Players: All NPCs in the Sect Are Moles

"That's right, I want you to go fight! Go participate in this year's Yunzhou Pokémon Tournament!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Lin Qingfeng wanted to bite his tongue off, cursing himself internally.

'Damn it, I just blurted that out without thinking.'

The room fell silent in an instant. Even the wind outside the window seemed to stop.

Su Ling'er's eyelashes trembled. The grimly determined expression she'd worn, as if ready to face death, froze on her face, replaced by a look of bewilderment and terror. "Po... Pokémon?"

'What is that? And there's a tournament?'

What a bizarre name. Why did it give her such a strange feeling?

'After all, this is a demonic sect. What kind of dark ceremony would they hold? Is this tournament some long-lost, bloody sacrificial rite of the ancient demonic path? Or some vicious Secret Technique to refine the living into puppets? Or... is Senior Brother trying to hint at something?'

A tempest erupted in Su Ling'er's mind.

'Bao... to be treated as a treasure, but in reality, to be a caged pet.'

'Ke... to be at another's command, unable to control one's own fate.'

'Meng... a grand dream, but one that ultimately bursts like a bubble.'

She understood! Of course!

Su Ling'er's face went deathly pale, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.

'Senior Brother is cryptically reminding me! In the eyes of that terrifying Demon Venerable, we disciples—even Senior Brother himself—are nothing but 'treasured' pets raised in captivity! We may seem doted upon, but in reality, we're just playthings for our master's amusement!'

'This so-called tournament is probably just a killing field set up by the Demon Venerable to test the quality of his latest batch of 'pets'!'

'No wonder Senior Brother came to visit so late at night! No wonder he seemed so hesitant to speak!'

'So our situation is already so dangerous that we have to speak in such obscure, difficult code!'

Su Ling'er took a deep breath, suppressing the tempest in her heart. She looked up at Lin Qingfeng, her eyes filled with a tragic and resolute light. "My body, a 'treasured' vessel hiding a baleful curse," she began, "my fate adrift, what 'can' I do but despair; this life, a grand 'dream' that ends only in regret..."

'Senior Brother, Ling'er understands!'

'We are the 'treasures' fattened by the demonic path, the pawns that 'can' be discarded at any moment, living a 'dream' that is destined to shatter!'

'But since this is the only chance you have to fight for our survival, Senior Brother, then even if I am crushed to dust, I, Ling'er, will carve a bloody path for you through this 'Pokémon' deathtrap!'

The corners of Lin Qingfeng's mouth twitched uncontrollably. He almost did a spit-take right then and there.

'Seriously, Junior Sister, you're quite the poet! But why do I get the feeling that your little verse has absolutely nothing to do with Pokémon? Your reading comprehension skills must be maxed out, huh?'

'I just casually mentioned a game title, and you've already concocted a whole epic drama of clan rivalries and deep-seated grudges in that head of yours?'

'And "a treasured vessel hiding a baleful curse"... Pikachu would burst into tears if he heard that, and Squirtle would probably want to bash his head against a wall!'

He fought back the urge to rub his temples. 'The rules for this Sword Testing Conference forbid players from fighting directly. We can only send out our NPC disciples to duke it out. So, aren't you guys basically my Pokémon?'

'I wasn't wrong, was I? How did something as wholesome and upbeat as Pokémon become so dark and twisted when you talk about it! Do you live in a sewer or something?!'

'Sigh, I have no choice. I'd better say something she can actually understand.'

Lin Qingfeng cleared his throat. Assuming a profound air, he clasped his hands behind his back and said, "Ahem. It was a slip of the tongue. I meant the Sword Testing Conference."

Seeing that Su Ling'er was about to continue with her gloomy pronouncements, he raised a hand to stop her, changing his tune. "However, your understanding of my words about 'Pokémon' was merely superficial. Your thinking is too narrow, too negative. You have not grasped its true essence."

Su Ling'er paused. "Its true essence?"

'Could it be... there's an even deeper meaning, a path to survival?'

Lin Qingfeng walked to the window and stood with his back to Su Ling'er, presenting her with a tall, imposing silhouette.

"Ling'er, your perspective is too small."

