The beast tide came and receded as quickly as it arrived. Lin Yu's clone couldn't catch up, so he opted for self-detonation, taking a wave of fierce beasts with him before the tide retreated.
The senior disciple pursued for a distance, slaying the dozen or so sixth-tier flying birds that had been attacking him with his sword. Then, he sheathed his blade and returned to the academy.
Lin Yu approached and asked, "Senior disciple, why did the beast tide suddenly retreat?"
It had been ferocious moments ago, and then, as if suddenly afraid, it fled. There had to be a reason he didn't know.
The senior disciple removed the wine gourd from his waist, took a large gulp, and made a few satisfied smacks before answering Lin Yu's question.
"Did you hear that beast roar just now? That was the roar of a high-tier fierce beast in its death throes. It was the one that triggered the beast tide. Once it died, these underlings got scared and ran."
Lin Yu suddenly understood and pointed at the corpses of fierce beasts outside. "Senior disciple, what do you plan to do with these fierce beast corpses?"
"You want them, kid? If you want them, go pick them up yourself. As for the rest, I'll have the robots haul them away and store them in the cold storage behind the mountain."
The senior disciple drank some more wine, a look of exhaustion appearing on his face.
"Alright, I'm going back to rest. Don't go to Gui Xu now that the beast tide has just receded, remember."
Lin Yu nodded repeatedly, then split off a few clones to collect five sixth-tier fierce beasts and headed towards his residence.
He hadn't chosen a place to live yet. When he reached the residential area, a robot approached him.
"Please select your villa. There are twenty villas from left to right. Villas number one and number six have already been selected. You can choose from the remaining eighteen. Please make your selection."
Lin Yu nodded and, without much thought, chose number nine. The reason was simple: his birthday was on the ninth.
"Okay, entering your information... Loading complete... You can move in. Your identity card is your room key. Please keep it safe."
With that, the robot returned the way it came.
It was the butler of this villa district, named Xiao Liu, primarily responsible for cleaning, garbage disposal, and other nannying duties.
Lin Yu walked to the front of villa number nine and placed his identity card on the sensor panel of the door lock.
"Beep, identity detected. Villa number nine homeowner Lin Yu, welcome back, Master!"
With a click, the door opened.
Upon entering the courtyard, Lin Yu was stunned.
A gray-green brick path led straight to the main hall.
The main hall had four dark red doors, with the two middle doors slightly ajar. The wooden lattice windows on the side corridors were open, clean and bright.
Wicker chairs and a wicker table were placed in front of the corridor. Three feet from the table, the flowers and plants were lush. The courtyard, which had seemed slightly desolate as no one had lived there, now appeared lively and simple against the backdrop of the flora.
It was a particularly exquisite small courtyard, with flowers and plants. As Lin Yu walked inside, he could feel the desolation of the courtyard, not of its structure, but of its lack of human presence.
"I wonder who designed this courtyard; it's so unique, possessing both the simplicity of a hermit and the grace of a lady. It's excellent, excellent, and perfect for me. I won't need to redecorate."
Lin Yu was very satisfied with the villa. Upon entering the main hall, he was even more pleased.
The house was large, with three floors.
The first floor was a living room of over two hundred square meters. The furniture in the hall was top-of-the-line, featuring both rosewood furniture and animal skin sofas, exuding an air of luxury.
Lin Yu sank onto the sofa, feeling the softness beneath him. He smiled gently. The fatigue from fighting monsters today made him not want to get up.
He had a home now; his heart was warm and settled!
Lin Yu lay on the sofa, sleepiness gradually overcoming him, and slowly drifted off.
Meanwhile, the senior disciple was lounging on his recliner at home, browsing the internet on his wristband, enjoying his leisure.
Suddenly, a highly controversial and trending post caught his attention.
He clicked on the post, and its contents made his blood pressure instantly soar.
"Preposterous! Utterly preposterous!"
"It's all nonsense! A bunch of keyboard warriors just making wild guesses. I'm so angry!"
The post, in a speculative tone, asserted that Gui Xu was not dangerous at all. The reason everyone perceived Gui Xu as dangerous was due to exaggerated propaganda by some unscrupulous media outlets.
