Chapter 16: Can a teacher not eat?

“Ex-explain what…”

Looking at Lin Fan’s furious eyes, Blood-

Fiend was somewhat confused.

“Hmph—”

Lin Fan’s liver ached with anger, and he couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

“I can’t take it anymore. I’ll just beat him up first and then we’ll talk!”

“Ah! Lord Demon Lord, spare me! Ah…”

After a round of mournful wails, Blood-Fiend finally understood the cause of the matter.

“Lord Demon Lord… rest assured! This subordinate will have someone fix it right away.”

After Blood-Fiend finished speaking, he waved his hand and summoned two protectors.

“Hold it!”

Lin Fan raised his hand to stop them.

“Let’s put this matter aside for now. The reason this lord has returned is because I have something important to tell you all.”

“Understood! This subordinate will issue the order right now and gather all the Demon Clan members on the continent!”

Before Lin Fan could finish speaking, Blood-Fiend presumptuously cut in.

“Gather the Demon Clan? What for?”
Lin Fan asked with some confusion.

“Lord Demon Lord, isn’t your return this time… for the purpose of attacking the Celestial Realm?”

Other than making a comeback, Blood-Fiend really couldn’t think of any other reason for Lin Fan’s return.

“Fool!”

Lin Fan roared and slapped Blood-Fiend across the face.

“Pass on my order: any member of the Demon Clan who dares to leak news of this lord’s presence will be killed without mercy!”

Although currently, with the Celestial Realm’s strength, they couldn’t do anything to Lin Fan, he didn’t want to bring trouble to his disciples.

“Yes!”

The Demon Clan members present responded loudly.

“In addition…”

Lin Fan’s tone changed.

“If in the future, you encounter people with the Demon Lord’s secret mark… I don’t care how you deal with them, but if anyone dares to harm a single hair on their heads, this lord will definitely skin them alive! Do you understand?!”

“Un-understood!”

Looking at Lin Fan’s ferocious eyes, the Demon Clan members present couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

“Alright,”

Lin Fan waved his hand at Blood-Fiend.

“That’s all I have to say. This lord has urgent matters to attend to, so I’ll be on my way!”

“We respectfully see the Demon Lord off!”

After Lin Fan left, the Demon Clan members present let out a long sigh of relief.

“So terrifying, is this the oppressive force of the Demon Lord Realm? It feels like my soul is about to shatter…”

“Strange… logically speaking—Lord Demon Lord is already an invincible existence on the continent. So why did he forbid us from spreading the news?”

“What the hell do you know! Lord Demon Lord must have his profound foresight for doing this. Why worry so much? Just do your own job!”

…

Northern part of the Xianling Continent.

Green Peak Mountain.

“I wonder how Ling’er is doing with her alchemy…”

Lin Fan arrived at the courtyard gate and slowly pushed it open.

“Ma—ster—”

Just as he entered the courtyard, he saw a gray figure with a soot-blackened face running towards him.

“I want a hug~”

“My heavens! What is this thing?!”
Seeing an unidentified object running towards him, Lin Fan subconsciously dodged to the side.

“Ouch!”

Due to Lin Fan’s dodge, the gray figure missed its target.

It then fell to the ground and let out a miserable cry.

“Wuwuwu~ Master, you’ve changed. You’re starting to despise me…”

A familiar voice came, and only then did Lin Fan clearly see the figure on the ground.

“It’s-it’s Ling’er…”

Lin Fan scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

“Sorry, Master didn’t do it on purpose…”

“Hmph!”

Bai Ling nimbly climbed up from the ground, her eyes full of resentment.
“Big bad guy~ I’m not talking to you anymore!”

“Uh…”

Just as Lin Fan was feeling awkward, Ye Qinghong walked towards him, holding the “Seventy-Two Demon-Subduing

Formations” that he had given her.

“Master, Qinghong has some doubts about the arrangement of some formations. I hope Master can explain them.”

[Ding dong! Master-Disciple Interaction Quest triggered!]

[Quest Content: Help Ye Qinghong resolve her doubts.]

[Quest Duration: Thirty minutes.]

‘This quest isn’t too difficult…’

Hearing the quest content, the corners of Lin Fan’s mouth curved up slightly.

“Of course. If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask.”

“It’s just—”

Ye Qinghong scratched her hair in confusion.

“Qinghong doesn’t understand—why does every demon-subduing formation have an extremely obvious flaw?”

“This…”

Hearing Ye Qinghong’s question, Lin Fan clutched his forehead and fell into deep thought.

Although the Seventy-Two Demon-Subduing Formations were astonishingly powerful, their flaws were also endless.

Lin Fan had known about this point long before he was reincarnated.

But…

‘How the hell would I know why?!’

“Qinghong,”

Lin Fan gave a bitter smile.

“Actually… formations, like people, can never be perfect. So, it’s reasonable for them to have flaws, no need to be overly concerned.”

“But, Master—”

Clearly, Ye Qinghong was not satisfied with this answer.

“Formations can be optimized, can’t they?”

“That’s right,”

Lin Fan nodded with a calm expression.

“However, the matter of optimizing formations will have to be discussed after you’ve learned all the demon-subduing formations.”

“No problem with that!”

Ye Qinghong confidently patted her chest.

“Qinghong has already learned all of the Seventy-Two Demon-Subduing Formations!”

“Then continue learning… huh? What did you say?!”

