Everyone is Secretly in Love with Me

Chapter 62: "Young Master, I am your servant!!"

The village chief stood beside the middle-aged man in Daoist robes with a fervent expression, trembling and not daring to lift his head, hunching over as he listened to the man speak. After the man finished speaking, he straightened his posture and turned to the people in the village, saying, "What are you all standing around for? Just like the master said, let the children come forward and test their potential for becoming immortals."

The villagers were somewhat bewildered, evidently these few individuals were not regular occurrences. In such moments, their blind trust in the village chief became apparent as they led their children to stand in a row at the doorway, following the chief's instructions, having the children enter the compass one by one.

Even the chubby child was among them, dressed in his best attire. Pouting his lips, he sneakily glanced around, occasionally extending his chubby little hand to tug on the collar of his friend in front of him. Before the friend could turn around, he received a slap on the head from his mother, causing him to settle down.

The person standing beside the compass concealed an expression of disdain under a calm exterior, not moving at all, raising their chin to signal the children to step onto the compass by themselves—

The first one, no response.

The second one, still no response.

...

After the fifth child still showed no reaction, the villagers couldn't help but whisper to each other, "What's going on? Weren't they supposed to light up if they're good?"

"This gadget must be faulty, right?"

"I think so too. My child is known for being clever. Even the kids of the same age in town aren't as lively as him! Why isn't he reacting? He once beat up our donkey so vigorously that it didn't even get kicked by the hind leg. He's really sharp." A woman in plain clothes proudly patted her chest with rough hands.

Another person envied and looked, even going so far as to approach the village chief's side, whispering in a voice they thought was low, "Village chief, what's going on here? They're not deceiving us, are they?"

Beside the village chief, the man in the Daoist robes with good hearing murmured, "..."

—These ignorant mortals!

He glanced at the villagers, and an invisible pressure made them choose to keep quiet. The village chief also cleared his throat lightly, and the scene quieted down once again.

In the distance, Lin Zhizhi raised an eyebrow, a surge of joy welling up in him as he realized that those were the cultivators he had been seeking. After a moment's thought, he turned to the young man who had been following him and said, "That's testing their spiritual roots. You should give it a try too."

As per usual, Yaxuan nodded silently, and with a basket of spirit beasts in tow (?), he strode towards the entrance of the village.

His appearance wasn't extraordinarily handsome, but his features were refined. It was just that when he walked expressionlessly towards a certain spot, his long legs carried him forward with such momentum that it could force adults to step back.

So when he moved smoothly and naturally to stand at the end of a line of children, those Daoist-robed men were rejecting him in their hearts.

—In the cultivation world, disciples were accepted based on their aptitude, special constitution, and age. Except for extremely rare late bloomers with exceptional potential, generally, the age limit was set at no older than the age of hair-binding.

According to the viewpoint of these men, unless this guy had heaven-defying potential, the kind that could punch a Dao Sovereign and kick a Sea Emperor, otherwise, it would be nearly impossible for him to catch up to cultivators of the same age.

The middle-aged man glanced at the village chief. Unexpectedly, the old man who had been good at flattery earlier didn't reprimand the young man this time. Instead, he peculiarly shifted his gaze away. The surrounding villagers were the same, their faces displaying a range of emotions, truly a sight to behold.

Even though the village chief wanted to please these immortals, when faced with Yaxuan who had saved the entire village just yesterday, they couldn't immediately change their attitude.

Not understanding the intricacies, the middle-aged man slightly closed his eyes, clasping his hands at his sleeves, assuming a meditative pose. Maintaining his status, he wasn't willing to talk to mortals directly.

After a while, the consistently calm compass finally showed some activity when a child stepped forward. The inner circle of runes spun around once, emitting a faint blue light in the direction of the Black Tortoise.

This scene confirmed to Lin Zhizhi that he had indeed ended up in a different continent. At least in the Central Continent, from his experience, he had never seen a tool used to test spiritual roots like this.

The chubby child innocently cupped his cheeks, looking at the blue light, then at the Daoist-robed person in charge of the compass. The person's cold demeanor faded, replaced with a nearly smiling and kindly expression towards the innocent-looking and pitiful child in the middle of the compass—

Then the chubby child rubbed his belly, turned back, and cheerfully said to his mother, "Mom! Can you cook an extra meal for me tonight by slaughtering that chicken in the backyard??"

The woman wholeheartedly agreed, "Sure, I'll cook whatever you want!"

The Daoist: "…"

The chubby child stepped down from the compass and pounced into his mother's embrace. The next child was eager, quickly taking three steps and two strides to approach, hoping to see the light appear again, only to leave disappointed in the end.

Among the village's line of children, a total of two children with spiritual roots emerged. After the children finished testing, Yaxuan stood at the end, facing the Daoist.

