“Why are you so agitated?”

Seeing Gu Zi crying with snot running down his face, Lin Mo was speechless.

“Senior Brother Lin, you have no idea!” Gu Zi wiped his tears with his sleeve and said, “That damned Yuan Li, even after you disciplined him last time, still hasn’t learned his lesson.”

“He was so obsessed with cultivation that he neglected the spiritual fields. When pests infested the crops, instead of taking responsibility, he set fire to the entire back mountain’s spiritual fields!”

“The back mountain’s fields are not only the primary food source for all the disciples of Qingzhu Peak but also a major source of income. Not to mention, many senior and junior brothers have planted their own spiritual herbs there.”

“What Yuan Li did is practically driving us outer disciples of Qingzhu Peak to the brink!”

Lin Mo wasn’t surprised that Yuan Li had repeated his mistakes.

To be honest, if the original owner of his body hadn’t frequently checked on the fields, they would have been ruined by Yuan Li long ago.

What did surprise Lin Mo, however, was Yuan Li’s audacity—he actually dared to commit arson.

“Senior Brother Ye clearly promised to keep a close eye on Yuan Li! If it weren’t for him pleading on Yuan Li’s behalf, how could Qingzhu Peak have ended up like this?”

The more Gu Zi spoke, the angrier he got. “It’s so unfair to you, Senior Brother Lin. You worked so hard for the well-being of our junior brothers and sisters, yet Senior Brother Ye slandered your name, calling you ‘heartless’ and ‘ruthless towards your fellow disciples’—ruining your reputation.”

Seeing Gu Zi standing up for him so indignantly, Lin Mo felt a bit comforted.

Gu Zi went on and on, detailing everything that had happened since Lin Mo left.

Most of the disciples of Qingzhu Peak now resented Ye Kai.

However, both Master Yuehua and Shen Ke’er had been protecting him fiercely.

Right now, Qingzhu Peak was facing a major crisis.

There was no spiritual rice left to eat.

Moreover, it had already been half a month since the last allowance distribution—no one had received their due spirit stones.

The message was clear: they were starting to withhold payments.

No spiritual rice, no spirit stones—how were the disciples supposed to cultivate?

No wonder, when Lin Mo arrived, he saw them all looking dejected and miserable.

But none of this surprised him.

If the original owner hadn’t occasionally gone to the Great Continent Mountains to hunt, bringing back spirit beast meat and spiritual herbs, or used his own wealth to supplement Qingzhu Peak’s supplies—

Would they have ever lived the comfortable life of eating well and dressing warmly every day?

Now that Qingzhu Peak had fallen into this state, it had nothing to do with him.

He had already fulfilled his duties—was he supposed to be like the original owner, exhausting himself for a group of people who changed sides with the wind?

He was just their senior brother, not their parent.

The more he gave without expecting anything in return, the more they would start to take it for granted.

Lin Mo understood this well—this was the ugliness of human nature.

He needed to change things.

These junior disciples had to learn that nothing in this world came for free.

Who he chose to be kind to was his own decision.

If they upset him and still expected benefits from him, they could keep dreaming.

Lin Mo took out a Profound-tier cultivation technique he had acquired earlier from his storage ring and handed it to Gu Zi. “You’ve worked hard during this time, cleaning every day and night. Take this as an auxiliary cultivation method—it’ll help you break through to Foundation Establishment faster and stabilize your foundation.”

“Senior Brother, I can’t accept this…” Gu Zi said nervously. “The sect has strict rules—outer disciples without a certain level of contribution can only cultivate Yellow-tier techniques from the Scripture Pavilion.”

“This isn’t a sect technique—it’s mine. You can cultivate it without worry.”

Lin Mo had already given him pills and spirit stones, and now even a cultivation technique. Gu Zi was overwhelmed with gratitude.

Tears and snot ran down his face again. “Senior Brother, in this lifetime, aside from my mother, even my own father hasn’t treated me as well as you have…”

“Enough!” Lin Mo had no interest in playing the role of this kid’s dad. “I’m going into seclusion for my Core Formation. Same rule as before—no visitors!”

