I Am Your Natural Enemy

Strictly speaking, this whole thing is still supposed to be a secret, but everyone who should know probably already knows.

With all the tricks he’s pulled lately, it doesn’t feel right to just dump all the blame on Scorching Sun.

Thinking again…might as well throw in the Calamity Protector Water Official Talisman too.

Calamity Protector Goddess Wang Xueqi gave him the one-and-only Calamity Protector Water Official Talisman, and some people should know about that as well.

If that’s not enough, let’s tack on the Scorching Sun Fist too.

Anyway, everyone already knows that his Scorching Sun is definitely different from Thirteenth Ancestor’s Scorching Sun, and that’s totally normal.

So just don’t ask. If you ask, it’s just ”Scorching Sun.” If you ask again, it’s ”My Scorching Sun has been improving at the speed of light—the miracles just keep popping up.”

Keep pressing and I’ll say the Calamity Protector Water Official Talisman is just that badass. As for why he can keep developing it even though he’s never cultivated before...

Hmm, let me think.

Oh, right, Water Monarch.

Don’t ask. If you ask, Water Monarch gave it to me. I don’t cultivate, I’m basically illiterate, how would I know?

Don’t come to me, go ask Water Monarch if you’ve got the guts.

Done with scapegoating? Whatever, there’s no such thing as a perfect scapegoat anyway—as long as nobody can fact-check me, that’s good enough.

With Water Monarch’s temper, if anyone dares to go ask him about this, Wen Yan thinks even if he called him Water Monkey to his face, Water Monarch probably wouldn’t even get mad—he’d be too busy bashing someone’s head straight into their chest cavity.

Wen Yan daydreamed until even he couldn’t remember when he zoned out—eventually just dozed off, restoring his energy.

Meanwhile, outside, after a chaotic night, the real noise was just getting started.

In the world of regular folks, everyone’s munching on popcorn and watching the trending topics—nobody’s ever too busy for some drama. Word is, a bunch of people from several companies just got taken away, and now some streamers have also gotten hauled off.

Everyone’s rubbing their hands together, waiting for the show—let’s see who doesn’t show up today.

But in the not human world, Ghosts are on the front line of gossip—spreading news among themselves at lightning speed through the Net, even picking up some new slang along the way without anyone teaching them.

To avoid keyword detection, some things are said in code—slang that everyone gets, which is constantly being updated. If you don’t surf the web for a day, you’ll get left behind for sure.

Within just half a day, the story had turned into: the Great Killer Star from Virtue City’s Forbidden Land went ballistic after someone stole his decorative trinket, stormed out of Virtue City, and went on a killing spree.

One domain out of the Hundred Cities was wiped out—like, literally, not a single chicken or dog left alive; even the ordinary chickens and ducks were hanged to death, no joke.

Of course, that’s just one story.

Another thing happened at the same time: Fuyu Mountain activated an ancient tradition—visiting sects to issue challenges.

If anyone was confused, someone immediately copy-pasted the explanation for Fuyu’s tradition.

Basically, since over a thousand years ago, whenever a disciple in the sect had ridiculously high talent, they’d take this route—leveling up through real battles.

You know Qin Kun, right?

Qin Kun’s Martial Arts Talent was already off-the-charts back then, and even with all the challenges he threw around, it only counted as half a tradition, not an official launch.

This new guy? Even scarier—first fight out, and he kills a Great Demon from Binhai County right off the bat.

Then he drops by Mount Qingcheng, challenges a reclusive Great Demon—and kills him too.

Next up, he goes to Wudang to crash their mountain gate, taking down a guardian Divine Beast.

In the end, who knows what was said, but after the Wudang Sect Leader returned, he knelt before the founder’s statue, even taking off his dao crown and the taoist robe symbolizing the Sect Leader—now he’s just wearing the plainest blue robe, and hasn’t stood up since.

No way that’s fake, right?

Everyone knows some Wudang rules—mess up, and you kneel in the main hall to be punished, chanting scriptures is just the baseline.

If even the Sect Leader’s like this, he really must have disgraced Wudang when their gate got crashed—now he’s punishing himself.

Some of Wudang’s old-timers just asked about it, then agreed it’s only right for the Sect Leader to be punished; one even brought him ink and brushes to copy out sutras by hand.

Now the rumors are all about when the Fuyu Mountain crew will go to Dragon Tiger Mountain—everyone’s waiting for the show.

Last time, when Taiyi Observatory got whacked, nobody really knew the inside story. All they knew was that, based on how things were going, most of the spectators were gonna get rekt.

And that was when the Scorching Sun Department was handling things.

This time it’s beef between the Three Mountains and Five Ridges—the vibes are totally different now.

No matter who wrecks who, this crowd’s gonna be cheering, faces practically glowing with schadenfreude.

Especially since everyone’s heard that Fuyu Mountain’s been on the down-low for years—some even say they shouldn’t be part of the Three Mountains and Five Ridges anymore. But back in the day, Fuyu was stacked with legendary fighters, even had someone who fought their way across all of Divine Land.

Now? The drama’s gonna be even wilder.

Wen Yan’s informant, Mai Conggui, has been stressed out lately—felt like he had no valuable leads, but he’s been eating melons (gossiping) half the day now, and the more he listens, the more off it all feels.

Deciding not to chat with those white cats anymore, he quickly left the Rakshasa Ghost Market and called up Wen Yan.

Wen Yan woke up groggy from the call, saw who it was, and suddenly felt wide awake—his informant was calling on his own!

”What’s up?”

Mai Conggui rattled off everything he’d just overheard, leaving Wen Yan totally gobsmacked—took him ages to process it.

”Boss? Boss?”

”Uh...” Wen Yan snapped out of his own shock at how freaking awesome he apparently was.