The Daoist looked at him with a gaze that could be used to observe ants, scanning his entire body up and down, not intending to let him step up at all, "You're too old to be tested."

Yaxuan stiffly responded, "How old do you have to be to be tested?"

"In the age of hair-binding. As for you, I think you're already married, right?"

Yaxuan's brows furrowed—this person's gaze was even more disdainful than the previous villagers. If the villagers had acted that way solely due to his background and ignorance, this person completely disregarded him as a species.

It was as if a person were looking at a nest of ants, completely trampling and ignoring them.

This was the normal attitude cultivators had towards mortals.

In the back of the village chief, Lin Zhizhi rolled his eyes inwardly, casually interjecting, "Actually, he's not that old. He just appears mature and hasn't bound his hair."

The Daoist was interrupted but softened his attitude when he saw the young master of the Lin family, who had gradually approached Yaxuan, his gaze showing a fleeting astonishment.

Even in the picturesque and beauty-filled Central Continent, the black-haired youth was undoubtedly the center of attention, not to mention in the backdrop of this rural village. Even though Lin Zhizhi's expression lacked the respect that mortals typically showed towards cultivators, the Daoist unconsciously softened his demeanor, "If you're of the right age, you can come forward for the test."

—Yaxuan suddenly felt like pulling out his little chopping knife and practicing swordsmanship (…).

The young man's wolf-like eyes stared at the Daoist for a moment, his lips moved as if to say something, but in the end, he swallowed the words. Under Lin Zhizhi's gaze, he stepped into the compass, and the inner circle spun once more. However, this time, the speed was more than ten times faster than the previous children.

The compass needle stopped in the northwest direction, positioned between the Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird, faintly revealing a peculiar pattern, and a milky-white light took shape in the air.

"Special constitution!" the Daoist exclaimed. "You possess the Blade-Drinking Constitution!"

Even the middle-aged man by the village chief's side widened his eyes abruptly, breathing rapidly as he looked at Yaxuan on the compass—

The Blade-Drinking Constitution, hailed as the best constitution for cultivating the Dao of Blades. How amazing was it exactly? To draw an analogy, it was akin to Lin Zhizhi's talent in swordsmanship in the Sword Path, a rarity among rarities.

They had come to this village at the foot of the mountain looking for a medicine boy, but unexpectedly found an accidental genius! Now their gazes toward Yaxuan completely changed, containing welcome, joy, and even a hint of subtle flattery.

"Heroes emerge from the young generation," the Daoist eagerly reached out to him, "If you join our sect, you can immediately become a direct disciple of the sect master."

"With this junior's talent, achieving the Foundation Establishment stage is undoubtedly within reach…"

Several people took turns to come forward, forging connections and praising Yaxuan.

However, the youth's dark eyes skipped over them and landed on Lin Zhizhi outside the circle—Lin Zhizhi locked eyes with him, nodding subtly to signal his approval.

Unusually, Yaxuan didn't respond immediately. He almost instinctively grew a bit impatient, making up a casual excuse to extricate himself from the crowd. He approached the black-haired youth, a mixture of unease and feigned calmness as he asked, "Are you leaving?"

"If I go with them, will you have to leave?"

Bathing in his gaze, Lin Zhizhi responded leisurely, "No."

"Will you come with me?"

Lin Zhizhi said, "If you don't find me troublesome."

Yaxuan slowly relaxed his clenched fist behind him, smiling sincerely, "You're my master. I won't find you troublesome in this lifetime."

"... This is already the twenty-third time I'm repeating this, we don't have the deep teacher-student relationship like that," Lin Zhizhi felt somewhat vexed by Yaxuan's persistence, "And I've noticed that your future sect brothers are right behind you."

Yaxuan seized onto the crux of his words, "Not teacher and student, then what relationship do we have?"

"A purely utilitarian and mutually helpful friendship," Lin Zhizhi firmly stated.

Without accepting or rejecting, Yaxuan turned back to the Daoist and agreed to join the sect, but on the condition that Lin Zhizhi would come along. The Daoist was taken aback, "Who is he? According to sect rules, we can't just bring anyone along."

The youth was about to answer stiffly as if the conversation with Lin Zhizhi hadn't happened, "He's my—"

Lin Zhizhi interrupted him, curling his lips, "I'm his servant who grew up with him, inseparable from him since childhood."

The young master of the Lin family understood these sect rules best. To find an excuse to bring along a disciple, the master-servant relationship was the most solid foundation.

It took Yaxuan quite a while to mumble a vague agreement, "… Yes."

The Daoist's expression underwent a fascinating change, sensing something significant in that one word "master." Even though he felt that between these two, Lin Zhizhi seemed more like the master, both in appearance and treatment.

