230: You've been asleep for 99 years!

"Zhou Yan, wake up, quickly wake up."

"Zhou Yan."

Zhou Yan vaguely heard someone whispering in his ear. He subconsciously tried to respond, but the words turned into a whimper.

"Ding, ding, ding... ding!"

A series of rapid dinging sounds rang out in his mind, adding annoyance to his already exhausted spirit, making him want to open his mouth and curse.

"Hmm?"

"Wuwu... Hmm!"

Realizing he couldn't speak, Zhou Yan finally woke up completely.

He abruptly sat up, seeming to hit something, but he ignored it and urgently checked his current condition.

Only then did he discover that he was wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, looking exactly like a mummy.

The most troublesome part was that the bandages were wrapped extremely tightly; only his eyes were visible, and he couldn't even speak.

Damn it, what is this thing? How is it so tough?

Just as Zhou Yan was trying to tear off the bandages, the person outside the door heard the commotion and looked inside.

The person was startled at first, then shouted loudly.

"Master! Young Brother Zhou is awake!"

The shout startled a flock of birds into song.

Immediately afterward, a figure rapidly appeared at the doorway, rushing in and embracing Zhou Yan.

"Junior Brother!!!"

Li Wenbo tightly hugged Zhou Yan, who was wrapped up like a mummy, and burst into tears.

Although Zhou Yan wanted to dodge, his body was restricted, and he couldn't escape the movements of a Soul Transformation Stage cultivator. He could only angrily let out muffled sounds.

Hearing the sound, Li Wenbo finally reacted and quickly tapped Zhou Yan's body several times.

A small Formation subsequently appeared, and as he continued tapping, the Formation became increasingly complex.

Finally, he pressed the Formation with one hand and twisted it, causing countless Formation runes to instantly appear on the originally unremarkable bandages.

The Formation runes rotated according to his hand movements, emitting bursts of buzzing sounds.

"Oh my goodness, I can finally speak."

The Formation dissipated, and the bandages wrapped around him snapped one by one. Like a Rebirth from a broken cocoon, he sat amidst the pile of bandages, staring at his hands in a daze.

Seeing his confused expression, Li Wenbo immediately adopted a look of deep sorrow and grievance.

"Alas, Junior Brother, you are finally awake. Your Senior Brother thought you might never wake up again."

Zhou Yan was utterly confused, and a bad premonition arose in his heart.

Could this be one of those melodramatic, cheesy plots?

Li Wenbo stood up from the bedside and turned around, facing away from Zhou Yan.

"Junior Brother, you don't know the half of it. Since that great battle, you have been asleep for ninety-nine years!"

"Seeing as your final test is less than a year away, I was truly afraid you would miss it."

Li Wenbo maintained this posture, completely motionless.

But after waiting for a moment, there was no sound behind him, so he couldn't help but secretly glance back.

His glance met a pair of dark golden, dead fish eyes.

"Is this fun?"

"How old are you? You're ancient, you can't do your job properly, you haven't found a partner, and you're here playing pranks on a kid? Do you have any ambition?"

For some reason, these words stung Li Wenbo deeply. He waited until Zhou Yan finished his tirade before carefully asking.

"No, Junior Brother, how did you see through it immediately?"

Zhou Yan was still wearing the same clothes; his upper garment was completely ruined, and his lower garment was tattered.

While summoning wind and water to clean his body, he put on an outer robe and casually replied.

"I saved so many people, after all."

"If I really slept that long, even if the Sect didn't send anyone, the Great Yu Imperial Dynasty should have arranged a good place for me, right?"

"Would I still be staying here with you?"

"Besides, before you try to fool someone, at least do some homework."

"The duration of my Saint trial is 110 years. Forget 99 years; even if you said there were only a few hours left until 100 years, I wouldn't have anything to worry about."

Of course, he was just messing with Li Wenbo.

For a moment just now, he was indeed dazed and almost fell for it, but he immediately opened the panel to check the time and event rewards.

Today was exactly the seventh day of check-in, and since he missed the sixth and fifth days, he even spent Seeking the Dao Coins to retroactively check in.

Therefore, he had only slept for one day and one night at most, but he couldn't just say that directly.

Hearing Zhou Yan's words, Li Wenbo awkwardly scratched his face.

"Just kidding, trying to liven up the atmosphere."

"Actually, Junior Brother, you only slept for one day and one night."

"If Fifth Elder hadn't said that more rest would help with recovery, we would have woken you up already."

At this moment, Li Wenbo seemed to suddenly remember something and looked around.

"Senior Brother, what are you looking for?"

"Nothing, it's just that Xiao Sheng was supposed to be here taking care of you, but now I don't know where he went."

"But it doesn't matter."

"Junior Brother, come, come, let your Senior Brother show you something good."

