36: The manager's hatred

Three days had passed since the Minor Competition ended.

The name Lin Ye had completely become a legend.

Stories about his “accumulating strength and feigning ignorance” had been dramatized into countless versions, becoming a popular topic among the Disciples.

However, amidst this fervent atmosphere that almost deified Lin Ye, one person had endured the most agonizing and darkest three days of his life.

It was the Steward of the Menial Servants, Zhang Ping.

For these three days, he had locked himself in his small room, barely daring to step outside. Because no matter where he went, he could hear discussions that pierced his heart, and see glances directed at him, filled with disdain and schadenfreude.

“Have you heard? Senior Brother Lin is about to be promoted to the inner sect!”

“How times have changed! Back then, how did Steward Zhang bully Senior Brother Lin? Now that he’s soared to the heavens, I wonder if Steward Zhang is afraid?”

“Afraid? I bet he’s regretting it terribly! Having offended such a future big shot, his position as Steward is probably at its end!”

These words were like poisoned daggers, repeatedly flaying his already sensitive and fragile nerves.

Finally, on the evening of the third day, hunger forced him to leave his room and head to the dining hall.

He walked with his head down and back hunched, trying to minimize his presence. But just as he had gotten his food and was about to find a corner to hide, a familiar and terrifying figure appeared at the entrance.

It was Lin Ye.

He had just returned from the inner sect’s Scripture Pavilion, still carrying a trace of the inner sect’s unique, clear Spiritual Qi.

His appearance instantly quieted the noisy dining hall by half. All the Disciples who saw him subconsciously stopped what they were doing and bowed respectfully.

“Greetings, Senior Brother Lin!”

Lin Ye merely nodded calmly and walked straight to the serving window.

Zhang Ping’s hand, holding his rice bowl, trembled violently at that moment, spilling some of the thin porridge. He instinctively wanted to hide, but it was too late.

After getting his food, Lin Ye turned around and walked right past him.

Their eyes met.

Zhang Ping was about to say something, but Lin Ye’s gaze had already calmly moved away from him, without the slightest pause, as if he were just a roadside stone, an annoying speck of dust.

That look was so cold, so… disdainful!

This feeling of being completely ignored, this humiliation, was like a red-hot branding iron, searing fiercely into Zhang Ping’s already sensitive and fragile self-esteem!

The fear in his heart, at this moment, strangely fused with the poisonous fire of jealousy, fermenting into an even more malicious and twisted emotion!

Why him?!

You’re just a good-for-nothing who got lucky!

What right do you have to look at me with such eyes?!

Zhang Ping returned to his isolated small room in a daze. He closed the door, shutting himself off in the darkness.

A malicious thought slowly extended its claws from the depths of his heart.

“Accumulating strength? Feigning ignorance?”

In the darkness, Zhang Ping repeatedly chewed on these eight characters, a sinister and twisted sneer appearing on his face.

“Nonsense!”

“A good-for-nothing who joined three months ago, even if he worked tirelessly, how much could he possibly accumulate? There must be something fishy going on! He must have taken some shady path, or obtained some incredible fortuitous encounter!”

This conjecture made his eyes, which had been unfocused due to fear, light up again with a crazy glint!

Yes!

It must be so!

He’s not a Genius; he’s just a lucky fellow who stumbled upon a treasure!

As long as… as long as I can dig out the secret he carries… as long as I can find evidence of his cheating… then everything he possesses now will turn into an illusion! He will once again become that good-for-nothing at anyone’s mercy!

And I might even be able to claim his fortuitous encounter for myself!

This thought, like the most potent poison, instantly numbed all his fear, making his heart, which had already sunk into an abyss, beat wildly once more!

“Lin Ye… Lin Ye…”

In the darkness, he repeated the name over and over, his voice hoarse, filled with resentment and greed.

“Don’t get too complacent too soon…”

“If I’m not well, you won’t have peace either!”

“We’ll see!”

A sinister, cold glint flashed in his eyes.

At the same time, in the dilapidated wooden hut he was about to leave, Lin Ye was oblivious to everything outside.

He sat cross-legged, his mind already immersed in his consciousness, looking at the two new Cultivation Techniques that had just been recorded into the System, his eyes filled with anticipation for the future.

“System, activate idle mode!”

Without hesitation, he added both the Wind Control Art and the Wind Chasing Sword Technique to the background’s idle list. A new journey thus began!