and neither should I... I will personally write the perfect ending I envision for this book."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Changxiao Town.

Yesterday, upon seeing the courtyard filled with poems, Mingzhu forgot his original purpose.

When I visited again, it was already evening.

"Sister Wu, why...why did you make that prediction?"

Zhu Wuyao knew she would ask this question, and was wondering yesterday why Mingzhu hadn't asked it; it turns out she had forgotten.

A blindfold covered her eyes.

Yet, his handwriting was remarkably steady.

The ink characters on the rice paper have a clearly upright and stable structure, but in the details, there is always a sense of danger and wonder, giving people the feeling of a towering mountain standing in front of them, as if a rolling stone is about to hit them.

Mingzhu was curious more than once about how Sister Wu managed to write such beautiful calligraphy.

Zhu Wuyao put down his pen and said:

"Inferred from it."

"Living in a small courtyard, I was fortunate to have some news from tabloids to pass the time."

"Friction is constantly breaking out on the borders of the four sects, and the relationship between the sects is undergoing dramatic changes. It is difficult to predict whether they will be on good terms or hostile to each other. Something big must be happening in the shadows. Moreover, incidents of cultivators injuring people have become increasingly serious in recent years. Monsters have appeared in various places, cultivators have caused trouble, and riots have occurred frequently."

"Compared to previous years, the chaos has become more apparent in recent years. Moreover, tabloids can only steer clear of minor issues and discuss them in a glimpse, revealing the whole picture from a single point. There are already so many open conflicts, so what about the hidden ones?"

"When the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken; the disaster in Changxiao Town may not be an isolated case."

Mingzhu was still young and didn't fully understand, but she extracted the main idea—"Things won't be peaceful in the coming years."

So, is Sister Wu being cautious even in times of peace?

Is the intention to ensure that Changxiao Town has some disaster mitigation capabilities when the chaos spreads to it?

Zhu Wuyao calculated it directly.

They just gave the divination results some plausible reasons that sounded plausible.

When Mingzhu was a little girl, she admired Zhu Wuyao. As she grew up and gained more insight, she was able to see the extraordinary nature of this neighbor. Naturally, she believed whatever Zhu Wuyao said.

"Mr. Cui from the academy said that doing good deeds requires not only a kind heart, but also the courage to bear the consequences. Why is that?"

Zhu Wuyao was practicing calligraphy, and Mingzhu was chatting with him, talking about quite a few things about that Miss Cui.

Upon hearing this, he asked curiously, "Your Mr. Cui seems to really like the poems in my courtyard. Why don't you come here for a chat?"

Mingzhu was a little embarrassed and said:

“Mr. Cui said that you probably wouldn’t like her too much, so she didn’t come… Sister Wu, why don’t you like Mr. Cui?”

I hope Wuyao will find this amusing.

From Mingzhu's fragmented narration, she roughly guessed what Miss Cui was thinking, knowing that she wanted Mingzhu to become familiar with her and with Li Chengguan and others.

This indicates a utilitarian motive, rather than genuine appreciation or admiration.

Zhu Wuyao certainly wouldn't mind these things; it's only human nature. She smiled and said:

"Because your Mr. Cui is a smart man, she guessed that I am smart too."

Mr. Cui is a smart man, so he can't help but plan for his disciple's future; she thinks that Miss Wu is a smart man who can see through her "utilitarianism".

So, if we're too embarrassed to meet, let's just admire each other from afar, leaving everything unsaid and preserving a touch of ambiguity.

As expected of the best teacher she calculated using "Endless Aspects," he is indeed a bright and interesting person, and this purple aura was well used.

Upon hearing this, Shen Anzhi smiled as well.

They seemed to find that Miss Cui interesting as well.

He was looking this way when he saw one person practicing calligraphy with a brush, and another grinding ink and laying out paper. Mingzhu's fate remained unchanged. Could it be that he was really overthinking things?

Or perhaps Junior Sister Zhu did indeed tamper with things, but Mingzhu's comprehension was slightly lacking, which is why she failed?

Shen Anzhi is more inclined to the latter guess.

"Sister Wu, I promised to read you a storybook, but I couldn't keep my promise. However, I've memorized 'The Reclusive Master.' Now... do you still want to hear it?"