Chapter 13 | With a Protagonist Halo, How Did I End Up the Villain?

Meanwhile, Hanyan, who was steering the spirit boat, was also startled when he saw Lu Ming and the others almost get thrown out.

Although he could save them, what if they tried to talk to him?

He quickly stabilized the spirit boat. He couldn't let them fall out, nor could he give them any opportunity to speak to him.

Lu Ming felt as though he were riding a hand-guided tractor, speeding wildly along a bumpy, potholed country road.

It bumped and shook, shook and bumped, bumping and shaking, shaking and bumping...

"Holy cow, Big Yellow, you're about to pull my pants off! Bite somewhere else..."

Big Yellow looked at Lu Ming pitifully, as if to say: I don't dare let go!

Since Huang Tianbao had no cultivation, he was already leaning over the edge of the spirit boat, puking his guts out.

After tossing and turning like this for two whole days, Lu Ming gradually adapted to this bumpy, swaying rhythm. He even began to hum a little tune.

"What do you call your father's father? Your father's father is called..."

Boom...

Suddenly, the spirit boat began to descend at an extreme speed.

Lu Ming was startled. Had they arrived?

Once the spirit boat came to a steady halt, Lu Ming looked at the desolate scenery around them. This didn't look like the place!

Was this a pit stop? Just then, he saw Hanyan leap into the air.

With a few flashes of his figure, Hanyan vanished into the cluster of buildings on the mountaintop. What was going on?

"Head Senior Brother, where are we?" Huang Tianbao asked, his face pale and his voice weak.

Lu Ming and Big Yellow were fine since they both had cultivation, but Huang Tianbao was miserable. Because he lacked cultivation, he had nearly thrown up his entire stomach along the way.

Lu Ming scanned their surroundings in confusion. "I have no idea."

"Big Yellow, let go of my pants. I'm going down to take a look..."

Big Yellow hastily let go of Lu Ming's trousers.

Lu Ming jumped off the spirit boat. At a single glance, he froze.

Barren mountains, withered grass.

By the mountain path, there was a giant boulder serving as the mountain gate, with three large characters carved into it: "Qingshan Sect."

His gaze swept across the area, but not a single soul was in sight.

A gentle breeze blew past, carrying an indescribable sense of desolation and bleakness.

This was the Qingshan Sect?

It really was the Qingshan Sect, but it was completely different from what he had imagined!

There was no swirling spiritual energy, no drifting celestial mist, and certainly no majestic, awe-inspiring mountain gate!

Just this?

He looked back at the worn-out spirit boat behind him and instantly realized that this was no test at all. They were just flat-out poor...

However, Lu Ming quickly adjusted his mindset.

Forget it. Gold will shine wherever it goes, while a useless stone will only get stepped on and pooped on no matter where it lands.

As a protagonist, why should he care about such trivial things?

"Woof! Woof!"

Big Yellow looked at everything on the mountain, equally dumbfounded. This was vastly different from the Qingshan Sect of its imagination!

"So we've arrived..."

Looking at the Qingshan Sect before him, Huang Tianbao was filled with disbelief. He felt as though he had been scammed.

Oh well, they didn't look down on him for having no spiritual roots, so what right did he have to look down on them for being poor?

Just as Lu Ming and the others were preparing to head up the mountain, a figure suddenly blocked their path like a gust of wind.

What was going on?

"I didn't expect him to actually recruit disciples..."

A white-bearded old man wearing a Daoist robe muttered to himself as he appeared before the mountain gate.

Then, Lu Ming and the others watched as the old man pulled out a battered table and a broken stool.

Lu Ming was taken aback. What was this? Registration?

He was just about to bow in greeting when he saw the old man pull out a divination banner and prop it up behind him.

Written on it was: "Foretelling life, death, disaster, and fortune with absolute precision; calculating eternal opportunities with a single divination."

"Hehehe... Young friend, I see a dark aura on your forehead, and black energy is rising straight to your crown..."

Lu Ming's mouth twitched. A con artist in the cultivation world?

He was a magnificent protagonist, destined to suppress this era and rule over eternity. How could he possibly have a dark aura on his forehead?

