pappabearbooks Chapter 921: The Cheating Yu Wen Longyuan, and the Never-Disabled Lu Ding!
Chapter 921: The Cheating Yu Wen Longyuan, and the Never-Disabled Lu Ding!
After Lu Ding finished speaking, he left.
Only Yuwen Longyuan remained alone in the Nowhere Room.
No one else was around.
He felt a wave of emotion.
"The heavens reward diligence; one part of effort yields one part of reward."
"But how come I feel..."
"Lu Ding puts in one part of effort and gets a hundredfold, even a thousandfold return?"
As he spoke.
The cold-faced maidservant quietly materialized.
"Young Master, we are the type that gain momentum later. On the path of cultivation, the further you go, the harder it gets; the earlier stages are simpler.""Talent determines a person's ceiling, but you, blessed by the heavens' reward for diligence, have no ceiling at all."
"When you become a Commander, obtain that thing, then it won't be too late for us to catch up to Lu Ding in a surge of effort."
Yuwen Longyuan's feelings were complicated. "I hope so."
"If it were truly that simple, I wouldn't have been reborn again and again over three lifetimes and three thousand years."
Everyone has secrets, especially in such a prosperous age as this. Anyone who achieves significant fame is more or less a bit special.
Yuwen Longyuan, though not currently renowned.
He also has his secrets.
He has lived for a very long time.
In the beginning, he was just a child from a hunter's family. Not like those novel protagonists who start with both parents dead, leaving behind a sister, brother, or something, along with a bow and a village enemy.
His parents were alive and well, the village atmosphere was harmonious, mostly sharing the same surname, everyone helping each other.
Back then, Yuwen Longyuan accidentally picked up an ordinary-looking bronze fragment.
Ancient seal characters were carved on it: 'The Heavens Reward Diligence.'
From that moment, Yuwen Longyuan gained the ability that for anything requiring learning, as long as he started learning it, he could gradually master it!
Of course, the prerequisite was that he had to get past the initial entry point.
At that time, Yuwen Longyuan's family background, while not wealthy, was sufficient for food and clothing, and no one bullied them.
In the mountains, they lived freely and unrestrained.
With the help of 'The Heavens Reward Diligence,' Yuwen Longyuan's hunting skills gradually improved. Famous from a young age, he became the undisputed top hunter of the region.
Unfortunately, he came into contact with cultivation too late.
His own innate talent was insufficient.
Even though he never married in that lifetime—not that he didn't want to, but because the cold-faced young girl existed within the bronze fragment.
When Yuwen Longyuan first saw her, he had seen someone too stunning. How could he then look upon other girls from the village, with their calloused hands and faces weathered by wind and sun?
Sadly, at that time, the cold-faced girl was just a consciousness.
The still-innocent Yuwen Longyuan could only dream.
Even though he devoted his entire life's energy to cultivation, it was of no avail. In the end, he died of old age.
It was like a 100-milliliter graduated cylinder. With the help of 'The Heavens Reward Diligence,' as long as Yuwen Longyuan worked hard, he could keep pouring water into the cylinder. But because his innate talent was truly too poor.
He could only pour in 0.0001 milliliters each time.
Within his limited lifespan, the progress of his water-pouring could not fill the capacity of the cultivation cylinder.
Leading him to pass away with regret.
However, the dead Yuwen Longyuan did not vanish.
He reincarnated.
This time in a fishing village...
Relying on his previous experience, Yuwen Longyuan once again embarked on the path of cultivation. He was delighted to discover that his talent in this life seemed a bit better.
Result: At eight hundred years old, he was killed by someone.
Third reincarnation.
Yuwen Longyuan had confidence now. It didn't matter; at worst, he would accumulate life by life. He had infinite chances. Even if he failed countless times, as long as he succeeded once, he could stand tall under the heavens.
Result: The cold-faced young girl from the ancient bronze fragment poured a bucket of cold water on him, telling him that reincarnation was due to interference from this part of the fragment, but how many times it could interfere was unknown.
This made Yuwen Longyuan of the third reincarnation especially cautious.
Result: Due to promises of benefit from a former Wuwang friend, he ended up opposing the Great Han and was finally beaten to death in a group assault.
Regarding this point, Yuwen Longyuan actually didn't have too many thoughts.
He acted for profit, the Great Han acted on principle. Life and death, everyone relied on their own abilities. Couldn't blame others.
At most, he could say the Great Han didn't talk about martial virtue, coming to ambush, sneak attack, gang up on him, and kick him around.
And so, Yuwen Longyuan welcomed this fourth reincarnation.
This time, his talent is good!!
Not exceptionally good, but definitely sufficient, at least the ceiling is higher than all previous lives.
Relying on his familiarity with Wuwang from his past life and his friend, he joined Wuwang in this life.
Originally, he had intended to join the Great Han's 749 Bureau.
But that Great Han place is just weird. It has all sorts of messy geniuses and powerful figures, talented individuals emerge in great numbers, the heavens favor the Great Han. Yuwen Longyuan, harboring secrets, was afraid of being seen through.
Most importantly, he discovered by chance that within Wuwang, there existed fragments identical to his ancient bronze fragment.
This made Yuwen Longyuan unable to resist being tempted.
Thinking of these things.
He couldn't help but say, "I'm already using cheats, but... the Great Han has even more people using cheats. People like Lu Ding... have never even turned theirs off..."
Counting the years since the Great Han rose.
Just from what Yuwen Longyuan knows, there have been countless people with cheats, with heaven-defying opportunities, who died at the hands of the Great Han's various powerful experts and prodigies.
The cold-faced girl, for a moment, didn't know how to comfort Yuwen Longyuan.
She could only stand silently to the side.
Until Yuwen Longyuan figured it out for himself: "Let's go, let's go. Take one step at a time. If it doesn't work out, then die. It's not like it's the first time anyway. Having a next life is best, not having one is fine too. The heavens reward diligence. Since the heavens favor me, I'll do my best and leave the rest to fate."
Even with the accumulation of three lives and three lifetimes, Yuwen Longyuan has never been a powerhouse with profound foundations, nor does he possess some ancient, peerless technique that he didn't have time to practice in a past life and starts over with in this one, allowing him to look down on all eternity.
To put it bluntly, his opportunities aren't even as good as the reborn Zhan Tingzhou's.
Speaking of Zhan Tingzhou.
In reality.
Zhan Tingzhou found Lu Ding and pushed open the office door.
His first words upon entering:
"You were looking for me?"
Lu Ding made him some tea and sat down on the sofa himself.
Although he's a subordinate, with no one else here and their good relationship as friends, there weren't so many formalities.
Lu Ding called out, "Sit."
Zhan Tingzhou didn't stand on ceremony, sitting down and drinking tea.
Then he heard Lu Ding say, "I've obtained some information regarding the Mad God. Wanted to ask you, the local know-it-all, to learn more about it."
Zhan Tingzhou took a sip of tea, his heart shaking violently.
The Mad God...
How does he even know about that?
That's a treasure trove.
Countless good things inside.
But also fraught with peril.
Even Zhan Tingzhou himself only has a partial, incomplete understanding, not knowing much, but definitely more than Lu Ding.
Originally, he had been thinking that after Lu Ding secured the Mouth of the Evil Prison, he would quietly go search for information on the Mad God's treasure.
Once he was ninety percent sure, he'd cooperate with Lu Ding to get the stuff inside out.
Not only would the two of them benefit, but all the investigators in the western region would benefit as well.
One can imagine just how many good things are inside.