The improved female villains regained their memories.

"...What's there to hold onto? Okay, stop stopping me from drinking."

"Song Panning!"

"..."

Song Panning remained silent.

Ling Shuxin leaned closer to look and found that the other person was sleeping with their head down.

"Ugh, I'm totally impressed!!"

Ling Shuxin was grabbing her hair, on the verge of going crazy. She didn't know how to take care of people, and she didn't trust the servants to take care of her, so she could only struggle to drag her to the bed and tidy her up a bit.

At night, Song Panning also opened her eyes.

She got up, looked at Ling Shuxin who was fast asleep beside her, lowered her eyes, opened the door and went out.

The formation activated silently, and even the guardians of the Ling family didn't notice her sneaking out. She walked out of the Ling family mansion, out of the dense forest, and to her secret base.

She removed the outer array of the cave, which no one knew about, and went inside, all the way to the interior.

Inside the cave were many of her belongings: her magical artifacts, elixirs, research materials, and so on. The deepest secret was the content of her ancestral precepts.

She remained silent, activated the mechanism, and entered the innermost part.

The space inside was cramped, with stone walls on all four sides; however, each stone wall was engraved with a special array.

On the left stone wall is a panoramic view of the mountain city; on the right stone wall is the temple's inspection status; on the upper stone wall is an analysis of the power of various families; and on the most conspicuous stone wall in front is the inspection array of Yang Pingsheng's courtyard.

The images from there are constantly being transmitted, just like a surveillance system that's always working.

She snapped her fingers, and the mechanism below inexplicably started working, lifting up a chair. She sat down in the chair and let it push her in front of the monitor.

She watched the surveillance footage, seeing Yang Pingsheng and Lin Wanjun lying together, and then watching him walk into the courtyard and stare blankly at the bright moon.

His appearance reminded Song Panning of something, and she subconsciously smiled.

A closed, secluded room, all alone, surveillance footage, and a strange smile.

All of these combined are indeed quite terrifying.

"..."

In the surveillance footage, Yang Pingsheng opens his mouth, seemingly saying something.

Because it's a detection array, it can only detect, not record sound. However, Song Panning knows what Yang Pingsheng is saying, just as she has always understood him.

So she smiled slightly and said:

Ah, happy graduation.

Chapter 232 The Goddess's Followers

The Goddess Election is held every four years.

The participants were young women aged sixteen to twenty.

At this time, Lin Wanjun was fourteen years old, Yang Pingsheng, Song Panning, and Ling Shuxin were all sixteen years old, and there were still two years until the next Goddess Selection.

After returning from Yang Pingsheng's place, Lin Wanjun locked herself in the Lin family's cottage.

In four years, she had taken control of the Lin family. Relying on her advantage of being reborn and with the help of corresponding formations, she transformed the Lin family into a true ironclad entity.

In order to counter Song Panning, she consolidated all resources, even controlling her own parents, in order to understand the current political situation in the temple.

The more I learn, the more alarmed I become.

"Song Panning's control is stronger than I imagined. I never expected that the academy's instructors would also be her followers. No wonder, no wonder, she can set up formations in the academy without being noticed. It must be thanks to the instructors."

Lin Wanjun broke out in a cold sweat.

"To counter Song Panning, I must consolidate my strength and keep a low profile. As for my elder sister, I can have her assist me."

Lin Wanjun is the second daughter of the Lin family. Her elder sister is named Lin Jinxuan, who lost the previous Goddess competition.

Each person can only participate in the Goddess election once. Therefore, after Lin Jinxuan lost, she focused on the path of cultivation. She has now completed the body tempering and purification and is currently trying to break through to the Earth Immortal realm.

People in the mountain city rarely possess immortal killing techniques, and most of them have to choose a path to cultivate. In her previous life, Lin Jinxuan chose weapon crafting, but in this life, because of Lin Wanjun's intervention, Lin Jinxuan chose formations.

This is also the instruction on the scroll: it is not enough for Lin Wanjun to refine the array; Lin Jinxuan is also needed.

"younger sister……"

The door was gently pulled open, and an intelligent and beautiful woman stood there, timidly looking into the room. She was voluptuous, like a pine tree in the spring breeze, and her face was beautiful, like the rising sun. Compared to Lin Wanjun, Lin Jinxuan lacked some of the liveliness, but possessed much more maturity.

Lin Wanjun looked up at her, slightly displeased: "Didn't I tell you not to come looking for me unless it's important?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, but there are some things I don't understand about the Nine-Nine Cycle Formation you had me practice..."

"Why are you so stupid? I've explained that formation to you so many times, how come you still don't understand?"

"Feel sorry……"

Lin Jinxuan lowered her head, not daring to refute.

Since Lin Wanjun's personality changed drastically four years ago, she has not been too brave to face her younger sister.

She still remembered that Lin Wanjun was gentle, lovely, and understanding when she was a child. She always followed behind her, calling her "sister." She didn't know why, but she turned out like this. Not only did she always like to hide in her own little dark room, but she also controlled everyone in the family.

The current Lin Wanjun is irritable, domineering, and will start cursing at the slightest disagreement. Even her sister dares not say a word in front of her.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you one last time. If you still can't learn it, don't blame me."

"it is good……"

After instructing Lin Jinxuan to send her away, the room was once again shrouded in darkness and silence. Lin Wanjun reopened the scroll, looked at the instructions on it, and silently plotted.