Su Ling'er froze. 'My perspective is too small?'

"The 'Pokémon' I spoke of is not as tragic as you believe."

"The 'Bao,' or 'treasure,' refers to the wisdom of recognizing a person's true worth. The world may see common iron as scrap, but our Guixi Sect is different. Even those with a Pseudo Spirit Root or a triple Spirit Root, with a little... tutelage... from me, can have the hidden treasures of their Divine Techniques unearthed."

Lin Qingfeng sighed to himself. 'Judging by their abysmal aptitude, any other sect would consider them a waste of space even for sweeping the floors!'

'Fuck! Just give me a Celestial Spirit Root, a Dark Spirit Root, or a Thunder Spirit Root!'

'Whatever, I'll just keep up the bluff for now.'

"The 'Ke,' or 'can,' means that success depends on human effort. The Celestial Dao may be constant, but the variable lies with me. As long as one dares to think and dares to act, all things hold infinite possibilities."

"As for 'Meng,' or 'dream'..." Lin Qingfeng paused, his tone growing passionate. "That is to harbor ambitions that soar to the heavens! Our task is to show Yunzhou, and indeed the entire world, how the ants they once trampled underfoot can, under my leadership, drag every last one of those so-called lofty geniuses down from their pedestals!"

He'd gotten so into it, he'd almost started to believe it himself.

'It's a shame this event has so many restrictions. I can't go to Broken Sword Ridge beforehand and plant a few hundred Detonator Talismans to blow the enemy up the moment they take the stage. And I can't just log into my main account and steamroll everyone.'

'If I could do that, who would waste all this effort raising Pokémon? A 'nuclear' solution would be so much simpler.'

'Still, even if I can't get involved directly, there's no rule against a little post-competition 'team building,' is there?'

'If those old geezers can't take a loss and dare to pull any dirty tricks on my junior sister and the others...'

'Heh heh, then they can't blame me for playing dirty and wiping them all out! I'll engage in some 'robbing the rich to help the rich' on a physical level... bah! I mean, 'robbing the rich to help the poor!''

"Go!" Lin Qingfeng flicked his sleeve, his presence magnificent. "Go and take all those so-called geniuses from famous sects and catch—ahem, I mean, beat them all down for me!"

Moonlight spilled over Lin Qingfeng, and in Su Ling'er's eyes, her Senior Brother was practically glowing.

So that was it!

'So this is the true meaning of 'Pokémon'!'

'It's not some tragic dirge about being caged pets at all. It's a battle hymn about finding life in the face of death!'

'Senior Brother is teaching me not to belittle myself! He wants me to carve a bloody path out of this desperate situation, to fight for the dream of a righteous path that will wash away this demonic miasma, to overturn this rotten and decadent Cultivation Realm!'

'This demonic sect, this trial... it's all part of Senior Brother's plan!'

Su Ling'er felt a fire ignite in her chest. It burned so fiercely that her entire body felt hot, and her eyes began to well up.

"Ling'er... I am enlightened!"

Seeing that the girl was finally no longer obsessing over "Pokémon," Lin Qingfeng breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly steered the conversation back on track, lest her imagination cook up any more strange ideas.

"One month from now, the sects of Yunzhou will reconvene the Sword Testing Conference at Broken Sword Ridge." Lin Qingfeng's tone had returned to normal. "The sect requires six disciples below the Fake Core Realm to compete. I will also be there to observe."

He looked down, his gaze landing on Su Ling'er. "This is a great opportunity, as well as an evaluation of your recent Cultivation. You will lead the team. As for the other five members... I'll leave that to you. The decision is entirely yours."

'The Sword Testing Conference?'

A storm surged in Su Ling'er's heart.

Though her origins were humble, she had heard of this grand event back when she was at Qingxu Temple.

It was a top-tier event where the major sects of the Yunzhou Realm determined their spheres of influence and solidified their rankings—an event that was typically held only once every ten, or even several, decades.

The last one was held less than three years ago, wasn't it? Back then, Qingxu Temple had given its all just to be there, and had only managed to secure a bottom-tier rank.

'Why is it being held again so soon?'