The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

The spring-like patterns on his feet emitted a powerful light as he leaped. In the instant he jumped, he almost became a beam of white light, which pierced through the icy wind, tore through the demon's hair, and bounced and twisted between the walls and the ground.

In the blink of an eye, he was on top of the demonic monster's head and threw the wooden box into the opening of the quilt!

"Your takeout has arrived, please enjoy!"

The wooden box smelled slightly burnt, as if it had just come out of the oven. Polly hurriedly took the box, and the first thing she saw was the word "Delicious Cheese" engraved on it! From any angle, there was absolutely nothing suspicious about it!

—Polly, I ordered takeout for you earlier~

"Finally! You've finally given it back to me!"

Polly held the box contentedly and sealed the opening of the blanket. Alone in the small, enclosed space, she eagerly opened the takeout box and took a deep breath of the rich aroma!

“————————————Eba.”

Outside the quilt, all the evil spirits simultaneously revealed extremely terrified eyes. They trembled as if suffocating, and then burst out and scattered!

The omnipresent strands of hair simultaneously ceased moving, and the blanket fell to the floor, from which the unconscious Polly rolled out. She was foaming at the mouth and convulsing, as if she had just experienced the cruelest thing in the world!

The two women were so startled that they stopped in their tracks.

"The Four Heavenly Kings... have been defeated?"

"What exactly did you do?"

Lu Wenjun deactivated his transformation and swayed slightly in place. He held his breath and closed the wooden box, only daring to breathe again after running out of the disaster area.

Polly is one of the Four Heavenly Kings known for her autism, and her followers are mostly otaku, so they shouldn't have any desire to go out on their own. Considering that she was eating cookies when she first appeared, it's probably because her food supplies ran out, forcing her to go out in search of food.

The few biscuits she had earlier weren't enough to satisfy her, and her relentless pursuit of the three men might have stemmed from her belief that they carried food... or perhaps she intended to prey on them. So, she decided to give away her only remaining food, letting the allure of food overcome this hungry demon.

"Considering all of the above, I gave her the old Boulogne cheese," Lü Wenjun explained.

The two women looked as if they had seen a demon.

"Miss Polly must have been starving for so long that she fainted from being moved by the sight of cheese. That's the magic of food..."

"No way! She was knocked unconscious by the stench! She was foaming at the mouth!!" Linggong shouted.

Lu Wenjun took out a tissue and considerately wiped Polly's mouth.

"She's drooling so much, this senior must be starving."

“Hey, Miss Polly is having convulsions,” Pershka said.

"Oh, this is due to the activation of blood due to a sense of satisfaction. Look, her complexion is much better than before, isn't it?"

"How could she be any better! Her face has turned pale! As pale as a hanged ghost!"

Lu Wenjun stood up with a smile, one finger resting on the edge of the box.

"Would you like to try some delicious cheese too?"

"They've started threatening! They've become so despicable that they've resorted to violence when they have nothing else to say!!"

"Shut up! I hate defeat more than resorting to underhanded tactics! She attacked me without any explanation, so my self-defense was perfectly justified! Besides, if we're talking about who's responsible for the cheese incident, you two are accomplices in spreading this stench!"

A silence fell between the three of them. Ling Gong casually pushed up her glasses and said, "What cheese? What stench? Wen Jun is acting really strange today."

Pershka crossed his arms and gazed into the distance: "We defeated the Four Heavenly Kings honorably with wisdom and courage, didn't we, you two?"

"That's right, it's a victory of magic and enlightenment, and it has nothing to do with cheese from beginning to end."

Lu Wenjun calmly put away the box, and the two of them tacitly looked away. The three scoundrels... the three upright magicians, who had reached a consensus, strode forward.

Even the Four Heavenly Kings have been defeated, what else in this thousand-year-old cave could possibly be their match? What else could possibly be there!

"—Polly, what happened?! What did they do to you?!"

Just then, an extremely exaggerated scream rang out. Lü Wenjun turned his head stiffly and saw that the bastard in the high school uniform had appeared out of thin air, holding Polly and shaking her violently.

His movements were so violent that Polly's out-of-body consciousness was shaken back. She managed to open her mouth, using her last bit of awareness to utter a desperate breath.

"shit……"

After uttering those desperate words, Polly collapsed backward and fainted again. Kano laid her down, his eyes blazing with righteous fury.

"You, you've really gone too far..." Kano shouted, "You actually used shit on Polly! Even Fang Mo wasn't this despicable!"

"Don't you fucking mislead people! Open your eyes and look carefully at what this is!" Lu Wenjun retorted, holding up the box. "Delicious cheese, see? Nutritious and hygienic!"

Kano pointed sharply: "If you've got the guts, open that box!"