This thought was even more evident during their journey back to the sect.

"Our Azure Cloud Sect is the largest sect around here. Although not on par with the Twelve Celestial Sects, we have some influence. Every year, disciples are eligible to attend exchanges with the Holy Sect. It's a great honor."

As he described the might of their sect with enthusiasm to these newly recruited disciples, he couldn't help but feel that the handsome and overly good-looking young man didn't have that typical human respect for cultivators in his eyes.

If he looked closer, he would realize that this person's eyes lacked that sentiment for anyone.

Although the black-haired youth lazily sat on the side throughout, his demeanor was deceptive enough to make people think he was reserved and uncomfortable, suggesting he wasn't adapting well. Yet, he seemed completely indifferent. Even when facing Yaxuan, there was no emotional fluctuation. This guy seemed very eager to make people remember him.

When he looks at you, yet doesn't care about you, it might make you feel that having those attractive black eyes cast their gaze upon you could be the most satisfying thing in the world.

After listening to the other party's bragging throughout, Lin Zhizhi merely inserted a few comments to elicit some information about this continent in the end. As Yaxuan's servant (?), he couldn't directly inquire, "What continent is this?" That would draw too much attention. In his current state, with his depleted spiritual power, if someone harbored ill intentions, he would become the unluckiest Luo Xian Sword Sect's chief disciple in history—if he feigned ignorance and curiosity, he asked, "Is our sect really so impressive? Just now, I heard you mention the Blade Path to the young master. Is he skilled in the Blade Path?"

Yaxuan swore he hadn't experienced the feeling of "dread" in a long time, but whenever Lin Zhizhi said "young master," he would involuntarily shudder thrice...

The Daoist—introducing himself as "Hongying," trying to please the exceptionally gifted Yaxuan, answered with a friendly smile when he saw no opposition, "No, the specialty of our sect lies in alchemy—but the Blade Path is definitely not lacking either!"

Lin Zhizhi returned a faint, fleeting smile in response.

This smile made the plump young man sitting across from him blush suddenly and recall scenes of swearing to marry a beautiful wife—he thought, in the future, when I'm looking for a wife, she definitely has to be as good-looking as this brother!

In just half an hour on the back of the flying bird, the so-called Azure Cloud Sect appeared before them. Vast plazas and peaks, lush green trees covering most of the area, abundant spiritual energy—in Lin Zhizhi's eyes, it looked like a qualified medium-sized sect.

Hongying jumped down from the flying bird, folding its wings and letting it walk into the Spiritual Beast Garden on its two tiny legs. Meanwhile, he instructed the newcomers to put their luggage in the accommodation.

It was a row of corridors that had clearly seen better days.

Hongying explained awkwardly, "The sect hasn't been very peaceful lately, so just bear with this for now. The original lodgings were completely leveled."

The plump young man asked curiously, "What happened? Someone's causing trouble?"

"It's not just our sect they're targeting. The Twelve Celestial Sects have been turned upside down too! It's not some suppressed secret. Let me tell you. There's this big devil in purple robes, they say he's reached the God-Transforming stage—the pinnacle of cultivation in the mortal realm, no one knows where he came from, but as soon as he appeared, he plundered a medium-sized sect! It's said even another God-Transforming senior couldn't stop him. Later, he went to cause trouble for the Twelve Celestial Sects, and he wasn't captured either. He's claimed that he wants to peruse all the sects' herb records! These are precious to alchemists! So, be careful in the future and don't let him catch you! He's fierce!" Hongying explained in detail with wild gestures.

The plump young man said with admiration, "Wow, he's so amazing!"

Lin Zhizhi: "...Ah."

—Why does this description sound so much like someone he knows...

Lin Zhizhi: "...Ah!!"

—Key words: Purple robes, devil, searching for herbs... Isn't this the master who, after failing to deal with him, traveled far and wide to Yun Heaven in search of a remedy for his constitution?!

Young Master Lin of the Lin family, also known as the world-renowned devil Xuanhua's only disciple, had thoroughly figured out where he was now.

—Master! My dear Honored Dao Lord! You truly live up to your reputation as my master! No matter where you go, your dominance, might, and magnificence shine through!!

Lin Zhizhi felt a deep sense of guilt and admiration, stemming respectively from "such a troublesome master" and "the master truly deserves the title of Dao Lord."

Subsequently, he realized two things. First, he could be saved, as long as he could contact his master. Second, he absolutely couldn't reveal his relationship with his master, otherwise, these furious sect members would surely tear him to shreds.

Quick-witted Lin Zhizhi quickly thought of a solution.

There's an old saying, how does it go again?—"If I can't go find my master, then I'll let my master come find me."

Just for this, he would make sure the name "Lin Zhizhi" resounded here like thunder!