“The little miss of our Myriad Beasts Sect is too naive and well-mannered, so everyone else bullied her. I couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to enter the trial grounds with her, but I didn’t have a Black Ice Order so I wouldn’t be able to defend against the formations if they were to fall on me. Fortunately, we ran into a Snow Jiao Serpent and our Myriad Beasts Sect has a secret technique that allows us to control spirit beasts, so we gathered our courage and gave it a try. Before we knew it, it worked, and so by using the powers of the Snow Jiao Serpent, we were then able to control many other spirit beasts…. This way, it’s only natural nobody else could pose a challenge….

　　“At first—being as honest and well-behaved as we are—we only thought about how to pass through the trial grounds as quickly as possible. When we came across three extremely rude and unreasonable people who wanted to capture us and throw us inside a valley to block off a formation pivot, however, we didn’t have any other option but to retaliate. We accidentally took all their Black Ice Orders and formation-countering talismans, and accidentally stripped them naked before accidentally throwing them into the snowy valley…. Then, we accidentally took the others’, too….”

　　Fang Xing recounted the entire journey within the trial grounds in an extremely innocent manner, leaving all four Golden Cores within the hall dumbstruck.

　　“Fine. I shall pretend you didn’t intentionally rob these three. What about the others, then?” an elderly man with a white brow and beard asked after a moment of surprise.

　　Fang Xing continued in an extremely polite and well-behaved manner. “We tried to pass the trial grounds with the spirit beasts as soon as possible, but after the other elites saw us, they either tried to force us to join up with them or they cursed at us for not complying with the rules. Others were even frightened by how many spirit beasts we had, but when they saw how low our cultivation levels were, they all chose to viciously block our path as though trying to bully us….”

　　An awe-inspiring yellow-robed elder let out a snort of disdain. “And then you bullied all of them?”

　　Fang Xing smiled. “Yes! Have to do it before they do it to us!”

　　The wretched elderly man spat on the ground. “‘Yes’ your ass! You really think we’re all idiots?”

　　“It’s not like you never said we weren’t allowed to rob!” Fang Xing hastily yelled.

　　The four Golden Cores exchanged glances before the wretched man said, “It is true we did not make such a rule!”

　　The old man with the white brow and beard let out a long sigh. “To speak the truth, I actually feel you did the right thing by robbing them. If you didn’t, it would actually feel like this group of young elites we’ve gathered here are too lacking in their temperaments, making them too weak to truly bear the burden….”

　　The awe-inspiring man let out a cold snort as well. “If they had robbed with their own abilities, at least the others would have accepted their loss completely. What I am angry about is that he actually robbed others using the powers of the spirit beasts. At the end of the day, borrowing strength from outside forces is not a demonstration of one’s own ability; although he and that little girl from Bohai have passed the trials, there is just too much ambiguity. It cannot be counted completely!”

　　“Beast control is also an ability, you know. Why’d you put so many spirit beasts within the Snowy Mountain in the first place?”

　　It seemed as though the wretched-looking man couldn’t wait any longer. He looked at Fang Xing with eyes shining in excitement and extended out his hand, picking up the boy before turning to everyone else. “Whether you guys go and pick up all those elites and give them another Black Ice Order so they can redo the trials is up to you. I don’t care anymore. This kid, however, I want him, and I shall take him with me right now to train him properly….”

　　Then, with a long laugh, he simply grabbed Fang Xing and flew out of the hall.

　　“That old bastard Wanluo is acting a little strange today. Never have I see him so eager to take on a pupil…” the man with the white brow and beard said with a frown.

　　The awe-inspiring man, for his part, simply gave a cold snort. “He probably thinks that by accepting the first person to pass through the trial, he’s managed to beat us. Let him be. That is nothing more than a servant who passed the trials through luck!”

　　“Let’s go back and see if the old man Hu Qin has healed his little pupil or not, then we’ll send a message to the Melodic Ice Palace to restart the trial.”

　　The old men then began to discuss the next steps without concerning themselves with Fang Xing any longer.

　　—

　　Sometimes, the wretched old man would laugh. Others, he would lower his gaze to look at Fang Xing in excitement, and the shine within his eyes made Fang Xing feel a bit disturbed.

　　‘Could this old fart have taken a fancy to me? If I was showing my normal handsome self, that might be the case, but how could he have still taken a fancy to me when I’ve changed my appearance?’ The more he thought about it, the creepier it became. He soon wanted to escape but—to his dismay—he had no chance of escaping from the hands of a Golden Core Stage cultivator. Even if he were to use his full Foundation Stage power, he still wouldn’t have any chance of winning….

　　‘I’m done for. The innocence of my body I’ve protected all my life is going to end today…’ Fang Xing mourned, nearly on the verge of completely breaking.

　　The wretched old man held onto Fang Xing while flying to a snow-filled valley a hundred or so miles away, where the sight of another large hall sprang into view. On the surrounding black mountain walls were densely packed caves, making for a rather solemn but peculiar scene. After directly taking Fang Xing inside the hall and throwing him onto a cushion, he folded his own arms behind his back and laughed.

