Chapter 20：Persuading Ao Qing and Confusing the Opponents

At first, Mu Xuyang did not realize that Lin Dong had sent people to secretly monitor him while he was working. Later, when he noticed some movement near where the spies were hiding, he guessed that someone was watching his every move every day. However, Mu Xuyang still pretended not to know anything and focused on his work every day, completely ignoring their surveillance.

When he saw Ao Qing coming over, he was worried that if Ao Qing disclosed to Lin Dong and his group that he was planning to absorb spiritual energy while cutting the grass, it would ruin his chance. So, he stopped cutting the grass and went up to meet Ao Qing, smiling and saying, "Senior Brother Ao, how come you have time to come and see me? It's been a month, and your physical fitness seems to have improved greatly."

"I have improved a bit, but not significantly." Ao Qing smiled and replied, "I remember that a month ago, you had already finished cultivating this spiritual field and only needed to plant the spirit grains. How come there are so many weeds growing now? If I'm not mistaken, someone is messing around in secret."

"Senior Brother Ao is right. In fact, I have already discovered that someone is messing around in secret, trying to prevent me from completing the basic planting tasks."

"If you have found out, why not report those guys who are plotting against you to Elder Gu?"

"If they were afraid of reporting, they wouldn't have done this in the first place."

"Yes, disciples like us who have no background or financial strength and have low status, no one will care about our feelings." Ao Qing recalled some of the things he had experienced during his years at Lei Ying Hall, and seemed to understand why Mu Xuyang had chosen to do this. He knew that even if Mu Xuyang reported it to Elder Gu, it would not make much sense without a higher status. It might even make those who wanted to deal with him more ruthless and cause more trouble.

All the past events flashed through Ao Qing's mind as he sighed helplessly, then continued, "Mu Junior Brother, it's our fault for not taking care of you and not helping you."

"Senior Brother Ao, don't worry. I'm fine. I'm just doing more work and getting tired."

"What are you going to do next?"

"I don't care. I'll just take cutting the grass as a workout." Mu Xuyang laughed freely, then said, "They are competing with me in terms of patience, but I believe my patience is better than theirs. After they have been messing around for a while and see that I don't care at all, they might find it boring and give up tormenting me by planting grass in my spiritual field."

"Oh, I see. So you plan to tolerate their unreasonable behavior and achieve the goal of pacifying the situation?"

"For now, it seems that this is the best way to solve the problem!"

"I was originally planning to talk to Elder Gu about this matter, but after hearing what you said, I think that your approach might be able to completely solve the problem. Since you've already decided, I won't bring this up to Elder Gu. By the way, did you go to Elder Gu to get the Spirit Valley seeds this month?"

"No."

"You haven't gone to get them for a whole month. Elder Gu, who knows that you urgently need the Spirit Valley seeds, should have come to ask you about it, but he hasn't. It's puzzling, isn't it?"

"Perhaps someone had already told Elder Gu something before they could harm me."

"So, you mean it's possible that Elder Gu has been threatened and is pretending to be clueless?"

"That's the only possibility. We don't know the specifics."

"If that's the case, then they plan to use the excuse that you couldn't complete the planting task within a year of joining as a reason to expel you from the Thunder Eagle Hall, claiming that you have no cultivation value."

"Yes, I've already anticipated that."

"If you are really expelled, I, Ao Qing, will be the first one to quit the Thunder Eagle Hall and go out to explore the world with you."

"Good brother." Mu Xuyang laughed and said, "There is still some time before the one-year mark. This is just our speculation. Perhaps they don't think like that and are only planning to torture me a little more with this kind of scheme and make me do more farming."

"I hope so." Ao Qing smiled and nodded, saying, "You go ahead and busy yourself. I'll go get the Spirit Valley seeds for you and see Elder Gu's reaction after mentioning you to him."

"After seeing Elder Gu, just tell him that I borrowed the Spirit Valley seeds from you a month ago and already planted them in my name. This time, I'm just picking up the slack."

"I understand what you mean. You don't want Elder Gu to suspect anything. I'll remember your instructions. Goodbye." After saying this, Ao Qing hurriedly left and went straight to Elder Gu's residence.

"I hope that the situation will develop as I expected. Elder Gu received a warning message and dare not meddle in anything related to me. Then, I can use the opportunity to cut grass to absorb more spiritual power and quickly improve my cultivation, so that when the Thunder Eagle Hall holds its selection for the hall meeting at the end of the year, I can make a stunning debut and gain the attention of the senior members of the sect, forcing people like Lin Dong who want to harm me to not dare to act recklessly." Watching Ao Qing's departing figure, Mu Xuyang was full of gratitude and made a resolution in his heart that if he could really get out of trouble and turn the tide in the future, he would definitely help his good senior brothers Ao Qing and Nie Yifan, who had given him a lot of help in his time of need.

Dong Kuifu, who was monitoring Mu Xuyang from a distance, couldn't fully hear the conversation between Mu Xuyang and Ao Qing, but he understood the general meaning of their words. Dong Kuifu finally realized that Mu Xuyang was not a fool and even thought that Mu Xuyang was more thoughtful than them. He showed a hint of surprise on his face and thought to himself, "This kid is not stupid, he is just pretending to be. He plans to respond to our scheming by pretending to be foolish in order to achieve a peaceful resolution and solve the problem completely. It's a pity that he offended Senior Brother Lin Da, and Senior Brother Lin has given instructions that he must be expelled from the sect, lose the protection of the sect's rules, and then be killed openly and honestly."

"When Ao Qing arrived, what did he say to Mu Xuyang?" Guo Jinshan, who was meditating with his eyes closed, opened his eyes and saw Ao Qing and Mu Xuyang saying their goodbyes. He quickly asked Dong Kuifu, who had been watching Mu Xuyang work.

"After Ao Qing arrived, he asked Mu Xuyang a few questions and asked him to tell Elder Gu about our plot against him, but Mu Xuyang stopped him," Dong Kuifu replied.

"What? He actually stopped Ao Qing from telling Elder Gu? Why?" Guo Jinshan asked in surprise.

"Mu Xuyang is clever. He was afraid that if we were reported, we would become more aggressive and the grudge would be impossible to resolve. So he decided to endure it for a while, let us play around, and then we would lose interest and stop," Dong Kuifu explained.

"Normally, if he didn't offend us, we could have played with him for a while and maybe he would have stopped after seeing that he couldn't resist. His idea is reasonable, but he underestimated us. We're not just playing with him, we're going to expel him from the sect and leave him to die. This is doomed to be a tragedy."