I Am Your Natural Enemy

”You really stirred up a huge event.

If you hadn’t involved the entire Celestial Court, if you weren’t doing the right thing, if everyone hadn’t been willing to back you up, I almost wouldn’t have made it through.

You did great this time, but don’t do it like this again next time.”

Wen Yan slept sweetly, totally unaware, only the temporary buff above his head updated its timer, changing to 24 hours.

Wen Yan lay on the bed, sleeping soundly, while on the other side, the follow-up matters were just starting to unfold simultaneously.

In Harbor City, the new neighbor who’d just moved in next to the Doll Master’s house quietly led a team, capturing the still-lounging Doll Master without a sound.

Because the Doll Master still had dolls scattered everywhere, who knows what consequences that might’ve led to.

They moved in straight away and gave him the gift of baby-like sleep.

On the other side, by using Little Mustache’s phone logs, everyone he’d ever contacted or interacted with, anyone with even the slightest suspicion, was all being rounded up.

The one codenamed ’Scholar Tu’ was active in the Qinling Mountains; as soon as he crawled out from underground, he looked up to see a dozen drones floating overhead.

In his camp, all his accomplices were already unconscious, and more than a dozen members of the Scorching Sun Department had the place surrounded tightly.

Scholar Tu didn’t say a thing, and the Scorching Sun Department didn’t even bother with the usual challenge—they just knocked him out flat and took him away.

Aside from Little Mustache having the rollback, once these people’s information was exposed and they were locked in, they were as good as dead.

If the core wasn’t dealt with first, arresting the others would be pointless.

Within an hour, over thirty ghosts, a few demons, and more than sixty people in total were all taken away; they would be handled as necessary.

It was chaos outside, but it had nothing to do with Wen Yan anymore. Feng Yao came by later, heard Wen Yan didn’t look well on his return and crashed to sleep, hadn’t woken up yet, so Feng Yao didn’t say a thing.

Wen Yan was still deep asleep, and the player’s ’Natural Enemy’ title was now at work, letting him recover energy quickly.

He started, in his dreams, to absorb and organize some experiences gained from those ten thousand fragments, pulling out useful info.

He slept the whole day through. The second time Feng Yao came, hearing Wen Yan still hadn’t woken up, he reported the news to the General Director.

The General Director had checked the atomic clock logs; the atomic clock was nearly trashed, and during those few minutes, each second jumped dozens of times.

He spoke with the Old Celestial Master, who said if Wen Yan was still alive, that was already defying fate.

Even the Old Celestial Master himself couldn’t have achieved a better result if he’d gone personally.

The most the Old Celestial Master could do was hold a ritual, and then use the connections of the Celestial Master Mansion to the max.

The Old Celestial Master used himself as an anchor, drawing in the entire Celestial Court to serve as Wen Yan’s anchor.

Because the Celestial Court cannot be swept away by a rollback.

Plus, Wen Yan holds a genuine, unique Heavenly Bestowed Treasure Talisman in his hand.

All these are threads—threads keeping Wen Yan tethered.

Now that he made it back by himself, even if utterly exhausted and in deep sleep, that’s already the best outcome.

The General Director didn’t ask further, not even questioning the Scorching Sun Department members dealing with the café—everything was handled according to standard post-op procedures.

At the edge of the Cloud Sea, the Old Celestial Master finished the rite, sat upon the meditation mat, and sighed deeply.

”The changes brought by the Spiritual Qi Resurgence have finally started to affect the Celestial Court. Didn’t expect it would begin from the Water Division.

Through thousands of years in the Divine Land, the toughest times were always about water.

Never thought, in this new era, the first to get ahead would still be those related to water.”

The Old Celestial Master turned his head, looking at a purple-robed Taoist walking over from afar, and instructed,

”Get ten Spiritual Treasure Pills and a jug of top-grade Inner Strength Yellow Sprout Pills, send them to Wen Yan.”

”Yes.” The purple-robed Taoist acknowledged, then softly asked, ”Master, we only have twenty Spiritual Treasure Pills left in our sect, and ten are reserved for the year-end Luo Tian Grand Ceremony. The Yellow Sprout Pills—we’re almost out for the year. The last jug of top-grade stuff was set aside for you.”

”Then send the top-grade ones.”

”Yes.” Though the purple-robed Taoist didn’t understand, he knew there was surely a reason for the Old Celestial Master’s decision.

The Old Celestial Master looked back at the Cloud Sea, glanced at his right arm, and thought to himself, giving away a few things is nothing.

What he learned on his own, the debt owed isn’t just about favors anymore.

Thank goodness he hadn’t learned the whole right arm—critical parts of the right hand were still missing.

Otherwise, he really would have to formally acknowledge a half-master, just to honor his own Taoist heart.

...

At night, around midnight, Wen Yan slowly opened his eyes, yawned, and sat up from the bed.

On the bedside table, there was still a cup of cooled boiled water and two pieces of pastry.

Wen Yan glanced at the temporary buff that was still ticking on him, then ate the pastries and drank some water first.

He went downstairs, and as he was making food, a munchy Little Fire Seed whizzed over, landed on Wen Yan’s shoulder, its tiny hands clutching Wen Yan’s hair, muttering something.

The Little Zombie blinked and appeared in Wen Yan’s arms, hugging him and whimpering, her little face full of worry.

Sparrow Cat then flew over too, landed on his shoulder, and Chen Qimo beside him hugged his arm. In the blink of an eye, Wen Yan was covered with ”attachments.”

”I’m fine, just a little hungry. How long have I slept?”

”Almost a whole day and night.” Chen Qimo still looked worried.