High above the nine heavens lies the cold, silent, chaotic void, a place unreachable by mortals.
Here, there is no time, no space, only the eternal, pure operation of rules. A formless, imperceptible, beginningless, and endless grand consciousness, like a precise program, indifferently watches everything that unfolds in the world below.
This is the Heavenly Dao.
Not long ago, the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao marked an extremely tiny but unusually stubborn "BUG" in its "program." This BUG was Lin Fan. He was clearly blessed with heaven-defying fortune, yet he refused to follow the script written by the Heavenly Dao to endure hardships and ascend through tribulations. Instead, he remained dormant day after day, avoiding all karma, causing the several "Heavenly Tribulation" scripts prepared for him to fail to play out.
Thus, the Heavenly Dao gently plucked the strings of fate.
It caused the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Fruit, which was supposed to appear on the main peak, to descend upon Lesser Peak in an "accidental" manner. According to the script, the fruit's aura would attract a Yao King, forcing the BUG to make a move. Whether the result was mutual destruction or the BUG being forced to undergo tribulation, it would pull him back onto the correct track.
However, the development of the script completely exceeded the Heavenly Dao's calculations.
It only "saw" the Yao King descend, its terrifying pressure enveloping the small peak. But the anticipated earth-shattering battle with explosive spiritual energy did not occur. Just a moment later, the menacing Yao King, as if it had encountered the most terrifying nemesis in the world, fled back to its lair in a state of near mental collapse. Its Yao soul even suffered irreversible trauma, rendering it incapable of causing trouble for the next hundred years.
The entire process was silent and incredibly bizarre.
The consciousness of the Heavenly Dao fell into an unprecedented state of "confusion." It could feel that in that instant, a power that transcended the rules it could comprehend had flashed by. But that power was so restrained, so perfect, that it was completely unable to capture its trace, let alone determine its level.
It was like a mortal watching an ant easily lift a great mountain and then gently set it down. The entire process did not conform to any known laws of physics.
After a long "silence," an invisible, faint golden thread representing a deeper level of karma silently descended from the nine heavens and entwined itself with Lin Fan's fortune.
The Heavenly Dao had remembered him. Since a small trouble wouldn't work, the next one would be much bigger.
...
On Lesser Peak, Lin Fan, who was inspecting the damage to his arrays, suddenly shivered for no reason.
A cold feeling, as if he had been scrutinized from head to toe by some terrifying existence, flashed past. He abruptly raised his head and looked at the cloudless sky, his eyes filled with vigilance and unease.
"Strange, is it my imagination?" he muttered to himself. "Why do I feel... like I've been targeted by something nasty?"
He tried to perform a divination with his fingers but found that the heavenly secrets were in chaos; he couldn't figure out anything. But the more it was like this, the stronger the sense of crisis in his heart became.
"No! There's definitely a problem!" Lin Fan's persecution complex immediately flared up. "It must be that the incident with that long worm just now caused too much of a stir and attracted the attention of some old monster! My concealment arrays are still not strong enough! I must add another hundred layers of the 'Tortoise Shell Bewildering Array' specifically for anti-spiritual sense-probing!"
He immediately adjusted his priority from repairing the arrays to enhancing his anti-surveillance capabilities. In his view, having an enemy show up at his door was not scary; what was scary was not even knowing when the enemy had started watching you.
And on the other side of the courtyard, Yue Qingqian was still immersed in the aftershock of the world-destroying impact and its utterly absurd conclusion.
After a long period of shutdown, her brain finally began to slowly reboot. Her worldview had been completely shattered, and now, upon those ruins, it was rapidly being rebuilt based on a new, incredibly solid logical fulcrum.
This fulcrum was—"My senior brother is a reclusive existence who is truly invincible in this world, and his only pursuit is to live a quiet life."
Under this new worldview, when she looked back at her experiences over the past month, everything became so logical, so full of profound meaning.
From her storage pouch, she solemnly took out the "generous gifts" that Lin Fan had given her initially.
The ugly "Dust-Hiding Robe," in her eyes, was no longer a tattered rag, but a Daoist robe containing the true meaning of "great concealment within the city"! It was a supreme dharma robe for isolating external karma!
The stack of "Minor Illness Talismans" that made her sick was not a prank in her view, but a supreme talisman teaching her to "show weakness to the enemy and protect oneself"!
The "Spirit-Working Shovel" for digging holes was even more incredible! It was not only a tool for cultivating her sword heart but also a sacred artifact for practicing the life-saving philosophy of a "wily rabbit has three burrows"!
And the book, Three Hundred Rules for Avoiding Disaster in the Sect—she had previously read it as a collection of anecdotes, but now, in her eyes, it was practically a holy scripture of cultivation, personally written by a reclusive master, capable of guiding her to live peacefully until the end of time!
"I understand... I finally understand!" A light of unprecedented enlightenment burst forth in Yue Qingqian's eyes.
She was thoroughly enlightened. She had completely "comprehended"!
She finally understood her senior brother's painstaking efforts! What her senior brother had taught her was not some unorthodox path at all, but the true method of longevity that pointed directly to the end of the Great Dao!
What is true strength? It is not a sword's gleam that chills nineteen continents, nor a punch that shatters a star. True strength is when all the enemies, friends, and even the rocks you dislike from your era have turned to dust, you can still leisurely sit on a mountaintop and watch the sunrise.
And to reach this realm, the prerequisite is—to absolutely not attract anyone's attention!
"The Dao of Senior Brother lies in hiding, in being stable, in laying low!" she murmured, feeling as if she had pushed open the door to a new world.
She immediately took action, unhesitatingly taking off the brand-new inner sect disciple uniform and putting on the dusty gray "Dust-Hiding Robe." The moment she put on the robe, she felt her entire temperament change. She became less conspicuous, as if she had merged with the surrounding dust, which gave her an unprecedented sense of security.
She treasured the "Minor Illness Talismans" and the "Spirit-Working Shovel," keeping them close to her body, and decided that from this day forward, she would make a major adjustment to her cultivation direction.
She would still practice the "Azure Origin Art," but that was just the foundation. What she truly needed to major in in the future was the "Dao of Senior Brother"! She vowed to become the disciple with the least presence, the most inconspicuous, and the most skilled at seeking fortune and avoiding disaster in the entire Sky Profound Sect!
Only in this way would she not bring even the slightest bit of trouble to her invincible senior brother!
Just as the senior brother and junior sister of Lesser Peak were busy—one frantically reinforcing defenses, the other reshaping her cultivation philosophy—a few peaceful days passed.
On this day, Lin Fan, who was testing a new array in the courtyard, felt his brow twitch.
The warning array that enveloped the entire peak had been triggered again!
Lin Fan's reaction was almost instinctive. He instantly flashed to Yue Qingqian's side and said in a low voice, "We have a situation! Quick, prepare to execute Emergency Plan Number Three!"
However, the visitor was not an enemy. A familiar, somewhat weak voice sounded from outside the courtyard.
"Fan'er, Qingqian, your master has returned."
It was their master, the Wu Wei Daoist!
Lin Fan and Yue Qingqian exchanged a glance, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes. The Wu Wei Daoist pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in, his face showing a mixture of lingering fear and confusion.
He looked at the safe and sound courtyard and his two disciples, let out a sigh of relief, and then frowned and asked, "A few days ago, a terrifying tremor came from the direction of the sect's forbidden back mountain. Even your master's cave dwelling was affected. Did anything happen here?"