"I'll start as soon as you come here!"

"It really is shit! You actually carried this kind of thing with you all the time, I admit I underestimated you..." Kano clasped his hands together, "And now, I will avenge Polly's spirit in heaven!"

"Polly isn't dead! She just passed out from the stench!"

After shouting his last words, Lü Wenjun prepared to close his eyes and await death. After all, the three of them had only managed to outwit one of the Four Heavenly Kings with all their might; how could they possibly have any chance of winning against another one?

This time, however, there was no flash of light or any sound; Kano seemed to have done nothing. Lu Wenjun opened his eyes in bewilderment, only to see an extremely despicable smile on the other's face.

"Then, let me show you an even more despicable method. This technique is called 'Passing the Flower While Drumming'!"

Thump. Thump. Thump-thump. The rhythmic tapping sound rang out, and the cheese box bounced with the sound. After just two beats, the box had grown a whole size larger!

Lu Wenjun's face turned pale: "You wouldn't...?"

“That’s right, it’s that one!” Kano snapped his fingers. “Every two beats, the ‘flower’ doubles in size. Every four beats, the ‘flower’ must be passed to another person. If this condition isn’t met…”

The cheese box began to shake violently.

"The 'flower' will be in the hands of the previous person, then it will explode!"

Lu Wenjun and the other two simultaneously let out screams of terror.

Chapter 24 You should all eat the large portions.

"Reiko, catch the ball!"

As the fourth beat sounded, Lü Wenjun threw the wooden box in his hand without hesitation! Ling Gong, who caught the box, let out a scream like a little girl seeing a cockroach!

"No! Nooooo!"

Linggong immediately tried to hand the wooden box to Lü Wenjun, but at that moment, Kano's notification sounded.

"The two most recent messengers must be different people, otherwise it will explode!"

Reiko turned around like a baseball pitcher and threw a spinning ball full of determination: "Pershka, don't run away."

Pershka had already turned and run the moment the words "musical chairs" were uttered, but although her magic was strong, her physical strength was no match for Reiko's. Reiko's spinning wooden box easily caught up, and the terrifying object about to explode trembled violently before her eyes. Pershka leaped up like a rugby player and caught the wooden box! By this time, the wooden box had grown to the size of half a toilet seat!

"You actually dumped it on me without hesitation?! Where is your camaraderie?"

"Comrades-in-arms are those who share both good times and bad. Now that we are facing a great disaster, shouldn't we share the burden together?"

Pershka stared at the wooden box in horror: "This isn't just a disaster, it's a disaster! This is a disaster pouring down on me!"

"Shut up, Pershka. Girls shouldn't use such vulgar words."

"I already have it in my hand, why are you agonizing over the wording! My god, this box is burning hot, I feel like the contents are about to overflow!"

"Danger! Pass the ball quickly!"

Pershka threw the box with force. Lu Wenjun was about to catch the ball when he had a plan. He used a standard bicycle kick to send the box flying towards Kano!

"It would be a shame not to join such a fun game! You should play it too!"

Kano's mouth gaped open in an "O" shape: "You actually used my technique against me? Lü Wenjun, you're too despicable."

"Great, everyone run! Once there's no one left to pass the box to, it'll explode in his hands!"

Lu Wenjun grabbed the two ladies and ran off, but as soon as he turned around, he heard a strong wind whistling behind him. Kano, who had just caught the ball, suddenly threw the box over. The terrifying wooden box rapidly enlarged in the air, and his actions were as brave as King David throwing stones at a giant!

Kano held up one finger: "By the way, you can actually pass it in less than four beats, but passing it on the wrong beat will make the flower grow bigger faster~"

"What exactly was your purpose in developing this despicable technique?!"

"So I can play games with the cute younger students!"

Lu Wenjun hurriedly caught the box. By then, the cheese box was as big as a toilet seat, and he could almost hear the half-melted cheese sloshing around. Kano, smug and triumphant, spread his hands and shouted, "Try to drag me down with you! I'll throw the box back at you without hesitation!"

"Damn it, that bastard is so despicable." Lü Wenjun counted the beats as he passed the ball.

Linggong clutched the box desperately: "It's gotten bigger again! I feel like it's going to overflow!"

"Then hold on tight and don't let it spray out, okay?"

"So why do you carry around something like that all the time?"

"This was supposed to be my dinner! If you hadn't suddenly tried to take the box from me, things wouldn't have escalated to this point."

Pershka was stunned, and even the beast witches trembled in fear: "You actually plan to eat X?!"

"I already said this isn't X, it's cheese! Cheese that's great quality and cheap, only 1 magic coin!" Lu Wenjun frantically defended himself.

