I Am Your Natural Enemy

Rumors can kill, man. Since when was I badass enough to punch Wudang and stomp on Qingcheng?!

”What a load of crap!”

Wen Yan immediately snapped.

”I need to have a talk with Lord Zhu later. Rakshasa Ghost Market has basically turned into a rumor factory.

What the hell does any of this have to do with me? Some Great Demon went off the rails and started eating people, specifically targeting young girls.

Then they tried to pin it on Virtue City’s Evil Star, and of course the guy got pissed off and showed up for revenge, so what?

If I wasn’t there the whole time talking him down, who knows how many people would have died by now.

I even got caught in the damn crossfire—my most expensive piece of clothing got straight-up blasted to shreds.

If I hadn’t worked my ass off convincing him, that bro would’ve lost it completely—half the bystanders here just for the drama would’ve ended up dead!

My lips are dry and cracked here from all the talking; it took everything to get him to just kill the evil demon and leave it at that.”

”Boss, but... I heard in Hundred Cities, a Great Demon’s domain got wiped out—chickens, dogs, everything, not a soul left. Some people actually went to see for themselves,” Mai Conggui carefully pushed back.

”Take a wild guess what the chickens and ducks there were being fed?”

”Hiss...” Mai Conggui sucked in a sharp breath.

Wen Yan took a slow breath, sounding earnest and wise.

”You gotta learn how to tell good info from crap. Now here’s your task: go fix those rumors for me, ASAP.

Remember, the story is: a Great Demon was eating people, tried to use Evil Star’s name to shift the blame, but got exposed, and that’s how all this happened.

Really has nothing to do with me. I was just telling them to calm down the whole time.

If you pull this off, your bonus doubles this month.”

”You got it, boss, just watch me.” Mai Conggui’s eyes lit up.

If Wen Yan said anything else, maybe Mai Conggui would’ve believed a little, but when Wen Yan claims he was just there spectating and talking people down the whole time...

Yeah, Mai Conggui really doesn’t buy that.

But, hey, if the boss says finish the job, get double bonus, then whatever the boss says goes.

Doesn’t matter what the ”truth” actually is—he gets it, his job is to get the boss out of this mess.

Mai Conggui hung up, thought it over, then headed back to Rakshasa Ghost Market. This was a big job, and he had to figure out how to nail it.

...

Wen Yan sat on the bed, looked at the glass of plain water on his nightstand, took a sip, and rubbed his aching head.

How the hell did the rumors get this messed up? Even he didn’t know he was such a beast—supposedly made the Wudang Sect Leader depressed in a fight.

Oh my god.

He really needs to pay Wudang a visit someday, meet up with the Sect Leader face-to-face, and properly clear this up.

If he doesn’t, who knows—someone might actually think he’s repping Fuyu Mountain and reviving some old Fuyu tradition. That’d be a shitshow.

He finished his water and got out of bed. Wen Yan unlocked his phone and saw Feng Yao’s message: so far so good, they’d already nabbed over a dozen people in Luoyue County. Most of them are probably heading for the Luxury Furnace soon as expected.

As for those company suits, they’re still bickering over some gambling stuff, dragging things out.

After scanning it all, Wen Yan realized there was no way this would get wrapped up today, so he shut off his phone.

He went down to the basement, wrapped up the Jade Pendant holding the Bamboo Forest Demon, and stashed it away.

He’d figure out a way to set the Bamboo Forest Demon free when the right time or method came up.

An actual, proper cultivator probably has more humanity than most people. Wen Yan really didn’t want to kill him.

He pulled out his streaming phone—those usual streamers, only one chick was live right now, over in Cape of the Sea, but it looked like just a normal stream.

To keep up appearances, Wen Yan dropped her two virtual planes at random.

Glancing at the time, Wen Yan had dinner with his family. The only new face was a Demonic Corpse crashing for a bit, but other than that it was a normal meal, everyone ate their own food, and even the corpse got tossed a naturally-ripened tomato, blessed with Yang Energy.

After dinner, Wen Yan’s work phone buzzed—a message from Mai Conggui.

”Boss, I found out someone got paid to boost your reputation to dangerous heights.”

Wen Yan frowned and messaged back, asking if Mai Conggui could talk on the phone.

The phone rang; Wen Yan picked it up.

”Boss, I stumbled onto something. Someone’s fanning the flames online while rumors are spinning out of control, posting to manipulate the story—they’re about to out you.”

”Hmm?”

”I ran into a ghost at Rakshasa Ghost Market, checked in with Lord Zhu’s people, and that guy’s already been quietly taken care of.

I was arguing online, saying, Boss, you were just there to de-escalate, talking sense into people.

Then someone reached out, tried to buy my source, even told me to delete my post.”

”How much did they offer?” Wen Yan asked offhandedly.

”Ten bucks.”

”Huh? Seriously?” Wen Yan froze. Damn, someone actually paid to stir up crap about him?

They must be nuts—do they really think the different races use the open internet as if it’s all anonymous?

”Good work, keep it up.”

Mai Conggui hung up, immediately started furiously typing, continuing the online arguments.

”Quit talking about your ’friend’ or your ’uncle,’ that’s all hearsay and bullshit.

I’m telling you, if you dare to come see Virtue City for yourself, you’ll see what’s actually up.

Enough. Not worth arguing for a few bucks, man.

I must be out of my mind, wasting time with you people who grind this hard just for pocket change.”

Mai Conggui just screenshotted the DMs and posted them.

He’d originally been stressing about how to pull off this big assignment, but turns out there were people out there actively helping him—this bonus was gonna be a breeze.

Meanwhile, Feng Yao stared at Wen Yan’s message, frowning, and instantly opened his laptop, fingers flying over the keys.

Once the list was up, he skimmed it—most of them turned out to be ghosts.

What, these ghosts don’t sleep during the day?

Feng Yao sent the list out, giving the Scorching Sun Department some work.

Pinning a big ”stirring up divisions in the Three Mountains and Five Ridges” label on them means it’s time to pay a visit and warm things up.

He kept digging and quickly uncovered another lead.

But next second, Feng Yao frowned and snorted.

”Tch, another one who rage-quits when things get real.”

He followed that clue and cross-referenced locations, quickly pinned down a spot that was on the move.

Once confirmed, he sent Wen Yan a message.

”There’s a yacht over at Cape of the Sea. The person stirring up the rumors should be onboard.

But on that boat, there’s a Dragon Tiger Mountain guy and someone from the Zhang Family Main House.”