The moment he processed it, Lin Fan instantly looked up, staring at Ye Qinghong with a shocked expression.

Even the demonic genius Lin Fan of that era had spent nearly half a year studying the Seventy-Two Demon-Subduing Formations.
It had only been a few days, and Ye Qinghong had already finished learning them?

Terrifying, truly terrifying!

Abnormal, truly abnormal!

“Master, wha-what’s wrong?”

Looking at Lin Fan’s man-eating gaze, Ye Qinghong couldn’t help but feel a little creeped out.

“It’s nothing…”

After staring at Ye Qinghong for a good while, Lin Fan finally slowly moved his gaze away.

[Please note—there are only ten minutes left until the mission is completed. Host, please pay attention to the time.]

The System suddenly popped up to remind him.

“There’s no other way…”

Lin Fan steeled his heart and directly took Ye Qinghong’s hand.

“Come with me!”

“Huh?!”

Before Ye Qinghong could react, in the next second, the two of them had arrived at a desolate, empty space.

“Master, what are you…”

“Set up the formation.”

Before Ye Qinghong could finish, Lin Fan interrupted her coldly.

“Practice is the sole criterion for truth. Only through personal experimentation can one find the source of the problem.”

“Huh?!”

Ye Qinghong was instantly stunned.
After she reacted, she waved her hands repeatedly.

“No! Master… absolutely not!”

‘Who uses a living person for formation experiments? And it’s her own master at that?’

“If you don’t make a move, I’m going to get angry…”

Lin Fan was a little speechless.

‘What is she worried about?’

Even if the demon-subduing formations were the nemesis of the Demon Clan, with Ye Qinghong’s current strength, she couldn’t even unleash one-thousandth of the formation’s power.

How could she possibly harm Lin Fan?

“Ah… yes!”

Hearing Lin Fan say this, Ye Qinghong gritted her teeth and, with extreme speed, set up a formation.

It was clear that Ye Qinghong was indeed not lying.

Her proficiency in setting up the formation was truly comparable to a high-level formation master.

“How is it? Have you had any insights?”
Lin Fan stood in the center of the formation and asked in a gentle tone.

“This formation eye…”

Looking at the steadily operating formation, Ye Qinghong was lost in thought.

After a long while, Ye Qinghong’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“This disciple understands!”

Then, Ye Qinghong walked forward and, with an excited expression, cupped her fists towards Lin Fan.

“Many thanks for Master’s guidance!”

???

Looking at Ye Qinghong’s overjoyed expression, Lin Fan felt completely baffled.
‘What did I guide her on?’

But in order to maintain his dignity as a master, Lin Fan still coughed pretentiously.
“In that case… let’s go back.”

[Ding dong! Master-Disciple Interaction Quest completed!]

[Congratulations, Host, for obtaining Forging Immortal Points ×500.]

[Congratulations, Host, for triggering a hidden reward, additionally obtaining one pack of moldy seeds.]

“What the hell?!”

Hearing the system’s notification, Lin Fan instantly got a headache.

“What the hell are moldy seeds?!”

[That is naturally a good thing~ You just need to plant them, and you will know in the future.]

The System said mysteriously.

“I’ll trust you this one time,”

Lin Fan put the seeds into his storage ring.

“If you dare to trick me, you’re dead!”

After the two returned to the courtyard, Lin Fan’s gaze swept over and immediately spotted Bai Ling lying on the pavilion table.

“My dear disciple, are you still angry?”
Lin Fan quietly walked over and asked with an apologetic smile.

“Hmph!”

Hearing Lin Fan’s voice, Bai Ling raised her beautiful eyes for a glance.

After a moment, Bai Ling pouted and snorted, turning her head away in a huff.

“Alright, alright, Master really didn’t do it on purpose,”

Lin Fan gently stroked Bai Ling’s forehead.

“Then tell me—what will it take for you to forgive Master?”

“Then…”

Bai Ling turned her head and handed Lin Fan a handful of pitch-black “mud pills.”

“Master, you try this.”

“This is?”

Looking at the “mud pills” in his hand that exuded a “peculiar” smell, Lin Fan couldn’t help but frown.

“This is Senior Sister Bai’s self-made pill,”
Ye Qinghong explained from the side.

“Self-made?”

Lin Fan was confused.

“How is it self-made?”

‘Aren’t pills refined according to a recipe? Where did self-made come from?’

“This…”

Ye Qinghong scratched her head, looking a little blank.

“I’m not too sure either. But it seems Senior Sister Bai added some other things to the original recipe…”

“Hm?”

Hearing this, Lin Fan leaned down and gently poked Bai Ling’s arm.

“Dear disciple, tell Master—what good things did you add?”

“Just these…”

Bai Ling pointed a finger at the items piled under the table.

“These? Let Master see…”

To get a clearer look, Lin Fan simply stuck his head under the table.

“Sichuan pepper, goji berries, deer antler, ginseng, grass carp… good heavens, are you stir-frying here?!”

Only then did Lin Fan understand how Bai Ling got her dusty and grimy appearance.

Alchemy was a very rigorous technical skill.
Clearly, this was a case of the cauldron exploding due to Bai Ling’s reckless operation.

“Master, try it~ Ling’er spent a long time refining it…”

Bai Ling wrung her tender little hands, her eyes full of expectation.

“Ah, this…”

Looking at the items under the table, then at the “mud pills” in his hand, Lin Fan’s heart instantly filled with dread.

“Ling’er, can Master… not eat it?”