The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

That's why he felt uncomfortable.

Everyone has a vulnerable side, and they will go to great lengths to build a fortress to protect their hearts—with money, power, and even magic. But this fortress should not crumble easily, because that would mean the shattering of self-respect. The fortress is only allowed to be opened to those closest to us on very rare occasions, and that should not be to them at that moment.

He didn't want to be someone who took advantage of the situation.

Therefore, Lü Wenjun lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "I really didn't expect you to be so old, senior..."

That exquisite sense of shattering crumbled into dust in an instant, replaced by an enraged roar: "What did you say?!"

Lu Wenjun said seriously, "Because, you see, it's not a sense of time anymore, but a sense of era, right? Although I was mentally prepared that it wouldn't be surprising to have monsters that are hundreds of years old in the school, it is still quite amazing to be this senior."

Bright flames, like blue veins, erupted from Mingxiao's head.

“We Easterners have always valued respect for elders, so calling someone ‘senior sister’... well... it’s really disrespectful!” Lü Wenjun said earnestly, looking troubled. “From now on, I’ll try to adjust my tone. How about calling her ‘elder sister’ or ‘grandma’?”

The fire from the Ming King suddenly surged up to a height of over eight feet.

"Lu Wenjun, you've got guts, kid!!"

"Ouch, it's so hot! I'm so glad you're feeling better, but it's so hot. Can you please put the fire down a bit? My clothes are on fire! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!"

Lu Wenjun used a standard survival maneuver to take off his shirt and forcefully throw it to extinguish the fire. Mingxiao put her hands on her hips and sneered, "Use your brilliant brain to think carefully before you speak. How old am I this year?"

Lu Wenjun proclaimed loudly, "Senior sister is naturally beautiful, pure, and lovely, radiating a youthful aura that we can only envy. Of course, she is a 27-year-old in the bloom of youth—"

"Ok??"

"That's naturally my misunderstanding. Based on the standard of entering university at 18, one would need to be around 27 to become a doctoral student. But how could someone as intelligent as you be hindered by mere academic studies? You must have successfully skipped a grade! At the moment, Senior Mingxiao is at most only 23 years old! She is truly a well-deserved first half of her 20s!"

Mingxiao crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and nodded: "That's right. No matter what, being 17 is too embarrassing, isn't it? What idiot would insist on being 17 in college? Charming, energetic, and composed 23 is the best age!"

Lu Wenjun clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Absolutely right! Senior Sister Mingxiao, no, Lady Mingxiao is forever 23 years old, truly the pinnacle of female college students!"

Mingxiao laughed triumphantly three times, then turned around and collapsed onto the sofa.

"How embarrassing... It's so shameful to be comforted like this by a junior..."

"Then I'll continue calling you 'old man'."

"I'll burn you."

Lu Wenjun chuckled to himself and sat down on another sofa.

"I think this energetic state suits you better, senior. Now that you're feeling better, how about we talk about books?"

Mingxiao hugged a sofa cushion and looked at him silently.

"What percentage of the original text did the part we interpreted today represent?"

"The main character hasn't even appeared yet. It's less than 1/20 of the total."

After pondering for a moment, Lü Wenjun said, half-jokingly, "Senior, I won't lie to you. Although my supernatural power is at a high level, it requires a certain amount of 'preparation' before use. Whether the preparation is complete or not is not entirely within my control; it largely depends on fate."

Mingxiao nodded: "I understand. You traditional immortals emphasize following the timing of the heavens. You have to specially choose an auspicious day to use a spell."

The way you put it, "traditional immortal" sounds like a Tier 2 class in the current version...

Lu Wenjun continued, "And I also need to keep some for my own use. Therefore, I can probably only help you with the original text analysis once a month at most, is that alright?"

Mingxiao nodded vigorously, waiting for him to state the next conditions.

Lu Wenjun felt much more relaxed: "It would be great if you didn't mind, senior. I'll call you again next month when you're all ready. It's getting late, you should go to sleep early too, goodnight!"

Goodnight~

Mingxiao replied, pausing for about two seconds.

"Hey, wait a minute, is that all? What about your terms?!"

"What are the conditions?"

“The conditions for helping later!” Mingxiao gestured, “The payment made before was the first payment, and then there will be a second and a third payment…”

Lu Wenjun looked completely bewildered.

"Senior, what are you talking about? You protected me and gave me gifts, and I helped you analyze the original texts. This is not something to be taken for granted. In return for this favor, you're charging me in installments. I've never heard of such an ungrateful person."

"Lu, you've suddenly become quite the江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) person! Why don't you say a few more words in Cantonese?"

Lu Wenjun nodded: "I've already made my own profit, so you don't have to worry about finding a bargain at all."

"Wow, you're really good at this."

“Most of us in our generation watched Hong Kong movies when we were kids,” Lu Wenjun laughed. “Honestly, don’t put so much pressure on yourself. This book is very important to you, senior, but to me it’s just a stone of unknown origin. Besides, reading this book will also benefit me. If you really want to offer extra compensation… can we be friends?”

Mingxiao stood frozen on the sofa: "...Huh?"

"To be honest, I was a little worried about stepping on a landmine before, so I've been very careful staying here. But if I can make some friends, I shouldn't have to worry about being attacked by the Ming King, right?"

I made a little joke that was half true and half false.

Please look after me in the future, since I helped you. I just wanted to give you that hint.

But Mingxiao suddenly grabbed his hand and nodded vigorously.

"Okay, no problem!" she said loudly and seriously. "From now on, we're friends. You can do whatever you want on campus, I'll definitely cover for you in the end!"

Lu Wenjun, on the contrary, felt somewhat embarrassed. He scratched his head and whispered, "That's really reassuring..."