　　“Um, Esteemed Senior, please don’t laugh like this. Your junior here is terrified right now. If Esteemed Senior is interested, how about I introduce you to some handsome boys?” Fang Xing cautiously asked, trying to see if he could manage to escape from this.

　　The wretched old man was surprised and gave Fang Xing a peculiar look. “Handsome boys?”

　　“Yeah, they’re extremely handsome!” Fang Xing slapped his leg. “With only a single command from you, Esteemed Senior, I shall go and capture them for you! Let me tell you this, there’s one called ‘Yu Sanliang’ who is particularly handsome, and another called ‘Wu Xiangtong’ whose beauty is also not bad at all….”

　　” Pcht , what nonsense. Do you really think I want them?” The wretched old man picked his nose in disdain before snickering at Fang Xing. “You will do!”

　　Astonished, Fang Xing yelled out, “Your junior cannot….”

　　“I merely wanted to take you in as my pupil. Is that so hard?” the wretched old man asked, confused.

　　‘Pupil? Sh*t, that’s some weird-*ss preference….’ Fang Xing firmly refused, “My innate talent is poor and I’m so terribly ugly. I’m afraid I am not suitable for you, Esteemed Senior!”

　　The wretched old man began to grow impatient. “Stop making up crap again. If you really are of poor talent, how’d you kill off that Xiao kid from the Qing-Yun Sect? How’d you manage to do what you did to Hu Qin’s female pupil?”

　　“That’s because they—” Fang Xing subconsciously began to answer before he suddenly realized what had happened and jumped. “How did you… how….”

　　The wretched old man smirked. “Little Fang Xing, you can cheat others, but how can you cheat me?”

　　This left Fang Xing even more astonished. He quickly moved his hands over his face, but his appearance had never once changed back. Besides, even if his appearance had changed back, how would this wretched old man recognize him?

　　When Fang Xing had changed his appearance using the Mask of Wanluo, he’d had the Peng King verify it as well. That old beast had promised him that with the fine and delicate workings of the mask, not even a Golden Core Stage cultivator would be able to find anything wrong unless they specifically utilized their Qi for the sole purpose of determining his identity. Yet this old bastard hadn’t even checked his cultivation level this entire time….

　　The fact someone had seen through his disguise left Fang Xing in a state of panic. He subconsciously wanted to take out the one-legged-man lance and bash the old man, but when he saw the old man’s calm gaze, he gave up on such an idea. Let alone the one-legged-man lance, not even the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits would be any use against a Golden Core….

　　Helpless, Fang Xing sat down and no longer bothered trying to hide things; this situation couldn’t get any worse anyway. ” Aii , just finish me off quickly, then. Tell me, how did you find out about me?”

　　The wretched old man studied him from head to toe before laughing. “You’re pretty bold. I like it. I like it a lot. Before I tell you, tell me something: when you fell into that Yin Prison Abyss with old man Hu Qin’s female pupil, why did you not do anything in that entire half-month’s time? I’ve seen that pupil before. She’s really pretty, especially that pair of nice long legs… tsk tsk….”

　　Still astonished, Fang Xing looked at this wretched old man in disbelief. Were these words actually being spoken by a genuine Golden Core Stage cultivator? Even Fang Xing himself would feel embarrassed if he’d said such a thing. But when he saw how this old man was more interested in women, Fang Xing felt considerably more relieved.

　　“Who said I did nothing? I did it multiple times!”

　　The wretched old man’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

　　Fang Xing took out a storage sack. After rooting through it for a while, he suddenly pulled out a red cloth. “Here, look at this!”

　　The wretched old man’s eyes widened as he yelled, “You even have her undergarments?”

　　Fang Xing took it back with pride. “That is proof. If any woman angers me, she’ll suffer for it next time!” Fang Xing was relieved to see the old man didn’t seem to have any ill intentions towards him and revealed his true self.

　　The old man stuck up his thumb and sighed. “Nice one. I’m not as good as you are!”

　　“Of course!” Fang Xing proudly replied. “By the way, you still haven’t told me how you knew it was me.” He raised his head, extremely curious to know the answer. He’d been very cautious this entire time—he’d even swallowed some of his anger when he normally wouldn’t in order to sneak inside with Ying Qiaoqiao—and hadn’t expected that just as he was a few inches away from success, something like this would happen on the final stretch. It had left him rather disappointed, and no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t think of which part of his plan had gone wrong.

　　Since Fang Xing had asked, the wretched old man let out a proud laugh before swiping his hand over Fang Xing’s face, pulling away a semi-transparent light. Once the light came into his hand, it changed into various shapes before gradually stabilizing into a black mask—the Mask of Wanluo. He then flipped it over to show Fang Xing and asked, “How do you read this word?”

　　“Wanluo?” Fang Xing doubtfully asked.

　　The wretched old man nodded, then pointed back at himself. “I am the Master Wanluo himself!”

　　Fang Xing was sent into a daze and looked on in confusion.

　　Old man Wanluo casually threw the mask to the side and smiled. “This mask was something I crafted in my youth, yet now you’re trying to use it to cheat me?”

　　Fang Xing looked at that mask in amazement, then looked at Master Wanluo, then back…. He suddenly felt his entire world was about to crumble into pieces….