Ye Ling said he needed rest, and he truly did.
Fortunately, his little courtyard was still intact. Unlike the others, it had not been blasted into pieces and rendered unusable.
After handing the two Nine Heavens Jade Pendants to Ai Yueli, Ye Ling flung himself onto the bed and rolled around like a maggot.
He had been so numb from pain that he barely felt it, but as the adrenaline faded, the ache came roaring back.
His body felt like it had fallen apart. Cold sweat seeped from his forehead in a fine sheen, and he lay there gulping air, one breath after another.
Only now that everything was over did he start savoring just how intense it had been.
To be honest, from the Demonic Sect's attack to this moment, not even half a day had passed.
Yet this had been the most exhilarating half day of his entire life, without question.
A mere Foundation Establishment body, and he had still forced his way into an Immortal-level battle.
And yet, for some reason, deep down he felt a trace of regret.
That was it?
A clash between peerless experts was supposed to be like this?
It looked impressive, sure, but neither side had used anything truly grand. It left him feeling like there was no real punch to it at all.
All in all, Ye Ling felt there was something wrong with this world.
Pitiful.
These so-called Great Ascension Stage cultivators were way too pitiful.
They were not even in the same league as the Avatar of the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden.
Even their so-called desperate, life-or-death strike could not force the Avatar to take things seriously.
And on top of that, this world seemed to be declining.
Ye Ling had a strong feeling that the previous Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect, the one who died before he could even give his name, was actually stronger than Qin Rushui.
Even if both of them were equally helpless in front of the Avatar, there should still have been a qualitative difference between the two.
But weak was weak, and that just did not sit right with him.
Cultivators from a thousand years ago being stronger than cultivators today was absurd. Strong in a way that made no sense.
From what Ye Ling had seen of history, the cultivation world's Traditions had not been cut off during those thousand years.
And yet cultivators' strength had still dropped. Back then, Golden Core Stage cultivators could move mountains and fill seas. Now, only Nascent Soul Stage great experts could manage anything like that.
At first, Ye Ling thought it might be the price of making cultivation methods widespread. But logically speaking, anyone who could cultivate all the way to the Great Ascension Stage, no matter how mediocre their talent, should still have a baseline. They should not be incapable of learning the Ancient Method.
And if they had learned the Ancient Method, there was no way they should be this weak.
Take Ye Ling himself. Even with only a little advantage, he could still crush a modern Nascent Soul Stage cultivator with ease.
Had the lineage actually been severed?
Thinking about it, the Heavenly Demon Sect had been crushed flat by Grandmaster. It was possible their cultivation methods had been lost.
But the previous Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect should have been practicing the Ancient Method, so why was there still such a massive gap in strength?
Ye Ling did not know that the battle just now had already reached an Immortal level.
It was not just this world that was "pitiful."
He lay there thinking for a long time, but he still could not come up with an answer. He simply knew too little about this world.
When the pain finally eased a little, he sat up and took the Examiner's Judgement Brush out of his Storage Ring.
It was still the Examiner's Judgement Brush, but it looked completely different now.
Before, it had looked ordinary and plain, so plain that you would never guess it had any power at all.
Now it was noticeably longer and more slender, wrapped in a faint divine glow. The black shaft gleamed with an almost dazzling luster, while the white tip looked soft and smooth.
[Examiner's Judgement Brush +20 (Lower-Grade Dao Artifact)]
[Description: With a three-inch nib, judge a seven-foot man!]
[Ability ①: Examination. Produces three questions on what the enemy is best at. Answer all three correctly: no penalty. Answer two correctly: must take the host's full-power strike head-on. Answer one correctly: despised by Heaven and Earth, unable to sense laws during combat. Answer none correctly: accept the Lightning Tribulation!]
[Ability ②: Master's Authority. Before the enemy finishes answering all questions, they may not take any other actions, and they must complete their answers within half an hour.]
[Note 1: Causality Weapon; ignores the enemy's cultivation level]
[Note 2: This Magical Treasure consumes enormous power. The host is advised to use it after reaching the Soul Formation Stage. Otherwise it will place a heavy burden on the Magical Treasure and cause damage.]
[Detected damage to this Magical Treasure. Repair requires 857483 Emotion Points. Would you like to repair it?]
???
The Complete Record of Character Combinations only cost him 10,000 Emotion Points.
This thing wanted 857,483 just to repair once?
Why not just rob him outright?
Ye Ling badly wanted to throw that question at the System, but whether it was cold and aloof or simply lacking awareness, his System almost never answered his questions.
So Ye Ling knew that even if he cursed at the System, it would not change anything.
Still—
With only Foundation Establishment strength, forcing the use of a Lower-Grade Dao Artifact should have caused far more brutal backlash.
From that angle, the Examiner's Judgement Brush should have taken the heavier damage. It getting damaged was perfectly normal.
Fine. Whatever. He was loaded now anyway.
