Chapter 121: Qin Jian

  “Xu Mo, Saintess, Xue Lingxi—quickly come here and greet your elders,” Long Bai said in a low voice, gesturing for them to hurry over and greet Qin Jian.

  Jin Meiyu and Xue Lingxi walked forward with their heads held high and confident strides, while Xu Mo, who led the group, appeared noticeably out of place. He wasn’t used to meeting such important figures, nor did he have any experience standing before people of such strength. The only individuals he knew who could be considered powerful by local standards were Bai Xu, Long Bai, and the Ancestor—but Xu Mo had grown accustomed to their presence. Moreover, they usually restrained their auras in his company.

  Sweat began to bead on Xu Mo’s forehead. It felt as though he wasn’t walking on his own, but as if a carriage had been tied to his waist, dragging him forward with each step. His pace slowed. Jin Meiyu and Xue Lingxi advanced without hesitation, treating his reaction as an oddity. He shook his head. Perhaps it was because Xue Lingxi was a reborn cultivator with an unknown level of strength at the time of her fall, and Jin Meiyu hailed from the prestigious Jin Family in a distant domain—she likely had experience confronting such powerful auras.

  Sweat slid into his eyes, blurring his vision.

  ‘System, do you know what’s going on?’ Xu Mo asked inwardly, worried he might have been caught in an illusion and shouldn’t have moved at all.

  [Reporting to Host. Someone has locked their spiritual sense onto you, making you feel as if the weight of the entire world rests on your shoulders.]

  Xu Mo raised his head and stared directly at Qin Jian—the only one whose arrival coincided with this pressure. Was he trying to humiliate Xu Mo in front of everyone?

  A smirk tugged at Xu Mo’s lips. Qin Jian, Long Bai, and nearly everyone present saw the True Successor suddenly smile. Did he recall some private joke?

  ‘You’re hungry, aren’t you?’ Xu Mo asked—not to the system, but to something deep within him. The greyish liquid he called “Loneliness.” Lately, he had been living a somewhat contented life, and yet the Loneliness within him had only grown—faster than before. Had he misunderstood the meaning of “Silence”?

  He shook his head to dismiss the thought and flick the sweat from his brow.

  An instinctual response echoed from the Loneliness:

  Eat—

  With a simple act of will, the spiritual sense that had overtaken his surroundings vanished within a minute. Xu Mo straightened his back. His fingers combed through his hair, brushing it away from his eyes. Unbeknownst to him, the sweat had dissolved the gel that held his “Low-Key Hairstyle” in place. Running his fingers through it was like the final toll of a bell—the death knell of that hairstyle.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  What emerged in its place was his original look: “Effortless Villain Hair.”

  (A/N: A style where the hair is drawn back with the fingers, creating a windswept but sharp look. It’s not pinned, just shaped by instinct—implying someone too dangerous to care about appearances, yet naturally commanding.)

  This style made him appear both charming and striking. But there was something unnerving about it—a subtle sense of danger. He had recently renamed it from “Heaven’s Sweep” to “Effortless Villain Hair.” At first, he didn’t understand what villains looked like. But after seeing his own reflection during the trial and watching how others instinctively avoided him, he realized his style didn’t deserve the word “Heaven.”

  Qin Jian’s and Long Bai’s eyes widened in surprise. Xu Mo was no longer affected. Or rather, he had been—until that smirk. Then, Qin Jian’s spiritual sense had been... devoured?

  “I, Xu Mo, True Successor of the Hidden Dragon Sect, am grateful for your attention,” Xu Mo said calmly, cupping his hands in salute.

  Jin Meiyu stepped forward, her robes flowing like moonlight. She cupped her hands and offered a graceful bow. “Saintess Jin Meiyu greets Elder Qin. May your path remain ever clear beneath the heavens.”

  Xue Lingxi bowed with practiced ease, her gaze steady. “Disciple Xue Lingxi greets Elder Qin.”

  They both greeted Qin Jian in turn. Yet, Jin Meiyu and Xue Lingxi discreetly glanced at Xu Mo. It had been a silent agreement between them to let him speak first, as he was the True Successor. But upon hearing his greeting, both sensed a tension hanging in the air. On the surface, all seemed well—yet something subtle had changed.

  Xu Mo glanced inward at the “Loneliness” within him. It had turned a deep grey after absorbing Elder Qin’s spiritual sense. Perhaps due to the Elder’s high cultivation and pure Qi, it had fed more intensely. It felt as though the Loneliness was on the verge of evolving—and when it did, he might finally step into the first stage of the Dao of Silence.

  “S-Senior Brother, these three are the most promising talents of today’s Hidden Dragon Sect,” Long Bai said, stammering slightly as he addressed Qin Jian. He was clearly disappointed that Long Chen wasn’t among them—Long Chen had shown the fastest growth.

  “What did you just do?” Qin Jian asked seriously, eyes trembling as he took a step toward Xu Mo.

  “I apologize if I’ve somehow offended you, Elder Qin,” Xu Mo replied, calmly deflecting the question. He cupped his hands again and bowed slightly.

  “Stop it,” Long Bai interjected, stepping between the two. “Senior Brother Qin, it was your choice to test the True Successor of my sect. Please don’t make him uncomfortable.”

  Qin Jian looked at Long Bai with a hurt expression. “‘My’ sect? What do you mean by that, Junior Long? The sect belongs to both of us.”

  “Forgive me, Senior Brother Qin,” Long Bai replied, bowing humbly. “But the moment you chose to leave the sect and join Verdant Sky Hall, when the sect needed you most—that was the moment you severed yourself from it. Now, you are Elder Qin Jian of Sword Peak, Vice Peak Master. I am proud of your achievements.”

  His tone was humble, but the pain of betrayal could still be heard. The three juniors, knowing little of the sect’s deeper past, sensed the heaviness of history behind those words.

  Long Bai had wanted to give his Senior Brother one more chance. But seeing him unleash his spiritual sense on a mere Qi Condensation disciple—one who hadn’t even reached the peak of that realm—in front of the region’s most powerful sects?

  Was this a test? Or an attempt to humiliate their sect and its True Successor?

  If he truly wished to test a junior, and if he still considered Xu Mo his junior, he could have chosen another time and place—or tested all the Hidden Dragon Sect disciples equally.

  But instead, he singled Xu Mo out.

  That’s why Long Bai no longer called him “Senior Brother Qin.” The arrogance of someone worshipped across the region had clearly gone to his head.