Even Kano, who was watching the spectacle from the sidelines, was shocked: "To save money, he actually ate a large portion... What kind of awareness and willpower is that! Lü Wenjun, you are the most terrifying man I have ever met!"

"You should go and eat the large portion!"

Ling Gong nimbly passed the box to Pershka. Pershka's demon-faced witch leaped up to loyally protect her master, using her body as a shield to catch the cheese box. She carefully counted four beats before turning and throwing it; the cheese box spun like a square baseball! A terrifying sloshing sound echoed inside! Goalkeeper Lü Wenjun jumped to catch the ball—impressive!

At this moment, he had few choices left, nothing more than passing it on to Pershka or Reiko, letting this desperate situation swirl among the three until it was destroyed. However, at this moment, Lü Wenjun gritted his teeth and rushed forward with a resolute force, actually passing the box to Kano again.

"What?" Kano took the box. "Aren't you afraid I'll accidentally buy the wrong one and lose the box?"

"I just had a brilliant idea," Lu Wenjun grinned maliciously. "If the giant cheese gets big enough, even if it explodes after you've made your move, you'll still get caught in the blast, right?"

Kano was sweating profusely: "You said it was a big X, you just said it yourself, hey!"

“We’ll pass the word around among the three of us. Big X will explode eventually, and then we’ll all end up in the same terrible state…” Lu Wenjun started to crack his knuckles. “But if we’re all close enough to you when Big X explodes, then at least we can drag you down to hell with us!”

At the brink of despair, on the verge of being overwhelmed by the stench, Lü Wenjun grasped the only truth behind this fierce battle.

—When you and your enemy are both covered in X, getting tainted by X is no longer scary.

That's right. The game called "Passing the Flower" is actually a test of "enlightenment," a game for men.

At the very end of despair lies the key to victory: the shining "resolve" to defeat the enemy at all costs!

Kano gasped, patiently waiting for the four beats to pass before suddenly tossing the box to Pershka! Then he turned and ran!

"Sorry, senior, I've already had dinner and suddenly remembered I have something urgent to attend to. You guys can have fun first today—"

"That bastard tried to run away!" "He definitely has a weakness." "We absolutely cannot let him get away!"

The Cheese Trio, having seen through the true nature of this game, were filled with a burning, bright resolve! As they passed the wooden box, they chased after Kano, hurling their ever-growing despair once more!

"No--"

Let's all die together!

·

"I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" Fang Mo exclaimed.

On the west side of the Thousand-Year Cave, the battlefield resembled a painting of hell. The surging tide had turned the ground into a muddy mess, and the underlings who came to provide support fell one after another into the giant pit. Even in their unconscious state, their faces still showed fear and terror, like a large group of performance artists creating a collective masterpiece.

Mingxiao walked past numerous scoundrels, her anger still simmering behind her like that of the Immovable King. She sneered, "I've already pushed my efforts to the level of heresy, what else do you have to say?"

Fang Mo's face almost turned black: "What kind of heretical level is it for you to suppress heretical forces with your legendary spells?"

"You dare to scare newcomers with your family's secret techniques? You have the nerve to say that about me?"

Mingxiao's words struck at the heart of the problem, leaving Fang Mo speechless despite his thick skin. After all, his extraordinary level of contribution... was based on the same brute-force logic as Mingxiao's current approach.

Ultimately, these people are seasoned veterans, brimming with magic and experience. Even in actual combat using textbook spells, they would be several times stronger than newcomers. Their spell repertoire alone is on a completely different level; what chance do freshmen have against them?

"Damn it... Mingxiao, you forced me to do this." Fang Mo stood up with a dark face. "I'll confirm with you again, as long as it's within the 'Heterodox Level,' it's not against the rules. Do you think I can use any means necessary?"

"Come on then, let's see what you have to say."

Fang Mo turned away silently, placing his hands behind his back. A strange smile gradually crept onto his face. At this moment, his aura was so strong and the feeling so terrifying that he was like a powerful master of the demonic sect who had emerged from seclusion, or a peerless ferocious beast that had been unsealed after being imprisoned for a hundred years!

"Very good... That old devil Ji Chuanjun did teach you some good things. This time, I'll show you the methods she taught me back then!"

Mingxiao became more vigilant. Professor Ji's methods were too advanced; even if Fang Mo used them, she couldn't underestimate him. She ordered Ming Wangxiang to adopt a defensive stance, awaiting Fang Mo's final blow.

Fang Mo took three, four, five steps forward...

Then he switched from walking to running, using all his magic to sprint away at supersonic speed!

"Of the thirty-six stratagems, the best is to flee. This is the military strategy that Ji Chuanjun taught me back then!" Fang Mo laughed wildly.

Mingxiao almost choked on his breath: "Have you no shame?!"