The Examiner's Judgement Brush had bled for him and done real work for him. Spending points to repair it was not hard to accept.
Besides, a +20 Examiner's Judgement Brush was absurdly strong. It made Ye Ling understand what "invincible" meant.
Yes, it had gone from unlimited questions to only three, which looked like it reduced his tactical flexibility.
But the effect had jumped by a ridiculous margin.
He did not even need the opponent to get everything wrong. As long as he could trap them with a ridiculously long question, he could keep them pinned and beat on them the whole time.
Of course, the cost would be enormous, but this thing was absolutely a trump card.
After checking his new equipment, Ye Ling glanced at Eve, still sleeping beside him.
The little girl slept more and more soundly, looking like nothing in the outside world had anything to do with her.
Ai Yueli had examined her and said her Mental Force was depleted to the limit. Even if she woke again, she would probably lose her original memories.
In simple terms, the girl had become dumb.
"Sigh. How did an oddball like you show up?"
Ye Ling pinched Eve's cute little cheek, then played with her pale golden hair for a bit.
Smack!
He kissed her on the forehead. She was just too adorable, and he could not resist.
Of course, it was not because he had some strange hobby. Eve gave him the same feeling he used to have back at the orphanage, when he looked after the younger kids.
He genuinely liked children.
"Sleep well."
He had rested enough. Ye Ling planned to go out and wrap up the last remaining matters, then return to the Heavenly Gate Sect.
He had already returned the Nine Heavens Jade Pendant, so surely he would not run into anything… strange now, right?
Ye Ling was still a little on edge. He did not know whether it was the flag he had raised or the Nine Heavens Jade Pendant causing trouble, so he only muttered the thought quietly to himself.
After drawing a Protective Talisman for Eve, he left the room.
He went to Ai Yueli's room, but she was not there.
When he reached the main hall, he ran into Elder Wang.
Elder Wang did not chat for long. He only told Ye Ling two things.
First, Leng Qingqiu had left.
She seemed to have summoned powerful experts from her clan. But by the time they arrived, the battle was already over, and she naturally returned with them to her clan's headquarters.
As Elder Wang spoke, he kept shooting Ye Ling an overly suggestive look.
Ye Ling did not care. He had no thoughts about Leng Qingqiu.
Second, Ai Yueli had apparently taken over his role and was handling the final Talisman Practitioner assessment.
The Talisman Practitioner assessment gathered talented young cultivators from the nearby cities for evaluation. Since the Demonic Sect attack was already over, the assessment still had to happen.
Waiting for the next round would only delay things.
And what if the Demonic Sect attacked again? Then those examinees would really be unlucky.
So Ai Yueli made the call and decided to settle it here and now.
She was Ye Ling's Master and her strength was overwhelming. The cultivators of the Righteous Path Alliance naturally did not dare refuse her.
After telling Ye Ling all that, Elder Wang hurried off to help relocate Tianqiong City's residents.
A Golden Core Stage Talisman Practitioner like him was considered valuable talent. Wherever he went, someone needed him.
So Ye Ling ended up with nothing to do.
What now?
Go back and lie around like a salted fish?
But if Fourth Master came back while he was playing with Eve, would she think he was a pervert?
Eve was so cute that Ye Ling could not help pinching her here or patting her there.
It was nature's law. He could not fight it.
Forget it. He would go for a walk and see if there were any Emotion Points left to squeeze out.
With the mindset of treasure-hunting, Ye Ling stepped outside.
Yes, he had come out specifically to annoy people.
To say he did not care at all about what the people of Tianqiong City said would be a lie. He was not that broad-minded.
But he also understood that this was just how the world worked.
Why did the superheroes in America end up fighting a civil war?
Was it not because of the very ordinary people they wanted to protect?
Those people got their lives saved and still demanded to suffer no losses at all.
Yes, they deserved peaceful lives. They were victims too.
But when heroes risked their lives to save them, what they owed was gratitude, not a bill for compensation.
If you have the guts, go demand compensation from the villains who actually did the harm.
Running to the superheroes for damages…
Isn't that just bullying the honest ones?
In the end, it was because they knew superheroes were good people who would not hit them back that they dared act so brazenly.
Now look at Ye Ling. He walked down the street with open arrogance. The passersby were furious, but more than that, they were afraid.
If Ye Ling could use a silencing spell on them, then the next time, would it be an offensive spell?
Back when there had been hundreds of thousands of Tianqiong City residents united in rage, they had been brave enough to shout. Now there were only a few people on the street. Where would that courage come from?
A cultivator might not dare slaughter a city, but killing a few disrespectful people was still something they could do.
Ye Ling made a round and found that the Emotion Points in these people had already been squeezed dry. There was nothing left for him to harvest.
Just as he was about to head back, a few sweet-looking little girls stepped in to block his path.
Hm?
Ye Ling frowned in confusion, curious what they were trying to do.
...
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