Li Wenbo eagerly pulled Zhou Yan out of the room. The servant boy carried away the bandages, remade the bed, and then closed the door and left.

After everyone left, the room fell into silence.

Only Xiao Sheng, who had wanted to eat Zhou Yan's cooking, was conflicted between wanting him to wake up early and fearing disturbing his rest, and who had only dared to whisper in his ear after much deliberation, resulting in him being directly knocked flying and knocked unconscious by Zhou Yan's Core Formation Stage Physical Body, was still hanging from the ceiling, cosplaying Louis XVI.

Li Wenbo didn't like using Divine Sense at home, Zhou Yan was groggy upon waking and didn't notice, and the servant boy had no cultivation and thus couldn't perceive it.

None of the three looked up, so none of them discovered him.

After leaving the room, Zhou Yan guessed where Li Wenbo was taking him. Seeing that they still had a distance to go, he asked about what happened during his unconsciousness.

"Senior Brother, what was with those bandages? It was just wrapping a wound, why make it so elaborate? Anyone who didn't know better would think they were trying to Seal me."

Zhou Yan indeed found it strange; why would ordinary bandaging be so grand? It was precisely because of this thing that he had almost believed Li Wenbo's nonsense earlier.

"Oh, that was a measure set up by Fifth Elder beforehand. Later, I heard him say he was worried you might suddenly become possessed by Kun Gou or something. That would be very troublesome, so he set up a Seal in advance that would automatically activate if you lost consciousness."

"The situation at the time definitely had nothing to do with Kun Gou; that guy is dead as a doornail. But as soon as you collapsed, the Seal activated and wrapped you up."

"We originally intended to remove it, but Fifth Elder thought, 'You need rest and recovery anyway, so just leave it on.' This thing offers good defense, and maybe it can prevent some accidents. Afterward, he told me the method to remove it, so I could help you once you woke up."

Zhou Yan was about to ask when the other party had tampered with him, but then he suddenly remembered Fifth Elder's snot-covered hand.

A chill ran up his spine.

That's right. At that level of cultivation, how could there still be simple snot and tears?

After Core Formation, one can condense a dao body, unifying the Physical Body. Many secretions can be used as mediums for the dao body's extension and would not appear unless deliberately induced.

And for some unknown reason, he had been mentally slow at the time. Coupled with the contrast provided by the other party's appearance, he had completely overlooked this small detail.

Hiss, these old fogeys are truly insidious!

Seeing Zhou Yan's horrified expression, Li Wenbo was baffled, unsure what he had suddenly thought of that made him so agitated.

Zhou Yan had actually guessed correctly; that snot-covered palm strike was indeed arranged by Fifth Elder beforehand.

After all, Zhou Yan had faced Kun Gou directly. That entity was too troublesome, and there was no guarantee it wouldn't leave behind some hidden trick, causing Zhou Yan to develop a Heart Demon or something similar.

Therefore, to prevent Zhou Yan from being harmed and himself from getting beaten upon return, Fifth Elder had prepared this move in advance.

What Zhou Yan didn't know was that the other party didn't have to make it so dirty. The reason for doing so was purely a combination of personal habit and a wicked sense of humor developed over years of rough experience.

After finishing that topic, Zhou Yan asked about the current situation.

The current Kaifeng of Kaifeng, with the help of the Lianxing Pavilion, completed basic reconstruction in one day and resumed operation within a few hours.

The Young Emperor re-unified the entire Kaifeng and, with the assistance of Long Tianxing, eradicated the remaining Truth Cult strongholds in the vicinity, ordering an investigation of all Truth Cult followers within the Great Yu territory.

Those who should be repatriated were repatriated, the innocent were allowed to stay, and those who committed offenses were immediately arrested.

Following this was the discussion of merits and bestowal of rewards, culminating in a Grand Imperial Assembly for the commendations.

However, none of the meritorious officials attended. Zhou Yan was lying unconscious, Long Tianxing returned directly to the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven after finishing his tasks, and only Shi Suiyan came alone to receive the rewards on everyone's behalf.

The reason Shi Suiyan was handling things was that within their team, Zhou Yan was unconscious, Yuan Chenling had gained enlightenment and entered seclusion to Break through, and Wang Yao was detained for fifteen days for drinking without paying the bill after Fifth Elder casually pocketed his money.

After Li Wenbo paid the fine, Wang Yao's sentence was reduced to three days.

Originally, given their status and achievements, they could have been released immediately after paying the fine, but Wang Yao was stubborn and insisted on serving the full three days.

Therefore, the only ones left who could represent the team were Shi Suiyan and Xiao Sheng.

However, due to the distinction between men and women, and because Shi Suiyan harbored feelings for Zhou Yan, Li Wenbo had Xiao Sheng look after Zhou Yan to avoid affecting Zhou Yan's reputation, leaving Shi Suiyan to handle the reward coordination.