Shen Yun felt extremely uncomfortable.
Beside him, a tempting fragrance continuously wafted from Xiao Jiu. From time to time, peeled sunflower seeds, grapes, and apples were fed into his mouth by her fair, tender hands, accompanied by her soft, sweet voice explaining things to him. However, his gaze could only remain fixed on the book in front of him.
It wasn't until half a day had passed like this that he suddenly came to a realization. Maids did not help him study well!
"Xiao Jiu, go do something else!" Shen Yun hardened his heart and pushed Xiao Jiu out the door. Completely ignoring her aggrieved expression, he slammed the door shut.
However, little did he know that after the door closed, Xiao Jiu was smiling happily outside.
She thought, "Master is so cute."
Humming a tune, Xiao Jiu began to clean the villa. She still needed to explain difficult concepts to her master and swap out his practice exercises later.
While Shen Yun was experiencing both pain and happiness, the reshaping of the Heavenly Dao and the events that had occurred in East City were finally beginning to gain traction worldwide. First, the number of Golden Cores was announced. There were a total of six, and all of them were in Huaxia. One of them was even part of the Huaxia military, a piece of news that made countries around the world quite nervous for a while. But soon after, Huaxia publicly promised that they would never lightly deploy Golden Core experts against other nations.
Following that, the identities of the other four Golden Cores were subsequently revealed. They were the director of the Spiritual Power Special Service Bureau, Wei Er; the head disciple of the Wudang Sect, Lu Yue; the successor of the Celestial Master Path, Zhong Han; and the Buddhism Master, Yu Yifan.
Aside from Shen Yun, the other five were all pioneers among Cultivators who had already made a name for themselves before the Heavenly Dao was reshaped. Therefore, some nosy netizens began to fiercely debate who was stronger.
However, the head disciple of the Wudang Sect, Master Miaoyun, was the first to publicly declare that she was far inferior to Master Thunder. Following that, the Buddhism Master also made a similar statement in public, speaking highly of Shen Yun and bluntly stating that he was already at the forefront of everyone in the world and deserved to be recognized as the number one Cultivator globally.
Just when everyone thought Shen Yun's position as the global number one was secured, the successor of the Celestial Master Path, Zhong Han, posted a piece of information on his personal Weibo account.
"Everyone thinks Master Thunder is the strongest! I, the Celestial Master, refuse to accept this. If you have the guts, let's see real skills at the Cultivator Competition Tournament a month from now!"
Below the text was a picture of the contemporary Grand Celestial Master holding the hand of his eight-year-old daughter, glaring angrily at the camera.
The internet instantly erupted into a sensation.
"A clash of Golden Cores! I'm super looking forward to this!"
"My father-in-law is mighty! Father-in-law is bound to win!"
"To the guy above, that's my father-in-law! My family's Xiao Yu'er is the cutest."
"The great Celestial Master should stop messing around. If he gets beaten to tears by our Master Thunder, Xiao Yu'er will be heartbroken."
This contemporary strongest Cultivator of the Celestial Master Path had been a moderately popular internet celebrity even before the Spiritual Qi revival. Furthermore, he had a super cute daughter. Ever since it was discovered that she could gather Spiritual Power and possessed the talent of a Cultivator, he had been itching to share his joy with the entire world. In the end, he successfully earned the title of "National Father-in-law."
This infuriated the super doting father to no end.
Just as everyone was guessing whether Shen Yun would reply, Shen Yun's Weibo account suddenly showed some activity. There was only a single brief sentence.
"If you lose, let Xiao Yu'er acknowledge me as her godfather."
Beneath this sentence was also a picture. It was a night of surging thunder, with Shen Yun standing alone between heaven and earth like a Thunder God. It was the coolest photo snapped by a netizen during that night in Sea City. It had even been beautified and given an atmospheric filter!
Naturally, Shen Yun wouldn't be this ostentatious and narcissistic. Xiao Jiu had published this photo on her own initiative after asking him a simple question. But the netizens didn't know that.
In an instant, this matter became a phenomenal headline event on the global internet. It wasn't just within Huaxia. Foreign news outlets dedicated massive coverage to the scheduled battle between these two Golden Cores. Screenshots of their Weibo exchange, translated into multiple languages, went viral across major media platforms. Later on, Huaxia officials even fueled the flames to promote the first Global Cultivator Competition Tournament happening in a month.
It had seemingly turned into a global carnival, ranking number one on the list of events netizens were most looking forward to.
Consequently, the follower count on Shen Yun's account skyrocketed, and beneath this one and only piece of information, there were countless comments.
"Holy Demon Beast, someone is trying to snatch our daughter! Anyone want to team up?"
"Damn! That's too vicious! I didn't expect you to be this kind of Master Thunder."
"This is simply a lethal counterattack against a daughter-obsessed father!"
"Just imagining my daughter calling someone else 'daddy' makes me want to grab a kitchen knife."
"To the guy above, that just means you got cuckolded."
"..."
The netizens were right about one thing: completely unbeknownst to Shen Yun, Grand Celestial Master Zhong Han on the other end was indeed infuriated. This was because his precious daughter had printed out the picture Shen Yun posted, framed it, and hung it by the head of her bed.
"Daddy, don't win. Let Brother Thunder be my godfather, okay?" Xiao Yu giggled foolishly as she leaned over the picture, inadvertently dealing her old man a critical strike.
"Not okay..." Unable to bear getting angry at his daughter, Zhong Han could only force an ugly smile onto his face. "What's so good about that guy? Daddy will make you a little paper crane, okay? Look, it can even fly."
"No, no! I just want Brother Thunder." Xiao Yu'er pouted her lips, and her big, watery eyes instantly filled with tears.
"Don't cry, okay, okay, okay. But you have to tell Daddy what exactly you like about that guy." Zhong Han was so anxious he was about to pull his hair out. He could only stare helplessly at the apple of his eye, terrified she would say it was because the other guy was handsomer.
He really couldn't compete with that.
Xiao Yu'er tilted her head and thought for a moment. Only then did she softly say in her sweet, sticky voice, "Because Brother Thunder saved a lot of people! My classmates all say he's a great hero, just like GG Bond."
"So that's how it is." Zhong Han let out a long sigh of relief and patted his chest with a loud THUMP, THUMP. "Don't worry, your dad is a great hero too."
"Really?" Xiao Yu'er's big eyes were filled with suspicion. Her daddy's big beard was so ugly, he didn't look like a hero at all.
"Of course!" Zhong Han said resolutely. Even if it was just for his daughter, he was determined to be this hero.
However, Zhong Han, who was determined to be his daughter's hero, seemed to have temporarily forgotten that he and Shen Yun still had a scheduled battle with his daughter on the line...
Shen Yun didn't know about this matter until the people from the Spiritual Power Special Service Bureau came to pick him up. He wore a blank expression, having absolutely no idea how he had offended that Celestial Master.
"How could you not ask me about such a huge matter, Xiao Jiu!" Shen Yun felt a bit aggrieved.
"I did ask," Xiao Jiu said, her face full of grievance. "Master said yourself that you wanted to be immersed in your studies and told me to handle it."
"..."
Shen Yun vaguely recalled that such a thing seemed to have happened. Could it really be that he hadn't heard her clearly?
Wait, no!
Shen Yun widened his eyes as he looked at Xiao Jiu in front of him. "Are you... a little bit devious?"
"..." Xiao Jiu fell silent for a short moment, her eyes opening wider and wider before she finally covered her lips in surprise. "I think... maybe a little bit?"