"However, this is only within the scope of friendship; he's a friend, not a boyfriend," Mingxiao emphasized.

"We didn't really talk about that!"

"Sigh... but I always feel that someone as cunning as you is secretly plotting something right now..."

"I'm angry."

"No, Wenjun! No!"

Mingxiao pounced on him and clung to his shoulder. Lü Wenjun helplessly confirmed a fact.

He really couldn't do anything about this person.

·

After calming Mingxiao down, he returned to his room and fell into a deep sleep without even washing up. With Mingxiao's demonic offerings available, he didn't need to use his pitiful amount of primal magic power, but the mental strain was simply too great.

The feeling was like reading a massive work of millions of words in a single day, scrutinizing every single word and sentence, only to find that all that information was used to describe a single scene. Even with his eyes closed, he could still feel the scorching pain of the sunlight, as if the blood-red setting sun was watching him in his dream.

At 7:30 the next morning, Lü Wenjun still felt dizzy and disoriented when he got up. He groaned and tapped his forehead with the back of his hand. Once. Then again.

[Analysis complete]

Let’s go out.

"...?"

Lu Wenjun half-opened his eyes and noticed that as the night passed, a blood-like mark had appeared above the eye of the living sacrifice.

[Because the sacrificer's rank was too low, the original text could not be fully analyzed.]

[Due to spatiotemporal misalignment in the information flow, the technique cannot be generated]

The partially deciphered information has been converted as follows:

[Power: Flood of Tears (10%)]

Divine Realm: Dead Land (5%)

Power: Freedom of the Wind (1%)

...]

A series of terrifying-looking words cascaded down like a waterfall, and Lü Wenjun stared blankly at the information feed scrolling across the screen.

No.

No.

Senior, what exactly did you show me...?

【…

Power: Doomsday Sunset (15%)

The last message pops up, the information stream converges into a murky mass, and then the legible text reappears.

Integration was achieved through the dreams of the sacrificers.

The probabilities of representing information are as follows:

1. Transformation Magic (60%)

2. Spell buffs containing the "Flame" element (20%)

3. Spell bonus containing the "water" element (15%)

4. Imbue with a slight divine quality (4%)

5. Setting sun (1%)

The five options above are arranged in proportion to form a roulette wheel, with the pointer in the middle standing upright like the hour hand.

Lu Wenjun flashed the most obsequious smile he had ever given in his life: "Master Eye! No, Godfather! Can I choose for myself?"

The godfather, Eye-Eye, used an automatically rotating pointer to express "NO".

"Damn it, please stop giving me that junk, give me some magic, please!!"

Since ancient times, for a weakling to obtain rare treasures is a death sentence; scavenging scraps is far safer. This Mr. Lü has already experienced enough extraordinary adventures in his lifetime since boarding the train. Being able to pick up one or two unusual techniques to show off is already a tremendous blessing. Please, please, don't let any more extraordinary adventures come!

However, the pointer coldly continued spinning, completely ignoring the pitiful pleas of mortals. With unrestrained force, it skipped over the most probable conversion magic power in one go, pausing briefly on the fire element enhancement section…

"This works too! This works too! The pumpkin lantern will be useful! Don't move it!!"

Sweeping past the light blue "water" element boost, it resolutely points to the setting sun, which only has a 1% boost...

It then stopped just before reaching its destination, landing at 4%.

[Imbued with a faint divine quality]

The roulette wheel vanished, and the Eye of the Sacrifice closed its eyes in satisfaction, the simple act of closing its eyes exuding a mysterious sense of confidence, as if saying, "As expected of me." The bloodstain on the back of its hand faded instantly, disappearing as if dissolved.

"……what?"

What do you mean?

What is divinity?

Lu Wenjun stared at himself in the mirror for a long time, but couldn't see a single extra flower on his face. He tried to transform into a spring-legged being, but the technique remained unchanged, and even the time it took to exhaustion was about the same as in previous tests.

He decided to conduct a series of basic tests in the toilet, spending half an hour confirming that his appearance, magical power, spell abilities, physical fitness, wrist strength, and so on had not changed at all.

Where exactly is this divinity manifested?

Unable to find any clues, Lü Wenjun decided to put the matter aside for the time being. He took out the jade pendant and scanned the unread messages, discovering that Ling Gong and Faris had both sent messages.

-Linggong: Wenjun! I found a suspicious barrier in the back mountain. Do you want to go exploring together this afternoon if you're free?

- Faris: Shall we pick out some furniture together today?

- Faris: An empty rental apartment.jpg

As originally planned, Lü Wenjun intended to spend half a day at the library on the weekend reviewing his textbooks. However, Saturday had vanished, and studying on Sunday felt like a waste of his time.

He also needed to buy some odds and ends, so he replied to each person with two emojis of a long-tailed tit spreading its wings to indicate that he was okay, and arranged to meet Faris at the supermarket entrance.

After leaving the Water Mirror Courtyard, he focused intently, preparing for any strange events that might occur. However, the journey was uneventful; no deities suddenly appeared, nor did any demons or monsters come after him. Even the figure in the black uniform who had been causing him trouble these past few days was nowhere to be seen.

He progressed extremely smoothly. Without any obstacles.

"That's really strange..."

Lu Wenjun vaguely felt something was off, but couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he went ahead to wait at the supermarket entrance. When Faris arrived, he carefully observed the other man's expression, but found nothing unusual in those clear yet foolish eyes.

"Am I under a curse?" Faris said.

"Not at the moment," Lü Wenjun said thoughtfully. "Do you see any changes in me?"

Faris looked him up and down, his eyes growing increasingly surprised.

"Hey, you know what, I look like I've gotten more handsome today!"

"...Huh?"

Chapter 38 It turns out I'm a god!