…

News of Lin Mo’s return quickly spread throughout Azure Bamboo Peak.

Everyone thought that now that he was back, their suffering would finally come to an end.

But to their dismay, Lin Mo chose to shut himself away in seclusion.

Now, the disciples of Qingzhu Peak were even more miserable.

Meanwhile, on Master Yuehua’s side, the pressure was immense—her disciples were going hungry and had no spirit stones to claim.

“Master, the last of the stored spiritual rice was finished a few days ago. Many senior and junior brothers haven’t been able to eat, and we haven’t received our allowances for half a month…” a disciple reported.

Master Yuehua asked, “How long will it take to restore the back mountain’s fields and harvest new spiritual rice?”

The disciple sighed. “Normally, four months would suffice. But the fire severely damaged the fields. Between repairing them and regrowing the crops, it’ll take at least a year.”

Hearing this, Master Yuehua felt even more troubled.

She asked again, “Didn’t your senior brother return yesterday?”

As much as it pained her to lower herself, at this point, she had no choice but to seek help from her eldest disciple.

After all, it had always been Lin Mo managing everything in Qingzhu Peak.

The disciple let out another sigh. “He did return—but Senior Brother chose to go into seclusion. He said he’s preparing for Core Formation!”

Upon hearing this, Master Yuehua hesitated.

Qingzhu Peak had never had a Core Formation disciple before.

Lin Mo’s attempt at Core Formation was a significant event. If he successfully formed a high-quality core, it would also bring honor to her.

It seemed that for the time being, she couldn’t rely on her eldest disciple.

…

Two days later, Master Yuehua was left stunned as she looked at the meal placed before her.

Steamed buns and pickled vegetables?

She, a mighty Nascent Soul cultivator, was supposed to eat this?

Not to mention spiritual energy—there wasn’t even a trace of oil or richness in the food.

The disciple delivering the food explained, “Master, our storage is completely empty now…”

He himself had been eating these meager rations for days.

Even the most skilled cook couldn’t prepare a meal without ingredients.

If it weren’t for the fact that their allowances hadn’t been distributed and the storage was truly depleted, he wouldn’t have dared to serve this kind of food.

Master Yuehua asked again, “There’s no rice left, but what about the spirit beast meat we used to have?”

The disciple answered truthfully, “That was all brought back by Senior Brother Lin. He was worried that we weren’t eating well, so he would go hunting in the Great Continent Mountains every few days.”

“In fact, the spirit beast meat you ate was always the best cuts that Senior Brother Lin set aside for you. He himself would only eat whatever was left over.”

The disciple was equally helpless.

At this moment, Master Yuehua recalled that a disciple had indeed mentioned some time ago that Lin Mo frequently ventured into the Great Continent Mountains to hunt, supplementing Qingzhu Peak’s expenses.

Thinking of this, she felt a twinge of guilt. She had been so focused on cultivation that she never paid attention to these small details…

This kind of food lacked spiritual energy, and she would have to manually expel the impurities from it herself.

She had formed her Golden Core years ago and had long since reached the Nascent Soul stage. Eating this—she might as well just go into fasting meditation instead.

But over the years, she had grown accustomed to Lin Mo’s care.

She had always eaten the finest spirit beast meat and carefully selected spiritual rice. Now, suddenly going without food altogether left her feeling uncomfortable.

With this thought, she picked up the cup of spirit tea on the table, hoping to ease her hunger.

The moment it entered her mouth, she immediately spat it out—completely disregarding her image.

The tea was cold and bitter, with a distinct muddy aftertaste. It was utterly unpalatable, making her stomach churn in disgust.

“What’s wrong with this spirit tea?” she demanded.

The disciple smiled bitterly. “Master, the spirit tea you used to drink was personally bought by Senior Brother Lin with his own money. The water was fetched at dawn from the spiritual spring in the Great Continent Mountains.”

“But now, both the spring water and spirit tea leaves have been used up, so we had to substitute them with mountain spring water and the same tea leaves that the rest of the disciples drink…”

Master Yuehua: “……”