Then, it used this as a starting point, combined with the fact that the Eastern Sea Town, while defending the East Sea, was often besieged by fierce beasts from the sea, suffering heavy casualties. The Northern Frontier City faced invasions from forces like the Undead Realm, and only tens of thousands of soldiers could barely hold it. The Western Frontier City even lost its defending general and nearly lost its defense line.
And the Supreme Academy?
With merely two people, they had defended Gui Xu for decades without a scratch.
One city with tens of thousands of people could barely defend it, yet two people held it? It was too unreasonable, too fake.
Therefore, the article concluded: Gui Xu is not dangerous; someone is fabricating it.
This extremely imprecise post was widely circulated among some academy factions and students, especially those who lacked discernment.
These individuals, using the article's ideology as theoretical basis, began to rack their brains, and the more they thought, the more they felt something was amiss, and the more they felt the post was correct.
They did not deny the power of the Sword God, but the Sword God was only one person. He had defended Gui Xu for so many years; there should have been at least one loophole, right?
However, the result was none!
Not a single one!
This was very strange. In hundreds of years, not a single escaped creature? It was too unrealistic. This led many people who lacked critical thinking skills to be swayed and begin to doubt common sense.
For example, Gui Xu is very dangerous; this is common sense, a common sense they had known since childhood.
But now, they were starting to doubt it. This common sense had problems; it was unscrupulous media misleading them.
Some began to lament, rejoicing that they had finally awakened!
However, some people with the ability to think began to refute these so-called "awakened" statements and raised their own doubts.
But the number of people holding the opposing view was still too great. Online discussions became increasingly heated, with countless people voicing their opinions, and those with different viewpoints began to argue fiercely.
"I still firmly believe that Gui Xu is dangerous. This has always been our perception. If Gui Xu were not dangerous, why would the Cabinet allocate the largest budget to the Supreme Academy?"
"I beg to differ with the previous poster. I believe that although the Sword God is powerful, it's impossible for him to have an undefeated record for hundreds of years. He hasn't even had a single escaped creature. Therefore, I infer that Gui Xu is not dangerous."
"The second poster's point, I agree!"
"Since the third poster agrees, why don't we go to Gui Xu together for an adventure? Practice makes perfect. What do you say?"
"The fourth poster's point, I beg to differ!"
"The fifth poster is just afraid to go, but says it so diplomatically."
"The fourth and second posters are both cowards. Identified!"
Among the replies to the post, there were no lack of sober individuals, but it was often these sober individuals who saw the comments of the less sober ones and got the idea to go to Gui Xu and see for themselves.
They wanted to find evidence of Gui Xu's danger and silence all those trolls.
Similarly, some people who didn't believe Gui Xu was dangerous had the same idea.
They all wanted to see Gui Xu for themselves.
Soon, a new forum was formed.
Forum name: Let's Go Adventuring!
As soon as this forum was established, countless posts about adventure sprang up like mushrooms after rain.
Then, a post titled 'Adventure to Gui Xu, A Journey Together' was pushed to the trending list.
"Everyone, I firmly believe Gui Xu is not as terrifying as rumored. Who is willing to go on an adventure to Gui Xu with me?"
"Weren't you all shouting loudly? Why aren't you responding?"
"Gui Xu is just for show, not dangerous at all. Think about it carefully with your brains, and you'll know."
After the post was published, it attracted the attention of a large number of netizens. Some people with doubts formed several teams.
Some went with the purpose of exposing the falsehood of Gui Xu's danger.
Another group went with the purpose of proving that Gui Xu was indeed dangerous.
The two groups, divided into several large contingents, using the internet as a medium of communication, managed to form teams of several hundred people. They all boarded the void train and headed towards Nanjang City.
...
In the courtyard.
The senior disciple put down his wristband, took a drink, and cursed:
"A bunch of guys who don't know the immensity of heaven and earth! They don't even know their own limits, yet they dare to go adventuring in Gui Xu. Damn it, should I even bother with this?"
He was a decisive person, never showing mercy to enemies, but faced with this situation, he found himself in a dilemma.
"Forget it, when they arrive, I'll secretly protect them a little."
After a long while, he sighed.
Ultimately, he could not bear to see his own countrymen die in Gui Xu. Moreover, most of these rebels were young people. Who among them wasn't rebellious when they were young?
He chose to give them a chance to correct their mistakes.