Chapter Six: Ye Zhetian Protects His Master!

The outer disciples of Heaven Sword Peak stepped on their flying swords as if treading upon Lin Jun’s head.

Beside him, the little black dog bared its teeth, snarling. Lin Jun, however, paid them no mind. To him, a cultivator at the Great Perfection stage of Foundation Establishment, these disciples—mere Qi Refinement practitioners—were no different from ants, easily crushed with a wave of his hand.

"Tell Lin Qingxuan not to end up worse than a woman or a dog," Lin Jun said, his lips curling into a slight smile; his mindset had shifted significantly. As for Lin Qingxuan, the disciple who had betrayed their sect, he felt nothing but disgust.

"I will pass your words on to Senior Brother Lin exactly as you said, Uncle Master Lin. By then, he’ll beat your disciple so badly you won't even recognize him. Hahaha..." The Heaven Sword Peak disciple sneered, intentionally circling his flying sword over Lin Jun’s head.

"Whimper... whimper..." The little black dog let out a low, mournful sound, its small, pitch-black eyes filled with ferocity. It could not only understand human speech but also sense malicious intent invisible to humans. The malice these men held toward its master gave it the urge to tear them apart.

"Frogs at the bottom of a well," Lin Jun remarked with a faint smile. He put away his token and turned to walk toward the main hall. Behind him, the little black dog did not follow. Instead, it vanished in a blur, silently pursuing the departing disciples of Heaven Sword Peak.

...

Above a boundless bamboo forest, the disciples of Heaven Sword Peak flew in a group, chattering away.

"Stepping on the Peak Master’s head feels great!"

"Heh, word from the inner sect is that if we can get Lin Jun kicked out of the sect, we might earn a spot in the inner sect."

"But Lin Jun hasn't done anything wrong..."

"Heh, where there's a will, there's a way."

As the disciples spoke without restraint, the figure of a small black dog suddenly appeared behind them. It wagged its tail, looking harmless, yet its eyes gleamed with murderous intent. Due to the disparity in their cultivation levels, they failed to notice Ye Zhetian.

Listening to the disciples’ constant slander against its master, the little black dog opened its small mouth and lunged fiercely at the buttocks of the disciple in front!

The moment it opened its mouth, it expanded out of all proportion. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a gaping, blood-red maw lined with jagged, saw-like fangs, making intimate contact with the disciple’s rear.

"Awoo!!!"

The disciple let out a shriek that sounded nothing like a human. His spiritual energy instantly spiraled out of control, his eyes rolled back, and he plummeted from the clouds. In the next heartbeat, the little black dog dissipated like wisps of black smoke, leaving the remaining disciples unable to see what had happened.

"Who! What kind of coward dares to ambush my Great Dao Sect? Stand out and face your death!"

The remaining disciples emitted a glow of spiritual light, brandishing their weapons as they scanned their surroundings in a panic. They had only caught a glimpse of a ghostly shadow of black smoke passing by, followed by their junior brother’s tragic scream as he fell.

The little black dog, hidden in the shadows, let its fierce gaze flicker. It circled behind another disciple and again transformed its maw, biting savagely at his rear.

"Awoooo!!!" A shrill, miserable scream echoed. Caught off guard, the disciple’s lower half was nearly bitten off!

Thanks to its Hellhound lineage, the little black dog felt unusually exhilarated. If not for its master’s prohibition against killing, these people would have been dead long ago! It was far more than a simple lesson.

The little black dog hid once more, watching the panicked disciples with a playful, mocking gaze.

"Who is it! Where are you!"

"Stop hiding! Come out and fight us to the death!"

The Heaven Sword Peak disciples gripped their swords, trembling as they pointed at the empty air, their faces pale with terror. In mere moments, two of their juniors had fallen, and they still had no idea who the culprit was.

"Senior Brother Guo, legend says this bamboo forest was once the tomb of a great master. Could it be... could we be haunted?" one disciple asked, trembling with fear as he scanned the surroundings.

"Bullshit! We are cultivators! If anything, the spirits should be afraid of us!" the leader roared, though his own expression had shifted. He felt an inexplicable dread, beginning to suspect that the black smoke he had seen was not human at all.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through, and the bamboo rustled loudly. The already nervous disciples jumped, nearly lashing out at the air. In the shadows, the little black dog’s mouth split open in what looked like a silent, terrifying chuckle.

Suddenly, it leaped, landing in the middle of the paranoid disciples, and let out a loud, "WOOF!"

"Holy crap!"

"A ghost!"

"Grandmother, have mercy!"

Caught completely off guard, the disciples threw away their weapons and fled in utter disarray!

"Don't run! Get back here! Ow, holy—!" The leader shouted in fury, only to turn around and see a blood-red maw lined with fangs rushing toward him. His scalp went numb. "A ghost!" He screamed, fleeing even faster.

"Woof, woof, woof..." Watching the men scramble away in terror, the little black dog retracted its maw, returning to its harmless appearance, though the sounds it made seemed like laughter.

Its eyes darted back and forth, looking toward the direction of the Myriad Laws Peak, then toward the path the disciples had taken. Though it could not speak, it possessed the intelligence of a human and had heard every word they said about framing its master. It decided to see exactly how they intended to do so. Some things its master might ignore, but it, as a disciple, could not.

As it thought this, the little black dog felt its mind grow sharper. In the hidden depths of reality, it felt a deeper bond forming with its master, Lin Jun.

"Woof!"

This change filled the little black dog with joy, and it felt its spiritual energy circulating faster than ever. It vowed to see this revenge through to the end! With a bark, its small body vanished from the spot. As it disappeared, its silhouette seemed, for a fleeting moment, to have grown slightly larger.

...

Back at Myriad Laws Peak, before Lin Jun had even reached the main hall, a system notification rang in his ears:

[Ding! Ye Zhetian has successfully avenged his master. The host has taught his disciple well. Reward: One use of the "Clear-Minded" state.]

As the system’s voice faded, Lin Jun felt an inexplicable surge of clarity and refreshment, as if years of pent-up frustration had been purged in an instant. "This little dog..." He shook his head with doting affection, feeling a warmth in his heart as the image of Ye Zhetian’s revenge played in his mind.

But as he passed by Ji Qingyou’s quarters, the system’s alerts suddenly went frantic.

[Ding-ding! Detected that disciple Ji Qingyou is suffering a cultivation deviation, trapped in a heart-demon illusion, and is on the verge of soul fragmentation. Host, please rescue her immediately!]

[Ding! Detected that disciple Ji Qingyou is practicing a non-sect technique.]

[Mission Issued: After rescuing the disciple, steer her back to the right path and impart the sect's true techniques to restore the sect’s resonance!]

[Ding: Due to disciple Ji Qingyou’s special destiny, completing this mission will grant a special reward... Ding-ding-ding...]

[...Manual of the Indestructible God-Demon Body, one copy...]

Lin Jun froze, his gaze instinctively turning toward the direction of Ji Qingyou’s room.