Lin Jinxuan's talent in array formations cannot be described as dull, but rather extremely dull. Her control over spiritual energy is inherently poor, coupled with her bad memory and lack of understanding of array formation construction, which has led to her slow progress in array formations.

"Lin Jinxuan's talent is far inferior to mine, so how could she possibly defeat Song Panning? I really don't know what the purpose of this instruction is."

She pondered to herself, only to find that the instructions above had changed.

New words appeared in the blank space below.

"Um!?"

Lin Wanjun exclaimed in surprise, "How could this be? The scroll actually tells me to make Lin Jinxuan my follower and participate in the Goddess Selection!?"

Each candidate for goddess can choose one follower to run for the position.

In later levels, followers are extremely important. The goddess needs to cooperate with her followers to overcome the challenges. It can be said that this position cannot be filled by anyone who is not a close confidant of the goddess candidate.

Previously, the scroll had been urging Lin Wanjun to get close to Yang Pingsheng, leading her to believe that the scroll would make her choose Yang Pingsheng as her follower. As her already engaged partner, Yang Pingsheng was undoubtedly the best choice. Choosing Yang Pingsheng was reasonable both emotionally and logically, and most importantly, it would be able to destroy Song Panning's spirit.

But now, the scroll is asking her to choose her own older sister, Lin Jinxuan.

“Choosing Lin Jinxuan means we don’t have to worry about her loyalty, but she really can’t be of much help.” Lin Wanjun frowned with some disdain. “She used to have some achievements in weapon crafting, but now she’s not on that path, and she’s too stupid when it comes to formations. Choosing her would just be a hindrance.”

The position of a follower of the goddess candidate is extremely important.

Children from prominent families like theirs usually have many followers, but the number of followers in ordinary times is completely different from the number of followers of a goddess. Their lives and honors are almost intertwined; they are more than family.

The earlier trials cannot be conducted with followers, but the later trials almost always require them. A good follower can make the goddess's efforts twice as effective, while a bad follower can even ruin everything for the goddess candidate.

"In my previous life, my follower was Du Wanli, but I don't know where Du Wanli is in this life."

Lin Wanjun pondered, and memories resurfaced in her mind.

In the mountain city, on the commercial street, Du Wanli watched the Lin sisters leave, chased after them, and shouted, "Wait!"

The two Lin sisters stopped. Lin Jinxuan shielded her younger sister behind her and warned the man with ill intentions: "Boy, don't keep this up. My Wanjun is kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see you being deceived, so she stepped in to help you. If you insist on pestering me, don't blame me for being impolite."

"I understand."

"You don't know anything."

"Hehe, I really understand." Du Wanli chuckled. "Now is the crucial period for the Goddess election. The Goddess is the goddess in the hearts of the people of Shancheng. Since she is a goddess, she must be pure and innocent and cannot have any affairs with men. If I insist on getting involved, it will not be good for Miss Wanjun's reputation if word gets out."

"You actually know that?" Lin Jinxuan was taken aback, then said irritably, "Since you know, then don't bother me. After all, we are from two different worlds. It won't be good for you to keep arguing."

“I understand, but Miss Jin Xuan, I have something I want to say to Miss Wan Jun.”

He straightened his back and said loudly, "I know that Miss Wanjun has no followers yet. Please allow me to be your follower and wish you success in ascending to the position of goddess."

"you!!"

Lin Jinxuan was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage: "You bastard, do you know that although the Goddess election does not stipulate the gender of the followers, there is a risk of public opinion for followers of the opposite sex?"

“I know, the stories in the novels are all about the love between followers and goddesses, but I want to do the same.” Du Wanli chuckled. “Because compared to others, I have one major advantage.”

"Oh? What advantages?"

"I am an immortal."

After saying that, Du Wanli displayed his strength. The pressure of an Earth Immortal swept over, causing the guards around Lin Jinxuan to turn pale and retreat repeatedly.

Lin Jinxuan herself was utterly shocked, tightly protecting Lin Wanjun, and said, "You, you're actually an Earth Immortal..."

“Indeed, I have long heard of Miss Lin Wanjun’s reputation, and I have come here today to seek refuge with her.”

"But, you..."

Lin Jinxuan wanted to say something, but was stopped by Lin Wanjun behind her. She stopped her sister, stepped forward, and looked at him with clear, watery eyes, a glimmer of light in them: "What's your name?"

"I am Du Wanli, and the saying goes, 'Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles!'"

Du Wanli laughed and said.

-------------

Yang Pingsheng stood below the list, looking at the contents of the recruitment notice, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

The recruitment notices contained a variety of items, including job-related ones, such as temple guards, and those related to followers. Some families posted notices on the notices to recruit talented individuals for their daughters.

Yang Pingsheng came here for two reasons: first, he had just graduated and needed to find a job; second, the system had sent him here to run for Song Panning's follower.

Yang Pingsheng searched among them and soon found Song Panning's recruitment notice.

Since ancient times, sages have all sought to gain fame through virtuous men. Today, the world is filled with wise and virtuous men, far surpassing even those of antiquity. The problem lies in the ruler's failure to cultivate relationships; how then can scholars advance? I desire the longevity of the Song dynasty, that its ancestral temples be preserved generation after generation. Those virtuous scholars and officials willing to associate with me, I will honor and promote. I will proclaim this to the world, so that all may know my intentions.

Compared to other people's recruitment notices, Song Panning's was simple and easy to understand, as if it was just written casually, that is, take it or leave it.

"Go become Song Panning's follower and wish her victory in the goddess election," the system said. "That's exactly what you wanted, isn't it?"

That's correct.