Just then, the old man's voice continued:

"Your enemy is a peerless protagonist. One day, he will wear golden armor, step on seven-colored auspicious clouds, and slay you on a day watched by millions..."

Thud!

Before the old man could even finish his sentence, Lu Ming slammed a gold ingot onto the table in front of him.

"Give me a better fortune."

Whoosh!

The gold ingot vanished in an instant. The old man chuckled, "Hehehe... Young friend, I see ten thousand rays of celestial light on your forehead, and a dragon and tiger residing in your life palace. You are surely destined by fate to suppress the current era..."

Lu Ming nodded in satisfaction. Now this was an accurate reading.

As expected, money makes the world go round!

"Woof! Woof!"

Seeing that Lu Ming's fortune was done, Big Yellow also bit a gold ingot and tossed it onto the table.

The old man swept up the gold ingot, stroked his beard, and laughed heartily. "Hahaha... You have the makings of a great emperor!"

Big Yellow nodded in satisfaction. The boss's words were indeed accurate; it was truly destined to become the Oriental Great Emperor.

Afterward, Lu Ming and Big Yellow both turned to look at Huang Tianbao.

Their expressions said: We both got our fortunes read, aren't you going to?

Huang Tianbao hesitated for a moment before pulling out a gold ingot and respectfully placing it on the table in front of the old man.

"Tsk, tsk..."

Stroking his beard, the old man stared intently at Huang Tianbao, clicking his tongue repeatedly. He shook his head one moment and nodded the next.

"This life fate is quite unusual!"

Hearing this, Lu Ming didn't take it seriously. After all, one couldn't take these divinations to heart.

"Where is your mother?"

Hearing the old man's question, Lu Ming was startled. Did joining a sect require auditing ancestors back three generations?

Huang Tianbao glanced at Lu Ming and Big Yellow, hesitating before whispering, "Dead. She died the day I was born."

Hearing Huang Tianbao's downcast voice, Lu Ming let out a soft sigh.

Sigh, a poor soul just like him. He hadn't seen his mother in either of his two lifetimes.

"Where is your father?"

Lu Ming grew even more certain that they were checking their backgrounds.

But he only knew that his original body's father was named Lu Sanwan. What should he do?

Oh well, he would just make up some names later to get by...

Big Yellow was also shaking its head in deep thought, trying to figure out how to fabricate its own ancestry.

"When I was a hundred days old, a bolt of lightning from the clear blue sky struck him dead..." Huang Tianbao's voice continued.

"Huh?"

Lu Ming abruptly looked up at Huang Tianbao. This kid really had terrible luck—losing both parents so early...

"What about your grandmother?" the old man pressed.

"She died when I was one..."

"Your third uncle, second great-uncle, aunts, older brothers, older sisters, younger brothers, younger sisters...?"

Hearing the old man's rapid-fire questions, Lu Ming snapped his head up to stare at him.

I say, we're just joining a sect. You're not just auditing ancestors back three generations anymore; you're investigating his entire nine generations, aren't you?

Is that really necessary?

Big Yellow also stared at the old man. As for why—if the boss was staring, it would stare too.

"They... they're all dead..."

"Holy cow..."

The moment Huang Tianbao finished speaking, Lu Ming couldn't help but gasp in shock.

He turned and scrutinized Huang Tianbao, who was hanging his head and staring at his toes, with immense curiosity.

This kid was quite the talent! Could he be the reincarnation of Yama?

Just then, without waiting for the old man to ask, Huang Tianbao took the initiative to speak:

"My relatives, friends, and neighbors... they all died later on too..."

"By the time I was fourteen, even my grandfather, who loved me the most, passed away. With no other choice, I had to inherit the estate and venture out into the world..."

"Holy cow, so didn't you inherit the estate of your entire clan?"

Hearing Lu Ming's question, Huang Tianbao suddenly raised his head.

Then, he saw Lu Ming looking at him with an expression of pure, unadulterated envy.

There was no disgust, no taboo, no dislike, and no fear. There was only raw envy.

In an instant, Huang Tianbao's gaze transformed from that of a lonely, abandoned wolf to a husky that had just successfully trashed a house and shifted the blame.